"
The majority of the guests had departed the previous night, but
many yet remained, the guests of Hugo, and with some of the wisest
and most valiant of these he was taking counsel the following
morning how best to track the outlaws, who had dared to commit this
insolent deed, when Etienne appeared to announce that several of
their people had not returned home from the fire, and amongst them
his own fellow page, the minstrel of the previous night, Louis de
Marmontier.
"We will find them; perchance they yet linger there. Bid a troop of
horse be ready."
They mounted, rode, arrived on the scene, and found no one there.
Then they separated in all directions, two or three in each group,
to find their missing comrades.
Etienne and Pierre, with a dozen men at arms--for the baron would
not let them go forth less strongly attended--were eager in the
search, for they loved their companion, and were very anxious about
his safety.
Midway between the castle and the burnt farm, slightly out of the
track, was a huge oak, and around it a slight space clear of
undergrowth. A brook ran close by--a stream of sweet sparkling
water--and Etienne rode thither to give the horses drink, when, as
he approached, he saw the form of a youth leaning down, as if
drinking, and thought he knew the dress.
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