They were filled with wild fancies.Sometimes,they thought they heard a great bell tolling,deep down in the earth under the Parliament House;sometimes,they thought they heard low voices muttering about the Gunpowder Plot;once in the morning,they really did hear a great rumbling noise over their heads,as they dug and sweated in their mine.Every man stopped and looked aghast at his neighbour,wondering what had happened,when that bold prowler,Fawkes,who had been out to look,came in and told them that it was only a dealer in coals who had occupied a cellar under the Parliament House,removing his stock in trade to some other place.Upon this,the conspirators,who with all their digging and digging had not yet dug through the tremendously thick wall,changed their plan;hired that cellar,which was directly under the House of Lords;put six-and-thirty barrels of gunpowder in it,and covered them over with fagots and coals.Then they all dispersed again till September,when the following new conspirators were admitted;SIR EDWARD BAYNHAM,of Gloucestershire;SIR EVERARD DIGBY,of Rutlandshire;AMBROSE ROOKWOOD,of Suffolk;FRANCIS
TRESHAM,of Northamptonshire.Most of these were rich,and were to assist the plot,some with money and some with horses on which the conspirators were to ride through the country and rouse the Catholics after the Parliament should be blown into air.
Parliament being again prorogued from the third of October to the fifth of November,and the conspirators being uneasy lest their design should have been found out,Thomas Winter said he would go up into the House of Lords on the day of the prorogation,and see how matters looked.Nothing could be better.The unconscious Commissioners were walking about and talking to one another,just over the six-and-thirty barrels of gunpowder.He came back and told the rest so,and they went on with their preparations.They hired a ship,and kept it ready in the Thames,in which Fawkes was to sail for Flanders after firing with a slow match the train that was to explode the powder.A number of Catholic gentlemen not in the secret,were invited,on pretence of a hunting party,to meet Sir Everard Digby at Dunchurch on the fatal day,that they might be ready to act together.And now all was ready.
But,now,the great wickedness and danger which had been all along at the bottom of this wicked plot,began to show itself.As the fifth of November drew near,most of the conspirators,remembering that they had friends and relations who would be in the House of Lords that day,felt some natural relenting,and a wish to warn them to keep away.They were not much comforted by Catesby's declaring that in such a cause he would blow up his own son.LORD MOUNTEAGLE,Tresham's brother-in-law,was certain to be in the house;and when Tresham found that he could not prevail upon the rest to devise any means of sparing their friends,he wrote a mysterious letter to this lord and left it at his lodging in the dusk,urging him to keep away from the opening of Parliament,'since God and man had concurred to punish the wickedness of the times.'It contained the words 'that the Parliament should receive a terrible blow,and yet should not see who hurt them.'And it added,'the danger is past,as soon as you have burnt the letter.'
The ministers and courtiers made out that his Sowship,by a direct miracle from Heaven,found out what this letter meant.The truth is,that they were not long (as few men would be)in finding out for themselves;and it was decided to let the conspirators alone,until the very day before the opening of Parliament.That the conspirators had their fears,is certain;for,Tresham himself said before them all,that they were every one dead men;and,although even he did not take flight,there is reason to suppose that he had warned other persons besides Lord Mounteagle.However,they were all firm;and Fawkes,who was a man of iron,went down every day and night to keep watch in the cellar as usual.He was there about two in the afternoon of the fourth,when the Lord Chamberlain and Lord Mounteagle threw open the door and looked in.'Who are you,friend?'said they.'Why,'said Fawkes,'I am Mr.Percy's servant,and am looking after his store of fuel here.''Your master has laid in a pretty good store,'they returned,and shut the door,and went away.Fawkes,upon this,posted off to the other conspirators to tell them all was quiet,and went back and shut himself up in the dark,black cellar again,where he heard the bell go twelve o'clock and usher in the fifth of November.About two hours afterwards,he slowly opened the door,and came out to look about him,in his old prowling way.He was instantly seized and bound,by a party of soldiers under SIR THOMAS KNEVETT.He had a watch upon him,some touchwood,some tinder,some slow matches;and there was a dark lantern with a candle in it,lighted,behind the door.
He had his boots and spurs on-to ride to the ship,I suppose- and it was well for the soldiers that they took him so suddenly.
If they had left him but a moment's time to light a match,he certainly would have tossed it in among the powder,and blown up himself and them.
They took him to the King's bed-chamber first of all,and there the King (causing him to be held very tight,and keeping a good way off),asked him how he could have the heart to intend to destroy so many innocent people?'Because,'said Guy Fawkes,'desperate diseases need desperate remedies.'To a little Scotch favourite,with a face like a terrier,who asked him (with no particular wisdom)why he had collected so much gunpowder,he replied,because he had meant to blow Scotchmen back to Scotland,and it would take a deal of powder to do that.Next day he was carried to the Tower,but would make no confession.Even after being horribly tortured,he confessed nothing that the Government did not already know;