gain.

"Give me a piece of paper and a pencil."

Quickly the thug scratched away at a note.

"Deliver that," he said to the guard, handing him the note he had
written, "and you'll get something worth while."

The guard nodded as he shoved the thug into his cell and locked the
door, then walked off, while the fellow watched eagerly through the
bars.

Locke in the warden's office, unsuccessful in making the prisoner talk,
had evolved another scheme.

"Put me in the cell next to him," decided Locke. "I have a plan."

It was while the false guard was reading the address on the note that
Locke and the warden entered the cell row. The guard hastily stuffed the
message in his pocket as Locke and the warden passed up toward the empty
next cell.

Locke went through all the actions of one who was being thrown into a
cell, and the emissary in his own cell listened without suspecting
anything. Locke had arranged with the warden to leave the cell unlocked,
but no sooner had the warden left than the guard, who had been
observing, moved over and shot the bolts.

Here, then, was a predicament. Locke could not give the alarm without
putting the emissary in the next cell on guard. Rapidly Locke revolved
in his head scheme after scheme. He was an expert on bolts and knew that
at any moment he could release himself. Should he do so now? Instead he
concluded to wait until the guard returned, for by the man's actions
Locke was sure that something queer was going on, although, naturally,
he did not know what it was. Accordingly Locke lay down on the bunk in
the cell and decided to wait.

Some time later, at a deserted house not far from the rock-hewn den of
the Automaton, the false prison guard might have been seen delivering
the message which the prisoner had written to two other emissaries of
the Automaton.

After a hasty conference they decided on their course of action. Not
only did he receive the money the prisoner had promised him, but the
emissaries gave him minute instructions regarding the rescue which they
planned. A cap and a pair of goggles for the prisoner were given to the
guard and he was sent on his way.

Scarcely had he gone when the Automaton himself entered the deserted
house, and under his direction one of the emissaries wrote a note which
he addressed to Eva. For, with Locke out of the way, it was a splendid
time to take advantage of the poor girl.

The note read simply: "Our prisoner has confessed. Meet