ing to the marquis and Mademoiselle
de Verneuil, and showed him the scheme of which he held a thread. Hulot,
struck by his perspicacity, seized him by the arm.

"God's thunder! citizen, you are right," he cried. "The brigands are
making a false attack over there to keep the coast clear; but the two
columns I sent to scour the environs between Antrain and Vitre have not
yet returned, so we shall have plenty of reinforcements if we need them;
and I dare say we shall, for the Gars is not such a fool as to risk his
life without a bodyguard of those damned owls. Gudin," he added, "go and
tell Captain Lebrun that he must rub those fellows' noses at Florigny
without me, and come back yourself in a flash. You know the paths.
I'll wait till you return, and _then_--we'll avenge those murders at La
Vivetiere. Thunder! how he runs," he added, seeing Gudin disappear as if
by magic. "Gerard would have loved him."

On his return Gudin found Hulot's little band increased in numbers by
the arrival of several soldiers taken from the various posts in the
town. The commandant ordered him to choose a dozen of his compatriots
who could best counterfeit the Chouans, and take them out by the Porte
Saint-Leonard, so as to creep round the side of the Saint-Sulpice rocks
which overlooks the valley of Couesnon and on which was the hovel of
Galope-Chopine. Hulot himself went out with the rest of his troop by
the Porte Saint-Sulpice, to reach the summit of the same rocks, where,
according to his calculations, he ought to meet the men under Beau-Pied,
whom he meant to use as a line of sentinels from the suburb of
Saint-Sulpice to the Nid-aux-Crocs.

Corentin, satisfied with having delivered over the fate of the Gars to
his implacable enemies, went with all speed to the Promenade, so as to
follow with his eyes the military arrangements of the commandant. He
soon saw Gudin's little squad issuing from the valley of the Nancon
and following the line of the rocks to the great valley, while Hulot,
creeping round the castle of Fougeres, was mounting the dangerous path
which leads to the summit of Saint-Sulpice. The two companies were
therefore advancing on parallel lines. The trees and shrubs, draped by
the rich arabesques of the hoarfrost, threw whitish reflections which
enabled the watcher to see the gray lines of the squads in motion. When
Hulot reached the summit of the rocks, he detached all the soldiers in
uniform from his main body, and made them i