a noise as if something was being done to
the lock, after which a deep silence reigned.

"They're going to leave me here, and have put something into the lock
so the door can't be opened in a hurry," he said to himself, and during
the next ten minutes he struggled desperately to free himself.

The bonds had been adjusted by an expert, and he might as well have
tried to fly as to hope to remove them unaided.

He was both thirsty and hungry, and every limb ached from being so long
in one position.

It seemed an almost endless time before the sounds of people moving
proclaimed that the passengers were leaving the steamer.

Then another long interval, during which he could hear the noises of
the city, and finally some one knocked on the door of the room.

If he could have cried out then his term of imprisonment would have
been speedily ended.

"Some fool has broken the key in the lock," he heard one of the
servants say after trying several times to open the door. "We may as
well wait till the engineer can come up."

Jet was rapidly losing heart. He counted the minutes, as if such a
course would make the time pass more rapidly, and was so thoroughly
exhausted when, at nearly three o'clock in the afternoon, the work of
picking the lock was begun, that he could not have made himself heard
even had the gag been removed.

The engineer was not a skillful locksmith, and half an hour elapsed
before the door was opened.

Even then it was several moments before the bedroom stewards perceived
the prisoner, and instead of unbinding him at once they ran in search
of the purser. When that officer arrived Jet was released from his
uncomfortable position, but his mouth was so dry and parched that he
could not speak.

The boy realized that he would be questioned closely, and remembering
the inspector's caution, he resolved to tell no more than was
absolutely necessary. Therefore when the officers of the steamer
insisted on being told how he chanced to be a prisoner, he simply
related the story of the capture, without entering into particulars as
to why the men should do such a thing. His account was looked upon
with suspicion, and after questioning him yet more closely the purser
said:

"The boy is lying for some purpose, probably to get a free passage.
Why would two men want to steal a fellow like him?"

"I've told the truth," Jet replied earnestly. "Don't you suppose I
could have stowed away easier than by being tie