Apparently the room was a sort of storeroom, for all about were boxes, bales and old barrels. The boxes attracted Ned’s attention. They were lavishly decorated and covered with characters which he recognized as being Chinese. An aromatic odor was in the air and Ned soon perceived why. The decorated chests were tea receptacles. Most of them were unopened and had apparently come direct from some Oriental ship, for there were no customs marks upon them. The truth burst upon Ned suddenly.
The tea-chests were off vessels from the Orient. But they had never paid duty. He was beholding an adjunct of Schmidt’s business,—a tea-smuggling plant on a large scale. He estimated that, allowing even a small price for the tea, there must have been at least ten thousand dollars’ worth of the herb stored in that room.
“Phew!” exclaimed the boy, “here’s a find which alone will cause a lot of trouble for Schmidt, if I can ever get out of here. What a collection! But tea won’t do me any good now. What I need is something to batter that door down. I might rush them and get clear away if I only could. I’ll try it, anyhow.”
But a brief examination of the door showed him that such an attempt would be only foolish waste of strength. The door was made of heavy planks reënforced with iron bolts, and appeared to have been built to withstand a siege.
“A regular safe-deposit vault,” sighed Ned. “What a predicament! I’ve certainly made a fine mess of it, this time.”
He fell to examining the walls. But they were apparently as solidly constructed as the door. The skylight offered the only means of egress and that was fully ten feet from the floor.
Ned looked up at it wistfully.
“I wonder if there’s any way I could get up there,” he said musingly. “No, it’s too high, I—By hookey! I’ve got an idea. These boxes! I can build a pile of them and climb up to it. It’s worth trying, anyhow.”
Ned lost no time in carrying out his plan. He did not know at what moment he might be interrupted and this fear lent haste to his movements. He dragged and piled heavy chests till they grew too much for him to handle. Then he looked about for lighter articles to construct the apex of the pile on which he meant to try to crawl to liberty.
He found several boxes which were empty and easily handled and he placed these on top of the tea-chests. Then he climbed up, but he found that his finger tips were still, even when out-stretched to their utmost, some distance from the edge of the skylight.