"No! Don't let it!" urged Ned. "It's a dirty, rotten game, Tom. They're trying to get your nerve!"
"That's it—a game!" cried Tom Swift, with new energy. "Well, they'll find that two can play at it! I'm out for revenge now, and when I meet Barton——"
"I hope I'll be there to see the fight!" chuckled Ned.
However, if Tom and Ned hoped for any immediate change in their captivity, they were disappointed. For three days they remained in close confinement, and when meals were brought there were always two guards, one with a gun and the other with a tray, so there was no chance for a surprise attack.
Not giving up easily, though, Tom and Ned tried to escape from the small stone room at night. They took a fork and spoon from one of their trays, and with these simple implements tried to loosen some of the window bars.
At first they thought they were going to succeed, for they dug out some mortar. But it was only to find under the mortar that the bars were set in lead upon which their tools made no impression. So they had to give that up.
They were below the level of the ground, there being a little dug-out area upon which the only window in their cell opened. So they could see nothing of what went on in the courtyard on which they judged their prison room faced, for they could hear trucks coming and going and the murmur of many voices.
"Well, if we can't leave by the window we must try the door," said Tom, when they had been locked up a week. They still had the spoon and fork and hoped to be able to pick the lock. But a few trials convinced them that it was too strong.
Then, unexpectedly, their chance came. The same guard, again drunk, who had blurted out the gossip concerning Mary and Barton came in with a tray of food for their supper, and in a flash Tom and Ned saw that he was alone.
For once the cunning of their captors had slipped!