"I heard a legend when I was a boy, that there was a secret way into the
castle, but it made no impression, and I never recalled it till I heard
that the place was taken. Don't tell me that the enemy surprised you
through that?"
"Must," whispered Roy; and anticipating that his father would suggest
using the same means, he continued: "Can't use it now; all blown up. Is
there no other way? Can't you scale the ramparts?"
"Impossible, boy. I must leave you, then. My life will be forfeit when
the colonel returns, and it is too valuable to my king, my men, to you
and your mother, to be thrown away."
"But how can you escape, father?"
"By reaching the ramparts and plunging into the moat. Good-bye, boy.
Tell your mother I will return soon with as great a force as I can; for
this place must be retaken. There--Heaven be with you! I dare not
stay, for it may be hours before I can reach the ramparts."
"But is there no other way, father? A hundred and fifty men, and no way
of getting them in!"
"Unless the drawbridge can be lowered and portcullis raised--none!"
A deep silence, only broken by the pacing of the sentry outside, and Roy
dreaded now lest the change of men should take place, and the door be
opened to see whether the prisoner was safe. He tried all he could to
think out some plan, but every one seemed mad; and it was horrible to be
so near success, and yet to fail.
"It is of no use, boy; we are wasting time," said Sir Granby, as Roy
clung to him. "It would be mad to try any other way, and spilling
precious blood. Good-bye!"
Roy tried to say the words in return, but they would not come; and,
thoroughly unnerved in his despair, he clung to his father's neck till
he felt himself repelled; and then the way of escape from their dilemma
came.
In one instant a flash which vividly lit up the whole chamber darted in
through the open window, and a deafening roar followed.
But it was not the breaking of the storm, for the next moment they
realised that the magazine below the opposite range of buildings had
been blown up, and the crumbling down of masonry, and the roar and crash
of falling stones, endorsed the idea.
"Hah!" cried Sir Granby, excitedly; "then there is a way!" And hardly
had the words passed his lips when a distant huzzaing was heard, and
without a moment's hesitation he sprang to the window and lowered
himself down.