Profiting by the glare, Hamerton crawled closer. The door of the hut was ajar. Within were several engineers standing by in readiness to work a powerful searchlight. To the left of the hut, and protected from leeward by a mound of earth, was a long metal cylinder about eighteen inches in diameter. A stray beam of light showed Hamerton that one end of this object was carefully covered by a tarpaulin.
"What's this arrangement, I wonder?" he thought. "Looks like a sort of torpedo tube. I'll----"
His hands clutched at empty air, he lurched forward, up went his heels, and the next instant he felt himself falling.
Like a flash the thought went through his brain: "I'm done for this time--I've toppled over the cliff." Yet not a sound escaped his lips, even when completely taken aback by the sudden plunge.
With a dull thud Hamerton alighted on his hunched shoulders. Instinctively he kept his head well under, and this saved him a broken neck. Inertly he rolled over on his side, wondering where he was and how far he had fallen. Nor could he help expecting to see the soldiers from the hut, who must have heard the noise of his fall.
A minute or so went by. No curious soldier appeared on the edge of the pit or whatever it was. He began to consider how he could escape.
"Solid steel, by Jove!" he exclaimed softly, tapping the substance on which he had fallen. He stood up. He found himself in a circular hollow surrounded by a wall less than six feet in height. The metal floor was perhaps thirty feet in diameter and slightly domed.
"Looks like the top of a gasometer or an oil-fuel tank," mused Hamerton. "I may as well have a short investigation. Can't stop long, or Detroit will be blundering in on top of me. Ah! What's this?"
His foot encountered a raised object. It was an armoured slide of some sort. He tried to raise it, but in vain. Then he applied pressure in a horizontal direction. This resulted in the metal slab sliding and disclosing a pitch-dark cavity.
"Wish I had a match," he muttered. "Well, here goes! I've been in worse holes than this."
His feet encountered the rungs of a ladder. Three downward steps did he take, then there was a sharp metallic click, followed by a sudden blaze of light.