fleet pair of heels he showed, taking into account his heaviness of
body. Already he had a fair lead; and had he maintained for long the
pace he set in the first few hundred yards he must have won away
scot-free. But whether he lacked staying powers or confidence, he made
the mistake of adopting another and less fatiguing means of locomotion.
Duchemin saw him swerve from his first course and steer for a vehicle
standing at some distance--evidently the conveyance which had brought
the sightseers to view the spectacle of Montpellier-le-Vieux by
moonlight.

Waiting in the middle of a broad avenue of misshapen obelisks, a
dilapidated barouche with a low body sagging the lower for debilitated
springs, on either side its pole drooped two sorry specimens of
crowbait. And their pained amazement was so unfeigned that Duchemin
laughed aloud when the fat rogue bounded to the box, snatched up reins
and whip and curled a cruel lash round their bony flanks. From this one
inferred that he was indifferently acquainted with the animals,
certainly not their accustomed driver. And since it took them some
moments to come to their senses and appreciate that all this was not an
evil dream, Duchemin's hands were clutching for the back of the
carriage when the horses broke suddenly into an awkward, lumbering
gallop and whisked it out of reach.

But not for long. Extending himself, Duchemin caught the folded top,
jumped, and began to clamber in.

The man on the box was tugging fretfully at something wedged in the
hip-pocket of his breeches; proof enough that he was not the original
tenant of the uniform, since it fitted too snugly to permit ready
extraction of a pistol in an emergency.