"Well, what have you guessed?" urged Bob eagerly.
"That the forts run far above the town. They have set guards all through the woods to the north to keep the townfolk from wandering there. Beyond that," he shrugged his old shoulders dejectedly, "I do not know."
Bob's brain began to seethe with a sudden determination. Before he had stopped to think whether it had wisdom in it—and not having Lucy on hand to urge caution—he said impulsively:
"I want to see them if I can. Could you—will you lend me those clothes you wear while I go quickly into the village and return? I will pay you well for them." As he spoke he drew from the pocket inside his coat some pieces of silver.
The old peasant stared again, then his blue eyes softened. "I will lend them to you gladly," he said, drawing back from the offering with a friendly smile.
"I know," urged Bob, following him, "but I have money and you have none. Take this for friendship's sake, at least," he said, as nearly as his French could frame the words.
The old man hesitated no longer, but took the money with a grateful look and a sigh of wonder at the few franc pieces in his hand.
"Many thanks, Monsieur l'Americain," he nodded. "Will you wait here until I bring the clothes, or will you come with me to my house?"
Bob thought swiftly of Benton, with whom he must certainly have a word before he started out on what the older man would be likely to call a wild goose chase. Again he felt the risk of so implicitly trusting a simple old fellow who might presumably be frightened into a betrayal, but his confidence somehow remained unshaken. The man must not be led into his danger either. He thought hard.
"I'll meet you near your house, so you need not come back so far. Can you think of a place?"