`It's inside,' said M. de Chagny, `it's inside!'

But we heard nothing there and were driven to accuse the bad condition of our senses. And we returned to the bung-hole. M. de Chagny put his two hands together underneath it and, with a last effort, I burst the bung.

`What's this?' cried the viscount. `This isn't water!'

The viscount put his two full hands close to my lantern....I stooped to look...and at once threw away the lantern with such violence that it broke and went out, leaving us in utter darkness.

What I had seen in M. de Chagny's hands...was gun-powder!