Chapter 9 Chapter 9 Escape from the Tiger's Mouth

The situation is indeed extremely serious.What could Marcel do?He will not live long, and perhaps as the sun goes down, his last night will come. He didn't sleep for a while, not because he was afraid that, as Mr. Schultz said, he would not be able to wake up after falling asleep, but because he was always thinking about the imminent disaster in the city of France! How to do it?He thought over and over again, destroy that cannon?Blow up the tower that houses that gun?How can I do it?run away!run away!But there are those two giants guarding the door!Besides, even if I escape from Stalstadt before September thirteenth, how can I prevent that catastrophe?Yes!Even if I can't save that dear city, I can at least save its people, I can run and shout to them: Run away!run away!You are about to be burned to death!Everyone run away!

For a moment Marcel's mind turned to another direction. That bastard Schultz!He was thinking, even if he exaggerated the power of his shells, even if he couldn't burn down the whole city with fire, it is certain that he could burn down a large part of the city with fire at once!A dreadful weapon he devises, and that dreadful cannon will fire its balls into the city of France, though the two cities are far apart!Its muzzle velocity is twenty times greater than hitherto achieved!Almost ten thousand meters per second, two and a half miles!But that's almost a third of the speed the Earth is moving in its own orbit!Is this possible?possible, possible!As long as his gun doesn't explode when the first shell is fired!And it will not explode, because the metal material used in this gun has almost great anti-explosion power!That bastard knows the location of the city of France like the back of his hand!Without stepping out of his lair, he'll be able to aim his guns exactly on target, and, as he says, the shells will drop right into the center of the city!How can the unfortunate inhabitants be saved from such a sudden disaster!

Marcel did not close his eyes, it was already daylight.He tossed and turned in bed all night, when he got out of bed. Well, he thought, it will be tonight!This executioner, who didn't want me to suffer, must have waited until I was so sleepy that I had no energy to worry about, and fell asleep!So what to do!But how on earth does he want me to die!Is he trying to wait for me to fall asleep and let me suck some hydrocyanic acid to die?Is he going to vent into my room that carbonic acid he has stored up so much?He would probably use that liquid carbonic acid, like that contained in his glass cannonballs, which would plummet to minus one hundred when it suddenly returned to gaseous form!And the next day, the strong, energetic version of me was gone, replaced by a shriveled, cold, stiff mummy!ah!The bastard!Well, my heart, if I had to, could freeze with the unbearable cold, my life could be frozen, but my friends, Dr. Sarazan, his family, Jeanne, I Little Jeanne, must be rescued!For this reason, I must escape, I must escape!

When Marcel uttered these last words, although he knew that he was locked in the house, he instinctively put his hand on the doorknob. To his great astonishment, the door opened, and he could go down, as usual, into the garden where he was accustomed to walk. ah!He said, I was imprisoned in the headquarters, not in my room!This is a bit of a door! However, as soon as Marcel came out, he saw clearly that although he was apparently free, the two men who took the names of ancient people, or prehistoric people, Arminius and Sigime But following him closely. More than once, when he had met them on the road, he had wondered more than once how these two giants in gray uniforms, with necks as thick as bull's necks, of immense strength, and rumpled beards growing over their red faces What is it for?

He knew now what they were doing.They were Mr. Schultz's executioners, and they were acting as his personal bodyguards temporarily. These two giants kept watch over him, and they slept by his door, and if he came into the garden they followed him.The two of them were in uniform and equipped with scary pistols and daggers, which further showed the strict surveillance. Neither of them spoke a word while carrying out their mission.Marcel tried to use his diplomacy to talk to them, but in return they looked at him viciously.He even thought about buying them a beer, thinking it wouldn't be turned down, but he hit a snag.After fifteen hours of observation, he found only one fault in them and the only one was their love of smoking pipes, which they smoked freely when he followed him.Could Marcel have exploited their only flaw to save himself?He doesn't know, he still can't think of how to do it, but he has secretly determined to escape, and he should not ignore all opportunities that allow him to escape.

However, time is running out.What should we do? Marcel was convinced that as long as he had the slightest intention of resisting or fleeing, he would have two bullets in his head.Even though the bullet missed, he was still trapped in the three lines of defense, guarded by layers of sentinels, and it was impossible to escape. The former student of the Central Polytechnic School, according to his habit, tried to prove this problem correctly like a mathematician. Suppose a man is guarded by several fierce men, each of them stronger than he, and armed to the teeth.For this person, the first thing is to escape the surveillance of the guards.After the first step is completed, it is to try to escape from the fortress that is surrounded by strict guards

Marcel pondered these two questions hundreds of times, but every time he hit a wall. In the end, was it the extreme severity of the situation that gave his creative genius the final blow?Or did sheer chance lead him to the answer?It's hard to say. At any rate, the next day, when Marcel was walking in the garden, his eyes fell on a bush at the edge of the flower-bed, the shape of which caught his attention. It was a herbaceous plant, not good-looking. The leaves were alternate, oval, pointed, and paired. The flowers were big and red, shaped like a single-petaled bell flower, with a peduncle at the bottom. .

