"
"Providing he does not nightly change his quarters like Oliver
Cromwell--not so much to avoid enemies, as to calm his uneasy
conscience."
"Well, we shall be no worse than before; we shall have tried to
restore our wonted quietude, and, if we fail, we can say, like Francis
I. at Pavia, '_All is lost except our honor_.'"
Some minutes after this conversation, three shadows might have been
seen stealing through the glades in the direction of Falcon's Nest.
Nothing was to be heard but the rustling of the leaves--the deafened
beating of the sea upon the rocks--and, to use the words of Lamartine,
"those unknown tongues that night and the wind whisper in the air."
The trees were mirrored in the rays of the moon, and the ground, at
intervals, seemed strewn with monstrous giants; their hearts beat, not
with fear, but with that feverish impatience that anticipates decisive
results.
When they arrived at the foot of the tree on which the aerial dwelling
was situated, Fritz opened the door, and resolutely, but stealthily,
ascended.
Willis and Jack followed him with military precision.
They reached the top of the staircase, and held the latch of the door
that opened into the apartment.
A train of mice, in the strictest incognito, could not have performed
these operations with a greater amount of secretiveness.
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