Chapter 8 8. Tightrope Walking

Dorothy hid behind the closet door, which was not closed tightly.With a slight push, she heard and saw the whole scene except Juliette Hazel's face.She wasn't too worried about the robber's threats because she knew he wouldn't follow through.In fact, de Estreche counted to twenty without the old lady saying a word.However, the silent resistance made him even more furious. He threw away the iron thing in his hand, grabbed Juliette Azel's hand and twisted it hard, and Juliette Azel screamed for help in pain. "Ha! Ha!" he sneered. "You're starting to understand, now it's time to answer... Where is the medal?"

She was silent. He gave it another twist. The old lady knelt on the ground with a plop, begging him for mercy incoherently. "Speak! Speak!" he cried. "I'm going to screw until you say..." She mumbled a few words. "What did you say? Say it clearly, um! Do you want me to use more force?" "No...no..." she begged..."in...in the villa...in the river..." "In the river? Are you kidding! You're going to throw it in the river? How dare you laugh at me, huh?" He pinned her to the ground, with his knees on the poor old lady's chest, and took hold of hers with one hand.Seeing this situation from where she was, Dorothey could not help being filled with righteous indignation. There were two men in front of her. She really felt powerless, so she had to hold back.

"Well, I screwed up, huh?" the robber cursed. "Would you rather suffer than tell?...Did I screw it?" When he strained, Juliette Azaire gave a cry.Then, she stood up suddenly, showing a terrified and deformed face, with trembling lips, stammering out a few words: "closet...closet...slate..." While her mouth was still moving nervously, she didn't finish the sentence, and strangely, the horrible face slowly calmed down and became incredible, peaceful, content, and smiling.Juliette Azel then laughed.The injured wrist no longer hurts, she smiled sweetly, very naturally, with a serene expression on her face.

She is crazy. "You're out of luck," the accomplice joked. "Every time you teach people to sing, they sing out of tune every time. The baron is stupid. His girlfriend is crazy. You are really capable." De Estreche was furious, pushed the old man away, and raised his eyebrows angrily. Shouting, the old woman staggered and fell behind a chair with her back turned to Dorothea. "No luck, that's what you said. But maybe there's something to it this time. She mentioned the closet and the slate before she lost her mind. Which closet was it? This one, or that one? Two closets. There are stone slabs under the cabinets."

One was a closet like a storeroom in which Dorothy hid, and the other was a closet to the left of the fireplace, which he pointed to without being able to determine which one it was. "I'll search this cupboard first. You'll be in charge of that one," he said, "how about this. . . Come and help me, and we'll finish this one." He crouched down by the fireplace, opened the cupboard door, and inserted a poker bar into the gap between the flagstones, while his companions pried the flagstones up. Dorothy no longer hesitated.She knew that they would come and search the closet soon, and it would be over if they didn't leave immediately.The old lady was lying next to her and let out a burst of laughter, her voice getting lower and lower, while the two men were searching nervously.

Under the cover of a chair, she quietly reached out to remove the lace hat from Juliette Azère's head and put it on her own.Then she took off her spectacles, undid her turban and draped it over her shoulders, and covered her waist and skirt with a black serge apron.By this time Juliette had stopped laughing, and it was Dorothy's turn to continue with a regular and merry laugh.The two were redoubled in their search.She stood up, stooped like an old lady, and trotted across the room, laughing.De Estreche grunted: "What is she doing, crazy woman? Don't let her get away, eh?"

"How can you run?" said his accomplice. "Isn't the key in your pocket?" "Where are the windows?" "The windows are too high, and frankly, she doesn't want to leave this hut at all." The girl came to the window, the sill was high, at eye level, and the shutters were open.She turned the handle on the window slowly.Then, she took a break.She knew that as soon as the window was opened, the wind and noise from outside would come roaring in, and the two guys would be alert immediately.She used a few seconds to calculate and decompose the actions she was about to do.She was very sure of herself and confident in her skills. After glancing in the direction of her opponent, she opened the window without hesitation, quickly and precisely, jumped over the ledge, and landed in the garden. .

