llow trees, on this
side of the river; and there is a pile of stones, some five feet
high, on the other. You enter the river close by the trees, and
then keep straight for the pile of stones, which is some fifty
yards higher up, for the ford crosses the river at an angle."

"Well, we will take that way, then," Jacques said. "It is better to
lose an hour, than to have trouble here."

An hour later, the party arrived at the ford and crossed it without
difficulty, the water being little above their waists. Some miles
farther, they saw ahead of them the towers of Bazas; and struck off
from the road they were traversing, to pass to the east of it. They
presently came upon a wide road.

"This must be the road to Nerac," Philip said. "There are neither
rivers nor places of any size to be passed, now. The only danger is
from bodies of horse watching the road."

"And if I mistake not, sir, there is one of them approaching now,"
Pierre said, pointing ahead.

As he spoke, the heads and shoulders of a body of horsemen were
seen, as they rode up from a dip the road made into a hollow, half
a mile away.

Philip glanced round. The country was flat, and it was too late to
think of concealment.

"We will go quietly on," he said. "We must hope they will not
interfere with us."

The troop consisted of some twenty men, two gentlemen riding at
their head; and as they came up, they checked their horses.

"Whither come you, and where are you bound, my men?"

"We come from Bordeaux, sir, and we are bound for Agen," Jacques
replied. "My comrade and I served under De Brissac, when we were
mere lads, and we have a fancy to try the old trade again; and our
young cousins also want to try their metal."

"You are a Gascon, by your tongue?"

"That is so," Jacques said; "and it is for that reason we are going
south. We would rather fight in a company of our own people than
with strangers."

"Whom have you been serving at Bordeaux? I am from the city, and
know most of those in and round it."

"We have not been working there, sir. We come from near Blaye, and
made the journey thence to Bordeaux by a boat with our master,
Jacques Blazin, who was bringing to Bordeaux a cargo of his wines."

"Why waste time, Raoul?" the other gentleman said, impatiently.
"What matter if they came from Bordeaux or Blaye, these are not of
those whom we are here to arrest. Anyhow they are not Huguenot
lords, but look what they say they are; but whether men