XI
THE SHOWER OF SAND
"I'm afraid it's not quite the thing to enter people's houses in thisfashion," whispered Juve, as the two men found themselves in the hall ofDoctor Chaleck's little house in the Frochot district.
It was about midnight, and through the fan-light of the outer door a dimtwilight enabled the detective and the journalist to get an idea of theplace in which they stood.
It was a fairly large hall with double doors on either hand, leadinginto the drawing-and dining-rooms. At the far end rose a windingstaircase, and under it a door to the cellar. A hanging lamp, unlit, wassuspended from the ceiling and the walls were covered with darktapestries.
Juve and Fandor remained silent and motionless for some moments. Theymight well be perturbed, for they had just entered the house in themost unwarrantable manner, and they knew the doctor to be at home. Thelodge-keeper of the Cite had seen him return about two hours ago. Forone moment Juve had asked himself whether he should not ring in the mostnatural manner in the world, and afterwards contrive some explanation;but the silence, the peace which prevailed and the conviction thatDoctor Chaleck, quite off his guard, must be enjoying deep slumber,prompted him to try and get into the house unannounced. If the door wasonly bolted, if it was not secured from within by a latch, the officermight reckon on finding among his pass keys one that would allow him toopen it. Juve was, indeed, equipped like the prince of burglars.
Well, the attempt had succeeded. Without trouble or noise, journalistand officer had made their way into the place.
Before imparting to Fandor his plan of operations, Juve handed him apair of rubbers, and then at a signal they both ascended to the firstfloor.
The detective's plan was to make a sudden incursion into Chaleck'sbedroom, and in the surprise of a sudden awakening, question him andinspect the fingers of his right hand, which, presumably, had left onthe register a tell-tale trace of blood.
Juve had scarcely entered the room when Fandor switched on the lights;the two men started back in disgust; the room was empty!
Without pause, Juve cried: "To the study!"
A moment later they found themselves in the room they knew so well fromhaving spent a whole night there, behind the window curtains.
Chaleck was not there either. Fandor searched the bathroom near by,careless of the noise he made, then hurried after Juve to the floorbelow in the fear that the doctor might already have made his escape.
Juve quickly reassured him the windows and shutters of the rooms werehermetically closed; the hall door had not been touched.
Suddenly slight sounds became audible from the floor above. A cracklingof the boards, the muffled sounds of hasty footsteps, faint rustlings.
"Chaleck knows we are here," whispered Juve. "We must play with ourcards on the table."
The two men cocked their pistols and made a rush upstairs. They had leftthe electric light burning on the floor above, and at first their eyeswere dazzled by the sudden brightness, multiplied by the reflection fromthe glass which lined the octagonal-shaped landing.
Again the noises were heard. Chaleck or some one else was in the study.
Juve disappeared. In half a minute he returned and bumped into Fandor.
"Where are you coming from?" he cried. "I thought you were behind me."
"So I was," replied Fandor, "but I left you to take a look in thestudy."
"But it was I who was in the study!"
Fandor stared in amazement. "Are you losing your senses?"
"I've just come from there myself!"
"Well, we weren't there together, that's certain. Let's try again."
The two proceeded in the dark to the head of the staircase. With theirheels they verified the last step; then Juve said in a low voice:
"I will go forward four paces. I am now in the middle of the landing; Ilift the curtain, turn and go in."
The steady tick of the little Empire clock on the mantelpiece assuredJuve that he was indeed in the study.
"Well, here I am," and mechanically he flung his hat on the sofa. Butscarcely had he uttered these words when Fandor's voice, very clear, butsome way off answered
"I am in the study, too."
Juve now switched on the light. Fandor was not there. Rushing back tothe landing he ran full tilt into his friend and the two gripped eachother in amazement.
"Look here," exclaimed Fandor, "if I'm not mistaken, you turned to theright past the curtain while I went to the left; there may be twoseparate entrances to the study."
"Let us keep together this time," replied Juve; "I propose to get to thebottom of this mystery."
As they came out of the darkness of the passage and plunged into thefull light of the room, Juve stopped short. His hat was no longer on thesofa.
Fandor went to the mantelpiece, turned and confronted the detective.
"I stopped the clock some moments ago, and here it is going and keepingexact time! How do you account for it?"
Juve was about to reply, when suddenly with a dry click the light wentout.
Fandor, at the same moment, gave a startled cry: "Juve! the door isfastened; we are shut in!"
With one bound Juve leaped for the window; but after opening thecasement he perceived that thick iron shutters, padlocked, banished allhope of escape in that quarter. Fandor was ashy pale; Juve staggered ashe moved toward him.
"Walled in!" he cried. "We are walled in!"
But a new terror suddenly confronted the two men. The floor appeared tobe giving way, and as the descent proceeded regularly, they realisedthat they were in a strange form of elevator.
The study, however, did not drop very far. With a slight shock itreached the end of the run and stopped short.
Juve cried with an air of relief, "Well, here we are, and it now remainsto find out where we are."
The existence of two studies identical in every particular, one of whichwas housed in an elevator, explained not only the events of the evening,but also the tragedy of two days before.
"Juve! did you feel anything?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
Both had just experienced a weird sensation, impossible to define. Upontheir hands and faces slight prickings irritated the skin. The air atthe same time seemed heavier and more difficult to breathe. There was,besides, a soft, vague crackling. With some difficulty Juve lighted hispocket-lamp. By its faint glimmer the two men made a discovery. A finerain of sand was falling from the ceiling.
"It's collapsed!" cried Fandor.
"We're done for!" replied Juve.
They passed through some awful moments. All around the sand gathered androse.
Juve tried to comfort his friend:
"It would need an enormous amount of sand to fill this room and bury usalive. It will cease to fall presently."
But horrible to relate, as the level of the sand rose on the floor, theyobserved by the flickering gleam of the lamp, that the ceiling was nowbeing lowered little by little.
Fandor raised his arm and touched it. They were about to be crushed.
"Juve, do not let me die this way. Kill me!"
His comrade made no reply. At first paralysed by the shock he now feltan unspeakable fury rise up in him. He began beating the walls with hisfists, shaking the furniture. He seized a chair and drove it against thedoor. The chair struck with a ring upon metal and broke.
Uttering a loud sigh, the detective drew out his revolver; he would, atleast, save his friend the torments of an awful death. Suddenly afearful crash resounded. The moving mass of sand was falling away fromthem into some gaping hole below, while at the same time fresh, moistair reached them and refreshed their lungs. Evidently somecommunication with the outside world had been established.
Juve relit his lamp and was bending over to examine what had taken placewhen the floor all at once gave way under his feet and he fell, draggingFandor with him.
They found themselves up to mid-leg in water, but unhurt.
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Juve's voice rang out: "We are saved! I see now what happened! Our traphad a thin flooring, and, when down, it rested on a fragile arch. Thatarch gave way, and with the sand we have tumbled into the sewer of thePlace Pigalle, which, if I am not mistaken, connects with the main ofthe Chaussee d'Autin. Come along, friend Fandor, we'll find means to getout of this before long."
Floundering in the mud, they made their way along the drain until Juvehalted and uttered a cry of triumph. On the left wall of the vault hishand encountered iron rings one above the other. It was a ladder leadingto one of the manholes in the pavement. He quickly climbed up and, witha vigorous push, raised the heavy slab. In a few moments both menemerged and fell exhausted in the roadway.
When Fandor recovered his senses he was lying in a large, ill-lightedhall. The first sound he heard was Juve's voice arguing hotly andvolubly.
"Why, you're nothing but a pack of idiots! We burglars! It's utter rot.I tell you I'm Juve, Inspector of Public Safety!"