F AN ACCUSED. After a drawing by R. de
la Neziere.]

It is, therefore, not without a certain amount of information concerning
the irascibility and the bodily prowess of their quarry that the agents
set out in his pursuit. Usually, they hunt in couples; if the game is
reputed unusually dangerous, in larger numbers. For weapons, they carry
each two pieces of stout cord,--a small one, fastened to the middle of a
wooden handle at each end, this is the _cabriolet_; and a large one, the
_ligote_, about two metres and a half in length. These simple methods of
correction have replaced--except in the country districts and where the
prisoner has to be conducted a considerable distance--the old-fashioned
_poucettes_, or handcuffs. Thus provided, the pursuers endeavor to
surprise their prey as it issues from a house or an inn,--they wear no
uniform, and they in nowise begin by summoning their victim in the name
of the law, so that it is strongly advisable for them to be very sure of
his identity ere they fall upon him from behind, exactly in the manner
of the highwaymen themselves. With one hand they grasp the collar of his
coat, a little below the nape of his neck, and with the other, not his
arm, but the sleeve of his coat. An individual thus collared on each
side is helpless; if he wish to strike with his fists or his feet, he is
obliged to lash out sidewise or obliquely, his arms are held securely;
and the _coup de pied de vache_, which he may endeavor to give with his
feet, though "it will break a tibia like glass," is easily avoided.
Moreover, while he has one foot in the air, his equilibrium is in
danger, and he is promptly brought to earth and secured. Usually,
however, the cabriolet is round his wrist, and he is _boucle_ before he
can say "Jack Robinson!"

These cord handcuffs are replaced by chain ones in the hands of the
Gardes Municipaux in the service of the Palais de Justice, and the
method of their application is the same,--once around the wrist of the
victim, they can be tightened at pleasure by a simple turn of the
handles in the grasp of the captor, and the pain speedily becomes
intolerable. Even a slight pressure soon produces a numbness in the
muscles of the arm. This simple apparatus--which can be replaced, as in
Tunis, by a noose made in a silk handkerchief--is a somewhat brutal one,
but it has the advantage of securing the victim absolutely for the time
being. For a longer journey, and to avoid the constant