"No more smoking," he said. "I purposely opened the casement to sweeten the air of the room. My dear boy, you do not want to betray us with the smell of fresh tobacco. The enemy would take alarm at once."
"I had forgotten," Geoffrey murmured. "How stupid of me!"
Again silence and painful tension on the nerves. Presently below came the soft fall of a foot, and then a noise as if a human body had come in contact with some object in the dark. There was the scratch of a match, and a ball of flame flickered in ghastly fashion in the hall.
"The foe is here," Ralph whispered. "Go and look over. Your rubber-soled boots are in the corner. Put them on."
Geoffrey did as he desired. He crept along the corridor until he could look down into the hall. There he saw a woman—a woman who wore short skirts and a closely fitting jacket. She had a small lantern in her hand, the light of which she seemed to lower or heighten by pressing a stud.
Behind her came the two Orientals, who carried a small but heavy brass-bound box between them. This, at a sign from the woman, they deposited on the floor.
As far as Geoffrey could judge neither of these men was Tchigorsky. He could catch the sound of whispered conversation, but the words conveyed no meaning to his ears. The two discoursed in a language he did not understand.
A hand was laid on Geoffrey's arm. He turned to see Ralph by his side. The latter bent over the balustrade listening with all his ears. Down below the brass box was being opened and the contents were placed upon the floor.
The contents looked like machinery, but it was machinery of a kind that Geoffrey had never seen before. There was a small disk of hammered copper, and to this was attached a number of what seemed to be india-rubber snakes. At a sign from the woman the two Asiatics picked up the box and its contents and started away toward the kitchen.
Noiseless as they were, Ralph heard them. He clutched his companion's arm.