o bad for a spy!"

"Let's fall on him! Let us support the Skeleton!"

"Yes, let's at the Blue Cap!"

"No, let's support the Blue Cap, and let's at the Skeleton!" retorted
the Chourineur's party.

"No, down with the Blue Cap!"

"Down with the Skeleton!"

"Well done, my boys!" cried the Chourineur, addressing the prisoners who
sided with him. "You're good fellows, and would not massacre a half dead
man; none but cowards would do that. The Skeleton does not care what
evil he does; he is sentenced beforehand, and that is why he urges you
on; but if you help to kill Germain, you will be severely punished for
it. Besides, I have something to propose. The Skeleton is desirous of
doing for this young man; well, let him come and take him if he thinks
he has the pluck to do it; let us two settle it; leave us to ourselves,
and see what turns up. But he's afraid; he's like Cut-in-Half, only
strong with the weak."

The vigour, energy, and rough manner of the Chourineur had powerful
effect on the prisoners, and a considerable number of them had ranged
themselves on his side, and surrounded Germain, whilst the Skeleton's
party drew around that ruffian. A bloody fray would have ensued, when
there was heard in the yard the sonorous and measured tread of a piquet
of infantry, always on guard in the prison. Pique-Vinaigre, profiting by
the general stir and noise, had gained the yard, and, having knocked at
the wicket of the entrance, had told the turnkeys what was passing in
the day-room. The arrival of the soldiers put an end to this scene.
Germain, the Skeleton, and the Chourineur were taken before the
governor of La Force; the first to make his complaint, the two others to
answer for creating a disturbance inside the gaol.

The fright and suffering of Germain had been so great, his weakness so
extreme, that he was obliged to lean on two of the turnkeys, in order to
reach a chamber next to the governor's room. There he was very ill. His
neck, excoriated as it was, bore the livid and bleeding imprint of the
Skeleton's iron grasp; a few minutes more, and Rigolette's betrothed
would have been strangled. The turnkey, who had taken an interest in
Germain, gave him first assistance. When he had recovered, his first
thought was of his deliverer.

"Thanks for your kind cares, sir," he said to the turnkey. "But for that
brave man, I must have been killed. Where is he?"

"In the governor's room, telling him how the disturbance arose.