it steels my sword.'"

Even as he spoke I could hear him creeping steadily upward. It soon
became evident that his progress was growing slower, more difficult.
Then all sounds above me ceased, and I knew he must have attained the
roof in safety.




CHAPTER XIV

I BECOME A COLONEL OF ARTILLERY


My own situation at this moment was too critical, too full of peril and
uncertainty, to afford opportunity for moralizing over Bungay's chances
of escape. Only one possibility lay before me--there remained no
choice, no necessity for planning. It is pure luck which pries open
most doors of life, and it was upon luck alone I must rely now. I have
often wondered since how I ever succeeded in squeezing my body through
that narrow opening into the empty fireplace without at least knocking
over something during the difficult passage. But I did manage, working
my way down slowly, creeping inch by inch like a snake, carefully
testing each object I touched in the darkness for fear of its proving
loose, until I finally lay stretched at full length upon what was
evidently, from its feeling, a carpet of unusually fine texture.

The room proved to be an inner one and unlighted, a bedchamber, as I
soon determined, for my outstretched hands encountered the posts of a