“We must not rely on that. Now let us keep in the shadow thrown by this light, creep across the dip as though he were watching for us, and so make our way round the walls. I took the bearings of the point where our chance seems to lie.”
Accordingly they crossed stealthily to the walls, and then made their way round with the utmost caution till Galabin, who went first, made a sign that the point he had indicated was reached. Here the wall dropped considerably and was grown over with ivy. It seemed a disused, half-ruinous, certainly neglected, part of the building.
“We ought to be able to reach the top from here,” Galabin whispered. “Whether it will be possible to work our way along when we are up there is another question, but in the daylight I could see nothing to forbid it.”
“At any rate we will make a good attempt,” replied Von Tressen, eager for the adventure. “Let me go first.”
“I have brought a long strap with me,” Galabin said, unbuckling it from his waist. “It may give us just the help we want. Take it with you; you are the better climber.”
Winding the stout strap round him, Von Tressen began, without more ado, to work his way up the ivy-grown wall. Noiselessness being imperative, the business was not easy, especially as many of the branches on the line of ascent were not strong enough to bear a man’s weight. However, with some difficulty he reached the top of the wall, and by the aid of the strap Galabin was soon up beside him. Then began a long crawl, not without danger, along the uneven wall, which at that part formed a sort of battlement rising to a considerable height above the roof. Carefully feeling their way as they went, the two were making steady though tedious progress towards their goal when it was checked by a sudden rise in the wall, of such a height and angle that its ascent was almost impossible, certainly most hazardous. Galabin had not failed to notice this, but had scarcely realized what a bar to their attempt it was likely to be.
“We cannot manage this,” Von Tressen said, after standing up and examining the obstacle as well as he could. “It would be sheer madness to attempt it, at any rate until we have failed in every other way. We must let ourselves down to the roof and try our luck there. In any case we should hardly be able to pass the tower.”
Promptly lowering himself till he hung from the wall by his hands, he took hold of the strap and his companion let him slowly down. Galabin’s own descent was naturally less easy; he had to hang at arm’s length and so drop on to Von Tressen’s shoulders, and had not the Lieutenant been an athlete the feat might have had a disastrous ending. However, the descent was accomplished in safety, and now began their progress along the edge of the roof under the parapet. It occurred to them both they had been foolish not to have tried that way from the first, since their advance was easier and they were securely hidden from any one who might be watching from outside.
A few yards on Von Tressen whispered back—
“There is the light! You were right, Horaz.”