parties passed
along the road. They did not appear to have any fear of an attack,
but laughed and jested at the work they had come to do, scoffed at
the idea of the peasants venturing to oppose such forces as had
gathered against them, and discussed the chances of booty. One
party, of four men and an old sergeant, pulled up and dismounted,
close to the spot where the lads where hidden.

"It is all very well, comrades," their leader said, "but for my
part, I would rather be on the frontier fighting the Austrians.
That is work for soldiers. Here we are to fight Frenchmen, like
ourselves; poor chaps who have done no harm, except that they stick
to their clergy, and object to be dragged away from their homes. I
am no politician, and I don't care a snap for the doings of the
Assembly in Paris--I am a soldier, and have learned to obey orders,
whatever they are--but I don't like this job we have in hand;
which, mind you, is bound to be a good deal harder than most of you
expect. It is true that they say there are twenty thousand troops
round the province--but what sort of troops? There are not five
thousand soldiers among them. The others are either National
Guards, or newly-raised levies, or those blackguards from the slums
of Paris. Of the National Guards I should say half would desert, if
they only had the chance, and the new levies can't be counted on."

Chapter 5: Checking The Enemy.

"You see," Leigh said, when the patrol had ridden on, "the real
soldiers do not like the work they are called upon to do, and they
have no belief in the National Guards, or in the new levies. It
will make all the difference, in their own fighting, when they know
that they cannot rely upon some of the troops working with them. I
have no doubt that what they say of the National Guards is true.
They have had to come out because they are summoned, but they can
have no interest in the war against us and, doubtless, many of them
hate the government in Paris just as much as we do, and would give
a great deal to be back again with their homes and families. It is
just as hard for them to be obliged to fight us, as it is for us to
be obliged to fight them."

It was late in the afternoon before Andre and Pierre returned. By
the time they did so, the various cavalry patrols had all gone back
to Thouars. From time to time, boys had come in from the other
roads. One or two patrols, only, had gone out by each of the lanes
on which they were po