And he led him to the little staircase by which they had come down
lately.
They went up, stopping at each step, peering into the darkness and the
silence, till they came to the third cellar. Here the Persian motioned
to Raoul to go on his knees; and, in this way, crawling on both knees
and one hand--for the other hand was held in the position
indicated--they reached the end wall.
Against this wall stood a large discarded scene from the ROI DE LAHORE.
Close to this scene was a set piece. Between the scene and the set
piece there was just room for a body ... for a body which one day was
found hanging there. The body of Joseph Buquet.
The Persian, still kneeling, stopped and listened. For a moment, he
seemed to hesitate and looked at Raoul; then he turned his eyes upward,
toward the second cellar, which sent down the faint glimmer of a
lantern, through a cranny between two boards. This glimmer seemed to
trouble the Persian.
At last, he tossed his head and made up his mind to act. He slipped
between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, with Raoul
close upon his heels. With his free hand, the Persian felt the wall.
Raoul saw him bear heavily upon the wall, just as he had pressed
against the wall in Christine's dressing-room. Then a stone gave way,
leaving a hole in the wall.
This time, the Persian took his pistol from his pocket and made a sign
to Raoul to do as he did. He cocked the pistol.
And, resolutely, still on his knees, he wiggled through the hole in the
wall. Raoul, who had wished to pass first, had to be content to follow
him.
The hole was very narrow. The Persian stopped almost at once. Raoul
heard him feeling the stones around him. Then the Persian took out his
dark lantern again, stooped forward, examined something beneath him and
immediately extinguished his lantern. Raoul heard him say, in a
whisper: "We shall have to drop a few yards, without making a noise; take off
your boots."
The Persian handed his own shoes to Raoul.
"Put them outside the wall," he said. "We shall find them there when
we leave."[5] He crawled a little farther on his knees, then turned right round and
said: "I am going to hang by my hands from the edge of the stone and let
myself drop INTO HIS HOUSE. You must do exactly the same. Do not be
afraid. I will catch you in my arms."
Raoul soon heard a dull sound, evidently produced by the fall of the
Persian, and then dropped down.
He felt himself clasped in the Persian's arms.
"Hush!" said the Persian.
And they stood motionless, listening.