Sight is important, to be sure, but it
is more often corroborative than not; it is more often used to identify
the source of the alarm that has been communicated through other channels.
When we are told of the hero--or the villain--that he stood "with every
sense alert", our mental picture, in spite of the phrasing, is that of a
man listening intently for the first intimations of what may threaten.
So it is in prison. The warders can, of necessity, remain within actual
view of but a few of the prisoners a small proportion of the time. But
through those massive and silent corridors sound stands watch-dog for
them. The minute scratch of a file, the vibrations attendant on the most
cautious attempts against the stone structure, the most muffled footfall
reports to the jailer that mischief is afoot. Instantly he is on the spot
to corroborate by his other faculties the warnings of the watch-dog of the
senses.
Now the watch-dog was asleep. Percy Darrow reflected that, were it not for
the terror of these unexplainable hours, the prisoners within or their
friends without could assail their confines boldly and formidably, even
with dynamite, and none would be the wiser if only none happened to be
within actual visual range of the operations. He himself quite coolly used
the iron side piece to his bed as a battering-ram to break the locks of
the door. Then he walked down the long corridor and out through the police
station, bowing politely to the bewildered officers.
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