"Herr Captain," said I, "your charge is preposterous. We wear His Majesty's uniform, and such crimes as you name are beneath us. Let me warn you very seriously of the consequences of that which you are about to do. His Majesty is careful of the reputation of his Guard, and he will know how to deal with such an outrage as this."
The threat moved him not at all. He declared that he but did his duty.
"If you are innocent, gentlemen," said he, "you can prove it to the court. My duty is to keep you here until you are tried. I may say, however, that if I can be of service to you in other ways, you have only to command me. This is not a house of hospitalities, but such as I can procure shall be offered to you."
To this I answered civilly that we were very much obliged to him, and bidding Léon hold his tongue, I said that we should remember any service of the kind when the French rode in—upon which I looked at him closely to see what he would make of it. When he did not contradict me, then I knew that the story of Marshal Ney's defeat was a lie, and for the first time since we had met the merry old gentleman I began to hope.
The young captain, meanwhile, had caught up a lantern and set out to cross the yard. We followed him to a tower on the eastern side, where in a considerable apartment upon the first floor he told us that we must be prepared to spend the night.
"I will send you what supper I can," said he. "Food is not readily to be had in Elbing; there has been no bread for three days. None the less, I will do what I can, messieurs." And setting the lantern upon the table, he commanded the sergeant to have beds made ready for us.
When he was gone and the door bolted, we began to examine the apartment with the eager eyes of men who did not submit to adversity readily. Would our wits get us out of this cursed hole, or must we suffer the tragic farce to the end? Alas, it was soon evident that any hope of escape was out of the question. Not only were the windows grilled heavily with iron, but they looked upon a moat, whose further wall must have been thirty feet high, while beyond it stood a rampart patrolled by sentries. The door itself should have withstood artillery. We could dare nothing here, and we sat down in the dim light to remember that Valerie St. Antoine and Joan d'Izambert were still the "guests" of the villain who had entrapped us.
"There is only one chance," says Léon; "we are lost if the army does not come in."
I knew it to be true; but even if it were so, what then? Would our comrades learn of our pitiable condition? I could hardly believe it, and my heart sank low. Odd that we had marched so many thousands of leagues and had lived through the terrible days to come to such a judgment as this.
VI