r carefully closing and locking the door which leads to the
outbuilding of this special domain of Blue Beard.

CHAPTER IX.

NIGHT.

We had left the chevalier when he had penetrated into the forest, which
was alive with the cries of all the animals which peopled it. For a
moment stunned by the tumult, the Gascon bravely pursued his course,
turning his steps ever toward the north, at least toward what he
believed to be so, thanks to his astronomical knowledge. As the priest
had foretold, he could not find any path through the forest; decayed
vegetation, tall shrubs, vines, trunks of trees, an inextricable
undergrowth, covered the ground; the trees were so thick that the air,
light and sun, penetrated with difficulty through this veil of foliage,
among which exhaled a warm moisture almost suffocating produced by the
fermentation of vegetable matter which to a great extent thickly covered
the earth.

The heavy perfume of tropical flowers so saturated this suffocating
atmosphere that the chevalier experienced a kind of intoxication, of
faintness. He walked with a slower step, he felt his head become heavy,
exterior objects became indifferent to him. He no longer admired the
leafy colonades stretching out as far as the eye could see, into the
shadows of the forest. He cast a careless glance at the sparkling and
varied plumage of the parrots, birds of paradise and other birds
joyfully crying out and pursuing the golden-winged insects or snapping
in their beaks the aromatic woods of the Indies. The gambols of the
monkeys, balancing themselves on the garlands of passion vines, or
springing from tree to tree, did not even bring a smile to his lips.
Completely absorbed, he had strength only to contemplate the end of his
perilous journey. He thought only of Blue Beard and her treasures.

After some hours' walk, he began to observe that his silk stockings were
inconvenient for traversing a forest. A large branch of thorny wood had
made a great hole in his coat; his breeches were not irreproachable by
any means; and more than once, feeling his long sword embarrass him by
catching in some plants which obstructed his path, he involuntarily
turned to chastise the importunate object which took the liberty of
interfering with his progress.

Either by chance, or thanks to the frequent use of his staff, with which
he beat the bushes continually, the chevalier had the good fortune not
to encounter any serpents. Toward noon, wo