But no sooner
had he reached the terrace than these thoughts were driven from his
mind by a sense of prudence, and also by natural curiosity.
He saw in the town a great number of lights. Although it was the feast
of Saint James, he had, that very morning, ordered that all lights
should be put out at the hour prescribed in the army regulations,
those of the chateau alone excepted. He saw, it is true, the bayonets
of his soldiers gleaming here and there at their appointed posts; but
the silence was solemn, and nothing indicated that the Spaniards were
disregarding his orders in the intoxication of a fete. Endeavoring to
explain to himself this culpable and deliberate infraction of rules on
the part of the inhabitants, it struck him as the more
incomprehensible because he had left a number of officers in charge of
patrols who were to make their rounds during the night, and enforce
the regulations.
With the impetuosity of youth, he was about to spring through an
opening in the terrace wall, and descend by the rocks more rapidly
than by the usual road to a little outpost which he had placed at the
entrance of the town, on the side toward the chateau, when a slight
noise arrested him.
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