whom I had played at treason, had reported the facts; and that on this
the Commandant at Auch had acted. But it seemed unlikely since he had
had his orders too, and under the Cardinal's rule there was small place
for individual enterprise. Frankly I could not understand it, and found
only one thing clear; I might now enter the village as I pleased.

'I am going on to look into this,' I said to Antoine. 'Come, my man.' He
shrugged his shoulders, and stood still.

'Not I!' he answered, with an oath. 'No soldiers for me I have lain out
one night, and I can lie out another.'

I nodded indifferently, for I no longer wanted him; and we parted. After
this, twenty minutes' riding brought me to the entrance of the village,
and here the change was great indeed. Not one of the ordinary dwellers
in the place was to be seen: either they had shut themselves up in their
hovels, or, like Antoine, they had fled to the woods. Their doors were
closed, their windows shuttered. But lounging about the street were
a score of dragoons, in boots and breastplates, whose short-barrelled
muskets, with pouches and bandoliers attached, were piled near the inn
door. In an open space, where there was a gap in the street, a long row
of horses, linked head to head, stood bending their muzzles over bundles
of rough forage; and on all sides the cheerful jingle of chains and
bridles and the sound of coarse jokes and laughter filled the air.

As I rode up to the inn door an old sergeant, with squinting eyes and
his tongue in his cheek, scanned me inquisitively, and started to cross
the street to challenge me. Fortunately, at that moment the two knaves
whom I had brought from Paris with me, and whom I had left at Auch to
await my orders, came up. I made them a sign not to speak to me, and
they passed on; but I suppose that they told the sergeant that I was not
the man he wanted, for I saw no more of him.

After picketing my horse behind the inn--I could find no better stable,
every place being full--I pushed my way through the group at the door,
and entered. The old room, with the low, grimy roof and the reeking
floor, was half full of strange figures, and for a few minutes I stood
unseen in the smoke and confusion. Then the landlord came my way, and
as he passed me I caught his eye. He uttered a low curse, dropped the
pitcher he was carrying, and stood glaring at me like a man possessed.

The soldier whose wine he was carrying flung a crust in his fac