rrels. I shut the outer door, prised up the
trap, and dropped into the vault, which had been floored roughly with
green bricks. Lighting match after match, I crawled to the other end
and tried to lift the door. It would not stir, so I guessed that the
barrels were on the top of it. Back to the outhouse I went, and found
that sure enough a heavy packing-case was standing on a corner. I
fixed it slightly open, so as to let me hear, and so arranged the odds
and ends round about it that no one looking from the floor of the
outhouse would guess at its existence. It occurred to me that the
conspirators would want seats, so I placed two cases at the edge of the
heap, that they might not be tempted to forage in the interior.

This done, I went back to the store and proceeded to rig myself out for
my part. The cellar had made me pretty dirty, and I added some new
daubs to my face. My hair had grown longish, and I ran my hands
through it till it stood up like a cockatoo's crest. Then I cunningly
disposed the methylated spirits in the places most likely to smell. I
burned a little on the floor, I spilt some on the counter and on my
hands, and I let it dribble over my coat. In five minutes I had made
the room stink like a shebeen. I loosened the collar of my shirt, and
when I looked at myself in the cover of my watch I saw a specimen of
debauchery which would have done credit to a Saturday night's police
cell.

By this time the sun had gone down, but I thought it better to kindle
no light. It was the night of the full moon--for which reason, I
supposed, Laputa had selected it--and in an hour or two the world would
be lit with that ghostly radiance. I sat on the counter while the
minutes passed, and I confess I found the time of waiting very trying
for my courage. I had got over my worst nervousness by having
something to do, but whenever I was idle my fears returned. Laputa had
a big night's work before him, and must begin soon. My vigil, I told
myself, could not be long.

My pony was stalled in a rough shed we had built opposite the store. I
could hear him shaking his head and stamping the ground above the
croaking of the frogs by the Labongo. Presently it seemed to me that
another sound came from behind the store--the sound of horses' feet and
the rattle of bridles. It was hushed for a moment, and then I heard
human voices. The riders had tied up their horses to a tree and were
coming nearer.

I sprawled