But here was no place for thought, nor room for delay; and I slid down the side of the hollow on the instant, and the moment my feet touched the bottom sprang to the door of the little hut, whence the light issued.

A stone turned under my feet in my rush, and I fell on my knees on the threshold; but the fall only brought my face to a level with the face of the man who lay inside on a bed of fern.

He had been reading.

Startled by the sound I made, he dropped his book, and in a flash stretched out his hand for a weapon.
But the muzzle of my pistol covered him, he was not in a posture from which he could spring, and at a sharp word from me he dropped his hand; the tigerish glare which flickered for an instant in his eyes gave place to a languid smile, and he shrugged his shoulders.
'EH BIEN!,' he said with marvellous composure.

'Taken at last! Well, I was tired of it.' 'You are my prisoner, M.de Cocheforet,' I answered.