troop under him had smartly repulsed, with the loss of over
thirty men, the men-at-arms from the city.

"A gallant enterprise," the prince said. "What think you, Admiral?"

"I think, indeed, that this young gentleman and his cousin, the
young Count of Laville, have shown singular prudence and
forethought, as well as courage. The matter could not have been
better managed, had it been planned by any of our oldest heads.
That they should, at the head of their little bodies of
men-at-arms, have dispersed the cowardly mob of Niort, is what we
may believe that any brave gentleman would have done; but their
device of taking the priests and the other leaders as hostages,
their boldness in summoning the authorities of Niort, under the
threat of hanging the hostages and capturing the town, is indeed
most excellent and commendable. I heard that the number of
fugitives from Niort was nearly six hundred, and besides these
there were, I suppose, those from the villages."

"About two hundred set out from the villages, sir."

"Eight hundred souls. You hear that, gentlemen? Eight hundred souls
have been rescued, from torture and death, by the bravery and
prudence of these two young gentlemen, who are in years but youths.
Let it be a lesson, to us all, of what can be done by men engaged
in a good work, and placing their trust in God. There is not one of
us but might have felt proud to have been the means of doing so
great and good a work, with so small a force; and to have saved
eight hundred lives, without the loss of a single one; to say
nothing of the sharp lesson given to the city mobs, that the work
of massacre may sometimes recoil upon those who undertake it.

"Our good friend De la Noue has, more than once, spoken very highly
to the prince and myself respecting the young count, and this young
English gentleman; and they certainly have more than borne out his
commendations."

"And more than that," the prince put in, "I myself in no small
degree owe my life to them; for when I was pinned down by my horse,
at Saint Denis, they were among the foremost of those who rushed to
my rescue. Busy as I was, I had time to mark well how stoutly and
valiantly they fought.

"Moreover, Monsieur D'Arblay has spoken to me in the highest terms
of both of them, but especially of Monsieur Fletcher; who, as he
declared, saved his life and that of the Count de Laville, by
obtaining their release from the dungeons of Toulouse, by some such
devi