If he had, however, looked with more attention, he might have seen that man, bent double, gliding like a serpent along the stones and losing himself in the mist that floated over the surface of the marsh.

He might equally have seen, had he attempted to pierce that mist, a spectacle that might have attracted his attention; and that was the rigging of the vessel, which had changed place, and was now nearer the shore.

But Monk saw nothing; and thinking he had nothing to fear, he entered the deserted causeway which led to his camp.

It was then that the disappearance of the fisherman appeared strange, and that a real suspicion began to take possession of his mind.

He had just placed at the orders of Athos the only post that could protect him.