In his hand he held a fragment of some stuff
which the moonlight showed him was a piece of the waistcoat he had
worn the night before.
"Halt! fire!"
These words uttered by Hulot in the midst of a silence that was almost
horrible broke the spell which seemed to hold the men and their
surroundings. A volley of balls coming from the valley and reaching to
the foot of the tower succeeded the discharges of the Blues posted on
the Promenade. Not a cry came from the Chouans. Between each discharge
the silence was frightful.
But Corentin had heard a fall from the ladder on the precipice side of
the tower, and he suspected some ruse.
"None of those animals are growling," he said to Hulot; "our lovers
are capable of fooling us on this side, and escaping themselves on the
other."
The spy, to clear up the mystery, sent for torches; Hulot,
understanding the force of Corentin's supposition, and hearing the
noise of a serious struggle in the direction of the Porte
Saint-Leonard, rushed to the guard-house exclaiming: "That's true,
they won't separate."
"His head is well-riddled, commandant," said Beau-Pied, who was the
first to meet him, "but he killed Gudin, and wounded two men. Ha! the
savage; he got through three ranks of our best men and would have
reached the fields if it hadn't been for the sentry at the gate who
spitted him on his bayonet.
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