machine for some trivial reason, and forgot to finish his story. At all
events, it is necessary to refer to the further discoveries of the
expedition in order to learn the outcome of it all.]



PART III

THE SURVIVOR


Provided with a sledge-hammer, a crowbar, and a hydraulic jack, and even
with drills and explosives as a last resort, Jackson, Kinney, and Van
Emmon returned the same day to the walled-in room in the top of that
mystifying mansion. The materials they carried would have made
considerable of a load had not Smith removed enough of the weights from
their suits to offset their burden. They reached the unopened door
without special exertion, and with no mishap.

They looked in vain for a crack big enough to hold the point of the
crowbar; neither could the most vigorous jabbing loosen any of the
material. They dropped that tool and tried the sledge. It got no
results; even in the hands of the husky geologist, the most vigorous
blows failed to budge the door. They did not even dent it.

So they propped the powerful hydraulic jack, a tool sturdy enough to
lift a house, at an angle against the door. Then, using the crowbar as a
lever, the architect steadily turned up the screw, the mechanism
multiplying his very ordinary strength a hundredfold. In a moment it
could be seen that he was getting results; the door began to stir. Van