CHAPTER XXXIXThe governor led the way, carrying a lantern himself, for he did not wish that the conversation should be overheard as he showed the three commissioners the extent to which his guns had been shattered and overcast and the state of his crumbling walls.
They came back to his own room by a passage which led near to the well from which the garrison drank, and there was a sound of splashing, as though articles of weight were being cast therein, one after one, in a regular way.
De Castriot, who had said little till now, paused to listen. “What,” he asked, “may that be?”
“It is round-shot,” Montserrat answered, “which we shall not be able to use. I have it cast into the well lest it fall into other hands and be used in a worse way.”
“May it be stayed for an hour?”
“To what end?”
