The captain started suddenly.
"But," he said, "how do you manage with the footmarks on the floor in the room? Do you leave them?"
Willie shook his head.
"No," he said; "not we. That wouldn't be safe, captain. We shake some dust down from a saucepan wi' holes in the bottom."
"There are clever people as well as myself," thought the captain. "One thing more," he added, rubbing his finger along the barrel of the revolver to remind his captive that he was still on guard. "I watched you come out of the ivy in the chapel, and descend from the roof. How did you manage that?"
"That's the easiest part, captain," he said. "I can walk along the ledge, as ain't very broad, 'tis true, but do look from down here narrower than it be——"
"I see," said the captain. "But the descent—how is that arranged?"
"By a wire and a spring," said Willie. "There's a big spring hid up in that ivy, and when I swings off that ledge the spring lets the wire down; when I lets go, up goes the wire—not up to the roof, you know, but just enough to keep it out of sight. Wire's a difficult thing to distinguish in the light of this place, and it ain't thick, like rope."
"I have it all," said the captain. "Clever, very clever. There are other heads behind yours, my friend," he muttered.
"And now what be you going to do, captain?" asked Willie, anxiously. "I've behaved honorable and answered up true and straight, like an honest man. What be you going to do?"