I became insensible after this, and knew nothing until I found myself in the vault." "How did you extricate yourself from this dilemma ?" inquired Manning.
"Well, sir," began Pearson; and the detective imagined that he noticed a hesitancy in his manner, which was not apparent before, "when I recovered consciousness, I found myself locked up in the vault, with Miss Patton lying beside me.

When she recovered, we both shouted loudly for help, and beat with our hands upon the iron doors, in the hope of attracting attention.

This failed, and we were nearly desperate.

Just then, however, my foot came in contact with some loose silver upon the floor, and on stooping to pick them up, I found that they were ten-cent pieces.

Instantly, the idea occurred to me, to attempt to remove the screws which fastened the lock to the inside of the door, and of using one of these coins for the purpose.