Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/119

Rh over to the Friar, The Franciscan looked about him as if uncertain where it was best to make the experiment, but at last, warning Edgar and Hugh to keep at a distance, he placed the apparatus at one end of the great hall, lighted the bit of rope-yarn, and came running back. There was a pause, during which the sparking of the little fuse was visible, and then came an explosion which so startled Edgar and Hugh that they sprang into the air with a shout of dismay, while the Frair [sic] laughed heartily.

In a few moments hurried steps were heard on the stairs, and Lady Mortimer and Amabel, wrapped in long cloaks, came into the great hall pale and terrified, evidently thinking that the besiegers had entered and broken in a door—or they didn't know what. Seeing the Friar's merriment and the fright of Hugh and Edgar, they eagerly asked the cause of the noise. Friar Bacon told them that he had been making a little experiment, and that no harm was done, whereupon they withdrew again to their own apartments.

"Hugh," the Franciscan said, "see what has become of the pieces of wood you tied so carefully together."

Hugh, with a side glance at the Friar, went forward, none too boldly, and Edgar went with him. They found only one or two blackened bits, and a