having taken the horse round to the stable.

"So the peasants fought well, Leigh?"

"They would have fought well, if the Blues had given them a chance;
but these would not stop till they came up to them. If they had
done so, I am convinced that the peasants would have beaten them.
There was no mistaking the way they rushed forward and, upon my
word, I am not surprised that the enemy gave way; although well
armed, and not far inferior in numbers, they would have had no
chance with them."

"And did you rush forward, Leigh?"

"We were with the party that attacked the cavalry. Jean and I fired
our rifles twice, and after that we only saw the backs of the
cavalry. If they had been well-drilled troops they ought to have
scattered us like sheep; for everything must have gone down before
them, had they charged. There was no sort of order among us. The
men were not formed into companies. There was no attempt to direct
them. Each simply joined the leader he fancied and, when the word
was given, charged forward at the top of his speed. It is all very
well against the National Guards, and these young troops; but as
Jean said, it would be a different affair, altogether, if we were
to meet trained soldiers.

"But the peasants seem to be quick, and I expect they will adopt
tactics better suited to the country, when they come to fighting in
these lanes and woods. You see, so far a very small proportion have
been armed with guns, and their only chance was to rush at once to
close quarters; but we have captured so many muskets, at Chollet
and Vihiers, that in future a considerable proportion of the
peasants will have guns and, when they once learn to use the
hedges, they will be just as good as trained troops."

"Then I suppose Jean is more hopeful about the future than he was?"

"I don't say that, Patsey. He thinks that we shall make a hard
fight of it, but that the end must depend upon whether the people
in Paris, rather than keep fifty thousand men engaged in a
desperate conflict, here, when they are badly wanted on the
frontier, decide to suspend the conscription in La Vendee, and to
leave us to ourselves. There can be no doubt that that would be
their best plan. But as they care nothing for human life, even if
it cost them a hundred thousand men to crush us; they are likely to
raise any number of troops, and send them against us, rather than
allow their authority to be set at defiance.

"Do you know, Patsey, when I used