msy thing was not as heavy as it looked, I did finally succeed in
turning it on its end close under the opening from which the shaft rose.
The next thing was to get on its top. That seemed about as impossible
as climbing the bare wall itself, but presently I bethought me of the
drawers, and, though they were locked, I did succeed by the aid of my
keys to get enough of them open to make for myself a very good pair of
stairs.

"I could now see my way to the mouth of the shaft, but after that!
Taking out my knife, I felt the edge. It was a good one, so was the
point, but was it good enough to work holes in plaster? It depended
somewhat upon the plaster. Had the masons, in finishing that shaft,
any thought of the poor wretch who one day would have to pit his life
against the hardness of the final covering? My first dig at it would
tell. I own I trembled violently at the prospect of what that first test
would mean to me, and wondered if the perspiration which I felt starting
at every pore was the result of the effort I had been engaged in or just
plain fear.

"Inspector, I do not intend to have you live with me through the five
mortal hours which followed. I was enabled to pierce that plaster with
my knife, and even to penetrate deep enough to afford a place for the
tips of my fingers and afterward for the point of my toes, digging,
prying, sweating, panting, listening, first for a sudden opening of the
doors beneath, then for some shout or wicked interference from above
as I worked my way up inch by inch, foot by foot, to what might not be
safety after it was attained.

"Five hours--six. Then I struck something which proved to be a window;
and when I realized this and knew that with but one more effort I should
breathe freely again, I came as near falling as I had at any time before
I began this terrible climb.

"Happily, I had some premonition of my danger, and threw myself into a
position which held me till the dizzy minute passed. Then I went calmly
on with my work, and in another half-hour had reached the window, which,
fortunately for me, not only opened inward, but was off the latch. It
was with a sense of inexpressible relief that I clambered through this
window and for a brief moment breathed in the pungent odor of cedar.
But it could have been only for a moment. It was three o'clock in the
afternoon before I found myself again in the outer air. The only way I
can account for the lapse of time is that the strain