row morning
we may be attacked. Take your troopers with you."

The officer and his men mounted at once, and rode off at full
speed. Leigh remained quiet until Menou and the other officers rode
out from the courtyard and proceeded down the street, followed by
their escort. Then he got up, stretched himself, and walked slowly
to the spot where his two comrades were awaiting him.

"I have learned what I wanted to know," he said. "Do you both make
your way back to the spot where Pierre will be awaiting us, and
tell him that I am going to swim the river, a mile above the town.
He is to wait where he is until Lucien comes back from Tours--which
will not be till twelve o'clock tonight, for his orders are to
remain within sight of the town till six in the afternoon. If by
that hour the troops there have not set out, they will not arrive
until after we have captured Saumur.

"Saunter along quietly. There is no hurry."

After they had set out he, too, strolled out of the town, kept
along the road for another half mile, and then struck off across
the fields towards the river. Arrived there, he took off his heavy
country shoes, tied them round his waist, and waded out into the
river. He had but some thirty yards to swim. As soon as he reached
the opposite bank, he poured the water out of his shoes, put them
on again, and set out at a run. He had to make a detour, so as to
get beyond the eminences on which the Republican troops were posted
and, after running for a couple of miles, came down on the road.

A short distance farther he arrived at a village. A peasant, with a
horse and cart, was standing in front of a cabaret.

"Do you want to earn two crowns?" he asked the man.

The latter nodded.

"Two crowns are not easily earned," he said. "I was just starting
for Montreuil but, if it pays me better to go in another direction,
I must put that journey off until tomorrow."

"I want you to carry me to Doue," he said, "at the best speed of
which your horse is capable."

The countryman looked at him doubtfully. His clothes were not yet
dry. Leigh saw that the man was not sure of his power to fulfil his
promise. He therefore produced two crowns, and held them up.

"By Saint Matthew," he said, "it is the first silver I have seen
for months. I will take you."

Leigh jumped up beside the peasant. The latter at once whipped up
his horse, and started at a brisk trot.

"You know that the Catholic Army is there?" he asked.

"Ye