Every one of these was flung down, for the blast, if I may call it so, travelled through this straight corridor like the charge along the inside of the muzzle of a gun.

The guards nearest the treasure chamber were, of course, the more seriously injured, but those further out did not escape the shock, and the door by which we entered this corridor, while not blown from its hinges, was nevertheless forced open, its strong bolts snapping like matches.

So when you see the great distance that intervened between the chamber and that door, you will have some idea of the force of the explosion." "There is no exit, then, from the treasure chamber except along this corridor ?" "No, madame.

The walls at the outside of the chamber are of enormous strength, because, of course, it was expected that if an attempt at robbery were ever made, it would be made from the outside, and it is scarcely possible that even the most expert of thieves could succeed in passing two guards at the door, sixteen officers and soldiers along the corridor, two outside the Treasury door, and two in the chamber itself.
Such a large number of soldiers were kept here so that any attempt at bribery would be impossible.

Among such a number one or two were sure to be incorruptible, and the guards were constantly changed.