Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/171

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How the Jesuits were Captured at Hendlip
147

two men could be forced by hunger to appear from places where he thought it was impossible for a human being to lie hid, why should not there be other men concealed in some equally strange hiding-place, and likewise be starved into revealing themselves? Moreover, Gerard confesses that Owen and Chambers had 'but one apple between them.' His attempt, therefore, to make them act the part of martyrs, sacrificing their lives to save those of their masters', is merely a fable of his own invention.

Writing to Lord Salisbury, on Thursday evening, Bromley says—

'two are come forth for hunger and cold that give themselves other names; but surely one of them, I trust, will prove Greenway, and I think the other be Hall.[1] I have yet presumption that there is yet one or two more in the house; wherefore I have resolved to continue the guard yet a day or two.'

But hardly had this letter reached Salisbury, than fresh and unexpected information reached Bromley, who had by this time discovered that he had not captured the two priests, as he surmised. This information was sent to him from Worcester, and was to the effect that Humphrey Lyttleton had stated, in prison, 'that he believed Oldcorne to be at Hendlip.' On receiving this information, therefore, Bromley and his brother set to work again with renewed hope and energy.

  1. Oldcorne.