Gaston Leroux: The Phantom of the Opera

Chapter 25. The Scorpion or the Grasshopper: Which? (continued)

"Oh, let us turn and turn and turn until we find the air hole and then glue our mouths to it!"

But I lost my strength; I tried to lay hold of the walls! Oh, how those glass walls slipped from under my groping fingers!...We whirled round again!...We began to sink! ...One last effort!...A last cry: "Erik!...Christine!..."

"Guggle, guggle, guggle!" in our ears. "Guggle! Guggle!" At the bottom of the dark water, our ears went, "Guggle! Guggle!"

And, before losing consciousness entirely, I seemed to hear, between two guggles:

"Barrels! Barrels! Any barrels to sell?"