"The way is clear," said Oswald. "Could we but squeeze through yon bars, perchance we might lie hidden in some dark recess."
"To what purpose? We should still be within the castle."
"We cannot make our position one whit the worse, Geoffrey. Who knows but that we may be able to escape by some other postern? Thou art the slighter build, though certes, we both are as thin as a stripped distaff. Through with thee, and I'll do my best to follow."
Geoffrey immediately essayed the difficult task, but though he raised one arm well above his head and kept the other close to his side, while his comrade assisted by heaving and pushing, his slender body was too large to pass betwixt the narrow space in the grille. Yet not till he was black in the face and utterly exhausted by his struggle did Geoffrey confess himself beaten.
As the sun rose higher in the heavens the wind died away, and by high noon the atmosphere was in a state of extreme sultriness. Though protected from the fierce rays by the stonework of the arch, both lads began to feel the torture of an agonizing thirst, which was intensified by the tantalizing sight of a small brook meandering through the fields at a short distance from the castle.
Once did Sir Denis, clad in complete armour, approach the bars of the door to gloat over his captives, but after a few moments' stay he went away without a word. Shortly afterwards the lads saw him at the head of a body of mounted men riding rapidly from the castle.
"Yon base caitiff will trouble us no more awhile," observed Geoffrey, pointing towards the receding troop. "Come, now, art willing to hazard a leap?"
"Nay," replied Oswald, regarding the formidable array of spikes with a shudder. "Cold steel I'd face in battle as becomes an Englishman, but, by St. George, to be skewered by a rusty spearhead—for thus I perceive them to be—is more than I can stomach."
"Then I will essay the leap," exclaimed Geoffrey, stripping off his cloak and rolling it into a ball as a protection for his hands. "If I fail perchance my weight will thrust aside sufficient of these spikes for thee——"
"Nay, art mad?" interrupted his companion, laying a detaining hand upon Geoffrey's shoulder.