liantly,
were soon wearied of the strife, and of the hardships it entailed upon
them. The siege had continued but a short time when they began to murmur
loudly. The force under the command of the governor was but a small
one, and it would have been impossible for him to resist the will of
the whole population. For a time his exhortations and entreaties were
attended with success, and the burghers returned to their positions on
the walls; but each time the difficulty became greater, and it was
clear to Caddoudal and Sir John Powis that ere long the citizens would
surrender the place in spite of them. The English knight was furious at
the cowardliness of the citizens, and proposed to the governor to summon
twenty of the leading burghers, and to hang them as a lesson to the
others; but the governor shook his head.

"I have but two hundred men on whom I can rely, including your
following, Sir John. We could not keep down the inhabitants for an hour;
and were we to try to do so, they would open the gates and let in the
French. No; I fear that we must await the end."

The following morning Sir John was awoke with the news that in the night
Caddoudal had been seized and thrown into prison by the burghers, and
that a deputation of citizens had already gone out through the gate to
treat with the Duke of Normandy for the surrender of the city.

The English knight was furious, but with his little band he could do
nothing, especially as he found that a strong guard of burghers had been
placed at the door of the apartments occupied by him and the esquires,
and he was informed that he must consider himself a prisoner until the
conclusion of the negotiations.

Cowardly and faithless as the burghers of Rennes showed themselves to
be, they nevertheless stipulated with the Duke of Normandy, as one of
the conditions of the surrender, that Caddoudal, Sir John Powis, and the
troops under them should be permitted to pass through the French lines
and go whithersoever they would. These terms were accepted. At mid-day
the governor was released, and he with his men-at-arms and the band of
Englishmen filed out from the city gate, and took their way unmolested
through the lines of the French army to Hennebon.

They had been for a month in ignorance of all that had passed outside
the walls, and had from day to day been eagerly looking for the arrival
of Sir Walter Manny with his army to their relief. Once past the French
lines they inquired of