At this sally--which was not without some foundation--even Hulot
joined in the general hilarity. At this moment Merle returned, and the
burial of the dead being completed and the wounded placed more or less
comfortably in two carts, the rest of the late escort formed into two
lines round the improvised ambulances, and descended the slope of the
mountain towards Maine, where the beautiful valley of La Pelerine, a
rival to that of Couesnon lay before it.

Hulot with his two officers followed the troop slowly, hoping to get
safely to Ernee where the wounded could be cared for. The fight we
have just described, which was almost forgotten in the midst of the
greater events which were soon to occur, was called by the name of the
mountain on which it took place. It obtained some notice at the West,
where the inhabitants, observant of this second uprising, noticed on
this occasion a great change in the manner in which the Chouans now
made war. In earlier days they would never have attacked so large a
detachment. According to Hulot the young royalist whom he had seen was
undoubtedly the Gars, the new general sent to France by the princes,
who, following the example of the other royalist chiefs, concealed his
real name and title under one of those pseudonyms called "noms de
guerre." This circumstance made the commandant quite as uneasy after
his melancholy victory as he had been before it while expecting the
attack. He turned several times to consider the table-land of La
Pelerine which he was leaving behind him, across which he could still
hear faintly at intervals the drums of the National Guard descending
into the valley of Couesnon at the same time that the Blues were
descending into that of La Pelerine.

"Can either of you," he said to his two friends, "guess the motives of