However, in a short time they went away.
"As soon as they were out of hearing we began to consider our situation and weigh our chances.

There was no use in going back to the captain's, for he was no longer there, having also succeeded in getting away.

If we were to wander about the country we should be recognised as fugitives, and the fate that awaited us as such was at that moment brought home to us, for a few yards away we suddenly heard the shrieks of a man who was being murdered.

They were the first cries of agony I had ever heard, and for a few moments, I confess, I was frozen with terror.

But soon a violent reaction took place within me, and I felt that it would be better to march straight to meet peril than to await its coming, and although I knew the danger of trying to go through Saint-Just again, I resolved to risk it, and to get to Marseilles at all costs.