"I'd give something if I could see Don Gordon's face when he comes down here in the morning." As Bob spoke, he opened one of the meal bags and drew from it the iron strap, which Godfrey Evans had used in prying open the door of the smoke-house two nights before.

Lester struck a match on his coat sleeve, and when it blazed up, so that Bob could see how to work, he placed the strap between the hasp and the door, and exerted all his strength in the effort to draw out the staple with which it was confined.

But that staple was put there to stay.

It was made by the plantation blacksmith under Don's personal supervision, and as it was long enough to be clinched on the inside of the door, Bob made no progress whatever in his efforts to force an entrance.
"We can do nothing here," said he, after he had pulled and pushed until the inside of his hands seemed to be on fire.

"We must try the window." "But that is so high you can't reach it," said Lester.
"Not from the ground, I know.