Unfortunately, Cavalier was soon obliged to quit the forest, in spite of
his hopes of being left in peace; for one day on his way back from a
visit to the wounded in the cave, whose existence was a secret, he came
across a hundred miquelets who had penetrated thus far, and who would
have taken him prisoner if he had not, with his, accustomed presence of
mind and courage, sprung from a rock twenty feet high. The miquelets
fired at him, but no bullet reached him. Cavalier rejoined his troops,
but fearing to attract the rest of the royalists to the place,--retreated
to some distance from the cave, as it was of the utmost importance that
it should not be discovered, since it contained all his resources.

Cavalier had now reached one of those moments when Fortune, tired of
conferring favours, turns her back on the favourite. The royalists had
often noticed an old woman from the village of Hieuzet going towards the
forest, sometimes carrying a basket in her hand, sometimes with a hamper
on her head, and it occurred to them that she was supplying the hidden
Camisards with provisions. She was arrested and brought before General
Lalande, who began his examination by threatening that he would have her
hanged if she did not at once declare the object of her frequent journeys
to the forest without reserve. At first she made use of all kinds of
pretexts, which only strengthened the suspicions of Lalande, who, ceasing
his questions, ordered her to be taken to the gallows and hanged. The
old woman walked to the place of execution with such a firm step that the
general began to think he would get no information from her, but at the
foot of the ladder her courage failed. She asked to be taken back before
the general, and having been promised her life, she revealed everything.

M. de Lalande put himself at once at the head of a strong detachment of
miquelets, and forced the woman to walk before them till they reached the
cavern, which they never would have discovered without a guide, so