Then the latter heard steps and voices in the dining room above, and for a single instant left his post of duty.
As he crept to the head of the stairs to look into the dining room, he thought he heard the creaking of a door behind him, and stopped to listen.
The noise was not repeated, and he went on.
Had he returned to the cellar at that instant, he would have found the door in the double partition wide open.
He would have seen the body of one of his pals lying for an instant on the narrow threshold.
He would have seen the body drawn through into the rear basement, and the door softly closed and fastened.
He would have seen a dark figure in the dress of an iron worker lift the body and carry it through the broken cellar wall.
Then he would have seen two figures, one always carrying the other through the almost pitchy darkness, hiding in a corner near the granite wall of the bank vault.
But he saw nothing of this.
He went on up the staircase and stood for a moment on the last step.