e alarm. When I turned I
found groups of pale-faced men, standing by twos and threes at my back;
who, pointing and muttering and telling one another what Maignan had
told us, looked where we had looked. As one spoke and another listened,
I saw the old panic revive in their eyes. Men who an hour or two before
had crossed the court under fire with the utmost resolution, and dared
instant death without a thought, grew pale, and looking from this side
of the valley to that; with faltering eyes, seemed to be seeking, like
hunted animals, a place of refuge. Fear, once aroused, hung is the
air. Men talked in whispers of the abnormal heat, and, gazing at the
cloudless sky, fled from the sunshine to the shadow; or, looking over
the expanse of woods, longed to be under cover and away from this lofty
eyrie, which to their morbid eyes seemed a target for all the shafts of
death.

'I was not slow to perceive the peril with which these fears and
apprehensions, which rapidly became general, threatened my plans. I
strove to keep the men employed, and to occupy their thoughts as far as
possible with the enemy and his proceedings; but I soon found that even
here a danger lurked; for Maignan, coming to me by-and-by with a
grave face, told me that one of Bruhl's men had ventured out, and was
parleying with the guard on our side of the court. I went at once and
broke the matter off, threatening to shoot the fellow if he was not
under cover before I counted ten. But the scared, sultry faces he left
behind him told me that the mischief was done, and I could think of no
better remedy for it than to give M. d'Agen a hint, and station him at
the outer gate with his pistols ready.

The question of provisions, too, threatened to become a serious one; I
dared not leave to procure them myself, nor could I trust any of my
men with the mission. In fact the besiegers were rapidly becoming the
besieged. Intent on the rising haze and their own terrors, they forgot
all else. Vigilance and caution were thrown to the winds. The stillness
of the valley, its isolation, the distant woods that encircled us and
hung quivering in the heated air, all added to the panic. Despite all
my efforts and threats, the men gradually left their posts, and getting
together in little parties at the gate, worked themselves up to such a
pitch of dread that by two hours after noon they were fit for any folly;
and at the mere cry of 'plague!' would have rushed to their horses and