tow my attention. I lifted the back
seat. It came up like the lid of the chest it was, and beneath it I
discovered enough gold and silver plate to outweigh in value almost
everything that I had ever taken. But that was by no means all. Under
the front seat there was a chest of gold--louis d'ors they were, some
two or three thousand at least--and, besides that, a little iron-bound
box of gems which in itself was worth more than all the rest of the
contents of that treasure-casket of a coach. I tell you, Caron, I
dropped the lid of that seat in some haste, for I was not minded that
my men should become as wise as I. I stepped down and bade, the women
re-enter, and hither under strong escort I have brought them."

"And these treasures?" asked La Boulaye.

"They are still in the coach below, with the women. I have told these
that they shall spend the night there. To-morrow I shall see to them and
give them their liberty--which is a more generous proceeding than
might befall them at the hands of another. When they are gone comes the
division of the spoil." He closed one eye slowly, in a very ponderous
wink. "To my men I shall relegate the gold and silver plate as well as
the money. For myself I shall only retain the little iron-bound box. My
followers will account me more than generous and themselves more than
satisfied. As for me, La Boulaye--by St. Guillotine, I am tempted to
emigrate also and set up as an aristocrat myself in Prussia or England,
for in that little box there is something more than a fortune. I asked
you to-day whether you were minded to lay information against me in
Paris. My faith, I am little concerned whether you do or not, for I
think that before you can reach Paris, Captain Charlot Tardivet will be
no more than a name in the Republican army. Abroad I shall call myself
Charlot du Tardivet, and I shall sleep in fine linen and live on
truffles and champagne. Caron, your health!"

He drained his glass, and laughed softly to himself as he set it down.

"Do you trust your men?" asked La Boulaye.

"Eh? Trust them? Name of a name! They know me. I have placed the ten
most faithful ones on guard. They answer to the rest of us with their
necks for the safety of their charge. Come hither, Caron."

He rose somewhat unsteadily, and lurched across to the window. La
Boulaye followed him, and gazing out under his indication, he beheld the
coach by the blaze of a fire which the men had lighted to keep them from
f