But a great hullabaloo arose on the terrace. A little farm-labourer came rushing into the drawing-room: "He's seen some! He's seen some!" He was running in front of his employer, Farmer Saboureux, who arrived like a whirlwind, with his eyes starting out of his head: "I've seen some! I've seen some! There were five of them! I've seen some!" "Seen what? Seen what?" said Victor, shaking him. "What have you seen?" "Uhlans!" "Uhlans! Are you sure?" "As I see you now! There were five of them on horseback! Oh, I knew them again ... it wasn't the first time!... Uhlans, I tell you!... They'll burn everything down!" Mme. Morestal came running up at the noise which he made: "Do be quiet! What's the matter with you?" "I've seen some!" yelled Saboureux. "Uhlans! They've gone off to fetch the others." "Uhlans!" she gasped in dismay. "Yes, like last time!" "Oh, heaven! Is it possible?" "I saw them, I say.... Go and tell monsieur le maire." She lost her temper: "Tell him? But he's ill!... And be quiet, you, I've had enough of it.... Philippe, is the doctor coming?" Philippe put down the telephone: "The line is engaged by the military, it's not available for private communications." "Oh, but this is terrible!" said the old lady. "What's to become of us?" She thought only of Morestal, confined to his room, and of the inconvenience which he would suffer through this state of things. A bicycle-bell was heard outside. "Ah!" cried the gardener, leaning out of the window on the garden side. "There's my boy coming.... How the rascal is growing! And you think, mother, that they'll leave him at home to pluck the geese? A sharp lad like that?..." A few seconds later, the boy was in the drawing-room. Breathless, staggering, he reeled back against the table and blurted out, in a hollow voice: "It's ... war!..." Philippe, who retained some hope in spite of everything, flew at him: "War?" "Yes ... it's declared...." "By whom?" "They didn't say." And Saboureux, seized with fresh anger, stuttered: "Of course!... I said so!... I saw the Uhlans ... there were five of them." There was a stir among the servants. All rushed to meet a new arrival, Gridoux, the official game-keeper, who came prancing along the terrace, brandishing a stick. He pushed them aside: "Don't bother me!... I've a message to give! Where's monsieur le maire? He must come at once! They're waiting for him!" He seemed furious at not finding the Mayor of Saint-Elophe there, ready to go back with him. "Not so loud, not so loud, Gridoux," Mme. Morestal ordered. "You'll wake him up." "He's got to be woke up. I've been sent from the town-hall.... He's got to come at once." Philippe laid hold of him: "Stop that noise, I tell you, hang it all! My father is ill." "That doesn't matter. I've got the butcher's cart.... I'll take him with me straight away, as he is." "But it's impossible," moaned Mme. Morestal. "He's in bed."