five o'clock
This had been ascertained by interested scouts . The fact that Luga was with the rebels gave rise to disconcerting gossip . Possibly her husband had discovered a certain flirtation -- heads shook knowingly . At five o'clock the news spread that Pobloff had by means of a trap in the stage , dropped the entire orchestra into the cellar , where they lay entombed in a half-dying condition . No one could trace this tale to its source , thought it was believed to have emanated from the oboe-player 's wife . Half a hundred women rushed to the opera house and fell upon their hands and knees , scratching at the iron cellar gratings , and calling loudly through the little windows whose thick panes of glass were grimed with age . Finding nothing , hearing nothing , the dissatisfied crew only needed an angry explosion of bitterness from the lips of the horn-player 's spouse to hatch hatred in their bosoms and to set them upon Pobloff at his home .