章节正文
"I say, kiddie, the governor's chucked us!"
nd he added a sentence which nobody, save Prasville, was able to
understand:
"Expect he prefers to pocket the proceeds of the crystal stopper."
They went down the staircases. They crossed the prison-yards. An
endless, horrible distance.
And, suddenly, in the frame of the great doorway, the wan light of day,
the rain, the street, the outlines of houses, while far-off sounds came
through the awful silence.
They walked along the wall, to the corner of the boulevard.
A few steps farther
Vaucheray started back: he had seen!
Gilbert crept along, with lowered head, supported by an executioner's
assistant and by the chaplain, who made him kiss the crucifix as he went.
There stood the guillotine.
"No, no," shouted Gilbert, "I won,t ... I won't... Help! Help!"
A last appeal, lost in space.
The executioner gave a signal. Vaucheray was laid hold of, lifted,
dragged along, almost at a run.
And then came this staggering thing: a shot, a shot fired from the other
side, from one of the houses opposite.
The assistants stopped short.
The burden which they were dragging bad collapsed in their arms.
"What is it? What's happened?" asked everybody.
"He's wounded... "
Blood spurted from Vaucheray's forehead and covered his face.
He spluttered:
"That's done it ... one in a thousand! Thank you, governor, thank you.
"Finish him off! Carry him there!" said a voice, amid the general
confusion.
"But he's dead!"
"Get on with it... flnish him off!"
Tumult was at its height, in the little group of magistrates, officials
and policemen. Every one was giving orders:
"Execute him!... The law must take its course!... We have no right to
delay! It would be cowardice!... Execute him!"
"But the man's dead!"
"That makes no difference!... The law must be obeyed!... Execute him!"
The chaplain protested, while two warders and Prasville kept their eyes
on Gilbert. In the meantime, the assistants had taken up the corpse
again and were carrying it to the guillotine.
"Hurry up!" cried the executioner, scared and hoarse-voiced. "Hurry up!
... And the other one to follow. . . Waste no time... "
He had not finished speaking, when a second report rang out. He spun
round on his heels and fell, groaning:
"It's nothing ... a wound in the shoulder... Go on... The next one's
turn!"
But his assistants were running away, yelling with terror. The space
around the guillotine was cleared. And the prefect of police, rallying
his men, drove everybody back to the prison, helter-skelter, like a
disordered rabble: the magistrates, the officials, the condemned man,
the chaplain, all who had passed through the archway two or three
minutes before.
In the meanwhile, a squad of policemen, detectives and soldiers were
rushing upon the house, a little o1d-fashioned, three-storied house,
with a ground-floor occupied by two shops which happened to be empty.
Immediately after the first shot, they had seen, vaguely, at one of
the windows on the second floor, a man holding a rifle in his hand
and surrounded with a cloud of smoke.
Revolver-shots were fired at him, but missed him. He, standing calmly
on a table, took aim a second time, fired from the shoulder; and the
crack of the second report was heard. Then he withdrew into the room.
Down below, as nobody answered the peal at the bell, the assailants
demolished the door, which gave way almost immediately. They made for
the staircase, but their onrush was at once stopped, on the first floor,
by an accumulation of beds, chairs and other furniture, forming a regular
barricade and so close-entangled that it took the aggressors four or
five minutes to clear themselves a passage.
Those four or five minutes lost were enough to render all pursuit
hopeless. When they reached the second floor they heard a voice shouting
from above:
"This way, friends! Eighteen stairs more. A thousand apologies for
giving you so much trouble!"
They ran up those eighteen stairs and nimbly at that! But, at the top,
above the third story, was the garret, which was reached by a ladder
and a trapdoor. And the fugitive had taken away the ladder and bolted
the trapdoor.
The reader will not have forgotten the sensation created by this amazing
action, the editions of the papers issued in quick succession, the
newsboys tearing and shouting through the streets, the whole metropolis
on edge with indignation and, we may say, with anxious curiosity.
But it was at the headquarters of police that the excitement developed
into a paroxysm. Men flung themselves about on every side. Messages,
telegrams, telephone calls followed one upon the other.
