I succeeded in doing it silently--in doing it with all the dexterity of a house-breaker--and then looked down into the street.

To leap the distance beneath me would be almost certain destruction! Next, I looked round at the sides of the house.

Down the left side ran a thick water-pipe which you have drawn--it passed close by the outer edge of the window.

The moment I saw the pipe I knew I was saved.

My breath came and went freely for the first time since I had seen the canopy of the bed moving down upon me! To some men the means of escape which I had discovered might have seemed difficult and dangerous enough--to _me_ the prospect of slipping down the pipe into the street did not suggest even a thought of peril.