“Berchik had a long way to go,” said Zuvor. “He is now en route to Australia. So I enabled him to leave New York entirely.
“I assume that you wish to remain here in the city. So I shall explain to you the route which I have used myself, and which I reserve for my special friends.”
Prince Zuvor rang a bell; Ivan Shiskin appeared. The man’s face was expressionless. Zuvor spoke to him in Russian. The import of the words was clear to Lamont Cranston, who understood the language perfectly.
The prince explained that the millionaire was a friend of the late czar. When he added that Cranston carried the token of the Seventh Star, Ivan’s face lighted up in genuine admiration.
Prince Zuvor drew Cranston aside, and explained the method of escape.
“You will enter the side door of a house in back of this one. Go up to the third floor — the house is empty. There you will find a ladder, leading to a hatch door in the roof.
“Next door to the building is a warehouse; a flight of steps will take you into the top of the warehouse — the fifth floor. There you will find the entrance to an elevator. Ride down to the first floor.
“Turn left, and the passage will lead you to a garage beyond the warehouse. There are taxicabs in the garage. You will have no difficulty in obtaining one. They go in and out, all hours of the night.
“Those who watch this house have no suspicion of my secret means of exit. The elevator is so designed that it cannot be brought up to the fifth floor by any one who is in it.
“It is an automatic elevator; and the button marked ‘5’ is useless. But you can bring up the elevator by pressing the button on the fifth floor; and you can take it down with no difficulty whatever.”