The Treasure of the Incas: A Story of Adventure in Peru

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER XVII

  AT WORK

  Harry and his brother went to the edge of the pool, where theyundressed and waded out. They found that the bottom of the passagesloped more gradually at the edge of the water than it did higher up,and they were able to walk out till they came to the point where theroof dipped into the water. They dived, and in a few strokes came upbeyond the roof.

  "This is glorious!" Bertie said. "We have often bathed in pools, butthis is a different thing altogether. It is more than a year since wehad our last dip in the sea, the day we arrived at Callao."

  Although there was little or no wind, the rollers were breaking on theline of rocks outside, pouring over the lower points in volumes offoam, and coming in broken waves up the passage.

  "We mustn't go beyond the point, Bertie, or we may be dashed againstthe foot of the cliff. We will climb up that rock to the left; it isnot too steep, and I think we can manage it. From there we shall get agood view of this side of the house and of the situation in general."

  It required considerable care to climb the rocks, and more than oncethey hurt their feet on sharp projections. The top of the rock,however, was smooth by the action of time and sea, and they were ableto sit down on it in comfort.

  "The castle is just as you described it, Bertie; and certainly no onesailing past, however close he came outside these rocks, would be ableto detect it. No doubt the stone of which it is built is the same asthat of the cliffs. Most likely it was taken from the ravine where thepassage now is, and had fallen from the arch above. It might have beenmore noticeable at first, but now it is weathered into exactly the sametint as the cliffs. The openings are very dodgily placed, and astranger would not dream that they went many inches in. Now, from wherewe stand we can look up into that curious opening on the top story. Ihave been puzzling over that ever since I saw it, but can't think ofany possible reason for its having been cut like that, except to enablethem to throw stones on to any boat that came into this passage behindthe rocks; and yet that can hardly have been the case, for, as Iremarked, there are no stones piled up there. Certainly they had a verylarge number of arrows, but stones would be very much more useful thanarrows against a boat almost under their feet. However, that does notconcern us now. This line of rocks must greatly aid in hiding the housefrom the sea. They are higher than you thought they were, looking downat them from above. We are quite thirty feet above the water, and attwo or three points they are at least ten or twelve feet higher. Ofcourse a short way out no one would be able to see that they weredetached from the cliff, or that there was any passage whatever behindthem.

  "Besides, they break the force of the waves. If it was not for them itwould be impossible for any boat to come up close to the face of thehouse, and a heavy storm might even break down the wall altogether. Atremendous sea would roll in here in a westerly gale; and if it hadn'tbeen for these rocks it would have been necessary to build the lowerpart of the house absolutely solid to resist the sea. It is possiblethat the rocks were higher than they now are when the place was firstconstructed, in which case the house might have been almost entirelyhidden from sight. Well, we may as well go back again, Bertie; we knowall there is to be known about this side."

  They swam back into the tunnel, dressed, and went out.

  "We have come out, Maria," Bertie called. "The coast is clear for you.The water is not so deep as we thought it was, and you can walk out tothe point where the roof comes down on to the water without getting outof your depth."

  It did not take them long to cut a number of switches to serve asbrooms, and a couple of handles. They carried them up into the house,and lashed the switches firmly on to the handles. The work was rough,but the brooms when completed were large, and, although not strongenough for heavy work, would do well to sweep aside the thin layer ofalmost impalpable dust on the floor below.

  "Shall we take wood down there, Harry?"

  "No; I think a fire would be a drawback rather than an assistance. Itwould be very valuable if we were working at one spot, but it couldgive no general light in a place a hundred feet long. We will take atorch down, and hold it and sweep by turns. We shall only want, tobegin with, to make a clear path a couple of feet wide down the middle.Of course later on we shall clear it all. That will be sufficient toenable us to see how the floor is constructed, whether with big blocksor small ones, how closely they are fitted together, and so on. It iscertainly unlikely that we shall find any indication as to wherechambers exist."

