CHAPTER XIX
THE ONE PATH OF ESCAPE
THERE was absolutely nothing for me to do but wait, but it was hard to judge time. My watch had been taken from me, and I was fearful lest I choose a wrong hour for my exploit. The noise of the camp without was some guide, however, but, as the evening lengthened, a band began playing overhead, and I could hear the sound of feet on the floor above. Evidently a dance was in progress in the big court room, and for the moment my heart seemed to stop beating in a sudden fear that my plan of escape for that night was blocked. It was the big fireplace opening into this room through which I had hoped to emerge, but I could never accomplish such hope amidst of those dancers. And they might keep up their dancing to so late an hour as to give me no opportunity before dawn to find a place in which to elude search. Yet the noise was in my favor, if I could only be assured the chimney was wide enough above to permit of my finally reaching the roof. Once there I would discover a way down. The band was a good one, and the musicians played with energy; I could even
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