Above this sign were the words, "Marie Lambrequin," no
doubt the man's name.
"Look at that, Clef-des-Coeurs," said Beau-Pied; "it would take you a
hundred years to find out what that accoutrement is good for."
"What should I know about the Pope's uniform?" replied Clef-des-Coeurs,
scornfully.
"You worthless bog-trotter, you'll never learn anything," retorted
Beau-Pied. "Don't you see that they've promised that poor fool that he
shall live again, and he has painted his gizzard in order to find
himself?"
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.
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