Both Sides the Border Part 29

"I suppose that you will have no difficulty in silencing the priest?"

Roger smiled.

"No; I think I can answer for him."

"Could you speak to the girls through the keyhole, Roger?"

"There would be no difficulty about that, master. I have but to choose a time when the priest is out."

"Then tell them that we are here, Roger, and they are to be ready to escape, whenever we give the signal. Ask them if the trapdoor leading on to the platform is fastened, and whether they can unfasten it. If not, we must break it in, from above. We can get on to the top of the turret, easily enough, by throwing the rope up with a hook attached.

"Of course, the two sentries must be first silenced. I would wait till I, myself, should be on sentry there; but that might not occur for a week, and you cannot prolong your stay here more than another day; therefore, we will try it tonight. I have given the men with the horses notice.

"Do you get the priest bound and gagged, by ten o'clock; everything will be quiet by that time. I will come noiselessly up the steps. At that hour, do you be at the door, and on the lookout for me. The sentries will have to be silenced--that is the most difficult part of the business."

"We can manage that," Roger said, confidently. "One blow with my quarterstaff, on the back of the head under the steel cap, will do that noiselessly enough."

"That would not do, Roger. The man would go down with such a crash, that the fall of his armour on the flags would be heard all over the castle. He must be gripped by the throat, so that he cannot holloa; and then bound tightly, and gagged before he has time to get breath."

"I suppose that would be the best way," Roger said regretfully; "but I should like to have struck two good blows; one for the sake of Dame Armstrong, and one for Allan. However, your plan is the best. The only difficulty will be the trapdoor."

"Well, we must look about today, and get a couple of bits of iron that we can use as a prise. Still, I hope that it will not be needed. I saw a bit of iron, in the stables, that I think I can bend into a hook for the rope; and if I can't, I have no doubt that you can.

"That is all. You had better move away now. People will be stirring, directly."

That night, at ten o'clock, when all in the hold had been asleep half an hour, Oswald rose quietly from the rushes, on which he and a dozen of his comrades were sleeping, and made his way noiselessly out of the room; went into the stables and fetched the piece of iron, which he had, during the day, placed so that he could feel it in the dark; took the coil of rope in his hands, and ascended the steps. The top was but some ten feet from the turret. He stood quiet, until he heard the sentry moving away from him, then he mounted the last steps, and in a moment reached the foot of the turret stairs. Roger was standing there.

"All right, master!" he whispered. "I took the priest by surprise, and he was gagged before he knew what was happening. I tore the blanket up into strips, and tied him down onto his pallet with them. He is safe enough.

"Now for the sentries. I will take the one to the right, first. I will go out and stand in the angle. It is a dark night, and there is no chance of his seeing me. When you hear his walk cease, you will know that I have got him. I have managed to bring up a rope, that I have cut into handy lengths. Here are two of them.

"There, he has just turned, so I will go at once."

"How about the trapdoor?"

"It is all right, master. It is bolted on the inside. They have tried the bolts, and find they can move them;" and with these words, he at once stepped noiselessly out.

Oswald stood listening. Presently he heard the returning steps of the sentry. They came close up to the turret, and then suddenly ceased.

He at once hurried round. The sentry hung limp in Roger's grasp. Oswald bound his hands tightly, and twisted the rope three or four times round his body, and securely knotted it. Then he tied the ankles tightly together.

"I will lay him down," Roger whispered, when he had done so.

Oswald bent the man's legs and, trussing him up, fastened the rope from the ankles to that which bound the wrists. Roger now relaxed his grip of the man's throat, thrust a piece of wood between his teeth, and fastened it, by a string going round the back of the head. He then took off his steel cap, and laid it some distance away.

"That will do for him, master. I reckon that he will be an hour or two, before he will get breath enough to holloa, even without that gag."

The other man was captured as silently as the former had been. When he was bound, Roger said:

"Now for the hook, master."

"Here is the iron. It was too strong for me to bend."

Roger took it and, exerting his great strength, bent it across his knee. Then he took the coil of rope, and tied a knot at the end, and with some smaller cord lashed it securely along the whole length of the hook.

"Now, Master, do you get on to my shoulders, and I think you will be able to hook it to the battlements. It is not above twelve feet. If you find that you cannot, step on my head."

"I am sure I can reach it without that, Roger."

And indeed, he found that he could do so easily; and having fixed it firmly, he got hold of the rope, and hoisted himself to the top of the turret. In a minute, Roger was beside him.

Feeling about, they soon discovered the trapdoor, on which Roger knocked three times. Then they heard a grating sound below and, shortly, one end of the heavy trapdoor was slightly raised. The two men got their fingers under it, and pulled it up, and Janet and Jessie ran out, both crying with joy and excitement.

"Hush!" Oswald whispered. "Do not utter a sound. There are sentries on other parts of the walls, and the slightest noise might be heard.

"Now, we will knot this rope."

He and Roger set to work, and before long knots were tied, a foot apart, along the whole length of the rope.

"I will take you down first, Jessie, for you are the lightest," Oswald said.

"Now, Roger, tie us together."

One of the pieces of rope Roger had brought was pa.s.sed round and round them, tying them firmly, face to face.

"Now, Jessie, you had best take hold of the rope, too, and take as much of your weight off me as you can. It is a long way down; and, though I think that I could carry your weight that distance, it is best that you should help me as much as you are able."

The rope was shifted to the outside of the turret. Roger, after fixing it firmly, helped them over the battlements, holding Oswald by the collar, until he had a firm grasp of the rope in his hands, and obtained a hold with his feet.

"That is right, Jessie," he whispered, as the girl also took a firm hold of the rope. "You are no weight, like that. Now, let the rope pa.s.s gradually through your hands and, when I tell you, hold tight by one of the knots."

After lowering himself forty feet, Oswald found that he was standing on a ledge of rock, three inches wide, at the foot of the wall.

"Now, dear, it will be more difficult," he said. "You must use one of your hands, to push yourself off from any rugged points. There are not many of them. I had a look at the rock today, and its face is almost smooth. I will do the best I can to keep you from it."

In another three minutes, they stood at the foot of the craig. Oswald shook the rope violently, to let those above know that they were down.

Then he untied the cord that bound him to his cousin, who at once sat down, sobbing hysterically. Oswald put his hand upon her shoulder.

"Steady, Jessie, steady. You have been brave and quiet, coming down.

The danger is over now, but we have a long walk and a longer ride before us, and you will need all your strength."

In a very short time, Roger and Janet joined them. As soon as she was untied, Janet threw her arms round Oswald's neck, and spoke for the first time.

"Oh, Oswald, from what have you saved us! How brave and good of you to risk so much!"

"Tut, tut, Janet, as if we should leave you here, in the hands of the Bairds, without making an effort to free you! Now, come along, dear. Be very careful how you walk, till we get down to the bottom. It is pretty steep and, if you were to set a stone rolling, we might have them after us, in no time. As it is, we shall only have an hour and a half start, for the sentries will be relieved at midnight. However, by that time we shall be on horseback, and of course they won't know which road we have taken."

As soon as they came to level ground, they set off at a run. They were but a mile from the village when they heard, on the still night air, distant shouts, followed half a minute later by the winding of a horn; then, almost immediately, a glimmering light appeared on the highest turret of the hold, and this rapidly broadened out into a sheet of flame.