slipped in his hand and pushed back the
catch. "Lift away."

It was a hard job to lift it, for the wood had warped and grown stiff in
its grooves. But presently it started, and gave us room to squeeze
through into the room.

Even Tim was a little overawed when he found himself standing there in
the room, scarcely changed, except for the mildew and cobwebs, from what
it had been twelve years ago.

"Whisht!" said he in a whisper. "I wish we had a light."

But light there was none, and the fitful gleams of the wandering moon
served only to make the darkness darker.

Once, as it floated clear for an instant, I caught sight of the bed, and
a chair, and some withered flowers on the floor, left there, no doubt,
since the day of the funeral.

Next moment all was dark again.

Tim had used the gleam to find the door, and I heard him call me.

"Come away. Keep your hand on the wall and feel with your feet for the
stairs. It's down below the arms will be."

I am sure, had he looked, he would have been able to see the whiteness
of my face through the darkness; but he was better employed.

"Here it is," he said. "Now keep your hand on the rail and go gently
down."

"How'll we find our way back to the ladder?" said I.

"We've to get our guns first," said he, shortly.

When we reached the bottom of the stairs, we seemed to be in a passage
or hall that went right and left.

In the plight in which we were it mattered little which turn we took, so
Tim turned to the right, feeling along by the wall, with me close at his
heels. Cautiously as we trod, our footsteps seemed to echo along the
corridor, till often enough, with my heart in my mouth, I stopped short,
certain I heard some one following. Tim too, I thought, was beginning
to repent of his venture, and once more said, "We need a light badly."

Just then the moon peeped in for a moment through a loophole in one of
the shutters, and showed us a bracket on the wall opposite on which
stood a candle, and beside it, to our joy, a tinder-box.

"These have not stood here twelve years," said Tim, as he lifted them
from their place. "This is a new candle."

And I remembered then the moving lights I had seen not a week ago.

The dim light of the candle gave us some little comfort. But for safety
we kept it closely shaded, lest we should betray ourselves. At the end
of the passage a door stood partly open, and beyond we found ourselves
in a large kitchen paved wi