"There can be little doubt that the stairs descend to the courtyard, and that they are used by men going up and down to sentry duty on the upper platform; the only question is whether the door at the foot, opening into the courtyard, is kept locked." "That I cannot say, sir; we never went down to the courtyard when we were at the castle." "Is there a sentry posted on the top of the tower?" "Yes, sir, I believe so; at any rate, we often hear the tread of men going up and down, and that by night as well as by day." "In that case it is possible that the door is not kept locked; as it is so often used it would give unnecessary trouble if the key had to be fetched each time the sentry was changed. It is very important that we should know for certain, because it would save much risk and trouble if you could leave the keep without descending from the window. But I do not see how you could let us know, and I do not like putting the adventure off until you are again on duty, for there is no saying when the baron may carry out his intention of forcing my sister to become his son's wife." "I could manage that, count," the farmer said. "I might well enough go to the castle with a present of fruit, or with some woman's gear that Bertha might have left behind her. I might not be able to see the girl, but she might send down a message. If the door is locked, she need send only her thanks; if it is open, she could say that I need not trouble to send her fruit, as they had an abundance of everything they wanted." "That would be a very good plan," the young count said. "I will return here in three days, by which time I hope to have all my plans laid out." On his return to Waldensturm, Conrad ordered two or three of his men to make a light ladder some twenty-five feet long, and sent Henrick over to Weisenheim to buy a hundred yards of light but very strong cord. The next night he rode with Johann to within a short distance of Goldstein, the latter carrying the ladder. It was a dark night, and, leaving their horses half a mile from the castle, they made their way towards it, reached the foot of the outer wall, taking great care to avoid making a noise, proceeded along the edge of the wall of the outer court until they came to the cut in the rock. Then the ladder was lowered down, they both descended, and, shifting the ladder to the other side, were soon at the foot of the wall of the inner court. They found, to their satisfaction, that there were some two feet of level ground between this and the edge of the precipice. As they went on, this sometimes widened to twenty feet or more, sometimes narrowed to three feet, as the wall kept straight along without following the irregularities of the rock. At length the masonry rose up in front of them extending to the very edge of the crag, and they knew that they had reached the castle itself, and that some sixty feet above them was the chamber in which Minna was confined.