While she was speaking a fear grew upon me lest being alone in the ruinshe might give her enemies the very opportunity they wanted. She saw mydistress, and with her quick woman's wit guessed the cause of it. Witha very tender movement she placed her hand on the back of mine, andwithout squeezing it held it there firmly as she said:
"Don't be frightened for me, dear. These are expert workmen that we aredealing with. They won't move till their plans are all ready. They don'twish to get hold of me for five minutes and let "Mac's men"--as lackingdue respect for President McKinley, they call the Secret Service agentsof my country--catch them red-handed. They are only laying their plansas yet. Perhaps we may have cause to be anxious when that is done; butas yet it's all right. Anyhow, my dear, as I know it will make youeasier in your mind, when you are not at hand to protect me, I shall laythe traps whilst you are with me. There now! Am I good to my husband, oram I not?" I made her aware in my own way--I could not help it--that shewas good! and she let the incident pass unrebuked. Even lovers, thoughthey have not the status of the husband, must be allowed a littlelatitude now and again.
We talked over all the possibilities that we could either of us think ofwith regard to a secret passage between the castle and the monument. Itwas apparent that in old time such a hidden way might have been of theutmost importance; and it was more than possible that such a passagemight exist. Already we had reason to believe that there was a waybetween the ruined chapel and the top of the reservoir hill, and we knewthat there must be existing some secret hiding place gained from theinterior of the chapel. What we had still to discover, and this was themost important of all, was whether there was a method of communicationbetween the castle and the chapel. After tea we started out together;and as we had arranged between us before starting, managed in ourstrolling to go quite round the castle and through many of the grassyalleys between the woods. Then, lest there should be any listener, Isaid:
"Let us go into the old chapel. I haven't had a good look at it since Ihave been coming here!" So we went into the chapel and began to lay ourtraps. Of course we could not guard against any one spying upon us.There might be eyes of enemies bent on us through some secret chink orcranny or organised spy-hole. This we could not help, and had to takeour chances of it; but if anyone were within ear-shot and unable tosee us, we guarded our movements by our misleading remarks concerninghistory and art. Deftly Marjory stretched sections of her gossamerthread from place to place, so that if any one went in the chapel theircourse must be marked by the broken threads. We finished near the door,and our artless, innocent, archaeological conversation stopped there,too. We strolled back to the castle, feeling sure that if there were anysecret hiding place within the ruin we should have located the entranceto it in the morning.
That afternoon I went to the house at Whinnyfold. Most of the thingswhich I had ordered had arrived, and when I had had the various boxesand bundles moved inside I felt able to start on my work.
First I rigged up a proper windlass over the hole into the cave; andfixed it so that any one could manipulate it easily and safely fromabove. It could be also worked from below by aid of an endless chainround the axle. I hammered the edges of the hole somewhat smoother,so that no chance friction might cut the rope; and I fixed candlesand lanterns in various places, so that all the light which might benecessary could be had easily. Then I furnished a room with rugs andpillows, and with clothes for Marjory for changing. She would be sure torequire such, when our search after the treasure should come off. I hadready some tins of provisions, and I had arranged at the hotel that asI might sometimes stay and work in my own home--I was supposed to be anauthor--some fresh provisions were to be sent over each morning, andleft ready for me with Mrs. Hay at Whinnyfold. By the time my work wasthrough, it was late in the evening, and I went to the hotel to sleep.I had arranged with Marjory to be with her early in the morning. Itwas hardly daylight when I woke, but I got up at once and took my waytowards Crom, for the experience of the day before had shown me thatwhoever used the path near the monument used it in the grey of the dawn.As usual I hid my bicycle and took my way cautiously to the monument. Bythis time the sun was up and the day was bright; the dew lay heavy, andwhen I came on any of my threads I could easily distinguish them by theshimmering beads which made each thread look like a miniature rope ofdiamonds.
Again the strings across the path were broken. My heart beat heavilyas I began to follow back towards the monument the track of the brokenthread. It led right up to it, on the side away from the castle, andthen stopped. The other threads all round the monument were intact.Having learned so much, my first act was to prevent discovery of myown plan. Accordingly I carefully removed all the threads, broken andunbroken. Then I began to make minute investigation of the monumentitself. As it was evident that whoever had broken the threads had comestraight from it, there was a presumption that there was an openingsomewhere. The rock below was unbroken and the stonework was seeminglyfixed on the rock itself. By a process of exclusions I came to thebelief that possibly the monument itself might be moveable.
