his eyes might have been open for several seconds before he became entirely aware of the fact. he was on his back looking up at the low raftered ceiling of a room. the light was artificial, subdued; it gave the impression of nighttime outdoors.

memory suddenly blazed up. "tricked!" came the first thought. outsmarted. outfoxed. and by—then that went lost in a brief, intense burst of relief at the realization he was still alive, apparently unhurt. barney turned sharply over on his side—bed underneath, he discovered—and stared around.

the room was low, wide. something undefinably odd—he catalogued it quickly. redwood walls, navaho rugs on the floor, bookcases, unlit fireplace, chairs, table, desk with a typewriter and reading lamp. across the room a tall dark grandfather clock with a bright metal disk instead of a clock-face stood against the wall. from it came a soft, low thudding as deliberate as the heart-beat of some big animal. it was the twin of one of the clocks he had seen in mcallen's living room.

the room was mcallen's, of course. almost luxurious by comparison with his home, but wholly typical of the man. and now barney became aware of its unusual feature; there were no windows. there was one door, so far to his right he had to twist his head around to see it. it stood half open; beyond it a few feet of a narrow passage lay within his range of vision, lighted in the same soft manner as the room. no sound came from there.

had he been left alone? and what had happened? he wasn't in mcallen's home or in that fishing shack at the lake. the tube might have picked him up—somehow—in front of mcallen's house, transported him to the mallorca place. or he might be in a locked hideaway mcallen had built beneath the sweetwater beach house.

two things were unpleasantly obvious. his investigations hadn't revealed all of mcallen's secrets. and the old man hadn't really been fooled by barney chard's smooth approach. not, at any rate, to the extent of deciding to trust him.

hot chagrin at the manner in which mcallen had handed the role of dupe back to him flooded barney for a moment. he swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. his coat had been hung neatly over the back of a chair a few feet away; his shoes stood next to the bed. otherwise he was fully clothed. nothing in the pockets of the coat appeared to have been touched; billfold, cigarette case, lighter, even the gun, were in place; the gun, almost startingly, was still loaded. barney thrust the revolver thoughtfully into his trousers pocket. his wrist watch seemed to be the only item missing.

he glanced about the room again, then at the half-open door and the stretch of narrow hallway beyond. mcallen must have noticed the gun. the fact that he hadn't bothered to take it away, of at least to unload it, might have been reassuring under different circumstances. here, it could have a very disagreeable meaning. barney went quietly to the door, stood listening a few seconds, became convinced there was no one within hearing range, and moved on down the hall.

in less than two minutes he returned to the room, with the first slow welling of panic inside him. he had found a bathroom, a small kitchen and pantry, a storage room twice as wide and long as the rest of the place combined, crammed with packaged and crated articles, and with an attached freezer. if it was mainly stored food, as barney thought, and if there was adequate ventilation and independent power, as seemed to be the case, then mcallen had constructed a superbly self-sufficient hideout. a man might live comfortably enough for years without emerging from it.

there was only one thing wrong with the setup from barney's point of view. the thing he'd been afraid of. nowhere was there an indication of a window or of an exit door.

the mcallen tube, of course, might make such ordinary conveniences unnecessary. and if the tube was the only way in or out, then mcallen incidentally had provided himself with an escape-proof jail for anyone he preferred to keep confined. the place might very well have been built several hundred feet underground. a rather expensive proposition but, aside from that, quite feasible.

barney felt his breath begin to quicken, and told himself to relax. wherever he was, he shouldn't be here long. mcallen presently would be getting in contact with him. and then—

his glance touched the desk across the room, and now he noticed his missing wrist watch on it. he went over, picked it up, and discovered that the long white envelope on which the watch had been placed was addressed to him.

for a moment he stared at the envelope. then, his fingers shaking a little, he tore open the envelope and pulled out the typewritten sheets within.