“Can any one lend me an axe?”
“What for?”
Without exacting any promises of secrecy he at once replied—
“To kill the inspector with to-night.”
He was at once offered several; choosing the smallest, he hid it beneath his waistcoat and left. Now there were twenty-seven prisoners present, and not one of those men betrayed him; they even refrained from talking upon the subject among themselves, waiting for the terrible event which must follow.
As Claude passed on he saw a young convict of sixteen yawning idly there, and he strongly advised him to learn how to read. Just then Faillette asked what he was hiding. Claude answered unhesitatingly—
“An axe to kill Monsieur D—— to-night; but can you see it?”
“A little,” said Faillette.
At seven o’clock the prisoners were locked in their several workshops. It was then the custom for the warders to leave them, until the inspector had been his rounds.
In Claude’s workshop a most extraordinary scene took place, the only one of the kind on record.