Old King Brady pulled on the rope.
"There seems to be nothing attached to this," he declared.
And so it proved.
When he got the end of the rope up he found that it had been severed with a sharp knife, and the cut looked to be quite fresh.
"Another Chinese mystery," observed Alice.
"No mystery about this business," was the reply. "Our coming has been anticipated, that's all. This means has been taken to head us off. It is plain enough."
"Perhaps there is another panel, Mr. Brady."
"It would be no surprise to me if we found a dozen of them, but, incidentally, Alice, I have been rather stupid."
"How do you mean?"
"Why, this rope works two ways, and I have only pulled one way. Now I propose to proceed to pull the other. Ha! the rope is weighted at the other end!"