He obeyed; but, on leaving the hut, he would willingly have repossessed himself of his money, or papers at least, but this she prohibited in the most peremptory manner.

It immediately occurred to him that the suspicion of having removed anything of which he might repossess himself would fall upon this woman, by whom in all probability his life had been saved.

He therefore immediately desisted from his attempt, contenting himself with seizing a cutlass, which one of the ruffians had flung aside among the straw.

On his feet, and possessed of this weapon, he already found himself half delivered from the dangers which beset him.

Still, however, he felt stiffened and cramped, both with the cold and by the constrained and unaltered position which he had occupied all night.