I started up and found Edmund
standing over me. The others were all on their feet. Edmund immediately
whispered:
"Come quietly; I've found a way out."
"What have you found?"
"Something extremely simple. This is no prison cell, but a part of what
appears to be the engine rooms--probably it is an unused storeroom. They
have put us here for convenience, trusting more to the darkness than to
the lock, for the corridors outside are as black as Erebus and as crooked
as a labyrinth."
"How do you know?"
"Because, while you were all asleep, I made an exploration. The lock was
nothing; the merest tyro could pick it. Fortunately they never guessed
that I had a lamp. In this world of daylight, it is not likely that
pocket lamps have ever been thought of. Just around the corner, there is
another door opening into a passage that leads by a power house. That
passage gives access to a sort of garage of air craft, and when I stole
into it five minutes ago, there was not a soul in sight. We'll simply
slip in there, and if I can't run away with one of those fliers, then I'm
no engineer. To tell the truth, I'm not altogether sure that it is wise
for us to escape, for I have a feeling that Ala will help us; still, when
Providence throws one a rope, it's best, perhaps, to test its strength.
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