The Crystal Stopper Part 34

He stopped, listened and, with his finger to his mouth, whispered:

"Hus.h.!.+"

When Sebastiani and his sons entered the room, Daubrecq, who had hidden the letter and lain down on his bed, pretended to wake with a start.

The huntsman brought him a bottle of wine, a gla.s.s and some food:

"How goes it, monsieur le depute?" he cried. "Well, perhaps we did squeeze a little hard... It's very painful, that thumbs.c.r.e.w.i.n.g. Seems they often did it at the time of the Great Revolution and Bonaparte...

in the days of the chauffeurs. [*] A pretty invention! Nice and clean...

no bloodshed... And it didn't last long either! In twenty minutes, you came out with the missing word!" Sebastiani burst out laughing. "By the way, monsieur le depute, my congratulations! A capital hiding-place. Who would ever suspect it?... You see, what put us off, monsieur le marquis and me, was that name of Marie which you let out at first. You weren't telling a lie; but there you are, you know: the word was only half-finished. We had to know the rest. Say what you like, it's amusing!

Just think, on your study-table! Upon my word, what a joke!"

* The name given to the brigands in the Vendee, who tortured their victims with fire to make them confess where their money was hidden.--Translator's Note.

The huntsman rose and walked up and down the room, rubbing his hands:

"Monsieur le marquis is jolly well pleased, so pleased, in fact, that he himself is coming to-morrow evening to let you out. Yes, he has thought it over; there will be a few formalities: you may have to sign a cheque or two, stump up, what, and make good monsieur le marquis' expense and trouble. But what's that to you? A trifle! Not to mention that, from now on, there will be no more chains, no more straps round your wrists; in short, you will be treated like a king! And I've even been told--look here!--to allow you a good bottle of old wine and a flask of brandy."

Sebastiani let fly a few more jests, then took the lamp, made a last examination of the room and said to his sons:

"Let's leave him to sleep. You also, take a rest, all three of you. But sleep with one eye open. One never can tell..." They withdrew.

Lupin waited a little longer and asked, in a low voice:

"Can I begin?"

"Yes, but be careful. It's not impossible that they may go on a round in an hour or two."

Lupin set to work. He had a very powerful file; and the iron of the bars, rusted and gnawed away by time, was, in places, almost reduced to dust. Twice Lupin stopped to listen, with ears p.r.i.c.ked up. But it was only the patter of a rat over the rubbish in the upper story, or the flight of some night-bird; and he continued his task, encouraged by Daubrecq, who stood by the door, ready to warn him at the least alarm.

"Oof!" he said, giving a last stroke of the file. "I'm glad that's over, for, on my word, I've been a bit cramped in this cursed tunnel... to say nothing of the cold..."

He bore with all his strength upon the bar, which he had sawn from below, and succeeded in forcing it down sufficiently for a man's body to slip between the two remaining bars. Next, he had to go back to the end of the embrasure, the wider part, where he had left the rope-ladder.

After fixing it to the bars, he called Daubrecq:

"Psst!... It's all right... Are you ready?"

"Yes... coming... One more second, while I listen... All right...

They're asleep... give me the ladder."

Lupin lowered it and asked:

"Must I come down?"

"No... I feel a little weak... but I shall manage."

Indeed, he reached the window of the embrasure pretty quickly and crept along the pa.s.sage in the wake of his rescuer. The open air, however, seemed to make him giddy. Also, to give himself strength, he had drunk half the bottle of wine; and he had a fainting-fit that kept him lying on the stones of the embrasure for half an hour. Lupin, losing patience, was fastening him to one end of the rope, of which the other end was knotted round the bars and was preparing to let him down like a bale of goods, when Daubrecq woke up, in better condition:

"That's over," he said. "I feel fit now. Will it take long?"

"Pretty long. We are a hundred and fifty yards up."

"How was it that d'Albufex did not foresee that it was possible to escape this way?"

"The cliff is perpendicular."

"And you were able to..."

"Well, your cousins insisted... And then one has to live, you know, and they were free with their money."

"The dear, good souls!" said Daubrecq. "Where are they?"

"Down below, in a boat."

"Is there a river, then?"

"Yes, but we won't talk, if you don't mind. It's dangerous."

"One word more. Had you been there long when you threw me the letter?"

"No, no. A quarter of an hour or so. I'll tell you all about it...

Meanwhile, we must hurry."

Lupin went first, after recommending Daubrecq to hold tight to the rope and to come down backward. He would give him a hand at the difficult places.

It took them over forty minutes to reach the platform of the ledge formed by the cliff; and Lupin had several times to help his companion, whose wrists, still bruised from the torture, had lost all their strength and suppleness.

Over and over again, he groaned:

"Oh, the swine, they've done for me!... The swine!... Ah, d'Albufex, I'll make you pay dear for this!..."

"Ss.h.!.+" said Lupin.

"What's the matter?"

"A noise... up above..."

Standing motionless on the platform, they listened. Lupin thought of the Sire de Tancarville and the sentry who had killed him with a shot from his harquebus. He s.h.i.+vered, feeling all the anguish of the silence and the darkness.

"No," he said, "I was mistaken... Besides, it's absurd... They can't hit us here."

"Who would hit us?"

"No one... no one... it was a silly notion..."

He groped about till he found the uprights of the ladder; then he said: