Page 181 - A Jacobite Exile

said. He judged, however, that someone was furiously upbraiding the man
who was giving him water, for the latter now and then muttered excuses.

"He is blowing the fellow up, for having so nearly let me slip through their

fingers," he said to himself. "Probably they want to question me, and find
out who I have been in communication with. They shall get nothing, at
present, anyhow."

He kept his eyes resolutely closed. Presently, he heard a door open, and

another man come in. A few words were exchanged, and, this time, wine
instead of water was poured down his throat. Then he was partly lifted up,
and felt a cooling sensation at the back of his head. Some bandages were

passed round it, and he was laid down again. There was some more
conversation, then a door opened and two of the men went out; the third

walked back to him, muttering angrily to himself.

Charlie felt sure that he had been moved from the place in which he had

been the evening before. His bonds had been loosed, and he was lying on
straw, and not on the bare ground. Opening his eyelids the slightest

possible degree, he was confirmed in his belief, by seeing that there was
much more light than could have entered the cellar. He dared not look
farther, and, in a short time, fell into a far more refreshing sleep than that he

before had.

The next time he woke his brain was clearer, though there was still a dull
sense of pain where he had been struck. Without opening his eyes, he
listened attentively. There was some sound of movement in the room, and,

presently, he heard a faint regular breathing. This continued for some time,
and he then heard a sort of grunt.

"He is asleep," he said to himself, and, opening his eyes slightly looked
round. He was in another chamber. It was grimy with dirt, and almost as

unfurnished as the cellar, but there was a window through which the sun
was streaming brightly. He, himself, lay upon a heap of straw. At the

opposite side of the room was a similar heap, and upon this a man was
sitting, leaning against the wall, with his chin dropped on his chest.