f it? That is what I want to know;" and he commenced exploring his
dark, damp cell, in search of some clew that would aid him in solving
the problem.

He was not alarmed about his personal safety. Up to this time, happily,
no such thought had entered his mind. He sanguinely looked upon his
imprisonment as merely temporary.

In this opinion, however, he erred greatly. The same rural credulity
that made him the victim of Peter Smartweed, now led him to suppose
that the unscrupulous rascals who held him a prisoner would soon release
him. He looked upon the matter as simply one of revenge on the part of
Mortimer. He little realized his true situation, and did not even dream
of the actual significance of his imprisonment. He therefore felt a
sense of genuine consolation when he thought of the well deserved blow
he had delivered upon his enemy's jaw; and several times, as he prowled
around the cell, he laughed heartily, thinking of Mortimer's ridiculous
appearance as he lay stretched upon the floor.

Herbert Randolph was full of human nature, and human nature of the best
sort--warm blooded, natural, sensible. There was nothing pale and
attenuated about him. He was full of spirits, was manly, kind and
generous, and yet he could appreciate heartily a point honorably gained
on the enemy. Thus instead of giving himself up to despair and grief, he
tried to derive all the comfort possible out of his situation.

His cell was dark as night. He could not see his own hands, and the
dampness and musty odor, often noticeable in old cellars, added much to
his discomfort. He found that the cell was made of strong three inch
slats, securely bolted to thick timbers. These strips, or slats, were
about three inches apart. The door was made in the same manner, and was
fastened with a padlock. Altogether his cell was more like a cage than
anything else; however, it seemed designed to hold him securely against
all efforts to escape from his captors.

The door, as previously stated, was fastened by a padlock. Herbert
learned this by putting his hands through the slats, and carefully going
over every part of the fastening arrangement.

This discovery gave him slight hopes. The lock he judged to be one of
the ordinary cheap ones such as his father always used on his cornhouse
and barn doors. Now he had on several occasions opened these locks by
means of a stiff wire, properly bent. Therefore, should this lock prove
to be one of the same kind,