They went up the flight of steps for a considerable distance, then
they found the passage blocked by a number of great stones. Stanley
uttered an exclamation of disgust.
"It has fallen in," he said. "No doubt we are near the top of the
rock. Either the staircase was roofed in, or there was a building
erected over the entrance; and either the roof or building,
whichever it was, has fallen in. That is very unlucky. When we go
down, we will climb up the hill and see if we can discover anything
about it.
"With plenty of food and water," he went on, as they descended into
the lowest chamber, "one could hold this place for any time."
"Yes, master, one could store away the food; but where should we
store the water? We might bring skins in that would last us for a
week, perhaps two weeks, but after that?"
"After that we should make our way off, somehow, Meinik," Stanley
said, confidently. "Well, there is no doubt that this is the place
to shelter in. They are less likely to find us here than anywhere
and, if they do find us, we can defend ourselves stoutly. I should
say, too, that if we think it over, we ought to be able to hit upon
some plan for making noises that would frighten them. You know how
scared the man and the two boys were, at that sighing sound in the
other chamber. We certainly could make more alarming noises than
that."
Meinik nodded.
"That we could, master. With some reeds of different sizes I could
make noises, some as deep as the roar of a tiger, and others like
the singing of a bird."
"Then we will certainly bring some reeds in here with us, Meinik. I
don't suppose they will mind, in the daytime, what sounds they
hear; but at night I don't think even their officers would care to
move about here, if we can but make a few noises they do not
understand.
"Well, for the present we have done our work here; and you had best
go off with the Burman to buy food, to serve in case of a siege.
You had better go to some of the cultivators' houses, near the edge
of the wood, for rice and fruit. If you can get the food there, you
will be able to make two or three journeys a day, instead of one.
"But, before we start back, we will climb round to the top of the
hill, and see what has happened to shut up the staircase."
It took them a quarter of an hour's climbing, through the forest
and undergrowth, before they reached the upper edge of the rock
wall in which the chambers had been excavated. It had evidently, in
the first place, been a natural cliff for, when on the ledge,
Stanley had noticed that while below that point the rock was as
smooth as a built wall, above it was rough, and evidently untouched
by the hand of man. Following the edge of the cliff, until standing
as nearly as they could guess above the entrance to the steps, they
walked back among the trees. At a distance of some thirty yards,
they came upon a ruin. It was built of massive stones, like those
which strewed the ground where the temple had stood. A great tree
rose on one side, and it was evident that its growth had, in the
first place, overthrown the wall at this point. Climbers and shrubs
had thrust their roots in between the blocks that had been but
slightly moved, by the growth of the tree; and had, in time, forced
them asunder; and so, gradually, the whole building had collapsed.
"This tree must be a very old one," Stanley said, looking up at it,
"for it is evident that this wall was thrown down a great many
years ago."
"Very old, master. It is one of our hardest woods, and such trees
live, they say, five or six hundred years. There are some which are
known to be even older than that."
"Well, it is clear that the staircase came up here; but we have no
means of knowing how far the point we reached is below this. I
should say that the stones we saw are the remains of the pavement
and roof, for you see these great blocks that formed the walls
don't go as far as the middle, where there is a great depression.
Still, of course, the steps may have come up on one side or the
other, and not just in the middle of this little temple--for, no
doubt, it was a temple.
"Now, you see, the reason for the steps up to that little square
room are explained. Probably those three chambers were the
apartments of the principal priests, and from them they could
either go out on to the roof of the temple; or could, by taking the
upper staircase to this point, leave or enter without observation.
"Now, let us be off."
On arriving at their tree shelter, they found that the Burman had
got a meal ready and, after partaking of this, Meinik, with the
man, started to buy provisions. It was fortunate that Stanley had,
before starting from Prome, drawn some twenty pounds' worth of
silver from the paymaster. He had expected to be away for three or
four weeks and, during that time, would have had to buy provisions
for himself, Harry, and the four troopers; and might possibly have
occasion for money for other matters. He had not paid the men from
the village, for he knew that one of these would willingly
accompany him to Prome, to receive payment for them all.
A very small amount of silver sufficed for the purchase of a
considerable quantity of food in Burma. Fruit, of which many kinds
grew wild in the woods, was extremely cheap; as was rice and grain.
Therefore as yet, with the exception of the small sum expended in
Toungoo, his money was virtually untouched.
