s, more and more delicate and minute, made upon his key
during the day were effective. And the Babu was fretful; having done his
part admirably, as Desmond told him, in working the key into his story,
he seemed to expect that the rest would be easy, and did not make account
of the long labor of the file.

At length a night came when, inserting the key in the lock, Desmond felt
it turn easily. Success at last! As he heard the click, he felt an
extraordinary sense of elation. Quietly unclasping the fetter, he removed
it from his ankle, and stood free. If it could be called free--to be shut
up in a locked and barred shed in the heart of one of the strongest
fortresses in Hindostan! But at least his limbs were at liberty. What a
world of difference there was between that and his former state!

Should he inform the Babu? He felt tempted to do so, for it was to
Surendra Nath's ingenuity in interpolating the incident of the key into a
well-known story that he owed the clay pattern of the warder's key. But
Surendra Nath was excitable; he was quite capable of uttering a yell of
delight that would waken the other men and force a premature disclosure.
Desmond decided to wait for a quiet moment next day before telling the
Babu of his success. So he replaced his ankle band, locked the catch, and
lay down to the soundest and most refreshing sleep he had enjoyed for
many a night.

He had only just reached the workshop next morning when a peon came with
a message that Angria Rho {a chief or prince} required his instant
attendance at the palace. He began to quake in spite of himself. Could
the prince have discovered already that the lock of his fetters had been
tampered with? Desmond could scarcely believe it. He had made his first
test in complete darkness; nothing had broken the silence save the one
momentary click; and the warder, when he unloosed him, had not examined
the lock. What if he were searched and the precious key were found upon
him? It was carefully hidden in a fold of his dhoti. There was no
opportunity of finding another hiding place for it; he must go as he was
and trust that suspicion had not been aroused. But it was with a
galloping pulse that he followed the peon out of the dockyard, within the
walls of the fort, and into the hall where he had had his first interview
with the Pirate.

His uneasiness was hardly allayed when he saw that Angria was in company
with Diggle. Both were squatting on the carpeted