"No; they are used to us now, and I don't think there's anything to fear. Look here; do you dare to reach out your hand and pat him?"

"No, zir; I'm too great a coward. I was always feared of a dog's bite; not of the dog."

Nic was silent for a few moments, and then he began to pat first one dog and then another heavily, the great brutes submitting to the familiarities evidently with satisfaction, one of them beginning to bound about the shed, and returning to be caressed again.

"You order me to come close and pat one of 'em, Master Nic, and I will,"

said Pete hoa.r.s.ely.

"Come on, then."

The man drew a deep breath and made the venture, with so much success attending it that he tried it upon the others.

"Master Nic," he whispered excitedly, "what do you think of that?"

"Of what?"

"Here's one of 'em licking my face. Oh, I zay, it don't mean tasting me first to zee whether I'm good, do it?"

"No; the poor brutes believe we are friends, I suppose, from being shut up with us. But, Pete, they've all gone off after the others. Couldn't we try to escape again?"

"Nay; t'others have got the boat."

"But the high ground yonder, or the woods?"

"Nay; they'd hunt us down with the dogs. The beggars would go at us if they hounded 'em on."

Nic was silenced for a few moments, and he sat with a dog on either side and his arms on their necks.

"But we could get out again; the shingles must be off the roof."

"Yes; that's how Humpy and the others got out, zir. They must ha' known all our plans."

"Let's creep out, then; the dogs couldn't follow."

"S'pose not, zir; but they'd make howl enough to bring the gaffers back to lay 'em on our scent. I don't think it's any use to try. I'd face it and the dogs too with my knife; they never took it away from me. Did they take yourn?"

"I don't know, Pete. No: here it is."

"And it would be too hard on you to have to face 'em. Best not to try.

We had our go and missed; p'raps we'd better take what they give us and not grumble."

"Impossible, Pete. I'd rather face the dogs than the lash. But I don't believe they'd hurt us now."

"P'raps not, zir," said Pete sadly. "This here one's as playful as a puppy. He's 'tending to bite my arm, but he don't hurt a bit."

There was silence again for a few minutes, during which time Nic sat with his heart beating hard, listening to the familiar sounds which came from the forest, while the pa.s.sionate desire to flee grew and grew till it swept everything before it.

"Pete," he cried at last, "we must escape. Better starve in the woods than lead such a life as this. We shall be flogged to-morrow, and it will kill me, I know."

"The dogs'll hunt us down if we go, lad, and we shall get it worse.

Better face what we've got to have."

"I will not; I cannot, Pete. The way is open, man. Let's try for our liberty before these wretches come back."

"Zay the word, then, Master Nic; but the dogs is friends now, as long as we're quiet; they won't let us go."

"Ah, I know!" cried Nic wildly. "Why didn't I think of it before?"

"Think of what, zir?"

"This. Perhaps they might attack us if they thought they were going to be left."

"That's zo."

"And if we got away they'd be laid on our track."

"O' course, zir."

"Then we will not give Saunders the chance."

"I dunno what you mean, zir; but I'm ready for anything you tell me to do. What is it?"

"Take the dogs with us, man. I believe they'll follow us now."

"Take 'em with us?" panted Pete. "Why, o' course! I never thought o'

that. But we can't, Master Nic; we're locked in."

"The roof's open. Look here, Pete; I'm going to climb out at once. The dogs will begin to bay at this, but as soon as I'm on the roof, ready to drop down, you get up, put your hands against the boards, and lay a-back. Then I'll call them. They'll scramble up, and I'll help them through. You come last."

"Think they'll do it?" said Pete, panting like one of the hounds.

"I'm sure they will."

"Be worse than the flogging," cried Pete excitedly; "they'll tear all the skin off my back. But I don't care; I'm ready. They'll leave the bones."

"Ready, then?" cried Nic. "The moment there's room make a back for the dogs."

The eager talking excited the great animals, and they began to sniff at the speakers and growl; but Nic's blood was up, and he was ready to risk an attack on the chance of his scheme succeeding.

"A dog is a dog, whether it's here or at home, and I know their nature pretty well."

The next moment he was proving it by leaping to his feet.

"Hey, boys, then!" he cried loudly; "the woods--a run in the woods!"

The dogs sprang round him, and began leaping up, barking excitedly.

"Come on, then," he shouted, though his heart leaped with a choking sensation at his mouth; and, scrambling up to the opening by means of the pegs, he was the next minute squeezing himself through, the dogs bounding up at him as he went, and nearly causing him to fall. For one moment he felt he was being dragged back, and shuddered at the thought of what might happen if the excited animals got him down.