ns also had stopped and stood listening. One of them said, under
his breath:

"It comes from the house ... from the linen-room...."

And another spluttered:

"Sounds like moans.... And mother's alone!"

Suddenly, a frightful scream rang out. All five rushed forward. Another
scream, followed by cries of despair.

"We're here! We're coming!" shouted the eldest, who was leading.

And, as it was a roundabout way to the door, he smashed in a window with
his fist and sprang into the old people's bedroom. The room next to it
was the linen-room, in which Mother Goussot spent most of her time.

"Damnation!" he said, seeing her lying on the floor, with blood all over
her face. "Dad! Dad!"

"What? Where is she?" roared old Goussot, appearing on the scene. "Good
lord, what's this?... What have they done to your mother?"

She pulled herself together and, with outstretched arm, stammered:

"Run after him!... This way!... This way!... I'm all right ... only a
scratch or two.... But run, you! He's taken the money."

The father and sons gave a bound:

"He's taken the money!" bellowed old Goussot, rushing to the door to
which his wife was pointing. "He's taken the money! Stop thief!"

But a sound of several voices rose at the end of the passage through
which the other three sons were coming:

"I saw him! I saw him!"

"So did I! He ran up the stairs."

"No, there he is, he's coming down again!"

A mad steeplechase shook every floor in the house. Farmer Goussot, on
reaching the end of the passage, caught sight of a man standing by the
front door trying to open it. If he succeeded, it meant safety, escape
through the market square and the back lanes of the village.

Interrupted as he was fumbling at the bolts, the man turning stupid,
lost his head, charged at old Goussot and sent him spinning, dodged the
eldest brother and, pursued by the four sons, doubled back down the long
passage, ran into the old couple's bedroom, flung his legs through the
broken window and disappeared.

The sons rushed after him across the lawns and orchards, now darkened by
the falling night.

"The villain's done for," chuckled old Goussot. "There's no way out for
him. The walls are too high. He's done for, the scoundrel!"

The two farm-hands returned, at that moment, from the village; and he
told them what had happened and gave each of them a gun:

"If the swine shows his nose anywhere near the house," he said, "let fly
at him. Give him n