So saying, Jean-Claude descended from the tree-trunk, and the agitation became extreme. Every village deliberated apart by itself--every mayor proposed his friend--and the hours wore on. Catherine Lefèvre was burning with impatience. At length she could no longer contain herself, and standing up on her bench, signed that she was going to speak. Catherine was held in great esteem. At first only a few, then a larger number approached to know what she wished to communicate. "My friends," said she, "we are losing time. What do you wish for? A trustworthy man, is it not so? a soldier--a man who has seen service, and who knows how to profit by our positions? Well, why do you not choose Hullin? Can any one find a better? If so, let him speak, and we will decide. I propose Jean-Claude Hullin. Hé! do you hear--over there? If this continues, the Austrians will have arrived before a leader has been decided on." "Yes,--yes! Hullin!" shouted Labarbe, Divès, Jérome, and several others. "Let us see how many are for and against him." Then Marc Divès, clambering on to the trunks, cried out in a voice like thunder: "Those who do not want Jean-Claude Hullin for leader must lift up their hands." Not one hand was uplifted. "Those who want Jean-Claude Hullin for their leader must raise their hands." Every hand was put up. "Jean-Claude," said the smuggler, "mount up here, look--they have chosen you for their leader." Master Jean-Claude having done so, saw he was named, and said immediately in a stern voice: "Good! you name me to be your chief. I accept! Let Materne the elder, Labarbe of Dagsburg, Jérome of St. Quirin, Marc Divès, Piorette the sawyer, and Catherine Lefèvre, come into the saw-works. We are going to take counsel. In a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, I shall give my orders. Meanwhile, each village must put two men under the orders of Marc Divès, to fetch powder and ball from the Falkenstein." CHAPTER VIII THE LEADER The persons indicated by Jean-Claude Hullin met together in the shed of the Sawyerie, before the great fireplace; a species of good-humor beaming on their faces. "For twenty years have I heard speak of the Russians, Austrians, and Cossacks," said old Materne, smiling, "and I shall not be sorry to see a few within reach of my musket: it gives a change to one's ideas." "Yes," replied Labarbe, "we shall see queer things; the little children of the mountains will be able to relate something of what their fathers and grandfathers did! And the old women, of an evening--won't they tell long tales in fifty years' time?"