A
battery, concealed on a height at the farther end of the basin formed
by the ramparts, replied to the first fire of the Chouans by taking
them diagonally on the road to the castle. The balls swept the road.
Then a company of Blues made a sortie from the Saint-Sulpice gate,
profited by the surprise of the royalists to form in line upon the
high-road, and poured a murderous fire upon them. The Chouans made no
attempt to resist, seeing that the ramparts of the castle were covered
with soldiers, and that the guns of the fortress sufficiently
protected the Republican advance.
Meantime, however, other Chouans, masters of the little valley of the
Nancon, had swarmed up the rocks and reached the Promenade, which was
soon covered with goatskins, giving it to Marie's eyes the appearance
of a thatched roof, brown with age. At the same moment loud reports
were heard from the part of the town which overlooks the valley of
Couesnon. Evidently, Fougeres was attacked on all sides and completely
surrounded. Flames rising on the western side of the rock showed that
the Chouans were setting fire to the suburbs; but these soon ceased,
and a column of black smoke which succeeded them showed that the fire
was extinguished. Brown and white clouds again hid the scene from
Mademoiselle de Verneuil, but they were clouds of smoke from the fire
and powder, which the wind dispersed.
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