Page:A Gentleman From France (1924).djvu/65

 Frenchmen were true in those days, was obeying the command.

Pierre must have slept, for when he next noted the strange thunder it had swelled to a constant roar, which made the windows in his cellar rattle. Again he made a detour of the cellar, and he now noted a pile of boxes near one of the windows. They were piled up so evenly he could not scale them, but if they were tumbled down he might.

With the thought, which was perhaps only an instinct, he began digging frantically under the bottom box. Three hours steady digging did the trick. He was nearly buried under the avalanche when the pile fell but he managed to scramble out and then jump upon the fallen heap.

The window was now about three feet above him. The first spring shattered the