I was no sooner out of the well with my prize, than I rushed into the sunlight, and took refuge in a kind of shrubbery at the bottom of the garden.

As I entered my hiding-place, the bell which resounded when the great gate was opened, rang.

It was my preceptor come back again.

I had but just time.

I calculated that it would take ten minutes before he would gain my place of concealment, even if, guessing where I was, he came straight to it; and twenty if he were obliged to look for me.