"Ah! scélérat!" he bellowed. "Tu es à moi!" Scarcely had the words left his lips when one of his band, who had been wounded by a shot from the Towers, hurried in with the news that a party of men were in pursuit of them. Confiding Trevanion to the charge of four of his most trusty followers, Delarousse collected the rest, and led them to the front of the house, which the newcomers were said to be approaching. At the end of the drive, where it branched from the road, was Tonkin with his company of fishermen and miners. Tonkin had led his men up the hill with more haste than discretion. When they reached the top they were blown, and for some minutes had to moderate their pace. They could not see from the road what was happening behind the fences, and had come midway between the Dower House and the Towers, at the same time as Trevanion arrived abreast of them in the opposite direction. But the spectators on the tower had seen them. The moment Trevanion entered his door, the Squire, with Dick, Sam, and Penwarden, hurried down the stairs. "Hang it, Dick, they’re Frenchmen!" cried the Squire, his fighting blood roused. "We must clear the rascals out." On reaching the ground he dispatched Sam to tell Tonkin that the Frenchmen were now going in the other direction, and hurried on with the others, intending to join the fishers at the Dower House. He arrived in time to see Tonkin’s men fire a volley at the Frenchmen at the windows. Little damage was done; Delarousse did not return the fire. He had achieved the object of his raid, and had no desire to enter into useless hostilities. Having taken stock of the enemy, he withdrew his men into the house, which was already filling with pungent smoke. Tonkin halted his men for a moment in order to recover breath. It looked as if he would have to take the house by storm, a difficult task in the face of odds. But he was a man of bulldog courage, if no tactician. Smarting with the indignity he had suffered, and without stopping to think that Delarousse might have no designs except against Trevanion, he ordered his men to reload, and prepared to lead them to the attack. Delarousse, however, had taken advantage of the momentary lull to withdraw his men through a long window in the wall of the house facing the village. The result was that when Tonkin, after so much delay as was necessary for his men to regain their breath and prime their muskets, led them at the charge up to the house and broke through the door, he found the house deserted, and the enemy in full retreat down the hill. He rushed after them, eager to overtake them before they reached the village. Some of his men had noticed that the house was on fire, but in their excitement none stayed to extinguish the flames, nor even to warn or assist the person who was still ringing the bell.