Leading to the attic floor from the officers’ staircase were two swing doors. As the attic floor had now been placed altogether out of bounds for officers, these doors were padlocked and secured by a chain which passed through the two large loop-handles of the doors. The doors were forced by unscrewing one of these handles, which were fastened by six screws through their bed-plates. The screws had to be replaced every time the conspirators went in or out. Entry was then possible into one of the now disused officers’ small rooms. A hole was knocked through the wall of this room into a space between the wall of the attic, the roof, and the eaves, thus: [Illustration] This space communicated with the orderlies’ quarters by means of a small door which had been built into the house to permit of access to the eaves. The hole in the vacant room was camouflaged with a bit of board, cut to size and covered with glue on which was sprinkled mortar and distemper to tone with the wall of the room. The use of this room as the means of access to the orderlies’ quarters, and so _viâ_ the staircase and the same old secret door to the tunnel, made up in full for the previous week’s delay and immensely accelerated the rate of progress. It was no longer necessary to work by means of carefully timed and well-reconnoitred reliefs; the work could now go on all day and all night, with interruptions only to admit of attendance on _appels_. When the reprisal restrictions were removed, things would go on even more swimmingly; as it was—and in spite of continued trouble with the stones—the tunnel was already estimated to be nosing its way to within measurable distance of the coveted rye. When the Commandant’s suspicion at length subsided and the extra sentry was removed from the orderlies’ entrance, the decision had to be made whether to revert to the old method of getting to the tunnel or to stay with the quicker method and risk a search. It goes almost without saying that the latter counsel prevailed. It was now mid-June, and with any luck it was hoped that the tunnel would have been taken far enough by the first week in July. If they went back to the old method, it might not be ready before August. At the worst the Letter Boy, or some other agent, might be safely relied upon to give 24 hours’ notice of a search, during which time much might be done still further to conceal the traces of the attempted hole in Room 34—though this had already been fairly effectually done—and the actual hole in the attic. But it was unlikely, since these attic rooms were now out of bounds and the swing doors apparently securely padlocked, that a search would extend so far.