Brulette did her best not to let me see the annoyance she felt at his
departure; but having no heart for talk, she pretended to go to sleep
on the fine sand of the river-bank, her head upon the panniers which
were taken from the mule to rest him, and her face protected from the
flies by a white handkerchief. I don't know whether she slept; I
spoke to her two or three times without getting any answer, and as
she had let me lay my cheek on a corner of her apron, I kept quiet
too, but without sleeping at first, for I felt a little agitated by
her close neighborhood.
However, weariness soon overtook me, and I lost consciousness for a
short time; when I woke I heard voices, and found that the muleteer
had returned and was talking with Brulette. I did not dare move the
apron that I might hear more distinctly, but I held it tightly in my
fingers so that the girl could not have got away even had she wished
to.
"I certainly have the right," Huriel was saying, "to ask you what
course you mean to pursue with that poor lad. I am his friend more
than I can claim to be yours, and I should blame myself for bringing
you, if you mean to deceive him."
"Who talks of deceiving him?" cried Brulette. "Why do you criticise
my intentions without knowing them?"
"I don't criticise, Brulette; I question you because I like Joseph
very much, and I esteem you enough to believe you will deal frankly
with him."
"That is my affair, Maître Huriel; you are not the judge of my
feelings, and I am not obliged to explain them. I don't ask you, for
instance, if you are faithful to your wife."
"My wife!" exclaimed Huriel, as if astonished.
"Why, yes," returned Brulette, "are not you married?"
"Did I say I was?"
"I thought you said so at our house last night, when my grandfather,
thinking you came to talk of marriage, made haste to refuse you."
"I said nothing at all, Brulette, except that I was not seeking
marriage. Before obtaining the person, one must win the heart, and I
have no claim to yours."
"At any rate," said Brulette, "I see you are more reasonable and less
bold than you were last year."
"Oh!" returned Huriel, "If I said a few rather warm words to you at
the village dance, it was because they popped into my head at the
sight of you; but time has passed, and you ought to forget the
affront."
"Who said I recollected it?" demanded Brulette. "Have I reproached
you?"
"You blame me in your heart; or at any rate you bear the thing in
mind, for you are not willing to speak frankly to me about Joseph."
"I thought," said Brulette, whose voice showed signs of impatience,
"that I had fully explained myself on that point night before last.
But how do the two things affect each other? The more I forget you,
the less I should wish to explain to you my feelings for any man, no
matter who."
"But the fact is, pretty one," said the muleteer, who seemed not to
give in to any of Brulette's little ways, "You spoke about the past
last night, and said nothing about the future; and I don't yet know
what you mean to say to Joseph to reconcile him with life. Why do
you object to tell me frankly?"
"What is it to you, I should like to know? If you are married, or
merely pledged, you ought not to be looking into a girl's heart."
"Brulette, you are trying to make me say that I am free to court you,
and yet you won't tell me anything about your own position; I am not
to know whether you mean some day to favor Joseph, or whether you are
pledged to some one else,--perhaps that tall fellow who is lying
asleep on your apron."
"You are too inquisitive!" exclaimed Brulette, rising and hastily
twitching away the apron, which I was forced to let go, pretending to
wake at that moment.
"Come, let us start," said Huriel, who seemed not to care for
Brulette's ill-humor, but continued to smile with his white teeth and
his large eyes,--the only parts of his face which were not in
mourning.
We continued our route to the Bourbonnais. The sun was hidden behind
a heavy cloud and thunder was rumbling in the distance.
"That storm over there is nothing," said the muleteer, "it is going
off to the left. If we don't meet another as we get near the
confluence of the Joyeuse, we shall reach our destination without
difficulty. But the atmosphere is so heavy we must be prepared for
anything."
So saying, he unfolded a mantle, with a woman's hood, new and
handsome, which was fastened on his back, and which Brulette admired
greatly.
"You won't tell me now," she exclaimed, blushing, "that you are not
married,--unless that is a wedding present you have bought on your
way."
"Perhaps it is," said Huriel in the same tone, "but if it comes on to
rain you can take possession of it; you won't find it too heavy, and
your cape is thin."
Just as he predicted, the sky cleared on one side and clouded on the
other; and while we were crossing an open heath between
Saint-Saturnin and Sidiailles, the weather suddenly grew tempestuous,
and we were blown about by a gale of wind. The country itself was
wild, and I began to feel anxious in spite of myself. Brulette, too,
thought the place very dreary, and remarked that there was not a tree
for shelter. Huriel laughed at us.
"Oh! you folks from the wheat-lands!" he cried, "as soon as your feet
touch the heather you think you are lost in the wilderness."
