"Ah, well, we shall do better this time," the first speaker said. "We are better prepared than we were then and, except La Rochelle and four or five small towns, every place in France is in our hands. I expect the next news will be that the prince and Coligny, and the others, have taken ship for England. Then, when that pestilent Queen of Navarre and her boy are in our hands, the whole thing will be over; and the last edict will be carried out, and each Huguenot will have the choice between the mass and the gallows. "Well, I will have one more stoup of wine, and then I will be off, for we march at daybreak." "How many ride out with you?" the man who had lost his hand asked. "A hundred. The town has voted the funds, and we march to join D'Escars tomorrow. I believe we are not going to Perigueux, but are to be stationed somewhere on the lower Dordogne, to prevent any of the Huguenots from the south making their way towards La Rochelle." The frequenters of the cabaret presently dropped off. Jacques, who acted as spokesman, had on entering asked the landlord if they could sleep there; and he said there was plenty of good hay, in the loft over the stable. As his duties were now over, he came across to them. "Which way are you going, lads?" he asked. "Are you bound, like the others, to join one of the lords on the Dordogne?" "No," Jacques said, "we are bound for Agen. We come from near there." "I thought your tongue had a smack of Gascon in it." "Yes, we come from across the border. We are tired of hard work in the vineyards, and are going to take up with our own trade; for my comrade, here, and I served under De Brissac, in Italy. We would rather enlist under our own lord than under a stranger." "Yes, that I can understand," the landlord said; "but you will find it no easy work travelling, at present; when every bridge and ford across the rivers is watched by armed men, and all who pass are questioned, sharply, as to their business." "Well, if they won't let us pass," Jacques said carelessly, "we must join some leader here; though I should like to have had a few days at home, first." "Your best plan would have been to have gone by boat to Bordeaux. There has been a strong wind from the west, for the last three days, and it would save you many a mile of weary tramping." "That it would," Jacques said; "but could one get a passage?" "There will be no difficulty about that. There is not a day passes, now that the wind is fair, that three or four boats do not go off to Bordeaux, with produce from the farms and vineyards. Of course, you wouldn't get up without paying; but I suppose you are not without something in your pockets. "There is a cousin of mine, a farmer, who is starting in the morning, and has chartered a boat to carry his produce. If I say a word to him, I have no doubt he would give the four of you a passage, for a crown."