"Mme. Maubin said it must never escape. It is my trust!" He lowered his voice suddenly.
"I see," said Horace, "it would break the prophecy."
"This cage is going to Paris," said the hunchback. "The Kaiser said he would be in Paris before the year is out. I will make good his boast. It will make all Paris laugh."
The eagle croaked harshly in the darkness.
"Can't you keep it quiet?" said Horace, his nerves on edge.
The hunchback laughed softly.
"Little noises don't mean much these days," he said, "when there's a wounded man groaning in every cottage."
They passed out of the kindly shelter of gardens into the fields beyond, and silently, stooping low, ran through a hollow into a small copse.
"Where now?"