Suddenly a great
tumult arose near the other end of the bridge, and in a moment a
compact crowd had gathered around four men, who, with loud cries and
imprecations, were fighting with swords--apparently with great fury,
though in reality it was only a mock combat, probably intended to give a
good chance to the thieves and pickpockets in the throng, with whom they
were in league; such tactics being very common, as well as successful.
By Herode's advice, de Sigognac refrained from mingling with the crowd
immediately around the combatants, so he could not get a very good view
of them; but he was almost sure that they were the very men he had met
first in the streets of Poitiers, to their great discomfiture, and had
seen again the previous night at the hotel in the Rue Dauphine, where
they certainly had gained no advantage to make up for their former
defeat. He communicated his suspicions to the tyrant, but the rascals
had already slipped away, and it would have been as useless to attempt
to find them in the throng as to look for a needle in a haystack.
"It certainly is possible," said Herode, thoughtfully, "that this
quarrel was gotten up with a view to involving you in it, by some means
or other, for we are undoubtedly followed and watched by the emissaries
of the Duke of Vallombreuse.
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