"
"We are content with the terms--are we not, Tony?" said Dacre.
His companion answered somewhat sullenly in the affirmative.
"And now that the matter is arranged, may I ask when you propose to
go? "he continued.
"We are on our way to a hut on the lake, where we expect a companion
to join us," replied Surrey.
"What! Tristram Lyndwood's cottage?" demanded Dacre.
"Ay," replied the earl, "and we hope to recover his fair granddaughter
from the power of the demon."
"Ha! say you so?" cried Dacre; "that were a feat, indeed!"
The two strangers then rode apart for a few moments, and conversed
together in a low tone, during which Richmond expressed his doubts of
them to Surrey, adding that he was determined to get rid of them.
The new-comers, however, were not easily shaken off. As soon as they
perceived the duke's design, they stuck more pertinaciously to him and
the earl than before, and made it evident they would not be dismissed.
By this time they had passed Spring Hill, and were within a mile of the
valley in which lay the marsh, when a cry for help was heard in the
thicket on the left, and the troop immediately halted. The cry was
repeated, and Surrey, bidding the others follow him, dashed off in the
direction of the sound.
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