"On the opposite rampart, on the other side of the ditch, a figure which seemed gigantic, ran or rather leaped down the esplanade, with a rapidity and adroitness which seemed prodigious. Having reached the extremity of the rampart, the ends of which are flanked by towers, the phantom ascended the roof of one of them, which was on a level with the balustrade, and mounting the steep cone with cat-like activity, seemed to lose itself in the air.
"'What the devil is that?' said the adjutant, forgetting the gallant in the jailer. 'May the devil take me, if a prisoner is not escaping.' The sentinel, too, is asleep. 'Sentinel,' cried he, with the voice of a Stentor, 'look out!' Running towards a turret, in which is hung an alarm bell, he rang it with the power of a professor of the devil's music. I never heard anything more melancholy than this infernal tocsin, the sharp clangor of which disturbed the deep silence of night. It was the savage cry of violence and brutality, disturbing the aspirations of the harmony of the water and the breeze. In an instant, all was in motion in the prison. I heard the clangor of the guns in the sentinels' arms, as they cocked and fired at any object of which they caught a glimpse. The esplanade was lighted with a red blaze, which paled the azure reflections of the moon. Swartz had lighted up a bonfire. Signals were made from one rampart to another, and the echoes repeated them in a plaintive and decreasing tone. The alarm gun soon mingled its terrible and solemn note in this diabolical symphony. Heavy steps sounded on the pavements. I saw nothing, but heard all these noises, and my heart was filled with terror. Mayer had left me hastily, but I did not even rejoice at being delivered from him. I reproached myself bitterly with having pointed out to him, I knew not why, some unfortunate prisoner who was seeking to escape. Frozen with terror, I waited the conclusion of the affair, shuddering at every shot that was fired, and waiting to hear the cries of the fugitive announce some new disaster to me.
"All this did not last an hour; and, thank heaven, the fugitive was neither seen nor hit. To be sure of it, I rejoined the Swartzes on the esplanade. They were so excited that they expressed no surprise at seeing me outside my cell at midnight. It may be they had an understanding with Mayer that I was to be at liberty on that night. Swartz, having run about like a madman, and satisfied himself that none of his ward had escaped, began to grow tranquil. His wife and he, however, were struck with consternation, as if the escape of a prisoner seemed a public and private calamity, and an outrageous violation of justice. The other keepers, the soldiers who came and went, exchanged words with them expressive of the same despair and terror. To them the blackest of all crimes seems an attempt to escape. God of mercy! how terrible did these mercenaries, devoted to the barbarous business of depriving their fellows of precious liberty, seem to me. Suddenly, however, it seemed that supreme equity had resolved to inflict a severe punishment on my keepers. Vrau Swartz had gone into the lodge for a few moments, and came out soon after, shouting: