"Well, that can be easily ascertained," Russell cried. "The question is, who is going first? As you are the lightest, perhaps you had better get on my shoulders and try to wriggle yourself through that broken framework into the glass house. I can pull myself up afterwards. Are you ready?"
Uzali climbed up Russell like a cat and wormed his way through the broken woodwork until he stood upright in the place where plants had once grown. Russell followed a little more slowly, but just as surely, until he stood by the side of his more agile companion.
"So far, so good," he said. "Now, what next? I don't suppose there are more than two rooms over a small shop like this, so that we must be careful how we move. It won't be safe to light a match."
Uzali agreed and there was nothing for it but to feel their way along the passage until they came to the top of the stairs. It was so dark that a slit of light shining under a closed door stood out like an edge of flame. Voices could be heard on the other side of the door, voices in earnest confabulation, though it was almost impossible to hear what was said. Uzali chuckled.
"What did I tell you?" he whispered. "There are three people there—Jansen and two others. You wouldn't notice it, but knowing the language I can discriminate between those other two voices."
They could only wait until Jansen chose to open the door. A quarter of an hour passed and gradually the voices died away to a murmur and then ceased altogether. After that there was the sound of a heavy footstep on the floor and the door was flung open. Jansen stood on the threshold, glancing back with an evil grin upon his face. It was so dark on the landing that it was impossible for him to detect the figures standing so close beside him. The Dutchman seemed to be on exceedingly good terms with himself, for he kissed his hand gaily.
"That is well," he said. "That is exceedingly well. I do not think, my friends, that you are likely to trouble me for many hours to come, so I will go about my business. There is no chance of anybody coming in, no chance of anybody discovering what has happened. Strange that men, in some ways so clever, should be so innocent in matters outside their understanding."
Jansen uttered the last words in a tone of regret. He went quietly down the stairs as if fearful of arousing his landlord. The door closed softly behind him and he was gone. Uzali strode into the stuffy little sitting-room and applied his foot vigorously to two little yellow men lying like logs on the carpet. In spite of the rough punishment nothing came from either except a suppressed grunt or two.
"What did I tell you?" Uzali said in disgust. "Did I not say that I should find my other fellow-countrymen here. They have become tools of Jansen. You can see for yourself what has happened to them."
"They have smoked themselves into a state of torpor," Russell said.