Page:The Prisoner of Zenda.djvu/212

192 was the pipe, curving from the window to the water. About two feet of its surface was displayed; it was as big round as two men. I was about to approach it when I saw something else, and my heart stood still. The nose of a boat protruded beyond the pipe on the other side; and listening intently, I heard a slight shuffle—as of a man shifting his position. Who was the man who guarded Michael's invention? Was he awake or was he asleep? I felt if my knife were ready, and trod water. As I did so I found bottom under my feet. The foundations of the castle extended some fifteen inches, making a ledge; and I stood on it, out of water from my armpits upward. Then I crouched and peered through the darkness under the pipe, where, curving, it left a space.

There was a man in the boat. A rifle lay by him—I saw the gleam of the barrel. Here was the sentinel! He sat very still. I listened: he breathed heavily, regularly, monotonously. By Heaven, he slept! Kneeling on the shelf, I drew forward under the pipe till my face was within two feet of his. He was a big man, I saw. It was Max Holf, the