"Aye, that seems to me a very simple matter," Hiram replied. "The moment our double-faced friend went toward the dummy to make certain he had been tricked, our plan would be to fall upon him, and I'll eat my head if the three of us can't truss him up like a fowl ready for the roasting, however much of a fight he may make."
"Well, and if we have him prisoner, what then?"
"We'll simply hold him here until we get ready to leave town, and I'm thinking that won't be any difficult matter," Hiram said laughingly. "With him bound hand and foot, and one of us ready to plump a gag in his mouth if he makes too much noise in the way of calling for assistance, it seems to me he would be about as harmless as a kitten in a cage. As a matter of fact, it is very nearly what we must do finally, for I am not counting to take to my heels through yonder passage, leaving him behind free to give word to the lobster backs that we are somewhere in the town, or striving to get out of it. We are in such a box, lads, that it would be worse than useless to hesitate at anything which promises, however slightly, to aid us," and now Hiram spoke in a grave tone, as does one who speculates upon some hazardous venture. "We shall not be able to leave this place without having a tussle with Master Lord, and no one can say how soon that may be necessary, therefore I hold to it we are warranted in taking many chances, if so be we are working toward the end that we set ourselves when leaving Cambridge. Even though we may not hold this place as a refuge eight and forty hours before the trick is discovered, then have we gained just so much time."
I could think of no argument against this plan of Hiram's, ponder over it as I might. We were in desperate straits, and all of us knew full well that the danger would not be so great when Master Lord had discovered that we had a means of escape, providing we could hold him prisoner, than if he remained in ignorance of our purpose and at liberty to set the lobster backs on us whenever he chose.
"The only thing against your plan, Hiram, is that which you yourself have confessed," Archie said thoughtfully. "The difficulty of concealing the mouth of the tunnel after one of us has made his way through it."
"Aye, there's the rub, lad; but it strikes me that 'twixt the four of us, seeing's how we have all got some share of common-sense, we ought to be able to overcome that trouble in course of time. I cannot say just now what way it may be done; but we will hit upon an idea lads, we'll hit upon an idea."
It may seem that this slight change in the situation was not so favorable to our enterprise as to warrant very much in the way of rejoicing, and yet I felt more nearly light-hearted after Hiram was at an end of explaining what he had done, and how the tunnel might be made to serve us, than at any time since I left Cambridge, although I am bound to confess we were no nearer accomplishing our purpose because of this secret passage, than before. In fact, we had simply succeeded in entering the town, and then plunged ourselves into greater difficulties than ever, therefore it is possible the means of escape was simply a step toward righting the mistake that had been made.
Then it was that Harvey asked suddenly, as if it was a matter of great moment:
"Who knows whether it yet be day, or has the night come?"
As a matter of course we had lost all knowledge of time, shut up in that cellar where no ray of light penetrated, sleeping and eating as our desires prompted, and now the question had been raised I grew keen to know whether another night had come, or if we had been there as prisoners less than four and twenty hours.