wo camp beds which had evidently
been part of the ambulance equipment and which the new owners had not
thought necessary to remove, and a broken chair. The room was still
littered with the paraphernalia of first-aid. He found odd ends of
bandages, empty medicine bottles and a broken glass measure on the shelf
above the sink.

What interested him more was a door which he had not dared to hope he
would find. It was bolted on his side, and when he had slid this back he
discovered to his relief that it was not locked. He opened it carefully,
first extinguishing his light. Beyond the door was darkness and he
snapped back the light again. The room led to another, likewise empty.
There were a number of shelves, a few old wine-bins, a score of empty
bottles, but nothing else. At the far corner was yet another door, also
bolted on the inside. Evidently van Heerden did not intend this part of
the vault to be used.

He looked at the lock and found it was broken. He must be approaching
the main workroom in this new factory, and it was necessary to proceed
with caution. He took out his revolver, spun the cylinder and thrust it
under his waistcoat, the butt ready to his hand. The drawing of the
bolts was a long business. He could not afford to risk detection at this
hour, and could only move them by a fraction of an inch at a time.
Presently his work was done and he pulled the door cautiously.

Instantly there appeared between door and jamb a bright green line of
light. He dare not move it any farther, for he heard now the shuffle of
feet, and occasionally the sound of hollow voices, muffled and
indistinguishable. In that light the opening of the door would be seen,
perhaps by a dozen pair of eyes. For all he knew every man in that room
might be facing his way. He had expected to hear the noise of machinery,
but beyond the strangled voices, occasionally the click of glass against
glass and the shuff-shuff-shuff of slippered feet crossing the floor, he
heard nothing.

He pulled the door another quarter of an inch and glued his eye to the
crack. At this angle he could only see one of the walls of the big vault
and the end of a long vapour-lamp which stood in one of the cornices and
which supplied the ghastly light. But presently he saw something which
filled him with hope. Against the wall was a high shadow which even the
overhead lamp did not wholly neutralize. It was an irregular shadow such
as a stack of boxes might make, and it