ed for during two
months, roaming the country, hiding in the woods, leading in the
environs of Caen and Falaise the existence of Mohicans, without causing
astonishment to a single gendarme, and, satisfied with having enough to
eat and to drink, never thinking of asking what was required of them, is
beyond belief. And it was in the most brilliant year of the imperial
regime, at the apogee of the much boasted administration, which in
reality was so hollow. The Chouans had sown such disorganisation in the
West, that the authorities of all grades found themselves powerless to
struggle against this ever-recurring epidemic. Count Caffarelli, prefet
of Calvados, in his desire to retain his office, treated the
refractories with an indolence bordering on complicity, and continued to
send Fouche the most optimistic reports of the excellent temper of his
fellow-citizens and their inviolable attachment to the imperial
constitution.

It was the middle of April, 1807. Allain passed through Caen, where he
joined Flierle, and both of them hiding by day and marching at night,
gained the borders of Brittany. Allain knew where to find men;
twenty-five leagues from Caen, in the department of La Manche, some way
from any highroad, is situated the village of La Mancelliere, whose men
were all refractories. General Antonio, who was very popular among the
malcontents, was shown the house of a woman named Harel whose husband
had joined the sixty-third brigade in the year VIII and deserted six
months after, "overcome by the desire to see his wife and children." His
story resembled many others; conscription was repugnant to these
peasants of ancient France, who could not resign themselves to losing
sight of their clock tower; they were brave enough and ready to fight,
but to them, the immediate enemy was the gendarmes, the "Bleus," whom
they saw in their villages carrying off the best men, and they felt no
animosity against the Prussians and Austrians who only picked a quarrel
with Bonaparte.

As he came with an offer of work to be well paid for, Allain was well
received by Mme. Harel, who with her children was reduced to extreme
poverty. It was a question, he said, "of a surveying operation
authorised by the government." Harel came out of hiding in the evening,
and eagerly accepted his old chief's proposition, and as the latter
needed some strong pole-carriers, Harel presented two friends to the
"General" under the names of "Grand-Charles" and