The Catholic band pursued him into the water, and one of them seemed inclined to follow his example in swimming; but Moric was by no means unprepared; and snatching from the miscellaneous crowd of arms which surrounded his saddle a long horse-pistol, which fired with a flint and wheel, he took a deliberate aim at the pursuer's horse and shot him in the water. Though the wound was mortal, the horse, luckily for its rider, dashed out of the water before it fell; and Moric, scarcely staying to mark the effect, proceeded calmly and quietly to examine the saddle which he had taken, to rip off the gold lace and velvet which covered it, and to extract from the lining of the bow some twenty gold pieces, which were there stowed away for security.
Laughing at his prize, he rode up to us, and breaking in upon the expressions of gratitude which the merchants were pouring upon me, he pointed to the tops of a thick wood of sapins which were seen it the distance of about two miles, saying,
"We had better ride on that way; for, if these fellows see us remain talking here, they will go down to the bridge and pursue us out of very spite. If we set off quick for the wood, however, they will know that it is useless, and we shall go on in quiet."
His advice was immediately followed; and, turning round on a little elevation before we reached the wood, we had the satisfaction of seeing that the enemy had given up the pursuit, and were slowly proceeding across the country in another direction.
CHAPTER VI.
It was not till we had placed several miles between us and the enemy that the good merchants felt at all satisfied of their security; and they pursued their way with a degree of eagerness which soon brought us into the midst of the sandy tracks in the neighbourhood of Cheperiers. We then came to the banks of a little stream, the name of which I forget; and, as the women and children were now evidently much tired, I assured good Master Vern that there was no farther danger, at least from those who had already attacked him; and, dismounting from our horses upon the banks of the stream, we let the beasts crop the scanty herbage, while we prepared to repose and refresh ourselves from a good store of provisions which the traders had brought with them from the inn. The faces of the women and children were still somewhat pale, both from fear and fatigue, and Martin Vern and his companion looked grave and thoughtful, as I imagined, from the risk their property had just run.
Young Martin, however, who had been as far forward in our little fray with the enemy as if he had been armed with steel from head to foot, looked not a little proud of his exploits, especially as somehow, I do not very well know how, he had got a sharp gash upon the forehead, which bled a little, and promised to leave a military mark upon him that he was not likely easily to get rid of. Seeing the two elder merchants standing apart, busily talking to each other, I advanced to the young man, and, shaking hands with him, complimented him highly upon his courage and promptitude. He grasped my hand again, but said nothing that was audible, while the colour came up bright into his cheek, and he looked confused as well as gratified.
Ere I had well concluded what I had to say, however, Master Vern and his companion came up; and the former took my hand, saying, "Permit me to touch your hand, seigneur, and to offer you my very best thanks for saving us all this day. The landlord of the inn at Cubzac informed us this morning that we might well trust to you; but we poor merchants, going on business from one part of the kingdom to another, are forced in these troublous times to be so careful, that sometimes prudence acts the part of imprudence, and, by refusing to trust when we ought, we do ourselves as much harm as by trusting when we ought not."
Not knowing very well where his harangue was about to lead him, and never having been particularly fond of thanks of any kind, I took the first opportunity of replying, that what I had done was a mere nothing, a piece of common humanity; and I added, laughing, "To-day's adventure, good sir, should teach you Catholics to treat us poor Protestants somewhat better than you do; for here you have been attacked, though unarmed, and would doubtless have been plundered by your own party, while you have been defended by Protestants only because you were unoffending people."
"Oh, sir," said both the merchants at once, "we are not the sort of Catholics you take us for. We look upon the Protestants just as much like brethren as they do each other. We see no reason why any man should be condemned for worshipping God in his own way."