Jacob's ladder
Chapter 15: The gorge

Fearing a new shot, Luis fled downthe slope and tried to hide in the bushes. He had lost the hope of joining hiscompanions in the mine. Fortunately, the clouds had covered the moon again andhe was no longer visible, even though he doubted that Blatsov would be hinderedby darkness. His supernatural powers were obvious: how else could he haveguessed their use of the secret passage and the exact place where they would appear?He was obviously waiting for them and had put his cannon in place long before theywere visible.

In spite of everything, he felt nothopeless. While his certainty that Blatsov was a fiend had grown, he was evermore convinced that Lydia was an angel. With an angel on his side, who can beovercome? His trust toward Lydia gave him the certainty that she would save himfrom any danger. For the same reason, he was not worried about Charles andPierre, in spite of the fact that the earth-fall might have buried them. Theywere with Lydia: nothing wrong could have happened to them.

Of course, he had to try and join them.He knew that the mine had another entrance. If he could replace it, he could meet theothers there. The problem was that he hadn’t the faintest idea in whichdirection to go. At the same time, he also had to hide from Blatsov and hismen, so as not to be captured or, even worse, drive them to his friends. As thecannon had not fired again, he had no inkling about their position.

A moving shadow startled him. He slidbehind some bushes and looked around, but saw nothing. Finally he assumed that thecause of his fright was a bat and walked with double caution and very slowly. Whenthe moon appeared, showing the way clearly, he dared not move, fearing to beseen; when all was dark, he couldn’t see where he was going. Fortunately, thatpart of the slope was highly overgrown with bushes, which made walkingdifficult, but helped him to hide. The shape of the land forced him to go down,although he would have preferred to remain at the same height, assuming that theother opening of the mine would be at the same level, but he decided to trust Lydiathe job of replaceing him again.

He had lost the count of time. When thesun rose, it was a big surprise: he had been walking for seven hours. Suddenly hisphysical and nervous exhaustion, together with the need of sleep and food, tookhold of him, and he felt incapable of walking another step. He tried to locate hisenemies, but saw nothing suspicious. Feeling safer, he found a sheltered placein a hollow, lay on the ground and slept peacefully.

When he awoke he felt hungry, but couldonly eat a few berries, which made him even more conscious of the void in hisstomach. The position of the sun told him that he had slept over ten hours. Intwo or three more, it would be night again and he would be able to proceed.During his sleep, he seemed to have been meditating on his problem, for he hadfound that he had made his mind: rather than trying to meet Lydia and hisfriends, he’d try to get to Spain and replace them there. Once he got around SaintBartholomew, which was in his way, he would go straight to the South.

Before leaving the protection of thehollow, he hid among the bushes and looked around, trying to see either friendsor enemies. He had not really expected to see the former, for they would keephidden at daytime, but he did see the latter, in the opposite slope of a narrowvalley. Eight to ten men were moving like ants in search for food. A littlefarther he saw the cannon, aiming threateningly at the left of his hidingplace. He did not to see Blatsov, and he would rather know where he was. He alwaysfeared to see the man in black, peering into his hollow and challenging him tosurrender.

While he waited, he saw the cannonunwatched and the beginnings of an idea lighted in his brain. I he coulddestroy it, his friends would be safer. Apparently the enemy had no suspicionof his position, so near and so sheltered. Even with the moon, the many clouds wouldgive him many intervals of darkness to help his attempt, therefore he spent alot of time studying the disposition of the ground, until he considered himselfcapable, when the time came, to cross the valley and get to the cannon with hiseyes closed.

Just when the sun was setting amongthe mountains, the clouds covered the sky, so the night would be dark, withoutmoon or starlight. It was a splendid twilight: pushed by the wind, the cloudswere tinted with a kaleidoscopic gamut of red, orange, pink and purple. In theslope of the mountain, however, the air was calm.

When the darkness covered the landscape,Luis left his hollow and moved, slow and prudent, toward his goal. He had allthe landmarks clear in his mind, rocks, bushes, trees and ravines, so hescarcely hesitated. Trying to avoid the crack of a twig or the rub of hisclothes with the brush, it took him half an hour to reach the bottom of thevalley and cross the brook, and another half to ascend the opposite slope.

