Lacheneur trembled. “Yes,” he replied, after a moment’s hesitation; “I am Lacheneur. Betray me if you will, but in charity’s name give me a morsel of bread, and allow me to rest a little.”
“We betray you, sir!” said she. “Ah! you don’t know the Antoines! Come into our house, and lie down on the bed while I prepare some refreshment for you. When my husband comes home, we will see what can be done.”
It was nearly sunset when the master of the house, a sturdy mountaineer, with a frank face, entered the cottage. On perceiving the stranger seated at his fireside he turned frightfully pale. “Unfortunate woman!” he murmured to his wife, “don’t you know that anyone who shelters this fugitive will be shot, and his house levelled to the ground?”
Lacheneur overheard these words; he rose with a shudder. He knew that a price had been set upon his head, but until now he had not realised the danger to which his presence exposed these worthy people. “I will go at once,” said he, gently.
But the peasant laid his broad hand kindly on the outlaw’s shoulder and forced him to resume his seat. “It was not to drive you away that I said that,” he remarked. “You are at home, and you shall remain here until I can find some means of ensuring your safety.”
The woman flung her arms round her husband’s neck, and in a loving voice, exclaimed: “Ah! you are a noble man Antoine.”
He smiled, tenderly kissed her, then, pointing to the open door: “Watch!” said he, and turning to Lacheneur: “It won’t be easy to save you, for the promise of that big reward has set a number of evil-minded people on the alert. They know that you are in the neighbourhood, and a rascally innkeeper has crossed the frontier for the express purpose of betraying your whereabouts to the French gendarmes.”
“Balstain?”
“Yes, Balstain; and he is hunting for you now. But that’s not everything, as I passed through Saint-Pavin, coming back a little while ago I saw eight mounted soldiers, with a peasant guide who was also on horseback. They declared that they knew you were concealed in the village, and were going to search each house in turn.”
These soldiers were the Montaignac chasseurs, placed at Chupin’s disposal by the Duke de Sairmeuse. The task was certainly not at all to their taste, but they were closely watched by the lieutenant in command, who hoped to receive some substantial reward if the expedition was crowned with success.