Here was a pretty howdy-do for the boys. A soldier, and no doubt an armed soldier, between them and the carrying out of their cherished project.
There was only one way out of the sealed chamber, and that soldier was in it.
Could Reddy, the fox of the woods, suggest a trick that would win here?
CHAPTER XXIII.
TRAILED BY A CHASSEUR.
The soldier was evidently figuring in his mind as to what would be the next move on his part. Finding no sign of life in the place where he expected, no doubt, to lay a hand or an eye on the impertinent party that had stolen the flagon, the chasseur seemed to hesitate about dropping down into what must have appeared to him a dungeon, and risking the chance of a hidden enemy leaping upon him from some shadowy corner.
It apparently occurred to him that more light would clear the problem, for he drew himself up to a sitting position on the cross-piece, produced a match and scratched it across the sole of his shoe.
The tiny flicker did not give much satisfaction. The shadows were too deep for a little flame like that to penetrate them to any great distance.
The boys stood like statues, flat against the wall, on the same side, and some twenty feet from the opening where the soldier was wasting matches. The darkness hung about them like a pall.
It was one exciting moment when Billy had a sneeze coming on, and did not know whether or not he could conquer it. A sneeze just then would have settled the whole business.