A great bell had begun to ring in the chateau, and there was a loud buzz of voices and a clatter of feet upon the stones.  Hoarse orders were shouted, and there was the sound of turning keys.  All this coming suddenly in the midst of the stillness of the night showed only too certainly that the alarm had been given.  Amos Green threw himself down in the straw, with his hands in his pockets, and De Catinat leaned sulkily against the wall, waiting for whatever might come to him.  Five minutes passed, however, and yet another five minutes, without anyone appearing.  The hubbub in the courtyard continued, but there was no sound in the corridor which led to their cell.

“Well, I’ll have that bar out, after all,” said the American at last, rising and stepping over to the window.  “Anyhow, we’ll see what all this caterwauling is about.”  He climbed up on his pegs as he spoke, and peeped out.

“Come up!” he cried excitedly to his comrade.  “They’ve got some other game going on here, and they are all a deal too busy to bother their heads about us.”

De Catinat clambered up beside him, and the two stood staring down into the courtyard.  A brazier had been lit at each corner, and the place was thronged with men, many of whom carried torches.  The yellow glare played fitfully over the grim gray walls, flickering up sometimes until the highest turrets shone golden against the black sky, and then, as the wind caught them, dying away until they scarce threw a glow upon the cheek of their bearer.  The main gate was open, and a carriage, which had apparently just driven in, was standing at a small door immediately in front of their window.  The wheels and sides were brown with mud, and the two horses were reeking and heavy-headed, as though their journey had been both swift and long.  A man wearing a plumed hat and enveloped in a riding-coat had stepped from the carriage, and then, turning round, had dragged a second person out after him.  There was a scuffle, a cry, a push, and the two figures had vanished through the door.  As it closed, the carriage drove away, the torches and braziers were extinguished, the main gate was closed once more, and all was as quiet as before this sudden interruption.

“Well!” gasped De Catinat.  “Is this another king’s messenger they’ve got?”

“There will be lodgings for two more here in a short time,” said Amos Green.  “If they only leave us alone, this cell won’t hold us long.”

“I wonder where that jailer has gone?”

“He may go where he likes, as long as he keeps away from here.  Give me your bar again.  This thing is giving.  It won’t take us long to have it out.”  He set to work furiously, trying to deepen the groove in the stone, through which he hoped to drag the staple.  Suddenly he ceased, and strained his ears.

“By thunder!” said he, “there’s some one working on the other side.”

They both stood listening.  There were the thud of hammers, the rasping of a saw, and the clatter of wood from the other side of the wall.