"Then he closed the door sharply. The two Captains went to a little
table not far from the door, and sat down. They were not for one
second out of sight of the door.

"We two stood directly facing it about three feet away in the hall.

"The half hour passed., Captain Handel looked every minute at his
watch, and Captain Schmitt kept saying, 'Wait, wait; be fair.'

"At last the time was up. They went to the door. Captain Schmitt
straightened his saber belt, and threw the door wide.

"He looked, then he dashed in, almost upsetting Captain Handel. The
room was empty. We could see. He called us, and together we searched
in and on and under everything in the great room. We rapped on the
wall. We examined the iron bars, but the windows had not even been
opened.

"Captain Handel went into a fearful rage. The prisoners had
disappeared as though they had never been. Even the book was gone from
the table, and the package of papers the old man had guarded.

"We went over every foot of the place again and again. There was not
an inch that sounded hollow, as though there was a secret passage. We
even tore out a panel of the woodwork, and found a stone wall behind
it."

The soldier finished his cake, and drew a grimy hand across his lip.