ctation, Spoil-sport crouched down abruptly,
and pushed his nose as far as possible under the door, snuffling up the
air.

"They are coming," said Dagobert hastily, to his son.

"Let us draw off a little distance," replied Agricola.

"No," said his father; "we must listen. It will be time to retire, if
they open the door. Here, Spoil-sport! down!"

The dog obeyed, and withdrawing from the door, crouched down at the feet
of his master. Some seconds after, they heard a sort of splashing on the
damp ground, caused by heavy footsteps in puddles of water, and then the
sound of words, which carried away by the wind, did not reach distinctly
the ears of the soldier and the smith.

"They are the people of whom Mother Bunch told us, going their round,"
said Agricola to his father.

"So much the better. There will be an interval before they come round
again, and we shall have some two hours before us, without interruption.
Our affair is all right now."

By degrees, the sound of the footsteps became less and less distinct, and
at last died away altogether.

"Now, quick! we must not lose any time," said Dagobert to his son, after
waiting about ten minutes; "they are far enough. Let us try to open the
door."

Agricola leaned his powerful shoulder against it, and pushed vigorously;
but the door did not give way, notwithstanding its age.

"Confound it!" said Agricola; "there is a bar on the inside. I am sure of
it, or these old planks would not have resisted my weight."

"What is to be done?"

"I will scale the wall by means of the cord and hook, and open the door
from the other side."

So saying, Agricola took the cord, and after several attempts, succeeded
in fixing the hook on the coping of the wall.

"Now, father, give me a leg up; I will help myself up with the cord; once
astride on the wall, I can easily turn the hook and get down into the
garden."

The soldier leaned against the wall, and joined his two hands, in the
hollow of which his son placed one of his feet, then mounting upon the
robust shoulders of his father, he was able, by help of the cord, and
some irregularities in the wall, to reach the top. Unfortunately, the
smith had not perceived that the coping of the wall was strewed with
broken bottles, so that he wounded his knees and hands; but, for fear of
alarming Dagobert, he repressed every exclamation of pain, and replacing
the hook, he glided down the cord to the ground. The door was close by,
an