I struck out, and began to swim round the great walls which frowned above me.I could see only three yards ahead;I had then good hopes of not being seen, as I crept along close under the damp, moss-grown masonry.There were lights from the new part of the Castle on the other side, and now and again I heard laughter and merry shouts.I fancied I recognized young Rupert Hentzau's ringing tones, and pictured him flushed with wine.Recalling my thoughts to the business in hand, I rested a moment.If Johann's description were right, I must be near the window now.
Very slowly I moved; and out of the darkness ahead loomed a shape.
It was the pipe, curving from the window to the water:
about four feet of its surface were displayed;it was as big round as two men.I was about to approach it, when I saw something else, and my heart stood still.The nose of a boat protruded beyond the pipe on the other side;and listening intently, I heard a slight shuffle--as of a man shifting his position.Who was the man who guarded Michael's invention?
Was he awake or was he asleep? I felt if my knife were ready, and trod water; as I did so, I found bottom under my feet.
The foundations of the Castle extended some fifteen inches, ****** a ledge; and I stood on it, out of water from my armpits upwards.
Then I crouched and peered through the darkness under the pipe, where, curving, it left a space.
There was a man in the boat.A rifle lay by him--I saw the gleam of the barrel.Here was the sentinel! He sat very still.
I listened; he breathed heavily, regularly, monotonously.
By heaven, he slept! Kneeling on the shelf, I drew forward under the pipe till my face was within two feet of his.
He was a big man, I saw.It was Max Holf, the brother of Johann.
My hand stole to my belt, and I drew out my knife.Of all the deeds of my life, I love the least to think of this, and whether it were the act of a man or a traitor I will not ask.I said to myself:
"It is war--and the King's life is the stake." And I raised myself from beneath the pipe and stood up by the boat, which lay moored by the ledge.Holding my breath, I marked the spot and raised my arm.The great fellow stirred.He opened his eyes--wide, wider.He grasped in terror at my face and clutched at his rifle.
I struck home.And I heard the chorus of a love-song from the opposite bank.
Leaving him where he lay, a huddled mass, I turned to "Jacob's Ladder."My time was short.This fellow's turn of watching might be over directly, and relief would come.Leaning over the pipe, I examined it, from the end near the water to the topmost extremity where it passed, or seemed to pass, through the masonry of the wall.
There was no break in it, no chink.Dropping on my knees, I tested the under side.And my breath went quick and fast, for on this lower side, where the pipe should have clung close to the masonry, there was a gleam of light! That light must come from the cell of the King! I set my shoulder against the pipe and exerted my strength.The chink widened a very, very little, and hastily I desisted; I had done enough to show that the pipe was not fixed in the masonry at the lower side.
Then I heard a voice--a harsh, grating voice:
"Well, sire, if you have had enough of my society, I will leave you to repose; but I must fasten the little ornaments first."It was Detchard! I caught the English accent in a moment.