Behind her came two yells, exasperated yells.The two of them had to spend time waking up, checking, and touching the real Juliette... The girl took advantage of this time.She was very tactful, knowing that the garden and the gate were the only way to get out, so she went around the back of the house, up a dirt slope, and through a thorny hedge, and came at last outside.At this time, there was a gunshot.De Estreche and his accomplices were shooting randomly at the blurred shadows... Raoul and the children were so worried that she would not be found that they gathered around the caravan to wait for her.Dorothey returned to them, briefly described the operation, and said: "The matter should be over by now. To be precise, the winner will be decided within a week."

It was a very warm few days for the two young people.Raoul was still cautious, but he spoke more boldly, showing his serious and passionate nature.Dorotai felt this sincere love and happily indulged in it.Only Saint-Quentin and his little brothers were restless and depressed. The captain kept shaking his head. "Dorothy, I hate that villain, but I don't like this man even more, if you will listen to me..." "Son, what shall we do then?" "Let's put on the one-eyed magpie and get out of here immediately." "Where are the treasures? You know we're looking for treasures."

"Treasure, Mom, you are Treasure. I'm afraid someone will take away our Treasure." "Little ghost, don't worry. My four children are more important than anything else." However, the four children are not at ease. A sense of crisis oppressed them.In this walled place, at Mount Dome, they felt an air of disturbing heaviness.Evidently the danger came from Raoul as well as from other things, and it slowly became clear in their minds, for twice at night they had seen a dark figure haunt the woods on the hill. On June 30, she asked Raoul to give his men a day off the next day, because there was going to be a great religious celebration at Crison.Three of the strongest servants were selected and equipped with long guns. They were ordered to rush back to the villa at 4:00 p.m. and gather around a small inn called Ma Song about 500 meters away from the villa.

