A couple of young boys clamber over a fence and break into the hen coop. They steal some eggs and a fat chicken. The adults are after them, but the boys start a fire by accident and lead the adults on a long chase.
It was a real problem in those days, the homeless boys looking for enough food to eat and enough distance not to be taken into custody. Lucien Nonguet starts out with a real problem, and then turns it into a comic chase. Alas, serious problems rarely have comic solutions.