to offer a less mark for a shot. They expected every moment to hear a report. Five minutes after leaving the cart, they arrived at the edge of the wood before the clearing beyond which rose the palisade. They stopped.
A few straggling beams still fell on the field clear of trees. Thirty feet distant was the gate of the corral, which appeared to be closed. This thirty feet, which it was necessary to cross from the border of the wood to the palisade, constituted the dangerous zone. One or more bullets fired from behind the palisade might knock over anyone who ventured into this zone. Gideon Spilett and the sailor were not men to draw back, but they knew that any imprudence on their part, of which they would be the first victims, would fall afterwards on their companions. If they themselves were killed, what would become of the others.
Pencroft, excited at feeling himself so near the corral where he supposed the convicts lay, was about to press forward, when the reporter held him back with a grasp of iron.
"In a few minutes it will be quite dark," whispered Spilett in the sailor's ear; "then it will the time to act."
Pencroft, convulsively clasping the butt-end of his gun, restrained his eagerness, and waited, swearing to himself.
Soon the last of the twilight faded away. Darkness, which seemed as if it issued from the dense forest, covered the clearing. Mount Franklin rose like an enormous screen before the western horizon, and might spread rapidly over all. Now was the time.
The reporter and Pencroft, since posting themselves on the edge of the wood, had not once lost sight of the palisade. The corral appeared to be absolutely deserted. The top of the palisade formed a line, a little darker than the surrounding shadow, and nothing disturbed its distinctness. Nevertheless, if the convicts were there, they must have posted one of their number to guard against any surprise.
Spilett grasped his companion's hand, and both crept towards the corral, their guns ready to fire. They reached the gate without the darkness and silence being broken.
Pencroft tried to push open the gate, which, as the reporter and he had supposed, was closed. The outer bars had not been put up. It might, then, be concluded that the convicts were there in the corral, and that very probably
