In the dimness of this interior he could just make out the outlines of things around. The doorway was located at a corner of the inclosure. In front lay a small open space of water. At one side a platform about two feet above the surface formed the floor of the room. A tiny punt lay moored to it. Farther back a small, steep flight of steps led up through a rectangular opening to the building above.
Most of the light in this lower room came down through this opening; and now, as Mercer stood quiet looking about him, he could hear plainly the voices of men in the room above.
Anina was beside him.
"They're up there," he whispered, pointing. "Let's land and see if we can get up those stairs a ways and hear what they're saying."
They stood a moment, undecided, and then from the silence and darkness about them they distinctly heard a low muffled sound.
"What's that?" whispered Mercer, startled. "Didn't you hear that, Anina? There's something over there by the bottom of the steps."
They listened, but only the murmur of the voices from above, and an occasional footstep, broke the stillness.
"I tell you I heard something," Mercer persisted. "There's something over there." He rattled a bit of rope incautiously, as if to startle a rat from its hiding place. "Let's tie up, Anina."
They made the boat fast, but in such a way that they could cast it loose quickly.
"We might want to get out of here in a hurry," Mercer whispered with a grin. "You never can tell, Anina."