VII
A COOL RECEPTION
Before their eyes, accustomed to the brightness of early afternoon, inwhich all things were actively visible, could sufficiently adjustthemselves to distinguish objects in the shadowy gloom, they were thrustinto a room, the door of which was bolted after them, and they were leftin utter darkness.
"You there, Carrick?" whispered Carter.
"'Ere, sir," came the reply from an invisible neighborhood. "I'm trussedup like a duck. These bloomin' cords are cuttin' my wrists. It seems tome, sir," he continued ruefully, "that if we 'ad wanted to be jugged, wecould 'ave gotten the job done easier by styin' in New York. 'Don't likea man,--to jail with 'im,' seems to be these chaps' motto."
"We're evidently in the bad books of the Gray Man, at any rate,Carrick."
"I'm onto his gyme, sure's my name's Tod."
"What is it?"
"'E thinks we're spies."
Carter laughed incredulously. "He has put us in a good place, then.Can't gather much information in this tomb, that is certain. We'regetting into their revolution by the back door, it seems."
"Talkin' about doors," Carrick's whisper radiated with excitement, "I'dtake my oath that I saw one as we came in. It's in the wall to the leftof the entrance and is slightly ajar."
"How close are you to me now?" The Cockney's shoulder touched his by wayof reply. "It is this wall we are leaning against, then?"
"The syme, sir. If you move along to your right about six feet, you'llbe right in front of it."
"We'll try our luck, anyhow," said Carter. "Next-door may not be so muchinfested with the darkness of the pit." Carefully groping in theindicated direction, they found the portal as Carrick had described it.Their hands being tightly tied, they had to shove it open with theirshoulders. To their anxious ears it seemed impossible that the noise ofits rusty hinges could not be heard on the topmost battlement. The roomwhich they now entered was lighted by a single casement, high abovetheir heads. Diagonally opposite, in the wall parallel to the one bywhich they stood, was another door, also open.
"Cinch," said Carrick, with a hopeful nod toward the possible avenue ofescape.
"I don't know that," replied the other reflectively. "Suppose we do findour way out, how could we pass the sentries, videttes, and scouts whoare scouring the country--or should be? We'd have to hide without thehope of assistance from strangers. What could we do with our hands tied?Mind you, I'm not discouraging escape if we can--I'm simply groping fora plan. Let's explore our quarters. It may help to know the lay of theplace."
"Wyte a bit, sir," said Carrick, moving behind his master. "My teeth arestrong. Mybe I can get your 'ands loose." Kneeling on the stone floor heapplied himself vigorously to the task.
"Our friends," commented Carter, "evidently foresaw such an attempt andprovided against it by shutting us up in the dark. How are you gettingon?" He could feel the strenuous efforts of his chauffeur as the lattergnawed at the knot.
"Not at all, Mr. Carter. It's rawhide. The saliver from my mouth onlymykes it swell. Of course that tightens the knot. It mykes it slimy,too, so's I carn't keep 'old of it." He scrambled to his feet with ahasty apology for his failure.
"Fortunately our feet are not hobbled and we're not blindfolded. Comeon, we'll see what's beyond that door, my man," and Calvert proceededcautiously toward the open entrance. With ears strained to bursting,they listened by it a breathless moment. No sound, no breath, nointuition of human proximity warned them that further progress wasdangerous, so they passed the threshold into the third room. A sigh ofrelief came from Carter's lips as he noted that it, too, was vacant. Thedoor to the cell beyond was likewise open. They advanced, therefore,through that and several successive cells, until they were confronted bya narrow, dark passageway, whose objective could not be discerned fromwhere they stood.
Not knowing where the gloom would betray their feet, they stepped verycautiously as they explored the darkness before them. The better toguide himself, Carter kept his shoulder to the wall. He had notproceeded very far when his own weight, pushing against the masonry,swung him off into a narrow entrance at right angles to the mainpassage.
He drew back with a gasp. He found himself on the very brink of anuncurbed well. Gradually recovering himself from the involuntary startwhich had kept him from falling head-foremost into the opening, heleaned forward to investigate.
Far below he could see daylight, a patch of grass-grown earth, and theedge of a stable,--for a horse's head was thrust through an aperture.He turned to his companion.
"Careful, Carrick. I pretty nearly stepped into kingdom come. I thinkthat door was purposely left open that we might commit involuntarysuicide. There's a well here without a bottom. Goes down through thecliff to what is apparently the yard of the inn. It's like a shaft tothe mines at home. Wonder what's it for?"
"Secret passage, sir; see that basket and rope," and Carrick indicated ahuge car swinging in the gloom above their heads.
"That's how the Gray Man beat us to the castle without passing us on theroad."
"Right," agreed Carrick.
"We can't profit by it now, worse luck, but it may come in useful in apinch. Who knows? If we only had free use of our hands, now. Eh,Carrick?"
"Right," reiterated his fellow captive.
"Well," said Carter, arising from his knees, "suppose we investigate therest of the main passage."
They turned again into the dark entry to be brought up this time by adoor which they would have also attempted to force had not the sound ofvoices from the other side of the stout panels paralyzed theirintention and filled them with apprehension.
