"Here is the door!" spoke Gilbert, in smothered tones, "but it is fast locked and bolted. They will take good care of that." A long-drawn sobbing wail seemed to come from within, and Amalric's face grew hard and stern. "Break it in, then--a truce to secrecy!--there is no time to lose!" he cried; and the next moment the silence of the night was rent by the sound of blows against the solid door, which soon sent it crashing inwards. "A light!" cried Amalric; and Hal flashed a concealed lantern within the opening forced. In a moment the five youths had vaulted in, drawing their daggers as they did so. They found themselves in a dark, vaulted chamber, hung round with black cloth; and for some moments they could see no way of getting into the upper part of the tower. The magic mirror hung upon the wall, and various curious-looking implements lay upon the table, doubtless used by Tito when practising upon the credulity of those who sought him. "This way!" cried Jack suddenly. He had discovered in the wall a narrow spiral stairway. Recklessly dashing upwards, stumbling in the darkness, but closely followed by his comrades, and holding his dagger fast in his hand, he suddenly found himself brought up short by a locked door, and behind that door he could hear whispering voices. "Stand back a moment!" he yelled to those behind; and they fell back, not knowing what was to happen next. Jack had armed himself beforehand with a mighty club, which in old days he had often wielded with good effect, and which since his arrival in Oxford had been his favourite weapon in those matches of skill and strength in which the hearts of the students delighted. Raising this formidable weapon, and bringing it crashing against the lock of this door, he forced it open before him. A stream of light burst forth for a single second, almost dazzling their eyes. The next instant they were enveloped in black darkness, whilst a sound of scuffling steps and of angry words in the room beyond them told that they had surprised the evil-doers in their work. Hal sprang forward with his lantern, and Jack exclaimed,-- "Catch them! catch them! they are getting out by the windows!" Springing forward, he caught at the legs of one, but received such a violent kick upon the cheek that he let go his hold for a second. The other fugitive was grappled by Gilbert, but he was more than half-way out before he was seized, and he wriggled so dexterously and fiercely that he too drew away, and the next moment both figures had vanished. "After them down the stairs!" cried Hal; and he, Gilbert, and Jack dashed down through the darkness, leaving the light for any one who desired it. Amalric caught it up, flashed it round the room, and then uttered a short, sharp exclamation. Leofric had seen a ghastly figure stretched upon a pallet in a corner. The next moment both he and Amalric were bending over the prostrate form of Hugh le Barbier.