Two or three hours before daylight Cuthbert accompanied Cnut and
twenty-five picked men of the foresters to the copse. They were provided
with crowbars, and all carried heavy axes. The door was soon prised open.
It opened silently and without a creak.

"It may be," Cnut said, "that the door has not been opened as you say for
years, but it is certain," and he placed his torch to the hinges, "that
it has been well oiled within the last two or three days. No doubt the
baron intended to make his escape this way, should the worst arrive. Now
that we have the door open we had better wait quiet until the dawn
commences. The earl will blow his bugle as a signal for the advance; it
will be another ten minutes before they are fairly engaged, and that will
be enough for us to break open any doors that there may be between this
and the castle, and to force our way inside."

It seemed a long time waiting before the dawn fairly broke--still longer
before the earl's bugle was heard to sound the attack. Then the band,
headed by Cnut and two or three of the strongest of the party, entered
the passage.

Cuthbert had had some misgivings as to his mother's injunctions to take
no part in the fray, and it cannot be said that in accompanying the
foresters he obeyed the letter of her instructions. At the same time as
he felt sure that the effect of a surprise would be complete and
crushing, and that the party would gain the top of the keep without any
serious resistance, he considered the risk was so small as to justify
him in accompanying the foresters.

The passage was some five feet high, and little more than two feet wide.