I'll try the last first, and then think over the other."
For a long time Rupert worked away with his furniture until he had
quite exhausted himself; then feeling happier and better than he
had done since he was shut up, he began to think of plans of
escape. The easiest way would of course be to knock down and gag
the gaoler, and to escape in the clothes; but this plan he put
aside at once, as it was morally certain that he should be no
nearer to his escape after reaching the courtyard of the prison,
than he was in the cell. There remained then the chimney, the
loophole, and the solid wall.
The chimney was the first to disappear from the calculation.
Looking up it, Rupert saw that it was crossed by a dozen iron bars,
the height too was very great, and even when at the top the height
was immense to descend to the fosse.
The loophole was next examined. It was far too narrow to squeeze
through, and was crossed by three sets of bars. The chance of
widening the narrow loophole and removing the bars without
detection was extreme; besides, Rupert had a strong idea that the
loophole looked into the courtyard.
Finally he came to the conclusion, that if an escape was to be made
it must be by raising a flag of the floor, tunnelling between his
room and that underneath it, and working out through the solid
wall. It would be a tremendous work, for the loophole showed him
that the wall must be ten feet thick; still, as he said to himself,
it will be at least something to do and to think about, and even if
it takes five years and comes to nothing, it will have been useful.
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