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236 which felled him to the ground. Then seizing his musket he turned upon the man's comrade. But the latter, instead of staying to meet the attack, fired his musket to rouse the alarm, and in an instant Babillon had fastened the rope to the parapet and came sliding to the ground.

But the search party now came up at the run, attracted by the gunshot, and just as two of them dashed off to intercept Babillon the leader caught sight of Gerard and Dubois, who had stepped forward incautiously into the moonlight in their anxiety at their guide's peril.

"Who goes there?" he challenged, and in a moment the guns of the rest of the soldiers were levelled point blank at them.