In a moment they were all standing in a low vaulted space. The vaults were supported by stone pillars, and as Michael's torch slowly swept the place they saw grim relics on the flagged floor. There were old worm-eaten coffins; one or two had rotted away, and a few bones, crumbling to dust, lay amongst the remains of the wooden shells. The lid of one coffin had been prised open, and when they looked into it they saw that it was empty.
"You bet that's where our skeleton came from!" Peter said. "Gosh, what a gruesome place!"
Charles wiped his brow: "Yes, not my idea of the ideal entrance-hall," he agreed. "I'm shortly going to develop the horrors."
"Postpone them for a bit," begged Michael. "We've got to discover the way out. You've got torches, haven't you? Then let's get on to it."
They set to work to explore the crypt. The first thing to attract their attention was a flight of stone steps, that had once obviously led up to the floor of the chapel, but these only mounted for a few feet before they were blocked by fallen masonry, and the earth that had accumulated on top with the passing of years. Michael tested them in vain, and sprang down again.
"Hi!" Charles called from the other end of the crypt. "Come over here! I always said I'd missed my vocation. I've found the gentleman's front-steps."
With one accord they all hastened to where he was standing. He played his torch up the wall where the vaulting had broken away. A set of iron rails ran up, like a ladder.
"That's it!" Michael said. He inspected the dust and the jagged bits of stone at his feet. "What's more, that vaulting has been deliberately broken down. What do you think, inspector?"
"It looks like it," the inspector answered. "Especially as the roof's good nearly everywhere else." He stood directly beneath the broken roof and turned his torch upwards. "That's queer. There's a sort of square place forming what looks like a second roof. Can you see, Draycott?" He stepped back to make room for Michael. "It's a good bit higher than the rest of the vaulting too. What do you suppose it can be?"
"Unless I'm much mistaken it's one of the tombs," Michael answered. "The whole of the bottom has been taken away, and the floor of the chapel. Good Lord, I hand it to the Monk! He's thorough. I'm going up. You might keep your torch on it, to show me the way, one of you." He pocketed his own, and started to climb the vertical ladder. They waited anxiously for the result. "To think of the hours I've spent examining all those beastly tombs!" Michael said from above their heads. "I suspected them right off, but I couldn't get one of them to open. Hullo!"