Chapter 5 5. Sneak attack

The whistle spread over the sea, and echoed from every direction, like the most ghastly battle-cry.The Baron de Alan-Roque explained quietly: "This is the first whistle. In five minutes there will be a second whistle. Then they will be building ladders." She repeated his words mechanically: "They'll set up the ladder. There's a second whistle." Alan Rock asked her, "Are you afraid?" "Ah! Don't be afraid!" She clenched her fists and replied. She wasn't telling the truth.Fear was creeping silently through every pore of her heart, and at the same time she hated the stranger who had forced her to avoidable trials.However, she said it again almost angrily: "No, I'm not afraid!"

"Really?" Allen Rock said. "It is a good attack! The sense of danger is intriguing! For centuries the inhabitants of these parts have lived in uneasy waiting. Will the short night bring them misfortune? Will the pirates land Is looting and burning followed? Ah! Today, in the modern civilized world, it is possible to find a similar moment!...Knowing that in the dark, inhuman beasts are watching you...and protecting you ! Between them and you, the only obstacle is me!" They took a few steps back.Two people stood very close to each other.Natalie trembled slightly, she said: "We can stand up..."

"The shadows of the two of us can't stop them... You must understand that they and their accomplices—those Italian singers must have contacted. They know that you are alone here, and there are no servants around you." "Yeah, they thought I was the only one...they came... oh!" she said. "Did you hear that? . . . " "I heard it," he said. "It was the sound of the bottom of the boat rubbing against pebbles...a man just jumped ashore...they were less than forty meters away from us." "It's a terrible thing!" she murmured. He turned around, trying to see her clearly in the dark.

"Your voice trembles. If you are frightened and your heart beats fast, please tell me honestly." "It's a woman's heart... beats very powerfully... isn't it?..." As she spoke, her legs softened.However, when he was about to reach out to support her, she straightened her body, and he apologized and said, "Oh! Please forgive me... I only think of myself being happy, and I forgot that a woman's nerves should not be too tense... Besides, time Now, if we are unprepared, these guys will not let us go." "Of course," Natalie said, "they won't let us go..."

He made up his mind suddenly, and it occurred to him that he must act now.His whole being changed... He laughed loudly, and then, while carefully inspecting the open space in front of the house, he let go of his voice and said cheerfully: "Oh, what should we do? The weapons prepared by your friend Maxim, boil The adzuki bean soup... is a little primitive, isn't it? The effect is also questionable? No, it's better to prevent them from attacking..." "Yes, it's best to stop them from attacking. But can you do that?" Natalie said. "Anything is possible... as long as you are clever..."

"Then hurry up." "Hey! There's plenty of time . . . thirty or forty seconds." "It's only so much time? How can this work? Hurry up..." Natalie counted the seconds in her head, as if the enemy was taking a step closer with each passing second. "Oh! I beg you...I beg you...I am completely exhausted. Do you think..." "I think I'm in control now," he said, "not them. Whoever controls the situation wins the battle." He took a large stack of newspapers from the table in the living room, crumpled them into paper balls and threw them against the parapet. A small mountain of papers quickly piled up at the foot of the wall.Then he offered to order some alcohol.Natalie regained her strength a bit, she hurried to the dining room and returned with a bottle of wine.

"1896 Cognac, very good!" he exclaimed. "Let's make two punches." He poured out the brandy, lit it with a lighter, and threw everything he could find into the pile of papers: two boxes of cigars, a sewing basket, a wicker planter frame, a rail and cane from a chair, a straw seat. He poured the remaining brandy in the bottle and kerosene for the lamp as the flames rose into the air with a crackling sound. "This is an alarm signal commonly used in ancient times." He shouted cheerfully. "When the enemy came, the whole coastline was blazed with smoke, from promontory to promontory, from hilltop to hilltop... A succession of fires passed from one to the other. Soon, in every village, the night watchman will ring the bell desperately on the bell tower of the church..."

There was a big bell in front of the gate to announce the opening of dinner, and he ran over and rang it continuously. "The alarm bells are ringing! This is our homeland in danger, a cry for resistance and victory! Ring some, big brass bells! Darkness and silence are driven away! The call of fire and the sound of bells call. The whole world has awakened to rise against a panic-stricken foe." He bustled back and forth, like a captain on the deck of a man-of-war, with all the enthusiasm of a man accustomed to danger, confident and invincible. "Well, we're saved?" Natalie said.

