‘If you could but cross the river,’ he said, ‘we should be safe. But a boat could not make its way amidst the ice. We will try it, however, if you choose.’
‘I am ready,’ said Marie. ‘The chance is a desperate one either way.’
‘We must not be particular about what craft we take,’ said Theria, ‘so long as it remains undiscovered. Here is one I think will do.’
A small boat had been hauled on to the bank, which Theria directly launched through the brittle ice close to the shore; and then, assisting Marie to enter it, he got in himself, and pushed off with one of the stretchers. So rapidly had everything taken place, that before the Marchioness well understood what they were about, she found herself with Theria half across the river.
It was not very dark. One or two lights were gleaming and struggling with the wind along the edge of the river; and the frosty brightness of the stars was sufficient to enable them to discern surrounding objects. The huge blocks of ice kept floating about them, at times turning their boat completely round, and at last a conglomeration of these masses hemmed them in, threatening entirely to arrest their farther progress. Theria made a few strenuous efforts to set the boat free, but in vain. Another and another block joined the body, until the entire mass, wedging itself in with some fixed groups that extended a third of the way across the river, became altogether immovable.
‘Pheuh!’ said Theria, as, after a few laborious attempts to get the boat out, he threw down his piece of board, and saw the futility of his work. ‘What can we do now? We are fairly trapped.’
‘It is all over!’ exclaimed Marie, as she gazed at the gloomy masses, about which the cold feathery spray of the river was dashing, terrible to look at in the obscurity. ‘We shall be kept here until daylight, and then be captured.’
‘If we are, I shall be mistaken,’ said Theria. ‘The ice ought to make a bridge, although a slippery one.’
He tried to gain a footing upon one or two of the blocks; but they turned round as he touched them. At last he found one larger and firmer than the rest—a conglomerate of several pieces, forming a perfect iceberg—and this was frozen to some others that had been arrested in their progress by one or two piles just under water. It was extremely hazardous; but their only chance was to endeavour to reach the bank by this treacherous passage. Theria stepped carefully from the boat on to the block, which, somewhat depressed in the middle, offered a safer platform to stand upon than those of a more irregular shape. Then, assured of its stability, he gave his hand to the Marchioness, and bidding her to trust herself entirely to his guidance, assisted her on to the ice, moving with extreme caution, and sideways towards the bank. The least slip of the foot or overbalance of weight would at once have been fatal to both; but, fortunately, the severity of the frost had so bound the masses to each other, that in little more than a minute their perilous journey was accomplished, and they stood on the firm land on the other side of the river. The cold had kept all within doors, so that they were not observed by any passers by, and the darkness hid them from the view of the sentinels on the adjacent fortifications.
Camille directly led Marie to a small cabaret on the quay, and told her to await his return, whilst he went back to the hotel by the bridge—having his passport en règle, and being, moreover, slightly known to the authorities. His absence had scarcely been noticed at the ‘Ane Doré’ in the confusion, although they were eagerly seeking the Marchioness; so he ordered out his horse and little conveyance, and drove over the bridge to the spot where he had left Marie. Here she joined him, and they then set off together to Dinant, the first town in Belgium on crossing the frontier, where they arrived in two hours. Now Marie determined at all hazards to stop. She had meant to do so at Givet, had it been practicable, for her strength would hold out no longer; indeed, for the last ten miles of her journey, she had been in a complete state of stupefaction from want of rest, after the trials she had undergone. Theria went to another house to avoid any suspicion, recommending her to post onward in the morning, so as to reach Liége before Desgrais could get any order for her ‘extradition’ from the Conseil des Soixante in that city. The chances were in favour of her security; for no one had seen her leave Givet, nor would the passport books afford any information as to her route.