"Want to make a piece of change—safe?"
The guard looked about, saw that the coast was clear to speak, but before he could do so the emissary spoke again.
"Give me a piece of paper and a pencil."
Quickly the thug scratched away at a note.
"Deliver that," he said to the guard, handing him the note he had written, "and you'll get something worth while."
The guard nodded as he shoved the thug into his cell and locked the door, then walked off, while the fellow watched eagerly through the bars.
Locke in the warden's office, unsuccessful in making the prisoner talk, had evolved another scheme.
"Put me in the cell next to him," decided Locke. "I have a plan."
It was while the false guard was reading the address on the note that Locke and the warden entered the cell row. The guard hastily stuffed the message in his pocket as Locke and the warden passed up toward the empty next cell.
Locke went through all the actions of one who was being thrown into a cell, and the emissary in his own cell listened without suspecting anything. Locke had arranged with the warden to leave the cell unlocked, but no sooner had the warden left than the guard, who had been observing, moved over and shot the bolts.