Duncan reached out and pressed his hand against hard metal.
"A curtain of steel!" he exclaimed. "A solid sheet of metal! It would have struck us, Abdul, if we had not stopped."
"It has closed our way to safety," replied the Hindu, in his even voice. "We are trapped, burra sahib."
Duncan's rescuer turned the flashlight in all directions. Only the elevator remained as a means of exit. The walls of the room were solid and close together; the steel curtain filled the archway completely. Not even a crack was visible.
There was a click. The elevator began to move slowly upward, a solid wall following from below. It was an ingenious device — part of the room on the second floor of this chamber in the cellar. Going, it left no trace of its existence.
Abdul held the light toward the rising lift.
"Shall we go there, sahib?" he asked.
"No!" exclaimed Duncan. "It leads to death, Abdul. I escaped from a room filled with gas."
"There is no safety here," said the Hindu simply.
"I know that," admitted Duncan. "But it is better than that den I left."