At last, at eleven o'clock in the morning, there was a meeting in the
office of the prefect of police, and Prasville was there. The
chief-detective read a report of his inquiry, the results of which
amounted to this: shortly before midnightyesterday some one had rung
at the house on the Boulevard Arago. The portress, who slept in a
small room on the ground-floor, behind one of the shops pulled the rope.
A man came and tapped at her door. He said that he had come from the
police on an urgent matter concerning to-morrow's execution. The
portress opened the door and was at once attacked, gagged and bound.
Ten minutes later a lady and gentleman who lived on the first floor
and who had just come home were also reduced to helplessness by the
same individual and locked up, each in one of the two empty shops. The
third-floor tenant underwent a similar fate, but in his own flat and his
own bedroom, which the man was able to enter without being heard. The
second floor was unoccupied, and the man took up his quarters there. He
was now master of the house.
"And there we are!" said the prefect of police, beginning to laugh, with
a certain bitterness. "There we are! It's as simple as shelling peas.
Only, what surprises me is that he was able to get away so easily."
"I will ask you to observe, monsieur le prefet, that, being absolute
master of the house from one o'clock in the morning, he had until five
o'clock to prepare his flight."
"And that flight took place... ?"
"Over the roofs. At that spot the houses in the next street, the Rue
de la Glaciere, are quite near and there is only one break in the roofs,
about three yards wide, with a drop of one yard in height."
"Well?"
"Well, our man had taken away the ladder leading to the garret and used
it as a foot-bridge. After crossing to the next block of buildings, all
he had to do was to look through the windows until he found an empty
attic, enter one of the houses in the Rue de Ia Glaciere and walk out
quietly with his hands in his pockets. In this way his flight, duly
prepared beforehand, was effected very simply and without the least
obstacle."
"But you had taken the necessary measures."
"These which you ordered, monsieur le prefet. My men spent three hours
last evening visiting all the houses, so as to make sure that there was
no stranger hiding there. At the moment when they were leaving the last
house I had the street barred. Our man must have slipped through during
that few minutes' interval."
"Capital! Capital! And there is no doubt in your minds, of course:
it's Arsene Lupin?"
"Not a doubt. In the first place, it was all a question of his
accomplices. And then ... and then... no one but Arsene Lupin was
capable of contriving such a master-stroke and carrying it out with that
inconceivable boldness."
"But, in that case," muttered the prefect of police - and, turning to
Prasville, he continued - "but, in that case, my dear Prasville, the
fellow of whom you spoke to me, the fellow whom you and the
chief-detective have had watched since yesterday evening, in his flat
in the Place de Clichy, that fellow is not Arsene Lupin?"
"Yes, he is, monsieur le prefet. There is no doubt about that either."
"Then why wasn't he arrested when he went out last night?"
"He did not go out."
"I say, this is getting complicated!"
"It's quite simple, monsieur le prefet. Like all the houses in which
traces of Arsene Lupin are to be found, the house in the Place de Cichy
has two outlets."
"And you didn't know it?"
"I didn't know it. I only discovered it this morning, on inspecting the
flat."
"Was there no one in the flat?"
"No. The servant, a man called Achille, went away this morning, taking
with him a lady who was staying with Lupin."
"What was the lady's name?"
"I don't know," replied Prasville, after an imperceptible hesitation.
"But you know the name under which Arsene Lupin passed?"
"Yes. M. Nicole, a private tutor, master of arts and so on. Here is
his card."
As Prasville finished speaking, an office-messenger came to tell the
prefect of police that he was wanted immediately at the Elysse. The
prime minister was there already.
"I'm coming," he said. And he added, between his teeth, "It's to decide
upon Gilbert's fate."
Prasville ventured:
"Do you think they will pardon him, monsieur le prefet?"
"Never! After last night's affair, it would make a most deplorable
impression. Gilbert must pay his debt to-morrow morning."
The messenger had, at the same time, handed Prasville a visiting-card.
Prasville now looked at it, gave a start and muttered:
"Well, I'm hanged! What a nerve!"
