Page:The Works of Honoré de Balzac Volume 29.djvu/51

Rh ley, with which the reader has had an opportunity of making himself familiar. He appeared to wish to study them more closely, stepping back upon himself, so to speak, quite naturally; but the landscape, it will well be believed, was the last thing he had in view. Marche-à-Terre, on the other hand, took no heed whatever of the officer's manœuvres. One might have supposed that he was fishing in the ditch with a rod and line, from the way he played with his whip handle.

While Gérard was trying in this way to take up his position by the Chouan, the commandant spoke in a low voice to Merle.

"Take ten picked men and a sergeant, and post them yourself up above us, just on that part of the summit on this side where the road widens and makes a kind of plateau; you could see a good long stretch of the road to Ernée from the place. Pick out a spot where there are no woods on either side of the road, so that the sergeant can keep a lookout over the country round. Take Clef-des-Cœurs; he has his wits about him. This is no laughing matter at all; I would not give a penny for our skins if we don't take every advantage we can get."

Captain Merle understood the importance of prompt action, and the manœuvre was executed at once. Then the commandant waved his right hand, demanding absolute silence from his men, who stood round about arousing themselves with chat. He signed to them afresh to shoulder arms, and as soon as everything was quiet again, his eyes traveled from one side of the road to the other; he seemed in hope to detect muffled sounds of weapons or of footsteps, preliminaries of the looked-for struggle, and to be listening anxiously for them. His keen black eyes appeared to penetrate the very depths of the woods in a marvelous way. No sign was forthcoming. He consulted the sand on the road, as savages do, trying every means by which he could discover the invisible foes, whose audacity was known to him.

In despair at finding nothing which justified his fears, he went towards the side of the road, climbed with some diffi-