There rode in my party hither a rattle-brained gallant, bearing a French commission, who ought to prove sufficiently reckless to lend you his companionship.

Faith! but I think it may well suit the fellow.

Besides, if he wore his French uniform it might have weight with the reds." "Who is he ?" asked Heald, doubtfully.

"I seem not to have memory of him." "He calls himself Captain Villiers de Croix, and holds commission in the Emperor's Guard." Scarcely were the words spoken when I was on my feet, all vestige of sleep gone from my eyes.

De Croix was hardly a friend of mine, since late developments, but he had been my comrade for many a league of hard forest travel, and I was unwilling to have him carelessly sacrificed in a venture regarding the danger of which he knew nothing.