If I dared
wrench off a table leg, I could perhaps shove bottle and syringe
through to you from here, but the material would come to a dead center
in the middle of this tunnel, unless I had a stick to push it within
your reach.
"Very well; we'll work away until our excavation connects, and we have
made it of sufficient diameter for you to squeeze through. You are
then in my cell. We put out our lights, and you conceal yourself
behind the door. Gaoler and man with the lantern come in. You must be
very careful not to close the door, because if you once shove it shut
we can't open it from this side, even though it is unlocked and the
bolts drawn. It fits like wax, and almost hermetically seals the room.
You spring forward, and deal the gaoler with your fist one of your
justly celebrated English knock-down blows, immediately after felling
the man with the lantern. Knowing something of the weight of your
blow, I take it that neither of the two men will recover consciousness
until we have taken off their outer garments, secured revolvers and
keys. Then we lock them in, you and I on the outside."
"My dear Jack, we don't need any tunnel to accomplish that. The first
time these two men come into my room, I can knock them down as easily
here as there."
"I thought of that, and perhaps you could, but you must remember we
have only one shot. If you made a mistake; if the lantern man bolted
and fired his pistol, and once closed the door-- he would not need to
pause to lock it-- why, we are done for.
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