At last we had cut it all away, and the dark iron-cased door stood revealed to us, looking like a modern fire-proof safe, only that it was not green and had no brass handle.
“Je-rusalem!” exclaimed the skipper, “I really believe this is the actual place! Look how carefully it’s been concealed! And the iron door, too. Let’s have it open, lads, if we have to pull down the bloomin’ house to get at it. We’ll get the best of Bennett and those murderous swabs yet!”
Again with his long crowbar he attacked the door, but it was unyielding. Gradually, however, Reilly, working more slowly and carefully, was enabled to wedge his chisel between the iron and the stonework. Then, after some difficulty, the skipper’s long bar was wedged in the place, and all three of us bore heavily upon it.
Once, twice, thrice we bore down, Seal giving us a sailor’s ahoy, and all bearing together.
At last and of a sudden with a terrific wrench the bolts gave way, and the door flew back with a crash and a cloud of dust, disclosing a small room which had been walled up for centuries. The old house, indeed, seemed full of secret chambers.
Reilly lit the hurricane lamp and handed it to me, for I was the first to enter.
The moment I crossed the threshold into the dark little place, no bigger than a good-sized cupboard, I drew back in horror.
On the floor in the thick dust lay a human skeleton!
“What’s the matter, doctor?” inquired the captain, entering quickly after me.
“Look!” I cried. “Somebody has been walled up here! Look at those bones.”