"That man will be Planchenault, sometimes called Coeur-de-Roi. To him you will show this knot. He will know what it means. Then you are to go by ways that you must discover for yourself to the woods of Astillé, where you will see a cripple surnamed Mousqueton, a man who shows mercy to no human being. You are to tell him that I love him, and that he must stir up the parishes in his neighborhood. Thence you will go to the wood of Couesbon, which is one mile from Ploërmel. When you give the owl-cry, a man will come out of a hole; that will be M. Thuault, seneschal of Ploërmel, who formerly belonged to the Constitutional Assembly, but on the royalist side. You will direct him to fortify the castle of Couesbon, that belongs to the Marquis de Guer, a refugee. Ravines, woods of moderate extent, uneven soil, a good spot. M. Thuault is an able and upright man. From there you will go to Saint-Guen-les-Toits, and speak to Jean Chouan, whom I look upon as the actual leader, and then to the woods of Ville-Anglose, where you will see Guitter, called Saint-Martin; you will tell him to keep his eye on a certain Courmesnil, son-in-law of the old Goupil de Préfeln, and who is the head of the Jacobins of Argentan. Remember all this. I write nothing, because writing must be avoided. La Rouarie made out a list, which ruined everything. Thence you will go to the wood of Rougefeu, where Miélette lives, he who leaps across ravines by the help of a long pole." "They call it a leaping-pole." "Do you know how to use it?" "Am I not a Breton peasant? The leaping-pole is our friend. It makes our arms bigger, our legs longer." "That is to say, it reduces the enemy and shortens the way. An excellent machine." [Illustration 024] "Once, with my leaping-pole, I stood my ground against three salt-tax men armed with sabres." "When was that?" "Ten years ago." "Under the king?" "Certainly." "Against whom?" "I really do not know. I was a salt-smuggler." "Very good." "It was called fighting against the collectors of the salt-tax. Is the tax on salt the same thing as the king?" "Yes, and no. But it is not necessary for you to understand this." "I ask monseigneur's pardon for having put a question to monseigneur." "Let us go on. Do you know the Tourgue?" "Do I know it! I came from there." "How is that?" "Why, because I come from Parigné." "To be sure, the Tourgue borders on Parigné." "Do I know the Tourgue! The great round castle belongs to the family of my lords. A large iron door separates the old building from the new part, which a cannon could not destroy. In the new building they keep the famous book on Saint-Barthélémy, which people come to see as a curiosity. The grass is full of frogs. When I was a boy I used to play with those frogs. And the underground passage, too. Perhaps I am the only one left who knows about that." "What underground passage? I don't know what you are talking about."