by G. A. Henty
Chapter 4: Cathelineau's Scouts.
For some days nothing happened. The insurrection spread likewildfire, in Poitou and Anjou; and everywhere the peasants weresuccessful, the authorities, soldiers, and gendarmes for the mostpart flying without waiting for an attack.
The news that all La Vendee was in insurrection astonished andinfuriated the Convention, which at once took steps to suppress it.On the second of April a military commission was appointed, withpower to execute all peasants taken with arms in their hands, andall who should be denounced as suspicious persons. General Berruyerwas sent down to take the command. The large army that had beenraised, principally from the mob of Paris for the defence of thatcity, marched down; and Berruyer, at the head of this force,entered the Bocage on the tenth of April.
The time had passed quietly at the chateau. The peasants haddispersed at once and, except that the principal leaders and asmall body of men remained together, watching the course of events,all was as quiet as if profound peace reigned.
Jean Martin had returned home. Two days after arriving, he hadcalled all the tenants on the estate together, and had endeavouredto rouse them to the necessity of acquiring a certain amount ofdiscipline. He had brought with him a waggon load of muskets andammunition, which had been discovered at Chollet after the mainbulk of the peasants had departed; and Cathelineau had allowed himto carry them off, in order that the peasantry in the neighbourhoodof the chateau should be provided with a proportion of guns, whenthe day of action arrived. The peasants gladly received thefirearms, but could not be persuaded to endeavour to fight in anysort of order.
"They did not do it at Chollet, or elsewhere," they exclaimed, "andyet they beat the Blues easily. What good did discipline do to theenemy? None. Why, then, should we bother ourselves about it? Whenthe enemy comes, we will rush upon them when they are tangled inour thickets."
Leigh was somewhat more successful. The fact that he had fought atChollet, and was their seigneur's brother-in-law, had established aposition for him in the eyes of peasants of his own age; and as hewent from house to house, talking with them, he succeeded ingetting some twenty boys to agree to follow him. He had beennominated an officer by the three generals, who had picked out,without reference to rank or age, those who they thought would,either from position, energy, or determination, fill the postswell. Thus one company was commanded by a noble, the next by apeasant; and each would, on the day of battle, fight equally well.
Leigh's arguments were such as were suited to the lads headdressed.
"You see, if you go with the bands of men, you will be lost in thecrowd. The men will rush forward in front, you will all be in therear. You want to serve your country. Well, you can serve it muchbetter by watching the movements of the enemy, and carrying word ofit to the commander. Then, sometimes, we can have a littleenterprise of our own--cut off a post of the enemy, or manage todecoy them into lanes where we know their guns will stick fast.
"It is not size and strength that are most necessary in war; butquickness, alertness, and watchfulness. You know that, already, theleaders have found that nothing can persuade the men to keep guard,or to carry out outpost duty. If we do this, even if we do nothingelse, we shall be serving the cause much better than if we were tojoin in a general rush upon the enemy."
"But we shall have no muskets with us," one of the boys objected.
"Nor would you want them. You would have to move about quickly, andguns would be terribly inconvenient, if you had to push your waythrough a hedge or a close thicket. And besides, if you had gunsthey would not be of much use to you, for none of you areaccustomed to their use, and it needs a great deal of training tolearn to shoot straight.
"I am quite sure that if I were to march with twenty of you toCathelineau's headquarters, and were to say to him, 'We have comehere, sir, to act as scouts for you, to bring you in news of themovements of the enemy, and to do anything in our power to preventyou from being surprised,' he would be more pleased than if I hadbrought him a hundred men armed with muskets."
When twenty had expressed their willingness to go, Leigh askedJean, who had warmly entered into the plan, to speak to the fathersof the lads and get them to consent to their going with him. Heaccordingly called them together for that purpose.
"But do you mean that they will be away altogether, master?"
"Yes, while this goes on."
"But we shall lose their labour in the fields?"
"There will not be much labour in the fields, till this is over;and by having scouts watching the enemy you will get early news oftheir coming, and have time to drive off your beasts before theyarrive."
"But how will they live?"
"When they are in this neighbourhood, one or two can come back andfetch bread. If they are too far off for that, my brother will buybread for them. In cases where they cannot well be spared, I willremit a portion of your dues, as long as they are away; but thiswill not be for long, for I can see that, ere many weeks are past,the Blues will be swarming round in such numbers that there will belittle time for work on your land, and you will all have to makegreat sacrifices.
