"Keep your eyes open! We'll be off in three minutes. When I whistle, bucket off to the entrance to the caves. I'll bring the young woman along."
The threat, terrible as it was, did not effect Dorothy. For her the whole drama was unfolding itself down below, between d'Estreicher and the Baron. D'Estreicher ran down from the hillocks, crossed the bridge, and ran towards the old man who was sitting on a bench on the terrace, with Goliath's head on his knee.
Dorothy felt her heart beating wildly. Not that she doubted that he would find the medal. It would be found in the dog's collar—of that she was sure. But it must be that this supreme effort to snatch a last delay could not fail.
"If the barrel of a gun doesn't appear above the top of the wall before a minute is up, d'Estreicher is my master."
And since she would rather kill herself than submit to that degradation, during that minute her life was at stake.
The respite accorded by circumstances was longer than that. D'Estreicher, having flung himself on the dog, met with an unexpected resistance from the Baron. The old man thrust him off furiously, while the dog barked and dragged himself free from the ruffian's grip. The struggle was prolonged. Dorothy followed its phases with alternating fear and hope, backing up Raoul's grandfather with all the force of her will, cursing the energy and stubbornness of the ruffian. In the end the old Baron grew tired and appeared all at once to lose interest in what might happen. One might have thought that Goliath must have suddenly fallen a victim to the same sense of lassitude. He sat down at his master's feet and let himself be handled with a kind of indifference. With trembling fingers d'Estreicher caught hold of the collar, and ran his fingers along the nail-studded leather under the dog's thick coat. His fingers found the buckle.
But he got no further. The dramatic surprise came at last. A man's bust rose above the wall, and a voice cried:
"Hands up!"
At last Dorothy smiled with an indescribable sensation of joy and deliverance. Her plan, delayed by some obstacle, was a success. Near Saint-Quentin who had been the first to appear, another figure rose above the wall, leveled a gun, and cried:
"Hands up!"