It was just at the delicate moment of the operations that she spoke . Dick started ; the remainder of the coil slipped from his grasp , and the end fell with a splash into the moat . Instantly , from the battlement above , the voice of a sentinel cried , `` Who goes ? '' `` A murrain ! '' cried Dick . `` We are paid now ! Down with you -- take the rope . '' `` I can not , '' she cried , recoiling . `` An ye can not , no more can I , '' said Shelton . `` How can I swim the moat without you ? Do you desert me , then ? '' `` Dick , '' she gasped , `` I can not . The strength is gone from me . '' `` By the mass , then , we are all shent ! '' he shouted , stamping with his foot ; and then , hearing steps , he ran to the room door and sought to close it . Before he could shoot the bolt , strong arms were thrusting it back upon him from the other side . He struggled for a second ; then , feeling himself overpowered , ran back to the window . The girl had fallen against the wall in the embrasure of the window ; she was more than half insensible ; and when he tried to raise her in his arms , her body was limp and unresponsive . At the same moment the men who had forced the door against him laid hold upon him . The first he poinarded at a blow , and the others falling back for a second in some disorder , he profited by the chance , bestrode the window-sill , seized the cord in both hands , and let his body slip .
The cord was knotted , which made it the easier to descend ; but so furious was XXXXX 's hurry , and so small his experience of such gymnastics , that he span round and round in mid-air like a criminal upon a gibbet , and now beat his head , and now bruised his hands , against the rugged stonework of the wall .
Dick Shelton battlement embrasure first moat murrain second shent window-sill