Part 20 (2/2)
”Brave Guido!” cried Winter with trembling voice, ”either this place is bewitched or our plans discovered; we have heard----”
The renewal of the noise interrupted him. Fawkes laid his hand upon his hilt and, with his lips pressed close together, thrust his head into the entrance of the tunnel. For a moment he remained silent, then turned with a grim look upon his face.
”'Tis from the place which we strive to reach,” said he shortly; ”go ye to the room above, while I learn its meaning;” and without more delay he left the cellar, followed by his terror-stricken companions.
Disguised in the dress of a common porter there was little danger in his venturing abroad. After an absence of about an hour, he returned to the six conspirators.
”Faith!” said he, tossing his cap upon the table, ”thou mayst lay aside thy tools, Sir Thomas, and the others likewise.”
”And wherefore?” asked Percy with bloodless lips. ”Are we then discovered? If so, I will die with sword in hand----”
”Speak not of dying,” replied Fawkes, a smile pa.s.sing over his face; ”rather set thy wits to working. Thou art good at bargaining; hire for us, therefore, this cellar beneath the House of Parliament.”
The Catholic gentlemen gazed at him in astonishment, wondering if some sudden terror had beclouded his brain; or, did the man but jest with them?
”Hire the chamber under Parliament House?” gasped Catesby, ”as well might good Percy bargain for the royal prerogative of James.”
”Ye think me mad,” said Fawkes, ”but listen. After leaving you I made my way with all haste to the door of the Parliament cellar, which was open, and discovered the meaning of the noise which reached us in the tunnel;--'twas the sliding downward of a goodly quant.i.ty of coal, owned by a woman of some property called Bright, a dealer in coals and f.a.ggots. She being present, attending to the removal of her own, I addressed her and learned that, having hired the cellar from the authorities, she was about to give it over to them.
”'And is't for rent?' asked I.
”'That it is,' replied she; 'for he who hath the renting of it, one Whynniard, by name, did offer it for the coming quarter, but it pleaseth me to store my coals elsewhere.'
”Thou seest, therefore, that this room is for us if we do choose, and Master Percy, well versed in such matters, has but to bespeak this Whynniard and possession will be given of a most valuable corner of the House of Parliament.”
This sudden turn of fortune rendered the conspirators for the moment speechless. Winter was the first to regain his balance.
”It shall be done,” cried he; ”right glad am I that such a chance hath come to us. Good Master Percy, bestir thyself, before another seize the opportunity.”
To all, it seemed that the hand of G.o.d had opened a way for them, and Percy made haste to do his errand, and with such success, that ere another sunrise the room beneath the House of Lords was in the hands of those who hoped to overthrow the government.
Having gained so easily the place they had sought to acquire by stealth and painful labor, the conspirators at once set about conveying into it the powder now stored in the house of Master Ferrers. Fawkes, to whom this work fell, bought, and ordered deposited in the chamber, a goodly quant.i.ty of coals and f.a.ggots, so that one chancing to enter would note only a pile of such commodities as dealers in fuel collected for sale. Care was taken that the unfinished tunnel in the wall should be covered so that none would notice it.
This was easily done by replacing a few of the outer stones and cementing them together.
Some days yet remained before the opening of Parliament; during that time Percy, Catesby, Winter and others of the conspirators, formed such plans as would be to their advantage when the kingdom, shaken to its center by the death of the King and his ministers, should be thrown into confusion. As for Fawkes, each day found him in the fatal cellar, where he studied the condition of his coals and f.a.ggots, making sure that no prying eye had penetrated the covering, under which was hidden the ”devil's powder” awaiting the spark which would free English Catholics from James of Scotland and his Parliament.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE NOTE OF WARNING.
During the last week of October, sixteen hundred and five, near the day for the convening of Parliament, Lord Monteagle suddenly appeared in his house at Hoxton, from which he had been absent a month. His manner was perturbed and preoccupied in the extreme. Usually of a genial disposition, he surprised the servants who attended him, by an impatient order that supper be served at once, as he and the gentlemen accompanying him had already fasted too long.
Soon after seven in the evening he dispatched a footman upon an errand into the neighboring street. This man shortly returned in haste, presenting to his lords.h.i.+p a sealed letter, addressed, in a cramped hand, to ”The Right Honorable, the Lord Monteagle.”
He received the missive, handling it in a fastidious manner, and inquired with some show of spirit how it had come through a servant, instead of being delivered in the usual way.
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