It must be admitted that he instantly abandoned his search for Clarice and that the pursuit of the treasure became his only care. Walking and running he covered the seven miles to Lillebonne in less than an hour. It was a little before midnight that he awoke the porter of his hotel, made a hasty meal. Then, having wrapped up two small dynamite cartridges in brown paper and thrust them into his pocket, he mounted his machine. Neatly rolled up and fastened below the handle-bar was a canvas bag in which to bring away the spoil. He made the following calculations: “From Lillebonne to Mesnil-sous-Jumièges is about twenty-five miles. I ought to be there before day-break. The moment it is light I shall find the block of granite and blow it up with the dynamite. It is possible that Josephine or Beaumagnan may surprise me in the middle of the operation. In that case I go halves. All the worse for the third party.” Having passed Caudebec-en-Caux, he followed along the rising ground the road which runs through the woods and meadows to the Seine. Just as on the day on which he had first made love to Josephine, the _Nonchalante_ was there, looming large through the dim light. He saw that the window of the cabin which she occupied was lit up. “She must be dressing,” he said to himself. “Her carriage will be coming for her. Perhaps Leonard has got to her and made her start sooner than she intended. Too late, my lady!” He drove on the machine as hard as he could. But half an hour later, as he was riding down a steep hill, he felt his wheel meet some obstacle; and he flew over the handles, over a heap of stones by the road side, and came to a stop scratched and bruised, but with no bones broken, in a thick and thorny bush twenty feet down the hill. Two men--he saw them dimly--came out of the bushes and hurried to his bicycle. “It was him! It must have been him! The rope got the machine! I told you it would,” cried Oscar de Bennetot in a tone of great excitement. “Yes. But where’s he got to?” growled Godfrey d’Etigues. Ralph made haste to scramble up through the bushes to the top of the high embankment. They heard him; but they could not see him. They rushed after him, cursing furiously. But they had little chance of finding him in that darkness. Then Beaumagnan’s voice came faintly from below; “Don’t bother about him! We’ve no time to waste! Smash his machine! That puts him out of action.” They made haste to obey. Ralph heard them go bustling down to the road. Then he heard them stamping on the wheels of his bicycle. Then Beaumagnan said: “Come on! The horse has rested long enough. We’ve got to get there quickly. Confound this wound of mine. The bandage has shifted; I’m bleeding like a pig.”