ils prennent . . . sur la main, they pull on the reins

Page 36. — i. à laquelle . . . aurait dû rendre des points, ze;.i/V^ . . . would hâve had to acknowledge to be superior to his own. Allusion to a game of billiards in which the superior player handicaps himself by giving his opponent a certain number of points to start with. In order to beat he then has to make not only more points than his opponent, but in addition the points with which the latterstarted.

2. pratiqua d'abord une desœnte des lieux, made first of ail an examination 0/ the place (where the theft had taken place).