`` Ye do but make things worse , '' said Joanna , sadly . `` He will then enter by the trap . '' `` Not so , '' replied Dick . `` He durst not tell his secret to so many . It is by the trap that we shall flee . Hark ! The attack is over . Nay , it was none ! '' It had , indeed , been no attack ; it was the arrival of another party of stragglers from the defeat of Risingham that had disturbed Sir Daniel . They had run the gauntlet under cover of the darkness ; they had been admitted by the great gate ; and now , with a great stamping of hoofs and jingle of accoutrements and arms , they were dismounting in the court . `` He will return anon , '' said Dick . `` To the trap ! '' He lighted a lamp , and they went together into the corner of the room . The open chink through which some light still glittered was easily discovered , and , taking a stout sword from his small armoury , Dick thrust it deep into the seam , and weighed strenuously on the hilt . The trap moved , gaped a little , and at length came widely open . Seizing it with their hands , the two young folk threw it back . It disclosed a few steps descending , and at the foot of them , where the would-be murderer had left it , a burning lamp . `` Now , '' said Dick , `` go first and take the lamp . I will follow to close the trap . '' So they descended one after the other , and as Dick lowered the trap , the blows began once again to thunder on the panels of the door .
CHAPTER IV -- THE PASSAGE The passage in which Dick and XXXXX now found themselves was narrow , dirty , and short .
Daniel Dick Joanna accoutrements anon armoury attack chink first left