p his leg. But now
he seized Guillaume's revolver, and dragged the old fellow out of the
hut. Then he sat down on his chest, pinning his arms together on the
ground above his head.

"You enjoyed playing your mouse just a trifle too long, old cat," said
he.

Guillaume lay very still, exhausted, beaten, and defenceless. Dieppe
released his hands, and, rising, stood looking down at him. A smile
came on his face.

"We are now in a better position to adjust our accounts fairly," he
observed, as he took from his pocket M. Guillaume's portfolio.
"Listen," he commanded; and Guillaume turned weary but spiteful eyes to
him. "Here is your portfolio. Take it. Look at it."

Guillaume sat up and obeyed the command.

"Well?" asked Dieppe, when the examination was ended.

"You have robbed me of twenty-five thousand francs."

The Captain looked at him for a moment with a frown. But the next
instant he smiled.

"I must make allowances for the state of your temper," he remarked.
"But I wish you would carry all your money in notes. That draft, now,
is no use to me. Hence"--he shrugged his shoulders regretfully--"I am
obliged to leave your Government still no less than twenty-five
thousand francs in debt to me."

"What!" cried Guillaume, with a savage stare.

"Oh, yes, you know that well. They have fifty thousand which certainly
don't belong to them, and certainly do to me."

"That money 's forfeited," growled Guillaume.

"If you like, then, I forfeit twenty-five thousand of theirs. But I
allow it in account with them. The debt now stands reduced by half."

"I 'll get it back from you somehow," threatened Guillaume, who was
helpless, but not cowed.

"That will be difficult. I gave it to Paul de Roustache to discharge a
claim he had on me."

"To Paul de Roustache?"

"Yes. It 's true he lent me five thousand again; but that 's purely
between him and me. And I shall have spent it long before you can even
begin to take steps to recover it." He paused a moment and then added,
"If you still hanker after your notes, I should recommend you to find
your friend and accomplice, M. Paul."

"Where is he?"

"Who can tell? I saw him last on the road across the river--it leads
to Sasellano, I believe." Dieppe kept his eye on his vanquished
opponent, but Guillaume threatened no movement. The Captain dropped
the revolver into his pocket, stooped to pull up a tuft of grass with
moist earth adhering to it, and, with