coachman have both got arquebuses. I shall tell them that, should
they be attacked, they are to fire at once, and then the coachman
is to whip up his horses and drive at full speed, while we
endeavour to keep off the assailants."

"That would be of use, if the assailants should be for the most
part on foot, but I think it more likely that they will be
mounted, and however fast this lumbering carriage might go, they
could easily keep up with it. Fight as hard as we may, the
carriage must be overtaken if they are in sufficient force to
overpower us. I should think that it would be well that you should
warn Mademoiselle de Pointdexter that we hear the road is not very
safe, and that, if there is trouble, she is on no account to
attempt to leave the carriage. As long as she remains there she
will run but little risk, for you may be sure that de Tulle will
have issued the strictest orders that no pistol is to be fired in
its direction. I have also little doubt that he has ordered the
baron's life to be respected, because his death would greatly add
to the anger that would be excited by the attack, and would also
put a barrier between him and mademoiselle, who would naturally
regard him with even more hostility than before, as the author of
her father's death. Therefore, I trust that in any case his life
and hers will not be endangered, however numerous our assailants
might be."

"Yes, I have no doubt that that is so, Desmond, though I am sure
that, were I wounded and on the point of death, I would rather
know that Anne had fallen by a chance shot, than that she was in
the power of this villain."