"Now then," said the former, "how many men could you get together?" "Nick Garth, Ram Jennings, and six more." "Eight," said Mark, flushing proudly. "I could get Dan Rugg, Dummy Rugg--he's only a lad, but he's stronger than I am. Oh yes: and fourteen more at least." "That would not be fair. If you agreed to come and attack the men at Ergles, you would have to bring eight. But could you get swords and pikes for them?" "Oh yes--for five times as many. How about yours?" "We've plenty of arms. They're old, but very sharp and good." "And could you depend on your fellows to fight?" said Mark. "Oh yes," said Ralph, smiling; "they hate these people, and they'd rush at them like dogs would at wolves." "So would ours," cried Mark. "There isn't one of our men who hasn't had some relative or friend attacked and ill-used or robbed." "Sixteen and ourselves would be plenty." "And then there's Master Rayburn." "No," said Ralph quickly; "he's getting a very old man, and I don't think he ought to go. Let's do it all secretly, and make the men vow not to say a word. Nobody else must know." "When would you go?" said Mark, nodding his head in agreement. "They say you should always strike when the iron is hot." "Well, it's hot enough now," cried Mark eagerly. "What do you say to to-morrow night." "Why not to-night?" said Ralph. "I'm willing. Then we'll go to-night. What time?" "It ought to be after our people are gone to bed. We should have to come out unknown." "Yes, I forgot that. Then it would have to be ten o'clock first, and it would take us quite an hour to get quietly up to the mouth of the cave." "Yes, with a lantern under a cloak, and every man a torch," said Ralph. "Oh, I say, you are good at this sort of thing," cried Mark eagerly. "I shouldn't have thought of that." "We couldn't fight in the dark; we shouldn't know friends from foes." "We should know our own men, and of course your men would be enemies to my men; but, of course, we shouldn't want to fight, but to know Purlrose and his men. Yes, we must have pitch torches. I can bring any number of them, for we use them sometimes in the big parts of the mine, where the smoke doesn't matter. Well, it all seems easy enough. I don't believe there'll be a door to batter down, only a curtain across to keep the wind out, and it's a very narrow place, I remember. I went just inside once." "I went in fifty yards or more, with Nick Garth," said Ralph, "and we had candles. We were looking for lead, but it was all stone shells." "Oh, there's no lead there," said Mark confidently. "We've got all the lead worth working at the Black Tor." "Yes, I'm afraid so; but there's a warm spring of water in there, and from where we stopped, you could hear water running and falling, ever so far-off." "But what was it like, as far as you went in?"