“I have done as you directed me,” came Lady Olivia’s voice, “and, as you said would be the case, the man is now shut up in the pilot-house. But he heard the sound made by the closing of the slide, and at once descended to see what it meant. He is raging horribly, in there, cursing like a madman, and uttering the most dreadful threats of what he will do when he breaks through.”
“Ah! do not let that trouble you,” replied von Schalckenberg. “He cannot break through; he is safely caged, and within the next three hours, please God, we shall all be with you again. Now, please listen, for there is something more that I wish you to do; but this time it is quite easy. You know your way down to the engine-room. Please go down there, taking your telephone with you. When you are there I will tell you what to do.”
There was a pause of about a minute, and then Lady Olivia again spoke.
“Yes, Professor,” she said, “here I am. What am I to do?”
“How are you standing?” asked von Schalckenberg.
“Just inside the engine-room, with my back to the door,” came the answer.
“Good!” remarked the professor. “Then the machinery is all in front of you. There is a large pipe—as thick as—well, nine inches in diameter at your feet, running across the room from left to right; you cannot mistake it.”
“Yes,” said Lady Olivia. “There is but one of that size near at hand. This one is, as you say, close to my feet.”
“Now look along that pipe toward your left,” directed the professor. “Do you see a small horizontal wheel standing on it, with the spindle running down into the pipe?”
“Yes,” answered her ladyship.