"Yes. I’ll take my chance. They probably won’t guess that there’s any one below, if I shut down the trap-door. You know what to do: cut the wire, or disconnect the terminals." With the trap-door closed, it was pitch dark in the chamber. Kenneth struck a match, and making his way carefully over the flagstones found himself in a narrow passage, which led into another large chamber like the first. This again was connected with a third by a short passage. The floor of the third was heaped with newly excavated earth, and the sole outlet from it was a low tunnel, which a man could enter only by bending low. Kenneth crept into it, breathing with difficulty in the stuffy atmosphere impregnated with the smell of earth. It seemed endless, and must have cost prodigious labour. On and on he went, his back and legs aching, his breathing more and more oppressed. The thought came to him, what if the tunnel were obstructed at the further end? When the wire had once been laid, the Germans would have no interest in keeping the passage clear. What if the roof fell upon him? What if--direst possibility of all!--the mine were fired while he was still in the tunnel? At this thought he felt a momentary "sinking," and dropped his match-box. Taking a grip upon himself he waited a few moments until his nerves were steadied, groped for the match-box, struck another match, and went on. A few yards more brought him to an enlargement of the tunnel, where he could stand upright. And here he found that the wire, laid along the floor, ended in a metal case, which he guessed to contain a detonating apparatus, like the floating mines employed at sea. It was the work of a moment to sever the wire. Then, turning his back on this terrible agent of destruction, Kenneth hurried along as fast as possible towards the open end of the tunnel. CHAPTER VIII--A FIGHT IN THE MILL Kenneth returned more quickly than he had gone. He was consumed with a feverish impatience to assure himself of Pariset’s safety. Pariset had been very confident; but it was at least within the bounds of possibility that, if discovered by the Germans, he might be overpowered before he had time to fire a warning shot. When he reached the trap-door he tapped lightly on it. It was raised at once. "Good!" whispered Pariset. "Is it done?" "Yes, the wire is cut." "Capital! You have only been twenty minutes." "Has anything happened?" "A minute or two ago there was a ring at the bell, and I heard someone go to the door. I was afraid that some friend of these fellows had discovered the lancers and come to give warning; but it can’t be that, because all is quiet." "Still, he may be a friend, and that will mean that we have six men to deal with instead of five." "It doesn’t matter, now the wire is cut. We had better creep out again, go round by the field, cross the bridge, and join the lancers in an attack on the house." "Suppose the lancers haven’t come!"