nd, and emptied it in turn.

"Well," asked Roland, "now do you know my thought, general?"

"My thought," said Roland, with his usual frankness, "is that you are a
brave man, general. I shall feel honored if, at this moment when we are
going to fight against each other, you will give me your hand."

The two young men clasped hands, more like friends parting for a long
absence than two enemies about to meet on the battlefield. There was a
simple grandeur, full of majesty, in this action. Each raised his hat.

"Good luck!" said Roland to Cadoudal; "but allow me to doubt it. I must
even confess that it is from my lips, not my heart."

"God keep you, sir," said Cadoudal, "and I hope that my wish will be
realized. It is the honest expression of my thoughts."

"What is to be the signal that you are ready?" inquired Roland.

"A musket shot fired in the air, to which you will reply in the same
way."

"Very good, general," replied Roland. And putting his horse to a gallop,
he crossed the space between the royalist general and the Republican
general for the third time.

"Friends," said Cadoudal, pointing to Roland, "do you see that young
man?"

All eyes were bent upon Roland. "Yes," came from every mouth.

"He came with a safe-guard from our brothers in the Midi; his life is
sacred to you; he may be captured, but it must be living--not a hair of
his head must be touched."

"Very good, general," replied the Chouans.

"And now, my friends, remember that you are the sons of those thirty
Bretons who fought the thirty British between Ploermel and Josselin, ten
leagues from here, and conquered them." Then, in a low voice, he added
with a sigh, "Unhappily we have not to do with the British this time."

The fog had now lifted completely, and, as usually happens, a few rays
of the wintry sun tinged the plain of Plescop with a yellow light.

It was easy therefore to distinguish the movements of the two troops.
While Roland was returning to the Republicans, Branche-d'Or galloped
toward the two hundred men who were blocking the way. He had hardly
spoken to Cadoudal's four lieutenants before a hundred men were seen to
wheel to the right and a hundred more to wheel to the left and march in
opposite directions, one toward Plumergat, the other toward Saint-Ave,
leaving the road open. Each body halted three-quarters of a mile down
the road, grounded arms and remained motionless. Branche-d'Or returned
to Cadoudal.

"Have you any