He had not proceeded half a dozen paces, however, when a man nearly as impressive in appearance as himself entered the store, and sighting Giraud, exclaimed, "Ah, mon vieux, vous êtes là!"
"So, Pierre!" exclaimed Giraud, suddenly animated; "but enter. I have been waiting for you. The stores, they are safely on board, yes?"
"Mais oui," answered Pierre. "Ça va bien," and talking vivaciously he walked arm in arm with Giraud down one of the long aisles of goods leading to Giraud's private office.
Pierre is one of the most common names in St. Pierre, as it is in other French towns, yet, none the less, when Ben heard it pronounced by Giraud he did not doubt for a moment that the new-comer so called was the Pierre of whom Madame Roquierre had spoken. Considerably elated by his discovery, he determined to take advantage of this accidental meeting and his situation by hanging about and keeping his eye on Giraud's office and the men in it.
Pierre's appearance had, more than his significant name, convinced Ben that he was on the track of a redoubtable man. Pierre, like Giraud, was tall, but there all resemblance between the two ceased. Pierre was lithe as a tiger, walked with a pronounced swagger, and had a shrewd open eye and an easy facile smile which, strangely enough in one who seemed to be a Frenchman, showed between moustache and beard of a glaring red.
He was like no Frenchman that Ben had ever seen, and come to that, like no man of any other nation he had met.
Less formidable mentally than Giraud, he was, as Ben was old and wise enough to judge, more to be feared than the proprietor where action was required, or in times when passions ran riot. Extreme caution would certainly be needed in dealing with either of them.
Keeping an eye on the clerks and the customers, and taking care always to be in sight of the office door, Ben strolled about, stopping now and then to finger a piece of yarn or a boat-hook or some such thing, as though contemplating purchasing. He had kept watch for about half an hour when he was rewarded by the sight of the office door opening and Pierre and Giraud emerging.
As he was within their range of vision he made haste to slip behind a high bale of goods, and as he did so he very nearly exclaimed aloud, for facing him was Dare!
Dare was nearly as much excited by Ben's presence as Ben was by his, and would probably have expressed his feelings in speech if Pierre's voice, speaking French, had not suddenly reached their ears.