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poised in mid-air. He jumped with all force upon it. At the third jump the whole side burst open, and out scuttled the contents, a host of parchments.

Many

This shook his confidence in the chest's powers of resistance; so he gave it an ally: he took the iron bar and fastened it with the small rope across the large rope, and across the window. He now mounted the chest, and from the chest put his foot through the window, and sat half in and half out, with one hand on that part of the rope which was inside. In the silent night he heard his own heart beat. The free air breathed on his face, and gave him the courage to risk what we must all lose one day - for liberty. dangers awaited him, but the greatest was the first getting on the rope outside. Gerard reflected. Finally, he put himself in the attitude of a swimmer, his body to the waist, being in the prison, his legs outside. Then holding the inside rope with both hands, he felt anxiously with his feet for the outside rope, and, when he had got it, he worked it in between the soles of his feet, and kept it there tight; then he uttered a short prayer, and, all the calmer for it, put his left hand on the sill and gradually wriggled out.

Then he seized the iron bar, and for one fearful moment hung outside from it by his right hand, while his left hand felt for the rope down at his knees; it was too tight against the wall for his fingers to get round it higher up. The moment he had fairly grasped it, he left the bar, and swiftly seized the rope with his right hand too; but in this maneuver his body necessarily fell about a yard. A stifled cry came up from below. Gerard hung in mid-air. He clenched his teeth, and nipped the rope tight with his feet and gripped it with his hands, and went down slowly hand below hand.

He passed by one huge rough stone after another. He saw there was green moss on one. He looked up and he

looked down. The moon shone into his prison window; it seemed very near. The fluttering figures below seemed an awful distance. It made him dizzy to look down; so he fixed his eyes steadily on the wall close to him, and went slowly down, down, down.

He passed a rusty, slimy streak on the wall: it was some ten feet long. The rope made his hands very hot. He stole another look up. The prison window was a good way off now.

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The rope made his hands sore. He looked up. The window was so distant, he ventured now to turn his eyes downward again; and there, not more than thirty feet below him, were Margaret and Martin, their faithful hands upstretched to catch him should he fall. He could see their eyes and their teeth shine in the moonlight.

For their mouths were open, and they were breathing hard.

"Take care, Gerard! O, take care! Look not down." "Fear me not," cried Gerard, joyfully, and eyed the wall, but came down faster.

In another minute his feet were at their hands. They seized him ere he touched the ground, and all three clung together in one embrace.

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What do you learn from this incident about a fifteenth-century father's power over his child? What does Gerard fear? Follow carefully every Is the description clear? What seems most vivid to you? How does the author give the impression of the great height of the tower? From whose viewpoint? What is the climax?

stage in his escape.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ORAL AND WRITTEN ENGLISH

THEME SUBJECTS

In Hereward's Adventure with the White Bear, you have made a list of the different points of suspense leading to the highest point, i.e. to the climax. In other words, you have outlined the plot. A plot is a series of incidents, each growing out of the preceding one, and increasing in interest until the climax is reached. After the climax, comes one or more points that relieve the suspense. The relief is called the resolution (i.e. untying) of the plot. Each point, or incident, in a well-constructed plot is a link in a chain, and can no more be left out than a link can. You can trace this in Gerard's actions from the moment he sees the arrow.

Outline one of the following theme subjects, imitating Reade's outline, and trying to make your account as vivid as his. Try to see each point with your imagination before writing about it.

A Lucky Escape.

How to Come Down a Rope.

An Adventure in a Fire.
A Steady Head.

How I was Imprisoned in a Medieval Castle and Escaped from It.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL READINGS

The Cloister and the Hearth. Charles Reade.

Hugh Wynne. S. Weir Mitchell.

St. Ives. Robert Louis Stevenson.

David Balfour. Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Black Tulip. Alexander Dumas.

The Prisoner of Zenda. Anthony Hope (Hawkins).
The Splendid Spur. A. T. Quiller-Couch.
Wonderful Escapes by Americans. W. S. Booth.

THE HIGHWAYMAN 1

ALFRED NOYES

Alfred Noyes (1880- ) was born in England. He is considered one of the leading poets of the twentieth century. He has traveled in America, reading his poems and lecturing. His poetry is full of vigor, as you will see from The Highwayman. See also:

Halleck's New English Literature, pp. 603-605, 623.

Hamilton W. Mabie's Introduction to Poems by Alfred Noyes (1906). Who is Alfred Noyes? Catholic World, Vol. 97, pp. 289-304.

(June, 1913.)

PART ONE

I

THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, And the highwayman came riding

Riding riding –

The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn door.

II

He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin,

A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doeskin; They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh!

1 From Poems by Alfred Noyes. Copyright, 1906, by The Macmillan Company. Published in this volume by special arrangement with The Macmillan Company and Frederick A. Stokes Company.

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But the landlord's black-eyed daughter,

Bess, the landlord's daughter,

Plaiting a dark red love knot into her long black hair.

IV

And dark in the dark old inn yard a stable-wicket creaked Where Tim the ostler listened; his face was white and peaked; His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like moldy hay, But he loved the landlord's daughter,

The landlord's red-lipped daughter,

Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say

V

"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night, But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning

light;

Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,

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