The floor was of
bark, and a section of this had been lifted. The prisoners had then dug
their hole under the log.
"It was done with metal tools of some kind," said Wyatt. "But they had
nothing when we locked them in here. I can swear to that, as I was one of
those who searched them well."
"Then they must have had help!" exclaimed Alvarez, and again he turned
fiercely upon the sentinels, but Braxton Wyatt intervened. He was glad
that he could patronize Alvarez at least once and show himself to be the
superior in discernment.
"These men, Your Excellency, of whom I told you to beware, were five," he
said. "We captured four, therefore one was left, and I said beware of him,
even alone. He is a fellow of great cunning and skill who would try
anything. He has come for his comrades, and he has taken them away with
him."
"It must be as you say," said Alvarez, seeking now to hide his anger. He
was not sorry on the whole that the sentinels were obviously innocent, as
he needed as many adherents as he could keep, in order to carry out his
great plan.
"Knowing that the window was too small to admit them, we watched only the
front where the door is, Your Excellency," said Carlos, still trembling.
"Who would have dreamed that these men of Kaintock were magicians, that
without picks or shovels they could burrow under the earth and be gone
like ghosts.
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