“So much the better,” Hector said.  “The company will be up in half an hour at latest, and will give them a lesson unless they move away before that; and now that they have taken to drinking they are not likely to do so.”

The bandaging of his wounds being now completed, Hector was assisted to his feet.

“I grieve, madam,” he said, “that I did not arrive in time to prevent the chateau being burned.”

“The loss is not mine; my husband’s estates were confiscated when he crossed into Germany with the duke, and were some ten months ago granted to a Monsieur de Thours, a relative of the Prince of Conde; but he sent me a courteous letter to say that as he was serving with the Duc d’Enghien, I was welcome to continue to occupy the chateau until the war was over, receiving the rents as his chatelaine, paying the retainers, and keeping up the establishment, and sending the surplus to his agents at Nancy.  This I was glad to do, for, indeed, had it not been for his kind offer my daughter and I would scarcely have known whither to go, as my husband expended his last crown in equipping a force for the service of the duke.”

At this moment Macpherson exclaimed: 

“I see the head of a company mounting the slope, colonel.”

“Yes, and there is Captain Mieville.  Ah! he has halted the men, and is riding forward alone to take in the situation.  I hope that the peasants won’t catch sight of him.”  When Mieville reached a point where he could obtain a view of the front of the chateau he checked his horse, and after surveying the scene for a minute rode back to the company.  A movement was at once visible.

“He is extending them on each side,” Hector said.  “That is good.  He is going to inclose the peasants, and as from the slope in the ground they cannot see the troops until they are within a hundred yards, he will catch them in a trap.”

The company moved round, in fact, until they had formed almost a semicircle, then they advanced, closing in as they neared the house.  When they reached the spot where they could be seen by the peasants a trumpet sounded and they ran in.  The peasants, bewildered at seeing the line of soldiers closing in around them, hesitated.  Some were already too drunk to rise from the ground on which they had thrown themselves, the others caught up their arms and ran together.  Retreat was impossible, for behind them was the burning house.  Suddenly a stream of fire burst from the semicircle of troops.  Some thirty of the insurgents fell, the others threw down their arms and fell upon their knees crying for mercy.  The troops were rushing forward to finish their work, when Hector shouted “Halt!”