ecided the fortunes of the day. With a rush and a roar we
swept forward, and Anjou's stubborn troops scattered in flight. Forward
we went in hot pursuit, but suddenly everything became dark to me; the
stricken field with its mob of flying men vanished from sight, and I
sank forward helplessly across my horse's neck.

CHAPTER X

I Rejoin the Advance

"Do you know me, monsieur? It is I--Jacques."

"Jacques?" I repeated dreamily. "Where are we? What are we doing here?
My head aches; I feel stiff all over. Where is the letter? Ah, I
remember now. We won the battle, Jacques?"

"Yes, monsieur. It was a great victory. Monseigneur's troops were
completely routed."

I closed my eyes and lay thinking. By degrees it all came back to me;
the Admiral's message, De Courcy's wild charge, the terrible conflict,
the flight of the royalists, and then--! I had a strange
half-consciousness of having been raised from the ground and carried
some distance, but of what had really happened I had no definite
knowledge.

But how came Jacques into the picture? Surely he was not at Roche
Abeille! I opened my eyes and saw him bending over me and looking
eagerly into my face.

"Jacques," I said, "what are you doing here?"

"Nursing you, monsieur," he answered cheerfully. "I got to Rochelle just
after you had started, and followed the army; but the battle was over
when I reached Roche Abeille."

"How did you find me?"

"I went to the Admiral's gentlemen. They said you were killed, and that
your friend Monsieur Bellievre was distracted, and there was another
gentleman, an Englishman, who looked very unhappy. But we fetched a
surgeon, who patched you up, and we carried you here."

"Where, Jacques?"

"The city of Limoges, monsieur. You are lodged at a comfortable inn, and
now you have talked enough."

"One more question, my good Jacques; how long have I been here?"

"Three days, monsieur. Now I will get you some nourishing food, and
afterwards you must sleep."

The next morning, finding I was much stronger, Jacques was willing to
answer further questions. Felix had come through the fray unscathed, and
Roger Braund was only slightly wounded. Anjou, he said, had been
thoroughly defeated, and there was already talk of the end of the war.

"And where are the troops now?" I asked.

"They marched in the direction of Poictiers. It is rumoured that the
Admiral intends to besiege the town."

"It may be so," I observed doubtfully,