"What's the matter?" asked the prefect of police.
"Nothing, nothing, monsieur le prefet," declared Prasville, who did not
wish to share with another the honour of seeing this business through.
"Nothing... an unexpected visit... I hope soon to have the pleasure of
telling you the result."
And he walked away, mumbling, with an air of amazement:
"Well, upon my word! What a nerve the beggar has! What a nerve!"
The visiting-card which he held in his hand bore these words:
M. Nicole,
Master of Arts, Private Tutor.
CHAPTER XIII
THE LAST BATTLE
When Prasville returned to his office he saw M. Nicole sitting on a
bench in the waiting-room, with his bent back, his ailing air, his
gingham umbrella, his rusty hat and his single glove:
"It's he all right," said Prasville, who had feared for a moment that
Lupin might have sent another M. Nicole to see him. "And the fact that
he has come in person proves that he does not suspect that I have seen
through him." And, for the third time, he said, "All the same, what a
nerve!"
He shut the door of his office and called his secretary:
"M. Lartigue, I am having a rather dangerous person shown in here. The
chances are that he will have to leave my office with the bracelets on.
As soon as he is in my room, make all the necessary arrangements: send
for a dozen inspectors and have them posted in the waiting-room and in
your office. And take this as a definiteinstruction: the moment I ring,
you are all to come in, revolvers in hand, and surround the fellow. Do
you quite understand?"
"Yes, monsieur le secretaire-general."
"Above all, no hesitation. A sudden entrance, in a body, revolvers in
hand. Send M. Nicole in, please."
As soon as he was alone, Prasville covered the push of an electric bell
on his desk with some papers and placed two revolvers of respectable
dimensions behind a rampart of books.
"And now," he said to himself, "to sit tight. If he has the list, let's
collar it. If he hasn't, let's collar him. And, if possible, let's
nd he added a sentence which nobody, save Prasville, was able to
understand:
"Expect he prefers to pocket the proceeds of the crystal stopper."
They went down the staircases. They crossed the prison-yards. An
endless, horrible distance.
And, suddenly, in the frame of the great doorway, the wan light of day,
the rain, the street, the outlines of houses, while far-off sounds came
through the awful silence.
They walked along the wall, to the corner of the boulevard.
A few steps farther
Vaucheray started back: he had seen!
Gilbert crept along, with lowered head, supported by an executioner's
assistant and by the chaplain, who made him kiss the crucifix as he went.
There stood the guillotine.
"No, no," shouted Gilbert, "I won,t ... I won't... Help! Help!"
A last appeal, lost in space.
The executioner gave a signal. Vaucheray was laid hold of, lifted,
dragged along, almost at a run.
And then came this staggering thing: a shot, a shot fired from the other
side, from one of the houses opposite.
The assistants stopped short.
The burden which they were dragging bad collapsed in their arms.
"What is it? What's happened?" asked everybody.
"He's wounded... "
Blood spurted from Vaucheray's forehead and covered his face.
He spluttered:
"That's done it ... one in a thousand! Thank you, governor, thank you.
"Finish him off! Carry him there!" said a voice, amid the general
confusion.
"But he's dead!"
"Get on with it... flnish him off!"
Tumult was at its height, in the little group of magistrates, officials
and policemen. Every one was giving orders:
"Execute him!... The law must take its course!... We have no right to
delay! It would be cowardice!... Execute him!"
"But the man's dead!"
"That makes no difference!... The law must be obeyed!... Execute him!"
The chaplain protested, while two warders and Prasville kept their eyes
on Gilbert. In the meantime, the assistants had taken up the corpse
again and were carrying it to the guillotine.
"Hurry up!" cried the executioner, scared and hoarse-voiced. "Hurry up!
... And the other one to follow. . . Waste no time... "
He had not finished speaking, when a second report rang out. He spun
round on his heels and fell, groaning:
"It's nothing ... a wound in the shoulder... Go on... The next one's
turn!"
But his assistants were running away, yelling with terror. The space
around the guillotine was cleared. And the prefect of police, rallying
his men, drove everybody back to the prison, helter-skelter, like a
disordered rabble: the magistrates, the officials, the condemned man,
the chaplain, all who had passed through the archway two or three
minutes before.
