by way of more permanent concealment, until the storm should blow over, he had made preparations to build himself a cabin, somewhere in the woods out of the range of the thoroughfares of the district. when driven by a pressing emergency which required more than ordinary care to prevent his apprehension, he betook himself to the cave on the susquehanna, where, most probably, with a friend or two,cornet murray i hope was one of them,he lay perdu for a few days at a time, and then ventured back to speak a word of comfort and encouragement to the faithful wife who kept guard at home. in this disturbed and anxious alternation of concealment and flight talbot passed the winter, until about the 25th of april, when, probably upon advice of friends, he voluntarily surrendered himself to the council at st. marys, and was committed for trial in the provincial court. the fact of the surrender was communicated to lord effingham by the council, with a request that he would send the witnesses to maryland to appear at his trial. hereupon arose another correspondence with his lordship, which is worthy of a moments notice. lord effingham has lost nothing of his arrogance. he says, on the 12th of may, 1685, i am so far from answering your desires, that i do hereby demand colonel talbot as my prisoner, in the king of englands name, and that you do forthwith convey him into virginia. and to this my demand i expect your ready performance and compliance, upon your allegiance to his majesty. i am happy to read the answer to this insolent letter, in which it will be seen that the spirit of maryland was waked up on the occasion to its proper voice.it is necessary to say, by way of explanation to one point in this answer, that the governor of virginia had received the news of the accession and proclamation of james the second, and had not communicated it to the council in maryland. the council give an answer at their leisure, having waited till the 1st of june, when they write to his lordship, protesting against virginias exercising any superintendence over maryland, and peremptorily refusing to deliver talbot. they tell him that we are desirous and conclude to await his majestys resolution, [in regard to the prisoner,] which we question not will be agreeable to his lordships charter, and, consequently, contrary to your expectations. in the mean time we cannot but resent in some measure, for we are willing to let you see that we observe, the small notice you seem to take of this government, (contrary to that amicable correspondence so often promised, and expected by us,) in not holding us worthy to be advised of his majestys being proclaimed, without which, certainly, we have not been enabled to do our duty in that particular. such advice would have been gratefully received by your excellencys humble servants. thanks, colonels darnall and digges and you other colonels and majors, for this plain outspeaking of the old maryland heart against the arrogance of the right honorable lord howard, baron of effingham, captain general and chief governor of his majestys colony of virginia, as he styles himself! i am glad to see this change of tone, since that first letter of obsequious submission. perhaps this change of tone may have had some connection with the recent change on the throne, in which the accession of a catholic monarch may have given new courage to maryland, and abated somewhat the confidence of virginia. if so, it was but a transitory hope, born to a sad disappointment. the documents afford but little more information. lord baltimore, being in london, appears to have interceded with the king for some favor to talbot, and writes to the council on the third of july, that it formerly was and still is the kings pleasure, that talbot shall be brought over, in the quaker ketch, to england, to receive his trial there; and that, in order thereto, his majesty had sent his commands to the governor of virginia to deliver him to captain allen, commander of said ketch, who is to bring him over. the proprietary therefore directs his council to send the prisoner to the governor of virginia, to the end that his majestys pleasure may be fulfilled. this letter was received on the 7th of october, 1685, and talbot was accordingly sent, under the charge of gilbert clarke and a proper guard, to lord effingham, who gives clarke a regular business receipt, as if he had brought him a hogshead of tobacco, and appends to it a short apologetic explanation of his previous rudeness, which we may receive as another proof of his distrust of the favor of the new monarch. i had not been so urgent, he says, had i not had advices from england, last april, of the measures that were taken there concerning him. after this my chronicle is silent. we have no further tidings of talbot. the only hint for a conjecture is the marginal note of the landholders assistant, got from chalmers: he was, i believe, says the note, tried and convicted, and finally pardoned by james the second. this is probably enough. for i suppose him to have been of the same family with that earl of tyrconnel equally distinguished for his influence with james the second as for his infamous life and character, who held at this period unbounded sway at the english court. i hope, for the honor of our hero, that he preserved no family-likeness to that false-hearted, brutal, and violent favorite, who is made immortal in macaulays pages as lying dick talbot. through his intercession his kinsman may have been pardoned, or even never brought to trial. chapter x. conclusion. this is the end of my story. but, like all stories, it requires that some satisfaction should be given to the reader in regard to the dramatic proprieties. we have our several heroes to dispose of. phelim murray and hugh riley, who had both been arrested by the council to satisfy public opinion as to their complicity in the plot for the escape, were both honorably discharged,i suppose being found entirely innocent! roger skreene swore himself black and blue, as the phrase is, that he had not the least suspicion of the business in which he was engaged; and so he was acquitted! i am also glad to be able to say that our gallant cornet murray, in the winding-up of this business, was promoted by the council to a captaincy of cavalry, and put in command of christiana fort and its neighborhood, to keep that formidable quaker, william penn, at a respectful distance. it would gratify me still more, if i could find warrant to add, that the cornet enjoyed himself, and married the lady of his choice, with whom he has, unknown to us, been violently in love during these adventures, and that they lived happily together for many years. i hope this was so,although the chronicle does not allow one to affirm it,it being but a proper conclusion to such a romance as i have plucked out of our history. and so i have traced the tradition of the cave to the end. what i have been able to certify furnishes the means of a shrewd estimate of the average amount of truth which popular traditions generally contain. there is always a fact at the bottom, lying under a superstructure of fiction,truth enough to make the pursuit worth following. talbot did not live in the cave, but fled there occasionally for concealment. he had no hawks with him, but bred them in his own mews on the elk river. the birds seen in after times were some of this stock, and not the solitary pair they were supposed to be. i dare say an expert naturalist would find many specimens of the same breed now in that region. but let us not be too critical on the tradition, which has led us into a quest through which i have been able to supply what i hope will be found to be a pleasant insight into that little world of action and passion,with its people, its pursuits, and its gossips,that, more than one hundred and seventy years ago, inhabited the beautiful banks of st. marys river, and wove the web of our early maryland history. postscript. i have another link in the chain of talbots history, furnished me by a friend in virginia. it comes since i have completed my narrative, and very accurately confirms the conjecture of chalmers, quoted in the note of the landholders assistant