ve us. I believe
now that that fire we saw, two or three miles in our rear as we
came along, was a signal; but even if it were, one would not have
given them credit for gathering so promptly to withstand us.

"As for the place itself, it is, as we heard, of no great strength.
'Tis but a modern house, inclosed on three sides with a wall some
twenty feet high, and surrounded by a moat of the same width. With
our force we should carry it in half an hour. We know that the
garrison consists of only fifty men, besides a score or so of
grooms and servants."

"So we heard; but I am mistaken if there were not more than double
that number engaged on the wall. Still, as you say, there will be
no great difficulty in carrying the place. The ladders will be
ready in a couple of hours, and De Beauvoir will bring in, from the
farmhouses, plenty of planks and beams for throwing bridges across
the moat. It is two hours since he set out with the horsemen, so as
to catch the Huguenot farmers asleep."

As they returned to the spot where the men were engaged in cooking
their breakfast, while some were occupied in constructing ladders
from young trees that had been felled for the purpose, a gentleman
rode in.

"What is your news, De Villette?"

"The news is bad. De Beauvoir asked me to ride in to tell you that
we find the farmhouses completely deserted, and the whole of the
cattle and horses have disappeared, as well as the inhabitants.
Save for some pigs and poultry, we have not seen a living thing."

"Sapristie! The Huguenot dogs must have slept with one eye open.
Either they heard the firing last night, and at once made off; or
they must have learned we were coming, and must have gathered in
the chateau. Their measures must have been indeed well planned and
carried out, for them all to have got the alarm in time to gather
here before our arrival.

"I hope that is what they have done, for we reckoned upon carrying
off at least a thousand head of cattle, for the use of the army. It
was for that, as much as to capture the countess and strike a blow
at this hive of Huguenots, that the expedition was arranged.
However, if they are all in there, it will save us the trouble of
driving them in."

"In that case though, De Brissac, the fifty men will have been
reinforced by as many more, at least."

"Ay, maybe by a hundred and fifty, with the farmers and all their
hands; but what are a hundred and fifty rustics and fifty
men-at-arms, a