In the morning when day broke the topsails of these vessels were seen to fill. Soon they were gone.
The hoped-for chance was lost, and lost forever. The tide no longer served; nothing could have been then landed from the English ships, nor could they have remained where they were. Already the galleys armed to the teeth had put out in dozens to attack them. On the horizon there rose the topmasts of a great French fleet coming swiftly from Toulon.
And by Martin's side upon the desolate shore stood Cavalier, the picture of despair.
"The opportunity is gone," he said; "gone also our last chance for making peace. It is war now to the end. Yet had your countrymen but got ashore the struggle would have been over; hampered on all sides, Louis must have yielded, have made terms. God help us all!" and he turned away to bid his followers disperse and make their way back by the routes and by-paths which they knew of to the mountains.
As he did so there came through the crowd of Camisards one whom Martin had seen before, a gaunt, haggard man, with an arm missing--an arm which, it was said, had withered under the cruelties the Abbé du Chaila had practised on this Cévenole while he had him in his power at Montvert, so that, when at last the man was freed, it had to be removed.
"Cavalier," he said, "Cavalier, friend and leader, bid them also hasten on their way; lose no time. You have heard the news?"
"No! What?"
"Montrevel and Julien have forced the passes, taking advantage of our absence. Roland, too, is away. The caverns are besieged. All in them are lost."
"Lost! Pshaw! They will stand a siege of all Louis' armies."
"Ay, they will. But it is not for siege that the battue is arranged. Those in the caverns are caught in a blocus; they can make no sortie. Outside, fires have been made. Hurry! or you will find nothing but smoke-dried corpses when you return."