Nothing escaped Hullin, and such scenes were not new to him, but Lagarmitte was petrified with wonder.
"How many they are!" he cried.
"Bah!" returned Hullin; "what does that matter? In my time, we annihilated three armies of fifty thousand each of that same race in six months, and we were not one to four. Rest easy, however; we shall not have to kill all these; they will fly like hares. You will see."
These judicious reflections uttered, he turned back to the abatis, and the two followed a path which had been made in the snow a couple of days before. The snow, hardened by the frost, had become ice, and the trees formed an impassable barrier. Below lay the ruined road.
As he appeared, Jean-Claude saw the mountaineers from Dagsberg in groups, twenty paces distant from each other, in round holes like nests which they had dug for themselves. These brave fellows were seated on their haversacks, their fox-skin caps pulled down over their heads and their muskets between their knees. They had only to rise to view the road fifty yards beneath them at the foot of a very slippery slope.
"Ha, Master Jean-Claude! When is the work to begin?"
"Easy, my boys; do not be impatient; in an hour you will have enough to do."
"So much the better."
"Aim well at the height of the breast, and don't expose yourselves more than you can help."
"Never fear for us, Master Jean-Claude."