"Perfectly so, since I am one of their principal leaders."
A flash gleamed in the young general's eye, and he stared at Cartaux.
"How comes it that the citizen-Sectionist is here?" he asked; "is he your prisoner?"
"No, citizen-general," replied Cartaux.
"Did he come under a flag of truce?"
"No."
Bonaparte frowned. "But there must be some reason why he is in your ranks," he said.
"Citizen-general," said Garat, advancing, "I was with one hundred and fifty men, whom I had recruited in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, when we fell in with citizen Morgan and his troops. In order that neither I nor my men should suffer harm, he himself brought me here with a generosity and loyalty deserving of the utmost gratitude. Citizen Morgan, I thank you for the service you have rendered me, and I assert that not only have we no pretext for detaining you here, but that if we did so it would be in flagrant violation of honor and the rights of man. Citizen-general Bonaparte, I therefore ask your permission for the citizen to retire."
And Garat, advancing toward Morgan, clasped his hand, while Bonaparte, waving his hand toward the Sectionist outposts, made a sign to Morgan to return to his men. The latter bowed courteously to Bonaparte and walked slowly off, whistling the air of "La Belle Gabrielle."