The insurgents who led the van of that swarming, roaring stream, so vague and monstrous in the darkness, were rapidly approaching the bridge.
"I thought," murmured Miette, "that you would not pass through Plassans ?" "They must have altered the plan of operations," Silvere replied; "we were, in fact, to have marched to the chief town by the Toulon road, passing to the left of Plassans and Orcheres.

They must have left Alboise this afternoon and passed Les Tulettes this evening." The head of the column had already arrived in front of the young people.
The little army was more orderly than one would have expected from a band of undisciplined men.

The contingents from the various towns and villages formed separate battalions, each separated by a distance of a few paces.

These battalions were apparently under the orders of certain chiefs.

For the nonce the pace at which they were descending the hillside made them a compact mass of invincible strength.