Page:Randall Parrish--My Lady of the South.djvu/313

THE MAN IN THE TUNNEL shaft leading down was black and silent, and I held the yellow flame higher to examine the iron bars, arranged ladder-like along the back wall. I had scarcely thought of this seriously before, but now I observed there were three of these steps, and that the third was a wide strip which extended along the side hall. This rather peculiar arrangement aroused my curiosity, and, slinging the lantern to my belt, I clambered up, discovering a somewhat similar bar at the top of the shaft, which gave me a hand-hold, thus enabling me to walk the lower strip. A single step revealed the deception of the appearance from below. Before me was painted canvas, not rock, and the framework to which it was nailed yielded instantly to my grasp. The lantern revealed nothing but a bare narrow closet, with a door to the right. I clambered in, and opened the latter, looking out into one of those unoccupied rooms which I had previously examined. It was plain enough now how the woman had disappeared so suddenly—she had slipped into this chamber, and, by way of the closet, found entrance to the tunnel. And here must be where she had hidden before.

The discovery put me in better humor, for now much of the mystery was solved, and I could proceed with more confidence. Without doubt she was in the tunnel, or had passed through and escaped to the open air. I must make certain of this, and then block the passage so that her return that way would be impossible. I went back through the hall, and crawled into the shaft once more by way of the fire-screen, the lantern still dangling at my waist as I scrambled recklessly down the ladder. [ 295 ]