fortune. Some one had been here. Had that one found the package? It
must be so. Fool that he was!

A second time had that precious package been deposited in what seemed
a secure hiding-place, and a second time had the hiding-place proved
almost a public thoroughfare.

For what seemed a long time Harry examined that stone. In vain. The
wall arose before him impenetrable. The stone was immovable. Yet that
stone seemed now to him to hold within itself the secret not only of
the package, but also of escape and of liberty and life.

Harry at length felt like giving up. Once more, however, though now
quite hopelessly, he examined the stone in every direction, pressing
with all his strength upon every part. And now in this, the very
moment of his utter hopelessness, as often happens--at the very time
when not expecting it, he found what he sought.

At the extreme end of the stone, more than six feet from the crevice
where he had hidden the package, he pressed upon it, and found that
it gave way. The pressure was not at all strong; yet to that slight
effort the apparently massive rock yielded like a door, and moved
inward several inches.

In unspeakable amazement and intense excitement Harry pushed it in
farther, until he saw the whole move in, at his pressure, for about
two feet. An opening was disclosed. He stepped in and looked around.

He found himself in a kind of chamber which was about four feet wide
and eight feet long. At the end of this was a stone stair-way which
went down. Harry looked around, and took all this in at a glance. His
first thought was about his package.

The package was not there.

He had been prepared for this, yet the disappointment was bitter.
Still there was consolation in the discovery which he had made, and
his excitement and curiosity were yet strong. He naturally turned his
attention to that stone which formed so wonderful a door-way, and
which had so long baffled him.

He saw that at the end, near the crevice, the stone was about
eighteen inches thick, but that it was all cut away toward the other
end, till it ended in a slab of only two inches in thickness. One end
of the stone was thus a vast block, while the other was a
comparatively thin slab. He now understood the whole construction.

At the thick end the door was set with stone pivots, into sockets
above and below, by means of which it was easily moved. The reason
why he could not move it at first was because he was exerting