"Yes," replied Trigaud.
Then he made a sign to Courte-Joie and Bertha to listen likewise. Trigaud, as we know, was stingy of words.
Courte-Joie lay down with his ear to the earth. Bertha sprang down from the window, and it was but a second after she had laid her ear to the ground before she rose again, crying out:--
"They are alive! they are alive! Oh, my God, I thank thee!"
"Don't let us hope too soon," said Courte-Joie; "but I do hear a dull sound which seems to come from the depths of those ruins. But there were eight of them; we can't be sure the sound comes from the two we seek."
"Not sure, Aubin! My presentiment, which would not let me go away when you begged me, makes me sure of it. Our friends are there, I tell you; they found a shelter in some cellar where they are now imprisoned by the fall of these materials."
"It may be so," replied Courte-Joie.
"It is certainly so!" cried Bertha. "But how can we release them? How shall we reach the place where they are?"
"If they are in a vault, the vault must have an opening; if they are in a cellar, the cellar has a window."
"Well, then, if we can't find either we must dig out the earth and through the foundation-wall."