We were galloping steadily on and were approaching this place in the road. Frojac was now riding at my side, as there was room for two horsemen to go abreast. "Hark!" said Frojac, suddenly. "Do you hear something?" I heard the sounds made by our riding, but no other. "Horsemen," he went on. "And men afoot, on the march!" "Where?" I asked. We continued to gallop forward. "Ahead," he answered. "Don't you hear, monsieur?" I listened. Yes, there was the far-off sound of many shod feet striking hard earth. "It is ahead," said I. "A body of troops," said Frojac. "Then we may catch up with them." "Or meet them. Perhaps they are coming this way." "Troops on a night march!" said I. Frojac looked at me. I saw written on his face the same thought that he saw on mine. "Whose else could they be?" he said. "And for what other purpose?" Had Monsieur de la Chatre, then, chosen this night for a surprise and attack on me at Maury? If he knew my hiding-place, why should he not have done so? The idea of the ambush, then, had been abandoned? Perhaps, indeed, the plan that I had overheard Montignac outline to La Chatre had been greatly modified. Had mademoiselle, if she were in truth the governor's agent, known of this night attack, if it were in truth a night attack against me? Had she fled in order to avoid the shame or the danger of being present at my capture? These and many other questions rushed through my mind. "What shall we do?" asked Frojac, after a time. "Go on," said I. "But if we meet them, and they are La Chatre's men, I fear that our chances of catching up with the lady will be small." "But, after all, we do not know who they are. If they are coming this way, they must have met her by this time. Perhaps they have stopped her? Who knows? I must follow her." "But now it seems that the sound comes more from the north. They are certainly coming nearer. They may be on the river road. We can see by going to the edge of the precipice and looking down." "We should lose time." "'Tis but a little way out of the road. This is where the road is nearest to the edge." It might, indeed, be to my advantage to learn at once whether the troops were in the road in front of us or in the road at the foot of the mountain. So I fought down my impatience, and we turned from the road towards the precipice. There was little underbrush here to hinder us, and in a very short time we reined in our horses and looked down on the vast stretch of moonlit country below. At the very foot of the steep was the road that runs from Clochonne to Narjec. And there, moving from the former towards the latter, went a troop of horsemen, followed by a foot company of arquebusiers. They trailed along, like a huge dark worm on the yellow way, following the turns of the road. Seen from above, their figures were shortened and looked squat. I looked among the horsemen. "I cannot see La Chatre," said I.