* * *

The reader will remember that, thanks to the voracity of the wildcats
which had devoured the corpse of the sailor John, Colonel Rutler had
been enabled to emerge from the pearl-fisher's cave by way of the
underground passage. In order to understand the extreme importance and
difficulty of the expedition which Colonel Rutler had undertaken, we
must recall to the reader that the park contiguous to Blue Beard's
mansion ran from north to south, like a kind of isthmus surrounded by
abysms. On the east and west these abysms were almost without bottom,
for on these sides the furthermost trees of the garden overhung a peak
of tremendous height, whose granite face was washed by the deep and
rapid waters of two torrents. But on the north, the park jutted on a
steep incline, accessible, though dangerous in the extreme.
Nevertheless, this side of the garden was sheltered from attack, for in
order to climb these rocks, less perpendicular than those on the east
and west, it was necessary to first descend to the bottom of the abyss
by the opposite side, an undertaking physically impossible to attempt,
even with the aid of a rope of sufficient length, the face of the rock
sometimes jutting out and sometimes broken by the angles of the rocks
projecting or receding.

Colonel Rutler, on the contrary, having passed through the underground
passage, had at once reached the foot of the precipice; there remained
for him only to essay the perilous ascent in order that he might gain
entrance into Devil's Cliff. It would take about an hour to climb these
rocks; he did not wish to enter the park surrounding the mansion until
night had fallen; he waited before starting on his road, until the sun
should be setting. The colonel had thrust the skeleton of John out of
the passage. It was thus, near these human remains, in a profound and
wild solitude, in the midst of a veritable chaos of enormous masses of
granite thrown up by the convulsions of nature, that the emissary of
William of Orange passed some hours, reclining in a cleft in the rocks
in order to escape the heat of a tropical sun.

The oppressive silence of this solitary place was now and then
interrupted by the roar of the sea as it fell upon the beach. Soon the
golden light of the sun became more rosy; great angles of light outlined
the face of the rocks where one could discern the further trees of Blue
Beard's park, becoming fainter, little by little; and dull mist