far into the crack with his disengaged hand, and
once more dropped to the ground.

The fire was rapidly increasing, the room was filled with blinding,
choking smoke, and he became at once convinced that he had not many
moments to spare before the fire would be upon him. One thing seemed
certain, that, whoever had set light to the place must have been
ignorant of his whereabouts in the building, or they intended to let
the process of cooking him be slow. To what refinement had they
brought their art of torture!

Seizing the iron bars again, he set to work. The wood he had
inserted held the crack open, and the bar, now under the terrific
power he used, began to move about. For two minutes he worked
incessantly, every moment bringing the chance of escape nearer. With
feverish anxiety he watched the loosening bar. Once he looked round;
the flames were lapping the door, and the hissing, crackling of the
fire sounded in every direction.

Again turning to his work, he gave one supreme wrench at the
obstinate iron, and with a crack it yielded, flinging him to the
floor. A lot of the brickwork had come away with the bar, and, as he
sprang to his feet, he saw that in releasing one of the iron bars he
had torn away sufficient of the wall to free the others. He tore
them from their place in a flash, and at last the window was clear
of obstruction.

Taking one of the iron bars with him, he climbed up to the aperture,
but found the process of squeezing himself through was no easy one;
cheered on by hope, and with fear of the fire behind, he at last
succeeded, and dropped to the ground outside, only to find that the
high wall surrounding the prison barred his way.

At least he had escaped the fire, but now, how to get out of the
yard? He ran round the burning building in the hopes of finding an
outlet, expecting every moment to fall in with some of the guard,
but to his astonishment not a soul was about. At first this seemed
strange, but as he realized that the building had been set on fire
purposely, the desertion of it was quickly accounted for.

The only means of escape that now presented itself was a small
outhouse built against the wall. This he clambered on to, and then,
by the aid of some loose planks in the roof, succeeded in reaching
the top of the wall.

The moment he looked over he cursed himself bitterly for not having
waited until the house had burnt itself out before attempting to go
further, for then, no doubt