"You must remember that the less there is in your barns, the moredifficult it will be for an enemy to invade you; for if they canfind nothing here, they will have to bring everything with them,and every waggon will add to their difficulties. My brother tellsme that one of the things he means to do is to break up the roads,when he finds out by which line the Blues are advancing; and forthat purpose I shall serve out, from my store, either a pick or anaxe to each of the band."
At last all difficulties were got over, and twenty lads wereenrolled. Another three weeks passed. The peasants of Poitou andAnjou thought but little of the storm that was gathering roundthem.
General Berruyer had arrived from Paris, with his army. A portionof the army from Brest moved down to Nantes; and were in concert,with the army of La Rochelle, to sweep that part of La Vendeebordering on the coast. General Canclaus was at Nantes, with twothousand troops. General Dayat was sent to Niort, with six thousandmen; and was to defend the line between Sables and Saint Gilles.Bressuire was occupied by General Quetineau, with three thousandmen. Leigonyer, with from four to five thousand men, occupiedVihiers; while Saint Lambert was held by Ladouce, with two thousandfive hundred. The right bank of the Loire, between Nantes andAngers, was held by fifteen hundred men of the National Guard.
Thus that part of upper Poitou where the rising had been mostsuccessful was surrounded by a cordon of troops; which theConvention hoped, and believed, would easily stamp out theinsurrection, and take a terrible vengeance for what had passed.
When the storm would burst, none knew; but Jean one day said toLeigh that it was certain that it must come soon; and that, if hewas still resolved to carry out his plan, it was time that he setout.
"I am quite ready to carry out my plans, Jean, as you know; butdangers seem to threaten from so many quarters that I don't likegoing away from home. While my company are scattered near Chollet,for instance, the Blues may be burning down your chateau."
"I don't think there is much danger of that, Leigh. It is quitecertain that, as soon as these divisions begin to move, they willhave their hands full. We may hope that in some cases they will bedefeated. In others they may drive off the peasants, and march tothe town that they intend to occupy, but they will only hold theground they stand upon. They will not be able to send out detachedparties to attack chateaux or destroy villages.
"For the present, I have no fear whatever of their coming here. Weare well away from any of the roads that they are likely to marchby. I don't say that any of the roads are good, but they willassuredly keep on the principal lines, and not venture to entanglethemselves in our country lanes. There are no villages of any sizewithin miles of us, and this is one of the most thickly wooded partsof the Bocage--which, as you know, means the thicket--therefore Ishall, when the time comes, leave your sister without uneasiness.We may be quite sure that if, contrary to my anticipation, anycolumn sh
ould try to make its way through this neighbourhood, itwould be hotly opposed, and she will have ample time to take to thewoods, where she and the child will find shelter in any of theforesters' cottages.
"She is going to have peasant dresses made for her and Marthe. Shewill of course drive, as we intended; and the two men will take thehorse and vehicle to some place in the woods, at a considerabledistance from here, and keep it there until we join her and carryout our original plan of making for the coast. Directly you aregone, I shall make it my business to find out the most out of theway spot among the woods; and ride over and make an arrangement,with some woodman with a wife and family living there, to receiveher, if necessary; and I will let you know the spot fixed on, andgive you directions how to find it."
In order to add to Leigh's influence and authority, Martinpersuaded the village cure--who was a man of much intelligence, andperceived that real good might be done by this party of lads--tohave a farewell service in the church. Accordingly, on the morningon which they were to start, all attended the church, which wasfilled by their friends; and here he addressed the boys, tellingthem that the service in which they were about to engage was onethat would be of great importance to their country, and that itwould demand all their energy and strength. He then asked them totake an oath to carry out all orders they might receive from theirleader, the seigneur's brother; who would himself share in theirwork, and the many hardships they might have to undergo.
"Here," he said, "is a gentleman who is by birth a foreigner, butwho has come to love the land that his sister adopted as her own;and to hate its enemies--these godless murderers of women andchildren, these executioners of their king, these enemies of thechurch--so much that he is ready to leave his home, and all hiscomforts, and to risk his life in its cause. Remember that you havevoluntarily joined him, and accepted him as your leader. The workonce begun, there must be no drawing back. There is not a man in LaVendee who is not prepared to give his life, if need be, to thecause; and you, in your way, can do as much or more."
He then administered an oath to each lad and, as had been arranged,Leigh also took an oath to care for them in every respect, and toshare their risks and dangers. Then the cure pronounced hisblessing upon them, and the service ended.
