THE SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE SECTION
7
The farmer shrugged his shoulders ami, cursing
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Tliat worthy organized a strict watch, distributed the
brothers Goussot and t lie lads from the village under
his men's eves, made sure that the bidders were locked
j .iway, and established his headquarters in tho diniug-
loom, where he ami ! armor (ioussot. sat and nodded
over a decanter of old brandy.
The night passed quietly. Every two hours, the
sergeant went bis rounds and inspected the posts.
There were no alarms. Old Trainard did not budge
from his bole.
At break of day, the thirteen acres of land within
the walls were searched, explored, gone over in every
direction by a score of men who beat the bushes with
sticks, trampled over the tall grass, rummaged in the
1 hollows of tlie trees and scattered the heaps of dry
leaves. Hut old Trainard remained invisible.
ill "Heats me altogether," declared the sergeant.
And, indeed, there was no explaining the phe
nomenon. For. after all. apart from a few old clumps
of laurels and spindle-trees, which were thoroughly
beaten, all the trees were bare. There was no build
ing, no shed, no stack - - nothing, in short, that could
serve as a hiding-place.
As for the wall, a careful inspection convinced
even the sergeant that it was physically impossible
to scale it.
In the afternoon, the investigations were begun all
over again in the presence of the examining magis
trate and the public prosecutor's deputy. The results
were no more successful. Nay, worse, the ollicials
looked upon the matter as so suspicious that they
could not restrain their ill-humor and asked:
"Are you quite sure. Farmer (Ioussot, that you
and your sons haven't been seeing double?"
"And what about my wife?" retorted the farmer,
red with anger. "Did she see double when the scamp
had her by the throat? fio and look at the marks,
if vou doubt me!"
"Very well. Hut then, where is the thief?"
"I swear I '11 lay hands on him, true as I stand
here!" shouted Farmer Goussot. "It shall not be said
that I 'vc been robbed of six thousand francs. Yes,
six thousand! There were three cows 1 sold; and
then, the wheat crop and the apples. Six thousand
franc notes, which I was just going to take to the
bank."
"I wish you luck," said the examining magistrate,
as be went away, followed by the deputy and the
gendarmes.
The neighbors also walked off; and. by the end
of tho afternoon, none remained but the (loussots and
the two farm-laborers.
Old Goussot proceeded to explain his plan. Hy day,
they were to search. At night, they were to keep a
constant watch. It would last as long as it had to.
Old Trainard was a man like other
men ; and men have to eat and drink.
Old Trainard must needs, therefore,
come out of bis earth to eat and to
"At most," said Goussot, "he can
have a few crusts of bread in bis
pocket. Ho might even pull up a
root or two at night ; but how will
ho get water to drink? There's only
the spring; and he '11 he a clever dog
if ho gets near that."
They kept watch for fourteen con
secutive nights. And for fourteen
days, while two of the men and
Mother Goussot remained on guard,
the five others explored the Ilebcr
ville grounds. There bad been no
sign of Trainard.
The farmer stormed. He sent for
a retired detective inspector who
lived in the neighboring town. The
inspector stayed with him for a
whole week. He found neither old
Trainard nor the least clew of bis
whereabouts.
Shocking days passed. Farmer
Goussot could no longer sleep, but
lay shivering with fever. The sons
became morose and quarrelsome and
never let their puis out of their
hands.
It was the one topic of conversation in the vil
lage; and the Goussot story, from being local at
first, soon went the round of the press. Newspaper
reporters came from the assize-town, from l'aris it
self; they were rudely shown the door by Farmer
Goussot.
Old Trainard had now been hidden within the
walls of Ilcberville for something like four weeks.
The Uoussots continued their search as doggedly and
confidently as ever, but with daily decreasing hope.
The idea that they would never see their money
again began to take root in them.
One lino morning, at about ten o'clock, an automo
bile, crossing the village square at full speed, broke
down and came to a dead stop.
The driver, after a careful inspection, declared
that the repairs would take some little tune: where
upon, the owner of the car
resolved to wait at tho inn
and to lunch, lie was a
gentleman on the right side
of forty, with close
cropped side-whiskers and
a pleasant expression of
face; and he soon made
himself at home with the
people at the inn.
