When he reascended, bringing with him, after much labor, the body of his friend, they saw that Martin was still breathing.
A surgeon who was at hand announced that life was not extinct; in fact, Martin regained consciousness to some extent.
But he came back to greater suffering, for he was in a sad plight. He had a broken arm and a crushed thigh.
The surgeon could set the arm without difficulty, but he judged it necessary to amputate the leg, and did not dare to undertake so difficult an operation alone.
More than ever Gabriel deplored that though a victor, he was confined to the Risbank fort. The delay, which had been trying enough before, now became almost intolerable.
If only he could get word to expert Ambroise Paré, Martin-Guerre might be saved.
CHAPTER XX
LORD WENTWORTH AT BAY
The Duc de Guise, upon reflection, could not bring himself to believe in the success of so foolhardy an enterprise; nevertheless, he determined to see with his own eyes whether Vicomte d'Exmès had or had not achieved his end. In such straits as those to which he was reduced, one can but hope even for the impossible.
So, before eight o'clock, with but very few attendants, he was already on the cliff Gabriel had pointed out to him, from which the Risbank fort could be seen with a telescope.