Very greatly impressed with what had taken place, the little bandmarched out from the church, surrounded by their friends. JeanMartin then presented hatchets or light picks to each, and a waistbelt in which the tools should be carried. As a rule, the peasantscarried leathern belts over the shoulders, in which a sword,hatchet, or other weapon was slung; but Jean thought the waist beltwould be much more convenient for getting rapidly through hedges orthickets, and it had also the advantage that a long knife,constituting in itself a formidable weapon, could also be carriedin it.
Patsey presented them each with a hat, of which a supply had beenobtained from Saint Florent. These were of the kind ordinarily wornby the peasants, in shape like the modern broad-brimmed wide-awake,but made of much stiffer material. She had bought these to give acertain uniformity to the band, of whom some already wore hats ofthis kind, others long knitted stocking caps, while others againwere bare headed.
She added a piece of green ribbon round each hat. Leigh objected tothis, on the ground that they might sometimes have to enter towns,and that any badge of this sort would be speedily noticed; but asshe said, they would only have to take them off, when engaged insuch service.
A quarter of an hour after leaving the church they marched away,amid the acclamations of their friends; each boy feeling asensation of pride in the work that he had undertaken, and in theceremony of which he had been the centre.
"Now, lads," Leigh said, as soon as they were fairly away from thevillage, "instead of walking along as a loose body, you had betterform four abreast, and endeavour to keep step. It is no moredifficult to walk that way than in a clump; and indeed, by keepingstep it makes the walking easy, and it has the advantage that youcan act much more quickly. If we heard an enemy approaching, and Igave the order, 'Ten go to the right and ten go to the left!' youwould not know which were to go.
"Now each four of you will form a section, and the order into whichyou fall now, you will always observe. Then if I say, 'First twosections to the right, the other three sections to the left!' everyone of you knows what to do, instead of having to wait until Imention all your names.
"This is nearly all the drill you will have to learn. You canchoose your places now, but afterwards you will have to keep tothem, so those of you who are brothers and special friends will,naturally, fall in next to each other."
In a minute or two the arrangements were made, and the partyproceeded four abreast, with Leigh marching at their head. For thefirst hour or so, he had some difficulty in getting them to keepstep; but they presently fell into it, time being kept by breakinginto one of the canticles of the church.
After a long day's march, they arrived at the village whichCathelineau now occupied as his headquarters; as it had beennecessary, in view of the threatening circle of the various columnsof the enemy, to remove the headquarters from Chollet to a centralpoint, from which he could advance, at once, against whichever ofthese columns might first move forward into the heart of thecountry. The lads all straightened themselves up as they marchedthrough the streets, the unwonted spectacle of twenty peasant lads,marching in order, exciting considerable surprise. Cathelineau wasstanding at the door of the house he occupied, conversing withMessieurs Bonchamp and d'Elbee.
"Ah, Monsieur Stansfield," he said, "is it you?" as Leigh haltedhis party, and raised his hat. "You are the most military-lookingparty I have yet seen. They are young, but none the worse forthat."
"There is nothing military about them, except that they march fourabreast," he said, with a smile, "but for the work we have come todo, drill will not be necessary. I have raised this band on JeanMartin's estate, sir, and with your permission I propose to callthem 'Cathelineau's scouts.' It seemed, to my brother and myself,that you sorely need scouts to inform you of the movements of theenemy, the roads by which they are approaching, their force andorder. I have therefore raised this little body of lads of my ownage. They will remain with me permanently, as long as the occasionneeds. They will go on any special mission with which you maycharge them; and will, at other times, watch all the roads by whichan enemy would be likely to advance."
"If they will do that, Monsieur Stansfield, they will be valuable,indeed; that is just what I cannot get the peasants to do. When itcomes to fighting, they will obey orders; but at all other timesthey regard themselves as their own masters, and neither entreatiesnor the offer of pay suffices to persuade them to undertake suchwork as you are proposing to carry out. Consequently, it is only bychance that we obtain any news of the enemy's movements. I wish wehad fifty such parties."
"They would be valuable, indeed," Monsieur d'Elbee said. "Theobstinacy of the peasantry is maddening.
"How do you propose to feed your men?"
"When we are within reach of their homes, two will go back to fetchbread for the whole; when we are too far away, I shall buy it inone of the villages."
"When you are within reach of my headquarters, wherever that maybe, you have only to send in; and they shall have the loaves servedout to them, the same as the band who remain here. We are not shortof money, thanks to the captures we have made.
"I see that none of your band have firearms."
