"I presented myself, therefore, as coming from my father, and asked to be admitted to the château to speak to the young folks' nurse, for they were then old enough to ride, like myself, and were scouring the country. I went in, explained my errand, and was coldly received by the nurse. She knew that I had already fought with the Calvinists and that my father did not love me: but money softened her. She went to a room at the top of the house and brought down what the children, now full-grown, had injured least. "So away I went with a horse, a dog, a citadel, six cannons, a chariot and many little iron dishes, the whole in a big basket covered with a cloth, which I had fastened upon my horse behind me. It came up to my shoulders, and, as I rode out of the courtyard, I heard the servants laughing at the window and saying to one another: "'He's a great booby, and, if we never have to deal with any Reformers of a different stamp, we will soon settle their business.' "Some were inclined to shoot at me, but I escaped with nothing worse than a fright. I dug my spurs into my horse, my baggage jingling behind like a Limousin tinker's bag of old iron. "However, all went well, and I rode tranquilly along the crossroad, in order not to pass through La Châtre with that outfit; but I had to cross the Couarde, by the bridge on the Aigurande road, and there I found myself face to face with a party of ten or twelve reiters riding toward the town. "They were simply marauders, but they had with them one of the vilest partisan troopers of the time, a certain knave whose father or uncle was in command of the great tower of Bourges, and was known as Captain Macabre. "This fellow, who was about my own age but already old in villainy, acted as guide to such bands of pillagers, who were very willing to let him try his hand with them. I had fallen in with him several times, and he knew that, having fought for the Calvinists, I ought not to be roughly handled by the Germans. But when he saw the load I was carrying, he concluded that I was a valuable prize, and, assuming a mighty swagger, he ordered me to dismount and turn over horse and baggage to his men, who called themselves for the moment cavalry of the Duc d'Alençon. "As they did not know a word of French, and young Macabre acted as their interpreter, it would have been utterly useless for me to try to parley with them. Knowing with whom I had to deal, and that, after I had submitted and dismounted, I should be soundly beaten and possibly shot, by way of pastime, as was the habit of the marauding bands, I risked all to win all. "With my boot and stirrup together I kicked Macabre violently in the stomach--he had already dismounted to unhorse me--and stretched him flat on his back, swearing like forty devils." "And you did well, monsieur!" cried Adamas, enthusiastically.