"I shouldn't wonder if he is up there now. He can't get down," answered the Englishman with whom Dan had had the trouble out in the other room.
"Get him, quick! Somebody climb up there!"
The men began chattering in French again. Instantly they started piling boxes on top of the chests which they had put in place on the pile again.
"This is the time I lose," muttered Dan.
Fortunately for him, however, they were getting their cases from the other side. They found light and empty cases for their purpose, and it required but a moment to fling them up in place.
Three men instantly clambered to the top of the pile thus made. One man was lifted by the other two and boosted to the skylight. He grasped the frame, holding on, his feet standing on the hands of the other two beneath him.
The pile of boxes wavered and swayed beneath the weight placed upon them.
In the meantime Dan Davis had raised the box from his own body just far enough to enable him to peer out. He saw what was going on, and his eyes lighted up with joy as a sudden idea occurred to him.
"I'll show them they can't beat a Yankee tar," he thought, raising the box little by little. Fortunately for him, the men on the floor were at the other side of the pile of boxes, while those on top were too busy with their own affairs to look down.
Crouching for a spring, he gathered himself.