The Gunpowder Plot Read Online Free

breathed in, and followed.
    The other side of the door was blocked with heaps of wooden crates and boxes, scrap timber, and masonry. They began creeping forward, careful not to dislodge anything.
    A small “prrp!” alerted them to Mouser, but almost at once he crept away under the debris to some secret place of his own.
    Eliza, squirming further in, whispered, “There are barrels here.”
    She saw now that they were in what must indeed be the big cellar under the House of Lords. It was huge, with rows of pillars and arched alcoves. Her father had told her it had once been the kitchens of the great hall, back in the olden days.
    Some feeble light came from narrow windows high in the walls. It showed great stacks of firewood and coal down both sides of a central space. And behind the fuel, where she and Lucy had come in, were many barrels, stacked in rows.
    â€œ It must be wine,” Eliza said. “Perhaps it’s for the State Opening of Parliament, when the King comes, and all the lords.”
    She moved forward to squeeze between the piles of firewood – and at the same moment there was the sound of a door opening on the far side of the cellar, and someone else came in, carrying a lantern that lit his face.
    Eliza gasped and slid back into the shelter of the woodpile.
    â€œIt’s him!” she whispered. “John Johnson!”

   7   
    In the Cellar
    Eliza and Lucy hardly dared breathe. They crouched low and hid behind the barrels as John Johnson walked up and down the length of the cellar, looking about him. His lantern cast looming shadows on the walls and ceiling.
    Supposing he sees us?
thought Eliza. She pressed up against the barrels and peeped between them. The shadow of the man in his tall hat reared over her.
    Then a sudden scrabbling and a soft thump set Eliza’s heart racing and made the lantern swing wildly in John Johnson’s hand.
    â€œMouser…” breathed Lucy.
    Eliza saw the black cat caught in the beam of light, with a mouse dangling from his jaws. He wailed eerily – and for an instant Johnson looked as frightened as Eliza felt. He took a step backwards and crossed himself.
    Mouser trotted away – straight towards the girls.
    John Johnson followed.
    He’ll see us!
thought Eliza, in terror.
    The light from the lantern swung over and around them, and they shrank back into the shadows to hide among the piles of boxes.
    Johnson frowned and moved the lantern about. He peered into the darkness.
    â€œNothing,” he muttered at last.
    But he seemed disturbed, and they heard him pacing up and down again and saw the light swinging to and fro, making shadows leap along the walls. Then he became still, and Eliza heard only a faint murmuring. “What’s he doing?” she whispered.
    Lucy could see through a small gap. “He’s kneeling down. I think he’s praying.”
    They stayed still for what felt like a long time, not daring to move an inch.
    At last Lucy said, “He’s getting up.” They heard a door open, the light disappeared, and there was the sound of a key turning in a lock. He was gone.
    â€œOh!” breathed Eliza and Lucy together.
    Slowly, they crawled out, stood up, and held onto each other, trembling.
    Now the cellar seemed huge and shadowy around them. Eliza heard creaks and patterings and a rustle of wings. Could it be bats? Or demons? She called softly to Mouser, but he didn’t come.
    â€œLet’s go back,” she said. “I’m scared.”
    They felt their way back to the door, squeezed under it, and hurried along the passage to Eliza’s house. As she crawled through the hole in the door and then out from behind the woodstack, Eliza thought about what they had seen. What was John Johnson doing in the cellar? Was it something to do with those barrels of wine? She felt sure it was.

    The two of them stood up, brushed dust from their clothes, crept into the kitchen,