At this tragic and unexpected denouement, Bergenheim, who was getting ready to make his appearance from behind the trees and to interpose his authority, started in full pursuit of the would-be murderer. From the direction he took, he judged that he would try to reach the river by passing over the rock. He walked in this direction, with his gun over his shoulder, until he reached the foot of the steps which descended into the grotto. Christian crouched behind some bushes to wait for Lambernier, who must pass this way, and it was at this moment that Gerfaut, who was forty feet below him, saw him without suspecting the reason for his attitude. Bergenheim soon found out that he had calculated correctly when he heard a sound like that made by a wild boar when he rushes through the thickets and breaks the small branches in his path, as if they were no more than blades of grass. Soon Lambernier appeared with a haggard, wild look and a face bleeding from the blows he had received. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and to wipe off his compass with a handful of grass; he then staunched the blood streaming from his nose and mouth, and after putting on his coat started rapidly in the direction of the river. "Halt!" exclaimed the Baron, suddenly, rising before him and barring his passage. The workman jumped back in terror; then he drew out his compass a second time and made a movement as if to throw himself upon this new adversary, out of sheer desperation. Christian, at this threatening pantomime, raised his gun to his cheek with as much coolness and precision as he would have shown at firing into a body of soldiers. "Down with your weapon!" he exclaimed, in his commanding voice, "or I will shoot you down like a rabbit." The carpenter uttered a hoarse cry as he saw the muzzle of the gun within an inch of his head, ready to blow his brains out. Feeling assured that there was no escape for him, he closed his compass and threw it with an angry gesture at the Baron's feet. "Now," said the latter, "you will walk straight ahead of me as far as the chateau, and if you turn one step to the right or left, I will send the contents of my gun into you. So right about march!" As he said these words, he stooped, without losing sight of the workman, and picked up the compass, which he put in his pocket. "Monsieur le Baron, it was the coachman who attacked me first; I had to defend myself," stammered Lambernier. "All right, we will see about that later. March on!" "You will deliver me up to the police--I am a ruined man!" "That will make one rascal the less," exclaimed Christian, repelling with disgust the workman, who had thrown himself on his knees before him. "I have three children, Monsieur, three children," he repeated, in a supplicating tone. "Will you march!" replied Bergenheim imperiously, as he made a gesture with his gun as if to shoot him.