The admiral had gone to this charming retreat, to consult with his brother to whom it belonged, and who had joined him there. The aspect of affairs was threatening. The news which they had received from their friends at court, as well as the frequent movements of troops to the Loire, were enough to fill them with suspicion. Attended by fifty horsemen, they rode over to Noyers, and while there an intercepted dispatch from Tavannes, the governor of the province, bade them in ambiguous but significant language look to their safety: “_Le cerf est aux toiles, la chasse est préparée_.” With all secrecy the Huguenot leaders prepared for flight, and though encumbered by women and children, succeeded in escaping to Rochelle (August, 1568). A ford near Sancerre had been left unguarded, and by it the fugitives were able to cross the Loire, and were protected from pursuit by a sudden rise of the waters.[423] “It touched the hearts of all men with sincere commiseration,” says Matthieu, “to witness the lamentable plight in which the first prince of the blood traveled. The heat of the weather was intense; the princess, being great with child, traveled in a litter; the prince had three little children in the cradle; besides which he was accompanied by the admiral and his family, by Andelot and his wife, there being altogether a great number of children and nurses. Their escort consisted of only 150 men.” The enemy followed them so closely as to come in sight of the fugitives, but the swollen river lay between them. The Cardinal of Chatillon, at that time living quietly in his episcopal palace at Beauvais, received timely warning and escaped to England. Joan of Albret, Queen of Navarre, who was threatened in her own estates, also sought a refuge within those walls which already sheltered the Prince of Condé. She brought her son Henry with her, then a boy of 15, and a force of 4000 men, the nucleus of an army that soon swelled to more formidable dimensions than that which had been disbanded a few months before. The command was offered to Henry, but graciously refused by him in favor of his uncle Condé.