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He therefore set to work to excavate an inclined aperture, like a tunnel, which began at a height of about five feet and was intended to slope upwards so as to reach the interior chamber at the highest point practicable. It was very hard work at first, and it was not unattended by danger. Masin declared at the outset that it was impracticable without blasting.
Some of the bones lay as they had lain since then, when the drowned bodies had gently reached the floor as the "lost water" subsided. Malipieri had not touched them, nor Masin either. Two skeletons lay at full length, face downwards, as a drowned body always sinks at last, when decay has done its loathsome work.
"Where do you think the shaft leads, sir?" asked Masin, grinning with delight. "To some old drain and then to the Tiber, of course. The body will be found in a week or two, jammed against the pier of some bridge, probably at the island of Saint Bartholomew." "Yes, sir. But the drain is dry now.
Old Sassi might not be able to get up the ladder, but once beyond the reach of social observation, he would trust Sabina to Malipieri and Masin for a quarter of an hour, and he could wait in the outer cellar. Malipieri had prepared him for this, and he had made no objection, only saying that he should like to see the treasure himself if it could possibly be managed.
He took out a cigar and lit it carefully. Masin sat on the other side, his drill in his hand. "If he tries to get out while we are talking," he said, "I can break his skull with a touch of this." "Yes," Malipieri answered, puffing at his cigar. "There is no hurry. Keep your iron ready." "Yes, sir." Masin made the heavy drill ring on the stones of the vault. A pause followed.
The dowager Princess Conti wrote a few words to say that she must see him at once and was waiting. That was all, but his heart sank. He sent Masin to show her the way, and sat resting his forehead in his hand until she appeared.
If Masin had been able to get into the well, before the water was too high, he would have risen with it, for he was a good swimmer. So was Malipieri, and more than once he thought of making an attempt to reach the widened slit in the wall by diving.
She might not forgive him, because she knew that he loved her, but she would see why he could not divorce in order to marry her. An hour passed, and two hours, and still he sat in his chair, while Masin came and went softly, as if his master were ill.
A hollow voice answered him from the depths. "Are you Christians," it asked, "to wall a man up alive?" "That is what we are going to do," Malipieri answered coolly. "Have you anything to say? It will not take us long to do the job, so you had better speak at once. How did you get in?" "If I am to die without getting out, why should I tell you?" enquired the voice. Malipieri looked at 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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