“As you will,” assented Fronsac shortly, and we caught him by leg and shoulder and staggered towards the stair that led downward to the tower door. As we stumbled forward I tried in vain to pierce the gloom before us.
“Softly,” I whispered. “There is a sentry at either end of the parapet.”
“Not to-night,” said Mademoiselle quickly. “I heard M. le Duc dismiss them just before he came to me.”
I breathed more freely. Certainly Roquefort would not wish to be overheard, yet still this was an unexpected bit of fortune.
Down the stair we tugged him and through the little door, which I locked carefully behind us. We propped our burden in one corner with his back against the wall. He was breathing deeply, with a hoarse, guttural sound, which I felt certain was the death-rattle. There was nothing we could do for him, and we went on down the tower stair, bearing the torch with us. At the foot another narrower flight plunged downward into the living rock of the cliff. I hastened down it, the others following without question. Down and down it went—at what a cost of labor must it have been constructed! At last I was stopped by a little door set in the rock. A coil of rope lay before it.
Fronsac gazed a moment at rope and door, then up into my eyes.
“I begin to understand,” he said. “But can we open that door, my friend?”
“We must,” I answered. “There is no other way.”
But I confess my heart fell as I examined it more closely, for it seemed as strong as the cliff itself. A dozen bolts, seemingly, buried in the very heart of the oak, held it to the rock. I could catch a glimpse of them as I pressed my torch to the crevice between wood and stone, and I could see how heavy they were. But to move them—to throw them back. I tried all the keys on Drouet’s ring; not one of them would serve. I battered at the door with the musket, but could not even shake it. The sweat broke out across my forehead at the thought that this might be the end. I looked up and saw Fronsac watching me with a face from which he tried in vain to banish his concern.
“We have still at least four hours,” I said, with what cheerfulness I could muster, and turned back again to the door.