ides but one by the estate of Les
Aigues,--a sort of cover into which the game escaped. Rigou, the owner,
had never been willing to part with La Bachelerie, as it was called,
to the possessors of the estate, but he now took malicious pleasure in
selling it, at fifty per cent discount, to Courtecuisse; which made the
ex-keeper one of Rigou's numerous henchmen, for all he actually paid for
the property was one thousand francs.

The three keepers, with Michaud the bailiff, and Groison the
field-keeper of Blangy, led henceforth the life of guerrillas. Living
night and day in the forest, they soon acquired that deep knowledge of
woodland things which becomes a science among foresters, saving them
much loss of time; they studied the tracks of animals, the species of
the trees, and their habits of growth, training their ears to every
sound and to every murmur of the woods. Still further, they observed
faces, watched and understood the different families in the various
villages of the district, and knew the individuals in each family, their
habits, characters, and means of living,--a far more difficult matter
than most persons suppose. When the peasants who obtained their living
from Les Aigues saw these well-planned measures of defence, they met
them with dumb resistance or sneering submission.

From the first, Michaud and Sibilet mutually disliked each other. The
frank and loyal soldier, with the sense of honor of a subaltern of the
young "garde," hated the servile brutality and the discontented spirit
of the steward. He soon took note of the objections with which Sibilet
opposed all measures that were really judicious, and the reasons he
gave for those that were questionable. Instead of calming the general,
Sibilet, as the reader has already seen, constantly excited him and
drove him to harsh measures, all the while trying to daunt him by
drawing his attention to countless annoyances, petty vexations, and
ever-recurring and unconquerable difficulties. Without suspecting the
role of spy and exasperator undertaken by Sibilet (who secretly intended
to eventually make choice in his own interests between Gaubertin and the
general) Michaud felt that the steward's nature was bad and grasping,
and he was unable to explain to himself its apparent honesty. The enmity
which separated the two functionaries was satisfactory to the general.
Michaud's hatred led him to watch the steward, though he would not have
condescended to play the p