ame no answer to his call. M. de St. Genis
must have fallen back some little distance in the rear, else he surely
would have heard something of the clatter, the shouts and the swearing
which were attending the present unfortunate contretemps.

"Maurice! where are you?" called the Comte again. And still no answer.

Pierre was continuing his audible mutterings. "Darkness as black
as----": then he shouted with a yet more forcible volley of oaths:
"Jean! you oaf! get hold of the off mare, can't you? And you, what's
your name, you fool? ease the near gelding. Heavens above, what dolts!"

"Stop a moment," cried M. le Comte, "wait till the ladies can get out.
This pulling and lurching is unbearable."

"Ease a moment," commanded Pierre stolidly. "Go to the near door, Jean,
and help the master out of the carriage."

"Hark! what was that?" It was M. le Comte who spoke. There had been a
momentary lull in the creaking and groaning of the wheels, while the two
young postillions obeyed the coachman's orders to "ease a moment," and
one of them came round to help the ladies and his master out of the
lurching vehicle; only the horses' snorting, the champing of their bits
and pawing of the hard ground broke the silence of the night.

M. le Comte had opened the near door and was half out of the carriage
when a sound caught his ear which was in no way connected with the
stranded vehicle and its team of snorting horses. Yet the sound came
from horses--horses which were on the move not very far away and which
even now seemed to be coming nearer.

"Who goes there? Maurice, is that you?" called M. le Comte more loudly.

"Stand and deliver!" came the peremptory response.

"Stand yourself or I fire," retorted the Comte, who was already groping
for the pistol which he kept inside the carriage.

"You murderous villain!" came with the inevitable string of oaths from
Pierre the coachman. "You . . ."

The rest of this forceful expletive was broken and muffled. Evidently
Pierre had been summarily gagged. There was a short, sharp scuffle
somewhere on ahead; cries for help from the two postillions which were
equally sharply smothered. The horses began rearing and plunging.

"One of you at the leaders' heads," came in a clear voice which in this
impenetrable darkness sounded weirdly familiar to the occupants of the
carriage, who awed, terrified by this unforeseen attack sat motionless,
clinging to one another inside the vehicle.

Alone the