The two Burmans made three journeys before nightfall and returned,
each time, with large baskets of fruit, grain, and rice. On the
following morning, they went into the town and bought six of the
largest sized water skins--such as are carried for the use of the
troops in India, one on each side of a bullock. As soon as they
returned with these, they started for the temple. At a stream about
a hundred yards from the entrance they partially filled one of the
skins and, placing a strong bamboo through the straps sewn on it
for the purpose, Meinik and the Burmans carried it to the temple
and, with Stanley's assistance, lifted it into the lower chamber.
The others were, one by one, placed beside it; then water was
carried in the smaller skins and poured in, until they were all as
full as they could hold.
"There is water enough to last us for a month, if needs be,"
Stanley said as, after securely tying up the mouths, they laid the
skins down, side by side.
The smaller mussucks were then filled and placed with the large
skins; and then, having done a long day's work, they returned to
their tree just as the sun was setting. The four men and two boys
were already there, they having done the sixty miles from the
village without a halt. They had already cooked some rice and some
slices of venison--which Meinik had brought, with the water skins,
from the town that morning--and were now lying smoking their cigars
with placid contentment.
For the next six days Meinik went to the town every afternoon. On
his return on the last evening, he said that the guard had told him
that the governor had paid a visit to the prison, that day, and had
seen the white captive; and had decided that he was now well enough
to travel, and that in two days' time he was to start for Ava, the
court having sent down an urgent order that he should be carried
there as soon as he was well enough to bear the fatigue.
"Then tomorrow we must get him out," Stanley said. "Will our two
men be on duty?"
"Yes, master, they have not been on since the last night we were
there. They will form the second watch, and will go on guard at
midnight. I have bought two very sharp saws, and have cut two
strong bamboos for the litter."
This was constructed the next day. It was very simple, being formed
by sewing a blanket strongly to the two bamboos. Two slighter
bamboos, each four feet long, were tied loosely to the main poles.
These were to be lashed across, as soon as they had got beyond the
palisade, so as to keep the poles three feet apart--which, as the
blanket was four feet, from pole to pole, would allow it to bag
comfortably. The cross pieces could not be attached until they were
beyond the palisade; for the window was but two feet wide, and it
was therefore proposed to make the gap through the palisade the
same width, only.
Late in the evening they entered the town, and sat down in a
deserted corner until the time came for them to begin their work.
At last Meinik said that, by the stars, it was already past
midnight; and they then proceeded to the spot where they had before
climbed the palisade. Here they at once set to work. The saws were
well oiled and, in a very few minutes, five bamboos were cut away,
at the level of the ground and six feet above it. As the stockade
was bound together by cross pieces, behind, the other portions of
the bamboos remained in their places.
Meinik and Stanley went first, followed by three of the Burmans,
one of whom carried the litter. The other two Burmans with the
boys, remained on guard at the opening. All were barefooted, except
that Stanley wore a pair of the lightest leather sandals. They went
noiselessly up to the window; the guard, as before, responding to
Meinik's hiss. Without a word, one after another entered the
chamber. The trooper had been sitting at the table, evidently
anxiously expecting their arrival.
Stanley went up to the bed.
"Are you better, Harry?" he asked, in a whisper.
"Better, but still weak."
Everything had been arranged beforehand. The litter was laid down
on the ground, with the poles as far apart as possible. Then
Stanley made a sign, to the trooper, to take one end of the rug on
which Harry was lying; while he took the other. The Burmans ranged
themselves on each side; and the blanket was lifted up, with the
occupant and the pillow composed of his clothes, and laid quietly
on to the blanket of the litter. Then two Burmans went outside,
while the other four men lifted the poles and carried one end to
the window.
The Burmans outside held the ends well above their heads, Stanley
and the trooper raising their hands similarly. The other Burmans
then crawled, under it, out of the window. As the litter was moved
forward through the window, they took the places of Stanley and the
trooper at the poles, and silently moved on towards the palisade.
Stanley and Meinik followed, joined by the two Burmese guards.
Not the slightest sound was made, as the eight men crossed the
short distance to the palisade and passed through the opening where
the others, spear in hand, were awaiting them; ready to rush in and
take part in the fray, should an alarm be given. Stanley breathed a
great sigh of relief, as they passed out. A few paces further they
halted, and the cross pieces were lashed to the poles.
"Thank God that you are out, Harry!" Stanley said, as soon as they
did this. "Has it hurt you much?"
