noon
The great Republican General started upon his campaign in the Low Countries as fully satisfied as under the circumstances he could hope to be . Malus and Petit-Jean were not only enlarged but reinstated , he was promised abundant supplies of all descriptions , and he was assured that the Republic approved and endorsed his plan of campaign . La Boulaye , his mission satisfactorily discharged , turned homewards once more , and with an escort of six men and a corporal he swiftly retraced his steps through that blackened , war-ravaged country . They had slept a night at Mons , and they were within a short three leagues of French soil when they chanced to ride towards noon into the little hamlet of Boisvert . Probably they would have gone straight through without drawing rein , but that , as they passed the Auberge de l'Aigle , La Boulaye espied upon the green fronting the wayside hostelry a company of a half-dozen soldiers playing at bowls with cannon-balls . The sight brought Caron to a sudden halt , and he sat his horse observing them and wondering how it chanced that these men should find themselves so far from the army . Three of them showed signs of having been recently wounded .