ce he had come--three
hundred feet--perhaps more. Could he find a rope of that length within
the castle--? After a while he straightened in the shadow of the wall
and peered cautiously up at the dark bulk of the keep and the tower,
beyond the ruined chapel, searching its roofs and window for a sign of
life. Silence. The ruin was deserted. For half an hour he watched and
waited, and then sure that there was no chance that he had been
observed, rose to his feet and moved forward stealthily into the shadows
of the chapel. The roof had long since fallen in and been removed, but
Renwick stumbled over a dusty tomb, toward the fragment of altar with
the reredos still showing traces of sculpture, partially protected by a
fragment of roof over the apse which had been spared by the wind and
storm. To the right of the altar was a Gothic door, which had at one
time led into the building adjoining, but upon investigation he found
that it had been built in with solid blocks of stone. The other arch of
the vaulted structure outside which he had noted from the mountain side
was also filled by a wall. So far as Renwick could see, the ruined part
of Schloss Szolnok was isolated, with no mode of egress from the
habitable part.

Renwick had screened his movements as far as possible from view of the
windows in the keep and other buildings, and now discovered that the
lowest one was at least fifteen feet above the level of this rampart;
and so before planning any action, he investigated the guardhouse, a
fallen ruin upon the north bastion. He seemed to make out the forms of
what had once been the stone treads of a circular stair in a tumbled
mass. At first the appearance of the place discouraged him, for it
seemed too far away from the main mass of buildings to furnish any
communication with them, but as he peered among the fallen masonry he
thought he detected a darker spot in the obscurity, and bending forward
was aware of a heavy smell, as of mold and dampness. Upon investigation
he discovered an irregular hole under the mass of stone, a little wider
than his body.

He dared not strike a match for fear the glow of it might be observed
from one of the windows of the keep, but testing the balance of the
heavy stone steps, he decided to investigate, and so lowering his legs
into the dark aperture he let himself hang from his waist and found that
his toes encountered solidity. He tested his footing with his weight,
and then let go, descendi