"Nothing to speak of," Harry replied. "You managed it marvellously.
Am I really outside the place altogether?"
"Yes, fairly out. You will be more comfortable when we have lashed
these cross pieces. You will not be lying, then, at the bottom of a
bag; as you are now."
When the work was completed, they proceeded at a rapid pace; for
Harry's weight, reduced by fever as he had been, was a trifle to
his bearers. The others followed close behind and, in a quarter of
an hour, they were well beyond the town. Stanley spoke to Harry
once or twice, but received no answer; so he had no doubt that his
cousin had dozed quietly off to sleep. The gentle motion of the
litter would be likely to have that effect; especially as Harry had
probably been lying awake, for the last night or two, listening for
the friends who might arrive at any time.
When they reached the confines of the forest the torches, which had
been carried by the boys, were all lit; and each carried two--with
the exception of the bearers, who had but one each--while all kept
close together round the litter. They waved their torches as they
went and, although they heard the cries of several tigers in the
forest, they had no fear of being attacked; as so many waving
lights would deter the most hungry beast from venturing near.
Once in the chamber at the temple, the litter was laid down on a
pile of reeds and leaves that had been gathered the day before,
together with a great store of brushwood and logs. Harry still
sleeping quietly. In a short time a bright fire was blazing and,
with this and the light of the torches, the chamber assumed quite a
cheerful appearance. On the way, Stanley had spoken to the two
guards, thanked them for their service, and assured them that they
would receive the reward promised by Meinik.
"I am the British officer," he said, "who was at the village with
my friend, though I was absent when he was carried off. As you see,
I am disguised."
Both had shown signs of uneasiness, when they approached the
temple; but Meinik had assured them that the spirits would not
venture to approach a party having a white man with them, and that
a night had already been passed in the temple, without any harm
coming of it. A meal, consisting of slices of venison, was at once
prepared and, when this was eaten, and the whole party had lighted
cigars, their spirits rose at the success of the enterprise. The
soldiers, however, had been disappointed at hearing that there was
going to be a stay for some little time there, to enable the
wounded man to gain strength.
"We may not stop long," Stanley said; "but, you see, with the
litter we could not travel fast; and you may be sure by this time
the alarm has been given for, when they came to relieve you at the
end of three hours, it would be found that you were missing; and
then they would, at once, discover that the captives had gone, too.
By daybreak the whole garrison will be out. How many are there of
them?"
"There are three thousand men, in the town," the guard said. "After
a party of your soldiers came within a short distance of it, two
months ago, fifteen hundred men were added to the garrison."
"Well, you see, with three thousand men they could scour all the
woods and, if they overtook us, we should be unable to make any
defence. Here, we may hope that they will not discover us; but if
they do we can make a desperate resistance for, as only one man can
enter that door at a time, it would be next to impossible for them
to force their way in. You have your guns, and I have a brace of
pistols and, as all the others have spears, it will be as much as
the three thousand men could do, to get in through that door. If
they did, there is a still narrower door in the corner to defend;
and beyond that there is a long, narrow, steep flight of stairs,
that one man could hold against a host.
"The first thing in the morning, we will carry our stores to the
upper chamber. We have water and rice enough to last us for a
month, if we are careful; so that, although I hope they won't find
us, I shall not be at all afraid of our beating them off, if they
do so."
As soon as it was daylight, the stones that had been added to the
steps at the doorway were flung down; and then, by their united
efforts, the two remaining steps were removed. Then they helped
each other up, the last man being aided by two of his comrades,
above.
"There," Stanley said; "if they do come to search for us, they are
not likely to suspect that we have got a badly wounded man up here.
They may search the big chamber that we were in, before, and any
others there may be on the same level; but this narrow entrance,
ten feet above them, is scarcely likely to attract their attention.
If it does, as I said, we must fight it out; but it will be a
wonderfully hard nut for them to crack."
He then ordered the men to carry all the stores to the upper
chamber. Just as they began the work, there was a slight movement
on the bed. Stanley at once went up to it. Harry was looking round,
in a bewildered way.
"Well, Harry, how are you feeling? You have had a capital sleep."
"Oh, is it you, Stanley? I was not quite sure but that I was
dreaming. Where am I? I must have gone off to sleep, directly we
started; for I don't remember anything, after you spoke to me when
they were making the hammock more comfortable."
