"It will act as a weapon as well as a crowbar," I mused; then I got back to the door and began to try and place the iron between the door and the hinges. I had no light, and so I had to find out the crevice with my fingers. While trying to do this I gave a start. I was sure I heard a noise under my feet. At first it sounded like footsteps, then I heard a scraping against the floor. I listened intently, and presently I was able to locate the sound. It was just under the bed on which I had been lying. As quickly as I was able I removed the bed, and then listened again. For a time all was silent, then I heard a sound again, only this time it was different. Three knocks followed each other in quick succession, and I heard the boards vibrate under my feet. "Is it a friend or enemy, I wonder?" I asked myself, and I grasped the iron bar more firmly. I heard the boards creak as though something were pressed against them, but I could see nothing. Only a very faint light crept through the window which I had partially opened. Presently the boards began to give way. I knew this by a light which streamed into the room. Then I saw the floor move, and I heard a voice say, "Maaster Jasper." I knew the voice immediately. There was only one person in the world who could speak in such a tone. "Eli!" I cried, joyfully. "Doan't 'ee holla, Maaster Jasper," said Eli, in his hoarse, croaking voice, "but come to once." "Where?" "Away from 'ere. Ther's some steps down to the say. Come on." I needed no second bidding. I knew that Eli was thoroughly trustworthy, and so I lifted the boards, which proved to be a trap-door, and then, putting one foot through, I realised that I stood on a stone step. "Come after me, Maaster Jasper," said Eli; "maake 'aste, they may come after us." So I squeezed my body through the trap-doorway, and prepared to follow him. "Cloase thickey trap, Maaster Jasper," said Eli, and I saw his strange eyes shining in the dim light. In my eagerness to do this I made the thing drop heavily, and the noise echoed and re-echoed through the building. "That'll waake 'em up," cried Eli. "Come on, come vast, Maaster Jasper!" With an agility of which no man would have thought him capable, he hurried down the steps, mumbling fiercely to himself all the time. I soon found that this stairway was very crooked and often small. I imagined then, what I have since found to be true, that the house in which I had been imprisoned had been used as a place of storage for smuggled goods, while the way by which I was trying to escape was a secret way to it. We had not descended many yards before I heard voices above, while I knew that feet were tramping on the floor of my late prison. Evidently the noise I had made in closing the trap-door had aroused my warders, and they would now do their utmost to capture me.