"Perhaps that will hold you for a while!" muttered Frank, as he picked up the iron bar and promptly closed the door at the head of the stairs.
He had seized the bar because he thought it might be a good weapon of defense in case his revolvers should be emptied and he remained in condition to fight. Now he thought of something else, and decided that the bar might do for a prop at the door.
"There ought to be some other way out of this room," he muttered. "Isn't there even a window?"
Again he struck a match, looking around with the aid of its light.
At the end of the long room in which he found himself he fancied he must find a window. Toward this end of the room he hurried, and another match disclosed to him a window that was hidden by heavy planking. Plainly the planks had been spiked over the window after it was decided to hold June a prisoner in that room.
Down dropped the match, and instantly Frank attacked the planks with the iron bar.
Fortune must have favored him, for had it been light he could not have been more successful. Every stroke was effective, and he began ripping off the planks.
There was wild excitement below, and Merry prayed for a little time. His heart was filled with a hope that Handsome Charley's fate would be a warning to others, so they would not be eager to rush up the stairs to the door.
In just about one minute he had torn the planks from the window.