Bob found the room looking about as he had left it earlier in the day, except that King was no longer there. He showed them the cylinder, on which he had been at work, and which he found lying on the floor. They made a careful search of the room, but found nothing of an incriminating nature and were about to return upstairs, when Jack, had been looking over a desk in one corner of the room shouted:
"Come over here a minute, I believe I've found something."
He had noticed a piece of paper lying partly concealed, under one corner of the desk and had moved it slightly to get the paper without tearing it, when he noticed a break in the flooring, and on moving the desk a little farther, he saw a small ring in the floor.
"I believe there's a trap door here," he declared as they came over to where he was.
It was but a moment's work to shove the desk out of the way, and sure enough, there was a trap door about two feet square. One of the officers took hold of the ring, and a second later they were gazing down into a pitch-black hole. Captain Long kneeled down and flashed the light from an electric torch into the space below.
"Jove," he shouted, "here's a find sure enough; I'm going down and the rest of you follow."
It was a large room about twenty feet long by twelve feet wide. The walls were of brick, and so far as they could see, there was no break in them. The room was lighted by several incandescent electric lights, which one of the men had turned on. Looking around, they found that the room contained an electric furnace, such as is used for melting bullion, a small printing press, and several other pieces of machinery, which the captain recognized as pertaining to the making of counterfeit money. They also found several dies for stamping quarters and half dollars, as well as a number of plates for printing bills of ten and twenty dollar denominations. Several pounds of lead and copper, together with a smaller amount of silver and gold was also found.
"I'm mighty sorry that we didn't get the rascals," declared Captain Long, "but this find is well worth our while."
He started to mount the ladder, telling the others to follow him, when a very astonishing thing happened. Suddenly the trap door banged down and at the same time the lights went out, while a mocking laugh sounded from above. Quickly, the captain sprang up the ladder, and bracing himself, pushed with all his strength against the door, but it did not so much as budge.
"We're trapped, sure as fate," he said, as he gave it up and came down the ladder. "Where do you suppose those fellows were hid all the time?"