from below; and that there is no fear of
the Romans making a surprise, in that way?"

The boys looked at each other, but no one volunteered to give
information.

"Come!" John went on, "I have only just left off being a boy,
myself, and I was always climbing into all sorts of places, when I
got a chance; and I have no doubt it's the same, with you. When you
have been down below, there, you have tried how far you can get up.

"Did you ever get up far, or did you ever hear of anyone getting up
far?"

"I expect I have been up as far as anyone," the eldest of the boys
said. "I went up after a young kid that had strayed away from its
mother. I got up a long way--half way up, I should say--but I
couldn't get any further. I was barefooted, too.

"I am sure no one with armor on could have got up anything like so
far. I don't believe he could get up fifty feet."

"And have any of you ever tried to get down from above?"

They shook their heads.

"Jonas the son of James did, once," one of the smaller boys said.
"He had a pet hawk he had tamed, and it flew away and perched, a
good way down; and he clambered down to fetch it. He had a rope
tied round him, and some of the others held it, in case he should
slip. I know he went down a good way, and he got the hawk; and his
father beat him for doing it, I know."

"Is he here, now?" John asked.

"Yes, he is here," the boy said. "That's his father's house, the
one close to the edge of the rock. I don't know whether you will
find him there, now. He ain't indoors more than he can help. His
own mother's dead, and his father's got another wife, and they
don't get on well together."

"Well, I will have a chat with him, one of these days. And you are
all quite sure that there is no possible path up, from below?"

"I won't say there isn't any possible path," the eldest boy said;
"but I feel quite sure there is not. I have looked, hundreds of
times, when I have been down below; and I feel pretty sure that, if
there had been any place where a goat could have got up, I should
have noticed it. But you see, the rock goes down almost straight,
in most places. Anyhow, I have never heard of anyone who ever got
up and, if anyone had done it, it would have been talked about, for
years and years."

"No doubt it would," John agreed. "So I shall tell the governor
that he need not be in the least uneasy about an attack, except in
front."

So saying, he nodded to the boys, and walked away a