Though this was already done, the prowler did what was requested, and said,-- "There is nothing in them." "I have been robbed," the officer continued; "I am sorry for it, as I meant the things for you." The footsteps of the patrol became more and more distinct. "Some one is coming," the marauder said, preparing to go away. The officer, raising his arm with difficulty, stopped him. "You have saved my life; who are you?" The prowler answered rapidly and in a low voice. "I belong, like yourself, to the French army; but I must leave you, for if I were caught I should be shot. I have saved your life, so now get out of the scrape as you can." "What is your rank?" "Sergeant." "Your name?" "Thénardier." "I shall not forget that name," the officer said; "and do you remember mine; it is Pontmercy." BOOK II THE SHIP ORION. CHAPTER I. NO. 24,601 BECOMES NO. 9430. Jean Valjean was recaptured. As our readers will probably thank us for passing rapidly over painful details, we confine ourselves to the quotation of two paragraphs published by the newspapers of the day, a few months after the occurrence of the surprising events at M----. These articles are rather summary, but it must be remembered that no _Gazette des Tribunaux_ existed at that period. The first we take from the _Drapeau Blanc_, dated July 25, 1823. "A bailiwick of the Pas de Calais has just been the scene of an uncommon event. A man, who was a stranger to the department and called M. Madeleine, had some years previously revived by a new process an old local trade,--the manufacture of jet and black beads. He made his own fortune, and, let us add, that of the bailiwick, and in acknowledgment of his services he was appointed Mayor. The police discovered that M. Madeleine was no other than an ex-convict, who had broken his ban, condemned in 1796 for robbery, of the name of Jean Valjean. He has been sent back to the Bagne. It appears that prior to his arrest he succeeded in withdrawing from M. Lafitte's a sum of more than half a million, which he had banked there, and which it is said that he had honestly acquired by his trade. Since his return to Toulon futile efforts have been made to discover where this amount is concealed." The second article, which is rather more detailed, is extracted from the _Journal de Paris_ of the same date:--