CHAPTER XIV.
IN A WARM CORNER.
The crash with which Nick Carter vaguely expected his career might be
abruptly ended, as the floor upon which he had fallen prostrate rapidly
descended, did not come.
The terrific downward speed suddenly decreased, then became more
gradual, all in the bare fraction of a second; and then the rushing
sound of compressed air escaping through narrow crevices fell upon the
detective's ears.
Nick immediately guessed the truth.
The falling closet floor was that of an elevator, no longer in use as
such, yet which still worked on the slides of the elevator well, and
evidently had been cleverly adjusted for just such an emergency as that
depicted.
Presently there came a heavy jar, and then the downward motion ceased.
The close-fitting floor at first had fallen so swiftly that the confined
air in the well beneath it had become so compressed as to form an air
cushion, which finally let the floor completely down only after the air
had gradually escaped. It was this escaping air Nick heard during the
last moments of his fall.
The entire episode began and ended in but little more than a moment,
however. Though considerably jarred, Nick pulled himself together, and
gazed up through the darkness at the bottom of the well.
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