"I thank you, sir; nobody has seen you and you will probably have nothing happen you."
He gave his hand to the Queen to help her into the vehicle, and issued orders for the start to be made again.
But as the couriers shouted "To the Monarch Inn!" a shadowy horseman loomed up in the woods and darted crosswise on the road, shouting:
"Postboys, not a step farther! You are driving the fleeing King. In the name of the Nation, I bid ye stand!"
"The King," muttered the postillions, who had gathered up the reins.
Louis XVI. saw that it was a vital instant.
"Who are you, sir, to give orders here?" he demanded.
"A plain citizen, but I represent the law and I speak in the name of the Nation. Postillions, I order you a second time not to stir. You know me well: I am Jean Baptiste Drouet, son of the postmaster at St. Menehould."
"The scoundrel, it is he," shouted the two Lifeguardsmen, drawing their hunting-swords.
But before they could alight, the other had dashed away into the Lower Town streets.