CHAPTER XXVIII.
RAGLAN STABLES.
The passage for the overflow of the water of the moat was under the
sunk walk which, reaching from the gate of the stone court round to
the gate of the fountain court, enclosed the keep and its moat,
looping them on as it were to the side of the double quadrangle of
the castle. The only way out of this passage, at whose entrance
Richard now found himself, was into the moat. As quietly therefore
as he could, he got through the opening and into the water, amongst
the lilies, where, much impeded by their tangling roots, which
caused him many a submergence, but with a moon in her second quarter
over his head to light him, he swam gently along. As he looked up
from the water, however, to the huge crag-like tower over his head,
the soft moonlight smoothing the rigour but bringing out all the
wasteness of the grim blank, it seemed a hopeless attempt he had
undertaken. Not the less did he keep his eye on the tower-side of
the moat, and had not swum far before he caught sight of the little
stair, which, enclosed in one of the six small round bastions
encircling it, led up from the moat to the walk immediately around
the citadel.
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