and depressing surroundings. I thought how the Psalmist
"It is a matter of life and death to us," said Cole.
"That is true. But mind--the place, and not the man." Cole assented, and then Grotait took him on to a certain bridge, and pointed out the one weak side of Bob and Little's fortress, and showed him how the engine-chimney could be got at and blown down, and so the works stopped entirely: "And I'll tell you something," said he; "that chimney is built on a bad foundation, and was never very safe; so you have every chance."
Then they chaffered about the price, and at last Grotait agreed to give him L20.
Cole went to Coventry, and told how far Grotait would allow him to go: "But," said he, "L20 is not enough. I run an even chance of being hung or lagged."
"Go a step beyond your instructions, and I'll give you a hundred pounds."
"I daren't," said Cole: "unless there was a chance to blow up the place with the man in it." Then, after a moment's reflection, he said: "I hear he sleeps in the works. I must find out where."
Accordingly, he talked over one of the women in the factory, and gained the following information, which he imparted to Mr. Coventry:
Little lived and slept in a detached building recently erected, and the young woman who had overpowered Hill slept in a room above him. She passed in the works for his sweetheart, and the pair were often locked up together for hours at a time in a room called the "Experiment Room."