"If we could reach a village," I gasped, "the people might be for us!"

"Or against us, monsieur."

On we went across the open stretch of upland, the pace becoming
perceptibly slower, the pursuers approaching steadily nearer. Below us,
white and dusty in the sunlight, wound a broad road, with a high bank on
one side of it.

"If we could get there," remarked Jacques, "we could fight with our
backs to the wall, and the odds are not so heavy."

"Let us try."

The animals responded nobly to our urging, though their nostrils were
blood-red, and their quivering haunches flaked with spume. Panting and
straining, they raced along, so that we gained the road a considerable
distance ahead of our pursuers; but the pace could not be maintained and
Jacques counselled a halt.

"The horses will get back their wind," he said, "and we shall engage at
an advantage. If we go on, the creatures will be completely blown. Only
three against two, monsieur; your father would laugh at such odds!"

"I am not thinking of myself, Jacques, but of the Admiral. The papers
make a coward of me."

"This is the best chance of saving them. Let us wait here. Fortunately
their firearms are useless, and they must trust to the sword. Just fancy