"Stay. I'll get rid of the servants first.
I'll not play the fool, and betray him to his enemies." She sent Sarah
eastward, and Jane westward, and then led the way through the kitchen
door into the yard.
They all searched about, and found nothing. Then Julia begged them to be
silent. She whispered, "Alfred!" And instantly a faint voice issued from
the top of a waggon laden with hay and covered with a tarpaulin. "Julia."
They all stood staring.
"Who are those with you?" asked Alfred uneasily.
"Only friends, dear! Edward and Dr. Sampson."
"Ned, old fellow," groaned Alfred, "you pulled me out of the fire, won't
you help me out of this? I think my leg is broken."
At this Julia wrung her hands, and Edward ran into the house for his
rope, and threw it over the waggon. He told Julia and Sampson to hold on
by one end, and seizing the other, was up on the waggon in a moment. He
felt about till he came to a protuberance; and that was Alfred under the
tarpaulin, in which he had cut breathing-holes with his penknife. Edward
sent Julia in for a carving-knife, and soon made an enormous slit:
through this a well-known figure emerged into the moonlight, and seemed
wonderfully tall to have been so hidden.
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