The divisions commanded by Monsieur de Lescure and General Bonchamp speedily gathered round the distinguishing flags of those officers. Other leaders joined them with their followers, until some ten thousand men were gathered outside the town. Leigh had changed his clothes and mounted his horse, Monsieur de Lescure having invited him to ride with him. As they were about to start, one of Andre's messengers arrived, with the news that an officer and three troopers had arrived at the town; and that, ten minutes later, the trumpets were sounding the assembly. "It is well that we got your news first," Monsieur de Lescure said to Leigh, "for otherwise we could hardly have got our forces together, and been ready for a start, until it was too late to intercept Salomon." The route of the column was by a byroad, between Doue and Montreuil. It was seven o'clock before they approached the town. Then, striking off the road, they marched through the fields until a mile and a half to the east of it, when they halted in a thick wood. They were now divided into three columns, of equal strength. That under Monsieur de Lescure occupied the wood on one side of the road, that under Monsieur Bonchamp the other side. The third column were posted in rear of the wood, and were to thickly line the hedges that bordered it. It was just dusk when the force from Thouars came along. It consisted of three thousand six hundred men, with four pieces of cannon. It was allowed to pass nearly through the wood, when a heavy fire was opened upon it on both flanks. The regiment of gendarmes which led the column showed great coolness and, animated by their example, the whole force remained steady. Darkness came on, but it was not until eleven o'clock that there was any change in the situation. Owing to the darkness in the forest, neither side was able to distinguish its foes. The men fired only at the flashes of the muskets. Lescure then sent round four or five hundred men, who suddenly fell upon the baggage train of the enemy. The guard were completely taken by surprise. Many of the carters cut the ropes and traces, and galloped off, delighted to escape from a service into which they had, for the most part, been dragged against their will. The alarm thus begun spread rapidly. The young troops who, encouraged by the example of the gendarmes, had so far stood their ground, at once lost heart. The darkness of the night, their ignorance as to the strength of the force that had attacked the rear, and the fear that all retreat would be cut off, would have shaken older soldiers than these and, in spite of the efforts of their officers, the wildest confusion soon reigned.