ck off from the road, three
or four miles farther; and halted in a wood which they reached,
after half an hour's riding. The grain bags had been filled up
again, at the inn; but as the horses had eaten their fill, these
were not opened and, after loosening the girths and arranging the
order in which they should keep watch, the party threw themselves
on the ground.

Two hours after their arrival Eustace, who was on watch, heard the
distant sounds of a body of horsemen, galloping along the main road
in the direction of the village they had left.

In the morning at daybreak they started again, directing their way
to the southwest, and following the course of the Loire; which they
crossed at Estree, and so entered Burgundy. Crossing the great line
of hills, they came down on the Saone; which they crossed at a
ferry, fifteen miles below Dijon. They here obtained news of the
position of the Duc de Deux-Ponts, and finally rode into his camp,
near Vesoul. They had been fortunate in avoiding all questioning;
it being generally assumed, from their travelling without baggage,
that they belonged to the neighbourhood.

Riding into the camp, they were not long in discovering an officer
who spoke French and, upon Philip saying that he was the bearer of
despatches for the Duc from Admiral Coligny, he was at once
conducted to his pavilion. He had, when the camp was in sight and
all dangers at an end, taken his despatches from his boots; and
these he at once presented to the duke, who came to the door of his
tent, on hearing that a gentleman had arrived with letters from
Coligny, himself.

"I am glad to get some news direct, at last," the Duc said; "for I
have heard so many rumours, since I crossed the frontier, that I
know not whether the Admiral is a fugitive or at the head of a
great army. Which is nearest the truth?"

"The latter, assuredly, sir. The Admiral is at the head of as large
a body of men as that with which he offered battle to the Duc
d'Anjou, when winter first set in."

"Come in, monsieur, and sit down, while I read the despatches. How
many days have you taken in traversing France?"

"It is the tenth day since I left La Rochelle, sir."

"And have you ridden the same horses the whole way?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then they must be good beasts, for you must have done over forty
miles a day."

"We carried no baggage, sir and, as you see, no armour; and we have
husbanded our horses' strength, to the best of our power."