Great Britain -- History -- Civil War, 1642-1649 -- Fiction
On and on they trudged, Marquis pulling at his leash as if he had been a
blind man's dog, and on and on beside them crept their shadows,
flattened out into strange distortion upon the road. But when they had
come within about two miles of Raglan, whether it was that the sense of
proximity to his mistress grew strong in him, or that he scented the
Great Mogul, as the horse the battle from afar, Marquis began to grow
restless, and to sniff about on one side of the way. When at length they
had by a narrow bridge crossed a brook, the dog insisted on leaving the
road and going down into the meadow to the left. Richard made small
resistance, and that only for experiment upon the animal's
determination. Across field after field his guide led him, until, but
for the great keep towering dimly up into the moonlit sky, he could
hardly have even conjectured where he was. But he was well satisfied,
for, ever as they came out of copse or hollow, there was the huge thing
in the sky, nearer than before.
At last he was able to descry a short stretch of the castle rampart,
past which, away to the westward, the dog was pulling, along a rough
cart-track through a field. This he presently found to be a quarry road,
and straight into the quarry the dog went, pulling eagerly; but Richard
was compelled to follow with caution, for the ground was rough and
broken, and the moon cast black misleading shadows. Towards the blackest
of these the dog led, and entered a hollow way. Richard went straight
after him, guarding his head with his arm, lest he might meet a sudden
descent of the roof, and lengthening his leash to the utmost, that he
might have timely warning of any descent of the floor.
It was a very rough tunnel, the intent of which will afterwards appear,
forming part of one of lord Herbert's later contrivances for the safety
of the castle; but so well had Mr. Salisbury, the surveyor, managed,
that not one of the men employed upon it had an idea that they were
doing more than working the quarry for the repair of the fortifications.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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