ould only have begun, and that his plan of blowing in
the gates with powder would have been completely frustrated by the
existence of the outer portcullis. These men certainly knew how to
protect themselves, and were determined not to be captured if human
ingenuity could prevent it.

Once inside, Frobisher found himself in a spacious courtyard, round
which the fort was built. The windows of the different chambers looked
inward, thus allowing the outer walls to be entirely used for gun
embrasures, rifle loopholes, and even arrow-slits, so varied were the
weapons to be found in this robber stronghold.

Still in charge of the two guards, at a command from Ah-fu the prisoner
was marched through a doorway in the wall exactly opposite the main
gateway, and was hurried through corridor after corridor--all of them
only dimly lighted by small openings in the outer wall--until he became
utterly confused and lost even the remotest idea of his bearings. After
a walk of about five minutes the guards halted before an iron-bound
door, which, upon being opened, disclosed a flight of steps. Down these
steps he was hurried, finding himself, when at the bottom, at the
entrance to another long passage, which looked as though it had been
hewn out of the solid sandstone, for there were no joints visible in its
walls.

Removing a lantern from a hook, one of the men lighted it, and the
journey was continued for quite ten minutes in a perfectly straight
line, thus confirming Frobisher's impression that he was in an
underground passage leading from the fort to some other structure at a
considerable distance, probably constructed to afford a means of escape
in the extremely unlikely event of the fort ever being captured. At the
far end of this passage there were several iron-bound doors--a
circumstance which Frobisher noted for future reference; and it was
through one of the middle ones that he was conducted, arriving at once
at the foot of another flight of stairs, similar to those at the other
end, and finally at a large, square, stone cell, lighted on three sides
by very small windows, high up in the walls--a most dismal-looking
prison. There was a low plank bench covered with straw and presumably
intended for a bed, two stools, and a bucket, these few articles
constituting the entire contents of the chamber.

Frobisher's arms were now unbound, and he was thrust inside, the guards
holding themselves in readiness to frustrate any atte