Instantly a
number of men set off in pursuit.
"What had we best do, Jacob?" Harry said, as he heard the clattering of
feet behind them.
"We had best jump into a boat," Jacob said, "and row for it. It is dark
now, and we shall soon be out of their sight."
At the bottom of the lane were some stairs, and at these a number of
boats. As it was late in the evening, and the night a foul one, the
watermen, not anticipating fares, had left, and the boys, leaping into a
boat, put out the sculls, and rowed into the stream, just as their
pursuers were heard coming down the lane.
"Which way shall we go?" Harry said.
"We had better shoot the bridge," Jacob replied. "Canst row well?"
"Yes," Harry said; "I have practiced at Abingdon with an oar."
"Then take the sculls," Jacob said, "and I will steer. It is a risky
matter going through the bridge, I tell you, at half tide. Sit steady,
whatever you do. Here they come in pursuit, Roger. Bend to the sculls,"
and in a couple of minutes they reached the bridge.
"Steady, steady," shouted Jacob, as the boat shot a fall, some eight
feet in depth, with the rapidity of an arrow. For a moment it was tossed
and whirled about in the seething waves below, and then, thanks to
Jacob's presence of mind and Harry's obedience to his orders, it emerged
safely into the smooth water below the bridge. Harry now gave up one of
the sculls to Jacob, and the two boys rowed hard down the stream.
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