was none
other than the cloak of Fantomas.

Suddenly there was brought home to Juve the comprehension of all this
adventure signified--a distracting, a maddening adventure!

"Fantomas! Fantomas!" Juve murmured. "Great Heavens! I saw Fantomas
before me!... Vagualame! He is Fantomas!... Curse it! He has slipped
through my hands, thrice fool that I am! Never again will he appear as
this beggarly accordion player--never will he dare to show himself in
that make-up!... What new form will he take?... Fantomas! Fantomas!
Once again you have escaped me!"

* * * * *

Our detective remained in Fandor's flat all night. He awaited the
journalist's return.

Fandor did not come.

XII

A TRICK ACCORDING TO FANDOR

It was a November Sunday evening. A crowd of leave-expired soldiers
were entraining at the Eastern Station. They would be dropped at their
respective garrisons along the line of some 400 kilometres separating
the capital from the frontier.

They had dined, supped, feasted with friends and relatives: now they
were voicing regretful farewells by medley of songs and ear-splitting
serenades. They scrambled into the third-class compartments, fifteen,
sixteen at a time, filling the seats and overflowing on to the floor.
Little by little the deafening din of the "wild beasts," as they were
jokingly called, diminished; their enthusiasm died down as the night
advanced, while the train rushed full steam ahead for the frontier of
France.

They fell asleep, knowing that kind comrades would awaken them when
the train drew up at their various garrisons. At Reims, the
compartments disgorged the dragoons pell-mell; at Chalons, so many
gunners and infantry had got out that the train was half emptied. At
Sainte-Menehould, a large contingent of cuirassiers and infantry had
cleared out. Towards four in the morning the express was nearing
Verdun.

As the train steamed out of Sainte-Menehould, a corporal of the line,
who had been forced to sit up as stiff as a poker for several hours,
stretched himself at length on the compartment seat with a sigh of
relief. But the jerks and jolts of the carriage, the hard seat, made
sleep impossible: the epaulettes of his uniform were an added source
of discomfort. The corporal sat up, rubbed the musty glass of the
window, and watched for the coming day. On the far horizon, beyond a
shadowy stretch of country, a pallid dawn was breaking. Trees were
swaying