As he spoke he drew from beneath his long overcoat a strong iron crowbar
and a small vial of brandy, and deposited them upon the bed.

He then took the candle and passed it back and forth before the window
five or six times.

"What are you doing?" inquired the baron, in suspense.

"I am signalling to your friends that everything is progressing
favorably. They are down there waiting for us; and see, now they are
answering."

The baron looked, and three times they saw a little flash of flame like
that produced by the burning of a pinch of gunpowder.

"Now," said the corporal, "we are all right. Let us see what progress
you have made with the bars."

"I have scarcely begun," murmured M. d'Escorval.

The corporal inspected the work.

"You may indeed say that you have made no progress," said he; "but,
never mind, I have been a locksmith, and I know how to handle a file."

Having drawn the cork from the vial of brandy which he had brought, he
fastened the stopper to the end of one of the files, and swathed the
handle of the instrument with a piece of damp linen.

"That is what they call putting a _stop_ on the instrument," he
remarked, by way of explanation.

Then he made an energetic attack on the bars. It at once became evident
that he had not exaggerated his knowledge of the subject, nor the
efficacy of his precautions for deadening the sound. The harsh grating
that had so alarmed the baron was no longer heard, and Bavois,
finding he had nothing more to dread from the keenest ears, now made
preparations to shelter himself from observation.

To cover the opening in the door would arouse suspicion at once--so the
corporal adopted another expedient.

Moving the little table to another part of the room, he placed the light
upon it, in such a position that the window remained entirely in shadow.

Then he ordered the baron to sit down, and handing him a paper, said:

"Now read aloud, without stopping for an instant, until you see me cease
work."

By this method they might reasonably hope to deceive the guards outside
in the corridor. Some of them, indeed, did come to the door and look in,
then went away to say to their companions:

"We have just taken a look at the prisoner. He is very pale, and his
eyes are glittering feverishly. He is reading aloud to divert his mind.
Corporal Bavois is looking out of the window. It must be dull music for
him."

The baron's voice would also be of advantage in overpowe