The bottom was reached in safety after the usual doleful crunching
and creaking of the timber, and Paul sat down on the bottom step,
with his candle, to rest and quiet himself, before proceeding with
his work upon the door. A dead stillness reigned all about him,
broken only by the occasional resettling of the steps above his head,
but which, to his excited brain, was like the report of a pistol;
still even this ceased in a few minutes, and the silence was
undisturbed. He now made a careful examination of the door. It was
very heavy, and solid. Holding his candle close against the crack, he
could see, to his surprise, that it was bolted upon the inside.
Placing his ear close against the keyhole, he listened, but it was
silent as a tomb within; and how the door became fastened upon the
inside was inexplicable, unless indeed there was another outlet,
which from his examination of the building had seemed improbable.
Then, taking out his knife, he stuck it into the wood in various
directions to ascertain the condition of its preservation. The door
itself was in an excellent state; but in examining the lintel, the
blade of his knife suddenly sank into the rotten wood up to the
handle. Here, then, was the place to begin operations, and
fortunately it was on the side from which the door opened. Henley had
soon dug away a great segment of decayed wood, exposing the bolt
clearly to view. Then taking the hinge which he had brought with him,
and slipping the small end between the bolt and the frame of the
door, he used it as a lever to pry against the bolt within. The iron
was so old and rusty, and his purchase so poor, that he only
succeeded in making a rasping sound where the two metals scraped
against each other, and so stopped, discouraged. Presently he
bethought him of his handkerchief, which he wrapped carefully around
the end of the hinge, and thus not only gained a better purchase,
increasing his leverage, but was able to operate without the