The next day, Dorothy looked more energetic than usual.In the yard, she danced English dances and sang English songs.She took Raoul to go rowing, and she sang and danced in the boat, and almost capsized the boat several times.She was juggling three coral bracelets and dropped one in the water. She tried to get the bracelet back, but her arms were in the water up to her shoulders, and she looked down at the bottom of the pool, motionless, as if intently watching something. "What are you looking at?" asked Raoul. "It hasn't rained for a long time, and the water level has dropped a lot. The stones and gravel on the bottom of the water are clearly visible. I noticed that some of the stones are arranged in an orderly manner. You see." "Sure enough," he said. "And they're all neatly chiselled. Like giant letters." "Yes, we can guess the words they line up: In Robert Fortuna. I went to the town hall and checked the topographic map. Where we are is once the main lawn of a large low-lying garden. On the lawn, one of your ancestors inlaid this motto with stones. Later, the water of the Main River was brought in. The pond replaced the meadow. The motto was also flooded..." Dorothei added in a low voice: "There are some words and numbers under the motto, but I can't read them. It's the words and numbers that interest me. Do you see them?" "I see it, but I can't see it clearly." "That's the only way. Because we are too close. We should look down from a high place." "Let's go up to the hill." "No, look down obliquely, the water surface will distort the image." "Then," he said with a smile, "then let's fly." They parted at lunch.After eating, Raoul watched the big cart pulling the people from the villa to Chrison. Then, he returned to the pond and saw that Dorothy and his group were busy.Three or four meters above the water surface, a fairly thick steel wire has been pulled up, one end is fixed to the gable of the warehouse, and the other end is looped, and it is firmly set on a large rock on the hill. "Damn it!" he said. "You're going to practice acrobatics, aren't you?" "Exactly," she replied cheerfully. "Without a plane, I had to perform a tightrope walk." "What!" he exclaimed, looking very disturbed. "You want to...but it's bound to fall." "I can swim." "No, no, I'm absolutely not allowed to do that." "Why are you not allowed?" "You don't even have a pole to balance on." "Pole?" She intentionally didn't answer directly, "What else? Do you still need to pull the net? Do you still need the rescue rope?" She climbed up the escalator in the warehouse and emerged on the eaves.Just like performing in front of an audience as usual.She smiled brightly and wore a coarse red and white striped dress with brightly colored silk squares crossed across her chest. Raoul looked restless. The captain came up to him. "Do you want to help Mother Dorotai?" His tone seemed to be speaking from a confidant. "Naturally." "Well, sir, you just need to get out of here." At this time, Dorotai had already taken steps.She wore a pair of cloth shoes with a slit next to the big toe, and she stepped on the steel wire tentatively, just like a swimmer uses his feet to test the temperature of the water.Not long after, she stood on the steel wire with both feet, slid forward a few steps, and then stopped. She bowed to the left and right respectively, as if she was really facing countless audiences.She continued to slide forward, her legs moving rhythmically, her upper body and arms swaying like a bird flapping its wings.Step by step she walked over the pond.The wire was not stretched as tightly as the ends, and her weight bent it down and created an upward spring.She reached the middle of the pond and stopped again. This is the hardest step in what she has to do.It can be said that her eyes can no longer fixate on a certain place on the hill, and her balance has lost any stable support.Moreover, she had to look down in the flowing and shimmering water, and read the numbers and words on the bottom without being disturbed by the reflection of the sun.What a dangerous task!She tried several times to straighten herself up when she almost lost her balance. After a minute or two, a really heart-pounding minute or two, she gracefully opened her arms, saluted below, shouted excitedly that she was done, and walked on. Raoul had already crossed the little bridge at one end of the pond, and when she reached the stone platform on the hill where the wire was fixed, he was waiting there.His pallor surprised her, his nervousness moved her. "How?" he said. "I see the adage clearly, and here is the date we do not see clearly: July 12, 1921. From this we can see that this year's July 12 is the great day that has long been announced. But There are better things, I think..." She called Saint-Quentin and whispered a few words to him.Saint-Quentin hurried to the caravan.After a while, he returned from the caravan wearing an acrobatic costume.He and Dorothy boarded the boat, and the girl rowed the boat to the center of the pond.After a while, he got out of the boat, dived to the bottom of the water, raised his head, and threw something heavy into the boat. Dorothet caught it, and when they returned to the hill, she gave it to Raoul. This is a round piece of metal, covered with rust or copper rust, the size of a saucer, with a bulge in the middle like a large pocket watch, it seems to be two metal plates that are welded together and cannot be opened. Dorothea wiped the side of the disc clean with his hand, and showed Raoul the inscription, roughly carved on it: Fortuna. "I'm not mistaken," she said. "Old Madame Juliette Hazel was not lying. She said it was the river at first. The Baron threw the medal here with the metal box during their last meetings." Is there any safer place than the bottom of a pond until the medal must be used? Any kid can