I. LANTENAC TAKEN II. GAUVAIN MEDITATING III. THE COMMANDER'S HOOD BOOK VII. FEUDALITY AND REVOLUTION. I. THE ANCESTOR II. THE COURT-MARTIAL III. THE VOTES IV. AFTER CIMOURDAIN THE JUDGE, CIMOURDAIN THE MASTER V. THE DUNGEON VI. STILL THE SUN RISES Illustrations They are obtained from the French 1876 edition, published in Paris by E. Hugues. Drawings are by: Émile Bayard, G. Brion, Karl Bodmer, Férat, Ferdinandus, Gilbert, Godefroy-Durand, Victor Hugo, Lançon, Lix, D. Maillart, Edmond Morin, Miss Patterson, Riou, H. Scott, Daniel Vierge. Etchings are by: Bellenger, Chapon, Froment, Hildibrand, Laplante, Léveillé, Martin, Méaulle, Moller, Morand, Stéphane Pannemaker, Perrichon, Poeget, Quenel, Soupey, Tilly. NINETY-THREE [Illustration: At Sea. 002] PART I. AT SEA. [Illustration: The Forest of La Saudraie. 003] BOOK I. THE FOREST OF LA SAUDRAIE. [Illustration: 004] During the last days of May, 1793, one of the Parisian battalions introduced into Brittany by Santerre was reconnoitring the formidable La Saudraie Woods in Astillé. Decimated by this cruel war, the battalion was reduced to about three hundred men. This was at the time when, after Argonne, Jemmapes, and Valmy, of the first battalion of Paris, which had numbered six hundred volunteers, only twenty-seven men remained, thirty-three of the second, and fifty-seven of the third,--a time of epic combats. The battalion sent from Paris into La Vendée numbered nine hundred and twelve men. Each regiment had three pieces of cannon. They had been quickly mustered. On the 25th of April, Gohier being Minister of Justice, and Bouchotte Minister of War, the section of Bon Conseil had offered to send volunteer battalions into La Vendée; the report was made by Lubin, a member of the Commune. On the 1st of May, Santerre was ready to send off twelve thousand men, thirty field-pieces, and one battalion of gunners. These battalions, notwithstanding they were so quickly formed, serve as models even at the present day, and regiments of the line are formed on the same plan; they altered the former proportion between the number of soldiers and that of non-commissioned officers.