"God's thunder! citizen, you are right," he cried."The brigands are making a false attack over there to keep the coast clear; but the two columns I sent to scour the environs between Antrain and Vitre have not yet returned, so we shall have plenty of reinforcements if we need them; and I dare say we shall, for the Gars is not such a fool as to risk his life without a bodyguard of those damned owls.Gudin," he added, "go and tell Captain Lebrun that he must rub those fellows'
noses at Florigny without me, and come back yourself in a flash.You know the paths.I'll wait till you return, and /then/--we'll avenge those murders at La Vivetiere.Thunder! how he runs," he added, seeing Gudin disappear as if by magic."Gerard would have loved him."On his return Gudin found Hulot's little band increased in numbers by the arrival of several soldiers taken from the various posts in the town.The commandant ordered him to choose a dozen of his compatriots who could best counterfeit the Chouans, and take them out by the Porte Saint-Leonard, so as to creep round the side of the Saint-Sulpice rocks which overlooks the valley of Couesnon and on which was the hovel of Galope-Chopine.Hulot himself went out with the rest of his troop by the Porte Saint-Sulpice, to reach the summit of the same rocks, where, according to his calculations, he ought to meet the men under Beau-Pied, whom he meant to use as a line of sentinels from the suburb of Saint-Sulpice to the Nid-aux-Crocs.
Corentin, satisfied with having delivered over the fate of the Gars to his implacable enemies, went with all speed to the Promenade, so as to follow with his eyes the military arrangements of the commandant.He soon saw Gudin's little squad issuing from the valley of the Nancon and following the line of the rocks to the great valley, while Hulot, creeping round the castle of Fougeres, was mounting the dangerous path which leads to the summit of Saint-Sulpice.The two companies were therefore advancing on parallel lines.The trees and shrubs, draped by the rich arabesques of the hoarfrost, threw whitish reflections which enabled the watcher to see the gray lines of the squads in motion.
When Hulot reached the summit of the rocks, he detached all the soldiers in uniform from his main body, and made them into a line of sentinels, each communicating with the other, the first with Gudin, the last with Hulot; so that no shrub could escape the bayonets of the three lines which were now in a position to hunt the Gars across field and mountain.
"The sly old wolf!" thought Corentin, as the shining muzzle of the last gun disappeared in the bushes."The Gars is done for.If Marie had only betrayed that damned marquis, she and I would have been united in the strongest of all bonds--a vile deed.But she's mine, in any case."The twelve young men under Gudin soon reached the base of the rocks of Saint-Sulpice.Here Gudin himself left the road with six of them, jumping the stiff hedge into the first field of gorse that he came to, while the other six by his orders did the same on the other side of the road.Gudin advanced to an apple-tree which happened to be in the middle of the field.Hearing the rustle of this movement through the gorse, seven or eight men, at the head of whom was Beau-Pied, hastily hid behind some chestnut-trees which topped the bank of this particular field.Gudin's men did not see them, in spite of the white reflections of the hoar-frost and their own practised sight.
"Hush! here they are," said Beau-Pied, cautiously putting out his head."The brigands have more men than we, but we have 'em at the muzzles of our guns, and we mustn't miss them, or, by the Lord, we are not fit to be soldiers of the pope."By this time Gudin's keen eyes had discovered a few muzzles pointing through the branches at his little squad.Just then eight voices cried in derision, "Qui vive?" and eight shots followed.The balls whistled round Gudin and his men.One fell, another was shot in the arm.The five others who were safe and sound replied with a volley and the cry, "Friends!" Then they marched rapidly on their assailants so as to reach them before they had time to reload.
"We did not know how true we spoke," cried Gudin, as he recognized the uniforms and the battered hats of his own brigade."Well, we behaved like Bretons, and fought before explaining."The other men were stupefied on recognizing the little company.
"Who the devil would have known them in those goatskins?" cried Beau-Pied, dismally.
"It is a misfortune," said Gudin, "but we are all innocent if you were not informed of the sortie.What are you doing here?" he asked.
"A dozen of those Chouans are amusing themselves by picking us off, and we are getting away as best we can, like poisoned rats; but by dint of scrambling over these hedges and rocks--may the lightning blast 'em!--our compasses have got so rusty we are forced to take a rest.I think those brigands are now somewhere near the old hovel where you see that smoke.""Good!" cried Gudin."You," he added to Beau-Pied and his men, "fall back towards the rocks through the fields, and join the line of sentinels you'll find there.You can't go with us, because you are in uniform.We mean to make an end of those curs now; the Gars is with them.I can't stop to tell you more.To the right, march! and don't administer any more shots to our own goatskins; you'll know ours by their cravats, which they twist round their necks and don't tie.
Gudin left his two wounded men under the apple-tree, and marched towards Galope-Chopine's cottage, which Beau-Pied had pointed out to him, the smoke from the chimney serving as a guide.