"You see what this is!" he said slowly and distinctly. "The moment the string is burned through, the hammer will fall, and this house will be blown to atoms. That book contains the most powerful explosive known to science."
I could not demand an explanation, for though I struggled, I could not speak.
I watched the old man fingering with fiendish delight the terrible machine he had devised for my destruction.
"You and your friend Raymond thought to trap us!" said the Baron. "But, you see, he who laughs last laughs best. Adieu, and I wish you a pleasant trip, my young friend, into the next world," and both went out, closing the door after them.
All was silence. I sat there helpless, pinioned, staring at the burning candle and awaiting the most awful death that can await a man.
Ah, those moments! How can I ever adequately describe them? Suffice it to say that my hair was dark on that morning, but in those terrible moments of mental agony, of fear and horror, it became streaked with grey.
Lower and still lower burned the flame, steadily, imperceptibly, yet, alas! too sure. Each second brought me nearer the grave.
Frantically and fiercely I fought to wrench myself free--fought until a great exhaustion fell upon me.
Then, as the candle had burned until the flame was actually touching that thin string which held me between life and death, I fainted.
A blinding flash, a terrific explosion that deafened me, and a feeling of sudden numbness.
I found myself lying on the path outside with two men at my side.
One was a dark-bearded, thick-set, but gentlemanly-looking man--the other was Ray Raymond.
Of the house where I had been, scarcely anything remained save its foundations. The big trees in the garden had been shattered and torn down, and every window in the neighbourhood had been blown in, to the intense alarm of hundreds of people who were now rushing along the dark, unfrequented thoroughfare.
"My God!" cried Ray. "What a narrow escape you've had! Why didn't you take my advice? It was fortunate that, suspecting something, we followed you here. This gentleman," he said, introducing his friend, "is Bellamy, of the Special Department at Scotland Yard. We just discovered you in time. Old Van Nierop ran inside again when he met us in the path. He thought he had time to escape through the back, but he hadn't. He's been blown to atoms himself, as well as the Baron, and thus saved us the trouble of extradition."