"Exactly," rejoined Leroux curtly.
"Well," added de Puisaye eagerly, "having disposed of the night-watchmen, what would you do next?"
"Some of us will stay behind on guard in the different sheds, and a score or so will march on the compound, where the rest of our mates are penned up as if they were savage beasts that must be kept in cages."
"Aha! That means another hundred and fifty of you?"
"Yes, another hundred and fifty. There are sentries at the gates of the compound, but we can easily overpower those. The watch will not be quite so strict now that the General has come home."
"Ah!" ejaculated de Puisaye, "matters slacken up at the works when the master is home—what?"
"Not exactly," replied Leroux. "But those military overseers have been absolute brutes. Things cannot be quite so bad now they have gone."
"M. de Maurel is more easy-going, or more indifferent—which?"
Leroux shrugged his shoulders, then said gruffly:
"The General has altered a good deal since he has been away."