"Duck!" shouted Hugh. "Get away from that door!" Bob needed no second urging. He sprang aside and cowered against the side of the wall. The two boys looked at each other, pale-lipped and breathing hard. "Whew," exclaimed Hugh. "That was a close call." Bob whipped his pistol out of his pocket, and began to crawl back toward the door. "What are you going to do?" demanded Hugh in alarm. "I'm going to send a bullet through there myself," said Bob. "We might just as well let them know we're alive too." "Don't you do it. You'll only waste your bullets and it may help us later if they don't know we are armed." Bob hesitated. "I guess you're right," he said a moment later, and presently resumed his place against the wall. "What'll we do?" said Hugh. "I don't know. Did you hear anybody?" "Not a soul. All I heard was the door bang and then the pistol shot." "I guess we're in for it," said Bob nervously. "We must get out of here." "I think so too, but how?" "We can smash the door." "Yes, and the minute we stick our heads out of the door we'll get a bullet through us. I don't see that we stand a chance." "But we can't stay here," protested Hugh. "If we do they'll certainly fix us one way or another." "If I don't come home to lunch father will get worried and bring help to us; he knows where we are." "These people won't wait that long. If they are spies and plotters they'll be desperate and they won't waste much time dealing with us." "I wonder how far it is to the ground." "We'd break a leg trying to jump," said Hugh. "I'll look anyway," and Bob carefully raised himself to his feet and advanced toward the window. He peered out and then suddenly uttered an exclamation. "Hugh," he cried in a low voice. "The gray roadster is out there. A man just got in and is driving off." With one bound Hugh was by his friend's side. "Could you see who it was?" he demanded eagerly. The roadster had disappeared down the wagon road. "I couldn't see," said Bob. "His back was toward me all the time." "How do you suppose that car got in here without our hearing it?" "I don't know. Of course they had the cutout closed." "Do you think that man has gone for help?" "I wouldn't be surprised." "Then now is our chance to get out of here." "Perhaps he left a guard." "I can't help it. At any rate we'll never have a better opportunity than this." "Shall we smash the door in with a chair?" asked Bob. "I don't see what else we can do." "It's a chance." "Of course it is, but it's no bigger chance than it is to stay here." "All right then," said Bob. "Let's each get a chair." They possessed themselves of chairs and then took their places one on each side of the door. They held the chairs by the backs and prepared to swing them against the panels.