"Very well. Listen, Halmalo. You will follow the road on the right, and I the one on the left. You are to turn in the direction of Bazouges, and I shall go towards Fougères. Keep your bag, because it makes you look like a peasant; hide your weapons; cut yourself a stick from the hedge; creep through the tall rye; glide behind the hedges; climb over fences and cross the fields: you will thus avoid the passers-by, as well as roads and bridges. Do not enter Pontorson. Ah! you will have to cross the Couesnon. How will you manage that?" "I shall swim across." "Excellent. Then you will come to a ford. Do you know where it is?" "Between Nancy and Vieux-Viel." "Correct. You are evidently familiar with the country." "But night is coming on. Where will my lord sleep?" "I can take care of myself. And where will you sleep?" "There are plenty of _émousses._ I was a peasant before I was a sailor." "Throw away your sailor hat; it would betray you. You can surely find some worsted head-covering." "Oh, a cap is easily found. The first fisherman I meet will sell me his." "Very well. Now listen. You are familiar with the woods?" "All of them." "Throughout this entire neighborhood?" "From Noirmoutier to Laval." "Do you know their names too?" "I know the woods and their names; I know all about them." "You will forget nothing?" "Nothing." "Good. Now mind. How many leagues can you walk in a day?" "Ten, fifteen, eighteen, twenty, if need be." "It will have to be done. Do not miss a word of what I am about to tell you. You will go to the woods of Saint-Aubin." "Near Lamballe?" "Yes. On the edge of a ravine between Saint-Rieul and Plédéliac there is a large chestnut-tree. You will stop there. No one will be in sight." "But a man will be there nevertheless. On that I can depend." "You will give the call. Do you know it?" Halmalo puffed out his cheeks, turned towards the sea, and there rang the "to-whit-to-hoo" of the owl. One would have supposed it came from the depths of a forest, so owl-like and sinister was the sound. "Good!" said the old man. "You have it." He extended to Halmalo the green silk knot. "This is my commander's badge. Take it. No one must know my name at present; but this knot is sufficient. The fleur-de-lis was embroidered by Madame Royale in the Temple prison." Halmalo knelt. Trembling with awe he received the knot embroidered with the fleur-de-lis, and in the act of raising it to his lips, he paused as if in fear. "May I?" he asked. "Yes, since you kiss the crucifix." Halmalo kissed the fleur-de-lis. "Rise," said the old man. Halmalo obeyed him, placing the knot in his bosom. "Listen carefully to what I am about to say. This is the order: 'Revolt! Give no quarter.' On the edge of the forest of Saint-Aubin you will give the call, repeating it three times. After the third time you will see a man rise from the ground." "I know, from a hole under the trees."