"It brings death, burra sahib," said the Hindu.
"We must escape," replied Duncan. "But how?"
"We must wait, sahib. Wait until that one beyond the closed way helps."
"Push the button for the elevator. Maybe the room upstairs is free from gas."
"I cannot reach it, sahib. It is above the trap, which is now made so I shall fall."
"That's one way out," observed Duncan grimly. "Drop through the hole. Better than being crushed to death. But we'll wait to the last second, Abdul."
He tapped vainly against the steel curtain. There was no reply. Had the mysterious friend been trapped, also? Perhaps he had gone for more help. Perhaps it had been Isaac Coffran, tantalizing his victims with vain hope of possible escape.
The Hindu still held the flashlight toward the side wall of the room. The crushing barrier was coming closer — slowly but certainly. There might be twenty minutes now left them. Perhaps only fifteen. Duncan's mind was unable to calculate.
Abdul was leaning against the other side wall of the compartment. Bruce Duncan joined him. Together they watched that ever-approaching instrument of destruction.
Thump — thump — thump—"