"But how?" exclaimed Alexander. "Ah!—the door to the garden! Impossible—it is locked!"
"Here!" cried Mashinka suddenly; "through this window you can reach the garden—then over the outer wall and on to the rocks on the shore! There you will find a boat. In it you may reach the ship."
"But you—you must come with us too," they cried together.
But Mashinka had already begun to cut up the bed-clothes and tie the pieces together into a stout rope. The clothes were not long enough. Swiftly she passed into the dining-room, and cut off the bell-cord which hung from the ceiling. With this the rope was soon completed.
The night was dark and favoured the flight of the fugitives.
CHAPTER XI
The Severed Cord
The two brothers were now alone in the observatory. Zeno had been carried thither and bound in the easy-chair before the great open window. Feodor sat at his big telescope watching the anchored vessel. At intervals as he sat he informed his prisoner of what he saw passing on board.
"The roll of the drum is summoning the crew to evening prayer. The fools! . . . The watch is being set for the night. . . . Now they are hauling down the flag. . . . The captain has gone into his cabin and his lieutenant has taken the quarter-deck. . . . Now the look-out in the main-top is taking a pull from his bottle. In a moment he will drop off to sleep. . . . One by one the lights are being put out; only those from the captain's windows are now to be seen. . . . Soon they will all be asleep—in the Lord! So—good-night!"