"That's funny," said Porky. "You turned the trick that time but it does seem they are taking a lot of bother just to get rid of us."
"Why, you're crazy!" said Beany. "What's over this room? The General's office, of course! That was the trick. They had us in here, and after she got away, the old woman came back and set that thing where she thought we would never think to look for it. I think she heard us in the passage that goes to the garden, and thought we would stay there fussing with that outside door. If this thing went off, of course it would wreck this room, and even if we were not killed by falling stones, we would be trapped in there like a couple of rats. Well, it will never harm any one now, but we have got to get out of here somehow or other."
Both boys were unnerved and shaken They stood looking at each other. They knew that it must be very late, but overhead they could hear the muffled tramp of booted feet in the General's office. They stood gazing at the oak paneled ceiling. A big square directly over the high bed was sagging, and it was there that they could hear the sounds from above. Porky commenced to study the situation.
The bed was a four poster, hundreds of years old. When the castle had been shelled, it had been brought down from some upper room of state.
The high, massive posts, beautifully carved, supported a great roof of heavily carved black oak.
"Look here," said Porky. "Can't we shin up on top and beat on the floor with the hilt of that sword?"
"What good would that do?" demanded Beany. "They wouldn't know where to find us. I don't believe we could make enough racket anyhow so they would pay any attention to it."
Porky thought a moment, then to Beany's disgust he commenced to caper around in a manner that Beany thought little befitted their serious position. He knew that when the explosion failed to occur, some one would be sent back by the master spy, and Beany could not doubt that that would mean a quick death for them both.
"What ails you?" he demanded.
"Just this," said Porky. "We will rap out a call for help in the code—the Morse code. Half the fellows in that office understand it. If there is any one there at all, they will catch on."