e his legs, I sprang
through a low fence which rose before us; then stumbling blindly over
some broken ground in the rear of the houses, I came with a fall or
two to a little watercourse with steep sides. Through this I plunged
recklessly and up the farther side, and, breathless and panting,
gained the road, beyond the village, and fifty yards in advance of the
Lieutenant's troop.

They had only two lanthorns burning, and we were beyond the circle of
light cast by these; while the steady tramp of so many footsteps covered
the noise we made. We were in no danger of being noticed, and in a
twinkling we turned our backs, and as fast as we could we ran down the
road. Fortunately, they were thinking more of secrecy than speed, and in
a minute we had doubled the distance between them and us. In two minutes
their lights were mere sparks shining in the gloom behind us. We lost
even the tramp of their feet. Then I began to look out and go more
slowly, peering into the shadows on either side for the fernstack.

On one hand the hill rose steeply, on the other it fell away to the
stream. On neither side was close wood, or my difficulties had been
immensely increased; but scattered oak trees stood here and there among
the bracken. This helped me, and presently, on the upper side, I came
upon the dense substance of the stack looming black against the lighter
hill.

My heart beat fast, but it was no time for thought. Bidding the man in
a whisper to follow me and be ready to back me up, I climbed the bank
softly, and, with a pistol in my hand, felt my way to the rear of
the stack, thinking to find a hut there, set against the fern, and M.
Cocheforet in it. But I found no hut. There was none; and, moreover, it
was so dark now we were off the road, that it came upon me suddenly,
as I stood between the hill and the stack, that I had undertaken a very
difficult thing. The hut behind the fern stack. But how far behind? how
far from it? The dark slope stretched above us, infinite, immeasurable
shrouded in night. To begin to climb it in search of a tiny hut,
possibly well hidden and hard to find in daylight, seemed an endeavour
as hopeless as to meet with the needle in the hay! And now while I
stood, chilled and doubting, almost despairing, the steps of the troop
in the road began to grow audible, began to come nearer.

'Well, Monsieur le Capitaine?' the man beside me muttered--in wonder why
I stood. 'Which way? or they will be before us