  It took but a very short time to clear the path; the dust was so lightthat one sweep of the broom cleared it away. When they got to thefarther end they returned to examine the floor. For four or five feetfrom the cistern the rock had been evidently untouched, except to cutoff any projecting points. Then there was a clear line running acrossthe path. Bertie held the torch down close to it. Harry knelt down andexamined it.

  "This is a clean cut, Bertie. It is evidently solid above this, but thestone is not quite the same colour on each side of it, and it looks asif they had cut away the rock here and begun to build so as to keep thefloor level. The cut may be six inches deep and it may be a foot, thatdoesn't matter. The face of this stone is very smooth, but it is notcut; it is, I think, the face of the natural fracture. Move the torchalong and let us see where the next join is. Ah, here it is!"

  The slab was four feet across.

  "You had better sweep the dust off both ways, Bertie, so that we maysee what size it is."

  It was, they found, about eight feet long.

  "It has straight edges, Harry, almost as straight as if it had beensawn."

  "Very likely it was sawn, Bertie; They could have had no tools thatwould cut a hard stone like this regularly, but as they were certainlyclever builders they must have employed some means to do it. Possiblythey used a saw without teeth, for however much they might havehardened the copper, the teeth could not have stood, but if they had ahard copper band fixed like the saw some masons use, and kept the stonemoistened with fine sand, they might have cut into it. Of course itwould have been a slow process; but they would not have needed to gofar into the stone, for when they got down two or three inches theymight have broken it through by dropping a heavy weight on the end. Itwould not have mattered if the fracture had not been straight below thecut, for only on the surface would they have wanted to fit accuratelyto the next stone. In another way they might have got a straight edge,that is, by driving very dry wedges into the cut made by the saw, andthen moistening them. I know that great stones can be split in thatway. They may have used both methods. However, it doesn't matter to usmuch how they did it. It is clear that they could in some way or othercut stones. As they took the trouble to do so here, we may concludethat they were anxious to have a smooth floor that would be extremelydifficult to get up.

  "They would never have taken all this trouble if they had merely beenmaking a floor for a cellar. For that purpose it would only have beennecessary to throw rocks and stones of all sizes into the vacant spacebelow, and when it was nearly full, to level it with small stones andsand. That they chose to undertake such tremendous labour as the makingof so regular a floor as this must have been, shows that they had somevery strong motive for doing so."

  Going carefully along the track they had cleared, they found that thestones were of different sizes; some were but two feet wide, others asmuch as ten, but all fitted so closely together that it was difficultto see the joints.

  "It is going to be a hard job to get these out, Bertie," Harry said,when they had completed their examination, "and it is lucky for us thatthe room gradually narrows from sixteen feet wide to two at the otherend, and when we stepped it we made it eighty feet long. We need nottake up the stones near the rock wall, for the ravine would naturallynarrow as it went lower, and the depth would be greatest by the side ofthe wall of the tunnel."

  "Well, we shall soon blow up the stones when we have got the powder."

  "I hope so, Bertie; but I see that we shall have difficulty unlessthese
top stones are extraordinarily thick."

  Bertie looked surprised. "Why, I should have thought the thicker theywere the more difficult to break up."

  "Beyond a certain point that would be so. But suppose they are sixinches thick, you may take it for granted that underneath there will berubble, loose stuff, except where any chambers may be built. If we wereto bore a hole through this top layer the powder, instead of splittingthe stones up, would expend its force among the loose stuff beneath it;and besides, instead of remaining in its place, it might get scattered,and we would then get no explosion at all."

  "Then we should only have to make the hole four inches deep, Harry?"

  "As a result of which there would only be two inches of tamping overthe powder, and this would blow right out, as if from a little mortar,and would have no effect whatever upon the stone. I have no doubt thatwe shall find some way to get over these difficulties, but it isevident that the work will not be all clear sailing."

  "Of course we shall manage it somehow, Harry, even if we have to smashup all the stones with the sledge-hammers Dias will bring us."

  "Is breakfast nearly ready, senora? That swim in the sea has given us aprodigious appetite. Did you enjoy it?"

  Maria nodded.

