he group of women,
escorted by Blazius and Leander, none of whom perceived them, had
warned them of the approach of their victim, and they stood awaiting his
appearance, firmly grasping their cudgels in readiness to pounce upon
him; little dreaming of the reception in store for them--for ordinarily,
indeed one may say invariably, the poets, actors, bourgeois, and
such-like, whom the nobles condescended to have cudgeled by their hired
ruffians, employed expressly for that purpose, took their chastisement
meekly, and without attempting to make any resistance. Despite the
extreme darkness of the night, the baron, with his penetrating eyes,
made out the forms of the four villains lying in wait for him, at some
distance, and before he came up with them stopped and made as if he
meant to turn back--which ruse deceived them completely--and fearing
that their prey was about to escape them, they rushed impetuously forth
from their hiding places towards him. Azolan was the first, closely
followed by the others, and all crying at the tops of their voices,
"Kill! Kill! this for Captain Fracasse, from the Duke of Vallombreuse."
Meantime de Sigognac had wound his large cloak several times round
his left arm for a shield, and receiving upon it the first blow from
Azolan's cudgel, returned it with such a violent lunge, full in his
antagonist's breast, that the miserable fellow went over backward,
with great force, right into the gutter running down the middle of the
street, with his head in the mud and his heels in the air. If the point
of the sword had not been blunted, it would infallibly have gone through
his body, and come out between his shoulder-blades, leaving a dead man,
instead of only a stunned one, on the ground. Basque, in spite of his
comrade's disaster, advanced to the charge bravely, but a furious blow
on his head, with the flat of the blade, sent him down like a shot, and
made him see scores of stars, though there was not one visible in the
sky that night. The tyrant's club encountering Merindol's cudgel broke
it short off, and the latter finding himself disarmed, took to his
heels; not however without receiving a tremendous blow on the shoulder
before he could get out of Herode's reach. Scapin, for his part, had
seized Labriche suddenly round the waist from behind, pinning down his
arms so that he could not use his club at all, and raising him from the
ground quickly, with one dexterous movement tripped him up, and sent