`` He will return anon , '' said Dick . `` To the trap ! '' He lighted a lamp , and they went together into the corner of the room . The open chink through which some light still glittered was easily discovered , and , taking a stout sword from his small armoury , Dick thrust it deep into the seam , and weighed strenuously on the hilt . The trap moved , gaped a little , and at length came widely open . Seizing it with their hands , the two young folk threw it back . It disclosed a few steps descending , and at the foot of them , where the would-be murderer had left it , a burning lamp . `` Now , '' said Dick , `` go first and take the lamp . I will follow to close the trap . '' So they descended one after the other , and as Dick lowered the trap , the blows began once again to thunder on the panels of the door . CHAPTER IV -- THE PASSAGE The passage in which Dick and Joanna now found themselves was narrow , dirty , and short . At the other end of it , a door stood partly open ; the same door , without doubt , that they had heard the man unlocking . Heavy cobwebs hung from the roof ; and the paved flooring echoed hollow under the lightest tread . Beyond the door there were two branches , at right angles . Dick chose one of them at random , and the pair hurried , with echoing footsteps , along the hollow of the chapel roof . The top of the arched ceiling rose like a whale 's back in the dim glimmer of the lamp . Here and there were spyholes , concealed , on the other side , by the carving of the cornice ; and looking down through one of these , Dick saw the paved floor of the chapel -- the altar , with its burning tapers -- and stretched before it on the steps , the figure of Sir Oliver praying with uplifted hands . At the other end , they descended a few steps . The passage grew narrower ; the wall upon one hand was now of wood ; the noise of people talking , and a faint flickering of lights , came through the interstices ; and presently they came to a round hole about the size of a man 's eye , and Dick , looking down through it , beheld the interior of the hall , and some half a dozen men sitting , in their jacks , about the table , drinking deep and demolishing a venison pie . These were certainly some of the late arrivals .
`` Here is no help , '' said XXXXX .
Dick Joanna anon armoury cornice first flickering left right whale