Plainly they were delving through the
covering which Roland judged was about four feet thick; but as to the
manner of implement they were using he was puzzled. He had not long
to wait, however, to determine this; for in a little while the
ceiling began to shake violently, as if something like a pile-driver
were being forced by a series of blows through the yielding turf.
What the result must be, too easily could be foreseen. The ponderous
driver would first send all the lower portion of the ceiling into the
room, and a pressure from above would force the outer portion in.
He had a large knife in his girdle, and bitterly did he now reproach
himself for his lack of caution. Why had he not examined the room
when he entered it in the early evening? Then with all these long
hours before him, he could have cut his way through the door. He
understood now why the candle had been taken away from his room. Yet
another form of question ran through his terror-tortured mind: who
were the miscreants at work above him? That the old woman and her
daughter had a hand in the undertaking he felt quite certain; but
surely all those mighty blows could not have been dealt by the old
woman and her daughter.
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