"The danger of being murdered, do you mean? What for?"
"For being the owner of a wooden image of the same mysterious character as the one owned by your cousin."
"Oh, you stick to that?"
"Of course. Perhaps you doubt your cousin's letter?"
Christian Dreyel hesitated for a few minutes, then he took out a bunch of keys and opened an old-fashioned writing-table which stood behind him.
"No, you are right," he said. "Here it is." And he set a dark, brown wooden figure on the table beside the other one. At first sight they seemed as much alike as two tin soldiers, but Wallion detected a difference; the one he had brought with him featured Victor Dreyel, whereas this second one represented a thin, sinewy man, with small, shifty eyes, a broad hook-nose, and a short goatee.
The journalist examined it closely, and on the sole of one foot he found, as he expected the figures
No. 6
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29"
Christian Dreyel, who had been watching him, said with a laugh:
"Oh, yes, they are there sure enough, the figures are in their place. I'll save your making inquiries. I got this thing in a parcel by post at the same time my cousin got his. The parcel came from Seattle in the United States. There was no explanation with it, and I can't make out the meaning of the figure itself or what the numbers refer to. I wrote to Victor about it and we came to the conclusion that the riddle was impossible to solve."