"Master," said the General, "there are spies everywhere: they are in the fortress, in your palace, in my chamber. One word overheard, and they were warned. At the least alarm, the bird I hoped to catch would have flown."
The enemy had now ceased coming from the tunnel.
"They fancy they can escape," said Yoke-Moura; "they will return when they find that their retreat is cut off."
Soon, in fact, cries of distress were heard. They were so heartrending that Fide-Yori shuddered.
"Unhappy wretches!" he muttered.
Their situation was horrible indeed; in that narrow passage, where two men could barely move abreast, where it was hard to breathe, those desperate soldiers, mad with fear, pushed and crushed each other in the darkness, frantic fur light at any cost, even were it the light of night, which would have seemed brilliant to them in comparison with that ill-omened gloom.
A terrible shove forced several men out of the tunnel, only to fall upon the swords of the enemy.
Amid their shrieks were heard confused cries:—
"Mercy! we surrender."
"Open! let us out."