was given the station on the road.  Mr. Bangs walked about nervously, and the lawyer and Mr. Terry, bringing some clean coverlets out of the boarding-house, spread them on the chip-covered ground, and lay down to smoke their pipes and talk of many things.  “Oi tuk to yeez, sorr,” said the veteran with warmth, “soon as Oi mit ye in the smokin’ carr, and to think what a dale av loife we’ve seen since, an’ here’s you an’ me, savin’ yer prisince, as thick as thaves.”

Nothing of any moment occurred till within a quarter of ten, when Sylvanus saw two figures suddenly start up close by him on the right.  At first, he thought of challenging them, but seeing one was a woman, and remembering the going over the Squire gave him about capturing Tryphosa, he resolved to await their arrival.  Both figures greeted him joyfully by his name, for it was his two proteges, the crazy woman and her son, who had escaped the constable and lain concealed until darkness veiled their movements.  “Has Steevy woke up yet?” she asked the sentinel, quietly.

“Not as I know on,” responded the elder Pilgrim.

“Then we will slip quietly into the house, and get some supper for Monty, and go to bed.  It’s tiresome walking about all day,” she continued.

“Don’t you two go fer to make no noise, ’cos they’s sentries out as might charlinge yer with their guns,” remarked the compassionate guard.

“No,” she whispered back; “we will be still as little mice, won’t we, Monty?  Good night, Sylvanus!” The boy added, “Good night, Sylvy!” and the sentinel returned the salutation, and muttered to himself:  “Pore souls, the sight on ’em breaks me all up.”

Sylvanus should have reported these arrivals, when the detective came to relieve him, and put Mr. Terry in his place, but he did not.  He had forgotten all about them, and was wondering if that “kicked-out-of service old ramrod, the corpular, was foolin’ round about Trypheeny.”  Coristine relieved Timotheus; Bill Richards, Rufus; and Mr. Bigglethorpe, Harry Richards.  The relieved men went to sleep on the quilts and under the skiff.  Mr. Bangs came up every quarter of an hour to the lawyer, and asked if he had heard a noise about the house, to which the sentinel replied in the affirmative every time; whereupon the detective would take a lamp and search the building from top to bottom without any result.  Once, after such a noise, that sounded like some heavy article being dragged along, Coristine thought he heard the words:  “Keep quiet, Tilly,” and, “Take it hoff,” but he was not sure.  The night was cloudy and dark, and the mosquitoes’ buzzing sometimes had a human sound, while the snoring of the Pilgrims, and the restless moving of the horses, brought confusion to the ear, which sought to verify suspected articulations.  Had he known that Matilda Nagle was about the house, he would not have let Bangs rest until the mystery was solved.  He did not know; and, being very tired and sleepy, was inclined to distrust the evidence of his senses and lay it to the charge of imagination.