A second intimation was
not wanting to his decision; and, without waiting until the landlord
should unlock the chain which secured him, he was about to dart forward
into the passage, when the restraining check which it gave to his
forward movement warned him of the difficulty.
Fortunately, the obstruction was small: the master-key, not only of the
cells, but of the several locks to the fetters of the prison, was among
the bunch of which the jailer had been dispossessed; and, when found, it
performed its office. The youth was again free; and a few moments only
had elapsed, after the departure of Munro from the house of the pedler,
when both Ralph and his deliverer were upon the high-road, and bending
their unrestrained course toward the Indian nation.
"And now, young man," said the landlord, "you are free. I have performed
my promise to one whose desire in this matter jumps full with my own. I
should have been troubled enough had you perished for the death of
Forrester, though, to speak the truth, I should not have risked myself,
as I have done to-night, but for my promise to her.
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