Malipieri, reconstructing the circumstances of the accident in the
last century, came to the conclusion that the mason who had been
drowned had been already between the vaults, when some of the men
behind had discovered that the water was rising in the well, and that
they had somehow got out in time, but that their unfortunate companion
had come back too late, or had perished while trying to break his way
out by the slit, through which the water must have been rushing in.
How they had originally entered the place was a mystery. Possibly they
had been lowered from above, down the well-shaft, but it was all very
hard to explain. The only thing that seemed certain was that the
treasure had never been seen by any one since it had been closed in
under the vault, ages ago. Malipieri had not yet found time to make a
careful plan of all the places through which he had passed. There were
so many turns and changes of level, that it would be impossible to get
an accurate drawing without using a theodolite or some similar
instrument of precision. From the measurements he had taken, however,
and the rough sketches he had made, he believed that the double vault
was not under the palace itself, but under the open courtyard, at the
depth of about forty feet, and therefore below the level of the Tiber
at average high water.
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