He put his hand to his head and strove to think; but for a time memory eluded him, and his bewilderment grew painfully upon him.  Then he espied a pitcher of water and some coarse food set not far away, and he rose with some little difficulty and dragged his stiffened limbs across the stone floor till he reached the spot where this provision stood.

“Sure, this be something of the prisoner’s fare,” he said, as he raised the pitcher to his lips; “yet I will refresh myself as best I may.  Perchance I shall then regain my scattered senses and better understand what has befallen me.”

He ate and drank slowly, and it was as he hoped.  The nourishment he sorely needed helped to dispel the clouds of weakness and faintness which had hindered the working of his mind before, and a ray of light penetrated the mists about him.

“Ha!” he exclaimed, “I have it now!  We were in battle together —­ Gaston and I rode side by side.  I recollect it all now.  We were separated in the press, and I was carried off by the followers of the Black Visor.  Strange!  He was in our ranks.  He is a friend, and not a foe.  How came it, then, that his men-at-arms made such an error as to set upon me?  Was it an error?  Did I not hear him, or his huge companion, give some order for my capture to his men before their blades struck me down?  It is passing strange.  I comprehend it not.  But Gaston will be here anon to make all right.  There must be some strange error.  Sure I must have been mistaken for some other man.”

Raymond was not exactly uneasy, though a little bewildered and disturbed in mind by the strangeness of the adventure.  It seemed certain to him that there must have been some mistake.  That he was at present a prisoner could not be doubted, from the nature of the place in which he was shut up, and the silence and gloom about him; but unless he had been abandoned by his first captors, and had fallen into the hands of the French, he believed that his captivity would speedily come to an end when the mistake concerning his identity was explained.  If indeed he were in the power of some French lord, there might be a little longer delay, as a ransom would no doubt have to be found for him ere he could be released.  But then Gaston was at liberty, and Gaston had now powerful friends and no mean share in some of the prizes which had been taken by sea and land.  He would quickly accomplish his brother’s deliverance when once he heard of his captivity; and there would be no difficulty in sending him a message, as his captor’s great desire would doubtless be to obtain as large a ransom as he was able to extort.