\"Ihadaknife，anexceedinglygoodknife，inmypocket——andforthefirstfewstepsIshouldhavethelightofmyelectrictorch。
Thedifficulty（thatis，thefirstdifficulty）wastoreachtheshaftfromthefloorwhereIstood。Therewasbutonearticleoffurnitureintheroom，andthatwassomethingbetweenatableandadesk。Nochairs，andthedeskwasnothighenoughtoenablemetoreachthemouthoftheshaft。IfIcouldturnitonendtheremightbesomehope。Butthisdidnotlookfeasible。However，I
threwoffmycoatandwentatthethingwithavengeance，andwhetherIwasgivensuperhumanpowerorwhethertheclumsythingwasnotasheavyasitlooked，Ididfinallysucceedinturningitonitsendcloseundertheopeningfromwhichtheshaftrose。
Thenextthingwastogetonitstop。Thatseemedaboutasimpossibleasclimbingthebarewallitself，butpresentlyI
bethoughtmeofthedrawers，and，thoughtheywerelocked，Ididsucceedbytheaidofmykeystogetenoughofthemopentomakeformyselfaverygoodpairofstairs。