Chapter 24

This is the time--Heaven's maiden sentinel
Hath quitted her high watch--the lesser spangles
Are paling one by one; give me the ladder
And the short lever--bid Anthony
Keep with his carabine the wicket-gate;
And do thou bare thy knife and follow me,
For we will in and do it--darkness like this
Is dawning of our fortunes.
_Old Play._

When Duke Hildebrod had withdrawn, Nigel's first impulse was an
irresistible feeling to laugh at the sage adviser, who would have thus
connected him with age, ugliness, and ill-temper; but his next thought
was pity for the unfortunate father and daughter, who, being the only
persons possessed of wealth in this unhappy district, seemed like a
wreck on the sea-shore of a barbarous country, only secured from
plunder for the moment by the jealousy of the tribes among whom it had
been cast. Neither could he help being conscious that his own
residence here was upon conditions equally precarious, and that he was
considered by the Alsatians in the same light of a godsend on the
Cornish coast, or a sickly but wealthy caravan travelling through the
wilds of Africa, and emphatically termed by the nations of despoilers
through whose regions it passes _Dummalafong_, which signifies a thing
given to be devoured--a common prey to all men.

Nigel had already formed his own plan to extricate himself, at
whatever risk, from his perilous and degrading situation; and, in
order that he might carry it into instant execution, he only awaited
the return of Lowestoffe's messenger. He expected him, however, in
vain, and could only amuse himself by looking through such parts of
his baggage as had been sent to him from his former lodgings, in order
to select a small packet of the most necessary articles to take with
him, in the event of his quitting his lodgings secretly and suddenly,
as speed and privacy would, he foresaw, be particularly necessary, if
he meant to obtain an interview with the king, which was the course
his spirit and his interest alike determined him to pursue.

While he was thus engaged, he found, greatly to his satisfaction, that
Master Lowestoffe had transmitted not only his rapier and poniard, but
a pair of pistols, which he had used in travelling; of a smaller and
more convenient size than the large petronels, or horse pistols, which
were then in common use, as being made for wearing at the girdle or in
the pockets. Next to having stout and friendly comrades, a man is
chiefly emboldened by finding himself well armed in case of need, and
Nigel, who had thought with some anxiety on the hazard of trusting his
life, if attacked, to the protection of the clumsy weapon with which
Lowestoffe had equipped him, in order to complete his disguise, felt