MOUZON [_triumphantly_] Ah! Now, my good man, we've had some trouble in getting you to say something. But I can read it in your face when you are lying--I can read it in your face in letters as big as that. The proof is that there was no witness who saw you go out--neither your servant nor anyone else; and yet I would have sworn to it with my head under the knife. Come, we have made a little progress now. [_To the recorder_] Have you put down carefully his first admission? Good. [_To Etchepare_] Now think for a moment. We will continue our little conversation. [_He goes towards the fireplace, rubbing his hands, pours himself a glass of spirits, swallows it, gives a sigh of gratification, and returns to his chair_] FIRST GENDARME [_to his comrade_] A cunning one, he is! SECOND GENDARME. You're right! MOUZON. Let us continue. Come, now that you've got so far, confess the whole thing! Here are these good gendarmes who want to go to their grub. [_The gendarmes, the recorder, and Mouzon laugh_] You confess? No? Then tell me, why did you insist on saying that you remained at home that night? ETCHEPARE. Because I'd told the gendarmes so and I didn't want to make myself out a liar. MOUZON. And why did you tell the gendarmes that? ETCHEPARE. Because I thought they'd arrest me on account of the smuggling. MOUZON. Good. Then you didn't go to Irissary that night? ETCHEPARE. No. MOUZON. Where did you go? ETCHEPARE. Up the mountain, to look for a horse that had got away the night before, one of a lot we were taking to Spain. MOUZON. Good. Excellent. That isn't badly thought out--that can be maintained. You went to look for a horse lost on the mountain, a horse which escaped from a lot you were smuggling over the frontier on the previous night. Excellent. If that is true, there is nothing for it but to set you at liberty before we are much older. Now to prove that you've simply to tell me to whom you sold the horse; we shall send for the purchaser, and if he confirms your statement, I will sign your discharge. To whom did you sell the horse? ETCHEPARE. I didn't sell it. MOUZON. You gave it away? You did something with it! ETCHEPARE. No--I didn't find it again. MOUZON. You didn't find it again! The devil! That's not so good. Come! Let's think of something else. You didn't go up the mountain all alone? ETCHEPARE. Yes, all alone. MOUZON. Bad luck! Another time, you see, you ought to take a companion. Were you out long? ETCHEPARE. All night. I got in at five in the morning. MOUZON. A long time. ETCHEPARE. We aren't well off, and a horse is worth a lot of money. MOUZON. Yes. But you didn't spend the whole night on the mountain without meeting someone--shepherds or customs officers? ETCHEPARE. It was raining in torrents. MOUZON. Then you met no one? ETCHEPARE. No one.