ore as a
stand-by, proceeded to explore.

The enormous chamber which the light revealed appeared to contain
nothing whatever; but there were several passages leading from it--seven
in all, as the explorers counted--and they tried the first they came to,
to ascertain where it led.

It extended for a distance of about a hundred feet, and then terminated;
nor did there appear to be any door, concealed or otherwise, at the end
of it. Two more passages were explored with the same result; but the
fourth, or middle passage of the seven, was different, in that, at the
end, they came to a massive iron door. Drake stretched out his hand and
made an attempt to twist the iron handle, but it would not budge. Again
he tried, and this time it seemed to move a little; and as it did so
Frobisher thought he caught a slight grinding, whirring sound, like
rusty machinery reluctantly moving.

What it was that prompted him to act he did not know, but suddenly
becoming possessed with a suspicion of that door and a sense of danger
in its vicinity, he dragged Drake quickly away from the handle, and
himself retreated a few steps.

It was well that he did so, for at that moment the grinding sounds
became quite perceptible, waxed louder, and then--like lightning from a
cloud, a row of curved swordblades shot out of slots in the stone-work
which the men had not previously noticed, and swept together for all the
world like a pair of calliper legs. Any person standing by the door
must have infallibly been stabbed through and through by that deadly
device. Then, just as suddenly, the blades sprang back into the wall
and the door swung back on its hinges, revealing another and smaller
chamber beyond.

"By all the Powers," gasped Drake, wiping the perspiration from his
forehead, "what a fiendish invention! Mr Frobisher, that's the second
time this night that you've saved my life. I shall not forget."

"Pshaw!" answered Frobisher; "what about the times you've saved mine?
But, Drake," he continued excitedly, "I've got an idea that we are on
the point of discovering something. The man who owned this palace must
have had something very well worth guarding, or he would never have
taken the trouble to instal such an elaborate arrangement as that to
destroy possible thieves, for that's what it was intended to do, without
a doubt. Let's get along and see what there is to see; but be careful,
for goodness' sake. There may be more of these man-tr