Master Jean-Claude obeyed, not without fear and trembling; he felt the hole in the rock, found the step, and, turning half-way around, presently stood face to face with his friend in a niche which must formerly have belonged to some postern. At the end of the niche a low vault opened.
"How in the world was this discovered?" cried the wondering Hullin.
"I came on it while hunting for nests, thirty-five years ago. I had often seen a magnificent eagle with his mate upon this rock; they were splendid birds, full six feet across the wings. I heard the cries of their young beyond the notch, and, after many a trial, found myself here. What a battle we had! They tried to tear my eyes out, and when I killed them I cleared their nest of the bones that lay there after I had twisted the necks of the young; then I kept on, and you shall see what I found. Come."
They glided together beneath the low and narrow vault, formed of enormous red stones, over which the lantern threw a sickly glare.
At the end of about thirty steps a vast circular cave, formed from the living rock, appeared, on the floor of which were perhaps fifty piles of little kegs, and on the sides a great number of bars of lead and bags of tobacco. The air of the cavern was strongly impregnated with the strong odor of the last.
Marc placed his lantern at the entrance and gazed around with a well-satisfied smile.
"Here is what I found," said he, "only the cave was empty, save that in the middle of the floor yonder lay the skeleton of an animal—of a fox, which had probably died there of old age. The rogue had discovered the way before I did, and he could sleep in safety here. At that time, Jean-Claude, I was twelve years of age. I thought then that the place might some day be useful to me, I knew not how; but afterward, when I made my first essays at my trade with Jacob Zimmer, and when for two winters the revenue officers were on our track, the remembrance of my cave returned. I had made the acquaintance of Hexe-Baizel, who was a servant at the farm of Bois-de-Chênes, then owned by Catherine's father. She brought me twenty-five louis by way of dowry, and we set up our establishment in this cavern of the Arbousiers."
Dives was silent, and Hullin asked:
"You like this den, then?"
"Like it! I would not change it for the finest house in Strasbourg. For twenty-three years have I kept my goods here—sugar, coffee, powder, tobacco, brandy—and no one the wiser. I have eight horses always on the road."