Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/270

242 his table, with a sigh and a smile of satisfaction over its successful working.

"Yes," he said, leaning back in his chair, "my reasonings are correct, and with this little tube I can make out what to the eye is but a blur! With this, the sailor at sea may tell whether the shore is rocky or offers a safe anchorage; the sea-fighter may tell the character of a coming vessel from afar, and decide whether to bear up or to set sail and away! The general may detect the nature of an opposing battle-array, and dispose his forces so as to meet the strategy of his foe; the" But the Friar was interrupted in his reverie by a knocking at his door. He rose, took the instrument with which he had been experimenting and put it away in his cupboard before drawing the bolt. Meanwhile the knocking was repeated. The Friar opened the door, and there stood a soldier, who, glancing curiously at the odd pieces of apparatus standing about the room, forgot for a moment to deliver his message to the waiting Friar.

"Did you wish to speak to me?" asked the Franciscan. "Yes," the soldier replied, coming to himself. "Lord Edgar asks that you will come to him at once. He has received a scroll from the Count de Ferrers and wishes you to give him your counsel