Scene 9 Summary

The Well of Souls

  • Digging continues well into the evening, with ominous cloud-and-thunderstorm accompaniment.
  • Meanwhile, Marion attempts an escape on her own by drinking Belloq under the table.
  • It would have worked too, but for Toht showing up and leering at her in a threatening fashion.
  • Back at the dig, Indy and Sallah uncover the Well of Souls: the resting place of the Ark.
  • One small problem: The Well is full of poisonous snakes. As you may be aware, Indy hates those things.
  • They use dropped torches and fuel to cut a path through the snakes to the Ark.
  • They pop the Ark in a crate and get ready to pull it up…
  • … just as dawn breaks and Belloq notices what they're doing.
  • Sallah comes up, Marion goes down, and she and Indy are buried alive in the Well while the Nazis take the Ark.
  • Indy rescues them by breaking through the wall of the Well (try saying that five times fast).
  • One nasty encounter with a bunch of mummies later, he and Marion escape the Well.