His eyes roved about the basement, fell upon the chain fastened to the wall, with its steel collar. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "We'll chain him to the wall with Rover's chain. That'll give us time to decide what to do." He grabbed the Devil by the heels, dragged him over to the wall. Opening the collar, he placed it around the Devil's thick neck, and snapped it shut. It clicked with a satisfying air of finality. Joe jerked it several times to see that it was tight. "He's coming to!" exclaimed Pearl. "And I think the kids have heard the commotion and are coming to investigate," said Joe. "You get upstairs--head them off. We can't let them see this..." Pearl ran for the stairs, and called up to them. "No, Jimmy--Sally, don't come down! Mother's coming up. Everything's all right." The sleepy sound of the children's voices came to Joe's ears as she disappeared up the stairs, and they were cut off suddenly as she shut the door. He could hear the sound of their feet on the floor above as she marshalled them back to their beds. * * * * * Beside him the Devil stirred. "Ow," he groaned. "What was it she hit me with?" "A snow shovel." "Never had any use for snow shovels," said the Devil, struggling to a sitting position. The chain around his neck rattled and his eyes widened. He looked at the chain, and at the bolt that held it into the wall. He took the chain in both hands. "Never saw a chiseling contractor's cement I couldn't pull a bolt out of," he said. Joe picked up the snow shovel and stood watchfully waiting. The Devil tugged at the bolt, then yanked furiously. At length he leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily. "No cheap contractor put that in," said Joe. "I did it myself." "What were you building, a fortification?" snarled the Devil. "Just made up my mind there wasn't going to be any plaster cracking in this house," said Joe. "It doesn't seem that it will," said the Devil. "But never mind, it won't make any difference in the long run. If there's anything I've got lots of, it's time. I'll figure out a way to get out of here. Meantime I'd advise you to stay out of my reach. And don't think that shovel would help you--it's only women who can put dents in my noggin. And your wife won't get a second chance--the woman doesn't live whom I can't hypnotize in one second." "Thanks for telling me," said Joe. "I'll see that she stays out of the basement." "Why don't you go back to bed," advised the Devil. "I've got to think about this situation." "Go back to bed?" "What else can you do?" asked the Devil. Joe thought a minute. "Nothing," he agreed finally. "But it seems to me that you are in the same boat. You can't loose yourself from that chain, and as long as I keep people out of the basement, your presence here will be a secret. Okay, you think about it, and I'll go upstairs and do the same. Seems to me that this thing can be turned to good, somehow."