lling in torrents. The
Schoolmaster and the Chouette, hidden in an alley opposite the
_tapis-franc_, saw the Chourineur go down the street, in the direction
of the street in which the house in ruins was situated. His steps, which
were somewhat irregular, in consequence of the frequent libations of the
evening, were soon unheard amidst the whistling of the storm and the
sheets of rain which dashed against the walls. Sarah and Tom left the
tavern in spite of the tempest, and took a contrary direction to the
Chourineur.

"They're done for," said the Schoolmaster, in a low key, to the
Chouette; "out with your vitriol, and mind your eye."

"Let us take off our shoes, and then they won't hear us as we follow,"
suggested the Chouette.

"You are right,--always right; let us tread like cats, my old darling."

The two monsters took off their shoes, and moved stealthily along,
keeping in the shadows of the houses. By means of this stratagem they
followed so closely, that, although within a few steps of Sarah and Tom,
they did not hear them.

"Fortunately our hackney-coach is at the end of the street; the rain
falls in torrents. Are you not cold, Sarah?"

"Perhaps we shall glean something from this smuggler,--this Bras Rouge,"
said Sarah, in a thoughtful tone, and not replying to her brother's
inquiry.

He suddenly stopped, and said, "I have taken a wrong turning; I ought to
have gone to the right when I left the tavern; we must pass by a house
in ruins to reach the _fiacre_. We must turn back."

The Schoolmaster and the Chouette, who followed on the heels of their
intended victims, retreated into the dark porch of a house close at
hand, so that they might not be perceived by Tom and Sarah, who, in
passing, almost touched them with their elbows.

"I am glad they have gone that way," said the Schoolmaster, "for if the
'cove' resists, I have my own idea."

Sarah and her brother, having again passed by the _tapis-franc_, arrived
close to the dilapidated house, which was partly in ruins, and its
opened cellars formed a kind of gulf, along which the street ran in that
direction. In an instant, the Schoolmaster, with a leap resembling in
strength and agility the spring of a tiger, seized Seyton with one hand
by the throat, and exclaimed, "Your money, or I will fling you into this
hole!"

Then the brigand, pushing Seyton backwards, shoved him off his balance,
and with one hand held him suspended over the mouth of the deep
e