f her
gown, clutching, I knew, that long, cruel-looking dagger. Had she seen
any disappointment in my face she would, I felt, have known that the
moment had come, and would have sprung on me like a tigress, certain
of taking me unprepared.

I looked out into the night, and there I saw new cause for danger.
Before and around the hut were at a little distance some shadowy
forms; they were quite still, but I knew that they were all alert and
on guard. Small chance for me now in that direction.

Again I stole a glance round the place. In moments of great excitement
and of great danger, which is excitement, the mind works very quickly,
and the keenness of the faculties which depend on the mind grows in
proportion. I now felt this. In an instant I took in the whole
situation. I saw that the axe had been taken through a small hole made
in one of the rotten boards. How rotten they must be to allow of such
a thing being done without a particle of noise.

The hut was a regular murder-trap, and was guarded all around. A
garroter lay on the roof ready to entangle me with his noose if I
should escape the dagger of the old hag. In front the way was guarded
by I know not how many watchers. And at the back was a row of
desperate men--I had seen their eyes still through the crack in the
boards of the floor, when last I looked--as they lay prone waiting for
the signal to start erect. If it was to be ever, now for it!

As nonchalantly as I could I turned slightly on my stool so as to get
my right leg well under me. Then with a sudden jump, turning my head,
and guarding it with my hands, and with the fighting instinct of the
knights of old, I breathed my lady's name, and hurled myself against
the back wall of the hut.

Watchful as they were, the suddenness of my movement surprised both
Pierre and the old woman. As I crashed through the rotten timbers I
saw the old woman rise with a leap like a tiger and heard her low gasp
of baffled rage. My feet lit on something that moved, and as I jumped
away I knew that I had stepped on the back of one of the row of men
lying on their faces outside the hut. I was torn with nails and
splinters, but otherwise unhurt. Breathless I rushed up the mound in
front of me, hearing as I went the dull crash of the shanty as it
collapsed into a mass.

It was a nightmare climb. The mound, though but low, was awfully
steep, and with each step I took the mass of dust and cinders tore
down with me and gave way