The reason was that the spring was located in a comparatively inaccessible place, behind one of the legs of the safe.
Gordon had lain down again and again, and, with the help of a pocket flash light and the magnifying glass, had done his best to peer under the low safe and behind the two squat little legs at the front. He had met with very little success, but finally, having failed to find what he sought elsewhere, he had begun feeling about at random.
In this way, just behind the right leg, and in the bottom of the safe, he had happened upon a small, yielding surface, and his heart had bounded as he pressed it upward.
To his delight, the inner door began to open noiselessly. Simultaneously, the impostor’s heart stopped.
Some one had knocked at the door!
CHAPTER XX.
THE BLACKMAILER’S SUPREME HAUL.
For a moment that seemed an eternity, Ernest Gordon crouched as if petrified, his eyes turned wildly to the door.