Dick slipped through the trap and dropped.
He fell on his hands and knees, and instantly realized that, were he to stand erect, his head and shoulders would protrude through the square opening above.
He felt one of his companions at his side. He looked up and saw the muscular black man again moving the bale. Assouan sat with his legs dangling through the opening. The trapdoor was leaning against his shoulder. He reached over, grasped the bale and pulled it against the door. Then, swiftly, yet with deliberation, he slid down through the trap, permitting the door to close, with the tipped bale settling over it.
In the darkness, beneath, the four fugitives crouched on the bare ground, hearing above their heads the feet of their pursuers.
After a time the tread of feet and murmur of voices ceased. Evidently their pursuers had departed baffled.
Then Assouan whispered directions to them, and, one after the other, the black man leading, they crawled many feet along what seemed to be a trenchlike passage beneath the building.
Finally Assouan paused. He rose, and they saw a gleam of light that came faintly through another square opening. This dim light revealed their conductor opening another trapdoor by lifting it. He stood erect, and then sprang lightly up through the opening.
“Oh, Richard!” whispered Professor Gunn; “this is a terrible experience! If we escape with our lives, I shall always think of this day with unspeakable horror.”
Assouan was stooping over the opening, with his hands outstretched. He directed them to rise and permit him to assist them.
Dick urged the professor onward. The black man grasped the hands of the old pedagogue and lifted him through the trap.