第55章 A LEGEND OF MONTROSE.(48)

"There is a passage through the chapel,"said the Marquis,"opening from my apartment."

"And what is the pass-word at the gate?"

"The sword of Levi,"replied the Marquis;"but if you will receive my pledge of honour,I will go with you,escort you through every guard,and set you at full liberty with a passport."

"I might trust you,my lord,were your throat not already black with the grasp of my fingers--as it is,BESO LOS MANOS A USTED,as the Spaniard says.Yet you may grant me a passport;--are there writing materials in your apartment?"

"Surely;and blank passports ready to be signed.I will attend you there,"said the Marquis,"instantly."

"It were too much honour for the like of me,"said Dalgetty;

"your lordship shall remain under charge of mine honest friend Ranald MacEagh;therefore,prithee let me drag you within reach of his chain.--Honest Ranald,you see how matters stand with us.

I shall find the means,I doubt not,of setting you at freedom.

Meantime,do as you see me do;clap your hand thus on the weasand of this high and mighty prince,under his ruff,and if he offer to struggle or cry out,fail not,my worthy Ranald,to squeeze doughtily;and if it be AD DELIQUIUM,Ranald,that is,till he swoon,there is no great matter,seeing he designed your gullet and mine to still harder usage."

"If he offer at speech or struggle,"said Ranald,"he dies by my hand."

"That is right,Ranald--very spirited:--A thorough-going friend that understands a hint is worth a million!"

Thus resigning the charge of the Marquis to his new confederate,Dalgetty pressed the spring,by which the secret door flew open,though so well were its hinges polished and oiled,that it made not the slightest noise in revolving.The opposite side of the door was secured by very strong bolts and bars,beside which hung one or two keys,designed apparently to undo fetterlocks.A narrow staircase,ascending up through the thickness of the castle-wall,landed,as the Marquis had truly informed him,behind the tapestry of his private apartment.Such communications were frequent in old feudal castles,as they gave the lord of the fortress,like a second Dionysius,the means of hearing the conversation of his prisoners,or,if he pleased,of visiting them in disguise,an experiment which had terminated so unpleasantly on the present occasion for Gillespie Grumach.

Having examined previously whether there was any one in the apartment,and finding the coast clear,the Captain entered,and hastily possessing himself of a blank passport,several of which lay on the table,and of writing materials,securing,at the same time,the Marquis's dagger,and a silk cord from the hangings,he again descended into the cavern,where,listening a moment at the door,he could hear the half-stifled voice of the Marquis making great proffers to MacEagh,on condition he would suffer him to give an alarm.

"Not for a forest of deer--not for a thousand head of cattle,"

answered the freebooter;"not for all the lands that ever called a son of Diarmid master,will I break the troth I have plighted to him of the iron-garment!"

"He of the iron-garment,"said Dalgetty,entering,"is bounden unto you,MacEagh,and this noble lord shall be bounden also;but first he must fill up this passport with the names of Major Dugald Dalgetty and his guide,or he is like to have a passport to another world."

The Marquis subscribed,and wrote,by the light of the dark lantern,as the soldier prescribed to him.

"And now,Ranald,"said Dalgetty,"strip thy upper garment--thy plaid I mean,Ranald,and in it will I muffle the M'Callum More,and make of him,for the time,a Child of the Mist;--Nay,I must bring it over your head,my lord,so as to secure us against your mistimed clamour.--So,now he is sufficiently muffled;--hold down your hands,or,by Heaven,I will stab you to the heart with your own dagger!--nay,you shall be bound with nothing less than silk,as your quality deserves.--So,now he is secure till some one comes to relieve him.If he ordered us a late dinner,Ranald,he is like to be the sufferer;--at what hour,my good Ranald,did the jailor usually appear?"

"Never till the sun was beneath the western wave,"said MacEagh.

"Then,my friend,we shall have three hours good,"said the cautious Captain."In the meantime,let us labour for your liberation."

To examine Ranald's chain was the next occupation.It was undone by means of one of the keys which hung behind the private door,probably deposited there,that the Marquis might,if he pleased,dismiss a prisoner,or remove him elsewhere without the necessity of summoning the warden.The outlaw stretched his benumbed arms,and bounded from the floor of the dungeon in all the ecstasy of recovered freedom.

"Take the livery-coat of that noble prisoner,"said Captain Dalgetty;"put it on,and follow close at my heels."

The outlaw obeyed.They ascended the private stair,having first secured the door behind them,and thus safely reached the apartment of the Marquis.

[The precarious state of the feudal nobles introduced a great deal of espionage into their castles.Sir Robert Carey mentions his having put on the cloak of one of his own wardens to obtain a confession from the mouth of Geordie Bourne,his prisoner,whom be caused presently to be hanged in return for the frankness of his communication.The fine old Border castle of Naworth contains a private stair from the apartment of the Lord William Howard,by which he could visit the dungeon,as is alleged in the preceding chapter to have been practised by the Marquis of Argyle.]

CHAPTER XIV.

This was the entry then,these stairs--but whither after?

Yet he that's sure to perish on the land May quit the nicety of card and compass,And trust the open sea without a pilot.TRAGEDY OF BENNOVALT.

"Look out for the private way through the chapel,Ranald,"said the Captain,"while I give a hasty regard to these matters."