Deliberately the Governor took the missive, tore open the envelope, and surveyed the small bit of paper it contained. Whatever the brief message told him, his Excellency's face did not change, and he was still coldly, carefully studying sentences and words, after his fashion, when through the door my lord, the Marquis, stepped in some haste. Lifting his eyes, the Governor had no difficulty in reading the question on the young man's countenance. For a moment they looked at each other, and then the long, white fingers of his Excellency again sought the letter. "They," his voice seemed to clip the words, "propose an exchange of prisoners, and give me three days to consent to it!" CHAPTER XXX A SOUND AFAR About midway in the curve of one of the numerous bays, marking the coast-line, and several hours distant from the Mount, stands a stone cross erected by an English marauder to indicate the place of his landing. The symbol is visible on all sides from afar, for before it are the sands and the sea, and behind stretches the land barren of wood--low, level, covered only with marsh grass. Toward this monument of man's conquest--most prominent object in a prospect, dreary and monotonous--rode, late one afternoon, a band of horsemen. At their head galloped my lord, the Marquis; in the center could be seen a man with bound arms whose horse was led by one of the others. This person--a prisoner, thin, haggard, yet still muscular of frame--from time to time gazed about; a look of inquiry or calculation in the black undaunted eyes. "What prison are you taking me to now?" once he asked the trooper who held the reins of his horse. "And why do you go in this direction? Is it you dare not ride along main highways on account of the people?" "Never you mind!" came the gruff answer. "And as for the people, they'd better look out!" "Bah!" laughed the prisoner. "You can put some of them in cells, but not all!" "There may be something worse than a cell waiting for you!" was the malicious retort. "No doubt!" said the other stoically. But as his eyes again swept the horizon, from the opposite direction appeared another band of riders. At first the prisoner, regarding them, looked puzzled; then as the new-comers rode straight and rapidly on toward the cross, his countenance expressed a faint understanding. A fresh relay of men, he concluded; one his present guard would consign him to, and then themselves return to the Mount. Still was the meeting-place an odd one, and the demeanor of the two bodies of men not entirely consistent with his conclusions; for, as they drew nearer, both parties slackened their pace, suspiciously to scrutinize each other. "Twenty--the number agreed upon!" muttered the Marquis, and spurring on fast, led his troops nearer the cross.