"Well, well, to it at once," cried Wolfstrom, moving towards the door; but ere he reached it he stopped, and, turning to the count said, in a low tone, "Of course you will give my men a day's pay."
"And you a thousand crowns to boot, if we succeed," answered the Count, who knew that there was nothing comparable to gold for quickening his comrade's energies.
"We had better take a hundred men at once," said Wolfstrom, when he heard that they were to be paid; "they are as soon mounted as fifty, and we are then more sure. Fifty can stay to guard the chateau."
D'Aubin made no objection, and Wolfstrom proceeded to give his orders, which were rapidly obeyed by the well-trained veterans still under his command. A fresh horse was provided for D'Aubin, and another for the guide, who, without his consent being asked, was ordered to lead the way, with a trooper on either side, to the spot which D'Aubin described. Two old but nimble jennets from the stable of the Count were led in the rear; and thus the cavalcade issued from the gates of the chateau of Aubin, and took their way towards the dwelling of the unfortunate Eugenie de Menancourt. Scarcely had they proceeded a league, however, when, from the edge of a gentle slope, they perceived three horsemen galloping quickly on a road in the plain below, as if towards the castle they had just left.
The keen eyes of Wolfstrom instantly marked them; but, after gazing at them for a moment, he said, "They are two of my reitters whom I sent yesterday to keep a watch on Armençon; but they have a third man with them, and must bring news. We must take care that our retreat is not cut off." Thus saying, he detached a trooper to intercept the horsemen by a cross road, and bring them to him, and then halted till they arrived. Two proved, as had been supposed, ordinary reitters of Wolfstrom's band, but the third horseman was an armed servant; and D'Aubin instantly recognised one of the attendants of Beatrice of Ferrara. He was tied upon his horse, and the troopers brought him up pistol in hand. Their report was soon made; they had found him galloping, they said, with such speed towards the castle of Armençon that they thought it right to stop him. He fled like the wind, and they pursued; but at length he was overtaken, and they found upon him a letter, which, not being able to read themselves, they were now in the act of conveying to their leader. The paper, as may be already seen, was the letter of Beatrice of Ferrara to the chatelain of Armençon, and it served to show D'Aubin that his movements were suspected, if not discovered. The servant, however, was now in such bodily fear, that he at once informed the Count and his companion, that another messenger had been sent for troops to La Loupe.
"What force have they there, Wolfstrom?" demanded D'Aubin. "Do you know?"
"Certainly not two hundred men!" replied the leader of the reitters.
"Then there is, first, the probability that the commander will not listen to the request of this wild girl," said the Count; "next, he will certainly not dare to detach more than fifty men, and we are here a hundred. Even if she send her own armed people, too, they cannot amount to more than thirty, so that we shall still have great odds. But let me see," he continued, as if a sudden thought struck him, and turning to the servant, he asked, "When did the messenger leave Guery for La Loupe?"
"At the same moment that I left for Armençon," replied the man.
"Then," said D'Aubin, "we shall be there full four good hours before a soldier from La Loupe can be within a league. Let that fellow go, Wolfstrom. You, my good man, ride back with all speed to your mistress, present the Count d'Aubin's humble duty to her, and tell her he is her most devoted slave! Do you hear? There is a piece of gold for you--away!"