"All right; I'll yell, if it amuses you," rejoined the servant. And her strong voice, reinforcing Dubourg's, soon aroused the whole household and a good part of the village.
The innkeeper ran to the spot as fast as his left leg allowed, it being two inches shorter than the other. Frédéric came out of his room; Ménard sat up in bed, and succeeded, with his pupil's aid, in reaching the floor. He dressed in haste, and went downstairs close on the heels of Frédéric, who had recognized Dubourg's voice and was more curious than alarmed, suspecting some new invention on the baron's part. They all went out into the yard, where they were joined by the neighbors and a number of laborers on their way to work, who had been attracted by Dubourg's reiterated shouts of:
"Thieves! stop the carriage!"
They looked about, but saw no carriage; whereupon Goton roared:
"Monsieur le baron's carriage has run off!"
The shed door was opened at last, and Dubourg rushed out like a madman, raving and swearing, heedless of the fact that his trousers were stained with filth.
"What's the matter, monsieur le baron?" queried Ménard, in dismay.
"The matter? my berlin—that scoundrel of a postilion! he has run away and taken it with him—with fifty thousand francs in gold that I had in one of the pockets!"
"My father's berlin! the equipage of the Potoskis! It isn't the money that I regret—but a berlin in which the Princess of Hungary—— Ah! my friends, scour the country in all directions—follow every road—a hundred louis to the man who brings it back!"