Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/251

 staff, wrested it from him, and with the assistance of the marquis brought him to the ground. The man displayed an almost supernatural strength in his despair, and had he been properly armed, might have killed us both; but he now had to do with four, and being soon exhausted, began to ask quarters, in a hollow supplicating tone. The marquis generously promised him pardon, and on being unmasked, he confessed, that he belonged to a gang of five house-breakers, who had seized this opportunity to rob the house, while the family were in the garden.

We now bound him, and left him under the care of the servant who attended us. The marquis and my companion searched the apartments, and I hastened down stairs, to call the servants to their assistance. A dead silence reigned every where, and not a soul could I meet with. Some lighted flambeaux had even been left on the stairs, to facilitate the retreat of the fugitives, and at the foot of the stair-case, I found a lady who had fainted. A little farther laid Baron Braggart, likewise nearly gone. On hearing somebody