He found that it had been made--certainly at great expense--to fit the curve of the walls through which it passed.

This was a discovery of some consequence, causing Mr.
Gryce to grow still more thoughtful and to eye the smooth steel plate under his hand with an air of marked distrust.
"Mr.Adams carried his taste for the mechanical to great extremes," he remarked to the slightly uneasy man beside him.

"This slide is very carefully fitted, and, if I am not mistaken, it will stand some battering before we are released." "I wish that his interest in electricity had led him to attach such a simple thing as a bell." "True, we have come across no bell." "It would have smacked too much of the ordinary to please him." "Besides, his only servant was deaf." "Try the effect of a blow, a quick blow with this silver-mounted alpenstock.

Some one should hear and come to our assistance." "I will try my whistle first; it will be better understood." But though Mr.Gryce both whistled and struck many a resounding knock upon the barrier before them, it was an hour before he could draw the attention of Styles, and five hours before an opening could be effected in the wall large enough to admit of their escape, so firmly was this barrier of steel fixed across the sole outlet from this remarkable room..