The engines were not moving, and the chain on the windlass of one of them appeared not to have been disturbed, but on the other windlass one of the chains had been unwound.
Cunningham was so astonished that he could not believe what he saw.

He had been there the night before; everything had been in order, the shaft closed, and the trap-door locked.

He leaned over the grating and looked down; he could see nothing but a black hole without any bottom.

The man did not look long, for it made him dizzy.

He turned and ran out of the house to call Mr.Bryce.
Ivan Rovinski was not perhaps a lunatic, but his unprincipled ambition had made him so disregard the principles of ordinary prudence when such principles stood in his way that it could not be said that he was at all times entirely sane.