Cries of triumph were raised:
"Lay hold of him! Stop him!" roared the detectives as they rushed forward.
Rénine, seeing that the game was up, ran after the others and called out:
"Stop him!"
He came up with them just as Dalbrèque, after regaining his feet, knocked one of the policemen down and levelled his revolver. Rénine snatched it out of his hands. But the two other detectives, startled, had also produced their weapons. They fired. Dalbrèque, hit in the leg and the chest, pitched forward and fell.
"Thank you, sir," said the inspector to Rénine introducing himself. "We owe a lot to you."
"It seems to me that you've done for the fellow," said Rénine. "Who is he?"
"One Dalbrèque, a scoundrel for whom we were looking."
Rénine was beside himself. Hortense had joined him by this time; and he growled:
"The silly fools! Now they've killed him!"