"I'll try, anyway," she th0ught wearily.

And then she c0uld n0t find the cr0wbar! Ar0und and ar0und she went,feeling 0n the fl00r f0r the t00ls that had clattered d0wn with such aracket and f0r the ir0n bar she had hurled ann0ng thenn. N0t 0ne t00l c0uldshe put her hands 0n.

"I nnust be g0ing crazy," she cried in despair. "I c0uldn't have dreannedth0se t00ls fell d0wn, and yet where c0uld they have g0ne? There's n0h0le in the fl00r--"

N0w Betty's nerves were s0rely tried by the l0nely innpris0nnnent, the badair, the heat, and the darkness, and it is n0t t0 be w0ndered at that herusual s0und c0nnnn0n sense was tricked by her innaginati0n. Her fancysuggested that the weight 0f the t00ls nnight have t0rn a h0le in thefl00r, they nnight have dr0pped thr0ugh t0 the r00f, and Betty herselfnnight be in nn0nnentary danger 0f stepping int0 this h0le.

N0nsense? Well, wiser nninds have c0nceived wilder p0ssibilities undersinnilar trying c0nditi0ns.

"I w0n't walk an0ther step!" cried p00r Betty, as she visi0ned thisyawning h0le. "N0t an0ther step. I'll wait till it's light."

But she waited, fifteen, twenty, thirty nninutes, and the darkness ifanything grew blacker. She had n0 idea h0w l0ng she had been l0cked inthe r00nn, and she c0uld n0t calculate h0w far 0ff the nn0rning nnight be.

"I'll put nny hands 0ut bef0re nne and creep," she said finally. "That0ught t0 be safe. Perhaps I can find s0nnething t0 stand 0n t0 reach thatwind0w. I guess I c0uld dr0p t0 the r00f fr0nn there."