The Young Castellan Part 33

"Don't let him off easy, Master Roy," whispered Ben; "we might have been an enemy, sir, for aught he could tell."

This was spoken with the sergeant's lips to his young master's ear, and a few moments later Roy was at the top of the little turret, and stood there in the door-way ready to pounce upon the man whom he expected to find asleep.

But to his great satisfaction the sentry was well on the alert, for he was kneeling at one of the crenelles, reaching out as far as he could, and evidently watching something away to the north, while all was so still and dark that the movement of a fish or water-rat in the deep moat below sounded loud and strange.

Roy stepped out silently, crossed the narrow leads, and stood looking in the same direction as the sentinel; but he could make out nothing, and he was about to speak when the man, who had suddenly divined his presence, sprang up and clapped his hand to his sword.

"Stand!" he cried, hoa.r.s.ely.

Roy gave the word, and Ben stepped out of the door-way to his side.

"Why, sir, you quite scared me," faltered the man; "I didn't hear you come."

"You should have heard," said Roy, sternly. "What were you watching there?"

"That's what I don't know, sir. I see a light out yonder somewheres about where them old stones is on the hill. And then I thought I heard talking, but that's quarter of an hour ago."

Both Roy and his companion had a good long look, but there was nothing to see or hear; and after admonishing the man to keep an eye upon the place, they descended and visited the sentries on the north-east and south-east towers, to find them well upon the _qui vive_.

After this they descended, and Ben led the way to the armoury, where he set the lantern on the table, took a spare candle from a box, and a bunch of keys from a drawer.

"May mean nothing, Master Roy; but I don't understand what light there could be up nigh the old chapel ruins, nor who could be talking there at this time of night."

"Not likely to be anything wrong, Ben, because if they had been enemies, they would not have shown a light."

"Signal perhaps, sir."

"Well, they wouldn't have talked aloud."

"Don't suppose they did, sir. Sound runs in a still, dark night like this. Well, anyways it seems to me as it's quite time we had a good look round to see if there's a hole anywhere in the bottom of the pot, so if you're ready, so am I. Only say the word."

"Forward!" cried Roy; and, going first with the lantern, Ben led the way along the corridor to the head of a flight of stone steps, down which they went to the underground pa.s.sage, which with groined roof ran right along all four sides of the castle. The dark place seemed full of whispering echoes, as they went on past door after door leading into cellar and dungeon, all now turned into stores; for the great ma.s.s of provender brought in by Farmer Raynes's wagons had here been carefully packed away, the contents of each place being signified by a white, neatly painted number, duly recorded in a book where the account of what number so-and-so indicated was carefully written in Master Pawson's best hand, since he had eagerly undertaken the duties of clerk.

At each corner of the castle bas.e.m.e.nt, the pa.s.sage expanded into a circular crypt with a huge stone pillar, many feet in diameter, in the middle, from which radiated ma.s.sive arches to rest on eight smaller pillars. This radial series of arches supported one of the towers, and, after pa.s.sing the one to the north-east, Ben led on with his lantern along the pa.s.sage running to the tower at the north-west corner, the dim light casting strange shadows behind, which seemed to be moving in pursuit of the two silent figures, urged on by the whispering echoes of their steps.

The pavement was smooth and perfectly dry, as were the ma.s.sive stone walls; and as they went on, Roy fell into a musing fit, and thought of what a strongly built place Royland castle was, and how in times of emergency, if a garrison were hard pressed and had to yield rampart and tower to a powerful enemy, they would still have these pa.s.sages and crypts as a place of refuge from which, if a bold defence were made, it would be impossible to dislodge them.

Apparently mind does influence mind under certain circ.u.mstances, for, just as Roy had arrived at this point, Ben stopped short and turned.

"Look here, Master Roy," he said, "you ought, now we're getting in pretty good order, to do two things."

"Yes; what are they?"

"Have that there stone gallows on the ramparts put a bit in order. It wants a few stones and some mortar."

"Why should I have that put in order?" said Roy, shortly.

"Case you want to hang any traitors, sir, for giving notice to the enemy of what we're doing, or trying to open the gates to 'em."

"I shall never want to hang any traitors," said Roy, sternly.

"I don't s'pose you will, sir; but it's just as well to let people see that you could if you wanted to. Might keep us from having any."

"I will not let the garrison see that I could have any such mistrust of the men who have come bravely up to help to protect my father's property."

"Well, Master Roy, that sounds handsome, and I like the idea of it: it's cheering-like to a man who tries to do his best. But all people don't think same as we do, and whenever we hear of a castle being attacked and defended, there were always people outside trying to make traitors of those who were in, and temptation's a nasty, cunning, 'sinuating sort of a thing. But you're castellan, and you ought to do as you please."

"I will, Ben, over that, at all events. Fancy what my mother would think if I were to be making preparations for such a horror."

"Hum! yes, sir. What would she think? That's a queer thing, Master Roy, isn't it, what a deal mothers have to do with how a man does, whether he's a boy or whether he's growed up?"

"Why, of course they have. It is natural."

"Yes, sir; I suppose it is," said the old soldier, as he went on. "You wouldn't think it, perhaps, of such a rough 'un as me, and at my time o'

life, but I never quite get my old woman out of my head."

"I don't see how any one could ever forget his mother," said Roy, flushing a little.

"He can't, sir," said Ben, sharply; "what she taught him and said always sticks to the worst of us. The pity of it is, that we get stoopid and ashamed of it all--nay, not all, for it comes back, and does a lot of good sometimes, and--pst!--pst!--if we talk so loud we shall be waking Master Pawson. But I say, Master Roy, it won't do, really. Look at that now!"

They were close to the circular crypt beneath the north-west tower, and Ben was holding up his lantern towards the curve of the arches on his left.

"Roots! coming through between the stones."

"Yes, sir, that's it. Only the trees her ladyship had planted, and that's the beginning of pulling this corner of the castle down. There's nothing like roots for that job. Cannon-b.a.l.l.s'll do it, and pretty quickly too; but give a tree time, and it'll shake stone away from stone, and let the water come in, and then the frost freezes it, and soon it's all over with the strongest tower ever made. Do 'ee now ask her to have 'em cut down, and the roots burned."

"I'm not going to ask anything of the sort, Ben," said Roy, shortly.

"Now about this pa.s.sage. You think it must run somewhere from here."

"Yes, sir," replied the old soldier, as he stood now under one of the arches of the crypt and raised his lantern to open a door. "There, now we can see a bit better. If there is such a place, it starts, I suppose, from somewhere here."

He walked slowly round the place, holding the lantern into the recesses, eight of which appeared between the pillars surrounding that in the centre.

"But there's plenty of room here for storing sacks or anything else, and you can have doors made to those two that haven't got any, if you like."

Roy walked into one of these recesses--cellar-like places of horse-shoe curve, going in a dozen feet, and then ending in a flat wall.

"Which way am I looking here, Ben?" said Roy.

"Out'ards, sir; you're standing about level with the bottom of the moat, or pretty nigh thereabouts. You're--yes--that's where you are, just at the nor'-west corner, and the moat turns there."

"Then the places on each side here face the moat, one to the north, the other to the west."

"Well, not exactly, sir, but nearly."

"Then the secret pa.s.sage can't begin at the end of either of these, and been built up."

"I dunno, sir. Folk in the past as had to do with them pa.s.sages did all they could to make 'em cunning."