As soon as it was morning, however, the man with the sabre, who had neglected to take the simplest precautions, reviewed the troops.

The contingents were drawn up in line with their backs turned to the plain.

They presented a wonderful medley of costume, some wearing brown jackets, others dark greatcoats, and others again blue blouses girded with red sashes.
Moreover, their arms were an equally odd collection: there were newly sharpened scythes, large navvies' spades, and fowling-pieces with burnished barrels glittering in the sunshine.

And at the very moment when the improvised general was riding past the little army, a sentry, who had been forgotten in an olive-plantation, ran up gesticulating and shouting: "The soldiers! The soldiers!" There was indescribable emotion.

At first, they thought it a false alarm.