e
loyalists, and donned the white cockade of those whose watch-word was
'for God and the King.' He was asked whether he would make an attempt,
as they were to attack Nantes, a stronghold of the 'Blues,' to find out
the enemy's position. Of course he agreed; there were no dangers in the
path of duty that could deter Garth. He was disguised in a peasant's
dress, and carried a basket full of live pigeons, which he was to offer
for sale as he journeyed. Nantes was a strong position, strongly
fortified and manned by the enemy, yet the brave peasants and loyalists
of the Vendee determined to endeavour to take it for the young King (for
the unhappy Louis XVI. and his beautiful Queen had been put to death by
the influence of the more savage leaders of the Revolutionary party). It
was late in the evening when Garth started. It would be nearly midnight
before he could reach the city. When he came within two miles of the
town he saw a barge, laden with wood, moving slowly down the river.
Hailing the old man on board, who was holding the rudder, and allowing
the laden craft to drift down with the tide, 'Hola,' cried Garth, 'He!
can you give me a lift down to the quay?'

'Who are you?' asked the bargeman, Jules Viard by name.

'A poor chap with a pair of pigeons to sell.'

The man agreed to the request, and Garth sprang on to the barge as soon
as it came within jumping distance, and it resumed its slow passage down
the river. Presently the vessel was steered alongside the quay, where
the good-natured boatman made her fast for the night, sleeping in her
himself to save the few sous he would otherwise have had to pay for his
bed; but Garth went along on the riverside, as he wished to look about
him to learn what he could of the strength and position of the enemy.

As his wooden shoes clicked on the stone paving, he stripped them off
and strung them round his neck. The cathedral clock struck the hour of
midnight. On and on he went, using his eyes well. He had reached the
Paris road, up which his friends of the Vendean army would probably
approach, when he saw an immense obstruction. Climbing a tree, the
better to look about him, he found that the obstruction was a big
redoubt, very solidly constructed. Scaling garden walls and getting
behind the redoubt, he satisfied himself that it could be taken from the
rear, and being by this time very tired, he lay down under a hedge to
sleep till daylight.

The next morning he sold his pigeo