'I know; go on with the story. What has he done?'
'Why, you know, monsieur, he is allowed a long tin pipe with a funnel at the end for emptying his slops from his window into the moat. He has reversed the tube, and thus converted it into a speaking-trumpet.'
De Launay clapped his hands and laughed.
'Monsieur, he has been shouting for nearly half an hour to the people in the Rue S. Antoine, entreating them to assist him, crying out that you were assassinating him, that he was being tortured to death.'
'And the people have heard?'
'Monsieur, we did not know what it was that drew the people together. No one suspected for a moment——'
'Has the trumpet been removed from him, Lassimotte?'
'Yes, monsieur; the instant we discovered whence the voice came, we flew to his cell and wrested the instrument from his lips. He struggled to retain it, but Chouard and I took it from him by force.'
'M. Berthier,' said the governor, 'you must really excuse me; this must be looked to at once.'