"No, mother, and in any case not from hunger. There was a whole stack of provisions in one corner and a truss of straw in another to lie on. So I waited quietly."
"For whom?"
"You promise not to laugh, mother?"
"Laugh at what, dear?"
"At what I'm going to tell you?"
"How can you think . . . ?"
"Well, I was waiting for some one who had heard of all the stories of Sarek and who promised grandfather to come."
"But who was it?"
The boy hesitated:
"No, I am sure you will make fun of me, mother, I'll tell you later. Besides, he never came . . . though I thought for a moment . . . Yes, fancy, I had managed to remove two stones from the wall and to open this hole of which my gaolers evidently didn't know. All of a sudden, I heard a noise, someone scratching . . ."