in the barn half an hour ago, and so--

"I am," said I, "Monsieur de Lesperon, at your service."

Too late I saw the mistake that I had made. I own it was a blunder
that no man of ordinary intelligence should have permitted himself
to have committed. Remembering the unrest of the province, I
should rather have concluded that their business was more like to
be in that connection.

"He is bold, at least," cried one of the troopers, with a burst of
laughter. Then came the sergeant's voice, cold and formal, "In the
King's name, Monsieur de Lesperon, I arrest you."

He had whipped out his sword, and the point was within an inch of
my breast. But his arm, I observed, was stretched to its fullest
extent, which forbade his making a sudden thrust. To hamper him in
the lunge there was the table between us.

So, my mind working quickly in this desperate situation, and
realizing how dire and urgent the need to attempt an escape, I
leapt suddenly back to find myself in the arms of his followers.
But in moving I had caught up by one of its legs the stool on which
I had been sitting. As I raised it, I eluded the pinioning grip
of the troopers. I twisted in their grasp, and brought the stool
down upon the head of one of them with a force that drove him to
his knees. Up went that three-legged stool again, to descend like
a thunderbolt upon the head of another. That freed me. The
sergeant was coming up behind, but another flourish of my improvised
battle-axe sent the two remaining soldiers apart to look to their