“I beg your pardon, general,” Hector said saluting, “but the guns all along this side of the wall are useless; I have spiked them.”

“You have, sir!  That was well done indeed.  Who gave you the orders, and how did you come by spikes?”

“I had no orders, general; but I was appointed to command the first company that entered, and was told that we were to turn right and left along the ramparts.  It struck me that as, when we had left, the enemy would be sure to turn their guns upon us, it would be as well to silence them, so I brought the nails and a hammer with me for the purpose.”

“It would be well, sir, if we had a good many officers as thoughtful as you are.  You have saved us from heavy loss, for, as the country is perfectly level for a mile round, they would have swept our ranks as we marched off.  Were you attacked, sir?”

“Yes, general, by a force of about four hundred men, but I turned two of the guns against them.  My men fought well, and we repulsed them with a loss of fully a hundred men.”

“Bravo, sir, bravo!  I shall not fail to mention the service that you have rendered in my report of the affair.  Have you lost any men?”

“No, sir; they lay down until the enemy were within twenty paces of us, and their volleys and the two cannon created such a confusion among the Spaniards that when we went at them with the bayonet they fled at once, and I have not a single man killed, and only two or three slightly wounded.”

“We have only lost twenty,” the general said, “and most of those were killed while serving the guns.  That was a small price indeed to pay for our magnificent success.”

CHAPTER VI:  A CHANGE OF SCENE

Hector gained great credit from the report of the manner in which the force had been enabled to draw off without loss from the enemy’s guns, owing to his forethought in bringing with him the means of spiking them, and also for his success in checking the advance of the enemy along the ramparts.

“You see, messieurs,” Turenne said to the members of his staff, who, with the exception of Hector, were together on the day after his return to Susa, “how important it is for officers, before setting out on an expedition, to think seriously over every contingency that may happen.  Now the vast proportion of officers consider that all the thinking has to be done by the general, and that they only have to obey orders.  No doubt that is essential, but there may be numerous little matters in which an officer may render great service.  This young captain of ours did not content himself with leading the company to which I appointed him through the gateway.  Before leaving Susa he must have thought over every incident likely to occur.  As the leading company he would know that it would be his business to clear the ramparts, to check any parties of the enemy coming along that way, and it would be only natural for him to determine to use the enemy’s cannon to keep them at bay.