four o'clock
`` All the more glory and credit to us , Montpace , '' Francois said gaily . `` Why , the news that Orleans is captured will send a thrill through France , and will everywhere encourage our friends to rise against our oppressors . We are sure to take them by surprise , for they will believe that all the Huguenots in this part of France are hastening to join the Prince before Paris . '' At four o'clock the party got in motion again and , an hour after dark , entered a little village among the hills , about five miles north of the town . De la Noue at once placed a cordon of sentries , with orders that neither man , woman , nor child was to be allowed to leave it . Orders were issued , to the startled peasants , that all were to keep within their doors , at the peril of their lives . The horses were picketed in the street , and the soldiers stowed in barns ; trusses of straw were strewn round a fire for La Noue , and the gentlemen who followed him .