"So we might, I did not think of that; and there are the beds, of course."
"Yes; I could cut away some pieces from the under part of the framework of one of the beds."
"That will do capitally."
It was slow work cutting out a piece of bamboo sufficiently large to make a couple of dozen of wedges, and it was dark long before Akram had finished. It took another three hours to split it up and make it into wedges. As soon as these were completed, they drove them in close to each other along one side of the stone, pressing them in with the haft of a knife with their united weight. When all were wedged in Akram tried the stone.
"It is as firm as ever, sahib."
"Yes; I did not expect that we should be able to move it, especially as we have not hammered in the wedges. If it does not move by morning we must tap them in, giving a tap every four or five minutes; that would not be noticed; but I hope we shall find it is loose then. You see the crack is full of water, and so the wedges will swell and exercise a tremendous pressure. In some places they split stone like that."
They threw themselves down on the beds and slept till morning broke. Percy was the first to open his eyes, and at once leapt up, ran across the room, moved the rug, and examined the stone.
"It has moved, Akram. The side opposite the wedges is jammed hard up against the next stone."
"It is as firm as ever, sahib," Akram said, trying it with his knife.
"Yes, because it is held by the pressure of the wedges. When we get them out we shall find that it is loose from the cement."