As the next day's journey would be a long one, the start was again made early; and late in the afternoon the little army, which had been joined by two hundred more in the course of the day, arrived within sight of Perigueux.
Five hundred horsemen had ridden forward, two hours before, to secure the bridge.
The seneschal had, after occupying Bergerac, placed horsemen on all the roads leading north, to prevent the news from spreading; and Perigueux, a large and important town, was utterly unprepared for the advent of an enemy.

A few of the troops took up arms and made a hasty resistance, but were speedily dispersed.

The greater portion fled, at the first alarm, to the castle, where D'Escars himself was staying.

He had, only two days before, sent off a despatch to the court declaring that he had taken his measures so well that not a Huguenot in the province would take up arms.
His force was still superior to that of the horsemen, but his troops were disorganized; and many, in their flight, had left their arms behind them, and he was therefore obliged to remain inactive in the citadel; and his mortification and fury were complete, when the seneschal's main body marched through the town and halted, for the night, a league beyond it.
The next day they crossed the Dronne at Brantome, and then turned to the west.

The way was now open to them and, with two thousand men, the seneschal felt capable of coping with any force that could be got together to attack them.