first spoken was on the point of making an angry
reply, but his companion exclaimed with a laugh, "Let the boor alone to
do his business; by the look of his face 'twill bring him pretty close
to the hangman's rope!" and, taking no further notice of us, they
galloped on.

"By my faith, Casimir," I exclaimed hotly, "your Parisian manners are
not of the pleasantest. I could wish that your patron had employed a
less boorish messenger."

"See here, monsieur," said he, "there is no need for us to quarrel, but
I don't intend losing my life on your account, and it's plain there is
some one who bears you no goodwill. How do I know who these travellers
are? They may belong to the same gang that shot at me in the wood!"

"Well," I returned rather scornfully, "since you are so fearful of being
in my company we had better push on faster. The sooner you bring me to
your patron the sooner you can take yourself off."

The rebuke apparently produced some effect, and for a time we proceeded
at a fairly rapid pace; but the best part of the day was over, and the
late afternoon was already closing in. To reach Poictiers before
nightfall was out of the question, and I began to resign myself to
sleeping at some wayside inn.

"At any rate," I thought, "there can be little danger. What with
Casimir's fears and Jacques' vigilance I shall receive plenty of
warning."

I was never an advocate of overboldness, but our guide erred in the
other extreme. He became more and more nervous and fidgety, stopping a
dozen times to listen, fancying he heard the beat of horses' hoofs in
our rear, and declaring we were being followed. And the more his
nervousness increased, the more Jacques and I laughed at his fears.

It was fast getting dark when we entered a narrow road, where there was
scarcely room for Jacques and Casimir to ride abreast. To the right was
a wall of rock, to the left a steep stony slope, on which one might
easily break a limb if not one's neck. I rode a little in advance;
Jacques on the edge of the slope, and Casimir next to the wall. It was
so dark that we could see hardly more than a few yards ahead, and I
warned Jacques to be careful.

Suddenly our guide, crying, "Stop a minute, monsieur, my horse has a
stone in its foot!" jumped to the ground.

What the reason was I had no suspicion at the time, though it was easy
enough to guess afterwards; but the animal began plunging and rearing so
violently that its owner had hard work t