“What, not with the drawbridge up?”
“No, sir,” said Ben, in a low tone. “But suppose you sends the men to dinner now, and orders ’em to meet in a hour’s time in the court-yard—oh dear, oh dear! that’s all garden now.”
“You can make room for the men to meet without disturbing the garden,” said Roy, sharply.
“Very well, sir; you’re master. Will you give your orders?”
Roy gave them promptly, and the men walked away.
“Now, then,” said Roy, “what did you mean about the place not being safe? With the bridge up, they could only cross to us by rafts or boats, and then they couldn’t get in.”
“Well, sir, it’s like this. I’ve heard tell, though I’d forgotten all about it till just now, as there’s a sort o’ passage goes out from the dungeons under the nor’-west tower over to the little ruins on the hill over yonder.”
“Impossible! Why, it would have to be half a mile long, Ben.”
“All that, sir.”
“But it couldn’t go under the moat. It would be full of water.”