Leroux seated himself in front of the fire and poked it; then lighted a pipe and smoked for several minutes, interrupting his smoking only to drink and to glance at Sister Anne. She trembled in every limb, in the corner where she had seated herself in order to be as far as possible from the robber, whose eyes, as he glanced at her, were inflamed with lust. "Damned fine, ten thousand devils!" he cried, from time to time. "Fine eyes, fine teeth. She'll be even better looking in a few months, but damn the odds! And those clowns didn't see her! Oh! I won't give her up to you, my mates! We don't capture such prizes often." These words added to the poor girl's alarm; it was increased tenfold when Leroux, who had not remained behind solely to drink and smoke, motioned to her to come to him. She pretended not to understand, and lowered her eyes. Thereupon he rose and walked toward her. The girl could hardly breathe. The brigand threw himself on the straw, beside her; she tried to rise and go away from him, but he detained her by force, passing his arm about her waist, and putting his repulsive face close to hers. The poor girl put her hand before her eyes, so that she could not see Leroux's. "Ha! ha! I really believe she's trembling!" he exclaimed, with a roar of savage laughter. "I promise you, my dear, it don't become you to play the prude; anyone can see you haven't always been one." With that, he put his face still nearer to hers, and tried to kiss her on the lips; but she, summoning all her courage, pushed him away, and, taking advantage of his surprise, sprang quickly to her feet and ran to the other end of the room, behind the table on which the robbers ate. Leroux stared at her in amazement, but in a moment smiled again, saying: "Oho! so you're balky, are you? Pretty good! Do you really think of resisting me?" He rose and went toward her; with a well-directed kick, he sent the table to the other end of the room; then, seizing the girl, who struggled to no purpose, he took her in his arms and carried her back to the heap of straw. Once more she summoned all her courage, all her strength, to resist the brigand, who was determined to triumph over her, and who, after laughing scornfully at her defence, finally became furious at her obstinate resistance. This pitiful struggle lasted a long time, but the unfortunate girl felt that her strength was failing her; tears and sobs suffocated her, and she was on the point of becoming the victim of the villain who strove to force her, when of a sudden there was a succession of violent blows on the door of the cabin. "The devil take anybody who comes just now!" cried Leroux. "Those fellows have done it on purpose; but I won't let 'em in." At that moment, he heard a strange voice, which said: "Open, for God's sake! save me! you shall be handsomely rewarded!"