floor at first had fallen so swiftly that the confined
air in the well beneath it had become so compressed as to form an air
cushion, which finally let the floor completely down only after the air
had gradually escaped. It was this escaping air Nick heard during the
last moments of his fall.

The entire episode began and ended in but little more than a moment,
however. Though considerably jarred, Nick pulled himself together, and
gazed up through the darkness at the bottom of the well.

Cervera was peering down from the lighted passage three stories above
him, Nick having made a clean drop into the cellar of the imposing
residence.

That this entire contrivance was the work of the Kilgore gang, devised
while they masqueraded at Cervera's house, Nick was thoroughly
convinced.

"Hello!" Cervera suddenly cried, still gazing down into the darkness
enveloping Nick. "Are you there, Mr. Carter?"

Nick stared up at her, but made no answer.

At the same time he felt quietly over the walls of the well, in the hope
of finding some way of escape.

It riled him not a little, the thought of having been so deftly caught
in a trap, almost entirely owing to his having been overconfident, an
assurance only very natural under the circumstances.

The possibility that this woman might now elude him for a time was also
a thorn in Nick's mind.

"_Caramba!_" cried Cervera, with a mocking laugh. "Aren't you going to
speak?"

Still no answer.

"Have you lost your tongue, Detective Carter? If you don't speak out,
Mr. Smart Fellow, I shall drop something down that will light you up. I
want a look at you, to know whether you're afoot or on horseback."

Nick remained in perfect silence.

Then Cervera disappeared.

"The she-devil!" muttered the detective. "What move next, I wonder?"

Again he felt quickly over the walls of the well, in the hope of finding
some avenue of escape.

With a thrill of satisfaction, he now discovered one of the vertical
strips of iron which are attached to two opposite walls of an elevator
well, to steady the car and serve as slides for it to run upon. These
iron strips are usually regularly notched to the depth of an inch or
more, for the admission of an automatic break in the event of the rope
parting.

"By Jove! this is not so bad," thought Nick. "It might serve for a
ladder.

"To climb three stories with the tips of one's fingers and toes,
however, and by means of a notched iron on the bare fac