Accordingly I began to experiment. I pressed against it, this way andthat. I tried to move it by exercising pressure top and bottom in turn;but always without avail. Then I began to try to move it sideways asthough it might be on a pivot. At first there was no yielding, no answerof any kind to my effort; but suddenly I thought I perceived a slightmovement. I tried again and again, using my strength in the same way;but with no result. Then I tried turning it in the suspected direction,holding both my hands low down on the corners of the boulder; then goinggradually up higher I pursued the same effort; again no response. StillI felt I was on the track a
nd began to make efforts in eccentric ways.All at once, whilst I was pressing with my left hand low down whilst Ipulled with my right high up on the other edge, the whole great stonebegan to move in a slow easy way, as though in perfect poise. Icontinued the movement and the stone turned lazily over on one side,revealing at my very feet a dark opening of oval form some three feetacross its widest part. Somehow I was not altogether surprised; my headkept cool in what was to me a wonderful way. With an impulse which wasbased on safety, lest the opening of the hole should make discovery ofmy presence, I reversed the action; and the stone rolled slowly over toits old position. Several times I moved it from its place and then backagain, so that I might become accustomed to its use.
For a while I hesitated as to whether I should explore the openingimmediately; but soon came to the conclusion that I had better beginat once. So I went back to my bicycle and took the lamp with me. I hadmatches in my case, and as I had the revolver which I always carriednow, I felt equal to any emergency. I think I was finally influenced inmy decision to attempt the passage at once by the remembrance ofMarjory's remark that the kidnappers would make no effort until theirplans were quite complete. They, more than I, might fear discovery; andon this hope I was strong as I lowered myself down through the narrowopening. I was glad to see that there was no difficulty in moving thestone from the inside; there were two iron handles let into the stonefor the purpose.
I cannot say I was at ease in my mind, I was, however, determined to goon; and with a prayer to God for protection, and a loving thought ofMarjory, I went on my way.
The passage was doubtless of natural origin, for it was evident thatthe seams in the rock were much like those on the coast where the strataof different geological formations joined. Art had, however improved theplace wonderfully. Where the top had come too low it had been quarriedaway; the remnants still lay adjacent where the cave broadened out. Thefloor where the slope was steep was cut into rough steps. Altogether,there were signs of much labour in the making of the passage. As I wentdown, I kept an eye on the compass whenever I came to a turn, so that Imight have a rough idea of the direction in which I was going. In themain the road, with counterbalancing curves and angles, led straightdown.
When I had got to what I considered must be half way, allowing for theastounding magnitude which seems to be the characterisation of even ashort way under ground; the passage forked, and at a steep angle anotherpassage, lower and less altered than that along which I had come, turnedaway to the left. Going a few feet up it I could hear the sound ofrunning water.
This was evidently the passage to the reservoir.
CHAPTER XXXI
MARJORY'S ADVENTURE
As I felt that time, in which I had the passage all to myself, wasprecious, I turned back to the main way down. The path was very steepand low and the rock underfoot was cut in rude steps; as I held thelantern before me I had to droop it so that I could smell the hot metalwhere the flame touched the back. It was indeed a steep and difficultway, made for others than men of my own stature. As I went, I felt myfirst fears passing away. At first I had dreaded a lack of air, and allsorts of horrors which come to those who essay unknown passages. Therecame back to my recollection passages in Belzoni's explorations in thePyramids when individuals had got lost, and when whole parties werestopped by the first to advance jamming in a narrow passage as hecrawled along on his belly. Here, though the roof came down in placesdangerously low, there was still ample room, and the air came up sweetand cool. To any one unused to deep burrows, whether the same be naturalor artificial, there is a dread of being underground. One is cut offfrom light and air; and burial alive in all its potential horrors isalways at hand. However, the unexpected clearness and easiness of theway reassured me; and I descended the steep passage with a good heart.All distance underground seems extravagantly long to those unaccustomedto it; and to me the mere depth I had descended seemed almost impossiblewhen the way before me became somewhat level again. At the same timethe roof rose so that I could stand upright. I guessed that I mustbe now somewhere at the foot of the hillock and not far from the oldchapel; so I went forward carefully, keeping my hand ready to cover upthe front of the lamp. As the ground was fairly level, I could in away pace it; and as I knew that there was only about two hundred feetdistance from the foot of the hill to the chapel, I was not surprisedwhen after some eighty paces I found the passage end in a sort of rudechamber cut in the rock. At right angles to the place of my entry therewas a regular stairway, partly cut in rock and partly built, leadingupward. Before I ascended I looked around carefully and could see thatsections of the walls of the chamber were built of great blocks ofstone. Leaving further investigation for the future I went upward with abeating heart.
The stair was rudely circular, and I had counted thirty steps when I sawthe way blocked by a great stone. For a few seconds I was in fear lest Ishould find this impossible; then I looked carefully for any means ofmoving the obstacle. I thought it more than likely that something of thesame process would be adopted for both ends of the passage.
