The next day they again saw horsemen in the distance, but remained in hiding till they had disappeared in the afternoon.

They then went into a village, but scarcely had they proceeded up the street when the doors were opened, and from every house men rushed out armed with flails, clubs, and axes, and fell upon them furiously, shouting "Death to the robbers!" They had evidently received warning that a band of plunderers were approaching, and everything had been prepared for them.

The band fought stoutly, but they were greatly outnumbered, and, as but few of them carried firearms, they had no great advantage in weapons.
Charlie and Stanislas, finding that their lives were at stake, were forced to take part in the fray, and both were with the survivors of the band, who at last succeeded in fighting their way out of the village, leaving half their number behind them, while some twenty of the peasants had fallen.
Reduced now to twelve men and the captain, they thought only of pushing forward, avoiding all villages, and only occasionally visiting detached houses for the sake of obtaining flour.

The country became more thinly populated as they went on, and there was a deep feeling of satisfaction when, at length, their leader pointed to a belt of trees in the distance, and said: "That is the beginning of the forest.

A few miles farther, and we shall be well within it." By nightfall they felt, for the first time since they had set out on their journey, that they could sleep in safety.