“Yes, they are; and here,” she said, “is part of a broken sword. How came all this? Nay, do not hurry me onward. I tremble—my feet refuse to walk, for I fear something horrible may obstruct my path.” “Nonsense! nonsense, fair creature!” said Blood. “If anything has happened it is all the doings of that horrible band of Skeletons. Nothing more. If you wish to escape yourself, follow my advice at once.” “I will, I will,” said Ellen Harmer, trembling in every limb. She and the colonel had crossed half of the bridge when both suddenly stopped. “What was that?” said the miller’s daughter, looking pale as death. “What voice was that?” “Oh, nothing, nothing, fair one; ’twas only the murmuring of the wind among the oziers on the river bank, or perhaps the babbling waters. Come, quickly, I say!” “Oh, help! murder!” sighed a voice near by among the ozier bushes. “D—nation!” growled Blood, half to himself, “that lout is still alive! Would for a thousand crowns he were dead! Come, lassie, think no more of it; it was your imagination only, nothing else, I assure you.” “Oh, help!” sighed the voice again, faintly. “Ellen Harmer, I am dying! Beware of the courtly villain! Help!” “’Tis _my_ name that he calls,” said Ellen, turning red. “Unhand me, sir; and if you are a man help me to discover who and what this poor creature is!” “Help!” faintly sighed the voice from among the trees. “’Tis the voice of Andrew,” said Ellen. “Some foul villany has been here at work; this blood upon the planks is his!” “Help!” “’Tis Andrew Gamble’s voice.” “D—nation!” growled Blood, and, then, in a persuasive voice, “Come, fair one, come; ’tis all imagination, believe me! Hark! do you hear the loud shouts of the villagers? Come, let’s haste away; the Skeleton Crew are butchering all they fall across. Come, haste!” Blood put his strong arm round Ellen’s waist, and half by persuasion, half by force, bore her away, pale, trembling, and more dead than alive. “Egad! ’twas well I used mild force with the pretty wench,” said he, “or she would have discovered all. I must return, if possible, and give that rustic a finishing touch; it will never do to let him recover and go babbling over the village, or we may be traced to London, and then all fun would end. ’Twas lucky she didn’t look in the right direction as I did, or she would have seen Master Andrew washed by the river among the bull-rushes on the bank. I just caught sight of his face in the fitful moonlight; how white and horrible it looked!” He was so impatient to bear off Ellen Harmer to his carriage that he actually took her up in his arms. This he explained to the struggling maid by saying that they were pursued. Faint, weak, pale, and unresisting as she was, Ellen Harmer was so terrified at all she had heard, that it took but little to convince her that what all Blood had said was true.