there,
when, all at once, he heard a terrible noise at the doors of the
monastery. It was the conspirators trying to get in."

"Why did not they come right in," asked Waldron, "if the doors were not
fastened?"

"Why, I suppose there were guards, or something, outside, that tried to
prevent them. At any rate, the king heard a frightful noise, like
clattering and jingling of armor, and of men trying to get in. He and
the women who were there ran to the door and tried to fasten it; but the
bolts and bars were gone. So the king told them to hold the door with
all their strength, till he could find something to fasten it with. The
king went to the window, and tried to tear off an iron stanchion there
was there, but he could not. Then he saw a trap door in the floor, which
led down to a kind of dark dungeon. So he took the tongs and pried up
the door, and jumped down.

"By the time that he got down, and the door was shut over him, the
conspirators came in, and began to look all about for him; but they
could not find him. I suppose they did not see the trap door. Or,
perhaps, the women had covered it over with something."

"Well, and what did they do?" asked Waldron.

"Why, they were dreadfully angry because they could not find the king,
and some of them were going to kill the queen; but the rest would not
let them. But there was one of the women that got her arm broken."

"How?" asked Waldron.

"She did it somehow or other holding the door. I suppose she got it
wedged in some way. She was a countess.

"After a while," continued Rollo, "the men went away to look in some of
the other rooms of the monastery, and see if they could not find the
king there. As soon as they were gone the king wanted to get out of the
dungeon. The women opened the trap door, but he could not reach up high
enough to get out. So he told them to go and get some sheets and let
them down, for ropes to pull him up by.

"They brought the sheets, and while they were letting them down, and
trying to get the king out, one of the ladies fell down herself into the
hole. So there were two to get up; and while the others were trying to
get them up, the conspirators came in again."

"Hoh!" said Waldron.

"One of them had a torch," said Rollo, continuing his narrative. "He
brought the torch and held it down the trap door, and presently he
caught sight of the king. So he called out to the other conspirators
that he had found him, and they all came round