"Halt! Who goes there?"
"It is La Renaudie's voice," Pardaillan said to Gabriel.
Then he replied to the challenge,—
"Valois and Lorraine!"
Instantly, La Renaudie on horseback, followed by his little band, debouched from the bypath.
However, he ordered his troops to halt, and rode forward a few steps alone.
Pardaillan imitated him by crying to his people, "Halt!" and riding toward him accompanied only by Gabriel.
One would have said they were two friends in haste to meet after a long separation, rather than two foes ready to meet in deadly conflict.
"I should have already replied to you as I ought," said La Renaudie, as he approached, "if I had not thought that I recognized the voice of a friend. Unless I am greatly mistaken, that visor conceals the features of my dear Pardaillan."
"Yes, it is I, my poor La Renaudie," replied Pardaillan; "and if I may give you a brother's advice, it is to abandon your enterprise, dear friend, and lay down your arms at once."