It moved, it opened, a door flew back, displaying a dark and narrow passage at the very moment the man breathed his last.
Laying him gently down. Caleb Hook, trembling with weakness and excitement, moved toward the secret passage now disclosed.
"Saved—saved!" he murmured, faintly. "Means of escape are open before me, but—oh, God! how weak I am! This mist before my eyes—this trembling in my limbs! I—I—help—oh, help!"
The "Jonah" has spoken.
Have his revelations come too late?
Apparently, for the trembling form of Caleb Hook sinks lifeless across the very entrance to the secret passage.
[CHAPTER XXVIII.]
A FRUSTRATED CRIME—THE END.
Since the startling events at the Three Oaks, terminating with the complete destruction of that gloomy old mansion by fire, another day has passed, and night has settled down upon the city of New York once more.