arry up to the window?"

"Roger," exclaimed Harry in great jubilation, "I believe you have hit
upon the very thing. The man said he could not get another message
conveyed for him. The cord is not in position so that he can send
anything up by that. What more likely than that he should try to throw
a note up to us through the bars? In fact it is the only way. Let us
look at once. It must have fallen somewhere in the cell, I should say,
since it struck you in the face. That fact shows that it came between
the bars; and it would hardly rebound outside again."

And in the now fast-failing light both lads dropped on their hands and
knees and began a feverish search for what might very easily make all
the difference to them between living and dying a horrible and painful
death. Hound and round the fast-darkening cell they crawled, but not a
sign of anything could they find, until Harry, who was searching a
corner where the faint light from the grating could not reach, suddenly
placed his hand upon something hard, which rolled under the pressure.
Clasping it tight in his fist, he rushed to the grating and looked at
the article. Yes, sure enough, it was a piece of paper wrapped round a
pebble. He softly called Roger to his side, and, opening the folded
missive, both began to read. And, as they read, both faces became
several shades paler, and their hearts beat thickly. The note ran as
follows:--

"I waited for some time below your window in the hope that you would
drop an answer from it to my first letter; but I found that I was
being watched, and had therefore to leave. How I shall get this
present note to you I do not know, but if nobody is about I shall wrap
it round a stone and try to throw it through your window. This is to
tell you that Alvarez has decided to advance the day for your
execution, which will take place on the day after to-morrow.
Therefore you must act at once. I am myself in great danger through
my attempts to help you, and if the date had not been altered should
not have come until the third night from now. But there is no time to
lose, so I must endeavour to come to you to-night. I may be
discovered, but I must risk that. Now, attend well to what I am going
to write. At midnight to-night, instead of three nights hence, I
shall be here, underneath your window. You must at any cost let down
a thin cord, or all my efforts will be vain. I will then attach t