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118
THE MONTIL MANŒUVERS
Roi-Henri cross-roads. They fled wildly through the silence and solitude. They saw the deer glide by and the lights in the charcoal-burners' huts. Suddenly in a deep cutting the ominous noise of an explosion made them shudder. The car skidded and knocked up against a tree.
"What is the matter?" asked the General, who had been thrown head over heels.
Lacrisse groaned; he was lying on a bed of fern.
But Ernest, lantern in hand, was saying dismally:
"The tyre has burst. . . . But worse than that the front wheel is twisted."
