Rateau saw him too—­came face to face with him, in fact, and must have known who he was for, without an instant’s hesitation and just like a hunted creature at bay, he turned sharply on his heel and then ran back down the street as hard as he could tear.  He passed close to within half a metre of Tournefort, and as he flew past he hit out with his left fist so vigorously that the worthy agent of the Committee of Public Safety, caught on the nose by the blow, staggered and measured his length upon the flagged floor below.

The next moment Chauvelin had come by.  Tournefort, struggling to his feet, called to him, panting: 

“Did you see him?  Which way did he go?”

“Up the Rue Bordet.  After him, citizen!” replied Chauvelin grimly, between his teeth.

Together the two men continued the chase, guided through the intricate mazes of the streets by their fleeing quarry.  They had Rateau well in sight, and the latter could no longer continue his former tactics with success now that two experienced sleuth-hounds were on his track.

At a given moment he was caught between the two of them.  Tournefort was advancing cautiously up the Rue Bordet; Chauvelin, equally stealthily, was coming down the same street, and Rateau, once more walking quite leisurely, was at equal distance between the two.

V

There are no side turnings out of the Rue Bordet, the total length of which is less than fifty metres; so Tournefort, feeling more at his ease, ensconced himself at one end of the street, behind a doorway, whilst Chauvelin did the same at the other.  Rateau, standing in the gutter, appeared once more in a state of hesitation.  Immediately in front of him the door of a small cabaret stood invitingly open; its signboard, “Le Bon Copain,” promised rest and refreshment.  He peered up and down the road, satisfied himself presumably that, for the moment, his pursuers were out of sight, hugged his parcel to his chest, and then suddenly made a dart for the cabaret and disappeared within its doors.

Nothing could have been better.  The quarry, for the moment, was safe, and if the sleuth-hounds could not get refreshment, they could at least get a rest.  Tournefort and Chauvelin crept out of their hiding-places.  They met in the middle of the road, at the spot where Rateau had stood a while ago.  It was then growing dark and the street was innocent of lanterns, but the lights inside the cabaret gave a full view of the interior.  The lower half of the wide shop-window was curtained off, but above the curtain the heads of the customers of “Le Bon Copain,” and the general comings and goings, could very clearly be seen.

Tournefort, never at a loss, had already climbed upon a low projection in the wall of one of the houses opposite.  From this point of vantage he could more easily observe what went on inside the cabaret, and in short, jerky sentences he gave a description of what he saw to his chief.