I suppose that something in my face betrayed the eagerness which I felt. Here was indeed the finger of Providence pointing to the best means of undoing this abominable criminal. Not that I intended to risk my neck for any ten thousand francs he chose to offer me, but as the trusted guide of his ingenuous “babies” I could convoy them—not to St. Claude, as he blandly believed, but straight into the arms of Leroux and the customs officials.
“Then that is understood,” he said in his usual dictatorial manner, taking my consent for granted. “Ten thousand francs. And you will accompany these gentlemen and their ‘babies’ as far as St. Claude?”
“I am a poor man, Sir,” I responded meekly.
“Of course you are,” he broke in roughly.
Then from a number of papers which lay upon the table, he selected one which he held out to me.
“Do you know St. Cergues?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied. “It is a short walk from Gex.”
“This,” he added, pointing to a paper which I had taken from him, “is a plan of the village and of the Pass of Cergues close by. Study it carefully. At some point some way up the pass, which I have marked with a cross, I and my men with the ‘babies’ will be waiting for you to-morrow evening at eight o’clock. You cannot possibly fail to find the spot, for the plan is very accurate and very minute, and it is less than five hundred metres from the last house at the entrance of the pass. I shall escort the men until then, and hand them over into your charge for the mountain journey. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly.”
“Very well, then; you may go. The carriage is outside the door. You know your way.”