Then he tried again, but still
the bolt would not move. So now he tied his handkerchief--the one
with the bacon-fat and marmalade on it--to the bolt, and Robert's
handkerchief to that, in a reef knot, which cannot come undone
however much you pull, and, indeed, gets tighter and tighter the
more you pull it. This must not be confused with a granny knot,
which comes undone if you look at it. And then he and Robert
pulled, and the girls put their arms round their brothers and
pulled too, and suddenly the bolt gave way with a rusty scrunch,
and they all rolled together to the bottom of the stairs--all but
the Phoenix, which had taken to its wings when the pulling began.
Nobody was hurt much, because the rolled-up carpet broke their
fall; and now, indeed, the shoulders of the boys were used to some
purpose, for the stone allowed them to heave it up. They felt it
give; dust fell freely on them.
'Now, then,' cried Robert, forgetting his head and his temper,
'push all together. One, two, three!'
The stone was heaved up. It swung up on a creaking, unwilling
hinge, and showed a growing oblong of dazzling daylight; and it
fell back with a bang against something that kept it upright.
Every one climbed out, but there was not room for every one to
stand comfortably in the little paved house where they found
themselves, so when the Phoenix had fluttered up from the darkness
they let the stone down, and it closed like a trap-door, as indeed
it was.
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