"Going hence, eh?" he said. "Then God be wi' ye, Tibbott."
Digby held out his hand, and for the life of her Merrylips could not have helped doing what she did. All in an instant she seemed to see the face that he had worn when he struck Fowell, who stood wounded and helpless before him. She put her two hands behind her and shrank from him.
He laughed, but his laughter was half-hearted, and he swore an oath. Then she heard no more of him, for Captain Brooke was heading down the passage, as if he had no time to waste, and she ran after him.
Through corridors that she knew well they went, half lighted by the dark lantern that the captain carried. They crossed the echoing space of the great store-room, and through a narrow door stepped out beneath the stars. They stood in the herb garden, and Merrylips had guessed where they were going, even before the captain led them down the steps to the door beneath the still-house.
"Do we go this way, even as you came?" she said to him.
She spoke in a whisper, lest Rupert, who did not share the secret, might overhear.
"Ay, by the same path," said Captain Brooke. "'Tis a buried passage that the monks must have builded in old days. Keep silent touching it, you two," he added gravely, and in the archway of the door turned the light full upon their faces. "To set you beyond danger we trust you with a secret that might be the ruin of the garrison."
Then Merrylips knew that on the day when she had seen Captain Brooke come from the still-house, he had been out by the passage to spy upon the enemy. She wondered that she had been so stupid as not to have guessed as much.
Through the damp cellar, where the long, slimy tracks of snails gleamed on the walls, they reached the low entrance of the buried passage. The walls were all of stone that sweated with moisture, and the roof was so low that Captain Brooke had to stoop as he went. Underfoot the ground was uneven. More than once Merrylips stumbled as she hurried to keep up with the captain's strides. Every moment, too, she found it harder to draw breath. Not only was she panting with the haste that she must make, but the air seemed lifeless in the passage, and in the dark lantern the candle burned blue and feeble.
"Journey's end, boys!" Captain Brooke spoke at last, as it seemed to her from a great distance.