“And if you drop behind?”
“That will mean that I’m dead.”
“B-r-r-r-r! However, we’ll see. And now, open, sesame! No danger of our being observed, I suppose?”
“No. The Needle is not so high as the cliff, and, besides, there’s a bend in the ground where we are.”
Beautrelet went to the wall and pressed upon the brick. The bolt was released and the underground passage came in sight.
By the gleam of the lanterns which they lit, they saw that it was cut in the shape of a vault and that both the vaulting and the floor itself were entirely covered with bricks.
They walked for a few seconds and, suddenly, a staircase appeared. Beautrelet counted forty-five brick steps, which the slow action of many footsteps had worn away in the middle.
“Blow!” said Ganimard, holding his head and stopping suddenly, as though he had knocked against something.
“What is it?”
“A door.”