  "It is very nice, senor; but I should have liked it better if the waterhad not been so blue. It seems so strange bathing in blue water."

  "You will soon get accustomed to it," Bertie laughed. "There are nopools except that one two miles up the valley. Besides, it is muchnicer to have a great bathing chamber all to yourself. Here comes Jose!"

  "Well, Jose, are the mules all right?" he shouted.

  "Yes, but I had difficulty in catching them. They had evidently beenfrightened by something, and were three miles up the valley with theircoats all staring. It must have been either a puma or a jaguar. Ofcourse they must have got wind of him in time; but as, fortunately,they were not tethered, they were able to get away from him."

  "I should think he must be up somewhere among the bushes, Jose," Harrysaid. "We had better go down tonight and see if he returns again. Weshall be losing some of the mules if we don't put a stop to hismarauding. Besides, it will be very dangerous for you, Jose, cutting thewood up there, if he is lurking somewhere. It is fortunate that youescaped yesterday."

  "I expect he was on the other side of the ravine, senor; and even if hehad not been, the sound of the chopping would have scared him. Theywill not often attack in the daytime."

  When they had finished their breakfast Jose asked what he should donext.

  "There is nothing else to do, so it would be as well to take ourpickaxes and get some of those brackets out of the walls. We will beginwith the other rooms of this floor and leave these here till the last."

  "I will come and hold a torch for you, senors," Maria said. "I like tobe doing something. I will wash up first, and then I shall have nothingto do till it is time to get ready for dinner. Now I know there is asavage beast about I should not like to go down the ladder."

  "There is very little chance of his coming down the rocks," Harry said."He is more likely to be lying somewhere on the other side watching themules."

  No move was made until the woman was ready to start. Then they lit twotorches. She took one and Bertie the other, while Jose and Harry tooktwo picks. It was hard work, for the brackets were driven far into thepillars and walls. It was necessary to knock away the stones round themto a depth of two or three inches before they could be got out. Theyworked one at each side of a bracket, relieving each other by turns,and after four hours' work only eighteen brackets had been got out. Asfar as they could tell by lifting them, the weight was somewhat greaterthan they had at first supposed. Harry could hold one out in each handfor a minute and a half, Bertie and Jose for a little over half aminute, and they agreed that they must be about twenty pounds each.

  By this time their shoulders ached, and it was agreed that they haddone a good day's work. For the rest of the day they did nothing butsit on the sill of the window and smoke quietly. The next day's workwas similar, and twenty more brackets were got out. Late in theafternoon they saw Dias coming down the steps, and at once went downthe ladder to meet him.

  "Have you got everything, Dias?"

  "I think so, senor, and I can tell you that the mules have had a prettyheavy load to bring back."

  "Well, we will go with you at once, Dias, and bring some of the thingsup. I expect you have had nothing to eat since the morning. Before youdo anything else you had better go in. Your wife has been keeping adish hot for you, as she did not know when you might arrive."

  "I shall not be long before I come and help you, senor. I haveunsaddled the mules and turned them out to graze."

  "It is just as well, Dias, for there is a beast somewhere about thatgave them a fright last night. We will get all the eatables upto-night, the powder and drills and hammers we can very well leave tillto-morrow morning."

  It took them four trips to bring the provisions over, for it requiredtwo of them to carry each sack of flour, and indeed all had to givetheir aid in getting them up the rocky slope at the foot of the wall.

  "No one seemed to think it unusual, your taking so large a load, Ihope, Dias?" Harry said as they sat down to their evening meal.

  "No, senor. The man I bought the powder of was a little surprised atthe amount I wanted; but I said that I might be absent many weeks inthe mountains, and might want to drive a level in any lode that I mightdiscover. I led him to believe that I had seen a spot in the mountainsthat gave good indications, and that two of my comrades were waitingthere for my return to begin work at it. I sold the llamas to a man whocarries goods from Ancon up to Canta, and got the same price that yougave for them."

  Harry then told him the work on which he had been engaged since he hadbeen away.

