I got to my knees and jumped as best I could.
Happily I lit upon turf, but this sloped down from the drive, and I tumbled, like a clown in the sawdust, before I could bring myself up. As I did so, I heard the door shut and the bolts shot home.
To report to Mansel was plainly the first thing to do: and, since anyone at a window could have shot me down, I got to my feet and started to run for the wood. Except that I was shaken, I felt none the worse for my fall; and here I think I was lucky, for I had leapt blindly and had not taken off clean.
Halfway to the wood I rested behind a tree and looked about me.
The prospect was magnificent indeed: all around were mountains and forests, rising and falling as far as the eye could see, and, the sky being very blue and the sunshine brilliant, the castle looked fabulous, and a man that came suddenly upon it might well have been forgiven for rubbing his eyes.
How Rose Noble had come to be so installed I could not think, but, had he spent his life searching, he could not have found a prison one half so suitable. The place was solitary and most secure: no cries could be heard, nor any signals seen: the one approach was hidden, and such as found it could not conceal their coming, for there were not six trees on the spur and the wood lay two hundred yards from the castle wall.
This reflection made me take to my heels, for, if I could withdraw unseen, that would be a point in our favour, and we had none to spare. Indeed, when I thought of those walls my spirits sank, and remembering how near I had come to passing in, I could have struck myself. What was worse, I was sure that, had he been placed as I, Mansel would somehow have done it and not have let slip a chance which surely was gone for good.
So I came to the wood, and, after watching for some time for any sort of sign that I had been seen, made my way down the drive as fast as I could.
Twenty minutes later I reached the crossroads.
There to my great surprise, Rowley rose out of a ditch and said that Mansel was waiting a stone’s throw away. Then he told me which way to take, and a moment later I saw the two cars below me and Mansel and George poring over a paper book, whilst Carson was feeding Tester and Bell was washing his face in a little rill.
They seemed very glad to see me and most eager to hear my news.
I told my tale.
When I had finished, Mansel put a hand on my arm.
“William,” he said, “she will thank you. I haven’t got the words. But please don’t count it bad luck that you were shut out. If you had gone in, you’d have made a fatal mistake. Alone, unarmed and with no idea of the building, you wouldn’t have stood an earthly: and, what would have been far worse, we shouldn’t have known where you were.”
“But—”
“There is no ‘but’ here,” said Mansel. “You’ve played and you’ve won your game: but, if you’d gone on, you’d have thrown the rubber away. Do please remember that battles have gone wrong, wars have been lost and the history of the world has been changed, because valour has outrun discretion and men have lost touch.”
It was easy enough to see the force of his words, and I have often thought since that the ways of Providence are strange indeed, for, if Casemate had not turned back, I should not have hung in the oak, and, if the castle door had not been cut asunder, I am sure that I should not have lived to tell this tale.
Then Mansel told me that Bell had seen Rose Noble go by and had followed him down; that George and Bell had both seen me on the roof of the car and, while George had pushed on to the crossroads, Bell had raced back to meet Mansel and bring up the cars.
“And now,” said he, “to breakfast. I picked up some food at Lass. And you’ll be glad of a wash. And as soon as ever we’ve done, I want you to show us around.”
Whilst we were eating, we decided that Mansel and George and I should go out on foot, that one servant should watch the crossroads and the others stay with the cars until we returned. If one of the enemy passed he was not to be stopped or followed, but only marked, “for,” said Mansel, “Mr. Chandos has done the trick, and we don’t want to start a new hare till we know where we are. Of course, if Rose Noble comes by, you will shoot him at sight: but, unless I’m much mistaken, he won’t come out any more.”
With that, he told Carson and Bell to serve out a pistol apiece, and, when this was done, he and George and I set out for the wood.
As we went I asked what was the book which I had found them reading when I came in.
George pulled it out of his pocket and held it up.
“Souvenir,” he said. “When I gave the bookseller his money and borrowed his plumes, he pressed this into my hand. He had a speech ready, I fear, but, beyond that he was the author, I have no idea what he said. Whilst I was waiting at the crossroads I looked to see what it was. It’s a guide in English to Lass and the neighbourhood. The grammar’s unequal, but, if I could write half as good a guide in German, I should be more than pleased. And it’s got a good plan of
