'GOD'S PEACE' 321
arranged signal to a small band of waiting friends. With weapons in hand they forced their way into the castle, overcame the unsuspecting guard, whom they gagged, found, led by Clas Bryde, the open door to the secret passage, in which they saw, far off, the pale light of vanishing torches, and hastened forward through the darkness. . . .
Of the drama, which was acted deep under the fjord, the legend tells the following: When, next morning, the servants in the castle found the guard, and were frightened by his story, they discovered that the door to the secret passage had slammed to by itself. It took some time before the heavy iron bars could be forced, but as soon as it was opened they found the unhurt bodies of three of Clas Bryde's friends. After a hopeless attempt to force the door they had been suffocated. Further along the passage they found the bodies of other suffo- cated men, and about half-way they came across the Count, the young woman, Clas Bryde, the two torch-bearers, and some others, all badly mutilated. Later it was said that a fisherman, who that night had been spearing eels on the fjord just above the secret passage, spoke of having heard sounds of clashing arms from the deep.
The sun has set. Grey dusk has fallen over the quiet courtyard. In the water behind us there is a heavy splash, and Greta catches my arm nervously. ' What was that .^ ' she asks. ' Look,' I answered, and pointed to one of the boards which crossed the gutter. ' Now is the hour for the old castle-rats.