"Hey! Do you think, in our age, is there any man who has the guts to take risks? They no longer have the courage to do great things. Those who do great things must be made of special materials, have a very strong physique, and after a long period of time Someone who works out for strength and wildness, someone with a very strong physique...a guy like me!" The flames danced in the air, drawing his shadow long and wide, and he repeated it, always with a strong joking tone that unnerved Natalie and made her laugh at the same time. "Yes, a man like me! I've lost all human past, but I intuitively feel, a few generations back, that there's an iron chain between my remote past and the age of fanaticism. Yes, my blood and flesh are part of it. I feel that the most certain thing in me is this desire for cause and heroism. Punish the wicked, expel pirates, and rescue beautiful women. This is how I reshape myself and be human The basic principles of doing things!"

He found a stick, tied a white napkin and a red cloth, and after waving it a few times over the fire, stuck it in the parapet. "Here is the banner of victory! Flee, you Moors and Castilians! A match is enough to frighten a wild beast, and a cliché will stop disaster!" He jingled the big clock triumphantly, and said: "Okay! The Berbers have escaped! You don't need to listen to their hasty oars to know! There is only one person in front of you, but they have escaped, and the queen is saved." !" The queen he spoke of stood motionless, her thoughts not sunk by shadows of terror.

On the contrary, this remarkable person seemed to be acting, so unrestrained and easy, and she treated her righteous actions so lightly. She felt that with this protector, even the most dangerous threats would disappear in smoke. The enemy has fled.She totally believed it, because that's what Alan Rock said.And, on the nearby hillsides, the singing of the Italian women faded away.The sound of the guitar is getting farther and farther away. Alan Rock whispered: "This is a signal to retreat... We may take advantage of the momentum to pursue this trio. However, it is very risky to do so, and we have more important things to do." They continued to listen for a while, and the singing came intermittently with the wind.Some echoes are also gradually weakening.Pirates' siege, ladder assault, beast-like murderers swarming in, these nightmares are all shattered by reality!So, Alan Rock put his hand lightly on the girl's arm and led her back into the house. "I promised you that once everything is safe, I will leave here, but you can't stay here alone, come with me, okay?" "Going with you?" "We must race against time, take advantage of the victory to pursue, and never let the pirates escape." They went into the hall, and he picked up a cloak casually and threw it over her shoulders.They walk through the garden.She followed blindly.After a huge shock of anxiety, she became numb and lost the ability to resist.Moreover, he spoke in such a manner that she never wondered whether there was any fraud in his request, or whether what he was doing was a matter of urgency.He had come to rescue her.He's saved her, and he's going to get on with it.She deeply felt the man's upright character. He opened the garden door.A little farther to the right, a stone path that Natalie used to walk was clearly visible, which zigzag sharply and led to the sea.Alan Rock shined a flashlight on the path, and the electric light focused on the girl's feet, like a carpet that was constantly unfolding forward. Below, a motorboat bobs side to side in the water against a small pier. "The 'Mercury,'" said Alan Rock, ". . . a thoroughbred harrier with whom I have made many successful trips. Come aboard, madam." She hesitated, and he urged: "Please come aboard. What I have done is closely related to you. The most important thing now is to know who is attacking you. What is the purpose of their coming here? No money, no Jewel, these rascals don't act blindly. Do they?  …Your life will be horribly threatened from now on, and Jericho has turned on you. This is a serious adversary, and I'm going to unmask him Grab him by the throat. I hate these heinous villains." He added: "Please get on board. Everything needs to be worked hard to succeed, and you can't give up halfway. Please get on board." She did not answer, and boarded the boat. Before cranking up the motor, he listened and said, "Not sure if we'll be able to catch them yet. It's too dark, apparently a motorboat similar to mine picked up here and towed them away. " Then, he added with a sneer, which shocked Natalie: "It's a pity! It would be great if I could sink its boat. I'm going to pinch a villain's neck and let him tell me honestly." They raced across the dark sea.Allen Rock turned off the lights and headed straight for the sea.The dots of lights at the foot of Mount Estrelle became more and more blurred.Natalie thought, she is not like a rescued queen now, she is like a captive.However, she didn't have the slightest thought of resisting, not only did she not complain, she didn't even say a word.He, too, remained silent. After ten or twenty minutes at most, they saw Cannes, the lights of the city became brighter and brighter, and they sailed into the small port.Alan Rock lit the telegraph and raised it four times.The same beam of light flickered four times across the