w,
now, the meaning of fright!"

He was ever glancing toward the door, not hopefully as hitherto, but
apprehensively, fearfully.

That shriek in the night might portend merely the delirium of some other
occupant of the catacombs; but the shots...

"It was SOAMES!" he whispered aloud; "I have risked too much; I am fast
in the rat-trap!"

He looked about him for a possible weapon. The time for inactivity was
past. It would be horrible to die in that reeking place, whilst outside,
it might be, immediately above his head, Dunbar and the others waited
and watched.

The construction of the metal bunk attracted his attention. As in the
case of steamer bunks one of the rails--that nearer to the door--was
detachable in order to facilitate the making of the bed. Rapidly,
nervously, he unscrewed it; but the hinges were riveted to the main
structure, and after a brief examination he shrugged his shoulders
despairingly. Then, he recollected that in the adjoining bathroom there
was a metal towel rail, nickeled, and with a heavy knock at either end,
attached by two brackets to the wall.

He ran into the inner room and eagerly examined these fastenings. They
were attached by small steel screws. In an instant he was at work with
the blade of his pocket-knife. Six screws in all there were to be dealt
with, three at either end. The fifth snapped the blade and he uttered an
exclamation of dismay. But the shortened implement proved to be an even
better screw-driver than the original blade, and half a minute later he
found himself in possession of a club such as would have delighted the
soul of Hercules.

He managed to unscrew one of the knobs, and thus to slide off from the
bar the bracket attachments; then, replacing the knob, he weighed the
bar in his hand, appreciatively. His mind now was wholly composed, and
his course determined. He crossed the little room and rapped loudly upon
the door.

The rapping sounded muffled and dim in that sound-proof place. Nothing
happened, and thrice he repeated the rapping with like negative results.
But he had learnt something: the door was a very heavy one.

He made a note of the circumstance, although it did not interfere with
the plan which he had in mind. Wheeling the armchair up beside the bed,
he mounted upon its two arms and, ONCE--TWICE--THRICE--crashed the knob
of the iron bar against that part of the wall which concealed the trap.

Here the result was immediate. At every blow of th