A movement was at once visible.
"He is extending them on each side," Hector said.

"That is good.

He is going to inclose the peasants, and as from the slope in the ground they cannot see the troops until they are within a hundred yards, he will catch them in a trap." The company moved round, in fact, until they had formed almost a semicircle, then they advanced, closing in as they neared the house.
When they reached the spot where they could be seen by the peasants a trumpet sounded and they ran in.

The peasants, bewildered at seeing the line of soldiers closing in around them, hesitated.

Some were already too drunk to rise from the ground on which they had thrown themselves, the others caught up their arms and ran together.