It was broad daylight, and the sun's rays played strongly upon the blackened stonework of the tower, and across the gaping rafters of the roof of the nave.
"Why did you not waken me before?" I asked reproachfully, for the colonel presented a sorry appearance; his gaunt features were drawn with hunger, his face blackened with smoke and dirt, and his, clothes smothered with dust and particles of charcoal.
"You wanted rest more than I," he replied, with a grim smile. "A few hours' vigil makes but little difference to a war-worn veteran. But see!" he added, holding up an arrow for my inspection.
At first I thought the rebels had resorted to this bygone instrument of offence in the hope that its noiseless flight might have taken us unawares. Its point was blunted, but whether by design or by reason of its striking the stonework I knew not.
"'Twas shot by a friendly hand," continued Colonel Firestone. "Here is a paper that was folded round the shaft."
Taking the scrap of paper, I saw written in a scrawling hand: "Be o goode cheere, for the rebells are leaving Listithiel this day."
"I would be fuller of good cheer had I a square meal!" replied I, dolefully, as a savoury smell was wafted to our nostrils.
We looked cautiously over the parapet. Through the shattered roof we could see the floor of the church, where several of the rebels were engaged in cooking their food in large iron cauldrons suspended from rough tripods, the fires being fed with pieces of oak, which the troopers had relentlessly hacked from the pews. The soldier whom I had found insensible in the gutterway had been removed, but the fork of his musket still remained. Soldiers were busily engaged in clearing away the mass of rubble that blocked the entrance to the spiral staircase leading to the tower, so it was evident that they had not despaired of taking us—a further proof of the vindictiveness of the renegade Chaloner.
Could I gain possession of the musketeer's rest before the passage was cleared, a means would be at our disposal whereby we could obtain much-needed food; so, descending by the rope, I reached the shelter of the parapet of the nave, and immediately secured the instrument left behind by the wounded sentinel.
It was about five feet in length, made of wrought iron, and terminated in a double prong.