ready, and a strong and fleet
steed prepared for himself. He mounted. Hubert commanded his sons to
conduct the prince with all dispatch to Falaise, without traveling at
all upon the highway or entering a town. They took, accordingly, a
straight course across the country--which was probably then, as now,
nearly destitute of inclosures--and conducted William safely to his
castle at Falaise.

In the course of the morning, William's pursuers came to Hubert's
castle, and asked if the duke had been seen going by. Hubert replied in
the affirmative, and he mounted his steed with great readiness to go and
show them the road which the fugitive had taken. He urged them to ride
hard, in hopes of soon overtaking the object of their pursuit. They
drove on, accordingly, with great impetuosity and ardor, under Hubert's
guidance; but, as he had purposely taken a wrong road, he was only
leading them further and further astray. Finally they gave up the chase,
and Hubert returned with the disappointed pursuers to his fortress,
William having in the mean time arrived safely at Falaise.

The conspirators now found that it was useless any longer to attempt to
conceal their plans. In fact, they were already all exposed, and they
knew that William would immediately summon his troops and come out to
seize them. They must, therefore, either fly from the country or attempt
an open rebellion. They decided on the latter--the result was a civil
war. In the end, William was victorious. He took a large number of the
rebels prisoners, and he adopted the following very singular plan for
inflicting a suitable punishment upon them, and at the same time
erecting a permanent monument of his victory. He laid out a public road
across the country, on the line over which he had been conducted by the
sons of Hubert, and compelled the rebels to make it. A great part of
this country was low and marshy, and had been for this reason avoided by
the public road, which took a circuitous course around it. The rebel
prisoners were now, however, set at work to raise a terrace or
embankment, on a line surveyed by William's engineers, which followed
almost exactly the course of his retreat. The high road was then laid
out upon this terrace, and it became immediately a public thoroughfare
of great importance. It continued for several centuries one of the most
frequented highways in the realm, and was known by the name of the
Raised Road--_Terre levee_--throughout the kingdom