to the basement of the house. 

 The footman preceded them to the basement floor and halted before a door in a little passage that looked like the entrance to a coal cellar. On this he knocked in peculiar fashion with the knuckles of one hand, while with the other he pressed the button of an electric bell concealed under the paper on the wall. The bell sounded faintly as though some distance off, and as it rang the footman said abruptly to Colston— 

 "Das Wort ist Freiheit." 

 Arnold knew German enough to know that this meant "The word is 'Freedom,'" but why it should have been spoken in a foreign language mystified him not a little. 

 While he was thinking about this the door opened, as if by a released spring, and he saw before him a long, narrow passage, lit by four electric arcs, and closed at the other end by a door, guarded by a sentry armed with a magazine rifle. 

 He followed Colston down the passage, and when within a dozen feet of the sentry, he brought his rifle to the "ready," and the following strange dialogue ensued between him and Colston— 

 "Quien va?" 

 "Zwei Freunde der Bruderschaft." 

 "Por la libertad?" 

 "Für Freiheit über alles!" 

 "Pass, friends." 

 The rifle grounded as the words were spoken, and the sentry stepped back to the wall of the passage. 

 At the same moment another bell rang beyond the door, and then the door itself opened as the other had done. 

 They passed through, and it closed instantly behind them, leaving them in total darkness. 

 Colston caught Arnold by the arm, and drew him towards him, saying as he did so— 

 "What do you think of our system of passwords?" 

 "Pretty hard to get through unless one knew them, I should think. Why the different languages?" 

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