I fear that you have felt the draught.’
“ ‘On the contrary,’ said I, ‘I opened the door myself because Ifelt the room to be a little close.’
“He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. ‘Perhaps we hadbetter proceed to business, then,’ said he. ‘Mr. Ferguson and I willtake you up to see the machine.’
“ ‘I had better put my hat on, I suppose.’
“ ‘Oh, no, it is in the house.’
“ ‘What, you dig fuller’s-earth in the house?’
“ ‘No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mindthat. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let usknow what is wrong with it.’
“We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp,the fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an oldhouse, with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, andlittle low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by thegenerations who had crossed them. There were no carpets andno signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plasterwas peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through ingreen, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an airas possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the lady, eventhough I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon my twocompanions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent man,but I could see from the little that he said that he was at least afellow-countryman.
“Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door,which he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in whichthe three of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remainedoutside, and the colonel ushered me in.
“ ‘We are now,’ said he, ‘actually within the hydraulic press, andit would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone wereto turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the endof the descending piston, and it comes down with the force ofmany tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columnsof water outside which receive the force, and which transmit andmultiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machinegoes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the workingof it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will have thegoodness to look it over and to show us how we can set it right.’
“I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine verythoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of exercisingenormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and presseddown the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by thewhishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which alloweda regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. Anexamination showed that one of the india-rubber bands whichwas round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite tofill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the causeof the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, whofollowed my remarks very carefully and asked several practicalquestions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When Ihad made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of themachine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity.
It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller’s-earth wasthe merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose that sopowerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a purpose.
The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a large irontrough, and when I came to examine it I could see a crust ofmetallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was scraping at thisto see exactly what it was when I heard a muttered exclamation inGerman and saw the cadaverous face of the colonel looking downat me.
“ ‘What are you doing there?’ he asked.
“I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story asthat which he had told me. ‘I was admiring your fuller’s-earth,’
said I; ‘I think that I should be better able to advise you as to yourmachine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it wasused.’
“The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashnessof my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in hisgrey eyes.
“ ‘Very well,’ said he, ‘you shall know all about the machine.’ Hetook a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the keyin the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it wasquite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and shoves.
‘Hullo!’ I yelled. ‘Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!’
“And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sentmy heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and theswish of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work.
The lamp still stood upon the floor where I had placed it whenexamining the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling wascoming down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew betterthan myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me toa shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, anddragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let meout, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my cries.
The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with myhand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it flashedthrough my mind that the pain of my death would depend verymuch upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my face theweight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to think ofthat dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and yet, had Ithe nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black shadow waveringdown upon me? Already I was unable to stand erect, when my eyecaught something which brought a gush of hope back to my heart.
“I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron,the walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, Isaw a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, whichbroadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward.