Read "The Fate of a Crown" by L. Frank Baum online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
The stairs led us beneath the foundations of the house and terminated in a domed chamber constructed of stone and about ten feet in diameter.
In the floor of this chamber was a trapdoor, composed of many thicknesses of steel, and so heavy that it could be raised only by a stout iron windlass, the chain of which was welded to a ring in the door's face.