I took hold of the cloth and pulled. Boris held on
even in death. Sapt drew his sword, and, inserting the point of
it between the dog's teeth, parted them enough for me to draw out
the piece of cloth.
"You'd better put it in your pocket," said the constable. "Now
come along"; and, holding the lamp in one hand and his sword
(which he did not resheathe) in the other, he stepped over the
body of the boar-hound, and I followed him.
We were now in front of the door of the room where Rudolf
Rassendyll had supped with us on the day of his first coming to
Ruritania, and whence he had set out to be crowned in Strelsau.
On the right of it was the room where the king slept, and farther
along in the same direction the kitchen and the cellars. The
officer or officers in attendance on the king used to sleep on
the other side of the dining-room.
"We must explore, I suppose," said Sapt. In spite of his outward
calmness, I caught in his voice the ring of excitement rising and
ill-repressed. But at this moment we heard from the passage on
our left (as we faced the door) a low moan, and then a dragging
sound, as if a man were crawling along the floor, painfully
trailing his limbs after him.
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