He set out with 100 picked men of his garrison and this little band was sufficient to overawe thousands of the Siamese. The general passed through the capital before proceeding to Louvo, but at this point timidity prevented his further advance. The report that the King was dead had been disseminated by the rebels, who wished to sound the popular feeling, and everything pointed to a generally disturbed state of affairs. Des Farges went to the Seminary and thought it would be wise to hold a consultation with those who lived there. The protection that the missionaries had enjoyed caused him to regard their abode as an inviolable sanctuary, and the confidence he reposed in them, invited him to follow the wisdom of their experience. The Missionaries, deceived by the popular rumours, told him that he would be running useless risks, that the roads were lined with ambuscades ready to annihilate all the French. The general, unmoved by these tales dictated without doubt by the desire they had for his safety, appeared to wish to persevere in his design of going to the rescue of the King and his minister. He was all the more anxious to do so as he foresaw that the downfall of Faulcon would mean his own ruin, and, that shut up without hope of succour in a town ill-fortified and badly provisioned, he would be obliged to submit to any humiliating condition they might impose upon him. Not however wishing to precipitate matters, he sent one of his officers to Louvo to find out how matters really stood. Whilst he lingered at the capital, a secret rumour aroused the inhabitants against him. It was reported that the object of the French forces in going to Louvo was the pillage of the public treasury, and that they intended to dispose of the throne as they pleased. In order to reassure the inhabitants the general thought it more prudent to withdraw his little army whose presence had caused such alarm. He retired a distance of two leagues from the town, and was met by his envoy who gave him an account of the events at Court. Whether this officer had been misled by his own fears or that he was convinced that there was imminent danger, his recital so alarmed Des Farges that he believed the reports he had heard on his arrival in the capital. So, instead of marching to glory, his only idea was that of retreat; he was no longer a warrior ready to encounter danger that his friend might be saved. Des Farges, followed the advice of his timorous companions and returned to Bangkok; but, before his departure, wrote to Faulcon to justify his retreat. He informed him that, as it was reported that the King had died, he thought it would be rash to withdraw his troops from a position on which their safety depended, and that he might be punished if he were to endanger the lives of the soldiers under his command without sufficient reason, and that finally he offered him and his family shelter in a place that the French had resolved to defend to the last.