s he gave up.

He admitted that at the beginning of July last he had received a person
calling himself Houvel, or Saint-Vincent, who under pretence of buying
some wine, had proposed to him to lodge seven or eight persons for a
night. Lamotte had accepted. On the evening of the 30th August Houvel
had reappeared and told him that the men would arrive that night. He
went to fetch them in the neighbourhood of l'Isle-Adam, and his son
Vincent accompanied him to serve as guide to the travellers, whom he met
on the borders of the wood of La Muette. They numbered seven, one of
whom, very stout and covered with sweat, stopped in the wood to change
his shirt. They all appeared to be very tired, and only two of them were
on horseback. They arrived at Lamotte's house at Saint-Leu about two
o'clock in the morning; the horses were stabled and the men stretched
themselves out on the straw in one of the rooms of the house. Lamotte
noticed that each of them carried two pistols. They slept long and had
dinner about twelve o'clock. Two individuals, who had driven from Paris
and left their cabriolets, one at the "White Cross" the other at the
"Crown," talked with the travellers who, about seven o'clock, resumed
their journey to the capital. Each of the "individuals" took one in his
cab; two went on horseback and the others awaited the phaeton which ran
between Taverny and Paris.

This account tallied so well with Querelle's declarations that there
was no longer any room for doubt. The band of seven was composed of
Georges and his staff; the "stout man" was Georges himself, and Querelle
gave the names of the others, all skilful and formidable Chouans.
Lamotte, on his part, did not hesitate to name the one who had conducted
the "brigands" to the wood of La Muette. He was called Nicolas
Massignon, a farmer of Jouy-le-Comte. Pasque set out with his gendarmes,
and Massignon admitted that he had brought the travellers from across
the Oise to the Avenue de Nesles, his brother, Jean-Baptiste Massignon,
a farmer of Saint-Lubin, having conducted them thither. Pasque
immediately took the road to Saint-Lubin and marched all night. At four
o'clock in the morning he arrived at the house of Jean-Baptiste, who,
surprised in jumping out of bed, remembered that he had put up some men
that his brother-in-law, Quentin-Rigaud, a cultivator at Auteuil, had
brought there. Pasque now held four links of the chain, and Manginot
started for the country to follow th