He stopped there and stared at me.
"The Sieur de la Tournoire," he repeated, as if the idea of his taking
the Sieur de la Tournoire were a new one.
"You speak, monsieur," said I, quietly, "as if you had not come to these
hills for the purpose of catching him."
He looked at me with a kind of surprise, but said nothing in reply to my
remark. "It is natural," thought I, "for him not to disclose his purpose,
even when there is no use for him to conceal it."
"I take La Tournoire?" he said, presently, half to himself. He stood
thinking for a time, during which I supposed that he was considering the
propriety of his personally making the capture, in view of the plan that
I had overheard Montignac suggest to the governor, namely, that the spy
should merely lure La Tournoire into an ambush where the governor's
soldiers should make the seizure. The spy had doubtless received orders
strictly in accordance with this plan, La Tournoire being considered too
great game to be bagged by anything less than a company of soldiers.
"Why not?" said I. "Whoever does so will receive a good price in
addition to the gratitude of M. de la Chatre and that of the Duke of
Guise. Indeed, the feat might even win you back the King's favor, which
you say you have lost."
"But suppose Montignac has other plans for the capture of this highly
valued rebel?" said he.
"If he had," said I, thinking of the arrangement as to the ambush, "they
were made in the belief that La Tournoire was not to be taken by one man
with a few hired knaves.
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