He was guiding us in a bee-line, knowing well all the paths and
cross-cuts by which a mule could pass to shorten the
distance,--leaving Sidiailles on the left, and making straight for
the banks of the little river Joyeuse, a poor rivulet that looked
harmless enough, but which nevertheless he seemed in a hurry to get
over. Just as we had done so, the rain began, and we were forced
either to get wet or to stop for shelter at a mill, called the mill
of Paulmes. Brulette wanted to go on, and so did the muleteer, who
thought we had better not wait till the roads grew worse; but I said
that the girl was trusted to my care, and that I could not have her
exposed to harm; so Huriel, for once, gave in to my wishes.
We stayed there two hours, and when the weather cleared and we were
able to start again the sun was already going down. The Joyeuse was
now so swollen that the crossing would have been difficult; happily
it was behind us; but the roads had become abominable, and we had
still one stream to cross before we entered the Bourbonnais.
We were able to go on as long as daylight lasted; but the night soon
grew so dark that Brulette was frightened, without, however, daring
to say so; but Huriel, perceiving it from her silence, got off his
horse, which he drove before him, for the animal knew the road as
well as he did, and taking the bridle of my cousin's mule, led him
carefully for several miles, watching that he did not stumble,
plunging, himself, into water or sand up to his knees, and laughing
whenever Brulette pitied him and entreated him not to expose himself
for her. She began to discover now that he was a friend in need,
more helpful than her usual lovers, and that he knew how to serve her
without making a show of it.
The country grew more and more dreary; it was nothing but little
grassy slopes cut into by rivulets bordered with reeds and flowers
which smelt good but did not better the hay. The trees were fine,
and the muleteer declared the country richer and prettier than ours
on account of its pasture and fruit lands. But, for my part, I did
not see any prospect of great harvests, and I wished I were at home
again,--all the more because I was not assisting Brulette, having
enough to do in keeping myself out of the ruts and bogs on the way.
At last the moon shone out, and we reached the woods of La Roche, at
the confluence of the Arnon and another river, the name of which I
have forgotten.
"Stay there, on that bit of high ground," Huriel said to us; "you can
even dismount and stretch your legs. The place is sandy, and the
rain has hardly got through the oak-leaves. I am going to see if we
can ford the stream."
He went down to the river and came back at once, saying: "The
stepping-stones are covered, and we shall have to go up as far as
Saint-Pallais to get across. If we had not lost time at the mill we
could have crossed before the river rose, and been at our destination
by this time. But what is done is done; let us see what to do now.
The water is going down. By staying here we can get across in five
or six hours, and reach home by daybreak without fatigue or danger,
for the plain between the two arms of the Arnon is sure to be dry.
Whereas, if we go up to Saint-Pallais, we may stumble about half the
night and not get there any sooner."
"Well, then," said Brulette, "let us stay here. The place is dry and
the weather is clear; and though the wood is rather wild, I shall not
be afraid with you two by me."
"That's a brave girl!" said Huriel. "Come, now let's have supper, as
there is nothing better to do. Tiennet, tie the _clairin_, for there
are several woods all round us and I can't be sure about wolves.
Unsaddle the mules; they won't stray from far the horse; and you, my
pretty one, help me make a fire, for the air is damp and I want you
to sup comfortably and not take cold."
I felt greatly discouraged and sad at heart, I could hardly tell why.
Whether I was mortified at being of no service to Brulette in such a
difficult journey, or whether the muleteer seemed to make light of
me, certain it is I was already homesick.
"What are you grumbling about?" said Huriel, who seemed all the gayer
as we got deeper and deeper into trouble. "Are not you as well off
as a monk in his refectory? These rocks make a fine chimney, and
here are seats and sideboards. Isn't this the third meal you have
had to-day? Don't you think the moon gives a better light than your
old pewter lamp? The provisions are not hurt by the rain, for my
hampers were tightly covered. This blazing hearth is drying the air
all round us; the branches overhead and the moist plants underfoot
smell better, it seems to me, than your cheeses and rancid butter.
Don't you breathe another breath under these great vaulting branches?
Look at them lighted by the flames! They are like hundreds of arms
interlaced to shelter us. If now and then a bit of a breeze shakes
the damp foliage, see how the diamonds rain down to crown us! What
do you find so melancholy in the idea that we are all alone in a
place unknown to you? There is everything here that is most
comforting; God, in the first place, who is everywhere; next, a
charming girl and two good friends ready to stand by each other.
Besides, do you think a man ought to live in a hive all his days? I
think, on the contrary, that it is his duty to roam; that he will be
a hundred times stronger, gayer, healthier in body and mind if he
doesn't look after his own comfort too much, for that makes him
languid, timid, and subject to diseases. The more you avoid heat and
cold the more you will suffer when they catch you. You will see my
father, who, like me, has never slept in a bed ten times in his life;
he has no rheumatism or lumbago, though he works in his shirtsleeves
in the dead of winter. And then, too, is it not glorious to feel you
are firmer and more solid than the wind and the thunder? When the
storm rages isn't the music splendid? And the mountain torrents
which rush down the ravines and go dancing from root to root,
carrying along the pebbles and leaving their white foam clinging to
the bracken, don't they sing a song as gay as any you can dream of as
you fall asleep on some islet they have scooped out around you?
Animals are gloomy in bad weather, I admit that; the birds are
silent, the foxes run to earth; even my dog finds shelter under the
horse's belly; what distinguishes man from beast is that he keeps his
heart gay and peaceful through the battles of the air and the whims
of the clouds. He alone, who knows how by reasoning to save himself
from fear and danger, has the instinct to feel what is so beautiful
in the uproar of nature."
Brulette listened eagerly to the muleteer. She followed his eyes and
all his gestures and entered into everything he said, without
explaining to herself how such novel ideas and words excited her mind
and stirred her heart. I felt rather touched by them, too (though I
resisted somewhat), for Huriel had such an open, resolute face under
all the blacking that he won folks in spite of themselves, just as
when we are beaten at rackets by a fine player we admire him though
we lose the stakes.
We were in no great hurry to finish our supper, for certainly the
place was dry, and when the fire burned down to a bed of hot ashes,
the weather had grown so warm and clear that we felt very comfortable
and quite ready to listen to the lively talk and fine ideas of the
muleteer. He was silent from time to time, listening to the river,
which still roared a good deal; and as the mountain brooks were
pouring into it with a thousand murmuring voices, there was no
likelihood that we could set forth again that night. Huriel, after
going down to examine it, advised us to go to sleep. He made a bed
for Brulette with the mule-pads, wrapping her well up in all the
extra garments he had with him, and talking gayly, but with no
gallant speeches, showing her the same interest and tenderness, and
no more, that he would have shown to a little child.
Then he stretched himself, without cushion or covering, on the bare
ground which was well dried by the fire, invited me to do the same,
and was soon as fast asleep as a dormouse--or nearly so.
I was lying quiet, though not asleep, for I did not like that kind of
dormitory, when I heard a bell in the distance, as if the _clairin_
had got loose and was straying in the forest. I lifted myself a
little and saw him still where I had tied him. I knew therefore it
was some other _clairin_, which gave notice of the approach or
vicinity of other muleteers.
Huriel had instantly risen on his elbow, listening; then he got on
his feet and came to me. "I am a sound sleeper," he said, "when I
have only my mules to watch; but now that I have a precious princess
in charge it is another matter, and I have only been asleep with one
eye. Neither have you, Tiennet, and that's all right. Speak low and
don't move; I don't want to meet my comrades; and as I chose this
place for its solitude I think they won't find us out."
He had hardly said the words when a dark form glided through the
trees and passed so close to Brulette that a little more and it would
have knocked her. It was that of a muleteer, who at once gave a loud
cry like a whistle, to which other cries responded from various
directions, and in less than a minute half a dozen of these devils,
each more hideous to behold than the others, were about us. We had
been betrayed by Huriel's dog, who, nosing his friends and companions
among the dogs of the muleteers, had gone to find them, and acted as
guide to their masters in discovering our retreat.
Huriel tried to conceal his uneasiness; for though I softly told
Brulette not to stir, and placed myself before her, it seemed
impossible, surrounded as we were, to keep her long from their prying
eyes.
I had a confused sense of danger, guessing at more than I really saw,
for Huriel had not had time to explain the character of the men who
were now with us. He spoke to the first-comer in the half-Auvergnat
patois of the Upper Bourbonnais, which he seemed to speak quite as
well as the other man, though he was born in the low-country. I
could understand only a word here and there, but I made out that the
talk was friendly, and that the other was asking him who I was and
what he was doing here. I saw that Huriel was anxious to draw him
away, and he even said to me, as if to be overheard by the rest, for
they could all understand the French language, "Come, Tiennet, let us
say good-night to these friends and start on our way."
But instead of leaving us alone to make our preparations for
departure, the others, finding the place warm and dry, began to
unpack their mules and turned them loose to feed until daybreak.
"I will give a wolf-cry to get them out of sight for a few minutes,"
whispered Huriel. "Don't move from here, and don't let her move till
I return. Meantime saddle the mules so that we can start quickly;
for to stay here is the worst thing we can do."
He did as he said, and the muleteers all ran to where the cry
sounded. Unhappily I lost patience, and thought I could profit by
the confusion to save Brulette. I thought I could make her rise
without any one seeing her, for the wrappings made her look like a
bale of clothes. She reminded me that Huriel had told us to wait for
him; but I was so possessed with anger and fear and jealousy, even
suspecting Huriel himself, that I fairly lost my head, and seeing a
close copse very near us, I took my cousin firmly by the hand and
began to run towards it.
But the moon was bright, and the muleteers so near that we were seen,
and a cry arose,--"Hey! hey! a woman!" and all the scoundrels ran
after us. I saw at once there was nothing to be done but let myself
be killed. So lowering my head like a boar and raising my stick in
in the air, I was just about to deliver a blow on the jaws of the
first-comer which might have sent his soul to Paradise, when Huriel
caught my arm as he came swiftly to my side.
Then he spoke to the others with great vehemence and yet firmness. A
sort of dispute arose, of which Brulette and I could not understand a
word; and it seemed far from satisfactory, for Huriel was listened to
only now and then, and twice one of the miscreants got near enough to
Brulette to lay his devilish paw upon her arm as if to lead her away.
Indeed, if it had not been for my driving my nails into his buck's
skin to make him let go he would have dragged her from my arms by the
help of the rest; for there were eight of them, all armed with stout
boar-spears, and they seemed used to quarrels and violence.
Huriel, who kept cool and stood firmly between us and the enemy,
prevented my delivering the first blow, which, as I saw later, would
have ruined us. He merely continued to speak, sometimes in a tone of
remonstrance, sometimes with a menacing air, and finally he turned
round to me and said in the French language: "Isn't it true, Étienne,
that this is your sister, an honest girl, betrothed to me, and now on
her way to the Bourbonnais to make acquaintance with my family?
These men here, my good friends and comrades in matters of right and
justice, are trying to pick a quarrel with me because they don't
believe this. They fancy that you and I were talking here with some
woman we had just met, and they want to join company. But I tell
them, and I swear to God, that before they insult this young woman by
so much as a word they will have to kill both you and me, and bear
our blood on their souls in sight of God and man."
"Well, what then?" answered one of the wretches, speaking French,--it
was the one who first came in my way, and I was thirsting to deliver
him a blow in the pit of the stomach with my fist that should fell
him to earth. "If you get yourself killed, so much the worse for
you! there are plenty of ditches hereabouts to bury fools in.
Suppose your friends come to find you; we shall be gone, and the
trees and the stones have no tongues to tell what they have seen."
Happily, he was the only real scoundrel in the party. The others
rebuked him, and a tall blond fellow, who seemed to have authority,
took him by the arm and shoved him away from us, swearing and abusing
him in a gibberish that made the whole forest resound.
After that all real danger was over,--the idea of shedding blood
having touched the consciences of these rough men. They turned the
matter off with a laugh, and joked with Huriel, who answered them in
the same tone. Nevertheless, they seemed unwilling to let us go.
They wanted to see Brulette's face, which she kept hidden under her
hood, wishing, for once in her life, that she was old and ugly.
But all of a sudden she changed her mind, having guessed at the
meaning of the words said to Huriel and me in the Auvergne dialect.
Stung with anger and pride, she let go my arm, and throwing back her
hood she said, with an offended air and plenty of courage:
"Dishonorable men! I have the good fortune not to understand what
you say, but I see in your faces that you insult me in your hearts.
Well, look at me! and if you have ever seen the face of a woman who
deserves respect, you may know that you see one now. Shame on your
vile behavior! let me go my way without hearing more of you."
Brulette's action, bold as it was, worked marvels. The tall fellow
shrugged his shoulders and whistled a moment, while the others
consulted together, seeming rather confused; then suddenly he turned
his back on us, saying in a loud voice, "There's been talk enough;
let us go! You elected me captain of the company, and I will punish
any one who annoys Jean Huriel any longer; for he is a good comrade
and respected by the whole fraternity."
The party filed off, and Huriel, without saying a word, saddled the
mules and made us mount; then, going before but looking round at
every step, he led us at a sharp pace to the river. It was still
swollen and roaring, but he plunged right in, and when he got to the
middle he cried out, "Come, don't be afraid!" and then, as I
hesitated to allow Brulette to get wet, he came angrily back to us
and struck her mule to make it go on, swearing that it was better to
die than be insulted.
"I think so too," answered Brulette in the same tone, and striking
the mule herself, she plunged boldly into the current, which foamed
higher than the breast of the animal.