"It is true I am not yet a cardinal; that saves me."

Gaston touched the water, or rather ice, of the fosse; a moment after,
La Jonquiere was by his side.

"Now follow me," said the latter. On the other side of the moat a ladder
awaited them.

"You have accomplices then?"

"Parbleu! do you think the lark pate came by itself?"

"Who says one cannot escape from the Bastille?" said Gaston joyously.

"My young friend," said Dubois, stopping on the third step, "take my
advice; don't get in there again without me; you might not be as
fortunate the second time as the first."

They continued to mount the wall, on the platform of which a sentinel
walked, but instead of opposing them, he held his hand to La Jonquiere
to assist him, and in three minutes they were on the platform, had drawn
up the ladder, and placed it on the other side of the wall.

The descent was as safely managed, and they found themselves on another
frozen moat.

"Now," said the captain, "we must take away the ladder, that we may not
compromise the poor devil who helped us."

"We are then free?"

"Nearly so," said La Jonquiere.

Gaston, strengthened by this news, took up the ladder on his shoulder.

"Peste, chevalier! the late Hercules was nothing to you, I think."

"Bah!" said Gaston, "at this moment I could carry the Bastille itself."

They went on in silence to a lane in the Faubourg St. Antoine; the
streets were deserted.

"Now, my dear chevalier," said La Jonquiere, "do me the favor to follow
me to the corner of the Faubourg."

"I would follow you to--"

"Not so far, if you please; for safety's sake we will each go our own
way."

"What carriage is that?"

"Mine."

"How! yours?"----"Yes."

"Peste! my dear captain: four horses! you travel like a prince!"

"Three horses; one is for you."

"How! you consent?"

"Pardieu! that is not all."

"What?"

"You have no money?"

"It was taken away."

"Here are fifty louis."

"But, captain--"

"Come, it is Spanish money; take it."

Gaston took the purse, while a postilion unharnessed a horse and led it
to him.

"Now," said Dubois, "where are you going?"

"To Bretagne, to rejoin my companions."

"You are mad, my dear fellow; they are all condemned and may be executed
in two or three days."

"You are right," said Gaston.

"Go to Flanders," said La Jonquiere, "it is a pleasant country; in
fifteen or eighteen hours you can reach the frontier."

"Yes," said Gaston gloomi