way, then stopped still after responding. This is the destination of this trip.It's between talking. Someone was standing on the pier, a sailor, his swarthy face and gray whiskers visible in the light of the street lamps. "This is Berto," Alan Rock introduced while throwing a cable to moor the Mercury. "An old servant of professed uprightness, by whose side I became a useful man, and he alone was the whole crew of my ship. Well, Berto, did you see the two little boats dock? " "No, boss." "Are you sure?" "Yes. No boats, big boats, small boats...yachts, fishing boats...haven't docked since sundown." "Very well. We're ahead of them." Alan Rock and Natalie waited on the boat without saying a word.Time passed slowly.The church in the old town of Cannes struck eleven o'clock, and still no ships arrived.It is probable that Jericho's company went all the way to Antibes, or perhaps to Nice. Allen Rock is a man who cherishes his time.After half an hour, he said to Natalie: "If we try harder, you won't feel too tired, will you? I just want a few minutes of your time. I heard them talking in the park in Nice this morning. A Spaniard once mentioned a café where sailors gathered, and the gang sometimes met there." "Okay," Natalie followed his advice again, as if she had completely lost her will and her mind. He walked very quickly, completely ignoring his female companion, and only thinking about the current action. They walked across the square to the old town.A winding road uphill.After walking about a hundred meters, he stopped and said, "Here we are...do you see the lighted shop window?...listen...someone singing...a woman's voice...and a guitar..." Natalie pricked up her ears and whispered, "It's the Italian female singer who came to Villa Mirador." "Ah!" said he, "that's all right now. She and her two friends came by train." He approached the window.But a red curtain obscured his view, and he decided to go in; so he took off his false collar and tie, threw off his hat, and tousled his hair.That group of singers didn't know him, so he wanted to take advantage of this to go in and see for himself, and then come out immediately. He opens the door.A heavy and painful contralto hits her face.After singing, there was a burst of applause, followed by noisy voices, and the sound of guitar strings being adjusted from time to time. In the meantime, some drunkard probably lifted the red curtain, and a light shot out from it.Natalie bent down, and the entire cafe appeared in front of her, low and smoky, with about twenty customers sitting around the table.Among these people, she could not recognize the male singer whom she had seen in the afternoon.But, on the right, she saw the Italian diva sitting on a bench, and beside this woman, the Baron de Ellen-Roque was talking to her while looking at her. At this moment, Natalie realized that she was good-looking, with a vulgar sensual beauty, and when she smiled, her usually somber face became so gorgeous and dazzling.Alan Rock's words must have been very pleasant, because her smile became brighter and brighter, revealing two rows of white and neat teeth. Her fingers gently stroked the strings of the guitar. Alan Rock leaned forward to face her, with a greedy and fierce look on his face, his eyes were fixed, and his eyes were full of deterrence.It can be seen that every word he said has a target, and the female singer listened to it with emotion, and fully absorbed the charm of flattery in the words. Natalie flushed with anger and trembled with rage.This blatant seduction of a woman, and it happened in such a short period of time, that woman was infatuated, this man was passionately infatuated, whether it was real or not, doing his best to a woman he didn't know twenty minutes ago, All of this amazed Natalie. Suddenly, she saw clearly what she was doing in the evening.I also don't know Alan Rock, don't I trust him and regard him as the best and most reliable friend?She threw everything away and followed him on a journey in the dark, and the purpose was very unclear.Now, she watched him from the window of the tavern, shaking with rage.How could such a thing happen? She awoke suddenly from a dream she had lived in unconsciously, a dream that suddenly seemed to her the worst nightmare.As she gradually controlled herself, the hatred for Alan Rock grew stronger in her heart.She couldn't think of anything, only thinking about how to get rid of slavery and humiliation.She took one last look at the café.The Italian woman didn't get up, didn't move her position, she raised her head, closed her eyes, and sang a slow song with a monotonous melody.The sailors fell silent.Wen Lun Rock listened quietly... Natalie is gone. There are several cars parked in front of the cafe.She got into the first taxi and said to the driver, "Esterel Mountain... two kilometers further to Tria... Villa Mirador... I will show you the way." This is an open taxi.There is a hint of fragrance in the night breeze.Natalie breathed heavily, her whole body was filled with a cool feeling.However, her mind was still a mess. All kinds of images and feelings roll and collide inside.Fear, curiosity, humiliation, pride, unexperienced intoxication, inexplicable indignation... No man has ever caused such a strong shock in her heart. All this creates a frantic desire to escape, to escape without delay, to avoid further harm...