Another quarter of an hour passed, and the machinery of escape began to move.
"Hold on!" shouted Geoffrey to the two on the windlass. They stopped and stood as if surprised at the tone. Geoffrey meanwhile spoke rapidly and excitedly to Featherstone, who was unseen in the hole.
"What's the matter there?" grumbled the Warder.
"I don't know. He says he has discovered something."
"Discovered something!" repeated the Warder, rising and coming toward the cairn, up the sides of which the Duke and Sydney had scrambled, regardless of rules. "What has he discovered?"
"What is it?" Geoffrey cried to Featherstone.
"Tell the Warder there is something buried here which I can't lift. He had better come up here and see for himself."
The Warder heard the words, and climbed the cairn. He knelt on the brink of the hole and leaned over to see the discovery. A quick, strong push from Geoffrey sent him headlong into Featherstone's arms, and before he knew what had happened the Duke had gagged him with his own woollen gloves and handkerchief, and Sydney had tied his hands and feet.
"Good-by," said Featherstone, as he left him securely fastened at the foot of the monolith in the hole. "If you had not been kind to our old friends you might have been hurt. You will be discovered before morning."
The Duke and Sydney also said "good-by" to the helpless officer, and then, as the bell rang, the four adventurers lay down in the lee of the wall just where the Warder had sat.