When the smoke had cleared away and the
"garrison" saw that he was unhurt, a murmur of astonishment arose, and
one of the men exclaimed aloud that Captain Fracasse--the only name
by which THEY knew him--must bear a charmed life; whereupon, Malartic
cried, "Leave him to me, I'll soon finish him, and do you three keep
a strict guard over the window there; for there will be more to follow
this one if I am not mistaken."
But he did not find his self-imposed task as easy as he supposed--for
de Sigognac was ready for him, and gave him plenty to do, though
his surprise and disappointment were overwhelming when he found that
Isabelle was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is she?" he cried impetuously. "Where is Isabelle? I heard her
voice in here only a moment ago."
"Don't ask me!" Malartic retorted. "YOU didn't give her into my charge."
And all this time their swords were flashing and clashing, as the combat
between them grew more animated.
A moment later, before the men had finished reloading their pistols,
Scapin dashed in through the window, throwing a remarkable somersault
like an acrobat as he came, and seeing that the three ruffians had laid
down their swords beside them on the floor while attending to their
other weapons, he seized upon them all, ere their owners had recovered
from their astonishment at his extraordinary advent, and hurled them
through the broken casement down into the moat.
Pages:
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529