Such thoughts as these had never come to him till after he had left home for school, to find his level. Earlier in his boyhood his father had appeared to him to be chief or king of the district, with a neighbour who was a rival chief or king. He knew that King James ruled the land; but that was England, away from the Peak. There, Sir Morton Darley, knight, was head of all, and the laws of England did not seem to apply anywhere there. Then he had gradually grown more enlightened, and never more so than at the present moment, as he lay bound on the mossy stones, feeling that unless his father came with a strong enough force to rescue him, his fate might even be death. And the result? Would the law punish the Edens for the deed? He felt that they would go free. They were to a pretty good extent outlaws, and the deed would never be known beyond their district. The moors and mountains shut them in. But Sir Morton, Ralph felt, would never sit down quietly. He would for certain attack and try to punish the Edens, and the feud would grow more deadly than ever. Thoughts like these ran through his brain as he lay there, till the silence was broken by Mark Eden, whose face plainly told of the supreme pleasure he felt in seeing his young enemy humbled thus before him. "Well," he said at last, "are you not going to beg to be set at liberty?" Ralph looked at him defiantly. "No," he said. "Want to be taken up to the Tor, and hung from the tower as a scarecrow to keep away all the other thieves?" "What is it to you?" replied Ralph bitterly. "You came and took our trout," said Mark, with a sneer; and he raised his foot as if tempted to plant it upon the prisoner's chest. "Yes, I came and caught some trout: but I looked upon the river as free to me, as you thought our cliff was free to you." "Hah!" cried Mark triumphantly; "I knew you would begin to beg for your life." "I have not begged," said Ralph coldly. "You spoke to me and I answered." "Ropes hurt?" said Mark, after a pause, during which he could find nothing else to say. Ralph smiled. "Look for yourself," he said. "They don't quite cut to the bone." "Our mine lads are strong," said Mark proudly. "Strong enough to beat your wretched set of servants if ever they dare come up here." "So brave and strong that you are glad to hire a gang of ruffianly soldiers to help you," said Ralph scornfully. "What? Those fellows in rags and rust? Pooh! We would not have them." Ralph opened his eyes a little wider. "The Edens want no paid help of that kind. We're strong enough to come and take your place whenever we like; but as you won't be there, it will not matter to you." "No," said Ralph, who was sick with pain, and faint from the throbbing caused by his bonds. "But it would be a pity for my father to have you hung as a scarecrow," said Mark mockingly. "I don't like to see such things about. What do you say to going down to work always in our lead-mine?"