"Master Bonaik," suddenly cried one of the apprentices in an accent of fear, "look down below there, at the turning of the road ... there are soldiers. They are approaching rapidly. They will be here within short!" At these words of the lad the fugitives jumped to their feet. Amael himself, forgetting for a moment the sorrow into which his mother's just severity plunged him, dried his face that was moist with tears and took a few steps forward to reconnoiter. "Great God!" cried Septimine. "They may be in pursuit of Amael.... Good father Bonaik, let us hide in this thicket----" "My child, that would be to expose ourselves to being pursued. The riders have seen us.... Our flight would awaken their suspicion. Besides, they come from the side opposite to Nantes; they cannot have been sent in our pursuit." "Master Bonaik," said one of the apprentices, "three of the riders are hastening their horses' steps, and motion us with their hands to come to them." "Perhaps a new danger now threatens us!" said Septimine, drawing close to Rosen-Aer, who had alone remained seated, and seemed indifferent to what went on around her. "Alack, what is to become of us!" "Oh, poor child!" said Rosen-Aer, "I care little for life at this moment!... And yet the mere hope of some day finding again my son, served to sustain my sad life!" "But you have found again that son whose loss you so tenderly regretted. He is here, near you!" "No!" answered the Gallic mother with sorrow, "no, that is not my son!" Feeling not a little uneasy, Amael had walked toward the three Frankish horsemen, who rode at the head of a more numerous troop. One of them reined in his steed, and said to Rosen-Aer's son: "Does this road lead to Nantes?" "Yes; it is the nearest road." "Does it also lead to the abbey of Meriadek?" "Yes," answered Amael, as much surprised at the meeting as at the questions. "Arnulf," said the rider to one of his companions, "ride back and tell Count Bertchram that we are on the right road; while waiting for your return to us, I shall let my horse drink at this stream." The rider departed, and while his two companions were allowing their horses to take a few throatfuls of water, Amael, who had not been able to overcome the growing curiosity that seized him at hearing the name of Count Bertchram, asked the two riders: "What brings Count Bertchram to this country?" "He comes as a messenger of Charles, the chief of the Franks. Tell us, young man, whether we still have a long way to ride before we reach the abbey of Meriadek." "You could not reach the place until late to-night." "Is that abbey as rich as they claim?" "It is rich.... But why do you ask?" "Why?" said the soldier with a merry smile, "because Bertchram and we are to take possession of the abbey, which the good Charles has bestowed upon us." "But I heard it said that Charles had bestowed the monastery and all its dependencies upon one Berthoald."