By searching along the wall the rope was found, and by pulling it gently the knight soon began to feel a weight at the farther end. For some way it ascended silently, as if a person without held it from the wall; but then, when it had been raised about six or seven feet, it grated desperately till it entered the opening in the wall, which by courtesy we have termed window. The cord had been so adjusted as to insure its entrance; and as soon as Sir Osborne was certain that it had passed sufficiently, and hung upon the very brink, he gave it a sudden jerk, and catching it with a strong hand as it fell, secured possession of the tall settle or hall stool with scarcely any noise.
"Now, good Jekin," said he, "we are free. I will mount first, and then help you up; by standing on this settle, and pulled by me above, you will not have much difficulty."
"Oh, no! I warrant you, your worship," replied Jekin. "And when we are once out, let every man run his own way, say I. Your worship's company may prove somewhat dangerous, and I am a peaceable man."
"Well, be it so," answered the knight; and placing the settle directly under the window, he soon contrived to get into the opening, and kneeling in the deep wall, managed with some trouble to raise the heavy body of Groby, and place him in a sitting position on the edge, so that the moment he himself dropped down on the other side, the honest clothier could take his place and follow his example.
Turning round, Sir Osborne could perceive by the dim light of the night the tall form of Longpole standing below, but he took care not to utter a sound; and bending his knees, he gradually stretched himself out, till he hung by nothing but his hands; then dropped, and in a moment stood silently by Heartley's side, who instantly placed in his hands the large double-edged sword of which he had been deprived in the morning.
It now became poor Jekin's turn, who managed the matter somewhat more slowly, and a good deal more clumsily; and at length, when he dropped, although the arms of the knight broke his fall, he uttered a tremendous "Oh!" and exhausted, leant against the wall.
At that moment a light appeared in a window above, passed by a second one, and instantly the alarum-bell rang out a peal loud enough to awake the dead.
"Run! run! every one his own way!" cried Jekin, who seemed to trust mightily to the activity of his own legs, and plying them with vast rapidity, he fled up an alley before him.
"This way, my lord!" cried Heartley; "quick, we shall distance them far." And darting off for the thick wood that almost touched the angle of the house, he led the knight into a deep forest path, crying "Stoop!"
The sounds of pursuit were now loud on every side. Whoop, and halloo, and shout, floated on the wind, as the servants, dispersed in all directions, strove to give information or encouragement to their comrades, and one party especially seemed by the sound to come rapidly on their track. At length an alley, bounded by a wall, closed their course in that direction.