-and by the ringing of a little bell
gathering together all that were now housed with us--a goodly company
indeed it was of old and young--with all due confidence of heart and
mind we proceeded in long line to the Church, which lay from east to
west, forming with high thick walls the northern defence of our
cloister. And as we passed two and two up the choir that morning, the
monks raised with slow and solemn voice their last Miserere in that holy
place, the home of many of them from their boyhood.

But what did the convent at its prayers, as the Moorish host drew near?
This was made clear ere long. For we were to see, we lads, what ne'er
had met our eyes before, the very earth open to save us, and this by no
miracle save man's skill given by God to devise wise and cunning shifts
for those in peril.

Lo! the abbot stood, _in medio chori_, noble and calm, and the sad
strains of Miserere rolled down the aisle. He stood by a stool of oak
that rested there for prayer withal, and ever so lightly touched a
little point of brass, that lay but a speck in the midst of the stone
floor. And as he pressed with his kid shoe a moment, the stone sank
slowly some two fathoms, leaving disclosed a stairway, and a passage
arched overhead with bricks, with a cool and pleasant air therein, that,
rushing up, refreshed our souls.

Then we passed downwards, old and young, and so along the brick passage,
that ran straight eastward, as I guessed to the Vale Castle. And the
abbot stayed till we had all passed through. Then, as he pressed upon
the stone, it slowly rose again to its right level, and looking round I
saw him in like manner cause sundry other stones to drop behind him as
he came. Then letting loose a trap--lo! a very shower of granite blocks
came falling down closing the path behind us with great heaps high as a
man's shoulders.

So, heartening one another with cheery words as we went, we passed
through a little chamber that led straight through the Keep--and so we
were met by Hugo and Bernard, and dispersed each to his right place, as
was meet in such a perilous time.

Now, by favour of Brother Hugo, I stood near and succoured him, and
though in my stormy life I have had fighting and besieging in Normandy,
Brittany, Touraine, and here in England, never have I seen such prowess
and such strength as I saw in Brother Hugo.

Thus, by his favour, I was ere long on the south bastion that overlooked
the gate of the Castle. There was