Under His Thumb — page 39: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

— 30 UNDER HIS THUMB. looking faint and shadowy in the dim light. Great stacks of printed and unprinted papers on every side. On, past these objects, ran George Dyer, with the apprentice hugged close in his arms. Steve might have uttered a shout for help, but prudence forbade his doing so. He realized that his captor’s mind was in a condition of desperation, and that it was unsafe to goad him too far. Reaching the end of the main press-room, Dyer passed through another open door-way, and thus . entered the engine-room. Here could be heard a faint hissing of steam fee a loose valve. The monster engine, like the other machines, was silent and motionless, as though all were paralyzed with the horror of the dreadful crime which had been enacted above. Beyond this was another apartment, the last in- that end of the building. Here were boilers where the power for running the presses was generated. Here the hiss of steam was more pronounced. On the threshold of this room the fugitive halted, and cast a penetrating glance forward. He half ex- pected to see a fireman sitting in the broken chair opposite the boilers. But the chair was vacant. No figure started up to dispute his flight. Here Dyer set Steve upon his feet, and closed the door between the boiler and engine-rooms with his left hand, while he clung to the boy with the other. This was a massive iron door for protection against fire. But it was provided with no lock or bolt. But the foreman was not long in finding means for fastening the door. Upon the floor he found a — piece of steam pipe, and he thrust this through the comicbooks.co