No boy could look up to that lofty platform, standing out clear against the grey sky, without feeling his feet tingle. Certainly Arthur and Dig were not proof against its fascination.
The first part of the climb, up the tumbled walls and along the ivy-covered buttresses, was easy enough. The few sparrows and swallows bustling out from the ivy at their approach had often been similarly disturbed before. But when they reached the point where the great arch, freeing itself, as it were, of its old supports, sprung in one clear sweep skyward, their difficulties began. The treacherous stones more than once crumbled under their feet, and had it not been for the sustaining ivy, they would have come down with a run too.
“You see,” said Mr Roe to his admiring audience below, “the work of dissolution is still rapidly going on. These stones have fallen from the great arch since we came here.”
“Regular jerry-builders they must have had in those days,” growled Dig, scrambling up the last few yards; “did you ever see such rotten walls?”
Arthur confessed he hadn’t; but having gained the top, he forgave the builders. Rarely had Dig and he been so pleased with themselves and one another. It was a genuine feat of climbing, of which very few could boast; and peril and achievement bind friends together as no mortar ever binds bricks.
“That window,” said Mr Roe, looking up from below, “is considered inaccessible. It is said to be haunted; but the truth is, I believe, that it is infested by owls.”
Here a faint “boo-hoo!” from above bore sudden and striking testimony to the truth of the master’s observations.
“Hullo!” said Arthur, peering over, “they’re going. Look sharp down, Dig, or we’ll be left.”
Dig obeyed. It was much more difficult getting down than getting up. Still, by dint of clinging tight hold of the ivy and feeling every step, he managed to descend the perilous arch and get on to the comparatively safe footing of the buttress.
“You cut on,” shouted Arthur from above, “I’ll be down in a second. Don’t wait—I have found an owl’s nest up here; and I’m going to collar a young ’un for each of us. Don’t tell them. If Railsford asks where I am, tell him I’m walking home. You can go with him on the tandem. I’ll be home as soon as you.”