Page 182 - A Jacobite Exile
P. 182

The thought of escape at once occurred to Charlie. Could he reach the
               window, which was without glass and a mere opening in the wall, without

               awakening his guard, he could drop out and make for Allan Ramsay's. As
                soon as he tried to move, however, he found that this idea was for the

               present impracticable. He felt too weak to lift his head, and, at the slight
               rustle of straw caused by the attempt, the man opposite roused himself with
               a start.



               He gave another slight movement, and then again lay quiet with his eyes

               closed. The man came across and spoke, but he made no sign. Some more
               wine was poured between his lips, then the man returned to his former
               position, and all was quiet.



               As he lay thinking his position over, Charlie thought that those who had set

               his assailants to their work must have had two objects--the one to put a stop
               to his efforts to organize an agitation against the king, the second to find
               out, by questioning him, who were those with whom he had been in

               communication, in order that they might be arrested, and their property
               confiscated. He could see no other reason why his life should be spared by

               his assailants, for it would have been easier, and far less troublesome, to
               run him through as he lay senseless on the ground, than to carry him off
               and keep him a prisoner.



               This idea confirmed the suspicion he had first entertained, that the assault

               had been organized by Ben Soloman. He could have no real interest in the
               king, for he was ready to join in the organization against him, could he
               have obtained his own terms. He might intend to gain credit with the royal

               party, by claiming to have stopped a dangerous plot, and at the same time
               to benefit himself, by bringing about the expulsion or death of many of his

               foreign trade rivals. For this end, the Jew would desire that he should be
               taken alive, in order to serve as a witness against the others.



                "He will not get any names from me," he said. "Besides, none of them have
               promised to take any active measures against Augustus. I did not ask them

               to do so. There is no high treason in trying to influence public opinion.
                Still, it is likely enough that the Jew wants to get me to acknowledge that
   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187