ad closed, and no one would have suspected its
existence.

Coucon could not believe his eyes. He ran through every room, but those
they sought had vanished. They had not gone out of the hotel, for Madame
had guarded it.

"Well!" cried Coucon, "vanished like Miss Jane, like the Vicomte
Esperance!"

Hark! Again they heard the strange noise.

Coucon, born and bred in Paris, had read many novels and seen many
plays. He at once announced that the house they were in had subterranean
passages.

"But there are no doors."

"What of that!"

He dashed from the room, and came back with hammer and chisel!

"What are you going to do?"

"Demolish the house, if necessary."

Madame wrung her hands.

"We shall be forgiven if we make mistakes," said Coucon. "We can do only
our best."

And Coucon began to tear up the carpet, and then to sound the boards.

"Above," he said, looking up, "are the bath rooms, and I think we had
best begin by pulling down the hangings on the wall."

"Oh! that is wicked!"

It was of no use to argue, the Zouave had made up his mind, and he
ripped off the silk as if it had been old cotton. Madame, fired by his
example, went to work also. While they were thus frantically busy, the
door-bell rang.

"It is Miss Carmen," cried Coucon. "She may be able to tell us
something."

He hastened to the door. It was Carmen, as he had supposed.

"My friends," she said, "where is Goutran?"

"I do not know," was the reply.

"I will tell you, then. He, with Monsieur Fanfar are prisoners in this
house."

"What did I tell you!" shouted Coucon. "And now, listen--the noise has
begun again."

Seizing the hammer, Coucon struck three hard blows on the walls at
regular intervals. He waited and listened. Three blows answered him. He
struck again, varying the number, which were immediately repeated.

"Yes, it is plain. Our friends hear us, and wish to communicate with us.
But hark! they have begun." Twenty-five blows were struck, one after the
other, in quick succession. The three looked at each other, greatly
troubled.

"The twenty-five letters of the alphabet!" cried Madame.

"Yes," said Carmen, "repeat, to prove that you understand."

After repeated experiments it was found that communication was easy, and
Carmen spelled out:

"There is an iron door under the silk."

"I knew it!" Coucon exclaimed, "I had began to tear it off when you
came."

They pulled off the silk, and suddenly Coucon exclaimed: