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too; your horses must want refreshment, and the time will not be lost."

: The advice was followed. Contari raised Eudocia in his arms, as easily as he might have carried an infant; and bearing her softly and quietly along, he laid her on her own bed, and then left her to the charge of the Priest, and of her mother, whom they had met, almost in a state of frenzy, near the cottage door.

"Burstow," said Contari, "my rede is, that we ride for Wisa. Even now, no doubt, the Janissaries are in hot pursuit of us; and we may, perchance, throw them out for an hour or so, by leaving the road they will judge us likely to take."

"And Wisa is nearer than Silivri,-nearer even than Tchorlu," said the Lochagus. "But the road under the

Balkan is terrible."

"Perhaps the better," replied Contari. "But, at all events, we must not tarry here. Give my poor Eudocia half an hour,—the horses must have that time,—and then she must be ready; for any fate is better than leaving her here."

"And she may then go, my son," added the Priest, who had entered the room while the latter was speaking, “in safety, as I trust. I will ride with you too; for though I will never desert my flock, yet I think that it -will be for their safety as well as mine, if for a time I withdraw myself from these bloodthirsty Turks."

"Come with us, father," said Euphrasia; "we shall need your prayers, and perhaps your counsel. But oh! do not let us lose unnecessary time."

"We will not, my daughter," replied the Priest. "I will go seek a horse for myself, and by that time we may be ready. And GoD and the Panaghia defend us! for we are of those that suffer for righteousness' sake."

In the mean time the gaoler, at the usual hour, visited the cell in which Burstow and Choniates had been confined. He carried with him their breakfast, and as he set it down,-"There, Varangian," said he, "that is the last you will ever need; for the Sultan--but ah! what! how's this?" He ran to the beds, and found the deception. "By the Prophet! they must be fiends! they have vanished! Now Allah save us from sorcery! There is not a hole large enough for a mouse to escape; they could not have known the wards of the lock." And he scrutinized door, window, and ceiling very minutely, and then proceeded, much crest-fallen, to make his report to the lieutenant of the guard,-the same soldier whom Stephen had wished to attack on the preceding night.

"Made their escape, sir, and no door nor window broken open? Never tell me that; such things happen not now-a-days. Run for two or three of the watch, and then we will examine the thing together. By Allah! when the Sultan hears of this, your head is like to be in peril!"

The gaoler did as he was desired, and the party went to the empty cell. It was unlocked; for that functionary, in his dismay, had left the key in the door, as he hurried down stairs.

"Are you sure, sir," said the lieutenant of the guard, sternly, "that the Nazarenes were not safe enough when you went in, and that they had not a golden key to make their escape when you came to me ?"

"By the Prophet "--began the gaoler.

"I know they cannot escape from the Castle," said the lieutenant; "but that does not lessen your guilt. You shall pay right dearly, if."

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'Look, sir," cried another of the party, and its shrewd"What is the matter with the plank? By

est man.

Mahomet, they have cut a trapdoor," he added, with some difficulty pulling it up.

"Quick! quick! to the room below," cried the lieutenant.

They ran down-threw open the door,-found it empty, and observed that a similar method of exit had been used from it.

"Now I understand!" cried the gaoler. "The women were shouting and howling last night, because, as they said, some one was coming in from above, and I thought

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"The women! By the Black Stone, we are all undone if anything has befallen them," cried the officer. They hurried to the apartment they had occupied,-found it untenanted,-saw the trapdoor open, and heard the sullen roar of the river underneath.

By this time the castle began to be alarmed: and it was soon discovered that some accomplice or accomplices must have introduced a boat through the river gate. Inquiry was made along the river side, but to no effect. Every one who might possibly be implicated in the matter was under the greatest apprehension for his own personal safety; as Mahomet had expressed an intention to examine Burstow for himself that morning, and had conceived the highest ideas of the beauty of Euphrasia Choniatis from the account which the officer, who had effected her capture, had taken care to have transmitted to him. Confusion was at its highest, when the arrival of the Janissaries who had been concerned with Cyril the night before tended to make the fact of an accomplice more clear, and to prove that the scheme had been well laid. What the plan was could not be learnt till Walid with his party should discover it from Eudocia Tomatis ; but the fact of the escape was certain, and a little inquiry

convinced the officers that the fugitives had set forth on the Constantinople road. The man on guard remembered that, as soon as the gates were opened, a party of mounted Greeks had issued from the city, and, immediately afterwards, had set forth at so quick a pace as for the moment to excite his attention.

Pursuit, then, was all that remained. Pursuit, if successful, would appease, and if earnest might palliate, Mahomet's anger; and, within half an hour from the first alarm, a hundred Janissaries were on their way towards Bourghiaz. From one or two wayfarers they learnt that their pursuit lay right; and, could a bird'seye view have been taken of the whole scene, they would have been seen entering Eski Baba, just as Father Demetrius, the Exarch, with his family, the Varangians, and Eudocia and her mother, a party of nine in all, were leaving the cottage to which we have so often had occasion to refer.

Meantime, determined to lose no clue to a discovery of the truth, the lieutenant of the guard resolved to pay a visit to Manuel Chrysolaras. That nobleman had, on the preceding night, been separated from his companions solely and entirely with a view of tampering more easily with his fidelity to the Cæsar; and of attaching him to the factious party in Constantinople. He was therefore removed to an apartment furnished with every luxury that lay even within the reach of the Sultan; the hangings were of silk and pearls; the chairs and couches of ebony, inlaid with ivory; the fireplace had silver andirons; and a costly chandelier hung from, the ceiling. Here the prisoner was supplied with a sumptuous repast, and with the costliest wines; and having been informed that he was to be favoured by the Sultan with an interview on the morrow, he was asked when he chose to

retire for the night. Two slaves attended him to his bedchamber, adorned with at least as much luxury as the other apartment; where, with difficulty excusing himself from their menial attendance, Chrysolaras was left to meditate on the reason of this singular change in his circumstances; and, as he closed his eyes, to breathe one last prayer for the success of his comrades in the difficult enterprise which they meditated that night, and above all for the safety of Euphrasia.

He was still asleep on the following morning, for the labour of the preceding night had almost worn him out, when a knock at his door was followed by a petition for admittance-and the lieutenant of whom we have already spoken, entered.

"I have to apologise, my lord," said he, " for thus disturbing your rest; but circumstances have occurred which must excuse my intrusion.'

"What are they, sir ?" inquired Chrysolaras rather eagerly, immediately connecting the visit with the enterprise from which he had been so unwillingly cut off. The lieutenant had concerted his plan. "I am sorry to say, my lord, that your companions were last night guilty of the egregious folly of attempting to escape from their confinement; and that they were assisted by some person or persons from without. They are, of course, in safe custody; but the accomplice has escaped."

"Well, sir," said Manuel.

"My lord, I have in vain applied to the prisoners for any explanation as to who this unknown party could be; I have reason to fear that it was some official, which makes me more anxious to discover who it was: I have told them that their lives are worth nothing, when the Sultan shall be informed of the attempt, and that their only chance of escape is to tell all that they know."

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