nce he had heard the noise.

Descending by the grand _escalier_ he found himself in one of the narrow
corridors which communicated by private staircases with the left wing of
the palace. Rollo stood still in the deepest shadow. He was sure that he
could hear persons moving near him, and once he thought that he could
distinguish the sound of a muttered word.

The Egyptian darkness about him grew more and more instinct with noises.
There was a scuffling rustle, as of birds in a chimney, all over the
basement of the house. A door creaked as if a slight wind had blown it.
Then a latch clicked, and the wind, unaided, does not click latches.
Rollo withdrew himself deeper into a niche at the foot of the narrow
winding-stair which girdled a tower in the thickness of the wall.

The young man had almost resolved to summon his whole force from above,
so convinced was he that the enemy had gained a footing within the tower
and were creeping up to take them in the rear, when a sound altered his
intention. There is nothing more unmistakable to the ear than the
rebellious whimper of an angry child compelled to do something against
its will.

Rollo instantly comprehended the whole chain of circumstances. The
treachery touched him more nearly than he had imagined possible. Those
for whom he and his party were imperilling their lives were in fact to
leave them to perish as best they might in the empty shell of the
palace. The royal birds were on the point of flying.

A door opened, and through it (though dimly) Rollo could see the great
waterfall glimmering and above the stars, chill over the snowy shoulder
of Penalara. He could not make out who had opened the door, but there
was enough light to discern that a lady wrapped in a mantilla went out
first. Then followed another, stouter and of shorter stature, apparently
carrying a burden. Then the whole doorway was obscured by the tall
figure of a man.

"Munoz himself, by Heaven!" thought Rollo.

And with a leap he was after him, in his headlong course dashing to the
ground some other unseen person who confronted him in the hall.

In a moment more he had caught the tall man by the collar and swung him
impetuously round back within the doorway.

"Move one sole inch and your blood be on your own head!" he muttered.
And the captive feeling Rollo's steel cold at his throat, remained
prudently silent. Not so the lady without. She uttered a cry which rang
about the silent chateau.

"M