“Snatched away!” repeated the recorder; “it is impossible. The nobility and the clergy have their rights. How dare they rob the people of the last, the only resource they have against the oppression of the powerful!” Nothing is more easily moved than the mind of the populace, and especially of the populace on Mediterranean shores. This crowd, but a moment before controlled by their gratitude to the baron, now forgot almost entirely the important services rendered to them by the family of Anbiez, at the bare suspicion that Raimond V. wished to attack one of the privileges of the community. These rumours, circulated among different groups, singularly irritated the minds of the fishermen. The recorder and the consul, thinking the moment had arrived in which they could strike a final blow, ordered one of their attendants to go in quest of the recorder’s clerk, who ought, they said, to have returned from his journey, although, in fact, he had not left La Ciotat. At this moment, the five overseers of the port and their syndic, having met after mass under the porch of the church, passed through the crowd to enter the town hall, where they were to hold their solemn audience. The new circumstances gave additional interest to their appearance; they were saluted on all sides with numerous bravos, accompanied with the cries: “Long live the overseers of the port!” “Long live the Provençal communities!” “Down with those who attack them!” The crowd, now greatly excited, pressed hard upon the steps of the overseers, so as to be present at the session. Then the clerk arrived. Although he said much in protest of the interpretation given to his words by the recorder and the consul, those men continued to exclaim with hypocritical lamentations. “Ah, well, ah, well, consul,” cried one of the crowd, “is Raimond V. coming? Will he appear before the tribunal?” “Alas! my friends,” replied the consul, “do not question me. The worthy recorder has predicted only too well. The tyrannical, imperious, irascible character of the baron has been again made manifest.” “How? How?” “The clerk was charged yesterday to notify Raimond V. to appear before the tribunal of overseers; he has returned and--” “There he is! Ah,--well, come to the point!” “Ah!” “Ah, well!” “Ah, well, he has been overwhelmed with the cruel treatment of Raimond V.” “But,” whispered the clerk, “on the contrary, the baron made me drink so much wine that I--” Master Isnard seized the clerk so violently by his smock-frock, and threw such a furious glance on him, that the poor man did not dare utter a word. “After having overwhelmed him with cruel treatment,” continued the consul, “Raimond formally declared to him that he would make straw of our privileges, that he intended to keep his seines, and that he was strong enough to overcome us, if we dared act contrary to his will, and that--” An explosion of fury interrupted the consul.