"No, sir. Jean Martin would have let me have some of the muskets hebrought from here, but it seemed to me that they would be anencumbrance. We may have to trust to our swiftness of foot toescape and, at any rate, we shall want to carry messages to you asquickly as possible. The weight of a gun and ammunition would makea good deal of difference; and would, moreover, be in our way ingetting through the woods and hedges."
"But for all that, you ought to have some defence," Cathelineausaid; "and if you came upon a patrol of cavalry, though only threeor four in number, you would be in a bad case with only thoseknives to defend
yourselves.
"Do you know whether there are any pistols in the storehouse,Monsieur Bonchamp?"
"Yes, there are some that were picked up from the cavalrymen wekilled. They have not been given out yet."
"Then I think we had better serve out a pistol, with a score ofcartridges, to each of these lads.
"If you let them fire three or four rounds at the trunk of a tree,or some mark of that sort, Monsieur Stansfield, they will get toknow something about the use of the weapons."
"Thank you, sir. That would be excellent, and would certainlyenable us to face a small party of the enemy, if we happen toencounter them."
"Please form the boys up two deep," Cathelineau said. "I will say aword or two to them."
The manoeuvre was not executed in military style, but the boys werepresently arranged in order.
"I congratulate you, lads," Cathelineau went on, "in having devotedyourselves to your country, and that in a direction that will bemost useful. I trust that you will strictly obey the orders of yourcommander; and will remember that you will be of far more use, incarrying them out, than in merely helping to swell the number in apitched battle. I have every confidence in Monsieur Stansfield. Hehas set a noble example to the youths of this country, in thusundertaking arduous and fatiguing work, which is not without itsdangers.
"I was glad to see that you marched in here, in order. I hope thatyou will go a little further, and learn to form line quickly, andto gather at his call. These things may seem to you to make verylittle difference, but in fact will make a great deal. You saw thatyou were at least a couple of minutes forming in line just now.Supposing the enemy's cavalry had been charging down upon you, thattwo minutes lost would have made all the difference between yourreceiving them in order, or being in helpless confusion when theycame up.
"I have no doubt that one of my generals here has, among hisfollowers, someone who served in the army, and who will teach youwithin the course of an hour, if you pay attention to hisinstructions, how to form into line, and back again into fours."
"I will give them an hour myself," Monsieur Bonchamp said. "I havenothing particular to do, and should be glad to instruct youngfellows who are so willing, and well disposed.
"Are you too tired to drill now? You have had a long march."
A general negative was the reply.
"Well, then, march to the open space, just outside the town, and wewill begin at once."
Feeling very proud of the honour of being drilled by a general, theboys fell into their formation, and followed Monsieur Bonchamp andLeigh. They were at a loss, at first, to comprehend theinstructions given them; but by the end of an hour, they had fairlymastered the very simple movement.
"That will do," Monsieur Bonchamp said. "Of course you are notperfect, yet; but with a quarter of an hour's drill by yourcommander, every day, at the end of a week you will be able to doit quickly and neatly; and you will certainly find it a greatadvantage, if you come upon the enemy."
A large empty room was allotted to them and, as they sat down onthe floor and munched the bread that they had brought with them,they felt quite enthusiastic over their work. It was a high honour,indeed, to have been praised by Monsieur Cathelineau, and beentaught by one of his generals. They even felt the advantage thatthe drill had given them, contrasting the quickness with which theyhad finally formed into line, with their trouble in arrangingthemselves before Monsieur Cathelineau. The fact, too, that theywere next morning to be furnished with pistols was a greatgratification to them and, over and over again, they said to eachother:
"What will the people at home say, when they hear that MonsieurCathelineau has praised us, that Monsieur Bonchamp himself hasdrilled us, and that we are to be provided with pistols?"
In the morning, the pistols and ammunition were served out. Leighhad, during the previous evening, seen Cathelineau and asked fororders.
"I cannot say exactly the line the Blues are likely to take. Ishould say that you had better make Chemille your headquarters.Berruyer, who is their new commander, has arrived at Saint Lambert.There is a strong force at Thouars, being a portion of the armyfrom Saint Lambert. The enemy are also in force at Vihiers, and atParthenay.
"It is from the forces at Thouars and Vihiers that danger is mostlikely to come. Doubtless other columns will come from the north,but we shall hear of their having crossed the Loire in time tooppose them; and with so small a band as yours, you will be amplyemployed in watching Thouars. There are many roads, all more orless bad, by which they may march; as soon as you ascertain thatthey are moving, and by which route, you will send a messenger tome.
