“Leave them here, and take them as we come back.”
“Then how are we to proceed?”
“We will buy mules.”
“Very well,” said Gorenflot with a sigh. Two mules were soon found, and they went so well that in the evening Chicot saw with joy those of the three travelers, standing at the door of a farrier’s. But they were without harness, and both master and lackeys had disappeared. Chicot trembled. “Go,” said he, to Gorenflot, “and ask if those mules are for sale, and where their owners are.” Gorenflot went, and soon returned, saying that a gentleman had sold them, and had afterwards taken the road to Avignon.
“Alone?”
“No, with a lackey.”
“And where is the other lackey?”
“He went towards Lyons.”
“And how did they go on?”
“On horses which they bought.”