upon testing it, it proved to be perfectly hard
and quite immovable.

"It will take them a little time to get that out, even if they try to do
so," said Roger; "but I trust that they will not attempt it. If they do
not, we are at least safe from observation, if not from being overheard.
But, to be on the safe side, I think it would be wisdom on our part to
converse only in whispers."

"I quite agree with you there," replied Harry; "one never knows who may
be listening. And now let us turn our attention to breakfast, and see
whether we have anything different this morning from that miserable and
tasteless meal porridge and black bread."

They examined the food and found that, this time, instead of the
porridge, a bunch of bananas had been provided; but, for the rest, the
black bread and water were there as before, and nothing beside.

However, they ate heartily of what they found, and finished it all,
feeling much refreshed after it. But ever hanging over them was the
black cloud, which they could not forget; the remembrance of the
tortures through which they had already passed, and the anticipation of
others to follow.

They made a further careful examination of the cell; and this time, by
dint of patient search, they located the aperture through which their
food was thrust every day. It was constructed with much skill, and only
by very close inspection could they make out the small joints indicating
the position of the trap. Before they found it, some vague idea had
formed itself in their minds of watching for the time when it should be
opened to pass in their meals, and endeavouring to scramble through
before it was closed again. It was a hare-brained scheme, and would
never have suggested itself were it not for the fact that their minds
had been persistently dwelling upon the chances of escape, and had
become so dulled by long confinement that they were not now so clear as
they had been in happier times. A second glance served to prove to them
the utter futility of any attempt at escape by that means, as the size
of the opening was insufficient to permit the passage of their bodies.

This discovery came as a severe disappointment to them, and they
remained for some considerable time sitting on their respective stone
stools, a prey to black despair and utter hopelessness.

They were aroused from their dismal reverie by hearing a stealthy
footstep approaching the door.

It stopped outside, and, by lean