The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-18

heavy knots which held him still a prisoner. So he turned and caught up the loose brick which lay on the floor beside him. Then with the rough edge of this he sawed frantically at the cot ton rope between his knees. When one strand of it had parted, and he had uncoiled the rest of it from his an- kles, his head was swimming and his legs were unable to support him. So he crossed the room on his hands and knees, caught at the rusty gas pipe for support and painfully drew him. self upright. His trembling hand went out found the gas jet, and turned it off. And the next moment he fell face down on the rough floor, and lay there in gray daze of weakness.
 How long he lay there he could not tell. But he was aroused by the sound of thick voices from the outer chamber, punctuated by the shrill cries of an angry and scolding woman. He was still too dazed to realize the meaning of those voices, but an inalienable instinct of self preservation warned him to be on his guard, to stand prepared for any pos sible intrusion. So he pulled himself together and possessed himself of the brick bat, as weapon
 He waited, scarcely breathing, as the door was flung open. So quick, however, was the entrance of the first intruder that Manley could not lift his missile before the darkness had swallowed up the shifting shadow. But standing in the lighted doorway was a second man, crouched low and leaning forward with blinking eyes, blue -barreled navy revolver Tn hls hand. Manley, cycling that evil face as a sharpshooter eyes his target let fv with his poised brick, and let ny with all his force.
 The stooping man went down Ike c,outed rabbit, without a sound. But even as he fell the first intruder, at tbe far end of the room, struck match. doubtless to determine the source of so mysterious an assault. Manley could see the mounting flame glow pink against the unclean fingers That held the match; he could see the yellow skinned face with the strong side light throwing it's furrowed sur faces into high relief; he could see the crouching figure close beside the pile of powder cases. And at that second figure Manley let drive with the only missile at hand.
 The heavy glass lamp, hurled true, sent man and match against the case side in shower of oil and broken glass. But Manley did not wait to
 ~f L,af sault. He leaped for the door, caught I'D the blue- -barreled revolver from the hand of the stunned man on the threshold and dove for the heavier door at the end of the outer chamber.
 But this door he found to be locked. He was on the point of starting back in search of a timber heavy enough to batter down that barrier when all movement was arrested by an uproar of sound that fairly drove the breath from his body. For the shower of oil that fell about the lighted match at the vaulted end of the side chamber had sunk into the litter of rubbish be- side the powder cases, had burst into flames and had crept closer about those wooden cases until the licking tongues of heat had reached the ex- plosive.
 Yet even as Manley stood there, fighting for breath, second surprise both confronted and engulfed him. Following close on that telltale roar of sound came an even more bewil- dering rush of water, tearing through the low-roofed cellar like a thousand hounds let loose. And he knew then that the explosion had broken down the walls between him and the East river at high tide. And he knew, further, that it would not take many minutes for the water to reach the roof. And before it did so he would surely he trapped there and drowned like rat in it's hole.
 He was still struggling frantically