Marcel had never studied botany, it was just a hobby, but he recognized the characteristics of the nightshade plant from this small shrub.He randomly picked a small leaf and chewed it lightly in his mouth as he walked. He guessed right.His limbs suddenly became heavy, accompanied by a little nausea, and he understood at once that what he had in front of him was a belladonna, that is to say, a natural factory of the most powerful narcotic. He was still walking until he came to a small artificial lake on the south side of the garden.The lake is used to feed the garden at one end, exactly like the Bois de Boulogne. 】The waterfall built by the waterfall.

Where does the water from this waterfall go?Marcel was thinking. It emptied into the bed of a small river and then, after a dozen turns or so, disappeared at the end of the garden. There must be a drainage hole there.On the surface, the stream appears to flow from a drainage hole, one of the underground waterways that irrigate the plain outside the city of Stalstadt. Marcel vaguely saw an exit there. Of course, it was not a road, but it was a way out. If that waterway is blocked by an iron fence!A cautious voice rang in his head. If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you get a tiger cub!

There are quite a few good files in the lab, they can't possibly be made to file bottle corks!Another voice retorted sarcastically, and this one decided to take bold action. In two minutes Marcel had made his decision.He has an idea, what is that idea called!Maybe it won't happen, but if he doesn't die before then, find a way to make it happen. So he deliberately walked back to the little red flower bush and picked off two or three leaves. The two guards clearly saw his action. Then, once back in his room, he roasted the leaves over the fire, all the while without concealment, before crumbling them in his hands and mixing them with his tobacco.

