al man took the bit in his teeth and ran off with the general,
who totally forgot his coronet and his field rank; he was a trooper once
more, vomiting curses of which he probably was ashamed when he thought
of them later.

"Ha! eleven hundred francs!" he shouted, "eleven hundred slaps in your
face! eleven hundred kicks!--Do you think I can't see straight through
your lies? Out of my sight, or I'll strike you flat!"

At the mere look of the general's purple face and before that warrior
could get out the last words, Courtecuisse was off like a swallow.

"Monsieur le comte," said Sibilet, gently, "you are wrong."

"Wrong! I, wrong?"

"Yes, Monsieur le comte, take care, you will have trouble with that
rascal; he will sue you."

"What do I care for that? Tell the scoundrel to leave the place
instantly! See that he takes nothing of mine, and pay him his wages."

Four hours later the whole country-side was gossiping about this scene.
The general, they said, had assaulted the unfortunate Courtecuisse, and
refused to pay his wages and two thousand francs besides, which he owed
him. Extraordinary stories went the rounds, and the master of Les
Aigues was declared insane. The next day Brunet, who had served all the
warrants for the general, now brought him on behalf of Courtecuisse a
summon to appear before the police court. The lion was stung by gnats;
but his misery was only just beginning.

The installation of a keeper is not done without a few formalities; he
must, for instance, file an oath in the civil court. Some days therefore
elapsed before the three keepers really entered upon their functions.
Though the general had written to Michaud to bring his wife without
waiting until the lodge at the gate of the Avonne was ready for them,
the future head-keeper, or rather bailiff, was detained in Paris by his
marriage and his wife's family, and did not reach Les Aigues until
a fortnight later. During those two weeks, and during the time still
further required for certain formalities which were carried out with
very ill grace by the authorities at Ville-aux-Fayes, the forest of Les
Aigues was shamefully devastated by the peasantry, who took advantage of
the fact that there was practically no watch over it.

The appearance of three keepers handsomely dressed in green cloth,
the Emperor's color, with faces denoting firmness, and each of them
well-made, active, and capable of spending their nights in the woods,
was a great ev