“Caroline! Caroline!” called Faith, and the call echoed back to her astonished ears from the shadowy passage. “I’d better go back! I’m sure the other was the right way,” she finally decided¹; and very slowly she retraced² her steps, stopping now and then to call the names of the girls who had deserted³ her.  
It seemed a long time to Faith before she was back to where the big solid door had blocked the first passage. She was sure now that the other way would lead her back to the square where she had last seen her companions. But as she stood looking at the door she could see that it was not closed. It swung a little, and Faith wondered to herself if this door, after all, might not open near the entrance so that she could find her way to the road, and so back to Aunt Prissy.
 
She could just reach a big iron ring that swung from the center of the door; and she seized this and pulled with all her might. As the door slowly opened, letting in the clear October sunlight, Faith heard steps coming down the passage. The half-opened door nearly hid her from sight, and she looked back expecting to see either Caroline or Catherine, and, in the comfort of the hope of seeing them, quite ready to accept any excuse they might offer. But before she could call out she heard a voice, which was vaguely⁴ familiar, say: “I did leave that door open. Lucky I came back,” and Nathan Beaman, the Shoreham boy, was close beside her.
 
When he saw a little girl still grasping the iron ring, he seemed too surprised to speak.
 
“I’m lost!” Faith whispered. “I’m so glad you came. Major Young’s little girls asked me to come to the fort, and then ran away and left me,” and Faith told of her endeavors to find her companions.
 
“Lucky I came back,” said Nathan again, but this time his voice had an angry tone. “It was a mean trick. Those girls——” Then Nathan stopped suddenly. “Well, they’re Tories,” he concluded.
 
“I was afraid it was night,” said Faith.
 
[Pg 112]“No, but you might have wandered about in these passageways until you were tired out. Or you might have fallen from that door. Look out, but hold close to the door,” said Nathan.
 
Faith came to the doorway⁵ and found herself looking straight down the face of a high cliff to the blue waters of the lake. Lifting her eyes she could look across and see the distant wooded hills of the Green Mountains, and could hear the “Chiming Waters” of the falls.
 
“It’s lovely. But what do they have a door here for?” Faith asked.
 
And then Nathan explained what forts were for. That a door like that gave the soldiers who held the fort a chance to look up and down the lake in order to see the approach of an enemy by water. “And gives them a chance to scramble⁶ down the cliff and get away if the enemy captures the fort from the other side.” Then he showed Faith the two big cannon⁷ that commanded the lake and any approach by the cliff.
 
“But come on. I must take you home,” he declared, moving as if to close the door.
 
“Could we get out any other way than by going back through that passage?” asked Faith, [Pg 113]who thought that she never wanted to see the two sisters again, and now feared they might be waiting for her.
 
“Certainly we could. That is, if you are a good climber,” replied Nathan. “I’ll tell you something, that is, if you’ll never tell,” he added.
 
“I won’t,” Faith declared earnestly.
 
“Well, I can go down that cliff and up, too, just as easily as I can walk along that passage. And the soldiers don’t pay much attention to this part of the fort. There’s a sentry⁸ at the other end of the passage, but he doesn’t mind how I get in and out. If you’ll do just as I say I’ll take you down the cliff. My boat is hidden down by Willow⁹ Point, and I’ll paddle you alongshore. ’Twill be easier than walking. That is, if you’re not afraid,” concluded Nathan.
 
“No, I’m not afraid,” said Faith, thinking to herself that here was another secret, and almost wishing that she had not agreed to listen to it.
 
“Come on, then,” said Nathan, stepping outside the door, and holding tightly to the door-frame with one hand and reaching the other toward Faith. “Hold tight to my hand and don’t look down,” he said.“Look to the right as you step out, and you’ll see a chance for your feet. I’ve got a tight hold. You can’t fall.”
 
Faith clutched his hand and stepped out. There was room toward the right for her to stand. She heard the big door clang behind her. “I had to shut it,” Nathan said, as he cautiously made his way a step down the face of the cliff. Faith followed cautiously. She noticed just how Nathan clung to the outstanding rocks, how slowly and carefully he made each movement. She knew if she slipped that she would push him as well as herself off into the lake.
 
“I m............