Max, I supposed, was
receiving like treatment.
After a hundred paces or more we waded the river, and then I knew
nothing of our whereabouts. Within a half-hour we crossed a bridge which
I supposed was the one over the moat at the Postern. There we halted,
and the password was given in a whisper. Then came the clanking of
chains and creaking of hinges, and I knew the gates were opening and the
portcullis rising. After the gates were opened I was again urged forward
by the men on either side of me and the enterprising soul in the rear.
I noticed that I was walking on smooth flags in place of cobble-stones,
and I was sure we were in the bailey yard of the castle. Soon I was
stopped again, a door opened, squeaking on its rusty hinges, and we
began the descent of a narrow stairway. Twenty or thirty paces from the
foot of the stairway we stopped while another door was opened. This, I
felt sure, was the entrance to an underground cell, out of which God
only knew if I should ever come alive. While I was being thrust through
the door, I could not resist calling out, "Max--Max, for the love of God
answer me if you hear!" I got no answer. Then I appealed to my guard:--
"Let me have one moment's speech with him, only one moment. I will pay
you a thousand crowns the day I am liberated if you grant me
this favor."
"No one is with you," the man replied. "I would willingly earn the
thousand crowns, but if they are to be paid when you are liberated, I
fear I should starve waiting for them.
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