CHAPTER II.
Suddenly, there was heard from without and below, on the side of the forest, the blast of a trumpet, a sort of flourish, haughty and stern. To this trumpet blast, the sound of a horn replied from the top of the tower.
This time it was the trumpet which called, and the horn which gave answer.
There was a second trumpet call, followed by a second sounding of the horn.
Then from the edge of the forest rose a distant but clear voice, which cried distinctly these words,—
"Brigands! a summons! If at sunset, you have not surrendered at discretion, we attack you."
A voice roared out in reply from the platform of the tower,—
"Attack us, then."
The voice below added,—
"A cannon will be fired, as a last warning, half an hour before the assault."
And the voice from above repeated,—
"Attack us."
These voices did not reach the children's ears, but the trumpet and the horn sounded higher and farther, and Georgette at the first blast of the trumpet raised her head and stopped eating; at the sound of the horn, she put her spoon in her porringer; at the second trumpet blast, she lifted the little forefinger of her right hand, and letting it fall and raising it again alternately, marked the cadences of the flourish which prolonged the second blowing of the horn; when the horn and the trumpet were silent, she remained thoughtful, her finger in the air, and murmured half aloud, "Misic."
We think that she meant "music."
The two oldest, René-Jean and Gros-Alain, had paid no attention to the horn and the trumpet; they were absorbed by something else; a woodlouse was crossing the library.
