"They are the people of whom Mother Bunch told us, going their round,"
said Agricola to his father.
"So much the better.There will be an interval before they come round again, and we shall have some two hours before us, without interruption.
Our affair is all right now."
By degrees, the sound of the footsteps became less and less distinct, and at last died away altogether.
"Now, quick! we must not lose any time," said Dagobert to his son, after waiting about ten minutes; "they are far enough.Let us try to open the door."
Agricola leaned his powerful shoulder against it, and pushed vigorously;
but the door did not give way, notwithstanding its age.
"Confound it!" said Agricola; "there is a bar on the inside.I am sure of it, or these old planks would not have resisted my weight."
"What is to be done?"
"I will scale the wall by means of the cord and hook, and open the door from the other side."
So saying, Agricola took the cord, and after several attempts, succeeded in fixing the hook on the coping of the wall.
"Now, father, give me a leg up; I will help myself up with the cord; once astride on the wall, I can easily turn the hook and get down into the garden."
The soldier leaned against the wall, and joined his two hands, in the hollow of which his son placed one of his feet, then mounting upon the robust shoulders of his father, he was able, by help of the cord, and some irregularities in the wall, to reach the top.Unfortunately, the smith had not perceived that the coping of the wall was strewed with broken bottles, so that he wounded his knees and hands; but, for fear of alarming Dagobert, he repressed every exclamation of pain, and replacing the hook, he glided down the cord to the ground.The door was close by, and he hastened to it; a strong wooden bar had indeed secured it on the inside.This was removed, and the lock was in so bad a state, that it offered no resistance to a violent effort from Agricola.
The door was opened, and Dagobert entered the garden with Spoil-sport.
"Now," said the soldier to his son, "thanks to you, the worst is over.
Here is a means of escape for the poor children, and Mdlle.de Cardoville.The thing is now to find them, without accident or delay.
Spoil-sport will go before as a scout.Come, my good dog!" added Dagobert, "above all--fair and softly!"
Immediately, the intelligent animal advanced a few steps, sniffing and listening with the care and caution of a hound searching for the game.
By the half-light of the clouded moon, Dagobert and his son perceived round them a V-shaped grove of tall trees, at which several paths met.
Uncertain which to choose, Agricola said to his father: "Let us take the path that runs alongside the wall.It will surely lead to some building."
"Right! Let us walk on the strips of grass, instead of through the mud.
It will make less noise."
The father and son, preceded by the Siberian dog, kept for some time in a winding path, at no great distance from the wall.They stopped now and then to listen, or to satisfy themselves, before continuing their advance, with regard to the changing aspects of the trees and bushes, which, shaken by the wind, and faintly illumined by the pale light of the moon, often took strange and doubtful forms.
Half-past twelve struck as Agricola and his father reached a large iron gate which shut in that part of the garden reserved for the Superior--the same into which Mother Bunch had intruded herself, after seeing Rose Simon converse with Adrienne de Cardoville.
Through the bars of this gate, Agricola and his father perceived at a little distance an open paling, which joined a half-finished chapel, and beyond it a little square building.
"That is no doubt the building occupied by Mdlle.de Cardoville," said Agricola.
"And the building which contains the chambers of Rose and Blanche, but which we cannot see from here, is no doubt opposite it," said Dagobert.
"Poor children! they are there, weeping tears of despair," added he, with profound emotion.
"Provided the gate be but open," said Agricola.
"It will probably be so--being within the walls."
"Let us go on gently."
The gate was only fastened by the catch of the lock.Dagobert was about to open it, when Agricola said to him: "Take care! do not make it creak on its hinges."
"Shall I push it slowly or suddenly?"
"Let me manage it," said Agricola; and he opened the gate so quickly, that it creaked very little; still the noise might have been plainly heard, in the silence of the night, during one of the lulls between the squalls of wind.
Agricola and his father remained motionless for a moment, listening uneasily, before they ventured to pass through the gate.Nothing stirred, however; all remained calm and still.With fresh courage, they entered the reserved garden.
Hardly had the dog arrived on this spot, when he exhibited tokens of extraordinary delight.Picking up his ears, wagging his tail, bounding rather than running, he had soon reached the paling where, in the morning, Rose Simon had for a moment conversed with Mdlle.de Cardoville.
He stopped an instant at this place, as if at fault, and turned round and round like a dog seeking the scent.
Dagobert and his son, leaving Spoil-sport to his instinct, followed his least movements with intense interest, hoping everything from his intelligence and his attachment to the orphans.
"It was no doubt near this paling that Rose stood when Mother Bunch saw her," said Dagobert."Spoil-sport is on her track.Let him alone."
After a few seconds, the dog turned his head towards Dagobert, and started at full trot in the direction of a door on the ground-floor of a building, opposite to that occupied by Adrienne.Arrived at this door, the dog lay down, seemingly waiting for Dagobert.
"No doubt of it! the children are there!" said Dagobert, hastening to rejoin Spoil-sport; it was by this door that they took Rose into the house."
"We must see if the windows are grated," said Agricola, following his father.