"Is that you, Picaut?" said the man whose knee was on Michel's breast.
"No, not Picaut; it is I," said the new-comer.
"Jean Oullier!" cried the other, with such joy that he raised himself partially, and thus relieved, to some extent, his prisoner. "Really and truly you? Did you actually get away from the red-breeches?"
"Yes, thanks to all of you, my friends. But we have not a minute to lose if we want to escape a great disaster."
"What's to be done? Now that you are free and here with us, all will go well."
"Eight on leaving Montaigu; but the _gars_ of Vieille-Vigne joined us. We must be sixteen or eighteen by this time."
"Wait for the soldiers there, not in ambush but openly. Order fire when they are within twenty paces. Kill all you can,--so much vermin the less."
"As soon as your guns are discharged separate in two bodies,--one to escape by the path to La Cloutière, the other by the road to Bourgnieux. Fire as you run, and coax them to follow you."
"I must get to Souday. I ought to be there now."
"Oh, oh, Jean Oullier!" exclaimed the peasant, doubtfully.
"Well, what?" asked Jean Oullier. "Does any one dare to distrust me?"
"No one says they distrust you; they only say they don't trust any one else."
"I tell you I must be at Souday in ten minutes, and when Jean Oullier says 'I must,' it is because it _must_ be done. If you can delay the soldiers half an hour that's all I want."
"Suppose I can't make the _gars_ wait for the soldiers in the open?"
"Order them in the name of the good God."
"If it were you who ordered them they would obey; but me-- Besides, there's Joseph Picaut among them, and you know Joseph Picaut will only do as he chooses."
"But if I don't go to Souday I have no one to send."
"Let me go, Monsieur Jean Oullier," said a voice from the earth.
"A prisoner I have just made," said Guérin.
"I am the Baron de la Logerie," said the young man, managing to sit up; for the Chouan's grip was loosened and he had more freedom to move and breathe.
"Ah! Michel's son! You here!" muttered Jean Oullier, in a savage voice.
"Yes. When Monsieur Guérin stopped me I was on my way to Souday to warn my friend Bonneville and Petit-Pierre that their presence in the château was known."
"I heard it last evening. I overheard a conversation between my mother and Courtin."