At Langeais, where the King arrived on October 4, he received news from _Monsieur_ that the garrison of Saint-Martin was reduced to such straits[108] that it was impossible for them to hold out for more than another week. Louis, in great distress, thereupon proceeded to the church of Notre-Dame-des-Ardilliers, which belonged to the Oratorians, and was held in great veneration in all the country round, to offer up prayers for the relief of his brave soldiers. On the following day they arrived at Saumur, where, to the great satisfaction of Bassompierre, the King informed Angoulême, who had come to meet him, that so soon as he (the King) reached La Rochelle, he would have to resign his post of lieutenant-general and content himself with that of Colonel of the Light Cavalry. On the 8th Bassompierre left his Majesty to pay a visit to his friend Bertrand d’Eschaux, Archbishop of Tours, at the Abbey of l’Hort de Poitiers, but rejoined him next day at Niort, where good news awaited him. On the night of the 7th-8th, a flotilla of thirty-five boats and small vessels, laden with men and provisions which had been collected at the Sables d’Olonne, had set out to make an attempt to run the blockade, to the cry of “_Passer ou mourir_,” and, aided by the darkness of the night and a strong north-west wind, the great majority of them had succeeded in getting through the English fleet and in bringing to the famished defenders of Saint-Martin-de-Ré a reinforcement of 400 men and provisions for a month. This success turned the tables on the besiegers, who were themselves running short of food, while sickness was making such havoc in their ranks that there were now only 5,000 men fit for duty. The French forces, too, were gathering on the mainland, and an attempt to relieve the fort might be expected at any moment. In these circumstances, it had already been decided to raise the siege, when news arrived that an expedition under Lord Holland, which Charles I had, after infinite difficulties, at length succeeded in organising, was on the point of sailing from Plymouth, while, at the same time, the Rochellois, after two months of tergiversations, decided to throw in their lot with the Protestants of the South and the English, and signed a treaty with Buckingham.[109] On the 11th Louis XIII reached Surgères, where he was met by his brother, Angoulême, and Louis de Marillac. _Monsieur_ spoke to the King in favour of Angoulême, and recommended that he should be allowed to retain his command, and “M. d’ Angoulême recommended himself.” But the King replied that he had appointed Bassompierre and Schomberg as lieutenant-generals of his army and that he could not do anything to their prejudice. However, as it was known that his Majesty [Illustration: GEORGE VILLIERS, FIRST DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. After the picture by Gerard Honthorst in the National Portrait Gallery. (Photo by Emery Walker).]