“I—I think something has fastened the grating,” she said faintly. “I can’t make it move. We shan’t be able to get back this way.”
“Oh, what nonsense! Let me come and try,” said Rex impatiently, but the passage was so narrow at this point that it was impossible for him to pass, and he had to content himself with directing Norah’s efforts. “I’ll hold the lantern; look up and down and see if you can find the fastening. Push upwards! Put your fingers in the holes, and tug with all your might. ... Try it the other way. ... Kick it with your feet!”
Norah worked with all her strength—and she was a strong, well-grown girl, with no small muscular power—but the grating stood firm as a rock, and resisted all her efforts. “It’s no use, Rex,” she panted desperately; and there was silence for a few moments, broken by a sound which was strangely like the beating of two anxious hearts.
“Well, we shall just have to go on then, that’s all,” said Rex shortly. “A passage is bound to lead somewhere, I suppose. The worst that can happen is that we may have a walk home, and you couldn’t come to much harm in that coat!”
“Oh no! I shall be all right,” said Norah bravely. For a few moments she had been horribly frightened, but Rex’s matter-of-fact speech had restored her confidence in his leadership. Of course the passage must have an outlet. She considered where they would come out, and even smiled faintly to herself at the thought of the comical figure which she would cut, striding through the lanes in the squire’s old yellow mackintosh. She was determined to let Rex see that though she was only a girl, she could be as brave as any boy; but it was difficult to keep up her spirits during the next ten minutes, for the passage seemed to grow narrower all the time, while the air was close and heavy. A long time seemed to pass while they groped their way forward, then suddenly Rex’s stick struck against some obstacle directly in his path, and he stopped short.
“What is it?” cried Norah fearfully. It seemed an endless time to the poor child before he answered, in a voice so strained and hoarse as to be hardly recognisable.
“The passage is blocked. It is walled up. We cannot get any further!” Rex lifted the lantern as he spoke and looked anxiously into the girl’s face, but Norah said nothing. It seemed as if she could not realise the meaning of his words, but there was a dizzy feeling in her head as if a catherine-wheel were whirling round and round, and she felt suddenly weak and tired, so that she was obliged to sit down and lean against the wall.
Rex bent over her with an anxious face.
“You are not going to faint, Norah?”
“Oh, no; I am—quite well.”