"Use that as a battering ram," he ordered, and then his jaws closed over the butt of his revolver.
Without hesitation he waded in, and a few strong strokes brought him beneath the window out of which Madame Estelle leant and waved.
He knew instinctively by her accents that she was terrified beyond measure and that he need not expect treachery from her.
With one hand he clutched the sill, with the other he reached up and shifting the safety-catch on with his thumb, let his revolver fall into the room.
Soaked as he was with water, it was not an easy task to hoist himself up and clamber through the window, and when at last he stood within the room he leant against the wall partially exhausted and breathing hard.
Madame Estelle stood before him wringing her hands.
"Be quick!" she said again. "Be quick! be quick! or you will be too late. That fiend Boris is at his work."
By the light of the candles which flickered on the mantelpiece Paul made his way to the door.
Seizing the handle, he turned it, but the lock held fast. He examined it swiftly, and to his joy saw that it opened outwards. He drew back a yard, and then sent the whole of his weight crashing against the panels. And with good fortune the door of the room, although stoutly built, was partially rotten. It burst wide open and sent him sprawling onto his face in the passage.
As he lay there half-stunned his pulses throbbed again as the noise which came from the main entrance told him that Alexis and Andrieff were making good use of the gate.