“You’ll find this cell air-conditioned,” Dansitt remarked, “and very comfortable.
But let me warn you. Don’t touch this door. It’s heavily charged with electricity.
Touch it and you’ll fry!”
The men strode off down the corridor. The boys could overhear Dansitt and Chilcote warning Jennig to keep careful watch of the prisoners while the others were off on the raid.
As Tom paced around the cell, which was merely a cave hewn out of the rocks, he observed that the door was insulated from the frame and the earthen floor. Suspecting from this that Dansitt’s threat was correct, he decided to try proving it.
The inventor removed his belt, and holding the SEA RAIDERS’ HIDEOUT 189
leather, swung the metal buckle to make contact between the door and the frame. There was a blinding bright blue flash of light from the hissing electric arc formed by the contact, and the buckle bounced back, melted out of shape.
“Dansitt wasn’t fooling,” Tom said grimly.
He realized that if he and Bud were to escape it would have to be by a clever ruse. He began to think fast.
CHAPTER 24
A TRICKY INVENTION
BEFORE TOM had a chance to plan any strategy, Jennig returned and once more warned the boys about the electrified cell door.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you while I’m in charge,” he said apprehensively. “Chilcote can do what he pleases when he gets back.”
Tom detected the slight hint of nervousness in Jennig’s manner. Perhaps the wily lawyer did not relish his lone role as guard. If the man had any fears about his part in the pirate enterprise, Tom determined to encourage them and possibly weaken the man’s allegiance to Dansitt and Chilcote.