he two best horses."

"When do we start, sir?"

"We must be saddled, and ready to start, by ten tonight. See that a
bottle of wine, a cold fowl, and a portion of bread for each are
brought along with us. We shall have a long night's ride.

"We will carry no valises. They add to the weight, and look like
travelling. Let each man make a small canvas bag, and place in it a
change of linen. It can be rolled up in the cloak, and strapped
behind the saddle. A dozen charges, for each pistol, will be more
than we shall be likely to require. Tell them to take no more. They
must take their breast pieces and steel caps, of course. They can
leave the back pieces behind them.

"I will go round to the hospital, and say goodbye to Henri and
Jacques. They will feel being left behind, sorely."

After visiting his wounded followers, he went to the house occupied
by the Prince of Navarre, where Francois also was lodged.

"So I hear you are off again, Philip," the latter said; as his
cousin entered the salon where two or three of the prince's
companions were sitting. "I should feel envious of you, were it not
that we also are on the point of starting."

"How did you know I was going off, Francois?"

"The prince told me, half an hour since. He heard it from the
Admiral. He told me he wished he was going with you, instead of
with the army. He is always thirsting after adventure. He bade me
bring you in to him, if you came. I said you would be sure to do
so. It was useless my going out to look for you, as I could not
tell what you might have to do before starting."

The young prince threw aside the book he was reading, when they
entered.

"Ah, monsieur the Englishman," he said; "so you are off again, like
a veritable knight-errant of romance, in search of fresh
adventure."

"No, sir, my search will be to avoid adventure."

"Ah, well, you are sure to find some, whether or not. Sapristie,
but it is annoying to be born a prince."

"It has its advantages also, sir," Philip said, smiling.

The prince laughed merrily.

"So I suppose; but for my part, I have not discovered them, as yet.
I must hope for the future; but it appears to me, now, that it can
never be pleasant. One is obliged to do this, that, and the other
because one is a prince. One always has to have one's head full of
politics, to listen gravely to stupidities, to put up with tiresome
people, and never to have one's own way in anything. However, I
suppose my turn