He spun on his heel and went to the far end of the room. He came back with a candle in his hand which he had lit at the open fire.
“I’ll show you the rest of it,” he remarked. “Come with me.”
At that he inserted his finger in what seemed to be a knot-hole in the floor. To my surprise he lifted a great door which was set in the wood and bent it back on its hinges. Then, with the light high over his head he passed down a set of broad oak steps. A dank odor of damp air came to my nostrils. I set my foot on the first step with much caution and circumspection. I descended one by one until I stood on a clay floor. All around me were solid stone walls with no opening for air or ventilation. And here and there in these walls I saw recesses which were covered with doors that were of natural wood stained with dirt and finger-marks.
Without stopping the scrivener went to the largest of these closets at the furthest corner of the cave and flung it open. If I was amazed at first I was quite beside myself now, for the whole of it was filled with all sorts of articles of clothing. Some of them were the trappings of soldiers with gilt and lace, others were suits of velvet, quite new, smooth and beautiful to see. Again there were common clothes such as peasants wear or even common laborers in the fields.
“I know now,” I said, “why those fellows called you the ‘Will-o’-the-wisp’. You’re never the same man.”
“When you live as I live, my lad,” he answered, “you must use your wits.” Then he turned my attention to another box or closet in the wall. When this was open he took from it a bundle tied and wrapped with thick cloth and matted straw. As carefully as if it were alive he untied the knots one by one and laid it flat upon the floor.
“My arsenal,” he said. Then he revealed a bow about as long as he was high and with it a quiver containing a score of arrows. So unexpected was this that I let out a gasp.
“I keep them wrapped up like this to protect them from the damp,” he explained. “When trouble comes——”
“But why do you need all these?” I cried. “Surely——”
He rose and pointed sternly towards the stairs.