Grimaud showed his master his forefinger bent.
"Alone?" asked Athos.
Grimaud made the sign yes.
"Gentlemen," said Athos, "she is alone within half a league of us, in the direction of the river."
"That's well," said d'Artagnan. "Lead us, Grimaud."
Grimaud took his course across the country, and acted as guide to the cavalcade.
At the end of five hundred paces, more or less, they came to a rivulet, which they forded.
By the aid of the lightning they perceived the village of Erquinheim.