The surprise was complete.  The sailors forming the majority of the party, with two trusty retainers of the earl, who had special charge of the affair, were proceeding carelessly along, having no thought of interruption.  So far their plans had succeeded perfectly.  The moment the two officers had reached the quay they were addressed by the men sent on shore with the Royalist’s boat.  Unsuspicious of danger they took their place in it, and therefore missed the opportunity, which they would have had if they had entered any of the other boats, of learning the true character of the Royalist.  They had been attacked the instant they gained the deck of the vessel.  Harry, who was first, had been knocked down before he had time to put his hand to his sword.  Jacob had fought valiantly for a short time, but he too had been knocked senseless by a blow with a capstan bar.  They had then been roughly tumbled below, where no further attention had been paid to them.  The Royalist had been blown many miles out to sea, and did not make her anchorage until ten o’clock in the morning.  Then the hatches were removed, and the prisoners brought on deck.

The inlet was a small one, and contained, only a little fishing village; the prisoners saw the Royalist sail off again, directly they had been placed in the boat.  They had from the first moment when they regained consciousness entertained no doubts whatever into whose hands they had fallen, and they felt their position to be desperate.  The plan, indeed, had been skillfully laid, and had it not been for Harry reading the order aloud in Mike’s presence, there would have been no clew to their disappearance.  During the night the young men were too overpowered with the violence of the storm, and the closeness of the atmosphere in the hold, in which they had been thrown, to converse.  But as the motion moderated in the morning they had talked over their chances, and pronounced them to be small indeed.  Harry, indeed, remembered that Mike had been present when he asked Jacob to accompany him on board ship, but he thought that no uneasiness would be felt until late that night, as it might well be thought that their duties had detained them, and that they had supped on board.  The storm might further account for their non-appearance till morning.  Then they imagined that inquiry would be made, and that it would be found that the Royalist had sailed.  Their captors would then have a start of twenty-four hours, and in such troubled times it was scarce likely that anything would be done.  Nor indeed did they see how they could be followed, as the destination of the ship would be entirely unknown.  The very fact that they had not been thrown overboard when fairly out at sea was in itself a proof that their captors entertained no fear of pursuit; had they done so, they would have dispatched them at once.  The captives felt sure that it was intended to land them, in order that Argyll himself might have the pleasure of taunting them before putting them to death.