"God's thunder!" he cried. "Don't smoke upon the powder-cask; wasting
courage for nothing is like carrying water in a basket. Gerard," he
added, in the ear of his adjutant, "get nearer, by degrees, to that
fellow, and watch him; at the first suspicious action put your sword
through him. As for me, I must take measures to carry on the ball if
our unseen adversaries choose to open it."

The Chouan paid no attention to the movements of the young officer,
and continued to play with his whip, and fling out the lash of it as
though he were fishing in the ditch.

Meantime the commandant was saying to Merle, in a low voice: "Give ten
picked men to a sergeant, and post them yourself above us on the
summit of this slope, just where the path widens to a ledge; there you
ought to see the whole length of the route to Ernee. Choose a position
where the road is not flanked by woods, and where the sergeant can
overlook the country. Take Clef-des-Coeurs; he is very intelligent.
This is no laughing matter; I wouldn't give a farthing for our skins
if we don't turn the odds in our favor at once."

While Merle was executing this order with a rapidity of which he fully
understood the importance, the commandant waved his right hand to
enforce silence on the soldiers, who were standing at ease, and
laughing and joking around him. With another gesture he ordered them
to take up arms. When quiet was restored he turned his eyes from one
end of the road to the other, listened with anxious attention as
though he hoped to detect some stifled sound, some echo of weapons, or
steps which might give warning of the expected attack. His black eye
seemed to pierce the woods to an extraordinary depth. Perceiving no
indications of danger, he next consulted, like a savage, the ground at