"Aescendune! surely I dream."
"Yes, of Aescendune. I have heard that thou art thence. Now waste no more time."
More and more mystified, for he had never to his knowledge seen the speaker before, Alfgar gazed at the gleeman.
He appeared of noble air and mien, but was evidently but a young man; he was somewhat above the average height, and looked as though he could wield the sword as well as the harp. But how were they to escape?
Alfgar was not left long in doubt. The stranger took up the lamp and walked to the farthest recess of the dungeon, where, concealed amongst the rude carvings with which the builders had ornamented the wall, was a rose carved in stone. The gleeman pressed it sharply, and a hidden door sprang open, revealing a winding staircase excavated in the solid wall.
"Upwards it leads to the banqueting hall, and you can comprehend my escape this evening," said he; "but our path is now downwards, unless you would like to go up and see the drunken beasts of murderers snoring off their debauch upon the floor as they fell; oh, that it were lawful for a Christian man to cut their throats as they lie; many innocent lives would be saved thereby, which those brutes will live to destroy."
"Thou art, then, a Christian?"
The gleeman crossed himself piously.
"Why not?" said he.
"I heard you sing like a scald tonight."