MARQUINEZ AND LA COLLEGIALA. 175 



lid, to which city, from the road they had taken, she 

 had no doubt they would proceed. After four or five 

 hours' hard riding, the Spaniards had gained consider- 

 ably on those they were in pursuit of, when they met 

 with some muleteers, who informed them that they 

 were not above ten minutes in rear of the French, 

 but that the latter must have already joined the main 

 body, whose advanced posts were about a mile off. 

 This was a crushing blow to the hopes of La Colle- 

 giala. A moment's reflection, however, was sufficient 

 for her to take a resolution. She struck off the road, 

 and after a few minutes' march across the country, 

 halted, and formed up the squadron in a ploughed 

 field. Then, stripping off her richly - furred pelisse 

 and embroidered forage-cap, she replaced them by a 

 coarse woollen jacket and felt hat, which she had pro- 

 cured from one of the muleteers. Favoured by the 

 darkness of the night, she passed unobserved through 

 the French pickets, and, attracted by the lights in the 

 windows of the guard-room and of the colonel's quar- 

 ters, she directed her steps to the very garden on which 

 Marquinez's prison looked out. Concealed amongst 

 some shrubs, she heard the orders given the sentry ; 

 and convinced that the prisoner whom he was directed 

 to guard could be no other than Marquinez himself, 

 she immediately formed a plan for his rescue, the par- 

 tial success of which we have already seen. 



The fugitives were not fifty yards from the village 

 when they heard the French drums beat to arms. 



