Perhaps therE is nothing more delightful in the romance ofboyhood than the finding of some secret hiding-place whither abody may creep away from the bustle of the world's life, tonestle in quietness for an hour or two. More especially is suchdelightful if it happen that, by peeping from out it, one maylook down upon the bustling matters of busy every-day life, whileone lies snugly hidden away unseen by any, as though one were insome strange invisible world of one's own.
Such a hiding-place as would have filled the heart of almost anyboy with sweet delight Myles and Gascoyne found one summerafternoon. They called it their Eyry, and the name suited wellfor the roosting-place of the young hawks that rested in itswindy stillness, looking down upon the shifting castle life inthe courts below.
Behind the north stable, a great, long, rambling building,thick-walled, and black with age, lay an older part of the castlethan that peopled by the better class of life--a cluster of greatthick walls, rudely but strongly built, now the dwelling-place ofstable-lads and hinds, swine and poultry. From one part of theseancient walls, and fronting an inner court of the castle, arose atall, circular, heavy-buttressed tower, considerably higher thanthe other buildings, and so mantled with a dense growth of agedivy as to stand a shaft of solid green. Above its crumbling crowncircled hundreds of pigeons, white and pied, clapping andclattering in noisy flight through the sunny air. Severalwindows, some closed with shutters, peeped here and there fromout the leaves, and near the top of the pile was a row of archedopenings, as though of a balcony or an airy gallery.
Myles had more than once felt an idle curiosity about this tower,and one day, as he and Gascoyne sat together, he pointed hisfinger and said, "What is yon place?""That," answered Gascoyne, looking over his shoulder--"that theycall Brutus Tower, for why they do say that Brutus he built itwhen he came hither to Britain. I believe not the tale mine ownself; ne'theless, it is marvellous ancient, and oldRobin-the-Fletcher telleth me that there be stairways built inthe wall and passage-ways, and a maze wherein a body may getlost, an he know not the way aright, and never see the blessedlight of day again.""Marry," said Myles, "those same be strange sayings. Who liveththere now?""No one liveth there," said Gascoyne, "saving only some of thestable villains, and that half- witted goose-herd who flungstones at us yesterday when we mocked him down in the paddock. Heand his wife and those others dwell in the vaults beneath, likerabbits in any warren. No one else hath lived there since EarlRobert's day, which belike was an hundred years agone. The storygoeth that Earl Robert's brother--or step- brother--was murderedthere, and some men say by the Earl himself. Sin that day it hathbeen tight shut."Myles stared at the tower for a while in silence. "It is astrange-seeming place from without," said he, at last, "andmayhap it may be even more strange inside. Hast ever been within,Francis?""Nay," said Gascoyne; "said I not it hath been fast locked sinceEarl Robert's day?""By'r Lady," said Myles, "an I had lived here in this place solong as thou, I wot I would have been within it ere this.""Beshrew me," said Gascoyne, "but I have never thought of such amatter." He turned and looked at the tall crown rising into thewarm sunlight with a new interest, for the thought of entering itsmacked pleasantly of adventure. "How wouldst thou set aboutgetting within?" said he, presently.
"Why, look," said Myles; "seest thou not yon hole in the ivybranches? Methinks there is a window at that place. An I mistakenot, it is in reach of the stable eaves. A body might come up bythe fagot pile to the roof of the hen-house, and then by the longstable to the north stable, and so to that hole."Gascoyne looked thoughtfully at the Brutus Tower, and thensuddenly inquired, "Wouldst go there?""Aye," said Myles, briefly.
"So be it. Lead thou the way in the venture, I will follow afterthee," said Gascoyne.
As Myles had said, the climbing from roof to roof was a mattereasy enough to an active pair of lads like themselves; but when,by-and-by, they reached the wall of the tower itself, they foundthe hidden window much higher from the roof than they had judgedfrom below--perhaps ten or twelve feet--and it was, besides,beyond the eaves and out of their reach.
Myles looked up and looked down. Above was the bushy thickness ofthe ivy, the branches as thick as a woman's wrist, knotted andintertwined; below was the stone pavement of a narrow inner courtbetween two of the stable buildings.
"Methinks I can climb to yon place," said he.
"Thou'lt break thy neck an thou tryest," said Gascoyne, hastily.
