Harry drew back a few steps into the room; thus there was no one in the passageway but the soldiers. As soon as Harry was well in the room, Smithkin inserted the pin in a hole, pressed upon it thrice, and said:
“Pin, pin,
Let them in;
Open the door,
Open the floor!”
Instantly the whole floor of the room swung downwards, like an immense trap-door, and dumped all but the soldiers upon a slippery incline below. Away they went, sliding and rolling and tumbling over one another, until they landed in a confused heap at the bottom. Then the trap-door swung shut, and left them in darkness.
Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, though a number of them were bruised and scratched considerably. After order was restored Harry and Wamby talked over the situation, and came to the conclusion that this room and trap-door were mainly intended to prevent the Gnomes from ever invading the domains of the Pin Elves; and that Smithkin, suspecting all was not right, made up his mind it would be a good plan to imprison them until he could find out from the King the real state of affairs.
“We are literally caught in a trap,” said Harry.
Just then one of the elves exclaimed, “I’ve found a little box on the floor.”
“Bring it here!” shouted Wamby. “It’s my lantern-box. It flew out of my hands when I fell.”