“Do not fear,” said De Richleau, trying to comfort both himself and Simon. “He will have got away, he is a splendid shot, and he would have the advantage of the darkness — the others would be in the light.”
“Unless they surprised him in the house,” Simon argued, pessimistically, “then they’d use their torches on him and he’d be dazzled by the light, just as we were.”
“We must hope for the best, but let us look again at the hole in the roof.”
Simon flashed his torch on it. “I think I could reach it if you could bear my weight”
“Let us try.” De Richleau stooped, and Simon put his legs round the Duke’s neck, sitting on his shoulders. It was a difficult and unsteady proceeding in the dark, but once Simon managed to catch hold of a beam it was easier. He inspected the hole from a closer range with his torch.
“There is nothing above us,” he said in a whisper; “this must have been a sort of outbuilding — fire couldn’t have reached this wing either — the roof’s tarred felt.” He shifted the torch to the hand with which he was steadying himself, and began to work swiftly.
It was a slow process. He dared not make the least sound or the Mongolian would come in at once to see what was happening. He pulled away little bits of plaster and pushed them out through the hole, leaving for the moment the broken framework of the lath. That part was comparatively easy, but tearing away pieces of the thick tarred felt was another matter. They had to take frequent rests, for De Richleau could not bear his weight for very long at a time. When he had worked for an hour the hole was no more than a foot in diameter.
“We shall never do it,” said Simon, despondently; “it will have to be three times that size for us to get through.”
“Not a bit,” the Duke encouraged him in a quick whisper. “Where a man’s shoulders can pass, there his body can pass too; we shall be a little scratched, but what matter? Make your hole broader at each side now; another three inches will do it.”
Simon grunted; it did not look to him as if a cat could get through in comfort. He had torn his nails, and his finger-tips ached excruciatingly, but he continued to work away.