It was clearly a position where eavesdropping was not dishonorable. Theywere prisoners, innocent of any moral offense, cast into jail withoutbeing apprised of the nature of the charges against them. Here might bean opportunity of gaining, at least, an insight into the character ofsome of those hostile to them. A knowledge of the traits of one's judgeor jury is a material assistance to a sufficient defense, which no oneshould neglect where an opportunity for the acquisition of suchinformation is honorably presented.
There were evidently two people in conversation in the region behind thelocked door. The voices were those of women. One, crisp and girlish, wasnew to Carter. The other's made his heart bound hopefully. It wasTrusia's.
"Let us speak in French, Natalie," she was saying to her companion inthat language. "My maid need not understand all we talk about." Then shecontinued in evident answer to some previous question, "His name isCalvert Carter." There followed a delightful hesitancy, which sent athrill through the invisible auditor, while in a tone intended to bejudicious, Trusia completed her reply: "Yes, I think you would call himhandsome. Anyway, he's a gentleman. Any person could see that."
"But what has become of him?" inquired her companion. "I have asked myfather, and Tru, what sort of reply do you think he made? Mean thing."
"I don't know, dear. Probably teased."
"Exactly. He always does, no matter how serious the question may be. Helaughed and pinched my cheek, and had the audacity to ask if I wanted toadd the stranger to my list of victims. Then I asked the Chancellor. Youknow he doesn't like girls. He puffed out his cheeks--so, drew down hisbrows--like this, and glared. 'Umph, umph,' he blustered and stalkedaway. Josef was the only one who would tell anything."
"Well, he could tell you only, as he did me, that they had resumed theirjourney."
"O-o-oh," the exclamation was long drawn, indicating that some one hadfibbed. "He told me that the strangers were dangerous. Russian spies, hesaid. Do you think they are, Tru? It's perfectly thrilling. And tothink, one actually held you in his arms! Who knows----" she beganmischievously. There was a gurgling sputter of sounds, as if a hand hadbeen placed over the teasing mouth. Then it was withdrawn and theoffender was permitted to prattle on.
"If they weren't spies, Tru, why should they be put in one of the oldcells?"
"What makes you say that, Natalie? Josef certainly told me they had
goneon with their journey."
"He told me that they were locked up. I saw the auto not five minutesbefore coming here. It's under sentry in the courtyard."
"Surely, Natalie, you are mistaken, dear? Josef would not tell me adeliberate untruth." Carter felt a strong desire to see and expose thisJosef who held such an exalted place in the confidence of Her Grace ofSchallberg. Symptoms threatening a tiff were evident in the LadyNatalie's voice.
"Really, Your Grace," she said with dignity, "am I to understand thatyou'd take his word before mine?"
"Your Grace?--what nonsense! Between you and me! Don't pout, dear. Justthink what chance Krovitch would have for a man to rule her people, andlead them in their battles if it wasn't for this same loyal,disinterested Josef? Do you wonder I hold him in such high esteem?"There was a gentle reproof in the Duchess's tones.
"But why," persisted the somewhat mollified Natalie, "did your paragonfib so to me?"
"We'll go and see now, dear. Marie has finished my hair."
The listener, assured that they would get a fair trial, arose and, withCarrick following, made his way back in the direction from which theyhad adventured.
There is always a difference, telepathic it may be, in a room which,then empty, has been entered and vacated by some living thing. Carterappreciated this as soon as he set his foot in the first cell on theirreturn journey. Some one had been there since he and Carrick had comethrough. He glanced at the Cockney to see if he, too, had the sameimpression. The fellow's head was craned forward, as one who strives tocatch an elusive sound.
"I was sure I 'eard something in there, Mr. Carter," he whispered,responding to the visual question, as he nodded his head toward thedoorway beyond them. Carter listened intently. It might have been anatom broken from silence; he was not positive that he had really heardanything, but he was convinced that the silence had not been unbroken.They moved cautiously to the door and peered guardedly around its frame.
There is also an actual physical--or, if you choose, psychicalconnection between what is seen, what has just missed being seen by aninfinite fraction of time, and what one has imagined one has just seen,and between these all the scientists of all the ages have not been ableto formulate a real distinction. One's senses, after all, remain thebest guides.
"I just missed seeing something going through that door," whisperedCarrick. It is noticeable, too, that he had said "something" and not"some one." The gloomy cells, centuries old, the damp memories of thedungeons still clinging to the walls, together with this weird presencewhich eluded their eyes before they could behold it, might well arousethe superstitions of firmer minds than the Cockney's.
They were approaching the cell in which they had been placed. At lastthere was a perfectly appreciable sound. It was a fumbling, as of someone in the darkness, making hasty efforts to get a key in a lock.Carter, now bent on discovery, made a rush into the abysmal darkness. Hecould see--nothing!
Still he felt that he and Carrick, who had joined him, were not the onlyoccupants of the room.
Along the hall could be heard the unmistakable sound of approachingsteps.
"Quite a select party, sir," remarked Carrick in comment, while Carterstill tried to pierce the gloom to establish the identity of theinvisible visitant.
"About three," replied Carter.
The sounds stopped directly opposite their door. There was a grating ofa key against the lock and the door swung open.