imself in the forest of
Hieuzet, whither he hoped his enemies would not venture to follow him.
And in fact the first two days were quiet, and his troops benefited
greatly by the rest, especially as they were able to draw stores of all
kinds--wheat, hay, arms, and ammunition--from an immense cave which the
Camisards had used for a long time as a magazine and arsenal. Cavalier
now also employed it as a hospital, and had the wounded carried there,
that their wounds might receive attention.

Unfortunately, Cavalier was soon obliged to quit the forest, in spite
of his hopes of being left in peace; for one day on his way back from a
visit to the wounded in the cave, whose existence was a secret, he came
across a hundred miquelets who had penetrated thus far, and who would
have taken him prisoner if he had not, with his, accustomed presence
of mind and courage, sprung from a rock twenty feet high. The miquelets
fired at him, but no bullet reached him. Cavalier rejoined his
troops, but fearing to attract the rest of the royalists to the
place,--retreated to some distance from the cave, as it was of the
utmost importance that it should not be discovered, since it contained
all his resources.

Cavalier had now reached one of those moments when Fortune, tired of
conferring favours, turns her back on the favourite. The royalists had
often noticed an old woman from the village of Hieuzet going towards the
forest, sometimes carrying a basket in her hand, sometimes with a hamper
on her head, and it occurred to them that she was supplying the hidden
Camisards with provisions. She was arrested and brought before General
Lalande, who began his examination by threatening that he would have
her hanged if she did not at once declare the object of her frequent
journeys to the forest without reserve. At first she made use of all
kinds of pretexts, which only strengthened the suspicions of Lalande,
who, ceasing his questions, ordered her to be taken to the gallows and
hanged. The old woman walked to the place of execution with such a firm
step that the general began to think he would get no information from
her, but at the foot of the ladder her courage failed. She asked to be
taken back before the general, and having been promised her life, she
revealed everything.

M. de Lalande put himself at once at the head of a strong detachment of
miquelets, and forced the woman to walk before them till they reached
the cavern, which they never would