Presently a mounted officer rode past.
"Ride on! ride on!" he shouted. "The Blues will be here in a minute!"
"We must go, Patsey," Leigh said as, without drawing rein, the officer rode on.
"No, no; wait a few minutes, Leigh. He will surely come soon."
Presently, however, a number of peasants, their faces blackened with powder, ran past.
"The Blues are on our heels!" they shouted. "They will be here in a minute; they are but a hundred yards away."
"Come, Patsey," Leigh said. "Remember your promise. We must go; it is madness waiting any longer."
And as he spoke one of the peasants, running past, fell dead, shot by a musket ball from the rear. Leigh seized Patsey's bridle and, setting his own horse in motion, they rode on. They were but just in time for, before they had ridden two hundred yards Leigh, looking round, saw the Republicans issuing from the town.
"Pull yourself together, Patsey!" Leigh exclaimed. "We may have their cavalry after us, in a minute or two. Remember, Jean trusts you to carry out his instructions."
Patsey drew herself up, struck the horse with her whip, and galloped on at full speed. They soon left the road followed by the rest of the fugitives, and turned down one leading east. The din of battle had ceased now, but a scattered fire of musketry showed that the enemy were engaged in their usual work of shooting all who fell into their hands.