"The Saints bless you, my sweet lamb!" exclaimed the old woman; "finish it yourself. I could not." "If you don't want it, give it to me," put in Walter. "For shame, my lord," Sigbert did not scruple to say, nor could the thirsty girl help finishing the refreshing morsel, while Walter, with some scanty murmur of excuse, demanded where it came from, and what Sigbert had meant by promises of safety. "Sir," said Sigbert, "you may remember how some time back your honoured father threw one of the fellaheen into the dungeon for maiming old Leo." "The villain! I remember. I thought he was hanged." "No, sir. He escaped. I went to take him food, and he was gone! I then found an opening in the vault, of which I spoke to none, save your father, for fear of mischief; but I built it up with stones. Now, in our extremity, I bethought me of it, and resolved to try whether the prisoner had truly escaped, for where he went, we might go. Long and darksome is the way underground, but it opens at last through one of the old burial-places of the Jews into the thickets upon the bank of the Jordan." "The Jordan! Little short of a league!" exclaimed Walter. "A league, underground, and in the dark," sighed Mabel. "Better than starving here like a rat in a trap," returned her brother. "Ah yes; oh yes! I will think of the cool river and the trees at the end." "You will find chill enough, lady, long ere you reach the river," said Sigbert. "You must wrap yourself well. 'Tis an ugsome passage; but your heart must not fail you, for it is the only hope left us." The two young people were far too glad to hear of any prospect of release, to think much of the dangers or discomforts of the mode. Walter danced for joy up and down the room like a young colt, as he thought of being in a few hours more in the free open air, with the sound of water rippling below, and the shade of trees above him. Mabel threw herself on her knees before her rude crucifix, partly in thankfulness, partly in dread of the passage that was to come first. "Like going through the grave to life," she murmured to her nurse. And when the scanty garrison was gathered together, as many as possible provided with brands that might serve as torches, and Sigbert led them, lower and lower, down rugged steps hewn in the rock, through vaults where only a gleam came from above, and then through deeper cavernous places, intensely dark, there was a shudder perceptible by the clank and rattle of the armour which each had donned. In the midst, Walter paused and exclaimed-- "Our banner! How leave it to the Paynim dogs?" "It's here, sir," said Sigbert, showing a bundle on his back. "Warning to the foe to break in and seek us," grumbled Gilbert. "Not so," replied Sigbert. "I borrowed an old wrapper of nurse's that will cheat their eyes till we shall be far beyond their ken."