THE AMBUSH
As Naundorff left the garden, a man, hidden amid the shrubbery advanced cautiously and reached the little gate holding there a short conversation with one of the spies, La Grive.
"He carries a casket which must be captured. I reiterate my previous instructions. That casket must be seized. Where are Sec and Lestrade?"
"Within two steps. Shall I call them?"
"Keep very quiet. Remember to make no use of firearms. If he make no resistance, do not harm him. Run. Find the others. He is almost here."
"Very well."
The two spies, disguised as guards, separated. Volpetti waited back of the gate and on Naundorff's arrival, he solicitously held it open. Naundorff did not look toward the other, but even had he, the black hair and beard of Albert Serra would have misled him completely. He was surrounded by the party of spies, who were in turn surrounded by de Brezé and the Carbonari. The latter were concealed by the foliage, from a height dominating the path. Like the spies, they had planned to use firearms only in case of an extremity.
Naundorff passed through the gate, deep in thought. His sister's voice was in his ears; he felt again her caresses. His mind was at peace and the incertitude regarding his individuality set at rest. Had she not called him brother? Now he was tranquil, free from tormenting doubts. Despoiled of his rights, perhaps, but impostor or maniac never! He thought of Amélie, dreading to tell her the result of the interview. Suddenly a hand was placed over his mouth, his arms were pinned to his sides and he could neither cry nor defend himself. Volpetti searched him and possessed himself of the case of papers with a triumphant laugh. There was no need to employ force; nevertheless, through an excess of precaution the spies gagged their victim and tied his hands.
All this was accomplished with the utmost celerity. Naundorff had been reduced to immobility when de Brezé and the two Carbonari ran up. Using cudgels, they stunned Lestrade and disabled La Grive. De Brezé then devoted himself to Sec, and Giacinto turned, infuriated, on Volpetti. This king of spies held the papers, determined to keep them at the cost of his life, and was for this reason unable to handle his hunting knife with his accustomed dexterity. The Sicilian dealt him a vigorous blow on the collar bone which caused him to drop the case of papers. Lights danced in his eyes and he felt as tho about to swoon. With a great effort he recovered his senses sufficiently to aim a blow at Giacinto's neck, as the Sicilian stooped to grasp the case. The wound would have been fatal had not Giacinto evaded it by a rapid movement which resembled the spring of a tiger. All the evil which his family had suffered from Volpetti flashed thro lis mind and outweighed Naundorffs interests; he forgot the papers for his own grievances, especially his brother's body hanging from the gibbet. Clinching his white teeth, he dashed upon the enemy, knocked the knife out of his hand and jerked the false beard from his face. Volpetti lacked neither courage nor coolness, but he was a constructive intelligence rather than a physical force. Giacinto was much the younger and just now impelled by a homicidal vertigo. Volpetti sought to rise, but Giacinto pushed his head back and knelt with one knee upon his breast. In an access of savage joy, he cut through his neck, accompanying the action with dreadful oaths and invocations to the Madonna.
While the Sicilian satiated his thirst for vengeance, one of the other spies, La Grive, regained his footing and fought desperately with Louis Pierre, whom he quickly so battered with fist blows that the Knight of Liberty lay prone upon the grass. La Grive next turned his attention upon Giacinto and Volpetti. The latter lay dead in a pool of blood. The case of papers was near. He remembered the leader's injunction: 'The casket must be saved, at all costs.' Seizing his opportunity, while Giacinto feasted his eyes upon his dead enemy, he grasped the papers and ran off, soon being lost among the trees. So vanished the last proofs of Naundorff's identity.