ack must be delivered that way. If Lupin is not in the Needle, we
shall fix up a trap in which he will be caught sooner or later. If he
is there--"

"If he is there, he will escape from the Needle by the other side, the
side overlooking the sea."

"In that case, he will at once be arrested by the other half of my men."

"Yes, but if, as I presume, you choose a moment when the sea is at low
ebb, leaving the base of the Needle uncovered, the chase will be
public, because it will take place before all the men and women fishing
for mussels, shrimps and shell-fish who swarm on the rocks round about."

"That is why I just mean to select the time when the sea is full."

"In that case, he will make off in a boat."

"Ah, but I shall have a dozen fishing-smacks, each of which will be
commanded by one of my men, and we shall collar him--"

"If he doesn't slip through your dozen smacks, like a fish through the
meshes."

"All right, then I'll sink him."

"The devil you will! Shall you have guns?"

"Why, of course! There's a torpedo-boat at the Havre at this moment. A
telegram from me will bring her to the Needle at the appointed hour."

"How proud Lupin will be! A torpedo-boat! Well, M. Ganimard, I see that
you have provided for everything. We have only to go ahead. When do we
deliver the assault?"

"To-morrow."

"At night?"

"No, by daylight, at the flood-tide, as the clock strikes ten in the
morning."

"Capital."

* * * * *

Under his show of gaiety, Beautrelet concealed a real anguish of mind.
He did not sleep until the morning, but lay pondering over the most
impracticable schemes, one after the other.

Ganimard had left him in order to go to Yport, six or seven miles from
Etretat, where, for prudence's sake, he had told his men to meet him,
and where he chartered twelve fishing smacks, with the ostensible
object of taking soundings along the coast.

At a quarter to ten, escorted by a body of twelve stalwart men, he met
Isidore at the foot of the road that goes up the cliff.

At ten o'clock exactly, they reached the skirt of wall. It was the
decisive moment.

At ten o'clock exactly.

"Why, what's the matter with you, Beautrelet?" jeered Ganimard. "You're
quite green in the face!"

"It's as well you can't see yourself, Ganimard," the boy retorted. "One
would think your last hour had come!"

They both had to sit down and Ganimard swallowed a few mouthfuls of rum.

"