"With the Hests and the Towtons as robbers. Exactly. Their hand was against every man, and likewise against each other for the mastery of Bowderstyke. At the upper end the valley is blocked by a small lake, now turned by the Bolly Dam into a very large reservoir, so they were safe in that direction. Gatehead was where their vassals lived to guard the outlet, so you can see in troublesome times everything was extremely safe. From this valley the Hests and the Towtons went forth raiding, and sometimes, when not quarrelling between themselves, formed a kind of league. They struggled for centuries, but in the end my ancestors got the upper hand, and most of the property. I believe the feud and the raiding continued down to the termination of George the Third's reign, for the King's writ did not run in these wilds." "Where is Gerby Hall?" Towton pointed directly downward. "Under that cliff, where the moorland rises so abruptly. Like The Grange, there is a kind of artificial forest round it, so that it is concealed. But, as you can see, it is almost within the village itself." "Right in line of the flood, should the dam break." "I fear so; but I hope there is no chance of the dam breaking. You see," added the Colonel pointing out the topography of the valley, "the village is divided by the ancient bed of the torrent, now comparatively dry since the construction of the Bolly Reservoir. A stone bridge connects the two portions of the village, and on this side nearest to ourselves the ground begins to rise gradually. The other portion of the village and Gerby Hall lie in the hollow, and are cut off from the sunlight. I often wondered," said Towton musingly, "why the Hests, when lords of the entire valley, should have chosen to build their manor house in such a situation; for, when the torrent was in full force from the melting of the moorland snows, they must have been exposed to many an inundation." "And now," said Vernon glancing northward to where the cyclopean wall of the dam frowned in the sunlight, "if that great body of water were let loose both the village and the Hall would be swept away." "They are certainly directly in the line of flood," replied Towton unhesitatingly; "but both the Hall and the village houses are strongly built of dark stone. It would take some force to smash them." "If that dam broke, Colonel, they would be swept away like straws on the surface of a whirlpool. I can't understand what the engineers were thinking about to risk such a catastrophe."