From the same place in the wall had issued, a moment or two later, a man upon a bicycle, who was also coming towards him.

Hamel was scarcely conscious of this secondary figure.

His eyes were fixed upon the strange personage now rapidly approaching him.

There was something which seemed scarcely human in that shrunken fragment of body, the pale face with its waving white hair, the strange expression with which he was being regarded.

The little vehicle came to a standstill only a few feet away.