He finally decided to lie down in a furrow in the bank on the side of the road, and sleep there until daybreak. But as he went toward the spot he had selected, he heard heavy breathing, and saw that a man was stretched out there, his rags making a confused mass of dark shadow against the white stones.
Jack stood petrified, his heart in his mouth, unable to take a step forward or back. At this instant the sleeping figure began to move, and to talk, still without waking. The child thought of the woman in the wine-shop, and feared that this creature was she, or some other equally repulsive.
The shadows all about were now to his fancy peopled with these frightful beings. They climbed over the bank, they barred his further progress. If he extended his hand to the right or the left, he felt certain that he should touch them. A light and a voice aroused the child from this stupor. An officer, accompanied by his orderly, bearing a lantern, suddenly appeared.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” said the child, gently, breathless with emotion.
The soldier who carried the lantern raised it in the direction of the voice.
“This is a bad hour to travel, my boy,” remarked the officer; “are you going far?”
“O, no, sir; not very far,” answered Jack, who did not care to tell the truth.
“Ah, well! we can go on together as far as Charenton.”
What a delight it was to the child to walk for an hour at the side of these two honest soldiers, to regulate his steps by theirs, and to see the cheerful light from the lantern! From the soldier, too, he casually learned that he was on the right road.
“Now we are at home,” said the officer, halting suddenly. “Good night. And take my advice, my lad, and don’t travel alone again at night—it is not safe.” And with these parting words, the men turned up a narrow lane, swinging the lantern, leaving Jack alone at the entrance of the principal street in Charenton. The child wandered on until he found himself on the quay; he crossed a bridge which seemed to him to be thrown over an abyss, so profound were the depths below. He lingered for a moment, but rough voices singing and laughing so startled him that he took to his heels and ran until he was out of breath, and was again in the open fields. He turned and looked back; the red light of the great city was still reflected on the horizon. Afar off he heard the grinding of wheels. “Good!” said the child; “something is coming.” But nothing appeared. And the invisible wagon, whose wheels moved apparently with difficulty, turned down some unseen lane.