"We'll find it. Olsen, he's down below us. If we don't find the cellar opening I'll let you try your hand at breaking a hole in the floor," proposed Bob.
Both began searching for the opening. Bob found it, but there was no ring in the trap and Olsen solved the problem of getting the place open by kicking a hole in the trap, then finally demolishing it altogether.
"Where's the stairs?" cried Jarvis.
"Pull stairs up," answered the Icelander.
Sure enough, such was the case. A short flight of clumsily constructed stairs had been pulled up to the floor and secured by a rope that ran off to another part of the cellar. Upon investigation they found that this rope led up to another trap in the dining room, from where the food that Steve had found must in all probability have been lowered.
Olsen did not wait for the stairs to be lowered but squeezed down into the hole, dropping to the cellar bottom. Steve ran to him and the big fellow hugged the boy delightedly.
"I get. I smash big boss."
"What does he mean, Bob?"
"He means that he gave Cavard an awful beating. But it was a dandy fight, Steve. How I wish you could have seen it!"
Steve Rush heard all about the events that had occurred since he had been taken prisoner the night before. In turn he related what had happened to himself. There was no direct evidence by which they could connect Cavard with Rush's capture, but the circumstantial evidence was strong. Later in the day Steve went to see the superintendent, and the two had a long talk.