Do
you see that small window up there? It is in the dressing-room; you
must get to it. This side of the tower is the only one not watched.
The horses are ready; if you can hold the passage over the Nancon, a
quarter of an hour will put him out of danger--in spite of his folly.
But if that woman tries to follow him, stab her."
Corentin now saw several of the forms he had hitherto supposed to be
stones moving cautiously but swiftly. He went at once to the
guard-room at the Porte Saint-Leonard, where he found the commandant
fully dressed and sound asleep on a camp bed.
"Let him alone," said Beau-Pied, roughly, "he has only just lain
down."
"The Chouans are here!" cried Corentin, in Hulot's ear.
"Impossible! but so much the better," cried the old soldier, still
half asleep; "then he can fight."
When Hulot reached the Promenade Corentin pointed out to him the
singular position taken by the Chouans.
"They must have deceived or strangled the sentries I placed between
the castle and the Queen's Staircase. Ah! what a devil of a fog!
However, patience! I'll send a squad of men under a lieutenant to the
foot of the rock. There is no use attacking them where they are, for
those animals are so hard they'd let themselves roll down the
precipice without breaking a limb."
The cracked clock of the belfry was ringing two when the commandant
got back to the Promenade after giving these orders and taking every
military precaution to seize the Chouans.
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