sed himself of
his piece of iron rod, and with the assistance of the lantern set to
work upon the lock again, in the hope that he might be able to complete
his skeleton key and let himself out before the Governor returned to
carry out his threat. But this was a more difficult matter than he had
anticipated; and after about two hours of ineffective tinkering he was
compelled to acknowledge himself defeated.

With a bitter objurgation he flung the useless and twisted rod into a
corner, and, not being able to find anything else that would serve his
purpose, made up his mind that he would have to await developments, and
rely upon his own strength of arm to get himself out whenever the
Governor or somebody else should visit the cell. Meanwhile, if he were
to be in good form for a possibly strenuous morrow, it was necessary
that he should sleep, seeing that nobody had thought it worth while to
provide him with any food; so, unsheathing the sword, with the help of
which he proposed to effect his deliverance, he flung himself down at
the far end of the chamber, laying the weapon beside him, and had
scarcely touched the floor before he was fast asleep. He had been more
worn out and weary than he had at all suspected.

It seemed as though he had just closed his eyes, when he was awakened by
a thundering crash of sound, apparently close at hand. The chamber in
which he was confined quivered perceptibly with the shock; while, right
upon the heels of the concussion, came the noise of a distant explosion.

"A heavy gun, by Jingo!" ejaculated Frobisher, springing to his feet;
"and whoever fired it is using this place as a target! That shot must
have struck close outside here. What is in the wind now, I wonder?
Anyway, if they are attacking this fort, they must, in a certain way, be
friends of mine, for they are certainly the enemies of my enemies within
the walls. Pound away, boys!" he exclaimed cheerfully, apostrophising
the unseen gunners; "pound away! If you don't kill me first, you may
perhaps make an exit for me through that wall."

At that moment he heard the sound of voices raised in alarm, the
shouting of orders, and all the indications of a suddenly-awakened and
thoroughly-alarmed garrison. Men were rushing about here and there, the
rattle of arms sounded distantly through the iron-bound door; and
presently, from the battlements, apparently directly over his head,
there boomed forth the crash of the Korean garriso