“Confusion!” he exclaimed, with an oath, “the boy is calling assistance. He must be afraid I will get out. There must be a door somewhere. I must find it at once, or all is over with me.”
He had been turning his attention to the wrong side of the cellar, and this delayed him a little. But finally, with a cry of triumph, he espied the door. He saw also that it was bolted inside, and inferred that there would be no difficulty in opening it. But for some reason it stuck, and this occasioned further delay. Otherwise he might have got out in time to attack Tom before the arrival of help. But the little delay was in our hero’s favor. When the burglar got out he heard voices of men speaking with his young enemy.
“Where’s the burglar?” asked Archibald Campbell, a gigantic Scot, who was the next-door neighbor.
“In the cellar,” said Tom in a low voice.
“Can he get out?”
“Yes,” said Tom in a whisper, so as to afford no information in case the discovery had not yet been made. “There’s a side door, and if he’s found it he’s free now perhaps.”
“Where is the door?”
“On that side.”
“Come, then,” said the brave Scot, “we’ll nab him. What weapons has he got?”
“A knife, and perhaps a revolver.”