“No! NO!” cried Pottersham in terror — and at that moment the moon went behind a cloud, and the tower-room was plunged in darkness — except for the lantern that Pottersham had set down on the floor when he had first arrived.

He saw one slight chance for himself and the others. He suddenly kicked at the lantern, which flew into the air and hit Bufflo, then went out, and left the entire place in pitch darkness. Bufflo did not dare to fire. He might hit the wrong person!

“Set the dog loose!” he roared — but it was too late. By the time Timmy had got to the door, it was slammed shut — and a bolt was shot home the other side! There was the sound of hurried steps slipping and stumbling down the stone stairway in the dark.

“Hrrr!” said Bufflo, when the moon came out again, and showed him the astonished and dismayed faces of the five in the room. “We slipped up somewhere, didn’t we? They’ve gone!”

“Yes. But without us,” said Terry-Kane, letting Dick untie his arms. “They’ve probably gone down through those passages. They’ll be out before we’ve escaped ourselves, more’s the pity. And now we’ve got to try this rope-trick down the tower wall, seeing that the door is locked!”

“Come on, then,” said Julian. “Let’s go before anything else happens.” He went to the window, slid to the outer edge, and took hold of the rope. It was perfectly easy to climb down, though it wasn’t very pleasant to look below him into the courtyard. It seemed so very far away.

Anne went next, very much afraid, but not showing it. She was quite a good climber so she didn’t find the rope difficult. She was very, very glad when she at last stood safely beside Julian.

Then came George, with a bit of news. “I can’t think what’s happening to the four men,” she said. “They still seem to be about — and they’re yelling like anything. It sounds as if they are rushing round that gallery that runs along the walls of the tower-room below.”

“Well, let them,” said Julian. “If they stay there long enough, we’ll have time to go to the hole in the outer wall, and wait for them to come out one by one! That would be very, very nice.”

“Timmy’s coming now,” said George. “I’ve wrapped him up well in that rug and tied it all round him, and put a kind of rope-harness on him. Dick’s going to lower him down. We doubled the rope to make sure it would hold. Look — here he comes! Poor darling Timmy! He can’t think what in the world is happening!”

Timmy came down slowly, swinging a little, and bumping into the stone wall now and again. He gave a little yelp each time, and George was sure he would be covered with bruises! She watched in great suspense as he came lower and lower.