Speedily a letter was written which gave Yvette full details of what was proposed, and Pierre was about to leave when Jules asked him if he had heard anything of the secret aeroplane.
Pierre shook his head.
“There are a lot of privately owned aeroplanes about here,” he said, “but I don’t know anything more than that. I have seen the one you refer to going up at night—the house is in plain view from my room on the first floor of the prison—but I never heard there was any secret about it, and there are so many aeroplanes about that no one takes any notice of them.”
Jules told him all they had found out, and of their suspicions, and found Pierre was able to give them valuable information.
The aeroplane shed, he told them, was just where Yvette had located it. Above it—and this was important—were some rooms which were used, apparently, as offices.
“I have often,” said Pierre, “seen a man come from the offices with what looked like plans, make examination and measurements of the machine, and then go back. But I never took much notice; I had no reason to.”
Pierre left, taking with him the letter to Yvette. For an hour Jules and Gaston discussed the situation.
“We must get her out to-morrow,” declared Gaston, “or else they may take her away and we shall not be able to find out where she is. Manton ought to fly over to-morrow night. If we can get Mademoiselle Pasquet out she can hide here quite safely for a few hours, but there will be a very close search when her escape is discovered.”
“I’ll get the message to Manton at once,” said Jules.
And so it happened that Dick and Le Couteur, who had been waiting for hours in a state of tense anxiety, received a few minutes later the call.