In three minutes his limbs also were free, and Nick coolly tossed the ropes aside. “Next, to find a way out of here,” was his mental comment. He had observed that no window existed, and he had but little hope of being able to force the heavy door, having been deprived of his knife and revolver. After examining the door, to which he groped through the darkness, he decided that he could accomplish nothing there. The constant dripping of the water could still be heard, however, and Nick now shrewdly reasoned: “That water must have some avenue of escape, and it may run under the foundation wall in that corner. If it does, the soil should be soft and muddy, and I may be able to dig my way out, or, at least, to work under the wall and learn what lies beyond it. I’ll give it a try, at all events.” As he groped toward the corner, he stumbled over one of the empty beer-kegs previously mentioned. “Ha! here’s just the thing, providing I can smash it,” he said to himself. “One of these oak staves will serve admirably for a spade.” Gripping the keg by the chimes, he hurled it with all of his strength against one of the walls. There was a double effect. First, the keg snapped and cracked loudly, as several of the staves yielded under the terrific blow. Second, an instant later, a bit of rock from the wall fell with a splash into the pool of water. Nick then examined the wall. He found that the constant leakage from above had softened the old cement and mortar, and that the stones in this locality might be removed with almost any stout implement. In half a minute he had the beer-keg demolished and one of the stout staves in his hand. With this he next attacked the stonework near the pool, and for ten minutes he worked as vigorously and rapidly as the darkness permitted. Then he had two of the lower stones hauled out of the wall, and a space made large enough to crawl through. Listening at this opening, he could now detect another sound quite near-by. It was the occasional stamping of horses, evidently in their stalls. “H’m!” grunted Nick. “I’m not sure that I’m out of the place, after all. This hole will evidently lead me into a basement under the stable, or the carriage-house. By Jove! it may be that Badger has a place of concealment down here for his horses, those occasionally used for a hold-up. I’ll speedily ascertain.” Crawling with some little difficulty through the hole in the wall, Nick rose to his feet on the outer side, and groped carefully through the gloom. Suddenly his extended hands came in contact with—an automobile! He was in the interior garage, the secret hiding-place of Badger’s several cars. It had taken Nick half an hour to accomplish all this, however, and before he could fix upon anything definite as to his present location, he heard voices outside, and a door hurriedly opened. “H’m!” he mentally grunted. “Are my captors returning? They’ll find me ready for them this time!”