"Do you look after your enemies," said Michel, "and rely on me. If it takes you ten minutes to get to Souday it will take me five, I'll answer for that." And the young man shook from his clothes the mud and slime with which he was covered, and prepared to depart. "Do you know the way?" asked Jean Oullier. "Know the way! As well as I do the paths at la Logerie." And darting off in the direction of Souday, he called back, "Good luck to you, Monsieur Jean Oullier!" Jean Oullier stood thoughtful a moment. The knowledge the young baron declared he possessed of the neighborhood of the château greatly annoyed him. "Well, well," he growled at last, "we'll put that in order when we get time." Then addressing Guérin, "Come," said he, "call up the _gars_." The Chouan took off one of his wooden shoes and putting it to his mouth he blew into it in a way that exactly represented the howling of wolves. "Do you think they'll hear that?" asked Jean Oullier. "Of course they will. I chose the farthest place to windward to make sure of it." "Then we had better not wait for them here. Let us get to the Ragot crossways. Keep on calling as you go along; we shall gain time that way." "How much time have we in advance of the soldiers?" asked Guérin, following Jean Oullier rapidly through the brake. "A good half-hour and more. They have halted at the farm of Pichardière." "Pichardière!" exclaimed Guérin. "Yes. They have probably waked up Pascal Picaut, who will guide them. He is a man to do that, isn't he?" "Pascal Picaut won't serve as guide to any one. He'll never wake up again," said Guérin, gloomily. "Ah!" exclaimed Jean Oullier; "then it was he just now, was it?" "Yes, it was he." "Did you kill him?" "He struggled and called for help. The soldiers were within gunshot of us; we had to kill him." "Poor Pascal!" said Jean Oullier. "Yes," said Guérin, "though he belonged to the scoundrels, he was a fine man." "And his brother?" asked Jean Oullier. "His brother?" "Yes, Joseph." "He stood looking on." Jean Oullier shook himself like a wolf who receives a charge of buckshot in the flank. That powerful nature accepted all the consequences of the terrible struggle which is the natural outcome of civil wars, but he had not foreseen this horror, and he shuddered at the thought of it. To conceal his emotion from Guérin he hurried his steps and bounded through the undergrowth as rapidly as though following his hounds. Guérin, who stopped from time to time to howl in his shoe, had some trouble in following. Suddenly he heard Jean Oullier give a low whistle warning him to halt. They were then at a part of the forest called the springs of Baugé, only a short distance from the crossways. XXVI. THE SPRINGS OF BAUGÉ. The springs of Baugé are realty marshes, or rather a marsh, above which the road leading to Souday rises steeply. It is one of the most abrupt ascents of this mountain forest.