The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon. Alexandre Dumas

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      “So the messenger will start toward us?”

      “No, he is already on his way.”

      And indeed, the messenger had begun moving rapidly forward. In just a few seconds he was beside his general.

      “Ah!” Cadoudal said. “Is that you, Monte-à-l’Assaut?”

      The general leaned forward, and Monte-à-l’Assaut whispered a few words in his ear.

      “I have already been warned by Bénédicité,” said George.

      After exchanging several words with Monte-à-l’Assaut, Cadoudal twice more imitated the call of a barn owl and then once again a screech owl. In an instant he was surrounded by his three hundred men.

      “We’re getting close,” he said to Roland, “and we need to leave the highway.”

      Just above the village of Trédion they started out across the fields. Then, leaving Vannes on their left, they reached Trefféan. But instead of following the road into the village, the Breton leader went to the edge of a little woods that extends from Grand-Champ to Larré and ventured no farther. Cadoudal seemed to be waiting for some news.

      A grayish glow appeared in the direction of Trefféan and Saint-Nolff. It was the first glimmer of dawn, but a thick layer of fog arising from the ground made it impossible to see more than fifty steps ahead.

      Suddenly, about five hundred steps away, they heard a cock crow. George pricked up his ears. The Chouans looked at each other and laughed. The cock crowed once more, closer this time. “It’s him,” said Cadoudal. “Answer him.”

      Roland heard a howl three steps away; it imitated a dog with such perfection that the young man, although forewarned, looked around for the animal that was howling so lugubriously. At the same moment, out of the fog, the two horsemen saw a man coming rapidly toward them.

      Cadoudal moved forward a few feet, then raised his finger to his mouth to warn the man to speak quietly. “Well, Fleur-d’Epine,” George asked, “have we got them?”

      “Like a mouse in a trap. Not a single one will return to Vannes if that is your wish, General.”

      “Oh, I could ask for nothing more. How many of them are there?”

      “One hundred men, commanded by General Harty in person.”

      “How many carts?”

      “Seventeen.”

      “Are they far from here?”

      “Approximately three quarters of a league.”

      “What road are they following?”

      “The road from Grand-Champ to Vannes.”

      “That’s exactly what we need.”

      Cadoudal called together his four lieutenants: Branche-d’Or, Monte-à-l’Assaut, Fend-l’Air, and La Giberne. The general gave each his orders, and each in turn gave a screech-owl call to his fifty men.

      The fog was getting thicker and thicker. In less than a hundred steps each band of fifty men disappeared into it like a host of shadows.

      Cadoudal remained with a hundred men and Fleur-d’Epine.

      “Well, General,” asked Roland when Cadoudal returned, “is everything going as planned?”

      “Pretty much,” answered Cadoudal, “and in a half hour you will be able to judge for yourself.”

      “Not if the fog stays as thick as this.”

      Cadoudal looked around him. “In a half hour the fog will have completely dissipated. Shall we use this time to eat a bit and have a morning drink?”

      “Well, General,” said Roland, “I admit that the five or six hours of riding have given me quite an appetite.”

      “And I,” said George, “I don’t mind telling you that I always like to eat as well as I can before battle. When you leave for eternity, it’s best to leave, whenever possible, on a full stomach.”

      “Ah!” said Roland. “You are going to fight?”

      “That’s why I’m here, and since we are dealing with your Republican friends and with General Harty in person, I doubt that they will surrender without a fight.”

      “Do the Republicans know that they will be fighting against you?”

      “They suspect nothing.”

      “So you are planning a surprise for them?”

      “Not completely. Given, as I have told you, that the fog will dissipate in about twenty minutes, they will be able to see us as well as we can see them. Brise-Bleu,” Cadoudal continued, “do you have something to give us for breakfast?”

      The Chouan who seemed to be in charge of food nodded and went into the woods. He came back out, behind him a donkey carrying two baskets.

      A coat was spread out on a little mound, and there Brise-Bleu laid out a roast chicken, a piece of cold salt pork, some bread, and buckwheat crêpes. Since they were on a campaign, he thought it important also to provide the luxury of a bottle of wine and a glass. “There, do you see?” said Cadoudal to Roland.

      Roland need no further invitation. He leaped down from his horse and handed the bridle to a Chouan. Cadoudal did the same.

      “Now,” said Cadoudal, turning toward his men. “You have twenty minutes to do the same as we. Those who have not finished eating in twenty minutes are forewarned that they will be fighting on an empty stomach.”

      As if awaiting this invitation, they all pulled from their pockets a piece of bread and a buckwheat crêpe and, minus the chicken and pork, followed the example of their general and his guest.

      As there was only one glass, Cadoudal and Roland both drank from it. In the light of the dawning day, they ate side by side, just as two hunting friends might.

      From one moment to the next, as Cadoudal had predicted, the fog was becoming less dense. Soon, a half league away on the road from Grand-Champ to Plescop, they could see the force of two hundred Chouans led by Monte-à-l’Assaut, Chante-en-Hiver, La Giberne, and Fend-l’Air.

      Inferior in numbers—fewer than one hundred—the Republicans had stopped and were waiting for the fog to dissipate so they could estimate enemy numbers and determine what kind of force they would be facing.

      At the sight of the Republicans confronting a force three times their strength, at the sight of their blue uniforms, the color that gave them their nickname, the Blues, Roland stood up suddenly. As for Cadoudal, he remained nonchalantly stretched out on the grass, finishing his meal.

      Roland had only to glance at the Republicans to realize they were lost. Cadoudal watched the succession of СКАЧАТЬ