pistol back in the holsters and take
care of these other two for me." And the young man removed the two from
his belt and handed them to the hostler.

"Well," exclaimed the latter, laughing, "any more barkers?"

"You know, Patout, they say the roads are unsafe."

"Ah! I should think they weren't safe! We're up to our necks in regular
highway robberies, M. Charles. Why, no later than last week they stopped
and robbed the diligence between Geneva and Bourg!"

"Indeed!" exclaimed Morgan; "and whom do they accuse of the robbery?"

"Oh, it's such a farce! Just fancy; they say it was the Companions of
Jesus. I don't believe a word of it, of course. Who are the Companions
of Jesus if not the twelve apostles?"

"Of course," said Morgan, with his eternally joyous smile, "I don't know
of any others."

"Well!" continued Patout, "to accuse the twelve apostles of robbing a
diligence, that's the limit. Oh! I tell you, M. Charles, we're living in
times when nobody respects anything."

And shaking his head like a misanthrope, disgusted, if not with life, at
least with men, Patout led the horse to the stable.

As for Morgan, he watched Patout till he saw him disappear down the
courtyard and enter the dark stable; then, skirting the hedge which
bordered the garden, he went toward a large clump of trees whose lofty
tops were silhouetted against the darkness of the night, with the
majesty of things immovable, the while their shadows fell upon a
charming little country house known in the neighborhood as the Chateau
des Noires-Fontaines. As Morgan reached the chateau wall, the hour
chimed from the belfry of the village of Montagnac. The young man
counted the strokes vibrating in the calm silent atmosphere of the
autumn night. It was eleven o'clock. Many things, as we have seen, had
happened during the last two hours.

Morgan advanced a few steps farther, examined the wall, apparently in
search of a familiar spot, then, having found it, inserted the tip of
his boot in a cleft between two stones. He sprang up like a man mounting
a horse, seized the top of the wall with the left hand, and with a
second spring seated himself astride the wall, from which, with the
rapidity of lightning, he lowered himself on the other side. All this
was done with such rapidity, such dexterity and agility, that any one
chancing to pass at that instant would have thought himself the puppet
of a vision. Morgan stopped, as on the other side of the wall, to