"Never say die till you're dead," he cried, squaring his shoulders--
"that's the Englishman's motto."
His spirit rose to meet the occasion.
"Our theatrical friend outside there's no fool. But--but--but! there's
just one element he's not reckoned with."
"What?" cried Kit, hanging on his words.
The Parson dropped head and voice.
"Who saved you from the _Tremendous_?" he whispered. "Who handed
you up a cliff a goat couldn't climb?--who brought you to this house?
--who put the flag-idea into your head, and brought it off?"
The Parson's words made sudden confusion in the lad's mind. It came to
him with a shock of surprise to find such triumphant faith in this
ruddy fighting-man.
"And why d'you think of all the houses in the world He sent you to
this one?" the other continued.
"Because of you, sir."
The Parson frowned, and approached his lips to the lad's ear.
"_Because it's got a secret passage!_"
This most matter-of-fact explanation flashed the laughter to the boy's
eyes.
"I mean it," said the other earnestly. "Ain't you noticed anything
about the floor of the kitchen?"
"It sounds hollow."
"It is hollow. It's built over an old decoy-pond."
In a few words the Parson outlined the history of the secret passage.
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