“It was them,” said Chicot; “ventre de biche! they have twelve hours’ start of me. But courage!”
“Listen, M. Chicot!” said Gorenflot, “my ass can do no more, even your horse is almost exhausted.” Chicot looked, and saw, indeed, that the poor animals were trembling from head to foot.
“Well! brother,” said he, “we must take a resolution. You must leave me.”
“Leave you; why?”
“You go too slow.”
“Slow! why, we have galloped for five hours this morning.”
“That is not enough.”
“Well, then, let us go on; the quicker we go, the sooner we shall arrive, for I suppose we shall stop at last.”
“But our animals are exhausted.”
“What shall we do then?”