"
"Right, Tom; but that will not give back a gallant servant to Her
Majesty of England!"
"I am not dead yet," answered Tom, with a grim laugh. "Tell me the
plan which you have worked out in your head, my lord; for your wits
are seven-fold keener than mine."
Then Lord Claud unfolded the plan which had been working in his
busy brain during the day that Tom had been sleeping, after he had
heard news which made him sure that his mission was suspected, and
that he would be stopped and robbed if possible.
Higher up the mountain side, just where the snow line lay, above
which there was everlasting ice and snow, was a little rough
hostel, where travellers rested and slept before they tried the
pass itself. An old half-witted man and his goitred wife kept the
place, and provided rough food and bedding for travellers, though
interesting themselves in no wise with their concerns. In that rude
place several men were now stopping, and had been stopping for some
days.
That fact in itself was almost sufficient for Lord Claud; but
somebody had found a scrap of torn paper with some French words
upon it, and this had made assurance doubly sure. Moreover, Lord
Claud believed it to be the writing of the man he had duelled with
beneath Barns Elms.
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