The door before which Burrell paused, was, in its way, a masterpiece of
art: it consisted of a mass of clay and flint, so skilfully put together
that the most acute searcher, even though he possessed the certainty of
its existence somewhere, must have failed to discover it from among the
natural lining of the rude but extensive cave. A low and gentle whistle
was answered by a like signal, and the door was drawn gradually inwards,
until sufficient space was afforded to permit Burrell to pass into a
large space, but less raw and wild than that from which he had just
entered.
In one corner of this singular hall, rose a motley pile of musketry,
rifles, hand-grenades, basket and cross-hilted swords, steel cuirasses,
which, from their rude and sullied condition, appeared to have suffered
much and hard service; buff and other coloured doublets, breast-plates,
shoulder-belts with gilt and plain buckles; manacles, some rusty, others
of glittering brightness: the muzzle of a small brass swivel projected
from beneath a number of flags and emblems of various nations, rolled
together with a degree of amity to which their former owners had long
been strangers. Over these again were heaped cloaks, caps, feathers, and
trappings, enough to form the stock wardrobe of a theatre. Nor were
there wanting thumb-screws and other instruments of torture, often
unsparingly exercised upon those who hid their treasure or retained
secrets they were desired to betray. Near to this miscellaneous
assemblage rose another heap, the base of which appeared to consist of
some half score of elephants' teeth, rough hemp, fragments of huge
cable, cable-yarn, and all manner of cordage; rolls of lewxerns',
martrons', and leopard-skins; wolf-skins, "tawed and untawed;" girdles
of silk, velvet, and leather; and on pegs, immediately over, hung half a
dozen mantles of miniver, and some wide robings of the pure spotted
ermine. Upon a huge sea-chest were heaped bales of costly Brabant,
Overyssels, and other rare linens, mingled with French and Italian lawns
of the finest texture; Turkish camlets, satins of China and Luca, plain
and wrought, and many other expensive and highly-taxed articles.
Delicious odours were diffused through the chamber from various cases of
perfume, musk, ambergris, and the costly attar; while along the north
wall were ranged different sized casks of Nantz brandy, Hollands, and
Jamaica rum; giving to the whole the appearance of a vast storehouse. An
enormous chafing-dish, filled with burning charcoal, stood near the
centre, and in a deep iron pan was placed a keg of oil, a hole having
been driven into its head, through which a sort of hempen wick had been
introduced; it flared and blazed like an overgrown flambeau, throwing a
warm and glowing light over the entire of the wild yet well-filled
apartment.