"How about the cellar?" suggested Tommy. "Probably where it is," agreed Frank, "but I don't relish this job so much. I'd hate to find Leland stiff down there, if that's where he is." "Me, too," said Tommy. "But we're here now, so let's finish the job and get back home. It's cold here, too." "You said it. No steam in the pipes at all. He must have let the fire go out in his furnace, and that's probably in the cellar too--usually is." * * * * * While talking, Frank had opened each of the four doors that opened from the kitchen, and the fourth revealed a stairway that led into the blackness beneath. With the beam of his torch directed at the steps, he proceeded to descend, and Tommy followed carefully. There was no light button at the head of the stairs, where it would have been placed in a more modern house, and it was not until they had reached the furnace room that they located a light fixture with a pull cord. An ordinary cellar, with furnace, coal bin, and a conglomeration of dust-covered trunks and discarded furniture, was revealed. And, at its far end, was the iron-bound door. The door was locked and could not be shaken by the combined efforts of the two men. "Have to have a battering ram," grunted Frank, casting about for a suitable implement. "Here you are," called Tommy, after a moment's search. "Just the thing we are looking for." * * * * * He had come upon a pile of logs, and one of these, evidently a section of an old telephone pole, was of some ten or twelve inches diameter and about fifteen feet long. Frank pounced upon it eagerly, and, supporting most of the weight himself, led the attack on the heavy oak door with the iron bands. No sound from within greeted the thunderous poundings. Clearly, if Leland was behind that door, he was either dead or unconscious. Finally the double lock gave way and Tommy and Frank were precipitated headlong into the brightly lighted room beyond. Recovering their balance, they took stock of their surroundings and were amazed at what they saw--a huge laboratory, fitted out with every modern appliance that money could buy. A completely equipped machine shop there was; bench after bench covered with the familiar paraphernalia of the chemical and physical laboratory; huge retorts and stills; complicated electrical equipments; dozens of cabinets holding crucibles, flasks, bottles, glass tubing, and what not. "Good Lord!" gasped Tommy. "Here's a laboratory to more than match our own. Why, Leland's got a fortune invested here!" "I should say so. And a lot of stuff that our company does not even have. Some of it I don't know even the use of. But where is Leland?" * * * * * There was no sign of the man they had come to help. He was not in the laboratory, though the door had been locked from within and the lights left burning throughout.