rth and stones to the mouth of the gun.

"We have now had the evidence of Monsieur Stansfield, and those
with him, tested by ourselves examining the guns. What do you say,
my friends--has this man been proved a traitor, or not?"

"He has!" the peasants exclaimed, in chorus.

"And what is your sentence?"

"Death!" was the unanimous reply.

"I approve of that sentence. March him down to the side of the
river, and shoot him."

Three minutes later, four musket shots rang out.

"Thus die all traitors!" Cathelineau said.

Bruno, however, was the sole Vendean who, during the course of the
war, turned traitor to his comrades and his country.

Chapter 6: The Assault Of Chemille.

Few words were spoken, as the group of officers returned to the
town. When they reached Cathelineau's quarters Leigh would have
gone on, but the general said, "Come in, if you please, Monsieur
Stansfield," and he followed the party in.

"This has been a trial, gentlemen, a heavy trial," the general
said. "When I entered upon this work, I knew that that there were
many things that I should have to endure. I knew the trouble of
forming soldiers from men who, like ours, prize their freedom and
independence above all other things; that we might have to suffer
defeat; that we must meet with hardships, and probably death; and
that, in the long run, all our efforts might be futile.

"But I had not reckoned on having to deal with treachery. I had
never dreamed that one of my first acts would have been to try and
to sentence a Vendean to death, for an act of the grossest
treachery. However, let us put that aside; it was, perhaps, in the
nature of things. In every community there must be a few scoundrels
and, if this turns out to be a solitary instance, we may
congratulate ourselves, especially as we have escaped without
injury.

"That we have done so, gentlemen, is due solely to Monsieur
Stansfield; who thus twice, in the course of a single day, has
performed an inestimable service to the cause. There are few indeed
who, on hearing the braggadocio of a drunken man, would have given
the matter a moment's thought; still less have undertaken a night
of watchfulness, after a day of the heaviest work, merely to test
the truth of a slightly-founded suspicion that might have occurred
to them. It is not too much to say that, had not this act of
treachery been discovered, our defeat tomorrow would have been
well-nigh certain. You know how much our