The advance-guard formed a goodly cavalcade. Most of my comrades were
either sons of noblemen, or at least cadets of some distinguished
house. They were well-mounted and richly dressed, and all wore the
green scarf of Mazarin. Like Pillot, they were delighted at the idea
of returning to Paris again, and gave no thought to the fact that many
of them would never reach the city walls.

M. Belloc remained with the Cardinal, but I had made several new
friends, and the journey, though full of peril, was pleasant enough.
We youngsters laughed and joked, formed plans for the future, defeated
Conde many times over--in imagination--and, I think, each of us
secretly felt sure of becoming a Marshal of France. The older ones
shook their heads, foretelling a long and difficult campaign, but we
paid scant heed to their melancholy prophecies.

Pillot, who travelled with the attendants, made me an object of envy to
my comrades. Never was there such a capital servant or one so full of
contrivances. Once, through some stupid mistake, we were compelled to
halt for the night on a dreary, barren waste. It was bitterly cold,
being almost mid-winter; we had no tents, and indeed no other shelter
than our cloaks.

The young nobles stamped about in high dudgeon, bidding their
attendants light fires and bring food, though there was no wood to be
seen, and the last of the provisions had been eaten in the morning.
The poor lackeys raced about here and there endeavouring to accomplish
what was quite out of the question, but the exercise at least kept them
warm. I did not call Pillot, and, indeed, two minutes after the order
to halt he had vanished. I thought it odd, but made no remark, and
dismounting like the others walked about briskly to restore the
circulation in my numbed limbs.

Presently some one nudged my elbow, and a voice whispered softly, "Let
monsieur choose three of his friends and follow me."

Rather astonished, I sought out three of my comrades and we followed
the dwarf, who led us perhaps two hundred yards, and stopped at a
sheltered gully.

"Those who come first get the best seats," said he, and going down on
his knees fumbled about for a time, till at last we broke into an
exclamation of delight.

"A fire!" cried one.

"Pillot, you are a genius!" said I, and the other two declared he ought
to be made a nobleman.

How he managed it was a mystery, but there was the fire blazing
cheerfully, and in another moment