“It’s going to be a ticklish job,” rejoined the tall man.
“Can’t help it,” went on the leader. “We’ll do the best we can. This place is far enough away. You two men will have to stay on guard. Give him all he wants to eat, but if he tries to escape—well, you know what to do.”
“I guess so,” muttered the short man, with an ugly look at Larry.
The three men left the room then, but Larry could hear them talking in low tones in the hall. He stole to a window, hoping there might be a chance to get away. He found it tightly shut. Besides the casement was five stories from the ground, and to leap that distance would have meant death.
By pressing his face closely against the window pane Larry could see that, about three windows over, on a line with the one he was looking from, was a fire escape. If he could only reach that, he thought, he could get away. But to reach it seemed out of the question. As he stood looking the two men who had captured him re-entered the room.
“What were you doing?” the tall one asked him.
“Looking out of the window,” replied Larry boldly.
“Be careful you don’t try to get out,” was the rejoinder. “The windows are all protected by burglar alarm wires. If you open one it will give the signal, and we’ll catch you before you can go ten feet, so be careful.”
Larry said nothing. There was a chair in the room, and he sat down on it. The tall man made a careful examination of the window. As he had said there were wires around the frame, but they seemed old and rusty and Larry half believed they did not work.
While one of the men remained in the room, the other went out. He came back shortly with a pile of rags and blankets which he threw in the middle of the floor.