"The devil he is!" cried the stranger, sobered by the intelligence. "What is to be done? The horse I came upon is foundered. Infernal country! Accursed steamboat! I cannot leave the place on foot."
"Leave the house, at any rate," said Alexis, "and we will then see what to do. Delay another minute, and escape is impossible. Follow me, as you love liberty and life."
The Englishman obeyed. Alexis led the way into a back-room, threw open a window, and stepped out upon a balcony, whence a flight of steps descended into the garden of the hotel. This was quickly traversed, and the two men reached a narrow and solitary lane, formed by stables and garden walls, and close to the outskirts of the town. Ten paces off stood a postchaise, the door open and the steps down.
"Now then, sir," said the driver in a sleepy voice, as they approached his vehicle, "Jump in. No time to lose."
"How fortunate!" said the Englishman, "here is a carriage."
"But not for you, is it?" said Alexis.
The Englishman laughed, and clapped his hand on his pocket.
"Everything for money. Drive on, postilion, and at a gallop. A double trinkgeld for you."
And he jumped into the vehicle, which instantly drove off, and had disappeared round a corner before Alexis, astonished by the suddenness of the proceeding, had time to reciprocate the farewell shouted to him by the fugitive. He was about to re-enter the garden, when a man came running down the lane. It was Elben.
"How now, William," cried Alexis, "what do you here?"