"Paul was taken from here about an hour ago by three men. They had papers and red seals and tricolor cockades enough to take a dozen." "And you let them take him?" cried Elise. Père Louchet looked at his niece quizzically with his twinkling eye. "There were three of them, Elise, my child, and they had big red seals and swore a great deal." "Of course," admitted the woman hastily, "you could do nothing by force." "I did try to prevent them from going upstairs where Paul was," the old man replied, "but one of them knocked me on the head and into a corner where I lay like a log." "Oh that I had been here," moaned Elise, as she and Louchet went toward the house. "If I could only know where they have taken Paul!" "To Tours," replied Père Louchet with decision. "How do you know?" asked Elise quickly. "I remember it plainly now. When I lay in the corner with a kind of dazed feeling in my head, not wishing to get up and stir around, I saw one of the men--not the one who hit me, but a smaller man with a larger hat and more cockades and more seals, take a paper out of his pocket and read it to Paul. I tried to make out what it said, for although I could hear every word that was uttered, I could not get an idea in my head that would hold together; but I was able to catch the word Tours; I am sure they have gone to Tours." "How is your head now, Père Louchet?" asked Elise with feverish eagerness. "As clear as a bell," was the reply. "Let me have one little nip more of that brandy and it will be clearer." "Can you ride?" "Like a boy." "Good! Make up a bundle of food and clothing for a two-days' journey and I'll have a horse at the door by the time you are ready." Ten minutes later Père Louchet, with a bundle of necessities strapped on his back, was mounted on one of his best horses which Elise had saddled for him. "Now, where am I to ride to?" he demanded, directing his twinkling eye down upon his niece. "Ride to Paris. Seek out Gaillard, 15 Rue Mathurins; give him this letter. That is all I ask of you." "And you--what are you going to do?" said Père Louchet, putting the letter in his inside breast pocket with a slap on the outside to emphasize its safety. "I ride toward Tours," replied the intrepid woman. CHAPTER IX PRISON BOAT NUMBER FOUR Paul Durand was confined in the prison at Tours. The prison was so crowded that he had to be placed in a small room at the top of the building adjoining the quarters occupied by the jailer and his family. Paul was paler than usual, the result of fatigue from the long, rapid ride from La Haye, but he showed no signs of fear and held up his head bravely as the jailer entered the room. The latter carried a bundle under his arm. "You are to take these clothes," he said, "go into the adjoining room, and put them on in place of the garments you have on."