"But I ordered you just now, when the woman screamed, to rush in and let no one escape.""But, citoyen, the four men who were there before had been gone some time, I think. . .""You think?--You?. . ." said Chauvelin, almost choking with fury, "and you let them go. . .""You ordered us to wait, citoyen," protested the sergeant, "and to implicitly obey your commands on pain of death. We waited.""I heard the men creep out of the hut, not many minutes after we took cover, and long before the woman screamed," he added, as Chauvelin seemed still quite speechless with rage.
"Hark!" said Desgas suddenly.
In the distance the sound of repeated firing was heard.
Chauvelin tried to peer along the beach below, but as luck would have it, the fitful moon once more hid her light behind a bank of clouds, and he could see nothing.
"One of you go into the hut and strike a light," he stammered at last.
Stolidly the sergeant obeyed: he went up to the charcoal fire and lit the small lantern he carried in his belt; it was evident that the hut was quite empty.
"Which way did they go?" asked Chauvelin.