"You have never hunted butterflies?" "No," sharply. "Shall we start for him while his heels are hot?" "It is very exciting. It is the one thing I really care for. There is often danger, but it is the kind that does not steal round your back. Hereafter I shall devote my time to butterflies. You can make believe--is that what you call it?--each butterfly is a great rascal. The more difficult the netting, the more cunning the rascal . . . What did you say?" "Look here, Ferraud," cried Fitzgerald angrily; "do you want to catch him or not? He's gone, and that means he has got the odd trick." "But not the rubber, my son. Listen. When you set a trap for a rat or a lion, do you scare the animal into it, or do you lure him with a tempting bait? I have laid the trap; he and his friend will walk into it. I am not a police officer. I make no arrests. My business is to avert political calamities, without any one knowing that these calamities exist. That is the real business of a secret agent. Let him dig up his fortune. Who has a better right? _Peste_! The pope will not crown him in the gardens of the Tuileries. What!" with a ring in his voice Fitzgerald had never heard before; "am I one to be overcome without a struggle, without a call for help? The trap is set, and in forty-eight hours it will be sprung. Be calm, my son. Tonight we should not find a horse or carriage in the whole town of Ajaccio." "But what are you going to do?" "Go to Aitone, to find a hole in the ground." "But the admiral!" "Let him gaze into the hole, and then tell him what you will. I owe him that much. Come on!" "Where?" "To the admiral, to tell him his secretary is a fine rogue and that he has stolen the march on us. A good chase will soften his final disappointment." "You're a strange man." "No; only what you English and Americans call a game sport. To start on even terms with a man, to give him the odds, if necessary. What! have beaters for my rabbits, shoot pigeons from traps? _Fi donc_!" "Hang it!" growled the young man, undecided. "My son, give me my way. Some day you will be glad. I will tell you this: I am playing against desperate men; and the liberty, perhaps honor, of one you love is menaced." "My God!" "Sh! Ask me nothing; leave it all to me. There! They are coming. Not a word."