At length the chef de police shrugged his shoulders in despair, and stepped on the gangway to depart.
"You must have been mistaken, doctor, he cannot possibly be on board, he must have eluded us and escaped by another route."
"Monsieur, for God's sake stay where you are, I am convinced he is hiding on board."
Monsieur Patrigent hesitated for an instant, but observing Riche's look of entreaty, turned back behind the sailors, while Riche rushed up the gangway and joined him.
A few minutes later the steamer slipped her moorings and slowly steamed down the Gironde.
All the officers were on the look-out for the missing man, and the ship was searched from stem to stern.
At length they got information that a Gascon peasant had been seen entering one of the third-class cabins. The chef de police and Riche rushed to the cabin indicated and tried to open the door, but they found it locked and bolted.
Riche stood by the door, while Monsieur Patrigent returned with a couple of loaded revolvers and an axe.
Handing one of the pistols to Riche, he burst in the panels of the door with three or four furious blows of his axe.
"At last we have got you, monsieur," said the police officer as he pulled out of his pockets a pair of handcuffs, and struggled to get through the broken door.