In the meanwhile, a squad of policemen, detectives and soldiers were
rushing upon the house, a little o1d-fashioned, three-storied house,
with a ground-floor occupied by two shops which happened to be empty.
Immediately after the first shot, they had seen, vaguely, at one of
the windows on the second floor, a man holding a rifle in his hand
and surrounded with a cloud of smoke.
Revolver-shots were fired at him, but missed him. He, standing calmly
on a table, took aim a second time, fired from the shoulder; and the
crack of the second report was heard. Then he withdrew into the room.
Down below, as nobody answered the peal at the bell, the assailants
demolished the door, which gave way almost immediately. They made for
the staircase, but their onrush was at once stopped, on the first floor,
by an accumulation of beds, chairs and other furniture, forming a regular
barricade and so close-entangled that it took the aggressors four or
five minutes to clear themselves a passage.
Those four or five minutes lost were enough to render all pursuit
hopeless. When they reached the second floor they heard a voice shouting
from above:
"This way, friends! Eighteen stairs more. A thousand apologies for
giving you so much trouble!"
They ran up those eighteen stairs and nimbly at that! But, at the top,
above the third story, was the garret, which was reached by a ladder
and a trapdoor. And the fugitive had taken away the ladder and bolted
the trapdoor.
The reader will not have forgotten the sensation created by this amazing
action, the editions of the papers issued in quick succession, the
newsboys tearing and shouting through the streets, the whole metropolis
on edge with indignation and, we may say, with anxious curiosity.
But it was at the headquarters of police that the excitement developed
into a paroxysm. Men flung themselves about on every side. Messages,
telegrams, telephone calls followed one upon the other.
At last, at eleven o'clock in the morning, there was a meeting in the
office of the prefect of police, and Prasville was there. The
chief-detective read a report of his inquiry, the results of which
amounted to this: shortly before midnightyesterday some one had rung
at the house on the Boulevard Arago. The portress, who slept in a
small room on the ground-floor, behind one of the shops pulled the rope.
A man came and tapped at her door. He said that he had come from the
police on an urgent matter concerning to-morrow's execution. The
portress opened the door and was at once attacked, gagged and bound.
Ten minutes later a lady and gentleman who lived on the first floor
and who had just come home were also reduced to helplessness by the
same individual and locked up, each in one of the two empty shops. The
third-floor tenant underwent a similar fate, but in his own flat and his
own bedroom, which the man was able to enter without being heard. The
second floor was unoccupied, and the man took up his quarters there. He
was now master of the house.
"And there we are!" said the prefect of police, beginning to laugh, with
a certain bitterness. "There we are! It's as simple as shelling peas.
Only, what surprises me is that he was able to get away so easily."
"I will ask you to observe, monsieur le prefet, that, being absolute
master of the house from one o'clock in the morning, he had until five
o'clock to prepare his flight."
"And that flight took place... ?"
"Over the roofs. At that spot the houses in the next street, the Rue
de la Glaciere, are quite near and there is only one break in the roofs,
about three yards wide, with a drop of one yard in height."
"Well?"
"Well, our man had taken away the ladder leading to the garret and used
it as a foot-bridge. After crossing to the next block of buildings, all
he had to do was to look through the windows until he found an empty
attic, enter one of the houses in the Rue de Ia Glaciere and walk out
quietly with his hands in his pockets. In this way his flight, duly
prepared beforehand, was effected very simply and without the least
obstacle."
"But you had taken the necessary measures."
"These which you ordered, monsieur le prefet. My men spent three hours
last evening visiting all the houses, so as to make sure that there was
no stranger hiding there. At the moment when they were leaving the last
house I had the street barred. Our man must have slipped through during
that few minutes' interval."
"Capital! Capital! And there is no doubt in your minds, of course:
it's Arsene Lupin?"
"Not a doubt. In the first place, it was all a question of his
accomplices. And then ... and then... no one but Arsene Lupin was
capable of contriving such a master-stroke and carrying it out with that
inconceivable boldness."
