Maurice Leblanc

“ The opening which she thus contrived to make was very wide; and she easily passed the ladder which she had brought with her through and secured it by its iron hooks to the lower ledge.
She was some hundred feet or so above the sea, which lay all white before her, guarded by the thousand reefs of Sarek. But she could not see the foot of the cliff, for there was under the window a slight projection of granite which jutted forward and on which the ladder rested instead of hanging perpendicularly. ”

“ You will find in Maguennoc's workshop a bamboo ladder, with iron hooks to it, which you can easily bring with you to-morrow morning. Next, take some provisions and some rugs and leave them in a thicket at the entrance to the tunnel.”
“What for, darling?”
“You'll see. I have a plan. Good-bye, mother. Have a good night's rest and pick up your strength. We may have a hard day before us.”
Veronique followed her son's advice. The next morning, full of hope, she once more took the road to the cell. This time, All's Well, reverting to his instincts of independence, did not come with her. ”

“ I will work during the night; and to-morrow morning I shall give you a kiss, mother.”
“Oh, it sounds too good to be true!”
“I promise you I shall. Then all that we shall have to do will be to release Stephane.”
“Your tutor? Do you know where he is shut up?”
“I do almost know. According to the particulars which grandfather gave us, the underground passages consist of two floors one above the other; and the last cell of each is fitted as a prison. I occupy one of them. Stephane should occupy the other, below mine. What worries me...” ”

“ I had no pencil or paper to write to them; but, after all, they had only to follow All's Well.”
“That was impossible,” said Veronique, “because they believed you to be far away from Sarek, carried off no doubt, and because your grandfather had left.”
“Just so: why believe anything of the sort? Grandfather knew, from a lately discovered document, where we were, for it was he who told us of the possible entrance to the underground passage. Didn't he speak to you about it?”
Veronique had been very happy in listening to her son's story. ”

“ We had gone down a stone staircase and a very long passage, lined with perhaps eighty caves, or rather eighty cells. The doors, which were of wood, were open; and the cells overlooked the sea. It was on the way back, as we were going up the staircase again in the dark, that we were seized from one side, knocked down, bound, blindfolded and gagged. The whole thing did not take a minute. I suspect that we were carried back to the end of the long-passage. When I succeeded in removing my bonds and my bandage, I found that I was locked in one of the cells probably the last in the passage ”