these were less likely to be
taken than their masters and, if one were captured, a portion only
of the contributions would be lost. D'Arblay had arranged that he
would not return that night, but would sleep at the chateau of the
gentleman he was going to visit.

"I will get him to send around to our other friends, in the
morning. The men will return when they see that all is clear. Send
them back to meet us at the chateau, tomorrow night."

The five men returned an hour after they set out, and reported that
all was quiet at Merlincourt; and that the Sieur D'Arblay had sent
a message, to Philip, to move a few miles farther away before
morning, and to return to the wood soon after nightfall.

Philip gave the men six hours to rest themselves and their horses.
They then mounted and rode eight miles farther from Toulouse,
halting before daybreak in a thick copse standing on high ground,
commanding a view of a wide tract of country. Two of the troopers
were sent off to buy provisions in a village, half a mile away. Two
were placed on watch. Some of the others lay down for another
sleep, while Pierre redressed the wounds that five of the men had
received in the fight.

At twelve o'clock one of the lookouts reported that he could see,
away out on the plain, a body of horsemen. Philip at once went to
examine them for himself.

"There must be some two hundred of them, I should say, by the size
of the clump," he remarked to the soldier.

"About that, I should say, sir."

"I expect they are hunting for us," Philip said. "They must have
heard from some villager that we were seen to ride round this way,
the day before yesterday, or they would hardly be hunting in this
neighbourhood for us. It is well we moved in the night.

"I wish the Sieur D'Arblay and the Count de Laville were with us.
No doubt they were hidden away, as soon as the troop was seen, but
one is never secure against treachery."

Philip was restless and uncomfortable all day, and walked about the
wood, impatiently longing for night to come. As soon as it was dark
they mounted, and rode back to the wood near Merlincourt. The five
men were at once sent off to the chateau where they had left their
leaders.

"That is a pistol shot!" Pierre exclaimed, some twenty minutes
after they left.

"I did not hear it. Are you sure, Pierre?"

"Quite sure, sir. At least, I will not swear that it was a
pistol--it might have been an arquebus--but I will swear it was a