Clifford, lantern in hand, descended the ladder, which Benita held,
Jacob Meyer, who was in front of the altar, called to them excitedly
that he had found something.
"Then it is more than we have," said Mr. Clifford, as he laid down the
ladder and hurried to him.
Meyer was sounding the floor with a staff of wood--an operation which he
had only just began after the walls proved barren.
"Listen now," he said, letting the heavy staff drop a few paces to the
right of the altar, where it produced the hard, metallic clang that
comes from solid stone when struck. Then he moved to the front of the
altar and dropped it again, but now the note was hollow and reverberant.
Again and again he repeated the experiment, till they had exactly
mapped out where the solid rock ended and that which seemed to be hollow
began--a space of about eight feet square.
"We've got it," he said triumphantly. "That's the entrance to the place
where the gold is," and the others were inclined to agree with him.
Now it remained to put their theory to the proof--a task of no small
difficulty. Indeed, it took them three days of hard, continual work.
It will be remembered that the floor of the cave was cemented over, and
first of all this cement, which proved to be of excellent quality, being
largely composed of powdered granite, must be broken up.
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