he moment, a flashlight of flat, peculiar shape
which he carried in a vest pocket and which his captors had overlooked
in their hurried search. He flashed it once, and discovered it was in
good working order.

"So far, so good," said Captain Folsom. "Now to discover the extent of
our injuries, before we proceed any further. Mine aren't enough to
keep me out of any fighting. How about the rest of you?"

"Frank's been binding up my head with the tail of my shirt," said Bob.
"But I guess he could do a better job if he received a flash from that
light of yours, Tom. Just throw it over here on my head, will you?"

Tom complied, and it was seen Bob had received a nasty wound which had
laid the scalp open on the left side three or four inches. The cut had
bled profusely. With the light to work by, Frank, who like his
companions was proficient in first aid treatment of injuries, shredded
a piece of the white shirting for lint, made a compress, and then
bound the whole thing tightly. Jack's blow was not so serious, but
Frank bound his head, too.

None of the boys nor Tom Barnum ever had been inside the Brownell
house before, although all were more or less familiar with its outer
appearance. Tom now made a careless survey of the room by the aid of
his flashlight. He would flash it on for only a moment, as he moved
about soundlessly, having removed his shoes, and he so hid the rays
under his coat that very little light showed. This he did in order to
prevent as much as possible any rays falling through cracks in the
walls or floor, and betraying their activity.

The room, Tom found on completing his survey, was without windows and
possessed of only one door, a massive oaken affair with great strap
iron hinges and set in a ponderous frame. From the slope of the
ceiling at the sides, he judged the room was under the roof. Walls and
ceiling were plastered.

Not a sound had penetrated into the room from the outside, or from the
other parts of the house, and at this all had marveled earlier. Tom's
report of the survey supplied an answer to the mystery. There was
little chance for sound to penetrate within.

"But a room without windows?" said Jack. "How, then, does it happen
the air is fresh?"

"There's a draught from up above," answered Tom. "I cain't see any
skylight, but there may be an air port back in the angle of the roof
tree. Say, Mister Jack, this room gives me the creeps," he added, his
voice involuntarily taking on