help him scoop it up." She was so happy that she played tricks with metal pancakes and three stones.However, the captain reminded that there is a celebration in Chrison, and everyone should go there to congratulate the victory. They hurried back to the villa.Saint-Quentin changes clothes.Raoul started the car and drove it out of the garage. After the three children were seated, they came to the open space in front of the house to pick up Dorotai, who was resting at a small table. "Aren't you going with us?" he said. From morning until now, he has always had a strange feeling that what happened seems unnatural.One thing after another is in order, with a mathematical logic and accuracy, which is impossible in real life.Of course, he didn't know what tricks Dorothee was playing, but he guessed what the girl was trying to catch, and she wanted d'Estrèche to catch him without a fight.What kind of strategy did she use? "Don't ask me," she said. "We're being watched. So don't make any gestures, don't make any gestures of dissent. Listen." Turning round pancakes on the table, she calmly explained some of her plans and actions. "Well, I wrote a letter on your behalf to the Attorney-General a few days ago, informing him that M. de Estreche, who was wanted by the police, had attempted to murder the Baron d'Avernoy and Madame Juliette Hazel's convict will be on the grounds of the estate today. I ask him to send two policemen to meet you at Masson's at four o'clock. It's a quarter to two. Come, La. Ur, three of your servants will be there." "What am I going to do?" "Come back here with two policemen and three servants. You can't take the straight road, but take the mountain road pointed by Saint-Quentin and his little friend. Ladders are ready at these places, and you erect them against the wall. De . Estreche and his co-conspirators are going to be here, you just have to hold them at gunpoint and let the police catch them." "If it were true that de Estrechet was on top of the hill, are you sure he would come down?" "Absolutely. It's the medal. He knows it's in my hands. How can he not take it back when the finale is near?" The person who speaks doesn't look calm, but the obedient person doesn't know what to do.It is foreseeable that the upcoming battle will be very fierce.She took all the dangers on herself, but she didn't look like she was in danger at all.Not only that, but she was calm enough to see the old baron pass by and enter the villa, followed by the faithful Goliath, and she told Raoul what she had observed. "Have you noticed that your grandfather has been particularly irritable these days? He also senses that something is coming, out of his deep instincts, and he wants to act, he is struggling, he is fighting the pain that is preventing him from acting. " Still, Raoul hesitated.The thought of leaving her alone with de Estreche was unbearable to him. "You've arranged everything today," he said. "Notify the police. Arrange for my servants. Fix the time and place of the rendezvous, all right. But how do you know you'll find this piece of metal exactly an hour before the rendezvous?" "Raoul, do as I say. You know I never act rashly. You must come back immediately, because de Estreche is here not only for the medal, but also for another thing he wants. s things." "what?" "Me, Raoul!" This reason made the young man immediately make up his mind.The car moved.It goes through the orchard.Saint-Quentin opened the gate and closed it behind the car. Dorotai was left alone. She just sat alone, helpless, for about twelve to fifteen minutes. With her back to the hill, she sat motionless in a chair.It was as if one were poring over a piece of metal intently, inspecting its welds, as one studies the intricacies or breaches of a machine.But her ears were intent on listening, and every nerve of hers was tense, trying to pick up any sound in the breeze or the rustle of leaves. Unshakable confidence and doubt discourage her by turns supporting her or attacking her.It was certain that de Estreche would come.If he doesn't come, there's no way he won't come.The medal was an irresistible bait that would surely draw him in. "However, it is possible not to come," she thought, "my little scheme is too naive. If I don't find it sooner or later, it is at this critical moment that Raoul and the children find the jewelry box and the medal. Leaving at this time. Also, I am left alone in the empty mountain village. On the contrary, my only consideration at this time should be how to protect my discovery from the enemy... Seriously, what I did Everything is very artificial. The old fox de Estreche will not be fooled." At the same time, another opinion, not to be outdone, also emerged to argue. "He'll come. Maybe he's out of the hole. It's inevitable. Of course he'll see the danger, but it's too late. It's not up to him to do it now. He's gone. by yourself." In this way, moving forward again with her keen sense of things, Dorothy has ignored the possible advice of reason to her.Facts were presented to him in logical order, in strict method, they were still in the process of being formed, and she had seen their end.The motives of others in doing things are always clear to her.She intuitively knew their motives.Know with keen intellect what actions they will take under what circumstances. In the end, as she had said before, de Estreche was doubly tempted. Even if he could escape the trap of the medal, could he give up Dorotai, such a wonderful and easy prey? She smiled and stood up.Footsteps came from nowhere.It seemed to be on the wooden bridge across the creek beyond the pond. The enemy is approaching... But, almost at the same time, she heard another voice from the right.Then, a voice came from the left as well.De Estreche had two assistants.She is surrounded. The hands on her watch said five minutes to four.