"You will be so treated, monsieur," said the princess. "You will have the city for your prison; but you must swear to make no attempt to leave the city." "I will swear whatever your Highness chooses to demand." "'T is well. Lenet, repeat the formula to monsieur; we will receive his oath." Lenet dictated the terms of the oath which Cauvignac was required to take. Cauvignac raised his hand and solemnly swore that he would not leave the city until relieved from his oath. "You may now withdraw," said the princess; "we rely upon your honor as a gentleman and a soldier." Cauvignac did not wait to be told twice; but as he went out he detected a gesture of the councillor which signified:-- "He has put us in the wrong, madame; this is what comes of a niggardly policy." The fact is that Lenet, who was quick to appreciate merit of every variety, recognized Cauvignac's exceeding shrewdness, and, for the very reason that he was in no wise deceived by any of his specious arguments, admired the skill with which the prisoner had extricated himself from one of the most difficult dilemmas in which a turn-coat could be involved. Cauvignac meanwhile went slowly downstairs deep in thought, with his chin in his hand, saying to himself: "Now the question is how I can sell them my hundred and fifty men again for a hundred thousand livres, which is quite possible, as the upright and intelligent Ferguzon has obtained full liberty for himself and his men. I shall find an opportunity one day or another. After all, I see that I did not make such a very great blunder in allowing myself to be taken as I at first thought." XVIII. Let us now take a step backward, and direct the attention of our readers to the events that had taken place at Vayres, with which they are as yet only imperfectly acquainted. After several assaults, which were the more terrible in that the royalist general sacrificed his men recklessly in order to save time, the outworks were carried; but their brave defenders, after contesting the ground foot by foot and heaping up the dead and wounded at the foot of the ramparts, retired by the underground passage, and intrenched themselves in the main fortification. Now Monsieur de La Meilleraie did not fail to realize that, if he had lost five or six hundred men in carrying a wretched earthwork surmounted by a palisade, he was practically certain to lose six times as many in carrying a fort surrounded by stout walls, and defended by a man whose strategic skill and soldierly gallantry he had discovered to his cost.