He looked first
at Denot, who kept his eyes steadily fixed on the ground; and then at
Santerre, whom he had never, to his knowledge, seen before. Santerre,
however, knew him, for he immediately called him by his name.
"My soldiers have met with a reverse, General de Lescure," said he,
"which has thrown me and them into the power of your friends. I take the
earliest opportunity of thanking you for the kind treatment we have
received."
"If, at some future time, when our soldiers may be in your power, you
will remember it; the Marquis de Larochejaquelin will feel himself amply
repaid for such attention as he has been able to shew you," said de
Lescure.
"You know we were in General Santerre's power last night," said the
Chevalier; "and he could have shot us all had he pleased it; indeed we
all expected it, when the blues came upon us."
"They shall not find that we will be less merciful, Arthur," said de
Lescure. "General Santerre knows that the Vendean royalists have never
disgraced themselves by shedding the blood of the prisoners whom the
chance of war may have thrown into their hands.
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