the lock, we must employ our remaining strength in an
attempt to make it yield to force.

To this end we retraced our steps some distance along the passage; but
the heavy blocks of timber were too firmly fixed to admit of our
wrenching them from their places. In vain did we search for a lump of
rock sufficiently large and heavy to answer the same purpose; the only
loose piece we could find was about the size of a man's boot, and we
might have continued to fling this at the door for a whole week without
achieving any further result than dinting the oak.

"Master Eden," said George, turning to me as though a sudden thought
had come into his mind, "I've got a key here I fancy will fit that
lock," and he made a sign indicating the pistol in his hand. "I've
heard of its being done," he continued, "and I don't see why it
shouldn't act in this case. I'll extract the ball, put the end of the
muzzle to the keyhole, and blow the lock clean off the inside of the
door. The powder's dry, and I don't doubt but what it'll explode."

"You'll hurt your hand," I said.

"I'll chance that," he replied. "I'll use my left. Now, sir, you hold
the lamp, and stand clear when I fire."

With the corkscrew belonging to his knife Woodley was able to draw the
wad from the short-barrelled pistol, and so remove the ball; then
standing at arm's-length from the door, he took the weapon in his left
hand and signalled to me to go farther back. The next instant there
was a blinding flash, and a report which, in that confined space,
sounded like the discharge of a small cannon. Woodley staggered back,
and his arm dropped to his side. It was not for some moments that I
was able to ascertain whether or not he was seriously injured; then it
turned out that the recoil of the firearm, discharged with its muzzle
so close to the door, had dislocated his wrist.

We pressed forward through the cloud of pungent smoke, and to our
delight found that the door was no longer able to resist our united
efforts to shove it open; indeed, when we had time to examine it more
closely, we found that the lock had been blown away on the inside. We
crossed the threshold eagerly enough, but the next moment whatever
hopes had risen in our minds of finding ourselves on the point of
stepping out into the blessed fresh air and light of day were dashed to
the ground. We had certainly arrived at the end of our journey, but
only to find that the long tunnel had apparently