eel,
Upon the echoing stone:
Cried he--'What stranger seeks,
This hour, my castle drear?
Ho! Oliver, Ho! Ralph,
See who intrudeth here.'

"'Heaven shield thee, baron brave!
A strange knight in the hall
Craves audience.' 'Lead him here:
Stay thou and Ralph in call,
At need.' Silent and slow
The purple-mantled knight,
Advancing, paused--his looks
Gleaming unearthly bright.

"'Who art thou coming thus,
Loud clamouring at my gate,
Thou truly puissant knight,
With not one squire for state?
Knowst thou at word of mine--'
The stranger knight smiled stern,
Replied in awful voice,
'Would'st thou my name? now learn:
Here is my train--behold!'
He cried. There hideous stood
One spectre, then two more--
A sight to chill the blood--
Unveiled their features pale,
All three in cere-cloth dressed,
Opening all wide to point
Where blood flowed from the breast.

"'Baron, these are my guard,'
Said the unknown--'Here, lo!
Thy father's aged form,
By poignard stroke laid low;
Here thy wife, cruelly slain
In the year thy brother fell;
They stand, pale, bleeding, stiff,--
Their murderer, can'st thou tell?'

"The phantoms three enlaced
The trembling baron round;
He vainly shrieked,--the walls
With demon laughs resound;
The echoing thunders rolled
Along the valley deep;
Lightnings, when pale dawn broke,
Blasted the castle keep.

"It stands a blackened pile;
The ruined gate is there.
But the sky lowers dark,
Oh! traveller flee, beware;
At this hour the shades of night
Brood o'er the solemn gloom.
Traveller, haste, oh! haste;
Leave this abode of doom."

It was in the forest of La Hunaudaye that the Chouans of the Cotes du Nord
were secretly exercised and drilled by their chief, La Rouerie, under the
name of Gosselin, who died of horror on hearing of the execution of
thirteen of his confederates betrayed by the physician Chaftal. Gosselin
was succeeded by the "Cid" of the Chouan chiefs, Boishardy, called the
"Sorcier," who, after his interview with General Humbert, was betrayed and
shot by the "Bleus." For twelve years was Brittany cut off from France by
this Chouan war, an insurrection even more formidable than that of La
Vendee. The peninsular position of Brittany, its vast extent of coasts,
its forests, it