"Any others of your band that you may have with you, send off toall the villages round. Give them warning, set the bells ringing,promise that aid will soon arrive, and urge them to harass theenemy, to fell trees across the road, and to impede their advancein every possible way.
"I will give you half a dozen papers, for the use of yourself andyour messengers, saying that you are acting under my orders, andare charged with raising the country, directly the enemy advance.But above all, it is important that I should get the earliestpossible information as to the route by which they are moving; asit will take us thirty-six hours before we can gather in anythinglike our full strength.
"It will be useful that you should spread false news as to ourwhereabouts. Your boys can say, in one village, that we aremarching towards Tours; in another, that we are massed in theneighbourhood of Saint Florent; in a third that they hear that theorder is, that all able-bodied men are to go west to oppose theforce coming from Nantes, which has already taken Clisson, andcarried Monsieur de Lescure and his family, prisoners, toBressuire."
"We shall have to tell the villagers, sir, that we wish this newsto be given to the Blues, if they should come there or, ifquestioned, they would tell them something else. I am sure thateven the women would suffer themselves to be killed, rather thangive any news that they thought would be useful to the enemy."
"You are right. Yes, you must tell them that this is what we wantthe Blues to believe, and that it is my wish that these are theanswers to be given to any of them who may enter the village."
"The only thing, sir, is that they may find the villages empty, asthey come along. The women and children will, no doubt, take to thewoods. The men will, perhaps, offer some resistance; but when theyfind how strong the Blues are, will probably hurry to join you."
"There will probably be a few old people remaining in each village.However, we must trust much to chance. The great thing is for youto let me know, as soon as their main body is in motion. Whicheverway they come, we must meet and attack them. It is in the woods andlanes that we must defend ourselves."
"I will endeavour to carry out your orders, sir; and shall starttomorrow morning, as soon as we get our pistols."
As soon as the little band was well away from the town, the pistolswere loaded; and each of the lads, in turn, fired three shots atthe trunk of a tree, at a distance of ten yards, under Leigh'sdirections. The shooting was quite as good as he had expected, andthe boys themselves were well satisfied.
Then, the pistols being reloaded and placed in their belts, theyresumed their march. They halted at a tiny hamlet, consisting ofhalf a dozen houses, four miles from Thouars. The inhabitants weregreatly surprised at their appearance, and an old man, who was thehead of the little community, came out and asked Leigh who theywere.
"We are Cathelineau's scouts," he replied. "We have orders to watchthe movements of the enemy. We wish to be of no trouble. If thereis an empty shed, we should be glad of it; still more so if thereis a truss or two of straw."
"These you can have," the old man said. "If Cathelineau's ordershad been that we were to turn out of our houses for you, we shouldhave done so, willingly."
"A shed will do excellently for us. We shall be here but little.Half our number will always be away. If you can supply us withbread, I will pay you for it. If you cannot do so, I shall have tosend two of my party away, every day, to fetch b
read fromCathelineau's camp."
"I will see what can be done. It will not be for long?"
"No, it may possibly be only two or three days, and it may be aweek."
"Then I think that we can manage. If we have not flour enough hereto spare, I can take my horse and fetch half a sackful from someother village."
"Thank you very much. However, I think that we shall onlyoccasionally want bread; for I shall be sending messengers, everyday, to Monsieur Cathelineau, and these can always bring bread backwith them."
The old man led them to a building which had served as a stable,but which was then untenanted.
"I will get some straw taken in presently, lads.
"As for you, sir, I shall be glad if you will be my guest."
"I thank you," Leigh said, "but I prefer to be with my followers.They come by my persuasion, and I wish to share their lot, in allthings; besides, my being with them will keep up their spirits."
There was half an hour's drill, and then Leigh led the party to theshed, to which four or five bundles of straw had, by this time,been brought.
"Now," he said, "before we do anything else, we must choose twosub-officers. At times we may divide into two parties, andtherefore it is necessary that one should be responsible, to me,for what is done in my absence.
"I will leave it to you to choose them. Remember it is not size andstrength that are of most importance, it is quickness andintelligence. You know your comrades better than I do, and I shallbe quite content to abide by your choice. I will go outside for aquarter of an hour, while you talk it over. I don't want toinfluence you, at all."
In ten minutes, two of the lads came out.
"We have chosen Andre Favras and Pierre Landrin."
"I think that you have done very wisely," Leigh said. "Those arethe two whom I, myself, should have selected."