"But, in that case," muttered the prefect of police - and, turning to
Prasville, he continued - "but, in that case, my dear Prasville, the
fellow of whom you spoke to me, the fellow whom you and the
chief-detective have had watched since yesterday evening, in his flat
in the Place de Clichy, that fellow is not Arsene Lupin?"
"Yes, he is, monsieur le prefet. There is no doubt about that either."
"Then why wasn't he arrested when he went out last night?"
"He did not go out."
"I say, this is getting complicated!"
"It's quite simple, monsieur le prefet. Like all the houses in which
traces of Arsene Lupin are to be found, the house in the Place de Cichy
has two outlets."
"And you didn't know it?"
"I didn't know it. I only discovered it this morning, on inspecting the
flat."
"Was there no one in the flat?"
"No. The servant, a man called Achille, went away this morning, taking
with him a lady who was staying with Lupin."
"What was the lady's name?"
"I don't know," replied Prasville, after an imperceptible hesitation.
"But you know the name under which Arsene Lupin passed?"
"Yes. M. Nicole, a private tutor, master of arts and so on. Here is
his card."
As Prasville finished speaking, an office-messenger came to tell the
prefect of police that he was wanted immediately at the Elysse. The
prime minister was there already.
"I'm coming," he said. And he added, between his teeth, "It's to decide
upon Gilbert's fate."
Prasville ventured:
"Do you think they will pardon him, monsieur le prefet?"
"Never! After last night's affair, it would make a most deplorable
impression. Gilbert must pay his debt to-morrow morning."
The messenger had, at the same time, handed Prasville a visiting-card.
Prasville now looked at it, gave a start and muttered:
"Well, I'm hanged! What a nerve!"
"What's the matter?" asked the prefect of police.
"Nothing, nothing, monsieur le prefet," declared Prasville, who did not
wish to share with another the honour of seeing this business through.
"Nothing... an unexpected visit... I hope soon to have the pleasure of
telling you the result."
And he walked away, mumbling, with an air of amazement:
"Well, upon my word! What a nerve the beggar has! What a nerve!"
The visiting-card which he held in his hand bore these words:
M. Nicole,
Master of Arts, Private Tutor.
CHAPTER XIII
THE LAST BATTLE
When Prasville returned to his office he saw M. Nicole sitting on a
bench in the waiting-room, with his bent back, his ailing air, his
gingham umbrella, his rusty hat and his single glove:
"It's he all right," said Prasville, who had feared for a moment that
Lupin might have sent another M. Nicole to see him. "And the fact that
he has come in person proves that he does not suspect that I have seen
through him." And, for the third time, he said, "All the same, what a
nerve!"
He shut the door of his office and called his secretary:
"M. Lartigue, I am having a rather dangerous person shown in here. The
chances are that he will have to leave my office with the bracelets on.
As soon as he is in my room, make all the necessary arrangements: send
for a dozen inspectors and have them posted in the waiting-room and in
your office. And take this as a definiteinstruction: the moment I ring,
you are all to come in, revolvers in hand, and surround the fellow. Do
you quite understand?"
"Yes, monsieur le secretaire-general."
"Above all, no hesitation. A sudden entrance, in a body, revolvers in
hand. Send M. Nicole in, please."
As soon as he was alone, Prasville covered the push of an electric bell
on his desk with some papers and placed two revolvers of respectable
dimensions behind a rampart of books.
