The muzzle of the sentry's carbine was within two feet of my chest.

"Speak!" cried the fellow. "Who are you?"

At a glance I took in the peril of the situation, and without a second's
hesitation made a dive for the man beneath his weapon. He lowered it,
but it was too late, for I gripped him around the waist, rendering his
gun useless. It was the work of an instant, for I knew that to close
with him was my only chance.

Yet if the boat was not in waiting below that closed door? If my Finn
driver was not there in readiness, then I was lost. The unfortunate girl
whom I was there to rescue drew back in fright against the wall for a
single second, then, seeing that I had closed with the hulking fellow,
she sprang forward, and with both hands seized the gun and attempted to
wrest it from him. His fingers had lost the trigger, and he was trying
to regain it to fire and so raise the alarm. I saw this, and with an old
trick learned at Uppingham I tripped him, so that he staggered and
nearly fell.

An oath escaped him, yet in that moment Elma succeeded in twisting the
gun from his sinewy hands, which I now held with a strength begotten of
a knowledge of my imminent peril. My whole future, as well as hers,
depended upon my success in that desperate encounter. He was huge and
powerful, with a strength far exceeding my own, yet I had been reckoned
a good wrestler at Uppingham, and now my knowledge of that most ancient
form of combat held me in good stead.

The man shouted for help, his deep, hoarse voice sounding along the
stone corridors. If heard by his comrades-in-arms, then the alarm would
at once be given.

We struggled desperately, swaying to and fro, he trying to throw me,
while I, at every turn, practiced upon him the tricks learned in my
youth. It seemed an even match, however, for he kept his feet by sheer
brute force, and his muscles seemed hard and unbending as steel.

Suddenly, however, as we were striving so vigorously and desperately,
the English girl slipped past us with the carbine in her hand, and with
a quick movement dragged open the heavy door that gave exit to the
lake.

At that instant I unfortunately made a false move, and his hand closed
upon my throat like a band of steel. I fought and struggled to loose
myself, exerting every muscle, but alas! he gained the advantage. I
heard a splash, and saw that Elma no longer held the sentry's weapon in
her hands, having thrown it into the water.

Then at