she tore her dress on the pickets before we reached the other
side. I hustled her into the car and made everything ready to
start. It was only a couple of minutes after I threw the ladder
back before Craig rejoined us.

"How did you get away from the watchman?" I demanded,
breathlessly, as we shot away.

"I forced him back with the chair into the hall and slammed the
door. Then I jammed a wedge under it," he chuckled. "That will
hold it better than any lock. Every push will jam it tighter."

Above the hubbub, inside now, we could hear a loud gong sounding
insistently. All about were lights flashing up at the windows and
moving through the passageways. Shouts came from the back of the
house as a door was finally opened there. But we were off now,
with a good start.

I could imagine the frantic telephoning that was going on in the
sanatorium. And I knew that the local police of Montrose and every
other town about us were being informed of the escape. They were
required by the law to render all possible assistance, and, as the
country boasted several institutions quite on a par with
Belleclaire, an attempt at an escape was not an unusual
occurrence.

The post-road by which we had come was therefore impossible, and
Kennedy swung up into the country, in the hope of throwing off
pursuit long enough to give us a better chance.