n the right track, Jack."

"H'm! but the door seems to be fast. And I suppose the key is in von
Berthold's pocket right now. How in the wide world are we going to get
in there to save Helene?"

"We'll settle that," snapped Tom. "There's always a way to do a thing.
On either side there's a door. Let's see if one of those happens to be
unfastened."

The very first trial brought success, and Jack began to feel a glow of
coming good fortune. If they were not interrupted in their work he
believed that nothing could long withstand such a determined spirit as
Tom always injected into anything he undertook. It accounted for his
successes in school sports, and he carried the same characteristic with
him into army service.

They passed into the dark recesses of the room that seemed to adjoin the
one of the locked door. Jack could see a window ahead, for a certain
amount of light filtered through the small dusty diamond-shaped panes of
glass. He even noted a tree without, its branches moving in the breeze
that crossed this ridge elevation, though they had not felt it down in
the valley.

Tom closed the door after them. Then again he struck a match, eager to
survey their surroundings before attacking the problem that now
presented itself.

Some old-time furniture could be seen, but in a dilapidated condition,
as though vandal hands had used an ax on the rare wood, regardless of
its value. Dust lay everywhere, dust that may have come from the
frequent explosion of grenades used in the process of demolition.

The match went out, leaving Jack still staring about him. It seemed like
a strange dream to him, anything but a reality. But there was Tom
shuffling across to the window. Jack began to get a grip on the probable
scheme that had appealed to his chum, and also a grip on himself, for he
suddenly realized that he had not been doing his part.

Why, of course, the only possible way of reaching that other room would
be through means of a connecting link; and this could be furnished
through the windows.

Tom was already leaning out, and investigating affairs. It was a
precarious moment and the decision to be arrived at was important. But
having come this far, and taken such desperate chances, they must keep
going until success had crowned their efforts, or it was proved that
absolutely nothing could be accomplished.

Tom turned and beckoned to his comrade.

"It can be done, don't you think, Jack? But we must be very carefu