All was dark around him, and, standing on the floor, near some boxes, he listened intently. He knew that Prent could not be far away.
Presently he heard a foot bang against a box or barrel. “Hang the luck!” came in Prent’s voice. “It’s as dark as the River Styx! I’ll have to make a light, or I’ll break my neck.” The striking of a flint in a tinder-box followed, and soon Henry saw the faint light of a tallow dip.
Prent was moving toward a stairs leading into a cellar, and this brought him to within a few feet of where Henry was crouching. But the young soldier remained undiscovered, and in a moment more he heard the other soldier shuffle carefully down the stairs and walk across the cellar floor.
Henry’s curiosity was now aroused to a high pitch, and he resolved to see what was taking place in the cellar, no matter what the risk to be run. He tiptoed his way to the stair, and went down step by step on his tiptoes.
The stairs creaked, but the sound was not heard by Prent, who was rummaging around a score of small boxes, all of hard wood, bound with iron. One of the boxes was open and showed that it was filled with surgical and mathematical instruments.
“Bah! I cannot do much with that truck!” Prent muttered, after looking some of the articles over. “The other boxes probably contain things more to my liking.”
The fellow had brought a hatchet and chisel with him, and was soon at work prying open another iron-bound box. Occasionally he paused to listen, as if waiting for a signal from Fenley, but none came, and he continued his work.
When the second box came open, Henry could scarcely repress a cry of amazement. The box was filled with silverware, for the shop was one which had been used by a gold and silver smith. There were silver drinking cups and decanters, and also half a dozen silver trays, and frames for miniatures.
“Ha! Now we have the right thing!” muttered Prent, gazing at the collection with satisfaction. “If we can only get it away without being discovered we will be rich.”
“He has turned thief!” thought Henry. “What a rascal! And I thought he was an honest soldier!”