"You are in a temple--some four or five thousand years old, I
should say--and this is a rock chamber. The temple itself is in
ruins. We are ten miles from Toungoo, and shall wait here till the
pursuit for you has slackened. In another week, you will be more
fit to move than you are, at present. I should not like to carry
you far, as you are now. Besides, if we had pushed on, they would
have been sure to overtake us; for these fellows can run like
hares."
"But why should not they find us here, Stanley?"
"Well, of course they may do so, but the entrance to this chamber
is ten feet above the ground; and another thing is, they have all
sorts of superstitions about the place. Nothing would induce them
to approach it, after nightfall; and even in the daytime, they
don't like coming near it. Lastly, if they do find us, it will take
them all their time to force their way in. I have five men, and two
young fellows quite capable of fighting; then there are your two
guards, Meinik, the trooper, and myself. So you see, we muster
twelve. We have two guns, and a brace of pistols, and spears for us
all; and if we cannot defend that narrow passage, against any
number of Burmans, we shall deserve our fate.
"Besides, there is another, and even narrower door, in the corner
behind you. They would have to force that; and in the chamber
beyond there is a narrow, straight staircase, some forty feet high,
which a man with an axe ought to be able to hold against an army.
They are taking the stores up there, now. We have got provisions
and water for a month. When everything is straight, there we shall
carry you up and, unless they sit down in front of this place and
regularly starve us out, we are as safe as if we were in Prome."
"I wish to goodness you had that hideous dye off you, Stanley. I
know it is you by your voice but, what with the colour, and all
that tattooing, and your extraordinary hair, I don't know you in
the least."
"I am in just the same disguise as that in which I made my way down
from Ava," Stanley laughed. "I felt very uncomfortable, at first,
with nothing on but this short petticoat thing; but I have got
accustomed to it, now, and I am bound to say that it is cool and
comfortable.
"Now, tell me about your wounds."
"They are not very serious, Stanley. I had a lick across the head
with a sword--that was the one that brought me down--and a slice
taken out of my arm from the elbow, nearly up to the shoulder. Also
a spear-wound in the side; but that was a trifle, as it glanced off
the ribs. If I had been left as I fell, and somebody had bound up
my wounds at once, I should have been all right by this time. The
fellows did bandage them up, to some extent; but the movement of
the litter set them off bleeding again, and I fancy that I lost
pretty nearly all the blood in my body. I think that it was pure
weakness, rather than fever, that kept me unconscious so long; for
I gather, from the pantomime of the trooper, that I must have been
nearly a fortnight unconscious."
"Yes, you were certainly so when I came the first time, Harry; but
I think, perhaps, on the whole, it is lucky that you were. You
would probably have had a great deal more fever, if you had not
been so very weak; and if you had escaped that, and had gone on
well, you might have been sent off to Ava before I could get all
the arrangements made for your escape."
"Tell me all about it," Harry said. "It seems to me wonderful how
you managed it."
Stanley told him the whole story. By the time that he had finished,
the stores had all been taken upstairs; and the fire most carefully
extinguished, as the smoke would at once have betrayed them. The
cross pieces of the litter had been taken off, to allow Harry to be
carried in through the door, and he was now lifted. Two of the men
took off their cloths, and wrapped the materials of the bed into
these, carrying them up at once. As soon as they had gone on, Harry
was slowly and carefully taken to the upper chamber, and laid down
again on the bed. Stanley took his place beside him, and the rest
of the party went down to the lower room; having received the
strictest orders not to show themselves near the entrance, and not
to smoke until well assured that their pursuers must have passed on
ahead.
The bamboos of the litter were converted into a rough ladder and,
on this, Meinik took his post at the little window in the second of
the lower rooms. Owing to the immense thickness of the rock wall,
he did not get an extensive view, but he could see the path by
which anyone coming up through the forest would approach the
temple. It was now about half-past seven and, by this time, the
pursuers might be at hand; in ten minutes, indeed, distant shouts
could be heard, and Stanley at once went down and joined the men
below.
He placed himself in the line of the doorway. As the wall here was
four feet thick, the room was in semi-darkness and, standing well
back, he was certain that his figure could not be perceived by
anyone standing in the glare of sunshine outside. The sounds grew
louder and louder; and in a minute or two an officer, followed by
some twenty men, emerged from the trees. All paused, when they saw
the temple. The men would have drawn back at once; but the officer
shouted to them to advance, although showing small inclination to
do so, himself.
