s coat,
without any warning except an inarticulate grumbling noise. The rain and
the thick darkness prevented him from seeing his assailant; but, when he
turned in order to lay hold of him, he found a shaggy head coming in
contact with his face. As soon as he felt the hair brush against his
cheek, he gave a low laugh, and said--

"Down, Carlo, down! It is Bertram."

His four-footed assailant, a large dog of the African lion breed,
immediately relinquished his hold, and crouched at the feet of his old
master.

"Just so," muttered Bertram. "I thought Jacquelin would not like to go
the rounds to-night, and would confide his post to thee, Carlo. Come,
let us go and hunt for thy new master."

He then walked cautiously towards the house, the lower windows of which
opened into the garden, and showed a brilliantly illuminated apartment,
in which a table, covered with all the appurtenances of an epicurean
supper, was set out. The room was filled with a number of gentlemen in
every variety of dress. Bertram, in his approach to the house, took
advantage of every tree to conceal his person, in order to get as near
as possible without being observed. When he had come near enough to
distinguish the persons in the room, he stopped, and surveyed the scene
and the ground with the eye of a soldier, and, after a few moments,
muttered--

"A precious set of scoundrels, indeed, we have here. Grandan--I suppose
come to make converts to socialism; no need of that here; Malin, Sotard,
Egal, and Letour, who have no property of their own, are already too
willing to divide that of other people. There, too, are Longchamp,
Bouchon, and Labotte, and not a woman with them: that is strange, were
it not for the wine, which accounts for their presence here. But I must
hasten to obtain the key. I wonder where that scoundrel Jacquelin has
gone to."

He then gave a low and prolonged whistle. It was answered, after a few
seconds, by another from an upper window, and soon afterwards a man came
out of the house and looked around in the garden; but the darkness
prevented him from distinguishing anything. Bertram repeated, in the
mean time, his signal, while he drew off from the house towards a thick
clump of trees, to which the man followed, guided by the signal whistle.
As soon as they had reached the trees, Bertram seized him in his
powerful arms, and, after he had put his handkerchief over his mouth,
told him to give up the key of the garden gate. Th