Of course, they told him
tho story of the Goussots.
lie had not heard it before,
as he had been abroad; but
it seemed to interest him
greatly. He made them give
him all the details, raised
objections, discussed vari
ous theories with a number
of people who were eating
at the same table and ended
hy exclaiming:
"Nonsense! It can 't be
so intricate as all that. 1
have bad some experience
of this sort of thing. And.
if 1 were on the prem
ises. . ."
"That 's easily arranged."
said the innkeeper. "I know
Fanner Goussot. . . He
won't object. . ."
The request was soon
made and granted. Old
Goussot was in one of thoso
frames of mind when wo
are little disposed to protest against outside
interference. His wife, at any rate, was very
linn:
"Let tho gentleman come, if be want.s to."
The gentleman paid his bill and instructed his
driver to test the car on the high-road as soon as
the repairs were finished:
"1 shall want an hour," he said, "no more. He
ready in an hour's time."
Then he went to Farmer Goussot 's.
lie did not say much at tho farm. Old Goussot,
hoping against hope, was lavish with information.
Scrawled with a piece of chalk on the
wormealen panel
The granger produced the straw that he had picked up
He took bis visitor along the walls down to the little
door opening on the fields, produced tho key and
gave minute details of all the searches that had been
made so far.
Oddly enough, tho stranger .seemed not to be lis
tening. He merely stared, with a rather vacant gaze.
When they bad been round the estate, old Goussot
asked, anxiously :
"Well?"
"Well, what?" murmured the stranger, absent 1.
"Do you think you know?"
The visitor stood for a moment without answering.
Then, bo said:
"No, nothing."
"Why, of course not !" cried tho farmer, throwing
up bis arms, "llow should you know! Shall- 1 toll
you what 1 think.' 1 think that old Trainard is
lying dead in his hole."
Tho gentleman said, very calmly:
"There's only one thing that inter
ests me. The tramp, when all is said
and done, was free at night and ablo
to feed on what ho could pick up. Hut
how about drinking"
"Out ot the question! shouted the
farmer. "Quite out of tho question!
There's no water except this spring;
and we have kept watch beside it every
night."
"Where does tho spring; rise?"
"Here, where wo stand."
"Is there enough pressure
to bring it into the pool of
itself?"
"Yes."
"And where does the
water go, when it runs out
of tho pool?"
"Into this pipe here,
which goes under ground
and carries it to the house,
for use in the kitchen.
There 's no way ho could
have got water."
"Has n't it rained during
the last four weeks?"
"Not once: I Ye told you
that already."
The stranger went to tho
spring and examined it.
Tho trough was formed out
of a few boards of wood
joined together just above
the ground; and (lie water
ran through it, slow and clear.
"The water's not moro than a foot deep, is it?"
ho asked.
In order to measure it, ho picked up from the
grass a straw which be dipped into the pool. Hut,
as ho was stooping, he suddenly broke oil" ami looked
around him:
"Oh, how funny 1" ho said, bursting into it peal
of laughter.
"Why, what 's the matter?" spluttered old (ioussot,
rushing toward the pool, as if he thought a man
could havo lain hidden between those narrow hoards.
"He's neither in the pool nor
under it," replied I he si ranger, who
was slill laughing.
Ho made for the house, eagerly
followed by the farmer, tho old
woman and tho four sons. Tho inn
keeper was there, also, as woro tho
people from the inn who had been
watching tho stranger's movements.
There was a dead silence, while they
waited for the extraordinary dis
closure. "It 's as I thought," he said, willi
an amused expression. "Tho old
chap had (o quench his thirst some
whore; and, as there was only the
spring. . ."
"Oh, but look here," growled
Farmer Goussot, "we should havo
seen him!"
"It was at night."
"We should have heard him. . .
and seen him, too, as wo were eloso
by."
"So was he."
"And ho drank tho water from
tho pool?" gasped Goussot.
"Yes."
"llow?"
Tho stranger produced tho straw
that he had picked up:
"There, hero's tho straw that he used to gel his
long drink. You will see, there's moro of it than
usual: in fact, it is made of three straws stuck into
one another. That was tho first thing I noticed, those
three straws fastened together. Tho proof is con
clusive." "Hut, hang it all, the proof of what?" cried Farmer
Goussot, irritably.
(Continued on Paoc 9 )
