Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-03-01


! had great hopes that the silices wo.ls.
remember, behind the castle, at little
| distance from ii, and found with0U,
/ difficulty the mouth Of the conluit
which had been formerly used to feed
| the fosse. inserted my arm as far
! as possible, and the space seemed fair
( " clear, though the earth had crept in
/ and lay along the bottom, grown with
grass to the depth of. some inches
i Still had no fear that the flow of
| water would not wash this sediment
away, provided always could get the
i sluices up. To find these sluices was
| my next thought | moved along the
| turf in the direction in which it seemed
| that the culvert must run, scrutinizing
very carefully every inch Of the
| ground. About three feet from the
| stream was a noticeable elevation, a
| grass plot rising in a mound two feet
high. Here was obviously what /
wanted, and so, taking a spade, | dug
| with a will and soon had the turf re-
| moved and the floor of a stone erection
laid bare. 1t was good hours work
| ere had cleared the rubbish away
sufficiently to free the sluices: then /
laid hands on them and pulled vigor
ously, but fruitlessly. / must plainly
have assistance, and accordingly, well
| enough content with my labors so far,
| went back to the house. At break
fast I revealed my scheme, much to
| the delight of Sheppard, who roundly
| declared that be would give five years
| of his life for this adventure Support
| ed by two enthusiastic assistants, re
turned to work, fetching with me a
heavy iron bar for use as lever.
"a Little more beef, Montgomery,
/ shouted Sheppard. and himself grew
| as red as a turkey cock with his eff
| forts Montgomery flung his heavy
| body upon the extremity of the bar,
and with a crack something came up
with jerk. AT the same time heard
below faint rumbling and rushing as
| of water
| We've done it!'' / shouted, and ere
| the words We're out of my mouth Shep
pard and the other were racing for the
moat whittier they presently waved
me with wild hands.
| The water was pouring from the con-
duit in a strong stream fully one foot
| in thickness. That was enough. 1t
would take some hours to fill the moat,
but it might take all day SO long as we
were secured by the fall Of night. We
| left the sluices up and went back.
1.-THE next thing" said I, sis to attack
the drawbridge. The portcullis wants
oil, but that will do laler."
well have the castle medieval
fortress in twinkling," said Shep-
pard.
The heavy chains of the drawbridge
were intact, but the machinery was in
very bad way, and without more ado
we set to work upon it. / called my
man Williams into requisition, and /
think it took the four of us till 6 or Z
o'clock in the evening ere we pro
nounced ourselves satisfied. After
| that we had a rehearsal with both port
cullis and drawbridge. By this time
the moat was swimming with water,
which Tapped under the shoulders of
the bridge. There must have been full
| ly twelve feet Of water in the fosse.
.This won't do. Well have an mum
dation,'' said Montgomery, and he let
the sluices down When all was done we
surveyed our handiwork and We're con
tent. 1t was now close upon S.o'clock.
Dinner had been ready for more than
half an hour, SO we were Informed by
Mrs. Main, who must have regarded
us as lunatics. The clock in the hall
struck 8 as we entered.
watch time" said L "Who goes?"
We looked at each other, laughing
"It's my turn said Sheppard, with a
grimace, but stopped him.
"No; let Montgomery" l said mean
ingly.
fright you are" responded Mont
gomery cheerfully, and, taking his
brace of pistols, be vanished along the
corridor
"How's thisYs asked sheppard Il
think the poor boy has earned his din
ner.''
"Bless you, he shall have his dinner
answered. "Only the danger is going
to be later, and I'd rather Montgomery
were asleep in bed than asleep on the
tower"
We had arranged that Williams
should stay the night in the castle and,
imbuing him with the fear of burglars,
had armed him with a shotgun in case
we should come to the worst. AS Shep-
pard remarked, we could readily tan
gle the Welshman's brains if he be-
came suspicious, and if his garrulity
should bring us the sympathetic as
sistance Of the law think we could
be stupid enough and vague enough
to confound his kindly efforts. Mrs.
Main was by this time bound to us
by iron ties through Sheppard's con-
trivance, nor do know to this day ex-
actly how he managed it or in what
directions he used his amiable and
soothing fctions. The housemaid was
Mrs Mains hirplir0 and we need