“What then?”
“Why, to drop a shell down there, and—”
“Nothing of the sort, Eben. Wrong again, my boy. All I want is this, You see that door below, leading into the engine-house, near the foundation of the glass-room?”
“Yes; what of that?”
“Well, just inside that engine-house there used to be, and most likely is now, a disused back staircase that leads to the glass-room. I now propose that you should just explore there, and if the Chains are thereabout, or Goodall or Tom T., you can hold off—any way you will, if you once gain access, during the dinner hour, so as to grope your way about and leave your marks, for, as you know, I formerly had some financial business with the Chains, and don’t want to see much more of them. But mind what you are about. Don’t be rash, Eben. I only want this to be a little voyage of discovery.”
“You can consider that done, Mr F. I see now that I know what your little game is; but what else am I to do?”
“You must first creep and then go ahead afterwards, when I tell you to do so. The first part of my plan of campaign is this,—The Chains must be shifted, but not removed, mind that—you know what I mean—neither dynamite nor bloodshed, but milder measures.”
“Such as you adopted—”
“Halt, man, halt. In the name of common sense, what were you going to say?”
“Not much more I can tell you, guv’nor. The fact is, we must cut it short and get to work. Just lend me your opera glass please.”