Johann had himself helped to fix it closely to the masonry on the under side, so that it could not now be moved from below any more than from above.

An assault with explosives or a long battering with picks alone could displace it, and the noise involved in either of these operations put them out of the question.

What harm, then, could a man do in the moat?
I trusted that Black Michael, putting this query to himself, would answer confidently, "None;" while, even if Johann meant treachery, he did not know my scheme, and would doubtless expect to see me, at the head of my friends, before the front entrance to the chateau.

There, I said to Sapt, was the real danger.

"And there," I added, "you shall be.