“Not only that,” O’Neil put in, “but there will be a possibility of getting decent food.  While in Spain there are few great towns, and these a long distance from each other; in Flanders there are towns every few miles, and you are sure of decent quarters and good cooking.”

“Why, O’Neil, I did not know that you were particular as to your food,” Desmond laughed.

“I can starve as well as another, Kennedy, but when I get good food and good wine and good lodgings, I own that I prefer it vastly to the fare that our troops have to put up with, in Spain.  I can see no reason why, because you are going to risk your life in battle, you should put up with all sorts of miseries and inconveniences beforehand, if they can be avoided.

“As to fighting against the English, there are English both in Spain and Flanders, and in both armies they form but a small proportion of the force, though I grant willingly that they are the backbone of both armies.  If you look at the thing sensibly, you will see that we have gained no slight advantage by Berwick’s going to Flanders, instead of returning to Spain.”

Three days after their preparations were completed, an orderly brought a note from the Duke of Berwick.  It was brief and to the point.

The rendezvous is at six o’clock tomorrow morning, in front of La Louvre.

(Signed) Berwick.

All were glad that the summons had come.  They had discussed the future from every point of view, and were already growing impatient, short as their stay had been in Paris.

Five minutes before the hour, they were at the rendezvous.  As the clock struck, the duke rode up with two officers and an escort of six troopers.  He looked at their accoutrements and horses, and nodded his head approvingly.

“You will do very well,” he said.  “I can tell you that the gloss of your uniforms will not last long, in Flanders.”

The other officers were Captain Fromart, who acted as the duke’s secretary, and Lieutenant d’Eyncourt.  Mike fell in with the escort, behind which also rode the body servant of the duke, and the two cavalry men who were the servants of his officers.

Once beyond the limits of the town, the party broke into a trot.  The duke rode on ahead, evidently in deep thought, and the five officers followed in a group.

“I see, messieurs,” d’Eyncourt said, “that only one of you has brought a servant with him.”

“We only arrived in Paris a week ago,” O’Neil said.  “Our own regiment had left, and we did not care to ask for two soldiers from another regiment, as these might have turned out badly.  We thought it better, therefore, to delay until we joined the army, and wait till we could obtain a couple of good men from one of the cavalry regiments there.  As it is, Monsieur Kennedy’s servant can look after the three of us, and, I have no doubt, two of the soldiers of the escort will not object to earn a few livres by looking after our horses on the way.”