That were madness! Her cries might pass unheeded. Why should she suppose the drivers of these cars racing on their appointed way would stop, locate the cry, and succour her? No, it would but excite the anger of the bear, rouse it to action, thus hasten her own dreadful end!...
A man was walking on the Sceaux road—walking fast. He wore the clothes of a working man. He was leading a sorry nag.... The man halted and let the nag go free. A sound had caught his ear—a growling sound.
He listened intently.
"Did I imagine it?" he murmured.
Again that growling, punctuated by a woman's sharp scream. The man was off at racing speed towards the van, which was but a hundred yards away.
"Great Heaven! Shall I arrive too late?" ejaculated the man.
Reaching it, breathless, he glued his ear to the door. The van shook with the movement and growling of some beast of prey about to spring.
The man drew back, rushed forward, hurled himself against the door and drove it inwards.
A shot broke the silence of the morning.