by Abraham . . ."

"And by all the other patriarchs, I know. Unfortunately, they are still
in Hades, I believe, according to your creed, and cannot help you much
in your present trouble. Now, you did not fulfil your share of the
bargain, but I am ready to fulfil mine. Here," he added, turning to the
soldiers, "the buckle-end of your two belts to this confounded Jew."

As the soldiers obediently unbuckled their heavy leather belts, the
Jew set up a howl that surely would have been enough to bring all the
patriarchs out of Hades and elsewhere, to defend their descendant from
the brutality of this French official.

"I think I can rely on you, citoyen soldiers," laughed Chauvelin,
maliciously, "to give this old liar the best and soundest beating he has
ever experienced. But don't kill him," he added drily.

"We will obey, citoyen," replied the soldiers as imperturbably as ever.

He did not wait to see his orders carried out: he knew that he could
trust these soldiers--who were still smarting under his rebuke--not to
mince matters, when given a free hand to belabour a third party.

"When that lumbering coward has had his punishment," he said to Desgas,
"the men can guide us as far as the cart, and one of them can drive us
in it back to Calais. The Jew and the woman can look after each other,"
he added roughly, "until we can send somebody for them in the morning.
They can't run away very far, in their present condition, and we cannot
be troubled with them just now."

Chauvelin had not given up all hope. His men, he knew, were spurred
on by the hope of the reward. That enigmatic and audacious Scarlet
Pimpernel, alone and with thirty men at his heels, could not reasonably
be expected to escape a second time.

But he felt less sure now: the Englishman's audacity had baffled him
once, whilst the wooden-headed stupidity of the soldiers, and the
interference of a woman had turned his hand, which held all the trumps,
into a losing one. If Marguerite had not taken up his time, if the
soldiers had had a grain of intelligence, if . . . it was a long "if,"
and Chauvelin stood for a moment quite still, and enrolled thirty odd
people in one long, overwhelming anathema. Nature, poetic, silent,
balmy, the bright moon, the calm, silvery sea spoke of beauty and of
rest, and Chauvelin cursed nature, cursed man and woman, and above all,
he cursed all long-legged, meddlesome British enigmas with one gigantic
curse.

The howls of the J