Without hesitation he walked quickly down the terraces and rejoined the group by the gate.
“All’s well,” he said. “You know the Château, Mademoiselle. What part do you think would afford us the greatest security?”
“The foundry, Monsieur. It is at the far end, on the right. Monsieur le Prince carried out his lock-making there in the old days. The place is like a fort — with narrow windows and sheet-iron on the walls.”
“Lead on, then. Come, Rex — one last effort, then you shall sleep.”
They made their way up the terraces once more, and into the small building to which Marie Lou led them. There were windows on one side only, and one door which opened on a roofless corridor connecting the foundry with the main block.
The Duke flashed his torch round the place. In one corner was a rusty furnace with a great funnel chimney. Along one wall a tangled mass of wheels and piping, broken and rusted. For the rest, the place was empty.
Simon was set down in the corner farthest from the windows, blankets were piled on him, and he was given another dose of morphia. For a moment Rex toyed with the rusty machinery, thinking of the jewels, but fatigue overpowered him. The Duke had to lash the whining Rakov to the furnace and gag him. He took a last look round before switching out his torch. Simon and Rex were sleeping, Marie Lou sitting cross-legged on her coverings. He drew his blankets about him. “We shall beat them yet, never fear,” he said, softly. “We must do without a sentry tonight, but you shall take tea in Paris before a month is out!” Next moment he, too, was asleep.
The girl rose softly to her feet, and dragged her bedding to the doorway; she had her little pistol in her hand, the Duke’s automatic lay heavy on her knees. Wide-eyed, alert, but motionless she sat, guarding the sleepers and weaving the fairy-story of the Princess Marie Lou, until the coming of the Siberian dawn.
XX — Sanctuary
For six days they lived in the foundry of the Château. In all that time they only saw one human being — a peasant walking with a load of firewood across the bottom of the garden.