It was long past midnight, however, before we were prepared to leave Ysembourg. To set out with the conviction that every tree, hedge, or thicket might conceal at least one musket, the contents of which were intended for my person, was more exciting than pleasing. The horse provided for me was one of our grey troopers. It had been wounded by a pistol-ball at Minden, and halted on the off hind leg, thus our progress was slower than we could have wished. As my purse had been taken by my captors, Boisguiller gave me a couple of louis d'ors, which sum I was to give in turn to the first French officer whom we took prisoner. "_Bon voyage!_" cried he, with a loud voice, as we mounted at the arched gateway of the old castle; "which way do you ride?" "Towards Hesse Cassel," replied Monjoy in the same tone, intended specially for the ears of those who loitered about; and among them was Armand de Pricorbin, who at once withdrew, and entered the castle, no doubt to report our departure to Bourgneuf. "Hesse Cassel," continued Boisguiller; "ah, I was quartered there for three months before Minden, and added considerably to the debts and general discomfort of the citizens. Adieu, messieurs!" "Adieu, M. le Chevalier!" and we rode off. Though considerably hardened by campaigning and warfare--for had I not seen Lindsay, Charters, Keith, and many others who were dear friends and comrades perish?--I shuddered on passing where the corpse of Silvain de Pricorbin still swung as a warning to pillagers, from the arm of a tree above the pathway; there it swayed mournfully to and fro in the night wind, and I felt some remorse with the conviction, that by an almost heedless complaint, I had procured the death of this man--and for what? Abstracting a ring--a bauble--the gift of a girl who had discarded me for a man who was now perhaps tracking me to destruction. The stars shone brightly and keenly in a calm sky as we rode down the hill from Ysembourg, and saw a few lights twinkling dimly in the little town of that name. By the foraging and skirmishing of the light cavalry, the whole country between the Maine and Lahn had been reduced to a desert; and from Ysembourg to the Weser it was pretty much the same, for, according to their usual system, whatever the French did not require they burned or destroyed. On our route I committed myself entirely to the guidance of the intelligent and friendly Monjoy--a pleasing young man, whose bearing impressed me with the decided conviction that _something_ had happened in his life, which, to him, cast a shadow over the present and the future. "From what passed between you and the Chevalier de Boisguiller," said he, "am I right in supposing that a deadly rivalry existed between you and Bourgneuf prior to his marriage?"