In former times, there might have been
an entrance through the wall at the highest level, but if it had ever
existed it had been so carefully closed that no trace of it could now
be found.
This tedious explanation of a rather complicated construction has been
necessary to explain what afterwards happened. Reducing it to its
simplest terms, it becomes clear that if the water rose, a person in
the passage, or anywhere beyond the overflow shaft, could not possibly
get back through the well, though he would apparently be safe from
drowning if he stayed where he was; and to the best of Malipieri's
knowledge there was no other way out. Any one caught there would have
to wait till the water subsided, and if that did not happen he would
starve to death.
The two men stood still and listened. They could still distinguish the
faint gurgling of the water, very far off, but that was all.
"I believe you heard a rat," said Malipieri, discontentedly, after a
long pause.
"Rats do not carry English wax matches," observed Masin.
"They eat them when they can find them," answered Malipieri. "They
carry them off, and hide them, and drop them, too. And a big rat
running away makes a noise very like a man's footsteps."
"That is true," assented Masin. "There were many of them in the
prison, and I sometimes thought they were the keepers when I heard
them at night.
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