"Impossible!" exclaimed Jacek; "the moat is at its deepest below; he would have broken every limb in the attempt."
"But the room has no other exit."
"It has, though! I know there is a secret closet joined to this room by an invisible door. In the countess's time it used to be connected with the back-stairs as well; but the fiend, thinking it a good hiding-place for his ill-gotten gains, had that communication walled up. I have not a doubt but that he is within, caught in his own trap and no escaping."
"Then have you an idea where to look for the invisible door?"
"Yes, in this wall," he pointed to the side where the bed stood. The broad surface was covered with an antique hanging which, quaintly enough, appeared fastened to the wall at regular intervals with large metal buttons, forming a kind of pattern. "It is one of these buttons that opens the door," said Jacek, "if you press down the right one. I have seen it done once; but there are many, and I cannot tell which it is."
"That is a pity," said Taras. He stood listening to the confused voices of the fighting without. "Well, if it is the only way, we must just find the button. Are you sure the other outlet is walled up?"
"Quite certain."
"Then let us try."
Several minutes passed while the men were thus endeavouring to discover the secret spring by which to move the hidden door, the din outside continuing unabated. Julko gave an exultant cry. He was kneeling on the bed, passing his fingers over the buttons in the centre when one of them yielding discovered a narrow chink in the wall. The door as yet did not open, but its outline was plainly marked; it was evidently made fast from within.
Taras snatched at Jemilian's axe, and, pushing aside the bed, he belaboured the wall with all his might. The door had begun to split, when a bolt was withdrawn inside, and before them stood the man they were seeking.