depths of utter darkness. But
that Cleek was aware of this desire upon the part of the young man and
of his effort to satisfy it, was very soon made manifest.

"In a minute, my friend--have a little patience," he said serenely. "If
you wanted to take me unawares you should have remembered that we must
soon come to the cell and I shall have to set you down, and you could
then see all that you wanted to without putting me on my guard. What's
that? Oh, yes, I am frequently off it--even Argus occasionally shut all
his hundred eyes and went to sleep, remember."

By this time he had travelled the entire length of the passage, and now
stood upon the threshold of the cell toward which he was aiming. He was
no longer careful to keep the light from illuminating the surroundings,
however. Indeed, he had merely done that in the first place to prevent
Geoff from seeing, as they passed, the excavation he had made and the
clothing he had dug up. He now flashed the light round and round the
place as if taking stock of everything. He was not, by the way; what he
sought was what he had seen in each of the other cells and hoped to find
here as well--the iron ring in the wall and the short length of rusty
chain attached to it.

The air of antiquity had been perfectly reproduced, and this cell was as
carefully equipped as its mates. He walked toward the ring the instant
he saw it, switched off the light of the torch, swung Geoff down from
his shoulder, unfastened his ankles and one end of the shackles that
held his wrists.

"What are you going to do with me now?" demanded young Clavering with
sudden hopefulness. "I say--look here--is this thing a joke after all,
and are you going to give me my liberty?"

The only response was a sharp click; then Cleek's hands fell away from
his captive entirely, and under the impression that he was free, young
Clavering made an effort to spring up from the ground where he had been
laid.

A sharp backward jerk and a twinge of the right wrist brought him to a
realization that while one end of the handcuffs still encircled that
wrist, the other had been snapped into the ring in the wall, and it was,
therefore, impossible for him to move ten inches from the spot where he
had been left.

In the utter darkness he had no means of telling if Cleek had or had not
left the cell; and in a sort of panic, called out to him.

"I say, officer! Have you left me?" he asked; then hearing a sound quite
close to him