  "Of course there is no hurry about the brackets, but as we could donothing else without the powder and drills, it was just as well to getthem out, as otherwise we might have been delayed when we had done ourother work. We think that they weigh twenty pounds each, so thataltogether they will be worth nearly four thousand pounds. Not a badstart. I am afraid we sha'n't make such quick work down below."

  "We shall see," Dias said cheerfully, for now that his fear of thedemons had passed he was as eager as Harry himself to begin the searchfor the treasure.

  "Has Maria seen any more bats?"

  "Yes, she has seen some more bats," his wife said, "but no demons.Dias, what do you think? Don Harry suggested that we might eat thebats."

  "I have heard of their being eaten," Dias said, "and a man who ate themraw told me that he had never enjoyed anything more. But I should notlike to try it myself, unless I were driven to it as he was."

  "How was that, Dias?"

  "He was a muleteer, senor, and was up in the mountains. He had a cargoof silver on his mule, and during the day he had seen some men who hedoubted not were brigands on the top of the ravine he passed through.He knew of a cavern where he had once taken refuge with the animalsduring a storm. It lay on the hillside some twenty or thirty yards awayfrom the road. The entrance was hidden by bushes, and he had firstnoticed it by seeing a bear come out as he was passing along. He hadhis pistols, and thought that it was better to risk meeting a bear thana brigand. He arrived opposite the cave just as it became dark, and atonce led the mules up there. He first lighted a torch--the muleteersalways carry these with them--and then went in with his pistols ready,but there were no signs of a bear anywhere near the entrance.

  "He drove the mules in and put out his torch. The entrance had beenonly wide enough for the laden animals to pass, but it widened out agreat deal inside. He took off the loads, piled them up in the narrowpart to make a barricade, and then sat down at the entrance andlistened. He soon heard five or six men come down the road talking.They were walking fast, and one was saying that he could not be morethan half a mile ahead, and that they should soon catch him. When theyhad gone, he went some distance in the cave and relighted his torch. Hewe
nt on and on. The cave was a very large one, and when he had gone, ashe thought, four or five hundred yards, it branched off into three. Hetook the middle one, and followed it for a long way. At last it openedinto a large chamber from which there were several passages. Here hefound a large number of things that had evidently been stolen frommuleteers. There were at least a dozen mule loads of silver; goods ofall kinds that had been brought up from the coast; the ashes of fires,and a great many bones and skins of llamas, and some sacks of flour.

  "He thought he would now return to the mules; but apparently he enteredthe wrong passage, for he went on till he felt sure he ought to be inthe chamber where he had left the animals, and he was turning to goback when he tripped over a stone and fell, and his torch went out.Then he felt in his pocket for his box of matches, and to his horrorfound that it had gone. It must have dropped out when he was examiningthe passages. He did not think much of it at first, but he had passedseveral openings on his way, and in the dark he probably turned downone of these. At any rate he lost his way somehow, and wandered about,he thinks, for hours; but it might have been much less, for he told methat he quite lost his head. At last he came out into a place where hecould only feel the rock on one side of him, and knew that he must bein a large chamber.

  "Looking up he saw, to his joy, a faint light, and moving a little,caught sight of a star. He was utterly worn out, and threw himselfdown. He was awakened by a strange rustling sound, and looking up sawthat daylight was breaking, and that a stream of bats was pouring inthrough a hole, which was about three feet wide. He made severalefforts to climb up to it, but failed. The bats hung thickly from everyprojecting point in the rocks. He hurt himself badly in one of theattempts to get up, and twisted his foot. All day he lay there. Thenthe idea struck him that he would kill a bat, cut it open, and use itas a poultice to his foot. The creatures did not move when he touchedthem, and he cut off the head of one of them and split it open. He didthis three or four times during the day, and felt that the applicationwas easing the pain of his ankle.

