Henriques laughed an ugly laugh.
'We had better make certain of him,' he said.
The two argued for a minute, and then Laputa seemed to prevail.

The door was shut and the key, which I had left in the lock, turned on me.
I gave them five minutes to get to the outhouse and settle to business.
Then I opened the trap, got into the cellar, and crawled to the other end.

A ray of light was coming through the partially raised door.

By a blessed chance some old bricks had been left behind, and of these I made a footstool, which enabled me to get my back level with the door and look out.

My laager of barrels was intact, but through a gap I had left I could see the two men sitting on the two cases I had provided for them.