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172 lookout for a chance to escape. If Tony would but turn his back for a minute.

But if the opportunity should come what object could he place upon the tray? He thrust one hand down cautiously beneath the blanket but found as he had supposed that his pockets had been emptied; not even a stub of pencil or scrap of paper remained.

At that moment as if in answer to his unexpressed prayer a faint "halloa" sounded from the landward direction, and with a grunt of relief Tony turned and rushed from the room, the tray forgotten.

Odell sprang from the couch with the recklessness of desperation; but he had not taken his weakness into account, and the room whirled about him so that he reached out blindly to steady himself. His hands caught the back of a chair, and as his vision cleared again he saw that hanging across it were his collar and necktie, the latter of a curious blue and black design. Would Miller recognize it?

Outside he could hear the two men calling to each other, and it was evident that Pete was still some distance away; but no time could be lost. Odell took up the necktie and tried feverishly to tear off a fragment from the end, but the strong silk resisted his efforts. He looked hastily about him, and his eyes rested upon the sharp knife with which Tony had sliced the ham. Seizing it he hacked and tore at the silk until a short strip of it came off in his hand. Then he gouged a piece of bread from the center of the portion of loaf upon the tray, thrust the bit of silk into the aperture, and replaced the soft bread to mask its presence.

The knife he secreted beneath the mattress of the couch,