The young Spaniard reached the door in a moment. The guard, as in the first instance, still kept his face to the fire, and evidently felt perfectly secure. Satisfied with his disposition, Hildebrand resolved to pass the aperture himself. He had reached the middle of the doorway, when, feeling secure of the guard, he ventured to turn off his gaze, and glance at his companion. Just as he did so, the guard, whether from a desire to change his position, or that he heard something to alarm him, wheeled round from the fire, and perceived him. He raised his caliver directly, and, with a steady aim, levelled it at Hildebrand’s head.
“Stand!” he cried, “or I fire!”
Hildebrand stood as still as a statue. To move was certain death; for the guard, besides that he stood right opposite to him, was scarcely twelve paces distant. His companion, although, from his being under the cover of the passage-wall, he could not see the guard, fully understood his situation, and saw that his first movement would probably be his last. A spasm passed over his face as this horrible truth occurred to him. For a moment—not only as regarded his person, but his complexion—he seemed perfectly petrified: then, with recovered energy, he darted forward, and threw himself between Hildebrand and his enemy.
His unexpected obtrusion evidently threw the latter off his guard. Before he could recover himself, Hildebrand had raised his pistol, and they now, to a certain extent, stood almost on an equality. Hildebrand knew that, in this situation, a great deal would depend on having the first shot, and that that alone could save him. Pausing only to push back his companion, he steadied his aim, and fired.
The alguazil fired almost at the same instant. The young Spaniard, whom Hildebrand had just before pushed under cover, heard both the reports at once, and watched for the result with the most intense terror. To his great joy, Hildebrand, when the smoke passed away, appeared wholly unhurt; but a heavy fall in the chamber, following the last report, intimated that such was not the case with his adversary. The flash of Hildebrand’s pistol, which his eager eyes instantly detected, had shaken the alguazil’s aim, and his charge passed harmlessly over Hildebrand’s shoulder. Before he could observe its effect, he received Hildebrand’s charge in the centre of his forehead, and fell to the floor a corpse.
The report of the fire-arms, which the prevailing silence carried a good distance, raised an alarum throughout the gaol, and voices and footsteps were heard in every direction. The fugitives had not a moment to spare; for the door, if it happened to be locked, might still cut off their retreat, and, in any case, presented an obstacle not to be trifled with.
The young Spaniard, who had recently displayed such heroism, seemed to have lost his self-possession again, and stood perfectly still. Fortunately, however, Hildebrand’s characteristic promptitude, which was unshaken, made up for his inertness. Directly he saw the alguazil fall, he sprang towards the gaol-door; and gently drawing back his companion, who, in his distraction, had thrown himself right in his way, proceeded to examine it.
The door was secured by two massy bolts, one at the bottom, and the other at the top; and a lock, from the keyhole of which, attached to the key of the door, was suspended a bunch of large keys. Hildebrand drew back the bolts in a moment, and, with the same despatch, turned back the key, and pulled the door open.
The night, though not far advanced, was pitchy dark, and thus calculated to cover their retreat. Although, however, it was so far in their favour, it was not altogether propitious, inasmuch as the darkness prevented them from pursuing their way with that accuracy that they would have done in the light. There were three or four steps at the door, leading into the gaol-yard; and, on darting out of the doorway, Hildebrand only escaped falling over these steps, which he could not distinguish, by his prolonged spring. Thus held up, he alighted unhurt in the yard, and pushed forward amain.
The yard, after passing along the front of the gaol, turned a little higher up, and continued its course along one of its sides. It was enclosed by a stone wall, about ten feet high; but at its further extremity, fronting the side of the gaol, there was an iron gate, which it would not be difficult to scale. Hildebrand, though the internal structure of the gaol had escaped his memory, remembered these particulars, and, having once reached the yard, he made for the gate directly.