  "When it became dusk the bats flew out again, and he knew his onlychance was to keep his ankle perfectly rested. In the morning he killedsome more bats. He was by this time tortured with thirst, and suckedthe blood of one of them, and in the afternoon ate one raw. Anothernight passed, and in the morning he felt so much better that he couldmake another trial. He ate another bat to give him strength, and in themiddle of the day made a fresh attempt. He had while lying therecarefully examined the wall of rock, at the top of which was theopening, and had made up his mind at what point would be best to try.This time he succeeded. He made his way down the hillside, and foundthat he was a quarter of a mile higher up the pass than the spot atwhich he had left the mules. He hobbled down, and to his delight foundhis animals still in the cavern.

  "He had when he first got there opened their sack of grain in order toensure their keeping quiet. There was still some remaining at thebottom. He lost no time in loading them and leading them out, and madehis way down the pass without seeing anything of the robbers.Afterwards he went back there with a good supply of torches, found hisway to the cave, and brought down two mule-loads of silver. Graduallyhe brought the rest of the goods down, and today he is a rich man."

  "Well, I think under those circumstances, Dias, I would have eaten batsmyself. It was certainly a clever idea of his to convert them intopoultices, though the general opinion is that cold bandages are thebest for a sprained ankle."

  Then they discussed their plans for the next day. "I know nothing aboutblasting, senor. You give me instructions, and I will do my best tocarry them out; but it is useless for me to talk of what I know nothingabout."

  "There is a lot of common sense in that, and yet in every work, Dias,sometimes while a skilled man is puzzling how to do a thing a looker-onwill suggest a satisfactory plan. That treasure has been buried there Ihave no doubt whatever. They would never have gone to the labour ofpaving those cellars as carefully as they have done unless for somespecial purpose. The floor was undoubtedly made when the house wasbuilt, and if we find treasure-chambers there they will be those of theold people. Of course they may have been discovered by the Incas, andwhen they in turn wanted to bury treasure this place might occur tothem as being particularly well fitted to escape search by Spaniards.However, to-morrow we shall learn something more about them. The firstthing to do in the morning, when we have brought up the rest of thegoods, is to sweep the floors of those chambers carefully. When we havedone that we will determine where to set to work."

  Two trips brought up the powder and instruments.

  "We will take one of the kegs of powder down with us," said Harry, "andleave the other five in the empty room behind this. It is just as wellnot to have them in this room; the sparks fly about, and some thingsmight catch fire. I don't think there is any real danger, but, at thesame time, it is best to be on the safe side."

  "There are a dozen pounds of candles in this bundle, senor. You did nottell me to get them, but I thought they might be useful."

  "Thank you, Dias! they certainly will be useful. What arethey?--tallow?"

  "Yes, senor."

  "Then before we go down we will get a couple of pieces of flat wood,and drive a peg into each, sharpened at the upper end. Candles stuck onthese will stand upright, and we can put them down close to where weare working. They will give a better light than a torch, and leave usall free to use the tools. Did you think of buying some more tinder?"

  "Yes, senor, I have five boxes, and half a dozen more flints."

  They carried the keg of powder, the sledges, drills, and wedgesdownstairs, and then Dias and Jose set to work to sweep out the twochambers. The work was easy, but they were obliged to stop severaltimes, being almost choked with the light dust. Harry and Bertieoffered to take their turn, but the others would not hear of it, andthey were glad to go up to what they called their drawing-room untilthe work was done and the dust had settled a little. Then they examinedthe pavement carefully with their torches. They had hoped that theymight find either copper rings, or at least holes where rings had beenfastened, but there were no signs whatever of such things in either ofthe chambers.

  "We will begin to work half-way down," Harry said. "Of course thetreasure may lie near the cistern end, but the depth below the floorwould be very shallow there. More likely the chambers would be at thedeep end. If we begin in the middle we may be pretty sure that we havenot passed them. We will begin rather nearer the passage wall than theother, as the depth there will be greater. It does not matter whichstone we take, one is as likely as another. Step ten paces from thecistern, Bertie, and the stone you stop on we will try first."

  When Bertie came to a stand-still they carefully examined the pavement."You are standing on one of the cracks, Bertie; I will stay there whileyou all bring the tools along."

  "Shall I open the powder?" Bertie asked.