They were still standing, irresolute, when a superior officer on
horseback, followed by some fifty footmen, came up the path. He
shouted orders for them to search the temple and, as the fear of
him was even greater than their dread of the spirits, the whole of
the men made their way over the fallen stones, and up to the face
of the rock. They first entered the chamber where the horses had
been stabled. The officer who had first arrived went in with his
men and, coming out, reported to his senior that there had been a
fire made, and that some horses had also been there; but that three
weeks, or a month, must have passed since then.
"Are you sure of that?"
"Quite certain, my lord. It is extraordinary that anyone should
have dared to enter there, still less to stable horses when, as
everyone knows, the temple is haunted by evil spirits."
"I care nothing for spirits," the officer said. "It is men we are
in search of. Go and look into any other chambers there may be."
At this moment a deep, mournful sound was heard. Louder and louder
it rose, and then gradually died away. The soldiers stood as if
paralysed. Even the high official--who had been obliged to leave
his horse, and make his way across the fallen blocks on
foot--stepped back a pace, with an expression of awe. He soon
recovered himself, and shouted angrily to the men to go on. But
again the dirge-like noise rose, louder and louder. It swelled, and
then as gradually died away; but this time with a quavering
modulation.
The men looked up, and round. Some gazed at the upper part of the
rock, some straight ahead, while others turned round and faced the
forest.
"Search!" the officer shouted, furiously. "Evil spirits or no evil
spirits, not a man shall stir from here, until the place is
searched."
Then rose a shrill, vibrating sound, as if of eerie laughter. Not
even the officer's authority, or the fear of punishment, could
restrain the soldiers. With cries of alarm, they rushed across the
ruins and plunged into the forest; followed, at a rate which he
tried in vain to make dignified, by the officer who, as soon as he
reached his horse, leapt upon it and galloped away.
The Burmese keenly appreciate a joke and, as soon as the troops had
fled, the villagers and guards inside the temple threw themselves
down on the ground, and roared with laughter. Stanley at once made
his way into the upper room.
"Splendidly done, Meinik! It was like the note of an organ.
Although I knew what you were going to do, I felt almost startled,
myself, when that deep note rose. No wonder they were frightened."
"Well, at any rate, master, we are safe for the present."
"For the present, no doubt, Meinik; but I question if we sha'n't
hear of them, again. That officer was a determined-looking fellow
and, though he was scared, too, he stuck to it like a man."
"That is the governor of the town, master. I saw him carried
through the streets in his chair. Everyone was bending to the
ground, as he passed. He was a famous general, at one time; and
they say that he is likely to command a part of the army, again,
when fighting begins."
"Well, I think that we shall hear of them again, Meinik. I don't
suppose that he really thought that we were here for, certainly, no
Burman would take up his abode in this place, even to save his
life. They will push on the chase through the woods all day and, by
that time, they will feel sure that they would have overtaken us,
had we gone straight on. Then I should not be at all surprised if
he tries here, again."
"Perhaps he will, master. Like enough, he will chop off the heads
of some of the men that ran away, and pick out some of his best
troops for the search. Still, I hope he won't think of it."
Stanley shook his head.
"I hope so, too, Meinik. There is one thing about which I feel
certain--if he does find us here, he will stay here or, at any
rate, leave some troops here, until he gets us. He would know that
he would get into trouble, at Ava, for letting the prisoners
escape; and it would be all important for him to recapture them.
"Now we are up here, Meinik, we will go and have a look at that
upper staircase, again. If we are besieged, that is our only hope
of safety."
They again went along the ledge, and up the staircase. Stanley
examined the stones that blocked the passage, for some time, and at
last exclaimed:
"There, Meinik, look along by the side of this stone. I can see a
ray of light. Yes, and some leaves. I don't think they are more
than thirty feet above us!"
Meinik applied his eye to the crevice.
"I see them, master. Yes, I don't think those leaves are more than
that distance away."
"That is what I came to look for," Stanley said. "It was evident
that this rubbish could only be the stones of the root, and
pavement over the depression in the middle of the ruin; and that
these could not block up this staircase very far. The question is,
will it be possible to clear them away? Evidently it will be
frightfully dangerous work. One might manage to get one stone out,
at a time, in safety. But at any moment, the loosening of one stone
might bring a number of others down, with a run; and anyone on this
narrow staircase would be swept away like a straw."
