e he finally turned to go. Crystal had taken one
step backward just then, whether because she was afraid that the man
would try and approach her, or because of a mere sense of dignity, she
could not herself have said. Certain it is that she did move back and
that in so doing her foot came in contact with an object lying on the
ground. The shape and size of it were unmistakable, it was the pistol
which the Comte must have dropped when first he stepped out of the
carriage, and was seized upon by this band of thieves. Guided by that
same strange and wonderful instinct which has so often caused women in
times of war to turn against the assailants of their men or devastation
of their homes, Crystal picked up the weapon without a moment's
hesitation; she knew that it was loaded, and she knew how to use it.
Even as the masked man moved away into the darkness, she fired in the
direction whence his firm footsteps still sent their repeated echo.

The short, sharp report died out in the still, frosty air; Crystal
vainly strained her ears to catch the sound of a fall or a groan. But in
the confusion that ensued she could not distinguish any individual
sound. She knew that Mme. la Duchesse and Jeanne had screamed, she heard
a few loud curses, the clatter of bits and bridles, the snorting of
horses and presently the noise of several horses galloping away, out in
the direction of Chambery.

Then nothing more.

VII

M. le Comte as well as the coachman and postillions were lying helpless
and bound somewhere in the darkness. It took the three women some time
to find them first and then to release them.

Crystal with great presence of mind had run to the horses' heads,
directly after she had fired that random shot. The poor, frightened
animals had reared and plunged, and had thereby succeeded in dragging
the heavy carriage out of the ditch. After which they had stopped, rigid
for a moment and trembling as horses will sometimes when they are
terrified, before they start running away for dear life. That moment was
Crystal's opportunity and fortunately she took it at the right time and
in the right way.

A hand on the leaders' bridles, a soothing voice, the absence of further
alarming noises tended at once to quieten the team--a set of good steady
Normandy draft-horses with none too much corn in their bellies to heat
their sluggish blood.

While Crystal stood at her post, Mme. la Duchesse--cool and
practical--found her way firstly