uld only succeed in carrying Madge behind that bar and through
the door already described before the lights were turned on, much would
be accomplished.

The detective reached the end of the bar in safety, and, feeling the
back of it with his body, glided around behind it to the spot where he
knew the small door to be located, and then, releasing his left hand
from the woman he carried long enough to reach for the latch of the
door, he pulled it open, passed through, and closed it behind him.

With the hand that was still free he pulled a pair of handcuffs from his
pocket, and, before Madge could escape him, he snapped them upon her
wrists behind her back and dropped her to the floor, at the same time
pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and tying it firmly--much too
firmly for her comfort--around her jaws.

His next act was to produce his flash light and turn it upon the door,
where, to his delight, he discovered that it was only necessary to drop
a heavy iron bar into place to secure it; and this bar passed entirely
across the door, and rested in iron slots at either side of it.

He also noticed in that instant that the door was an extremely heavy
one, and that the partition through which it opened was a substantial
one. Without doubt, the room had been prepared by Mike Grinnel himself
with great care as the means of a safe and sure retreat for him in the
event of a raid upon his place.

The detective discovered, also, that there was a gas jet in the room,
and he turned this on, and lit the gas at once.

Madge was in the meantime using every effort in her power to pull the
handkerchief from her face, so that she could cry for help, but now with
light sufficient to see what he was about, the detective lost no time in
securing her so firmly that she was entirely helpless.

To her baleful glances of utter hatred, he paid not the slightest
attention, but he began at once to examine the room with great care,
knowing well that there should be another means of entrance to and
egress from it than the one he made use of. For Mike Grinnel, skilled as
he was in the habits of the people he dealt with, would never have built
for himself a den from which there was no escape after once he had
entered it. Although there was no sign of a second door to be seen
anywhere, Nick did not despair of finding one, and he began his search
by first pulling out a sideboard which stood against the wall, and
looking behind it.

He next h