He reached the top of a rockytableland exactly at the point he had foreseen. Hidden behind a bush, he waiteduntil the eastern vapors separated a little and let a few rays of the moon showthe position of his enemies. The cannon was protected by two men, sitting onthe ground and eating, with their backs to the weapon. They did not seem verywatchful, not dreaming that he was so near.

Suddenly, a man in black appearedamong the trees and came near. Luis remained still, as though turned into stone,his mind filled with fear, but his archenemy only wanted to call the two menand disappeared with them among the brush. A moment later, the moon disappearedagain and the scene fell in total darkness. The time had come. Conquering hisfear, he stood up and walked the few steps separating him from the cannon.

His plans were well laid. As he wasstarving, he ran to the place where the two men had been eating and filled hispockets with food. Next he walked to some boxes and barrels, not far from the cannon,which obviously contained powder. He pushed the boxes under the gun carriage,opened one of the barrels and made a powder trickle up to the bush where he hadbeen hidden. Then he used the tinder and flint in his pocket to light thetrickle, and ran down the slope to replace shelter at the bottom of the valley.

He had just reached the brook whenthe explosion took place. He heard it quite well, but the accompanying reddishradiance could be seen for less than one second. Without waiting to discover theresult of his efforts, he ran by the easiest way, the bottom of the valley. Hesoon stopped hearing the shouts and curses of his enemies and found himselfalone, protected by the darkness.

A few hours later, his hungersatiated by the few crumbs he had taken, the clouds opened and he could get hisbearings for the first time since his adventure. Almost at his back, he saw thepeak of Saint Bartholomew. Just before him, a little higher on the slope,opened the mouth of a gorge which seemed to cross the mountains in thedirection he wanted to go, directly to the South. Hoping that the pass wouldtake him to the Spanish border, he started climbing with his hands and feet.Some time later, his body tired but his spirit exultant, he raised himself ontop of an edge, at the mouth of the gorge.

At a sudden movement he threw himselfon the ground, but a raucous growl told him that it was not a man, but ananimal. He would rather face that kind of danger, and his right hand closedaround a stone which could serve as a weapon, although he did not really wantto use it, for the noise of a fight could bring Blatsov and his men, who wouldcertainly be searching for him after his attack on the cannon.

Smelling noisily, the animal camenear to replace the cause of the noise which had attracted its attention. At thelight of the moon, Luis saw a bulk in the size of a big hound or a sheep, but muchfatter. He stood up, brandishing his stone. Surprised, the animal rose upon itshind feet and he recognized it as a baby brown bear, and almost laughed in relief.For a short time, boy and beast remained still, watching one another.

“Come on, go away!” he whispered.

A fierce growl broke the silence and provokeda chaos. The bear mother had been near and had just detected Luis, whom sheconsidered a threat for her progeny. Hearing her voice, the baby bear fell onits four legs and ran to her, while Luis fled in the opposite direction, to thegorge. Although the pause had let him recover his breath, he had to stop afterrunning a few hundreds of steps, with a sharp sting in his left side. His heartbeating violently, he looked back to see if the bear was following him, but heardnothing. Apparently, the two beasts had continued their interrupted rest,without paying more attention at the incident.

After a little rest, he went aheadcautiously. He was afraid that the growl of the bear and his mad race wouldhave attracted the attention of his enemies. The moon was hidden again, but themountain gorge was too narrow to replace shelter if Blatsov tried to capture himhere.

The gorge had no branches, but wasnot straight, and did not let him see very far ahead. With every step, his trustgrew, that it would take him to the other side of the mountains, but after thenext bend, he stopped suddenly, his hopes broken in pieces at the sight beforehis eyes.

Clearly lighted by the moon, whichhad just appeared among the clouds, the gorge widened, turning into a flatspace totally surrounded by the mountains: Luis had got into a dead-end. Thestone wall in front of him was broken by the opening of a huge cavern. Just beforethe opening, looking at him, was a man clad in black, whose pallid face seemedto shine under the silvery rays coming from above.

Luis felt rigid with fear, but amoment later the instinct of self-preservation took hold and he turned around, tryingto run back, but half a dozen men, armed with knives, had taken strategic positionsa few paces behind him. His eyes searched the mountain and saw that all the wallswere vertical, that it was impossible to climb. In the meantime, Blatsov waswalking very slowly, as though he knew that his prey would not be able toescape him this time.

“At last!” he said with a creaking voice, stoppingbefore Luis, while the men at his back closed around him and seized his armsroughly.