The landlady dropped upon her knees, and the Captain secured the bandage round her eyes. "How many fingers, dame?" he asked, holding his hand before her face. "Never a finger can I see, Captain." "It is well. Now stand up--forth and away! That was the word given by the Viewer. Turn, Mistress Dorothy, and grope through the room. Oh, you shall laugh at this roundly. Grope, grope, dame." The obedient and marvelling landlady began to grope through the apartment, and Dauntrees, quietly opening the door, stole off to the tap-room, where being joined by his comrades, they hied with all speed towards the Fort, leaving the credulous dame floundering after a jest, at least until they got beyond the hail of her voice. CHAPTER XI. Pale lights on Cadez' rocks were seen, And midnight voices heard to moan, 'Twas even said the blasted oak, Convulsive heaved a hollow groan. And to this day the peasant still, With cautious fear avoids the ground, In each wild branch a spectre sees And trembles at each rising ground. THE SPIRIT'S BLASTED TREE. Dauntrees, after his unmannerly escape from the credulous landlady, hastened with his two companions, at a swinging gate, along the beach to the fort, where they found Garret Weasel waiting for them in a state of eager expectation. "Is the dame likely to be angry, Captain?" were the publican's first words.--"Does she suspect us for a frisk to-night? Adsheartlikens, it is a perilous adventure for the morrow! You shall bear the burden of that reckoning, Master Captain." "I left Mistress Dorothy groping for a secret at Hoodman-blind," replied the Captain, laughing. "She has found it before now, and by my computation is in the prettiest hurricane that ever brought a frown upon a woman's brow. She would bless the four quarters of thee, Garret, if thou shouldst return home to-night, with a blessing that would leave a scorch-mark on thee for the rest of thy days. I shouldn't wonder presently to hear her feet pattering on the gravel of the beach in full pursuit of us--dark as it is: I have left her in a mood to tempt any unheard of danger for revenge. So, let us be away upon our errand. You have the eatables safe and the wine sound, worthy Weasel?--Nicholas," he said, speaking to the Lieutenant--"are our horses saddled?" "They are at the post on the other side of the parade," replied the Lieutenant. "Alack!" exclaimed Weasel--"Alack for these pranks! Here will be a week's repentance. But a fig for conclusions!--in for a penny, in for a pound, masters. I have the basket well stored and in good keeping. It will be discreet to mount quickly--I will not answer against the dame's rapping at the gate to-night: she is a woman of spirit and valiant in her anger." "Then let us be up and away," said the Captain, who was busily bestowing a pair of pistols in his belt and suspending his sword across his body.