The mounted men had been divided into four bands of twenty each.  Paolo and the three troopers each took the command of a party.  Hector’s orders were:  “Keep together until the peasants are in full flight, then separate in pursuit.  The movement must be put down or the whole province will be ruined, therefore give no quarter, and pursue until your horses are tired, then return here.  Now, MacIntosh, do you advance straight upon the guns; it is probable that they are all loaded, therefore carry them with a rush.  The moment we see you engaged we will charge.”

The horsemen were in single line, extending from side to side of the valley.  Hector kept his eye upon MacIntosh’s party.  They were close to the guns before any of the sleepers awoke.  Then there was a sudden shout, and numbers of the men rushed to the cannon.  MacIntosh was there as soon as they were, and pouring in a volley rushed upon the guns.  At the same moment Hector gave the word to charge, and with levelled spears the horsemen rode down into the midst of the crowd.  Appalled by this sudden attack, which was wholly unexpected, the resistance was but slight.  Many of the peasants at once threw away their arms and fled.  Those who resisted were speared or overthrown by the horses.  As the valley widened the four troops separated a little, each cutting a way for itself through the peasants.  It was no longer a fight; and a wild panic seized upon the whole of the insurgents.  Some rushed straight down the valley, others ran up the opposite hillside; but the slope here was gradual, and the horsemen were able to pursue.

“Paolo, take your troop up the hill.  Let the others keep straight down the valley.”  And, heading these, Hector galloped on, shouting to MacIntosh to harness what teams there were to some of the guns and take them up to the top of the road, and then bring the horses back for some more.

For two hours the pursuit continued.  Occasionally a group of peasants gathered together and tried to stem the tide, but these were speedily overcome, the long spears bearing them down without their being able to strike a blow at the riders, and at the end of that time the insurgents were scattered over a wide extent of country, all flying for their lives.  Hector now ordered trumpets to sound; he was soon joined by the other troops, and at a leisurely pace they rode back to their starting point.  Not more than half the guns had as yet been taken up, for MacIntosh had found it necessary to put double teams to them in order to drag them up the steep road.  The mounted men had all brought ropes with them, and, dismounting, eight yoked their horses to each gun, and in an hour the whole were brought up to the plateau, the drawbridge was lowered, the sacks of earth cleared away, and the portcullis raised, the gates thrown open, and the garrison filed into the courtyard, greeted by cries of welcome from the women.

“I think that we have crushed the insurrection in this part of Poitou,” Hector said to Madame de Blenfoix.  “We have certainly killed six or seven hundred of them, and I am sure that the remainder will never rally.  We will rest today, and tomorrow morning we will set to work to complete the defences of the chateau, so that it may be held by a comparatively small number of men.”