ll at once, jumping from the
deck into the chamber where Fouquet awaited him: "Colbert!" said he, in
a voice broken by emotion.

"Colbert!" repeated Fouquet. "Too strange! but no, it is impossible!"

"I tell you I recognized him, and he, at the same time, so plainly
recognized me, that he is just gone into the chamber on the poop.
Perhaps the king has sent him on our track."

"In that case he would join us, instead of lying by. What is he doing
there?"

"He is watching us, without a doubt."

"I do not like uncertainty," said Fouquet; "let us go straight up to
him."

"Oh! monseigneur, do not do that, the lighter is full of armed men."

"He wishes to arrest me, then, Gourville? Why does he not come on?"

"Monseigneur, it is not consistent with your dignity to go to meet even
your ruin."

"But to allow them to watch me like a malefactor!"

"Nothing yet proves that they are watching you, monseigneur; be
patient!"

"What is to be done, then?"

"Do not stop; you were only going so fast to appear to obey the king's
order with zeal. Redouble the speed. He who lives will see!"

"That is better. Come!" cried Fouquet; "since they remain stock-still
yonder, let us go on."

The captain gave the signal, and Fouquet's rowers resumed their task
with all the success that could be looked for from men who had rested.
Scarcely had the lighter made a hundred fathoms, than the other, that
with the twelve rowers, resumed its rapid course. This position lasted
all day, without any increase or diminution of distance between the two
vessels. Towards evening Fouquet wished to try the intentions of his
persecutor. He ordered his rowers to pull towards the shore, as if to
effect a landing. Colbert's lighter imitated this maneuver, and steered
towards the shore in a slanting direction. By the merest chance, at
the spot where Fouquet pretended to wish to land, a stableman, from
the chateau of Langeais, was following the flowery banks leading three
horses in halters. Without doubt the people of the twelve-oared lighter
fancied that Fouquet was directing his course to these horses ready
for flight, for four or five men, armed with muskets, jumped from the
lighter on to the shore, and marched along the banks, as if to gain
ground on the horseman. Fouquet, satisfied of having forced the enemy to
a demonstration, considered his intention evident, and put his boat
in motion again. Colbert's people returned likewise to theirs, and the
cou