He slammed the door instantly. But the heat of the seething furnace below rendered the air almost unbreathable. It looked as if, in the very moment of their triumph, the adventurers were doomed to death in the burning building. Trapped and helpless, for an instant they were deprived of words. Was this to be their appalling destiny, their fate,—to be roasted alive without a chance of escape? CHAPTER XIX—“STAND BY FOR A ROPE!” There are some situations so overwhelming that the strongest and coolest may well be temporarily stunned by them. The springs of action paralyze, while the mind becomes a blank. This was the case with our party of adventurers. Added to this, was the horror of knowing that many of the negroes in the room below must have perished in the flames. Jack felt a sickening feeling of panic clutching at his heart. In one corner of the room the two sailors crouched, stolidly awaiting death. Professor Chadwick and Mr. Jesson alone remained calm. Even Captain Andrews and Abner Jennings appeared dazed and helpless with the sickening sense of the disaster that had overtaken them. “We must leave this room at once.” It was Professor Chadwick who spoke, in a voice that did not falter in its resolute tones. His calmness, in the face of death, restored Jack’s pluck and heartened Captain Andrews and Abner Jennings. Even the two sailors appeared to be less panic-stricken. “We can only leave it for the room above,” objected one of them, however; “the flames will reach there afore long. Might as well die now as an hour later.” “Shame on you for American seamen!” burst out Captain Andrews, “rouse up there! While there’s life there’s hope.” His words were effective. At any rate, no more grumbling was heard as the beleaguered party ascended to the upper chamber. Like the one below it, the place was bare, and Jack flashed his electric searchlight about without discovering any loophole of escape. As was the case in the lower chamber, the walls were unpierced by windows, and the timbers were too solid for it to be feasible to knock them out, except with heavy sledges. All at once, however, Jack noticed, as he flashed his light about, that in one corner there seemed to be a sort of trap-door in the roof. He hailed his discovery with a cry of delight. If they could only reach the roof it might be possible for them to attract the attention of some one below who could get a ladder. Of course, in that event, they would be likely to be made captives, but anything was preferable to a tomb in the flames. Jack’s discovery acted like a tonic on the despairing feelings of the party. The iron roof was two feet beyond the reach of the tallest of them, but this difficulty was gotten over by Jack clambering to Captain Andrews’ shoulders, and from that situation he was able to reach the trap-door and to open it, for his first fear that it might be locked proved to be without foundation.