out; the horses were unharnessed and the silver and gold loaded on their backs.  Three thousand francs in copper were rejected; but a sum in other coin of one hundred and three thousand francs was safely carried off on the four horses.

The brigands took the road to the hamlet of Menneville, which is close to Saint-Savin.  They stopped with their plunder at an isolated house belonging to the Chaussard brothers, where the Chaussards’ uncle, one Bourget, lived, who was knowing to the whole plot from its inception.  This old man, aided by his wife, welcomed the brigands, charged them to make no noise, unloaded the bags of money, and gave the men something to drink.  The wife performed the part of sentinel.  The old man then took the horses through the wood, returned them to the driver, unbound the latter, and also the young men, who had been garotted.  After resting for a time, Courceuil, Hiley, and Boislaurier paid their men a paltry sum for their trouble, and the whole band departed, leaving the plunder in charge of Bourget.

When they reached a lonely place called Champ-Landry, these criminals, obeying the impulse which leads all malefactors into the blunders and miscalculations of crime, threw their guns into a wheat-field.  This action, done by all of them, is a proof of their mutual understanding.  Struck with terror at the boldness of their act, and even by its success, they dispersed.

The robbery now having been committed, with the additional features of assault and assassination, other facts and other actors appear, all connected with the robbery itself and with the disposition of the plunder.

  Rifoel, concealed in Paris, whence he pulled every wire of the
  plot, transmits to Leveille an order to send him instantly fifty
  thousand francs.

  Courceuil, knowing to all the facts, sends Hiley to tell Leveille
  of the success of the attempt, and say that he will meet him at
  Mortagne.  Leveille goes there.

Vauthier, on whose fidelity they think they can rely, agrees to go to Bourget, the uncle of the Chaussards, in whose care the money was left, and ask for the booty.  The old man tells Vauthier that he must go to his nephews, who have taken large sums to the woman Bryond.  But he orders him to wait outside in the road, and brings him a bag containing the small sum of twelve hundred francs, which Vauthier delivers to the woman Lechantre for her daughter.

At Leveille’s request, Vauthier returns to Bourget, who this time sends for his nephews.  The elder Chaussard takes Vauthier to the wood, shows him a tree, and there they find a bag of one thousand francs buried in the earth.  Leveille, Hiley, and Vauthier make other trips, obtaining only trifling sums compared with the large sum known to have been captured.

  The woman Lechantre receives these sums at Mortagne; and, on
  receipt of a letter from her daughter, removes them to
  Saint-Savin, where the woman Bryond now returns.