"I told her to lock the door, and not to open until she heard my
voice. Doubtless she was standing there listening to the strife
without, when the men burst in at the window, and seized her
before, in her surprise and terror, she had time to unlock the
door. Now what is to be done to recover her? They have, no doubt,
carried her off by boat, for they could not pass through the
landward gate of the town.
"Will you order two fast boats, to be manned by strong parties of
rowers, with well-armed men? One had better go up the river, one
down; for we know not in which direction they will take their
flight.
"What think you, Master Holliday?"
"I think that a boat had better go either way, without a moment's
loss of time," Rupert said. "But I doubt whether either will find
them. But send the boats without a moment's delay, with orders to
overhaul and search every craft they overtake."
The magistrates at once called in an officer of the guard, and gave
him the necessary instructions.
"And why do you not think that either up or down the river they
will overtake them?" Van Duyk asked Rupert, as the officer left the
room.
"Because they will know that a fleet horseman will pass them; and
that by morning the people at the towns on the banks will all be on
the lookout for them. So, having sent off the boats, I should now
send off horsemen up and down the river, with a letter from you,
sirs, to the authorities at all the towns, begging them to stop and
search every boat.
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