ers.

The next thing to be done was to examine the room, to see whether any
means of escape presented itself; and in the first place he scrutinised
the window which was secured with the iron shutters outside. But a very
few seconds sufficed to show him that there was no possibility of
getting out by that way, and he looked round for a second door to the
apartment. The walls were, however, lined with massive bookshelves, and
there was no trace of any door save that by which he had entered.
Strangely enough, there was not even so much as a fireplace to the room;
and after half an hour's careful search Douglas was reluctantly
compelled to acknowledge that he was helpless to do anything further at
present, and that he would have to await developments before taking any
action.

He therefore made himself as comfortable as possible in an easy-chair,
keeping his ears open at the same time, so that he might have due
warning of the approach of an enemy. The house was so silent that, so
far as any sound was concerned, it might have been uninhabited. Douglas
had been waiting for half an hour, when he discovered that he was
becoming exceedingly drowsy, and that the air of the room seemed not
only to be unaccountably close but also to have a rather queer new odour
in it. Jim yawned portentously several times, and at length moved over
to the window to try whether the air would be any fresher there, for he
put down its oppressiveness to the fact that there was no chimney in the
room. But, so far as he could ascertain, the window seemed to be
hermetically sealed; and upon inspection he found that the glass in it
was so abnormally thick that to break it would be practically an
impossibility.

Douglas now began to find that his breathing was becoming distinctly
difficult and, seized with a vague sense of new danger, he ran to the
door and hammered vigorously upon it, shouting at the same time for some
one to come and release him. But his blows and shouts only echoed
emptily round the _patio_, and not a soul put in an appearance. He felt
as though all the strength were going out of his limbs, and he presently
staggered to a sofa, upon which he flung himself, powerless to stand
upon his feet any longer. Strange visions began to float before him,
and curious fancies flitted through his brain, which felt as though some
one had bound an iron strap round it and was gradually increasing the
pressure until it seemed as though his head