They passed through a few small villages, but no place of any importance until, late in the afternoon, they approached Blaye, after a long day's tramp.

As they thought that here they might learn something, of the movements of the large body of Catholic troops Philip had heard of as guarding the passages of the Dordogne, they determined to enter the town.
They passed through the gates, half an hour before they were closed, and entered a small cabaret.

Here, calling for some bread and common wine, they sat down in a corner, and listened to the talk of the men who were drinking there.

It was all about the movements of troops, and the scraps of news that had come in from all quarters.
"I don't know who they can be all arming against," one said.

"The Queen of Navarre has no troops and, even if a few hundreds of Huguenots joined her, what could she do?
As to Conde and the Admiral, they have been hunted all over France, ever since they left Noyers.