“Thank you. Wait here, Angers, I shall be back presently.”
“But oh, my dear—”
“Please do as I say, Angers, and do not worry.” The girl pushed aside some bushes, and was lost to view. She pressed along vigilantly by a descending path, until her feet touched rocky ground. She nodded to herself, then creeping between two bits of jutting rock at her right, immediately stood at the entrance to a cave, hidden completely from the river and from the banks above. At the entrance, for which she felt, she paused and said aloud: “Is there any one here?” Something clicked far within the cave. It sounded like a rifle. Then stealthy steps were heard, and a voice said:
“Ah, mademoiselle!”
“You are Carbourd?”
“As you see, mademoiselle.”
“You escaped safely then from the rifle-shot? Where is the soldier?”
“He fell into the river. He was drowned.”
“You are telling me truth?”
“Yes, he stumbled in and sank—on my soul!”