counter, glass swing-doors, and a formidable portal beyond. And
one of young Carrick's theories received apparent confirmation on the
spot; for the manager slipped behind his counter by another door, and at
once whipped out a great revolver.

"This they provide us with," said he. "So far it is our only authorized
defence, and it hangs on a hook down here behind the counter. But you
march in here prepared, your pistol cocked behind your back, and which
of us is likely to shoot first?"

"The bushranger," said Fergus, still rather more startled than
reassured.

"The bushranger, of course. Stingaree, let us say. As for me, either my
arms go up, or down I go in a heap. But supposing my arms do go
up--supposing I still touch something with one foot--and supposing the
floor just opens and swallows Mr. Sanguinary Stingaree! Eh? eh? What
then?"

"It would be great," cried Fergus. "But could it be done?"

"It can be, it will be, and is being done," replied the manager,
replacing the bank revolver and sliding over the counter like a boy. A
square of plain linoleum covered the floor, overlapped by a border of
the same material bearing a design. Down went Macbean upon his knees,
and his beard swept this border as he began pulling it up, tacks and
all.

The lamp burned brightly on the counter, its rays reflected in the
burnished mahogany. All at once Fergus seized it on his own initiative,
and set it on the floor before his kneeling elder, going upon his own
knees on the other side. And where the plain linoleum ended, but where
the overlapping border covered the floor, the planks were sawn through
and through down one side of the central and self-colored square.

"A trap-door!" exclaimed Fergus in a whisper.

Macbean leant back on his slippered heels, his skull-cap wickedly awry.

"This border takes a lot o' lifting," said he. "Yet we've just got to
lift it every time, and tack it down again before morning. You might try
your hand over yonder on the far side."

Fergus complied with so much energy that the whole border was ripped up
in a minute; and he was not mistaken. A trap-door it was, of huge
dimensions, almost exactly covered by the self-colored square; but at
each side a tongue of linoleum had been left loose for lifting it; and
the lamp had scarcely been replaced upon the counter when the bulk of
the floor leaned upright in one piece against the opposite wall. It had
uncovered a pit of corresponding size, but as y