If we reach it unobserved we can creep through the mass of flowers
and shrubbery to a large fishpond which lies just beyond it. You're a
good swimmer, as I know--and you can swim along its edge until you reach
the shrubbery on the other side. Then you ought to find an opening by
which you can reach the French army."
"And you, Weber?"
"I? Oh, I must stay here. The Prince of Auersperg is a man of great
importance. He is high in the confidence of the Kaiser. Besides his
royal rank he commands one of the German armies. If I am to secure
precious information for France it must be done in this house."
"Come away with me, Weber. You've risked enough already. They'll catch
you and you know the fate of spies. I feel like a criminal or coward
abandoning you to so much danger, after all that you've done for me."
"Thank you for your good words, Mr. Scott, but it's impossible for me to
go. Keep in the shadow of the wall, and a dozen steps will take you to
the conservatory."
John wrung the Alsatian's hand, stepped out, and pressed himself against
the side of the house. The breeze still blew upon his face, revivifying
and intoxicating. The lazy, feathery clouds were yet drifting before the
moon and stars.
He saw to his right the gleam of a bayonet as a sentinel walked back and
forth and he saw another to his left. His heart beat high with hope. He
was merely a mote in infinite night, and surely they could not see him.
He walked swiftly along in the shadow of the house, and then sprang into
the conservatory, where he crouched between two tall rose bushes.
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