surprising increase in bulk.

It was probable, thought Willis, that some secret door must connect
the chamber in which he stood with the distillery, but a careful search
revealed no trace of any opening, and he was forced to the conclusion
that none existed. Accordingly, he turned and began to retrace his steps
through the tunnel.

The walk back seemed even longer and more irksome than his first
transit, and he stopped here and there and knelt down in order to
straighten his aching back. As he advanced, the booming sound of the
waves, which had died down to a faint murmur at the distillery, grew
louder and louder. At last he reached the pump-cellar, and was just
about to step out of the tunnel when his eye caught the flicker of a
light at the top of the step-ladder. Someone was coming down!

Willis instantly snapped off his own light, and for the fraction of a
second he stood transfixed, while his heart thumped and his hand slid
round to his revolver pocket. Breathlessly he watched a pair of legs
step on to the ladder and begin to descend the steps.

Like a flash he realized what he must do. If this was Benson coming to
"take up stuff," to remain in the tunnel meant certain discovery. But if
only he could, reach the passage under the wharf he might be safe. There
was nothing to bring Benson into it.

But to cross the cellar he must pass within two feet of the ladder, and
the man was half-way down. For a moment it looked quite hopeless, then
unexpectedly he got his chance. The man stopped to lock the wardrobe
door. When he had finished, Willis was already across the cellar and
hurrying down the other passage. Fortunately the noise of the waves
drowned all other sounds.

By the time the unknown had reached the bottom of the ladder, Willis had
stepped on to the cross laths and was descending by them. In a moment he
was below the passage level. He intended, should the other approach, to
hide beneath the water in the hope that in the darkness his head would
not be seen.

But the light remained in the cellar, and Willis raised himself and
cautiously peeped down the passage. Then he began to congratulate
himself on what he had just been considering his misfortune. For,
watching there in the darkness, he saw Benson carry out the very
operations he had imagined were performed. The manager wheeled the kegs
one by one beneath the great barrel, filled them from the tap, and then,
setting his lamp on the last of the three, p