813

"It was a good piece of work and His Imperial Majesty's officers did not know what to make of it. But how could they guess that I myself loosened that rock, that, at the last moment, I gave the decisive blow of the pick-axe and that the aforesaid rock rolled down the path which I had made between it and.. an emperor whose life I was bent on saving?"

He sighed:

"Ah, Lupin, what a complex mind you have! All that trouble because you had sworn that this particular Majesty should shake you by the hand! A lot of good it has done you! 'An Emperor's hand five fingers has, no more,' as Victor Hugo might have said."

He entered the chapel and, with a special key, opened the low door of a little sacristy. On a heap of straw, lay a man, with his hands and legs bound and a gag in his mouth.

"Well, my friend, the hermit," said Lupin, "it wasn't so very long, was it? Twenty-four hours at the most… But I have worked jolly hard on your behalf! Just think, you have saved the Emperor's life! Yes, old chap. You are the man who saved the Emperor's life. I have made your fortune, that's what I've done. They'll build a cathedral for you and put up a statue to you when you're dead and gone. Here, take your things."

The hermit, nearly dead with hunger, staggered to his feet. Lupin quickly put on his own clothes and said:

"Farewell, O worthy and venerable man. Forgive me for this little upset. And pray for me. I shall need it. Eternity is opening its gate wide to me. Farewell."

He stood for a few moments on the threshold of the chapel. It was the solemn moment at which one hesitates, in spite of everything, before the terrible end of all things. But his resolution was irrevocable and, without further reflection, he darted out, ran down the slope, crossed the level ground of Tiberius's Leap and put one leg over the hand-rail:

"Lupin, I give you three minutes for play-acting. 'What's the good?' you will say. 'There is nobody here.' Well.. and what about you? Can't you act your last farce for yourself? By Jove, the performance is worth it… Arsène Lupin, heroic comedy in eighty scenes… The curtain rises on the death-scene.. and the principal part is played by Lupin in person… 'Bravo, Lupin!' .. Feel my heart, ladies and gentlemen.. seventy beats to the minute… And a smile on my lips… 'Bravo, Lupin! Oh, the rogue, what cheek he has!'.. Well, jump, my lord… Are you ready? It's the last adventure, old fellow. No regrets? Regrets? What for, heavens above? My life was splendid. Ah, Dolores, Dolores, if you had not come into it, abominable monster that you were!.. And you, Malreich, why did you not speak?.. And you, Pierre Leduc… Here I am!.. My three dead friends, I am about to join you… Oh, Geneviève, my dear Geneviève!.. Here, have you done, you old play-actor?.. Right you are! Right you are! I'm coming.."

He pulled his other leg over, looked down the abyss at the dark and motionless sea and, raising his head:

"Farewell, immortal and thrice-blessed nature! Moriturus te salutat! Farewell, all that is beautiful on earth! Farewell, splendor of things. Farewell, life!"

He flung kisses to space, to the sky, to the sun… Then, folding his arms, he took the leap.

Sidi-bel-Abbes. The barracks of the Foreign Legion. An adjutant sat smoking and reading his newspaper in a small, low-ceilinged room.

Near him, close to the window opening on the yard, two great devils of non-commissioned officers were jabbering in guttural French, mixed with Teutonic phrases.

The door opened. Some one entered. It was a slightly-built man, of medium height, smartly-dressed.

The adjutant rose, glared angrily at the intruder and growled:

"I say, what on earth is the orderly up to?.. And you, sir, what do you want?"

"Service."

This was said frankly, imperiously.

The two non-coms burst into a silly laugh. The man looked at them askance.

"In other words, you wish to enlist in the Legion?" asked the adjutant.

"Yes, but on one condition."

"Conditions, by Jove! What conditions?"

"That I am not left mouldering here. There is a company leaving for Morocco. I'll join that."

One of the non-coms gave a fresh chuckle and was heard to say:

"The Moors are in for a bad time. The gentleman's enlisting."

"Silence!" cried the man, "I don't stand being laughed at."

His voice sounded harsh and masterful.

The non-com, a brutal-looking giant, retorted:

"Here, recruity, you'd better be careful how you talk to me, or."

"Or what?"

"You'll get something you won't like, that's all!"

The man went up to him, took him round the waist, swung him over the ledge of the window and pitched him into the yard.

Then he said to the other:

"Go away."

The other went away.

The man at once returned to the adjutant and said:

"Lieutenant, pray be so good as to tell the major that Don Luis Perenna, a Spanish grandee and a Frenchman at heart, wishes to take service in the Foreign Legion. Go, my friend."

The flabbergasted adjutant did not move.

"Go, my friend, and go at once. I have no time to waste."

The adjutant rose, looked at his astounding visitor with a bewildered eye and went out in the tamest fashion.

Then Lupin lit a cigarette and, sitting down in the adjutant's chair, said, aloud:

"As the sea refused to have anything to say to me, or rather as I, at the last moment, refused to have anything to say to the sea, we'll go and see if the bullets of the Moors are more compassionate. And, in any case, it will be a smarter finish… Face the enemy, Lupin, and all for France!."