His Majesty to enforce my obedience to his wishes and to hinder me
from reaching Lavedan. At once came the dominant desire to conceal my
identity that I might go unhindered. The first name that occurred to me
was that of the poor wretch I had left in the barn half an hour ago, and
so--

"I am," said I, "Monsieur de Lesperon, at your service."

Too late I saw the mistake that I had made. I own it was a blunder that
no man of ordinary intelligence should have permitted himself to have
committed. Remembering the unrest of the province, I should rather have
concluded that their business was more like to be in that connection.

"He is bold, at least," cried one of the troopers, with a burst of
laughter. Then came the sergeant's voice, cold and formal, "In the
King's name, Monsieur de Lesperon, I arrest you."

He had whipped out his sword, and the point was within an inch of my
breast. But his arm, I observed, was stretched to its fullest extent,
which forbade his making a sudden thrust. To hamper him in the lunge
there was the table between us.

So, my mind working quickly in this desperate situation, and realizing
how dire and urgent the need to attempt an escape, I leapt suddenly back
to find myself in the arms of his followers. But in moving I had caught
up by one of its legs the stool on which I had been sitting. As I raised
it, I eluded the pinioning grip of the troopers. I twisted in their
grasp, and brought the stool down upon the head of one of them with
a force that drove him to his knees. Up went that three-legged stool
again, to descend like a thunderbolt upon the head of another. That
freed me. The sergeant was coming up behind, but another flourish of my
improvised battle-axe sent the two remaining soldiers apart to look to
their swords. Ere they could draw, I had darted like a hare between
them and out into the street. The sergeant, cursing them with horrid
volubility, followed closely upon my heels.

Leaping as far into the roadway as I could, I turned to meet the
fellow's onslaught. Using the stool as a buckler, I caught his thrust
upon it. So violently was it delivered that the point buried itself in
the wood and the blade snapped, leaving him a hilt and a stump of steel.
I wasted no time in thought. Charging him wildly, I knocked him over
just as the two unhurt dragoons came stumbling out of the tavern.

I gained my horse and vaulted into the saddle. Tearing the reins from
the urchin that held them,