"Do you prefer a knife stuck in you? Remember that d'Estreicher has only one aim—the codicil. And you have it."
Terrified, Maître Delarue made up his mind to it, on condition that Dorothy descended first to make sure that the ladder was in a good state and that no rungs were missing.
Dorothy did not bother about rungs. She gripped the ladder between her legs and slid from the top to bottom. Then catching hold of the two ropes she kept them as stiff as she could. The operation was nevertheless painful and lengthy; and Maître Delarue expended so much courage on it that he nearly fainted at the lower rungs. The sweat trickled down his face and over his hands in great drops.
With a few words Dorothy restored his courage.
"You can hear them.... Don't you hear them?"
Maître Delarue could hear nothing. But he set out at a run, breathless from the start, mumbling:
"They're after us!... In a minute they'll attack us!"
A side-path led them through thick brushwood to the main path, which connected the keep with the clearing in which the solitary oak stood. No one behind them.
More confident, Maître Delarue threatened:
"The blackguards! At the first house I send a messenger to the nearest police station.... Then I mobilize the peasants—with guns, forks and anything handy. And you, what's your plan?"