Page:The House On The Cliff.pdf/167

 "Are you hungry?"

Still no answer.

"You know you are. And you'll be hungrier and thirstier before we are through with you. We'll put food and water in your sight but you won't be able to reach it. You'll die of thirst and starvation—unless you sign that paper."

"I'll never sign it."

"All right. Come on, men. We'll leave him to himself and give him time to think about it."

Footsteps resounded as Snackley and the others began to leave the room, and finally they died away and a door banged.

Fenton Hardy was left alone.

Joe made a sudden move toward the door, but Frank restrained him.

"Not just yet," he cautioned. "They may have left some one to guard him."

So the boys waited, listening intently at the door.

But there were no further sounds from within the room. At length, satisfied that his father had indeed been left alone, Frank fumbled for the latch of the door.

Noiselessly, he managed to open it. He pressed in on the door until it was open about an inch, then he peeped through the aperture.

He found himself on the threshold of a sort of cellar, a damp and mouldy chamber, of