im, and the two stood staring down into
the courtyard. A brazier had been lit at each corner, and the place was
thronged with men, many of whom carried torches. The yellow glare
played fitfully over the grim gray walls, flickering up sometimes until
the highest turrets shone golden against the black sky, and then, as the
wind caught them, dying away until they scarce threw a glow upon the
cheek of their bearer. The main gate was open, and a carriage, which
had apparently just driven in, was standing at a small door immediately
in front of their window. The wheels and sides were brown with mud, and
the two horses were reeking and heavy-headed, as though their journey
had been both swift and long. A man wearing a plumed hat and enveloped
in a riding-coat had stepped from the carriage, and then, turning round,
had dragged a second person out after him. There was a scuffle, a cry,
a push, and the two figures had vanished through the door. As it
closed, the carriage drove away, the torches and braziers were
extinguished, the main gate was closed once more, and all was as quiet
as before this sudden interruption.

"Well!" gasped De Catinat. "Is this another king's messenger they've
got?"

"There will be lodgings for two more here in a short time," said Amos
Green. "If they only leave us alone, this cell won't hold us long."

"I wonder where that jailer has gone?"

"He may go where he likes, as long as he keeps away from here. Give me
your bar again. This thing is giving. It won't take us long to have it
out." He set to work furiously, trying to deepen the groove in the
stone, through which he hoped to drag the staple. Suddenly he ceased,
and strained his ears.

"By thunder!" said he, "there's some one working on the other side."

They both stood listening. There were the thud of hammers, the rasping
of a saw, and the clatter of wood from the other side of the wall.

"What can they be doing?"

"I can't think."

"Can you see them?"

"They are too near the wall."

"I think I can manage," said De Catinat. "I am slighter than you." He
pushed his head and neck and half of one shoulder through the gap
between the bars, and there he remained until his friend thought that
perhaps he had stuck, and pulled at his legs to extricate him.
He writhed back, however, without any difficulty.

"They are building something," he whispered.

"Building!"

"Yes; there are four of them, with a lantern."

"What can