  "No. It is no good doing that until we have quite decided what we aregoing to do. The wedges certainly won't go into this crack. I think ourbest plan will be to sink a bore-hole about two inches from the crack.We will drive it in in a slanting direction towards the edge, and inthat way it will have more chance of blowing a piece out. First of all,we must make a slight indentation with a pick, otherwise we sha'n't getthe bore to work. I will begin."

  He took a pick and struck several blows.

  "It is very hard stone," he said. "I have scarcely made a mark upon it."

  He worked for some time, and then let Bertie take the pick. The ladstruck a blow with all his strength, and then dropped the pick with aloud cry, wringing his hands as he did so.

  "You have jarred your hands, Bertie; you should not hold the haft sotightly."

  "It did sting!" Bertie said. "I feel as if I had taken hold of ared-hot poker. It has jarred my arm up to the shoulder; I can't go onat present."

  "You try, Dias."

  Dias went more carefully to work, knelt down on one knee, and proceededto give a number of what seemed light blow
s.

  "That is better than I did, Dias. The stone is crumbling into dust, andwe shall be able to use the borer in a short time. Perhaps it will bebetter after all to drive the hole down straight. It will be easier tobegin with; when we see how thick the stone is we shall know better howto proceed."

  In ten minutes Dias had made a hole a quarter of an inch deep.

  "Now, give me one of the borers--that one about two and a half feetlong. I will hold it, and you strike to begin with, Dias, only mind myfingers. Keep your eye fixed on the top of the borer, and take one ortwo gentle strokes to begin with; then, when you know the distance youhave to stand from it, do your best. You needn't really be afraid ofstriking my fingers. I shall hold the drill at least a foot from thetop."

  Dias began very carefully, gradually adding to the strength of theblows as he got the right distance, and was soon striking hard. Aftereach blow Harry turned the borer a slight distance round. When he heardthe native's breath coming fast he told Jose to take a turn. The ladwas nervous; the first blow he struck only grazed the top of the borer,and narrowly missed Harry's fingers. Jose dropped the sledge. "I can'tdo it, senor; I am afraid of hitting your fingers. I will sit down andhold it; it does not matter if you hit me."

  "It would matter a good deal, Jose. No, no; you have got to learn."

  "Would it not be well, senor," Dias said, "to take the borers and threehammers outside, and try them in soft ground? We could work them theretill we all got accustomed always to hit them fair. There would be nooccasion for them to be held, and we should get confident. I could havehit twice as hard as I did, if I hadn't been afraid of missing it."

  "I think that is a very good plan, Dias. The loss of a day or two willmake no difference. We shall make up for it afterwards."

  Accordingly the drills and hammers were all taken up, and they weresoon at work. Two or three gentle taps were given to the borers, tomake them stand upright, and then all four began work. At first theyoften either missed the heads of the borers or struck them unevenly.

  "It is well, Dias, that we carried out your suggestion, as I see Ishould have had an uncommonly good chance of getting my fingerssmashed, or a wrist broken. I have missed as often as any of you."

  They stopped frequently for breath, and at the end of an hour were gladto lay down their hammers. Dias was comparatively fresh; his practiceas a woodsman now did him good service.

  "I should have thought from the number of trees that I have helped tocut down," Bertie said, "that I could hit pretty hard, but this is agreat deal stiffer work. I should say that this hammer is at leasttwice the weight of the axe, and it is the lightest of the four. I achea good deal worse than I did when I first chopped that tree down."

  "So do I, Bertie. We will stick at this till we get accustomed to thework. By doing so we shall gain strength as well as skill."

  "I will get some grease, senor, from Maria, and then I will rub yourshoulders, and arms; that will do you a great deal of good."

  "Thank you, Dias! It would be a good plan."

  Dias did this to Jose as well as to the brothers, and then Jose in turnrubbed him.

  They waited half an hour, and then Harry said: "Let us have anotherspell." This time a quarter of an hour sufficed. "It is of no use,Harry; I can't go on any longer," Bertie said. "I feel as if myshoulders were broken."

