where he now
was.

He was obliged to leave off eating to try to raise the slab with the
cutlass, so taking the weapon from its hiding-place, he tried the edge
of the stone, inserting the point of the sword with the greatest care,
and then pressing down the handle he found, to his great delight, that
he could easily prise up the slab, raising it now a couple of inches
before he lowered it down.

This was excellent, and the success of his project was far greater than
he had anticipated; in fact, he had expected double the difficulty in
loosening the stone.

"They are not much accustomed to having prisoners," he said, with a
half-laugh, as he replaced the cutlass beneath the table. "Why, any
fellow could get out of here."

Then, thinking that his remark in his self-communing was too conceited,
he added:

"Down into the cellar or vaults; whether one could get out afterwards is
another thing."

Returning to his stool, he worked away at the bread, steadily munching,
finding the result quieting to his hungry pains, and also a kind of
amusement to pass away the time till he felt that he might set to work
in safety, for he did not mean to commence till nearly dusk.

As he expected, towards evening Allstone came again, not to bring more
food, but to glance sharply round at the place and carefully scrutinise
his prisoner as if looking for the missing sword.

Hilary looked straight before him, whistling softly the while in the
most nonchalant manner, completely ignoring his visitor's presence, to
the man's evident annoyance, his anger finding vent in a heavy bang of
the door.

Hilary did not move for quite half an hour; then, all being perfectly
still, and the evening shadows beginning to make his prison very dim, he
rose with beating heart, listened, and all being silent as if there was
not a soul within hearing, took the cutlass from its hiding-place, and
proceeded to put his project in action.

Bending down, he once more swept aside the straw, and inserted the point
of the sword, to find that this time there was more difficulty in his
task, for he had to try several times, and in fresh positions, finding
the cutlass bend almost to breaking-point, before success crowned his
efforts, and he raised the stone sufficiently far to get his fingers
beneath, and then the task was easy, for with a steady lift he raised
one side and leaned it right up against the wall.

He had hardly accomplished this before he fancied he