He entered and turned up the lamp.
Its light revealed a scene of amazing disorder.

The walls were covered with books and charts; the floor was littered with manuscripts, mathematical instruments, huge folios, piled higgledy-piggledy, carpenter's tools, retorts, bottles of chemicals.
In one corner, beside a door leading to his bedroom, stood a turning-lathe three inches deep in sawdust and shavings; in another, a human skeleton hung against the wall, its feet concealed by the model of a pumping-engine.

Hard by was nailed a rack containing a couple of antique swords, a walking-cane and a large telescope.
Captain Runacles took down this telescope and tucked it under his arm.

Then, unhitching a dressing-gown of faded purple from a peg behind the door, he turned the lamp low again and stepped out upon the landing.

Here he paused for a minute and listened.