Four days elapsed before Sir Rudolph presented himself before the girl he had captured.  So fearfully was his face bruised and disfigured by the blow from the mailed hand of Cuthbert three weeks before, that he did not wish to appear before her under such unfavourable circumstances, and the captive passed the day gazing from her casement in one of the rooms in the upper part of the keep, towards the forest whence she hoped rescue would come.

Within the forest hot discussions were going on as to the best course to pursue.  An open attack was out of the question, especially as upon the day following the arrival there of Lady Margaret, 300 more mercenaries had marched in from Worcester, so that the garrison was now raised to 500 men.

“Is there no way,” Cnut exclaimed furiously, “by which we might creep into this den, since we cannot burst into it openly?”

“There is a way from the castle,” Cuthbert said, “for my dear lord told me of it one day when we were riding together in the Holy Land.  He said then that it might be that he should never return, and that it were well that I should know of the existence of this passage, which few beside the earl himself knew of.  It is approached by a very heavy slab of stone in the great hall.  This is bolted down, and as it stands under the great table passes unnoticed, and appears part of the ordinary floor.  He told me the method in which, by touching a spring, the bolts were withdrawn and the stone could be raised.  Thence a passage a quarter of a mile long leads to the little chapel standing in the hollow, and which, being hidden among the trees, would be unobserved by any party besieging the castle.  This of course was contrived in order that the garrison, or any messenger thereof, might make an exit in case of siege.”

“But if we could escape,” Cnut asked, “why not enter by this way?”

“The stone is of immense weight and strength,” Cuthbert replied, “and could not be loosed from below save with great labour and noise.  There are, moreover, several massive doors in the passage, all of which are secured by heavy bolts within.  It is therefore out of the question that we could enter the castle by that way.  But were we once in, we could easily carry off the lady through this passage.”

The large force which Sir Rudolph had collected was not intended merely for the defence of the castle, for the knight considered that with his own garrison he could hold it against a force tenfold that which his rival could collect.  But he was determined if possible to crush out the outlaws of the forest, for he felt that so long as this formidable body remained under an enterprising leader like Sir Cuthbert, he would never be safe for a moment, and would be a prisoner in his own castle.

Cuthbert had foreseen that the attack was likely to be made and had strengthened his band to the utmost.  He felt, however, that against so large a force of regularly armed men, although he might oppose a stout resistance and kill many, yet that in the end he must be conquered.  Cnut, however, suggested to him a happy idea, which he eagerly grasped.