"And now," he said to himself, "to sit tight. If he has the list, let's
collar it. If he hasn't, let's collar him. And, if possible, let's
- sentence [´sentəns]
n.判决 vt.宣判；处刑 (初中英语单词) - crystal [´kristəl] n.水晶 a.水晶的 (初中英语单词)
- horrible [´hɔrəbəl] a.可怕的；恐怖的 (初中英语单词)
- doorway [´dɔ:wei] n.门口 (初中英语单词)
- forehead [´fɔrid] n.额，前部 (初中英语单词)
- governor [´gʌvənə] n.总督；州长 (初中英语单词)
- height [hait] n.高度；顶点；卓越 (初中英语单词)
- execute [´eksikju:t] vt.执行；表演；演奏 (初中英语单词)
- meantime [´mi:ntaim] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
- running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
- terror [´terə] n.恐怖；惊骇 (初中英语单词)
- meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
- standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
- sensation [sen´seiʃən] n.感觉；轰动；轰动一时 (初中英语单词)
- succession [sək´seʃən] n.继任；继承(权) (初中英语单词)
- anxious [´æŋkʃəs] a.担忧的；渴望的 (初中英语单词)
- headquarters [´hed,kwɔ:təz] n.总部(署)，司令部 (初中英语单词)
- excitement [ik´saitmənt] n.兴奋；骚动；煽动 (初中英语单词)
- inquiry [in´kwaiəri] n.询问；质询；调查 (初中英语单词)
- shortly [´ʃɔ:tli] ad.立刻，马上；不久 (初中英语单词)
- midnight [´midnait] n.午夜；漆黑 (初中英语单词)
- yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始，开端；起源 (初中英语单词)
- monsieur [mə´sjə:] n.先生 (初中英语单词)
- flight [flait] n.逃走；飞行；班机 (初中英语单词)
- minister [´ministə] n.部长；大臣 v.伺候 (初中英语单词)
- pardon [´pɑ:dən] n.&vt.原谅；饶恕；赦免 (初中英语单词)
- messenger [´mesindʒə] n.使者；送信人 (初中英语单词)
- beggar [´begə] n.乞丐 (初中英语单词)
- suspect [´sʌspekt, sə´spekt] v.怀疑；觉得 n.嫌疑犯 (初中英语单词)
- definite [´definit] a.确定的，明确的 (初中英语单词)
- instruction [in´strʌkʃən] n.教育；训练；指导 (初中英语单词)
- collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
- appeal [ə´pi:l] vi.&n.请求；呼吁；上诉 (高中英语单词)
- withdrew [wið´dru:] withdraw的过去式 (高中英语单词)
- fugitive [´fju:dʒitiv] n.逃亡者，亡命者 (高中英语单词)
- ladder [´lædə] n.梯子；阶梯 (高中英语单词)
- indignation [,indig´neiʃən] n.愤慨；气愤 (高中英语单词)
- concerning [kən´sə:niŋ] prep.关于 (高中英语单词)
- execution [,eksi´kju:ʃən] n.执行；演奏；表演 (高中英语单词)
- tenant [´tenənt] n.租户，佃户 (高中英语单词)
- bitterness [´bitənis] n.苦味；辛酸；苦难 (高中英语单词)
- seeing [si:iŋ] see的现在分词 n.视觉 (高中英语单词)
- unexpected [ʌniks´pektid] a.突然的；意外的 (高中英语单词)
- umbrella [ʌm´brelə] n.伞 (高中英语单词)
- hesitation [,hezi´teiʃən] n.犹豫，踌躇 (高中英语单词)
- far-off [´fɑ:rɔ:f] a.远方的，遥远的 (英语四级单词)
- chaplain [´tʃæplin] n.本堂神父；专职教士 (英语四级单词)
- vaguely [´veigli] ad.含糊地，暖昧地 (英语四级单词)
- staircase [´steəkeis] n.楼梯 =stairway (英语四级单词)
- garret [´gærit] n.阁楼，顶楼 (英语四级单词)
- urgent [´ə:dʒənt] a.急迫的，紧急的 (英语四级单词)
- beforehand [bi´fɔ:hænd] ad.事先；提前 (英语四级单词)
- speaking [´spi:kiŋ] n.说话 a.发言的 (英语六级单词)
- holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
- boulevard [´bu:ləvɑ:d] n.林荫大道 (英语六级单词)
- helplessness [´helplisnis] n.无能为力 (英语六级单词)
- unoccupied [ʌn´ɔkjupaid] a.空闲的，没人住的 (英语六级单词)
- rampart [´ræmpɑ:t] n.壁垒 vt.防护 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:翻译 译文 翻译文
章节正文
京公网安备 11011202003401号
