He found, after some little time, that the brick-work was about four feet wide and very deep, and that it extended inwards. Dropping the spade, he walked into the fort in the same straight line as the brickwork.
"This may be the clue," he thought with some excitement. "At any rate, I must see."
The direction of his walk led him straight to the well.
"A false scent," he said to himself, more puzzled than ever.
He went back to the ditch, to make sure that he had not been mistaken in his course. No; there was no doubt, about it; he felt sure that if he uncovered the brickwork completely it would end at or near the wall of the well.
Just as he was beginning to dig again, another idea occurred to him.
"It would take me a couple of hours to clear all the earth away," he thought. "Perhaps it would be waste labour. I'll have another look at the well."
He returned, Gambaru following, much puzzled at his master's strange proceedings.
Standing on the brink, he peered down into the well, which was wide and fairly light. He had seen nothing extraordinary about it when he supervised the clearing out of the rubbish; there was nothing extraordinary about it now.
In the walls there were rusty iron staples, intended as footholds, and so used by the men. He descended, examining the walls and the staples; there was nothing strange about them.