“They took the road to Weisloch.  Some think that they will come through Wimpfen, and then by Weinsberg here, unless Merci bars the way.  Others again think that they will make their way down through Stuttgart.  Five hundred men march from here tomorrow to Hall, whence they go on to Heilbronn to strengthen the garrison there.  All the waggons in the town and country round have been fetched in to carry their stores and baggage and a convoy of ammunition.  I should say that you could not do better than go on with the waggons.  No one is likely to ask you any questions, for it will be thought that you are drivers.”

“Thank you very much,” Hector said; “that would certainly be a capital plan.  We were afraid of going through the forests alone.”

“Yes, and you were right.  They are full of marauders.  A party of troopers arrived here from Eichstadt yesterday evening.  They stopped to get a drink at a cabaret in the forest, and on entering found seven men lying dead, and no one living to say how they got there.  That some, if not all, were robbers was evident from the fact that, on the bodies being searched, articles evidently plundered from travellers were found upon all of them.  An examination was made of the house, and considerable quantities of plunder found hidden.  Searching in the forest behind, several mounds of earth, evidently graves, were discovered.  The landlord himself was among the killed, for one of the troopers, who had before stopped at the house, recognized him.  It was supposed that the brigands were killed by some other party with whom they had quarrelled.  Three of them were shot and two killed by tremendous blows from an axe, and as neither pistols nor axes were found in the room it is clear that those within had been killed by some other band.”

The next morning, when the column started, Hector and Paolo fell in among the carts, and rendered good service on the road by helping to move them when the wheels of the waggons stuck fast at spots where the road crossed marshy valleys.  So bad was the journey that it occupied two days.  Then the waggons were parked outside the walls of Hall, a guard being placed round them to prevent desertion.  The troops slept inside the town.  At daybreak the next morning their march was arrested by an officer riding out from the town, saying that news had arrived on the previous evening that the French were marching upon Heilbronn, that General Merci was concentrating his army there to oppose the passage of the river, and that the troops were to push on with all speed, leaving their baggage train at Hall.  Hector at once decided that, with the Bavarian army gathering in front, it would be madness to endeavour to push on, and that indeed it would be far better to fall back until the direction of the French march was fully determined, when they could make a detour and come down upon their flank without having to pass through the Bavarian army.  He did not, however, care about remaining in Hall, which might be occupied by the Bavarians if they fell back, and they therefore, after entering the town with the waggons, purchased a store of provisions, and, going out again, established themselves in a small farmhouse, whose occupants had deserted it and fled into the town upon hearing that the French were but some thirty miles distant.