"Rat dragging a dead sparrow," said Waller, and he hurried out of the kitchen to make his way out into the hall, where, consequent upon her fright, Bella had not lit the lamp, and then cautiously upstairs to the top attic, where he softly tried the door. He found it still fastened, and uttered a low signal agreed upon between the boys. This was responded to by the click of the lock, and as Waller entered his fugitive guest went on tiptoe back to the old chair on which he passed so much of his time, and there was just faint light enough coming through the window to show that he was softly rubbing his back. "What's the matter?" said Waller. "Fell down and hurt myself--all down those stairs. Made a big lump on my head." "Why, what were you doing?" "Oh, I waited till it was growing dark, and then I felt that I must get out of this room, if only for a few moments, just to breathe the air in that big passage. But the steps were so horribly polished with wax that I went down from top to bottom." "Oh!" said Waller. "Then I suppose you don't know that you frightened one of our maids." "Did I? I think I did hear somebody shriek." "You did; and if you do things like that again, all will be found out. I shall get into terrible trouble, and you will be caught, and you know what that means." "Yes," said Godfrey sadly; "I know what that means." "Well, then, I don't mean to trust you any more," said Waller, "and I shall keep that door locked until I feel it's safe. As soon as I can get you out, we will go off into the woods. I only hope our maid won't talk about it, but I am afraid she will." There was cause for Waller's fear, for the very next day Bella told the gardener all about her alarm, and that night when he went down to the village shop, Joe Hanson made a small audience of the village people open their eyes widely, stare, and feel, as they told one another, a curious creepy sensation right down their backs. One of the gardener's audience was Tony Gusset, a man who did not work much at shoe-making or mending, but when he did he thought a great deal, and after this occasion he mused much over what Bella had heard. Then he put that and that together, and thought of a certain reward of a hundred pounds for the taking, dead or alive, of any one of the French spies who had sought refuge in the forest; and that reward haunted the village constable and kept him awake all night. The next day, too, Bella's, fright was food for reflection, and he mixed up with it the appearance of certain soldiers who had been billeted in the next village. Tony Gusset thought very slowly, and he reasoned a good deal as well, and it resulted in his asking himself this question: If a man knew where the spies were and showed them to the soldiers, how much would he get, and how much would the soldiers want for their share? CHAPTER ELEVEN. WEARY OF HIDING.