was being slowly and stealthily opened. At the
same time a dull yellow light streamed down from above, issuing from a
thin slit in the centre of the arched roof above me. Slowly as I watched
it this slit widened and extended as if a sliding panel were being
pulled out, until a good-sized hole was left, through which I saw a
head, looking down at me, outlined against the misty light behind it.
The knotted end of a rope was passed through this aperture, and came
dangling down to the dungeon floor. It was a good stout piece of hemp,
strong enough to bear the weight of a heavy man, and I found, upon
pulling at it, that it was firmly secured above. Clearly it was the
desire of my unknown benefactor that I should ascend by it, so I went
up hand over hand, and after some difficulty in squeezing my shoulders
through the hole I succeeded in reaching the room above. While I was
still rubbing my eyes after the sudden change from darkness into light,
the rope was swiftly whisked up and the sliding shutter closed once
more. To those who were not in the secret there was nothing to throw
light upon my disappearance.

I found myself in the presence of a stout short man clad in a rude
jerkin and leather breeches, which gave him somewhat the appearance of a
groom. He wore a broad felt hat drawn down very low over his eyes, while
the lower part of his face was swathed round with a broad cravat. In his
hand he bore a horn lanthorn, by the light of which I saw that the
room in which we were was of the same size as the dungeon beneath, and
differed from it only in having a broad casement which looked out upon
the park. There was no furniture in the chamber, but a great beam ran
across it, to which the rope had been fastened by which I ascended.

'Speak low, friend,' said the stranger. 'The walls are thick and the
doors are close, yet I would not have your guardians know by what means
you have been spirited away.'

'Truly, sir,' I answered, 'I can scarce credit that it is other than a
dream. It is wondrous that my dungeon should be so easily broken into,
and more wondrous still that I should find a friend who would be willing
to risk so much for my sake.'

'Look there!' quoth he, holding down his lanthorn so as to cast its
light on the part of the floor where the panel was fitted. Can you not
see how old and crumbled is the stone-work which surrounds it? This
opening in the roof is as old as the dungeon itself, and older far
than the doo