"Zounds!" muttered the Commissioner, drawing back.
"Take care!" sneered Cyprien, "the king has his eyes on you!"
Thus cheered and encouraged, the Commissioner stepped out on the narrow cornice.
"There they are!" cried Cyprien. "There they are! They wish to reach the next house. We shall have them! we shall have them!"
Gudel and Fanfar had gone as far as they could. They found they must turn. Fanfar stopped short and seemed to be doing something to a chimney.
"Surrender!" shouted the Commissioner, some distance off.
"Surrender!" repeated Cyprien.
At this moment a man was seen to vault into space; it was Fanfar, who had sprang across the gulf between the two houses. With him he had taken the end of the rope which he had fastened to the chimney. He held the rope so firmly that it made a bridge. Gudel began the perilous voyage.
"At all events, we will have a dead body!" growled the Commissioner, who advanced to cut the rope.
Cyprien did not at first understand.