"Ha, ha!" he laughed. "This is rare sport, eh? Do you know where you are? Twill be a fine tale to tell Charles. Ten fathoms underneath the foundations of Pycroft Hall, with Father Solomon! Do you think you'll ever see daylight again, Master Roland?"
"If I do not you will not," I replied; and then I looked around me and found myself in a narrow tunnel, which perchance was three feet wide and high enough for a man of short stature to stand upright.
"Good boy, courageous boy, well he deserves to get what he seeks! But oh, he will see rare sport before he puts his hand upon the king's marriage contract."
"Where is it?" I asked, still holding his right arm.
"I must be free, and you must follow me."
"No," I replied. "Whither you go I will go. And I shall not loose my hold upon you till I see daylight."
He looked at me savagely, and lifted his left hand, in which he held a candlestick, as if to strike me. Then the angry looked passed away, and I saw the cunning leer come in his eyes again.
"A good boy, a brave boy," he said coaxingly. "Ah, we are friends. I cannot do without him, neither can he do without me. Youth and age, strength and wisdom together, what can withstand it?"
He led the way along the tunnel, which I followed, still holding him fast. How far we went I could not calculate, for although the time seemed long, it might only in reality have been short. At length, however, we came to a broad place, such as I have been told miners make underground when digging for mineral.
"The time and the place, Master Roland," he said; "now let us search."