Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-04-17


Let me pass, with my rats!"
And the head OF fire disappeared,
vanished In the darkness, while the
passage In front OF 1t lit up, as the
result of the change which the rat
catcher had made in his dark lam
tern. Before, so as not to scare the
rats In front of him, he had turned
his dark lantern on himself, lighting
up his own head; now, TO hasten their
flight, he lit the dark space in front
OF him. And he jumped along, drag
gtng with him the waves OF scratch
ing rats, all the thousand sounds.
Raoul and the Persian breathed
again, though still trembling
Il ought to have remembered that
Erik talked to me about the rat
catcher" said the Persian. But he
never told me that he looked like
that and it's funny that L
should never have met him before.
OF course, Erik never comes
to this part!"
Are We very far from the lake,
str?" asked Raoul. when shall We
get there? Take me to the
lake, oh, take me to the lake! .
When We are at the lake, we will call
out! Christine will hear us!
. And he will hear US, too!
And. as you know him. We
shall talk to himi"
'Baby!" said the Persian. I'VE
shall never enter the house on the
lake by the lake! l myself
have never landed on the other bank
the bank on which the house
stands. You have to Cross
the lake first and it Is well
guarded! I fear that more
than one of those men-old scene
shutters, old docr-shutters-who have
never been seen again were simply
tempted to cross the lake. 1t
Is terrible. ! myself would
have been nearly killed there
If the monster had not recognized me
in time! One piece of ad.
/ vice, sir; never go near the lake.
And. above all, shut your ears If you
| hear the voice singing under the wa
ter, the sirens voice!"
But then, what are We here for?'
asked Raoul, in transport of fever
Impotence and rage. IF you can dc
nothing for Christine, at least let me
die for her!"
The Persian tried to calm the young
man.
I'VE have only one means OF saw
| ing Christine Daae, believe me, which
is to enter the house unperceived b.
the monster"
And is there any hope of that
sir?" y
"Ah, If had not that hope, woult
not have come to fetch you'll"
"And how can one enter the hous
on the lake without crossing tn
! lake?"
From the third cellar, from whicl
we were so unluckily driven away
We will go back there now.
I will tell you,' said the Persian, wit
a sudden change in his voice, II wi
tell you the exact place, sir; it is BIZ
tween set piece and discarde
scene from Roi de Lahore, exactly q
the spot where Joseph Buquet diet
Come, sir, take courage an
follow me! And hold your hand 6
the level of your eyes! BIZ
where are we?"
The Persian lit his lamp again an
flung it's rays down two enormous CO
ridors that crossed each other
right angles.
I'VE must be-" he said, ''in the pa
used more particularly for the waite
works. see no fire coming from tt
furnaces"
He went in front of Raoul, seekir
his road, stopping abruptly when
was afraid OF, meeting some waite
man. Then they had to protect ther
selves against the glow of a sort
, underground forge, which the me
! were extinguishing, and at whic
I Raoul recognized the demons who
Christine had seen at the time of b,
first captivity.
l In this way, they gradually arrive
. beneath the huge cellars below Il
4 stage. They must at this time hay
been at the very bottom of the ''tul
: and at an extremely great dept
: when we remember that the ear
3 was dug out at fifty feet below Il
I water that lay under the whole
}, that part of Paris.
Q The Persian touched a partitio
/ wall and said:
8 IF 1 am not mistaken, this is
: wall that might easily belong to Il
Z house on the lake"
he was striking a partition-wan
the tub" and perhaps it would be
Il well for the reader to know how Il
bottom of the partition-walls of Il
t tub were built. In order to preve
+ the water surrounding the buiIdin
y operations from remaining in INN
5 date contact with the walls supper
d ing the whole of the theatrical 10
g chinery, the architect was obliged
Q build a double case in every dire
{ ton The work of constructing th
3 double case took a whole year
d was the wall of the first inner ca
@ that the Persian struck when spea
J, ing to Raoul of the house on the LAX
:, To any one understanding the arcl
o lecture of the editice. the Persian
y action would seem to indicate tn
a Erik's mysterious house had bee
. built in the double case, formed OF
a thick wall constructed as an emban
Of ri