I measured the chain--98 feet.

Then I called in a couple of monks, locked the door, took a candle, and made them lower me in the bucket.

When the chain was all paid out, the candle confirmed my suspicion; a considerable section of the wall was gone, exposing a good big fissure.
I almost regretted that my theory about the well's trouble was correct, because I had another one that had a showy point or two about it for a miracle.

I remembered that in America, many centuries later, when an oil well ceased to flow, they used to blast it out with a dynamite torpedo.

If I should find this well dry and no explanation of it, I could astonish these people most nobly by having a person of no especial value drop a dynamite bomb into it.