pen court, and passed
under the archway into the passage which led through to the barrack-
yard.

Midway through the passage we came to a halt before a low door of solid
oak, which was opened with the aid of a ponderous key, when a steep
narrow stairway of stone lay before us. It wound upwards, corkscrew
fashion, in the thickness of the wall, and, ascending it, we eventually
reached a stone landing or short passage, very dimly lighted by two
narrow unglazed windows, one at each end. There were two doors on each
side of this passage, one of which the young officer unlocked and flung
open, motioning me to enter. I did so, seeing that I had no choice in
the matter; the door slammed heavily to, the massive bolts grated
harshly back into their places, and I was alone.

It was so dark that, until my eyes became accustomed to the gloom, I
could see nothing except a narrow opening in the wall, far above my
head, which admitted all the light and air the architect had considered
necessary for the miserable occupants of the dungeon.

I shut my eyes, and clasped my hands tightly over them, keeping them so
for about five minutes; and when I opened them again, I was able to see
with tolerable distinctness.

I then found that I had been thrust into a chamber about ten feet square
and as many feet high, the walls of which were of massive masonry. A
stone bench ran along one side of the wall, and that was all; furniture
of any kind there was absolutely none. The aperture in the wall, which
I have already mentioned, was close up under the stone ceiling of the
cell, and measured about two feet long and six inches wide. _So_ thick
was the wall in which this was pierced, that standing back against the
opposite wall I was unable to see the sky out through it. I felt all
round the walls of my prison. They were perfectly smooth, and slimy
with the accumulated damp of centuries. I then examined the door. It
was of oak or some other hard wood, and evidently very thick, from the
dead sound which my knuckles made when I rapped upon it. It was quite
useless, then, to think of escape. So strong, indeed, was the place,
that they had not thought it worth while to search me, being no doubt
convinced that it would be impossible for me to break out with any tools
or weapons I might happen to have in my possession. I had a stout knife
in my pocket; but five minutes' work with it on the door satisfied me
that it would be a labour of days,