"Haven't seen them." One of them, Jacques, was found near the gate, bleeding from a punch in the jaw; the other a little farther, gasping for breath from a blow full on the chest. "What is it? What happened?" asked M. Lenormand. Jacques said that his brother and he had knocked up against an individual who had crippled them before they had time to defend themselves. "Was he alone?" "No; when he passed near us, he had a pal with him, shorter than himself." "Did you recognize the man who struck you?" "Judging by the breadth of his shoulders, I thought he might be the Englishman of the Palace Hotel, the one who left the hotel and whose traces we lost." "The major?" "Yes, Major Parbury." After a moment's reflection, M. Lenormand said: "There is no doubt possible. There were two of them in the Kesselbach case: the man with the dagger, who committed the murders, and his accomplice, the major." "That is what Prince Sernine thinks," muttered Jacques Doudeville. "And to-night," continued the chief detective, "it is they again: the same two." And he added, "So much the better. The chance of catching two criminals is a hundred times greater than the chance of catching one." M. Lenormand attended to his men, had them put to bed and looked to see if the assailants had dropped anything or left any traces. He found nothing and went back to bed again himself. In the morning, as Gourel and the Doudevilles felt none the worse for their injuries, he told the two brothers to scour the neighborhood and himself set out with Gourel for Paris, in order to hurry matters on and give his orders. * * * * * He lunched in his office. At two o'clock, he heard good news. One of his best detectives, Dieuzy, had picked up Steinweg, Rudolf Kesselbach's correspondent, as the German was stepping out of a train from Marseilles. "Is Dieuzy there?" "Yes, chief," said Gourel. "He's here with the German." "Have them brought in to me." At that moment, the telephone-bell rang. It was Jean Doudeville, speaking from the post-office at Garches. The conversation did not take long: "Is that you, Jean? Any news?" "Yes, chief, Major Parbury. . . ." "Well?" "We have found him. He has become a Spaniard and has darkened his skin. We have just seen him. He was entering the Garches free-school. He was received by that young lady . . . you know, the girl who knows Prince Sernine, Geneviève Ernemont." "Thunder!" M. Lenormand let go the receiver, made a grab at his hat, flew into the passage, met Dieuzy and the German, shouted to them to meet him in his office at six o'clock, rushed down the stairs, followed by Gourel and two inspectors whom he picked up on the way, and dived into a taxi-cab: "Quick as you can to Garches . . . ten francs for yourself!" He stopped the car a little before the Parc de Villeneuve, at the turn of the lane that led to the school. Jean Doudeville was waiting for him and at once exclaimed: