To get the engine out, and to assemble the firemen, he had to rouse the whole town; and to do this in the middle of the night was nothing less than to frighten the poor people of Sauveterre, who had heard the drums beating the alarm but too often during the war with the Germans, and then again during the reign of the Commune. Therefore M. Seneschal asked, - "Is it a serious fire?" "Serious " exclaimed the peasant. "How could it be otherwise with such a wind as this, -a wind that would blow off the horns of our oxen." "Hm " uttered the mayor again. "Hm, hm "