Free to the Far Blue Mountains (1976) by Louis - Sackett's 02 L'amour Page A

no indication that he knew me. I walked swiftly past him, looking about for Hyatt.
    He spoke as though talking to the small man. "Barnabas, this is Feghany. In prison he is known as Hunt, for Feghany means a huntsman or something like. He is a good man, and will help.
    "I have word. If you escape, it must be now. No delays. You are to be taken to a dungeon and they will have the treasure out of you or you shall die. It is in the hands of the men you saw."
    "I will need a horse ... three horses."
    I was standing, looking about as if for someone, seeming not to be aware of his presence or that of Feghany. Others moved about us. Across the larger room I saw Hyatt.
    "There will be horses at house you know, a house you once visited after the theatre."
    Tempany's!
    "Go there when you leave. Waste no time. Ride far north and west. The Queen will be desperate. Her men will be everywhere searching for you. You can rely on Feghany."
    He moved on to talk to another prisoner, while Feghany loitered near me. "Have you got a Kate?" he said, low-voiced.
    "A Kate?"
    "A pick, for opening locks. You're going to need one. I'm thinking they'll have the cramprings on you before night."
    At my blank look, for I knew nothing of thieves' cant, he said, "Cramp rings ... irons ... shackles." He looked disgusted, "Don't you know nothing?"
    He promised to bring me one.
    Whatever else happened, I had to be away from this place. The stench on the main floor was disgusting. Crossing the floor I went to my own cell.
    Once inside, I looked at the window. Six feet from the floor, over four feet wide and slightly arched at the top, it was crisscrossed with iron bars. The bars were at least six inches apart, and there were two horizontal bars that crossed also.
    There was a bench and a bed in my cell, and a wooden bucket. The bench was heavy to move, and could not be moved back quickly, so I upended the bucket and stood on it to get a better look at the sill.
    The bars were set into the stone, but I noted with satisfaction that weathering had worn the stone on the outside. Peering out, I could just make out a wall beneath my window. If I could lower myself to that ...
    Footsteps alerted me and I stepped down and moved the bucket. I was sitting on my bed when the cell door opened amid a rattle of shackles.
    A guard was there, and Feghany was helping him carry the irons.
    The guard grinned. His teeth were broken and yellow. "You git the cramp rings again, lad! Tomorrow."
    "But I paid you!" I protested.

To The Far Blue Mountains (1976)

    "Aye, so you did, but there's a voice louder than mine that says back you go, so into the irons it is."
    "Sorry," Feghany said to me, "but it's no doing of the guard's. Remember him.
    Later he may take them off, if you've a bit of the necessary."
    "Now hold up there!" the guard protested. "Not so loud!"
    Feghany slapped me on the shoulder and something cold touched my neck below the collar. "There! Don't worry now!"
    When they had gone I put my hand inside my collar. A thin bit of metal. A Kate with which to pick the lock.
    There was no time to waste. I was bound for a dungeon and more questions. I was headed for torture that could only end in death.
    So what was to be done must be done tonight.
    I heard the yowlings and screams that came from the cells and the larger rooms below where the prisoners mingled.
    I checked the bars at the window again. Rain and wind had done their worst with the exposed walls, and some of the bars were loose in their sockets.
    I was devoutly grateful. Gripping the pick in my hand, I went to work to break away the stone, scratching away with my lock-pick at the crumbling edge of the socket.
    Then, putting down the pick, I took the bars in my two hands and strained, pushing them out. The bars gave a little, then held. I worked longer, then hearing footsteps in the passage I sat down on my bench, leaning my elbows on my knees, my back to the door. There was a momentary pause outside my door as the guard