But Vinchon and Morin, who were behind, had seen the waggon disappear in the wood.  Morin, not caring to join in the scuffle, hurried across the fields, turned the edge of the wood, and ran towards Langannerie to inform the gendarmes.  Vinchon, on the contrary, drew his sabre and advanced towards the road, but he had only taken a few steps when he received a triple discharge from the first post.  He fell, with a ball in his shoulder, and rolled in the ditch, his blood flowing.  The men then hastened to the waggon; they cut the cords of the tarpaulin with Gousset’s knife, uncovered the chests and attacked them with hatchets.  Whilst two of the brigands unharnessed the horses, the others flung the money, handfuls of gold and crowns, pell-mell into their sacks.  The first one, bursting with silver, was so heavy that it took three men to hoist it on to the back of a horse; Gousset himself, in spite of his bandaged eyes, was invited to lend a hand and obeyed gropingly.  They were smashing the second chest when the cry, “To arms!” interrupted them.  Allain rallied his men, and lined them up along the road.

Morin, on arriving at Langannerie had only found the corporal and one other gendarme there; they mounted immediately and galloped to the wood of Quesnay.  It was almost night when they reached the edge of the wood.  A volley of shots greeted them; the corporal was hit in the leg, and his horse fell mortally wounded; his companion, who was deaf, did not know which way to turn.  Seeing his chief fall, he thought it best to retreat; and ran to the hamlet of Quesnay to get help.  The noise of the firing had already alarmed the neighbourhood; the tocsin sounded at Potigny, Ouilly-le-Tesson and Sousmont; peasants flocked to each end of the wood, but they were unarmed and dared not advance.  Allain had posted five of his men as advance-guard who fired in the thicket at their own discretion, and kept the most determined of the enemy at bay.  Behind this curtain of shooters the noise could be heard of axes breaking open chests, planks torn apart and oaths of the brigands in haste to complete their pillage.  This extraordinary scene lasted nearly an hour.  At last, at a call, the firing ceased, the robbers plunged into the thicket, and the steps of the heavily-laden horse, urged on by the men, were heard disappearing on the crossroad.

They took the road to Ussy, with their booty and the carrier Gousset, still with his eyes bandaged and led by Grand-Charles.  They travelled fast, at night—­to avoid pursuit.  Less than half a league from Quesnay the road they followed passed the hamlet of Aisy, on the outskirts of Sousmont, whose mayor had a chateau there.  He was called M. Dupont d’Aisy, and had this very evening entertained Captain Pinteville, commander of the gendarmerie of the district.  The party had been broken up by the distant noise of shooting.  M. Dupont at once sent his servants to give the alarm at Sousmont; in less than an hour he had mustered thirty villagers