s him, for I have ordered
him to post two of your comrades on the bank, so that you cannot
pass them unseen. As in the first case, you will remain with him
until I arrive, and your message will be carried to the general by
another of his party.

"In case you do not find him at all, you will know that I have
returned before you, and have taken him and the others on with me.
In that case, you must make a faggot sufficiently large to support
you in the water, and swim across. The river is low, and it will
not be many yards out of your depth."

"I could swim that without the faggot, sir."

"Yes; but it is better to have it. I don't suppose that you have
ever swum in your clothes, and you would find it heavy work;
therefore you had better rely upon the faggot to keep you up and,
with its aid, you will have no difficulty in crossing."

The morning now was breaking, for in June the nights are short and,
after waiting for an hour, Leigh and his two companions--all of
whom had divested themselves of their weapons and belts, which they
had left in Pierre's charge--started for Saumur. In the presence of
so large a number of troops, with scarcely any training and
discipline, and with the excitement that would have been caused by
the defeat of Leigonyer, and the prospect of an attack by the
Vendeans, Leigh felt confident that three country lads ran no risk
of being questioned. However, he took the precaution of learning
the name of the village he passed through, six miles from the town;
so that if any one should happen to ask where they came from, and
what they were doing, he could give the name of a village, and say
that they had merely come in from curiosity, hearing that there was
likely to be a battle. Assuredly many country people would be
coming for the same purpose.

They entered the town at six o'clock. It was already astir. The
citizens, with anxious faces, were talking together in little
groups. Soldiers were loitering about in the streets, totally
regardless of the bugles and drums that were sounding in the
marketplace, and at various points outside the town. The civil
functionaries, in their scarves of office, hurried fussily about,
but for once they were unheeded. But a week before, a denunciation
by any of these men would have been sufficient to ensure the arrest
and imprisonment, and probably the death, of anyone against whom
they had a grudge. Now they were in greater danger than those who
had dreaded and hat