The elevator in the first shaft shot down again to the ground
floor, and as it disappeared Kennedy took two spools of wire from
his pocket and hastily shoved them through the lattice work the
third elevator shaft. They quickly unrolled, and I could hear
them strike the top of the empty car below in the basement. That
meant that Andrews on the ground floor could reach the wires and
attach them to the bell.
Quickly in the darkness Kennedy attached the ends of the wires to
the curious little coil I had seen him working on in the
laboratory, and we proceeded down the hall to the rooms occupied
by Poissan, Kennedy had allowed for the wire to reach from the
elevator-shaft up this hall, also, and as he walked he paid it
out in such a manner that it fell on the floor close to the wall,
where, in the darkness, it would never be noticed or stumbled
over.
Around an "L" in the hall I could see a ground-glass window with
a light shining through it. Kennedy stopped at the window and
quickly placed the little coil on the ledge, close up against the
glass, with the wires running from it down the hall. Then we
entered.
"On time to the minute, Professor," exclaimed Poissan, snapping
his watch. "And this, I presume, is the banker who is interested
in my great discovery of making artificial diamonds of any size
or colour?" he added, indicating me.
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