  "I am beginning to feel the same, Bertie. However, we are all hittingstraighter now. We will go up into the shade and take it quietly fortwo or three hours; then we will have a spell again."

  However, after the rest, they all agreed that it would be useless totry again, for they could not lift their arms over their heads withoutfeeling acute pain. Three days were spent at this exercise, and at theend of that time they had gained confidence, and the heads of thedrills were no longer missed.

  After the first day they only worked for a quarter of an hour at atime, taking an hour's rest. The pain in their arms had begun to abate.On the following day they practised striking alternately, threestanding round one borer. They found this at first awkward, but by theend of the day they were able to strike in regular order, the blowsfalling faster after each other on to the drill.

  "I think we shall do now," said Bertie. "No doubt we shall hit harderwith a fortnight's practice, and shall be able to keep it up longer.However, I think that even now we have sufficient confidence instriking to be able to hold the borer without any fear of an accident."

  The next day they began work early in the cellar. Jose volunteered totake the first turn to hold the drill.

  "You understand, Jose, you must turn it round a little after eachstroke, and in that way it will cut the hole regularly."

  Harry took his place on one side of Jose, who sat with a leg on eachside of the drill. Dias stood facing Harry, Bertie behind Jose holdingthe torch so that its light fell strongly on the head of the drill. Atfirst the two men struck gently, but gradually, as they grew confident,increased the weight of their strokes until they were hitting withtheir full power. After ten minutes they stopped. "Let us look at thehole," Harry said. "How far has it got down?"

  Jose moved his position and Harry examined the hole. "About an eighthof an inch," he said. "Let us scrape the dust out of it."

  "Shall we take a spell now, Harry?" Bertie said.

  "No, we will wait five minutes and then go on again, and after that wewill change places with you, relieving each other every twenty minutes."

  The work went on, and at the end of two hours the hole was three inchesdeep. Another hour and a half and the drill suddenly went down.

  "We are through it," Bertie said, "and I am not sorry."

  "Now I will lift the drill up gently, Bertie; do you kneel down, andwhen I stop, take hold of it close to the floor, so that we may see thethickness of the stone."

  "Five inches," he said as he measured it. "Now put on a little grease,Dias. I will lower it again, and we shall be perhaps able then to getsome idea of what is underneath."

  He lowered the drill and turned it round two or three times, and thencarefully raised it. Some sand and little stones were sticking to it.

  "Sand and gravel," he said. "That settles that point. Now we have donea good morning's work, and let us go up and have breakfast."

  Maria looked enquiringly at them. "I was just coming down for you.Well, what have you done?"

  "We have drilled one hole, Maria, and none of us have got our fingerssmashed, so I think we have every reason to be satisfied with our firstexperience at the work."

  As they breakfasted they talked matters over. Harry said that he wascertain that the thickness of the stone was not sufficient for them tobreak it up by blasting. "We shall have to try some other plan. It isequally certain that we cannot smash the stone with the sledge-hammers,and I don't think that the wedges would break it. Of course if we gotone stone out it would be comparatively easy to lift the next, as wecould put the crowbars under it. If we can do it in no other way, wemust drill a line of holes close to each other right across the stone,and we might then break off the piece between them and the crack andget our crowbars under the slab. It might be worth while to drill holesa foot apart, from the point where we have begun to the other end ofthe room. Of course if we found that gravel and stones were everywhereunder the slabs we should learn nothing; but the opening to thechambers is probably covered by another stone, and if we found that, wecould put in one or two more holes so as to be sure that it was flat,in which case we might smash it somehow. Of course, if we don't comeupon a flat stone we shall conclude that they put a layer of sand andfine gravel over the slabs covering the vaults, and must then, as Isay, get up one stone and gradually lift all the rest, clearing out thegravel as we go to the depth of a foot or so. In that way we shall makesure that we shall not miss any chamber there may be.

  "I think that would certainly be the best plan. At present we aregroping altogether in the dark, and it will take us a fortnight atleast to make that row of holes close to each other, as you propose."