overwrought was he that there was a moment when he thought of swimming
to the edge and making across the country to the north while they were
hunting the meadows to the east; but he repressed the impulse and stayed
on. An eternity did it seem before those men returned and marched once
more over his head. A further eternity was it until the clatter of
hoofs on the courtyard stones and their thunder on the planks above him
brought him the news that Tressan was riding home. He heard the hoofs
quicken, and their loud rattle on the road that led down to the Isere,
a half-mile away; and then, when the hoof-beats grew more distant, there
came again the echo of voices up above.

Was it not over yet? Dear God! would it never end? He felt that a few
moments more of this immersion and he should be done for utterly; his
numbness must rob him of the power to cross the moat.

Suddenly the first welcome sound he had heard that night came to his
ears. Chains creaked, hinges groaned, and the great black pall above
him began gradually to rise. Faster it went, till, at last, it fell back
into position, flat with the wall of the chateau, and such little light
as there was from the moon was beating down upon his frozen face.

He let the chain go, and, with strokes swift and silent as he could
contrive, he crossed the water. He clambered up the bank, almost bereft
of strength. A moment he crouched there listening. Had he moved too
soon? Had he been incautious?

Nothing stirred behind him to confirm his fears. He crept softly
across the hard ground of the road where he had landed. Then, when the
yielding, silent turf was under his feet, he gave not another thought
for his numbness, but started to run as a man runs in a nightmare, so
little did the speed of his movements match the pace of his desire to
set a distance between himself and Condillac.

CHAPTER XIX. THROUGH THE NIGHT

It wanted something over an hour to midnight when Monsieur de Garnache
started out in his sodden clothes to run from Condillac. He bore away to
the north, and continued running until he had covered a mile or so, when
perforce he must slacken his pace lest presently he should have to give
way to utter exhaustion. He trudged on bravely thereafter, at a good,
swinging pace, realizing that in moving briskly lay his salvation from
such ill effects as might otherwise attend his too long immersion. His
run had set a pleasant glow upon his skin and seemed to have