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He was also carrying a cane, which he had insisted to Sam was purely to steady himself on the slippery cobbles. To his consternation, both the Doctor and Sam had refused his offer of protective garments. Sam had said that she liked to keep her arms relatively free just in case she had to throw any punches.

'Pon my soul,' Litefoot had remarked. 'Did the Doctor find you floating down the Amazon in a hat box too, my dear?'

The Doctor had laughed, but Sam had merely curled her nose up. 'What you on about, Professor?'

Now the Doctor pointed to one of several windows above his head.'Here we are.'

litefoot peered up at the dark pane. 'Don't quite see what you're getting at, Doctor.'

'The catch inside is loose. I noticed it this morning. Give us a bunk up, someone.'

Before Litefoot could react, Sam had stepped forward and made a stirrup of her hands. The Doctor stepped into them and used his elbows to haul himself up on to the windowsill. He began to thump at the frame with the heel of his right hand, trying to dislodge the catch from its mooring inside.

Litefbot winced at each thump and looked around anxiously, clearly expecting the full force of the law to descend upon them from all sides at any moment.

'I usually... prefer... more subtle... methods,' the Doctor gasped as he hung there,'but sometimes... brute force... is the only... way!'

He gave one final thump, and with a splintering sound and a scrape of metal the window swung open. With remarkable agility, the Doctor slithered up and over the sill, his legs together like those of a swimmer diving into water. Sam watched the soles of his shoes disappear. A moment passed.

'Doctor,' she hissed. 'Are you all right?'

His face appeared at the window, grinning down at them.'Wait there,' he said. 'I'll find something.'

He disappeared again. This time he was gone for almost a full minute, though it seemed like longer. Sam jumped back as something came flying out of the window towards her. She had adopted a defensive stance, fists bunched, before she realised it was a rope.

The rope swung back, slapping against the factory wall. There was a noose tied in the end.

'Put your foot in the loop and I'll pull you up,' the Doctor said, popping up like a jack-in-the-box. 'You first, Sam. Then we can drag the professor in together.'

Sam did as instructed, and felt herself being hauled upwards at an alarming speed. It was as if there was not just the Doctor, but a ten-man tug-of-war team heaving on the other end. She was level with the window within seconds, reaching out to grab the sill and pulling herself inside. Moments later it was Litefoot's turn. He looked distinctly uncomfortable as he placed his foot in the loop and began to rise slowly but surely into the air. As he came level with the window he took off his top hat and tossed it through the gap, then gamely grabbed hold of the windowsill like Sam before him and dragged himself inside. His probing foot found the topmost of several wooden crates, which the Doctor had stacked beneath the window, and he clumped down on to it, flushed and gasping.

The Doctor pulled in the rope, panting a little from his exertions, while Sam rushed forward to help Litefoot down on to the factory floor. Once there, he produced a large white handkerchief which he used to mop his sweating brow.

'I've a feeling I'm getting a little too old for all this,' he said, then managed a weak smile.'Rather exhilarating all the same.'

'This is nothing, Professor,' said Sam airily. 'You want to see us when we really get going.' She picked up the professor's hat and placed it on her head.'How do I look?'

'Very fetching, my dear,' said Litefoot diplomatically.

The Doctor was peering into a murky darkness in which the now silent machinery was nothing more than a black silhouetted mass of jutting angles and irregular shapes. 'This way,' he muttered.

He led them unerringly across a factory floor which even in the cooling darkness