"It is your division leader who has sent me." "The Marquis de Souday?" "Yes." "Well, what does he want?" "He complains that you attract, by your constant sorties, the attention of the government soldiers, and that you irritate the population of the towns by your exactions, and also that you paralyze the general movement by making it more difficult." "Pooh! why haven't they made their movement sooner? We have waited long enough, God knows! For my part, I've been waiting since July 30." "And then--" "What! is there any more of it?" "Yes; he orders you--" "Orders me!" "Wait a moment; you can obey or not obey, but he orders you--" "Listen to me, Courte-Joie; whatever he orders I here make a vow to disobey it. Now, go on; I'm listening." "Well, he orders you to stay quietly in your quarters till the 24th, and, above all, to stop no diligence nor any traveller on the high-road, as you have been doing lately." "Well, I swear, for my part," replied Maître Jacques, "to capture the first person that goes to-night from Légé to Saint-Étienne or from Saint-Étienne to Légé. As for you, stay here, _gars_ Courte-Joie, and then you can tell him what you have seen." "Oh, no! no!" exclaimed Aubin. "Why not?" "Don't do that, Maître Jacques." "Yes, by God! I will, though." "Jacques! Jacques!" insisted the tavern-keeper; "can't you see it will compromise our sacred cause?" "Possibly; but it will prove to him--that old fox I never chose for my superior--that I and my men are outside his division, and that here, at least, his orders shall never be obeyed. So much for the _orders_ of the Marquis de Souday; now go on to Jean Oullier's message." "I met him as I reached the heights near the bridge at Servières. He asked where I was going, and when I told him, '_Parbleu!_' said he; 'that's the very thing! Ask Maître Jacques if he can move out and let us have his earth-hole for some one we want to hide there.'" "Ah, ha! Did he say who the person was, my Courte-Joie?" "No." "Never mind! Whoever it is, if he comes in the name of Jean Oullier, he'll be welcome; for I know Jean Oullier wouldn't turn me out if it were not for some good reason. He is not one of the crowd of lazy lords who make all the noise and leave us to do the work." "Some are good, and some are bad," said Aubin, philosophically. "When is the person he wants to hide coming?" asked Maître Jacques. "To-night." "How shall I know him?" "Jean Oullier will bring him." "Good. Is that all he wants?" "No; he wishes you to capture all doubtful persons in the forest to-night, and have the whole neighborhood watched, more especially the path toward Grand-Lieu." "There now! just see that! The division commander _orders_ me to arrest no one, and Jean Oullier wants me to clear the forest of curs and red-breeches,--reason the more why I should keep the oath I made just now. How will Jean Oullier know that I shall be expecting him?"