d old
John waiting at the trap-door. They had heard sounds, they said, but
had got no answer to their shouts. In vain the captain also hailed as a
sailor alone can, though his voice had perhaps lost something of its
strength. All remained silent below, and his fears for the safety of
his friends increased to a painful degree. At last the coastguard men
arrived--stout fellows, well armed--with their lanterns and ropes; they
were not likely to be baffled in the search. As, however, they stood
over the entrance of the dark abyss, the countenances of most of the
party turned pale. They were ready to face smugglers or pirates,
Russians, Frenchmen, Turks, or savages of every description, all the
enemies of their country; but they had heard of the Tower being haunted,
and suppose any of the ghosts, or spirits, or imps, who frequented the
spot, should start up and confront them! The captain saw what they were
thinking about. Following the system he had always adopted where danger
was to be incurred, he exclaimed, "Lower me down first, my lads, I'll
see what is to be seen." Suiting the action to the word he fastened a
rope round his waist, and, with the help of it and the ladder, soon
reached the bottom. The men now followed without hesitation, the
captain leading the way, and looking round and round the vault. "It is
very extraordinary," he exclaimed at length. "I can scarcely believe
that they came down here, there is no hole into which they could have
fallen, no outlet through which they could have passed."

"It's vary terrible, vary terrible indeed, sir," said Sandy MacGregor,
an old Scotchman and the chief boatman. "It's the spirits or the bogies
ha' carried them off, there's na doubt about that, and it's only to be
hoped that they'll na come and carry us awa' too."

The fear thus expressed very soon communicated itself to the other men,
and had a rat started up, although they would not have deserted the
captain, their knees would certainly have shaken as they had never done
in the presence of a mortal foe.

"Nonsense, my man," exclaimed Captain Askew. "There are no spirits in
this vault to hurt us, and depend on it if our friends have been carried
away spirits have had nothing to do with it; still, I tell you, I cannot
account for it."

It was indeed strange. Every cell, every nook and corner was examined.
The sides of the vault were either solid rock or masonry. There was no
place through which two peo