He felt his senses going and fell from his knees.
As he did so, and just at the last moment of consciousness, he thought he saw one of the blocks in the floor begin to rise.
Was it an illusion of his disordered senses?
It could not be!
For, as the stone arose, a draught of fresh air came through the opening it left in the floor.
Nick inhaled a great draught of it, and started to his knees once more.
The ray from the pocket lamp was focussed upon the stone.
Nick turned the ray slightly, and saw the face of a man standing with head and shoulders through the trap.
“Patsy!” he called, in a hoarse voice.