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You see, the Spaniards drove this
gallery, and ceased to work immediately they heard us approaching them.
We had no idea that they were in front of us, and so they only had to
put a barrel of powder there and fire it as soon as there was but a
foot or two of earth between us and them."
"But how was it," Francis Vere asked, "that when they fired it they did
not at once rush forward? They could have captured the whole building
before we knew what had happened."
"That I cannot tell," Captain Uvedale replied. "The four men at work
must have been either killed or knocked senseless. We shall know better
another time, and will have a strong guard in each cellar from which
our mines are being driven."
"If it please you, Captain Uvedale," Lionel said, "it was my brother
Geoffrey who prevented them from advancing; for indeed several of them
had already entered the cellar, and the gallery behind was full of
them."
"But how did he do that?" Captain Uvedale asked in surprise.
Lionel related the ruse by which Geoffrey had created a panic in the
minds of the Spaniards.


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