he should be as lusty as this mountaineer. I would seriously advise the prompt execution."

"It may not be, good Pendryve," said the colonel. "The general will return to-morrow; and till then let him be placed in one of the dungeons in the upper wall. We cannot, and we will not, act hastily in this matter. Thelwall and Manly, bear him away, and bid Robin Gyvely take special charge of him. Let him, however, have wherewith to eat and drink, for he may as well die with a full belly as an empty

one."

Thelwall and Manly accordingly came forward, to conduct poor Madoc to durance vile; and he, to the surprise of all present, accompanied them unresistingly, and with apparent alacrity.

He passed through a long gallery, or passage, which led to a platform, whereon was raised a temporary gallows, From this gallows were suspended the bodies

of

of six malefactors, who, not a week ago, had been detected in attempting to seduce some of the soldiers from their allegiance to the protector; and Mytton had executed them summarily, by martial law, on his own responsibility. Their faces were bloated and blackened by putrefaction, and their tongues hung out of their mouths, black and shrivelled. On the platform was a block, about three feet high, covered with sawdust, and smeared with blood. This was used for the more lenient, punishment of chopping off hands, it being a common practice with Mytton to deprive lifters and plunderers of their offending members, and then turn them loose again.

As Madoc passed, his eye fell upon two or three shrivelled hands, which, for aught he knew to the contrary, might once have been appended to the bodies of some of his own followers.

The sight, however, notwithstanding his own perilous situation, affected him not;

D 2

not; for it had not the horror of novelty, as he had often stood among the crowd that gaped beneath at the frequent executions which took place; and, more than once, had he witnessed the summary suspension of one of his own daring gang, equally unmoved. He passed on between his two conductors, now joined by Robin Gyvely, a large savage-looking man, and ascending a flight of small stone steps, entered a turret, passed along a narrow, dark passage, reached a low iron-studded door, and was pushed, sans ceremonie, into a low, dark, damp cell, particularly designed for criminals of his class. The door was bolted and locked upon him by Robin Gyvely, and he was left alone to "chew the cud of sweet and bitter memory."

"A pretty pisness I've made of this," muttered Madoc, as he heard the gaoler's heavy tread, and the clanking of his keys, as he moved along the passage.

"Tamn

"Tamn these swaggering troopers! now must. I pide in this peastly hole till Mytton comes pack, with my arms tied, like the fore-legs of a seep, instead of roving on the hill-side with my prave followers. I'll make that ranting rascal, Peacock, as they call him, pay for this prank, if I do swing for it;" and with this consolatory determination, he sat down against the wall, and very philosophically composed himself to sleep.

He slept long and soundly, so soundly that he heard not the heavy unbolting of his dungeon-door, nor the sonorous clanking of the gaoler's ponderous keys; and it was not until Robin Gyvely had bestowed upon him two or three hard bumps with his keys, that he opened his eyes. Of what Madoc had been dreaming, we have no record; but perhaps his thoughts were wandering among his native hills, or among the green woods of the Dee, for he jumped up on the instant, shouted-" Hurra for

the Saeson kine!" endeavoured to put his hand to his belt, found out that he was strongly bound, and uttered, in peevish disappointment, the expressive monosyllable-"Tamn!"

"Hollo, old comrade!" exclaimed Gyvely, who had formerly fought by Madoc's side in the first civil wars

why what devil's game hast been playing now, to bring thee into this place? I ever told thee, that hot and silly pate of thine would lead thy neck into a noose with one knot, one of these days," and Robin held up his lantern to the face of his old comrade.

"Ah, Robin, bach!" said the other, "how fare ye? Let go my hands, wilt thou? for these cursed thongs have galled my wrists."

"And so get throttled for my pains! No, no, Madoc."

"I swear by saint Cadvan-before God, an' thou likest-that I will not lay hands