Masin could not follow him until many blows of the
pick had widened the way for his bulkier frame.
Malipieri stopped at the entrance now, holding his lantern close to
the ground, and looking for traces of footsteps. He found none, but as
he was about to move forward he uttered an exclamation of surprise,
and picked up a tiny object which he held close to the light. It was
only a wax match, of which the head had been broken off when it had
been struck, so that it had not been lighted. That was all, but
neither he nor Masin carried wax matches in the vaults, because the
dampness soon made them useless. They took common sulphur matches in
tin match-boxes. Besides, this was an English wax light, as any one
could tell at a glance, for it was thicker, and stiffer, and longer
than the cheaper Italian ones.
Malipieri drew back and showed it to his man, who examined it,
understood, and put it into his pocket without a word. Then they both
went in through the aperture in the wall.
The masonry outside was rectangular, as far as it could be seen.
Inside, it was built like a small circular cistern, smoothly cemented,
and contracting above in a dome, that opened by a square hole to the
well-shaft above. Like the stones in the outer chamber, the cement was
coated with scales of dried mud. The shaft was now certainly closed at
the top, for in the daytime not a ray of light penetrated into its
blackness.
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