Meinik agreed as to the danger.
"Well, we need not think it over now, Meinik; but if we are really
besieged, it is by this way that we must escape, if at all. We must
hope that we sha'n't be beset; but if we are, we must try here. I
would rather be killed, at once, by the fall of a stone on my head,
than tortured to death."
Meinik nodded, and they descended the stairs, put out the torches
that they had used there, and returned along the ledge to the
chamber where Harry was lying.
"So Meinik scared them away," the latter said, as Stanley sat down
beside him. "I could not think what he was going to do when he came
up here with that long reed, as thick as my leg. He showed it to
me, and I saw that it had a sort of mouthpiece fixed into it; and
he made signs that he was going to blow down it. When he did, it
was tremendous and, as it got louder and louder, I put my hands to
my ears. Everything seemed to quiver. The other row--that
diabolical laughing noise--he made with a smaller one. It was
frightful; but the big note was more like a trombone, only twenty
times louder.
"Well, do you think that we have done with them?"
"I hope so, Harry. At any rate, you can be assured that they will
never fight their way up here and, long before our provisions are
finished, I have no doubt that I shall be able to hit on some plan
of escape."
The day passed quietly. The woods were as silent as usual. The
Burmans were all in high spirits at the success of Meinik's horn.
When it became dark, they hung a blanket before the entrance,
placed one of the lads on watch just outside it, and then lighted a
fire. Stanley took a couple of torches and went up to Harry, taking
the precaution to hang a cloth before the window.
"I have not said much about thanking you, old fellow," Harry said,
"but you must know how I feel."
"You had better say nothing about it, Harry. I have only done what
you would have done, had you been in my place. Had you been in
charge of that party, and I had been carried off, I know you would
have done all in your power to rescue me. You might not have
succeeded quite so well, because you do not know their language;
but I know that you would have tried. After all, I have not run
anything like so much risk as I did when I rescued Meinik from the
leopard. And he, of course, was an absolute stranger to me.
"Besides, you are not rescued, yet; and we won't holloa until we
are out of the wood."
"It is very cool and pleasant here," Harry said, after lying
without speaking for a few minutes. "It was dreadfully hot in that
hut, in the middle of the day; and I used to feel that I lost
almost as much strength, in the day, as I picked up at night. I am
wonderfully better this evening. Of course, that long sleep had
something to do with it, and the pleasure of being free and with
you had still more; but certainly the coolness, and the air blowing
through that opening, have counted for something."
"Well, we shall feed you up as long as you are here, Harry; and I
hope, in a fortnight, to see you pretty firm on your legs again;
and then, if there is nothing to prevent it, we will carry you off
triumphantly."
Meinik here came in, with two bowls of broth; for they had bought a
few earthenware utensils on one of the visits to Toungoo.
"That is first rate!" Harry said, as he finished his first one.
"What is it made of?"
"I never ask questions," Stanley replied--who tried, successfully,
to keep down a smile. "Meinik is a capital cook, and turns out all
sorts of nice little dishes. Here comes his step again.
"What have you there, Meinik?" he asked, as the Burman entered,
with two plates.
"A slice of mutton done on sticks over the fire, master, and some
rice with it."
"That is first rate!" Harry said heartily, when he had finished.
"They did not give me meat, in prison. I suppose they thought that
I was not strong enough for it."
"They eat very little meat themselves, Harry. Now I fancy your
dinner is done, except some fruit. We have got plenty of that."
There were, however, some fried bananas, and Harry declared that he
had feasted like a king.
"If this goes on, Stanley, I will wager that I shall be about in a
week; and shall be offering to run a race with you, in a
fortnight."
"You will be a good deal longer than that, before you are fit to
walk any distance. Still, with a good appetite--which you are sure
to have, after your illness--plenty of food, and the cool air in
these caves, I do expect that you will pick up fast."
The next day passed quietly.
"I shall be glad when tomorrow is over," Stanley said to Meinik,
the last thing before going up to Harry's cell. "Today I expect
they are all marching back again and, if they pay us another visit,
it will be early tomorrow morning. Be sure that two men are on
watch. They can relieve each other, every hour; and I shall come
down myself, occasionally, to see that all is right; but I don't
think that even the governor could get his men to come near this
place, after dark."
"We will keep good watch, master, but I have no fear of their
coming."