At four o'clock Don Luis rang up again, to ask Patrice to join him at once in a little café at the end of the town, facing the Seine. Here Patrice saw Siméon on the quay. He was walking with his hands behind his back, like a man strolling without any definite object. "Comforter, spectacles, the same get-up as usual," said Patrice. "Not a thing about him changed. Watch him. He's putting on an air of indifference, but you can bet that his eyes are looking up stream, in the direction from which the _Belle Hélène_ is coming." "Yes, yes," said Don Luis. "Here's the lady." "Oh, that's the one, is it?" said Patrice. "I've met her two or three times already in the street." A dust-cloak outlined her figure and shoulders, which were wide and rather well-developed. A veil fell around the brim of her felt hat. She gave Siméon a telegram to read. Then they talked for a moment, seemed to be taking their bearings, passed by the café and stopped a little lower down. Here Siméon wrote a few words on a sheet of note-paper and handed it to his companion. She left him and went back into the town. Siméon resumed his walk by the riverside. "You must stay here, captain," said Don Luis. "But the enemy doesn't seem to be on his guard," protested Patrice. "He's not turning round." "It's better to be prudent, captain. What a pity that we can't have a look at what Siméon wrote down!" "I might . . ." "Go after the lady? No, no, captain. Without wishing to offend you, you're not quite cut out for it. I'm not sure that even I . . ." And he walked away. Patrice waited. A few boats moved up or down the river. Mechanically, he glanced at their names. And suddenly, half an hour after Don Luis had left him, he heard the clearly-marked rhythm, the pulsation of one of those powerful motors which, for a few years past, have been fitted to certain barges. At the bend of the river a barge appeared. As she passed in front of him, he distinctly and with no little excitement read the name of the _Belle Hélène_! She was gliding along at a fair pace, to the accompaniment of a regular, throbbing beat. She was big and broad in the beam, heavy and pretty deep in the water, though she appeared to carry no cargo. Patrice saw two watermen on board, sitting and smoking carelessly. A dinghy floated behind at the end of a painter. The barge went on and passed out of sight at the turn. Patrice waited another hour before Don Luis came back. "Well?" he asked. "Have you seen her?" "Yes, they let go the dinghy, a mile and a half from here, and put in for Siméon." "Then he's gone with them?" "Yes." "Without suspecting anything?" "You're asking me too much, captain!" "Never mind! We've won! We shall catch them up in the car, pass them and, at Vernon or somewhere, inform the military and civil authorities, so that they may proceed to arrest the men and seize the boat." "We shall inform nobody, captain. We shall proceed to carry out these little operations ourselves."