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And Ralph, who, though one of the most law-respecting of men, was not for the moment one of the most valorous, was wild to wash his hands of the whole business. He did his best for me; he borrowed a goodly number of guineas from Rangsley, who travelled with a bag of them at his saddle-bow, ready to pay his men their seven shillings a head for the run.
I saw very well that there was no more connection between the Casa Riego and the rascality of Rio Medio than there was between Ralph himself and old drunken Rangsley on Hythe beach. There was less, perhaps. "Ah, you have had a sad life, my Carlos," I said, after a long time. He opened his eyes, and smiled his brave smile. "Ah, as to that," he said, "one kept on.
He was a very, unreliable scoundrel. The boat leaked like a sieve. The wind freshened, and we three began to ask ourselves how it was going to end. There were no lights upon the sea. At last, well out, a blue gleam caught our eyes; but by this time old Rangsley was helpless, and it fell to me to manage the boat.
The two Spaniards were lying in the fern looking on when you come blundering your clumsy nose in. If it hadn't been for Rooksby you might have Hullo, there!" he broke off. An answer came from the black shadow of a clump of roadside elms. I made out the forms of three or four horses standing with their heads together. "Come along," Rangsley said; "up with you. We'll talk as we go."
The hand left my arm; there was a pause in the motion of the procession. I caught a moment's sound of whispering. Then a new voice cried, "Strip the runners to the shirt. Strip 'em. That's it." I heard some groans and a cry, "You won't murder us." Then a nasal drawl, "We will sure ly." Someone else, Rangsley, I think, called, "Bring 'em along this way now."
Old Rangsley reeled ahead of us swiftly, muttering, "Three men to be set aboard the Thames... quarter past eleven. Three men to be set aboard..." and in a few minutes we stood upon the shingle beside the idle sea, that was nearly at the full. It was, I suppose, what I demanded of Fate to be gently wafted into the position of a hero of romance, without rough hands at my throat.
"Ah, but," Rooksby said, "you'll have to leave the country for a time. Until I can arrange. I will. You can trust me." "Oh, he'll have to leave the country, for sure," Rangsley said jovially, "if he wants to live it down. There's five-and-forty warrants out against me but they dursent serve 'em. But he's not me." "It's a miserable business," Ralph said. He had an air of the profoundest dejection.
A small opening, just big enough to take a man's body, revealed itself. We passed through it and up a sort of tunnel. The door at the other end, which was formed of panels, had a manger and straw crib attached to it on the outside, and let us into a horse's stall. We found ourselves in the stable of the inn. "We don't use this passage for ourselves," Rangsley said.
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