Luck was certainly on my side to-day! Here were two iron handles, muchthe same as those with which I had been enabled to move the monumentfrom within. I grasped them firmly, and began to experiment as to whichway the stone moved. It trembled under my first effort; so exerting avery little of my strength in the same direction the great stone beganto move. I saw a widening line of open space through which a dim lightshone in upon me. Holding the stone in poise with one hand, I coveredthe front of the lamp with my cap, and then resumed the opening process.Slowly, slowly, the stone rolled back till a clear way lay abreast of methrough which, doubled up, I could pass. From where I stood I could seepart of the wall of a building, a wall with long low windows in massivestone; and I knew that at last I had reached the old chapel. A joyousfeeling rushed over me; after the unknown perils of the cavern passageat last I had reached safety. I bent low and began to step out throughthe narrow opening. There was fully four feet in the circumference ofthe stone so that two such steps as were possible to me were necessaryto take me out. I had taken one and my foot was lifted for the secondwhen a clear firm voice said in a whisper:
"Hands up! If you move you are a dead man!" I stopped of course, andraising my face, for my head was bent low in the necessary effort ofstooping, I found myself opposite the muzzle of a revolver. For aninstant I looked at it; it was firm as the rock around me, and I feltthat I must obey. Then I looked beyond it, to the hand which held it,and the eyes which directed. These too were inflexible; but a great joycame over me when I recognised that the hand and eyes were those ofMarjory. I would have sprung forward to her, but for that ominous ringof steel in front of me. I waited a few seconds, for it seemed strangethat she did not lower the revolver on seeing who it was. As, however,the pistol still covered me unpleasantly, I said:
"Marjory!" In an instant her hand dropped to her side. I could not butnotice with an admiration for her self-control and the strength of herresolution, that she still held the revolver in her grasp. With a gladcry she leaped towards me with a quick impulsive movement which made myheart bound, for it was all love and spontaneity. She put her left handon my shoulder; and as she looked into my eyes I could feel the gladtremor that swept through her.
For several seconds she stood, and then with a sigh said in a voice ofself-reproach:
"And _I_ did not know _you_!" The way she spoke the words "I" "you" wasluminous! Had I not already known her heart, she would in that momenthave stood self-revealed.
We were manifestly two thoroughly practical people, for even in therapture of our meeting--to me it was no less than rapture to comefrom so grim an aperture in the secret cavern passage--we had our witsabout us. I think she was really the first to come to a sense of oursurroundings; for just as I was opening my mouth to speak she held up awarning finger.
"Hush! Some one may come; though I think there is no one near. Waitdear, whilst I look!" she seemed to flit noiselessly out of the doorwayand I saw her vanish amongst the trees. In a few minutes she returnedcarrying carefully a wicker basket. As she opened it she said:
"Some one might suspect something if they saw you in that state."She took from the basket a little bowl of water, soap, towel and aclothes-brush. Whilst I washed my face and hands she was brushing medown. A very short time completed a rough toilet. Then she pouredthe water carefully into a crack in the wall, and putting the thingstogether with my lamp, back in the basket, she said:
"Come now! Let us get to the Castle before any one finds us. They willthink that I have met you in the wood." We went as unobtrusively as wecould to the Castle; and entered, I think, unobserved. I had a thoroughclean up before I let any one see me; our secret was too precious torisk discovery by suspicion. When I had seen Mrs. Jack, Marjory took meto her boudoir in the top of the castle, and there, whilst she sat byme holding my hands, I told her every detail of my adventure. I couldfeel how my story moved her; when there was any passage of especialinterest the pressure of her clasp grew tense. She, who had seemingly nofear for herself, was all in fear for me!
Then we talked matters over. We had now a good clue to the comingsand goings of the kidnappers; and we felt that by a little thoughtfulorganisation we might find their hours, and be able to trace them oneby one. By lunch time we had decided on our plan of action. We took ouridea from one of the old "Tales of the Genii" where the conquered kingwas brought by his faithful vizier into a cavern and asked to cut a ropewhich was stretched before him, and which he soon discovered releasedthe great rock which roofed the pavilion specially built by the vizierto be seen and occupied by the conqueror. We would fix a fine thread tothe top of the monument and bring it secretly to the castle, where itsbreaking would apprise Marjory of the opening of the passage; thus shewould discover the hour of the coming of the kidnappers to the chapel.We arranged another ingenious device, whereby a second thread, fastenedto the stone in the old chapel, would be broken by the opening of thestone, and would cause a book to fall on Marjory's bed and wake her ifshe were asleep. The better part of the afternoon was taken up by uscarrying out these ideas, for we went slowly and cautiously to work.Then I went home.
I was early at the monument in the morning, and getting behind the stonesignalled to the Castle roof in case Marjory should happen to expect meand be there. But there was no answer. So I sat down to wait till itwould be decent time to go to the Castle for an early breakfast.
As I sat waiting I thought I heard a sound, either close to me andmuffled, or else distant; I could hardly tell which. Matters might belively if I were discovered; so I got my revolver ready. Wi