“I thought of that, and perhaps you could, but you must remember we have only one shot.  If you made a mistake; if the lantern man bolted and fired his pistol, and once closed the door—­ he would not need to pause to lock it—­ why, we are done for.  I should be perfectly helpless in the next room, and after the attempt they’d either drown us, or put us into worse cells as far apart as possible.”

“I don’t think I should miss fire,” said Drummond, confidently, “still, I see the point, and will obey orders.”

“My official position on the rock, ever since I arrived, has been that of electrical tutor-in-chief to the Governor.  I have started his dynamo working, and have wired such portions of the place as were not already wired before.  During these lessons I have kept my eyes open.  So far as the prison is concerned, there is the Governor, a sort of head clerk, the gaoler and his assistant; four men, and that is all.  The gaoler’s assistant appears to be the cook of the place, although the cooking done is of the most limited description.  The black bread is brought from St. Petersburg, I think, as also tinned meat and soup; so the cuisine is on a somewhat limited scale.”

“Do you mean to say that only these four men are in charge of the prison?”

“Practically so, but there is the garrison as well.  The soldiers live in a suite of rooms directly above us, and as near as I can form an opinion, there are fourteen men and two officers.  When a steamer arrives they draft as many soldiers as are necessary, unload the boat; then the Tommies go upstairs again.  The military section apparently holds little intercourse with the officials, whom they look upon as gaolers.  I should judge that the military officer is chief of the rock, because when he found the Governor’s room lit by electricity, he demanded the same for his quarters.  That’s how I came to get upstairs.  Now, these stairs are hewn in the rock, are circular, guarded by heavy oaken doors top and bottom, and these doors possess steel bolts on both sides of them.  It is thus possible for either the military authorities upstairs, or the civil authorities, to isolate themselves from the others.  In case of a revolt among the soldiers, the Governor could bolt them into their attic, and they would find great difficulty in getting out.  Now, my plan of procedure is this.  We will disarm gaoler and assistant, take their keys, outside garments and caps.  The gaoler’s toggery will fit you, and the other fellow’s may do for me.  Then we will lock them in here, and if we meet clerk or Governor in the passages we will have time to overcome either or both before they are aware of the change.  I’ll go up the circular stair, bolt from the inside the upper door, and afterwards bolt the lower door.  Then we open all the cells, and release the other prisoners, descend from the rock, get into the Finnish fishing boat, keep clear of the two cannon that are up above us, and sail for the Swedish coast.  We can’t miss it; we have only to travel west, and ultimately we are safe.  There is only one danger, which is that we may make our attempt when the steamer is here, but we must chance that.”