Five feet above me was the top of
a partition wall separating our cell from the next.
There was my only chance to escape detection. If the fellow turned,
I was lost; nor could I have dropped to the floor undetected, since
he was no nearly below me that I would have struck him had I done
so.
"Where is the white man?" cried the guard of Xodar. "Issus commands
his presence." He started to turn to see if I were in another part
of the cell.
I scrambled up the iron grating of the window until I could catch
a good footing on the sill with one foot; then I let go my hold
and sprang for the partition top.
"What was that?" I heard the deep voice of the black bellow as
my metal grated against the stone wall as I slipped over. Then I
dropped lightly to the floor of the cell beyond.
"Where is the white slave?" again cried the guard.
"I know not," replied Xodar. "He was here even as you entered. I
am not his keeper--go find him."
The black grumbled something that I could not understand, and then
I heard him unlocking the door into one of the other cells on the
further side. Listening intently, I caught the sound as the door
closed behind him. Then I sprang once more to the top of the
partition and dropped into my own cell beside the astonished Xodar.
"Do you see now how we will escape?" I asked him in a whisper.
"I see how you may," he replied, "but I am no wiser than before
as to how I am to pass these walls.
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