to storm the walls of a town. Not a
word was uttered, and the young men were intently listening, as if
expecting to hear some preconcerted signal.

Meanwhile, in one of the rooms or cells of the round tower, about
sixty feet above the level of the sea, Captain Littlestone, the
missionary, and the Pilot were engaged in a whispered conversation,
through which might be detected the dull sound of an oiled file
working against iron. The cell was ample in size, but the stone walls
were without covering of any kind. It was lighted during the day by
one of the apertures we have already described; the thickness of the
walls did not permit the rays of the sun to penetrate to the interior,
and at the time of which we speak the apartment was perfectly dark.

"I should like to see the warder," whispered Willis, "when he comes,
with his bundle of keys and his night-cap in his hand, to wish your
honors good morning, but, in point of fact, to see whether your
honors are in safe custody. How astonished the old rascal will be! Ho,
ho, ho!"

"My good fellow," said the missionary, "it is scarcely time to laugh
yet. It is just possible we may escape; but vain boasting is in no
case deserving of approbation. It is, indeed, scarcely consistent with
the dignity of my cloth to be engaged in breaking out of a prison;
still, I am a man of peace, and not a man of war."

"No," said Willis, "you are not; but I wish to goodness you were a
seventy-four--under the right colors, of course."

"I was going to remark," continued the missionary, "that I am a man of
peace, and, consequently, do not think that I am justly entitled to be
treated as a prisoner of war. Under these circumstances, I am, no
doubt, justified in shaking off my bonds in any way that is open to
me; the more particularly as the apostle Paul was once rescued from
bondage in a similar way."

"He was let down from a window in a basket, was he not?"

"Yes; whilst journeying in the city of Damascus, the governor, whose
name was Avetas resolved to arrest him and accordingly placed sentries
at all the gates. Paul, however was permitted to pass through a house,
the windows of which overhung the walls of the town, whence, as you
say, he was let down in a basket, and escaped."[J]

"I trust your reverence will be in much the same position as the
apostle, by-and-by--only you will have to dispense with the basket,"
said Willis.

"I have no wish to remain in bondage longer than is absolute