For the next six days: Marcel was always surprised to find himself waking up each morning.Had Mr. Schultz, whom he had never seen again, and whom he had never met in his walks, abandoned the plan to get rid of?No, certainly not, just as he would not give up destroying Dr. Sarrazan's city. So Marcel picked some of those leaves every day while he was still alive.Of course, he was very careful not to smoke belladonna himself. For this reason, he prepared two packs of tobacco leaves, one for his own use and the other for daily belladonna.His purpose is very simple, that is to arouse the curiosity of Arminius and Sijime.These two fools were heavy smokers, and would soon notice the little bush Marcel had plucked leaves from, and would follow his example and taste the tobacco blend. He was right in his estimate, and the expected result was, so to speak, produced exactly. From the day before the evil day, September thirteenth, on the sixth day, Marcel glanced behind him nonchalantly out of the corner of his eye, and saw with satisfaction that the two guards were picking a little of the green leaves. An hour later, he figured they were drying the leaves over the fire, crushing them in their large, callused hands, and mixing them into their tobacco.They even seem to be salivating! Did Marcel just want Arminius and Sidhime to fall asleep?no.It's not enough to escape their surveillance.You have to find a way to get through that waterway, swim across that large body of water, and escape from there even if the waterway is several kilometers long.And this method, Marcel has already considered.Indeed, that was a narrow escape, but he was already prepared to sacrifice his life, not to mention that he had already been sentenced to death. As dusk fell, supper was over, and it was time for a last walk, the three, never to be parted, set out for the garden. Without hesitation, without delay for a minute, Marcel walked straight towards a building standing on the hill.There is the model workshop.He picked a stool that was set aside, sat down, filled his pipe, lit it, and smoked. Arminius and Sigime, who had already prepared their pipes, immediately sat down on a bench next to them and began to smoke their pipes. The effect of the medicine was produced immediately. In less than five minutes, the two big men were like bears in a cage, yawning and stretching each other.Their eyes were covered with clouds and mist, their ears were buzzing, their faces turned from light red to deep red, their arms drooped feebly, and their heads leaned back on the back of the chair. Their pipes fell to the ground. Finally, the two snored loudly, rhythmically intertwined with the birdsong of the perennial Stalstadt garden. Marcel was only waiting for this moment to come.As you can imagine, he waited very hard, because at 11:45 the next night, the French city sentenced to death by Mr. Schulz will no longer exist. Marcel rushes into the model workshop.The huge factory building hides various models, just like a big museum.Medium-sized hydraulic machinery, locomotives, steam engines, mobile internal combustion engines, water pumps, turbines, drilling machines, marine machinery, and ship hulls can be said to have millions of masterpieces.This is a wooden model of everything the Schulz factory has produced since its inception.As you can imagine, there are of course models of cannons, torpedoes, and shells. The night was dark, and it was a godsend for the daring plan that the young Alsatians were about to carry out.While preparing his daring escape plan, he also wants to destroy the model museum in Stahlstad.ah!If only he could destroy the bunkers in the huge and impenetrable Bull Tower and the cannon all at once!But that is absolutely impossible. Marcel's first thought was to take a small hacksaw from the tool rack and put it in his pocket.Then, he took out a match from the matchbox to strike, and without hesitation for a moment, he used the polished match to light the blueprints and light pine models piled up in a corner of the factory building. Then, he walked out. In an instant, everything that was combustible was on fire, and the fire burst out from the windows of the factory building.The alarm bell rang immediately, and a surge of electricity caused all the electric alarm bells in all districts of Starstad to ring, and firefighters pulled on the steam fire engine and rushed over from all directions. At the same time, Mr. Schultz appeared, and he came just in time to encourage all the crews to fight the fire. In a few minutes, the steam boiler has increased the pressure, and the high-pressure water pump will soon spray water.The water pump sprayed out a thick column of water, pouring on the walls and roof of the model museum.However, the fire was stronger than the water column. It can be said that when it touched the water, instead of being extinguished, it burned even more vigorously, and soon all parts of the building were set on fire.In five minutes the fire had grown so great that any hope of keeping it under control had been given up.The fire was both spectacular and terrifying. Marcel hid in a corner, staring at Mr. Schultz, watching him urging his subordinates, as if he was directing a siege.However, there was no need to evacuate the other houses, since the model museum was a solitary building in the garden.It is now certain that it will all be reduced to ashes. At this time, Mr. Schultz saw that the building could not be kept, and he shouted loudly: Whoever can rescue the No. 3175 model placed under the middle window will receive a reward of 10,000 yuan! This model is that of the famous cannon invented by Schulz, and it is more precious to him than any other model in the museum. However, if you want to save this model, you have to throw yourself into the sea of ​​fire and pass through the suffocating thick black smoke, which is a narrow escape!So, despite the allure of a 10,000 bounty, no one heeded Mr. Schultz's call. At this time, suddenly a person came forward. It was Marcel. I'll go, he said. you!cried Mr. Schultz. I! You must be clear that this does not exempt you from the death sentence! I don't expect to escape death, I just don't want that precious model to be destroyed! Then you go, Mr. Schultz replied, I swear to you, if you succeed, the ten thousand bounty will be given to your heirs in full. I fully believe it. Someone has brought in several garibe gas-boxes, which are always ready for fire, and which can be worn into smoky choking places.Marcel had already used it when rescuing Mrs. Bauer's son Karl Jr. Marcel immediately carried an air tank filled with several atmospheres of pressure.He put his nose in a clip, the mouthpiece of the pipe in his mouth, and rushed into the smoke. I finally got what I wanted!he thought.I have air to breathe for a quarter of an hour!May God bless it will be enough! It is easy to imagine that Marcel had no desire to salvage the model of the Schulz cannon at all.At the risk of his life, he passed through the hall filled with smoke, and saw the burning materials and charred beams raining down like a heavy rain, but, strange to say, it didn't hit him.Suddenly, the wind blows, the fire blows up, the roof collapses, but Marcel escapes through a door on the opposite side that opens into the garden. He ran for the creek, and without hesitation jumped down from the bank to the strange drainage hole that would take him out of Stalstadt.All this took only a few seconds for Marcel. A rapid current rushed him into a deep water seven or eight feet deep.He didn't have to orient himself because the current was guiding him as if he were pulling an Ariana [Note: Goddess in Greek mythology.She fell in love with Tesse, a warrior who came to destroy the troll.Because he was afraid that he would get lost in the maze after defeating the giant monster, he was given a ball of thread so that he could find the exit and leave the maze. 】Line group.Almost immediately he found himself entering a narrow channel, shaped like a pipe, almost full of water. How long is this pipe?Marcel thought, the key is here!If I can't get through this waterway in a quarter of an hour, there won't be enough air, and I'm finished! Marcel remained calm.The water flowed against him like this for ten minutes before it encountered an obstacle. This is an openable iron fence door blocking the exit of the waterway. I'm worried about having this stuff!Marcel simply said this in his heart. So, without losing a second, he took the saw out of his pocket and began sawing the bolt up to the head of the bolt. He had been sawing for five minutes without sawing off the bolt, and the iron bars were still firmly closed.It was already extremely difficult for Marcel to breathe.The air in the airbox was so thin that he could only draw a tiny bit.His ears were buzzing, his eyes were bloodshot, and his head was dizzy, all of which indicated that he was about to suffocate to death!However, he was holding on, holding his breath, in order to reduce the oxygen consumption in his lungs as much as possible. The oxygen in his lungs really couldn't escape!However, the deadbolt just keeps going, even though a deep gap has been sawed out! But at this time, the saw fell off. God can't be against me!he thought. So, he shook the iron fence desperately with both hands, and his survival instinct gave him infinite strength. The iron fence was opened.The deadbolt is broken.The current carried poor Marcel, who was almost suffocated, with all his might trying to inhale the last particles of air in the tank! When Mr. Schultz's men entered the engulfed building the next day, they found no sign of a single burnt person, either among the broken bricks or among the smoldering embers. any trace.So it is safe to say that there was nothing left of that brave worker who was burned for his loyalty.This did not surprise anyone who knew him in the workshops of the factory. The precious model could not be rescued, but the man who held the secret of the Iron King was dead after all. For God's sake, I would have spared him pain, Mr. Schultz said to himself sincerely, and anyway, it saved me ten thousand dollars! Such a eulogy for the young Alsatian!