Pitou quivered—Catherine would surely blame him for not having passed the warning as he had promised.
But what could he do?
Pitou heard the hammer fall and saw the priming flash; the powder in the touchhole did not catch and the living target received no bullet.
At the same moment Catherine opened her window. She saw all and cried: “Up, it is my father!” she almost dragged Charny in at the casement.
The farmer had his second barrel to fire and he thought:
“He must come out and this time I will not miss him.”
Presently the dogs began barking.
“Oh, the jade,” he growled, “she has let him out at the back, through the orchard.”
He ran round the house to overtake the escaping prey.
“There is hope,” thought Pitou: “aim cannot be taken in the night as in the day and the hand is not so steady in firing on a man as at a wolf in the den.”