Leboeuf interposed his bulky body between her and the means of exit; closed and locked the door on the inside. "I will cry aloud. Some one will hear me," she said in desperation. "Who will hear you above all that noise?" he inquired tersely. The prisoners on the boat, now fully aware that their time of execution had come, were crying out against their fate,--some praying for mercy, some calling down the maledictions of heaven upon their butchers, while others wept silently. "Merciful Virgin, protect me. I have lost all hope," cried Edmé, turning from Leboeuf and sinking despairingly upon her knees. "Ah, now you are frightened!" exclaimed Leboeuf, "admit that you are frightened!" "If it is any satisfaction to have succeeded in terrifying a woman unable to defend herself, I will not rob you of the pleasure, but know that it is not death, but the manner of it, that I fear." "But you are afraid; you have confessed to it at last, and now Leboeuf will see that they do not harm you." He gave a grim chuckle as if he enjoyed having won his point. Rapidly pushing the table to one side, turning back the rug that covered the floor, he stooped; and to Edmé's astonished gaze lifted up a trap door in the floor of the cabin. Edmé drew back from the black hole at her feet. "It is large enough to afford you air for several hours," Leboeuf said. "By that time I will get you out again. Quick, descend the steps." Edmé, fearing further treachery, drew back in alarm. "I prefer to meet my fate here." Leboeuf struck a light and by the rays of the lamp a ladder was revealed. "I tell you it is certain death to remain here fifteen minutes longer. Even I could not save you then. The more they throw into the water the more frenzied they become for other victims. They will ransack the entire boat; but they won't find you down there. Leboeuf alone knows this place. Quick! If you would live to see the sun rise to-morrow, go down the steps of that ladder." He took her by the shoulder to assist in the descent. His touch was so distasteful to her that she threw off his hand and went down the ladder unaided. "Make not the slightest sound, whatever you may hear going on up here above you, and wait patiently until I come to release you." With these words the door was shut down and Leboeuf went out and up to the deck alone. The vessel had reached a point in the river just outside the city. Here the stream narrowed and ran swiftly between the banks. The sky was windy; and between the rifts of the high-banked clouds the moon shone fitfully. To the east lay the city of Tours, its spires standing out in sharp silhouette against the sky. On the river bank the wind swept over the dead, dry grass with a mournful, swaying sound and rattled the rotting halyards of the old hulk, which with one small sail set in the bow to keep it steady, made slowly down the river with the current, hugging the left bank as if fearful of trusting itself to the swifter depths beyond.