“Silence!” cried M. Goefle, snatching from Christian’s hands the sword which the young man had just seized from the table. “Silence! Listen! some one is walking over our heads in the walled-up room.”
“How can that be possible,” said the major, “if it is really walled up? Besides, I do not hear anything.”
“Nor do I hear any footsteps,” replied M. Goefle, “but be quiet, and look at the chandelier.”
They looked without speaking, and not only did they see the chandelier tremble, but heard also the faint jingling of the brass ornaments striking together, as they were shaken by some movement in the upper story.
“It must be Stenson!” cried Christian. “No one else can know the outside passages.”
“But are there any?” said the major.
“Who knows?” replied Christian. “For my part, I think so, though I was not able to satisfy myself fully. I noticed a breach in the wall as high as to the second story, but that did not seem to me practicable. But hush!—do you hear anything more?”
They listened, and heard, or thought they heard, a door open, and then followed a faint knocking or scratching on the walled-up door of the bear-room. Had Stenson escaped from the hands of his enemies, and not daring to return to the gaard by the court, which he would suppose to be in their hands, had he entered the donjon by a passage known to himself alone? Was he calling his friends to his assistance, or giving them a mysterious warning, that they might expect a new attack? The major considered these conjectures chimerical; but, before they could make any investigations, they were interrupted by the lieutenant, who entered with Danneman Bœtsoi.
“Here is one of our friends,” he said, “who has come from our bostoelles, where he has been looking for his son. Is he not here?”
“Yes, yes, my father!” replied Olof, who was very much alarmed at all that he had heard, and was quite pleased to see the danneman arrive. “Were you uneasy about me?”