For some distance the passage ran level, narrowing down occasionally, so that Engel had to turn his burly form sideways and squeeze himself through; but after a time the floor sloped downwards, and so steeply at some points that the footing was treacherous. It was made more so by the moisture which oozed through the rocky ceiling and trickled down the walls to the ground on which they trod.
"We are under the moat," whispered the ranger, who stumbled while he carelessly turned to speak, and barely saved himself from a heavy fall.
Having passed this slimy, moss-covered floor, they found themselves on an ascending path, and there they paused; for at this point the real danger of their daring venture began.
"We are inside the castle," whispered Engel. "What say you? Shall we all go forward, or will you both stay here while I go forward to see how the land lies?"
"Let us go on farther," Herman proposed. "We ought not to be so far separated if one of us should choose to stand back. As far as I remember the plan we have fifty yards or more to go before we reach the corridor. There is, moreover, a door at the end of the passage, if the plan is true."
"It's true enough, so far," said Engel, "and why not be correct all the way through? I've heard my father say so, and he knew, for he had tried it more than once."
The ranger was moving forward while he spoke, throwing light on the treacherous path with the lantern.
For more than fifty yards they went their way, touching the slimy walls at times, and treading on softness they would have shuddered at, but for this matter on their minds, and of such supreme importance.
Suddenly they came to a full stop, for a wall was in front of them, to all appearance solid rock, and impassable. But instead of dismay there was a stifled sound of satisfaction. It was what the plan had marked.
Herman began to look about this rocky face, smoothing his hand over it lightly, but for a time he failed to find what he was searching for. Then he exclaimed in a tone of satisfaction, just as the fear was coming that they had been misled: