"I am about to confide in you, my lads, a secret which you must promise never to reveal to any one." "You may depend upon us." "I feel I can, otherwise I should not have brought you here. You may have read about the insurrection of 1896, when the Boers disarmed the citizens. They were disappointed in only finding four thousand rifles instead of the thirty thousand they were led to expect." "Yes; it was generally thought that the reformers had been boasting." "That was the general impression, and so I also thought before I came to Johannesburg and was initiated." "Had they this number of weapons?" asked Ned. "Yes; more than that number, as you will see presently." "Then why did the cowards hold back and allow Dr Jim to be defeated?" "Because, firstly, they had a majority of cowards amongst them; and, secondly, because they were not properly organised, and the leaders were afraid to trust their men. Now, however, we have altered all that. Come with me, and you will see our arsenal." He opened the door of a wardrobe which stood at the side of the wall, and, pulling out the drawer first, he touched a secret spring, and immediately the bottom moved up and showed them a flight of stairs underneath. "This is the way down. You go first, while I close the entrance." He had only to pull back the drawer from the inside, and the aperture was securely fastened, wardrobe door and all. He struck a wax vesta, and showed them their course down the steps, which were like the steps down to the stoke-holes of an ocean liner. "These steps can all be raised and laid flat against the ceilings of each landing, as well as covered from sight, at a moment's notice," explained Philip, as they went down. "In the flat below, which we entered, is a press, through which we pass, with shelves that drop down when the ladders are raised." "It is very ingenious." "Very, and unless a traitor showed the working, quite impossible to discover. We are now passing through the pantry on the ground floor. Now we are below the street." The steps they had used hitherto were composed of iron, felt covered, but now they were descending solid stone stairs, also carpeted with thick felt to deaden the sound of their feet. The walls and roof were likewise composed of stone and covered with cement, while at regular intervals along the ceiling were electric globes, which gave them plenty of light. They went down about forty of these stone steps before they came to level ground, and then, before them, they saw a long, straight, and well-lighted lobby with an arched roof. "This is the secret of the Three Ace Club. We have to take precautions when we have the like of Oom Paul to deal with," remarked Philip, with a smile. "Here you may make as much noise as you like, for no one outside could hear even a gun report. We have stopped the echo." "It must have cost something to excavate this vault," said the boys.