"Here is the entrance into the woods."
"My lord," said the man, "you saved my life, will you trust yours to me? I know every pathway of these woods, I can take you by a safe road to Busigney if you will take me as your guide; the bypath enters the woods just below here, and once at Busigney you are on the main road again."
For a minute Geoffrey consulted with his comrades, then he turned to the peddler.
"You seem to be an honest man, we will trust you," he said. "Lead on, we accept your services as guide."
The party retraced their steps for about a hundred yards.
"Here is the entrance into the woods," said the peddler, as a leafy avenue dimly disclosed itself on the left side of the road.
They turned into it, and now they were gently and noiselessly traversing the woods by a smoothly turfed trackway.
"To the right," cried the peddler, as they came to a crossway, and Geoffrey perceived that they were now riding in a parallel track to the road they had quitted.
The roar of battle had quieted down, but the wind brought to their ears the exultant shouts of the gueux, the victors in the deadly strife.