He had, indeed, noticed them as the two most intelligent of theparty. They had been his first recruits, and it was in no smalldegree owing to their influence that the others had joined him. Hereturned to the shed.
"I approve of your choice, lads," he said. "No doubt Andre andPierre will make very good sub-officers. When I am not present, youmust obey their orders as readily as you do mine; and I shall beable to trust them to carry out my directions, implicitly.
"Now you will divide in two parties: the first two sections, andtwo of the third section will form one party, and will be underAndre's command, when acting in two parties; the other two of thethird section, and the fourth and fifth, will form the seconddivision, under Pierre. You will take it in turns to be on duty. Weshall not need to watch by night, for there is no chance of theenemy venturing to enter our lanes, and thickets, after dark. Theparty not out on scouting duty will remain here, and will furnishmessengers to carry news to Cathelineau, to fetch bread, or toperform other duties."
The next morning Leigh set out with the whole band, except two. Hehad gathered, from the people of the village, the position of thevarious roads and lanes by which troops, going westward fromThouars, would be likely to travel. When within two miles of thetown, he placed two boys on each of these roads. They were not toshow themselves, but were to lie behind the hedges and, if they sawany body of troops coming along, were at once to bring news to him,his own point being on the principal road.
Andre and Pierre were to leave their arms and belts behind them, tomake a long detour, and to enter the town from the other side. Theywere to saunter about the place, listen to what was being said, andgather as much news as possible. Each was provided with two francsand, if questioned, they were to say that they had come in, fromsome village near, to buy an axe.
"I should have gone in myself, Andre; but although I can get onfairly enough in your patois, I cannot speak it well enough to passas a native. However, you are not likely to be questioned. In atown crowded with troops, two lads can move about withoutattracting the smallest attention from the military. It would beonly the civilian authorities that you would have to fear; butthese will be so much occupied, in attending to the wants of thesoldiers, that they will not have any time on their hands forasking questions.
"Be sure, before you enter the town, that you find out the name ofsome village, three or four miles on the other side; so as to havean answer ready, if you are asked where you come from.
"It is probable that you will find troops quartered in all thevillages beyond the town, which could hardly accommodate so large anumber as are there. Remember, you must try to look absolutelyunconcerned as you go through them, and as you walk about thestreets of the town. The great object is to find out how many menthere are in and around Thouars, whether they are looking for moretroops to join them from Saumur, and when they are expecting tomove forward."
As soon as they had left he repeated, to the six lads who remainedwith him, the orders that he had given to those posted on the otherroads.
"You are to remain in hiding," he said, "whatever the force may be.It is likely enough that patrols of four or five men may comealong, to see that the roads are clear, and that there are no signsof any bodies being gathered to oppose their advance. It is quitetrue that we might shoot down and overpower any such patrols, butwe must not attempt to do so. If one of them escaped, he wouldcarry the news to Thouars that the roads were beset. This would putthem on their guard--doubtless they imagine that, with such a forceas they have gathered, they will march through La Vendee withoutopposition--and they would adopt such precautions at to render itfar more difficult, than it otherwise would be, to check theiradvance when it begins in earnest. We are here only to watch. Weshall have opportunities for fighting, later on.
"This is a good spot for watching, for we have a thick wood behindus; and plenty of undergrowth along its edge, by the road, where wecan hide so closely that there will not be the slightest chance ofour being discovered, if we do but keep absolutely quiet."
Three or four times during the day, indeed, cavalry parties passedalong the road. They did not appear to have any fear of an attack,but laughed and jested at the work they had come to do, scoffed atthe idea of the peasants venturing to oppose such forces as hadgathered against them, and discussed the chances of booty. Oneparty, of four men and an old sergeant, pulled up and dismounted,close to the spot where the lads where hidden.
"It is all very well, comrades," their leader said, "but for mypart, I would rather be on the frontier fighting the Austrians.That is work for soldiers. Here we are to fight Frenchmen, likeourselves; poor chaps who have done no harm, except that they stickto their clergy, and object to be dragged away from their homes. Iam no politician, and I don't care a snap for the doings of theAssembly in Paris--I am a soldier, and have learned to obey orders,whatever they are--but I don't like this job we have in hand;which, mind you, is bound to be a good deal harder than most of youexpect. It is true that they say there are twenty thousand troopsround the province--but what sort of troops? There are not fivethousand soldiers among them. The others are either NationalGuards, or newly-raised levies, or those blackguards from the slumsof Paris. Of the National Guards I should say half would desert, ifthey only had the chance, and the new levies can't be counted on."