LOOT
I now enter on the final struggle, but before doing so I must
recapitulate if only to remind myself of where stands the tale and how
much yet remains to be told.
It was on the 21st of May and a Sunday. In Paris the lucky Ducatel of
the Roads and Bridges was guiding into the city the first division of
Vinoy's army under the astonished eyes of Thiers and Mac-Mahon who were
looking down from Mont Valerien.
There were in Paris in the Tuileries garden thousands who had come to
listen to a concert for the wounded of the Commune. Disarray, and a
muddling purblindness, kept the Commune talking and talking in the Hotel
de Ville. But the men there at least were honest as other men, and when
they became exiles and prisoners they had brought no spoil away with
them. Men there were among them who, in the midst of the wholesale
slaughter of the Versailles troops, were ready to shoot hostages as did
Rigaut and Ferre, or to burn public buildings when driven out, as the
Russians did at Moscow--but no thieves.
But nowhere, save in one or two towns in the Midi, had the inhabitants
to taste the rule of cosmopolitan rascaldom. The Chanot gang made hardly
any pretext now, even before the people. The band which ruled Aramon
still called itself the Committee of Public Safety, and still met daily
at the town house. But all the men knew that they might just as well
have been named "The Black Band" or the "Gang of Cartouche."
A few belonged to the town and its bordering hamlets--Chanot, Auroy,
Grau. But the great majority were adventurers of all grades and nations,
come from far, and eager to secure and carry away as much booty as
possible from the turmoil. From amongst these, Chanot, quietly ripening
his plans, picked out his attacking force. Each had his price, and
Chanot chose those younger men, almost lads, who being still apprentices
would be content with less, and at the critical moment would not be so
likely to get out of hand.
The Chateau and the Factories were held as before, but now more
strongly, being strengthened by the steady flood-tide of a public
opinion which of all things desired peace. Dennis held to his
determination to allow none but his English, Scots, Irish, and Americans
within the walls. But even this self-denying prohibition strengthened
him and brought other men to his side. The Committee of Public Safety
arrested one or two who were over free with their tongues in the public
debates of the _cafes_. But the prisoners were soon released, the
measure being as useless as unpopular. Besides, they had something else
to think about, these patriots of the loot-bag and the
_pince-monseigneur_.
For all that Chanot made speeches and signed manifestos which were duly
posted. A collection of these is under my eyes as I write, and forms one
of the most amazing monuments of human impudence it is possible to
conceive.
"The work of Social equalisation continues." (Such was the
edict promulgated on this fateful Sunday.) "The ill-gotten
gains of the robbers of the proletariat are slowly being
added to the sums held in trust for the people. The Quartier
St. Jacques began to be visited last week and the results
were so excellent that further perquisitions will be made by
our admirable expropriation brigade.
"The citizens of Aramon are therefore freed from all taxes
of every sort, and the public service of every kind will be
carried on with the suborned wealth restored to its proper
owners.
"During the strike at Creusot, that great oppressor of the
people, Schneider, declared that the stoppage of work was
costing him eight hundred thousand francs a day!--We may
make ourselves happy that the present strike for which we
are responsible is costing at least as much to Deventer and
the bloodthirsty Company which he represents. Let him not
flatter himself because he has escaped so long. His time is
near at hand and his doom terrible and sure.
"A. CHANOT,
"P. CHARDON, &c.
"For the Committee of Public Safety.
"The Mairie, Aramon-les-Ateliers.
"May 21st, 1871."
But on the Monday the proclamation of Thiers to the Mayors of Communes
throughout France, sent on the Sunday night of the entry, reached
Aramon. The text may be given, since the effect was so tremendous and,
indeed, cataclysmic.
"_Versailles, 21st May, 7.30, evening._
"_The gate of St. Cloud has been forced by the fire of our
batteries. General Douai precipitated his command into the
breach. At this moment he is occupying Paris with his
troops. Ladmirault and Clinchant are moving in support._
"A. THIERS."
The message was false in detail, though true in the main fact. A full
week's hard fighting in the streets of Paris lay between the army of
Versailles and the end of the revolt.
But none of those who in the Mairie of Aramon-les-Ateliers bent their
heads over the flimsy message doubted for a moment that the day of their
own doom was at hand. They began to think of the best means of reaching
the most convenient frontier--Italy, Switzerland, or Spain. Some were
limited in their choice, owing to previous troubles with the justice of
otherwise eligible countries. But all, without exception, knew that the
game was up and resolved on flight. Unfortunately the receipts of the
Quartier St. Jacques had not come up to expectation, and a general
blankness overspread the company till Anton Chanot hinted at a final
scheme which would make them rich enough to live years in the safe
seclusion of Barcelona or Genoa. He did not tell all he had planned at
once. He wished to take only a chosen few into his inner secrets, but he
could not make a raid which would involve an armed attack upon the soil
of a hostile department without the whole force at this disposal.
Chanot therefore flashed before the eyes of the committee promises of
boundless loot to be attained by attacking the rich foundation of St.
Andre on the hill over Aramon le Vieux. The church was an ancient one
and the treasury had long been one of the sights of the
neighbourhood--gold cups, patens, _ciboires_, boxes of inlaid
thirteenth-century work, and the jewelled pastoral staff of the saint
himself, ablaze with precious stones--all were there, and of a value
which would make them rich men, and render their exile, so long as they
chose to remain, agreeable and easy.
They must refrain, Chanot added, from any disturbance or looting in the
town itself. If the monks fought, care must be taken of the school, and
the safes in the _econome's_ office, and the treasure of the golden
vessels in the church must alone be touched.
Marseilles was under military law and had been declared in a state of
siege. The troops of General Espivent de la Villeboisnet occupied the
city and constituted a barrier not to be passed. No rogue's paradise
could be found in Marseilles under martial law.
The expedition into the department of Deux Rives, and the attack upon
St. Andre, was therefore their last chance, and it was a great one, of a
comfortable exile.
Chanot and Chardon counted their adherents who could be trusted, who
numbered about thirty, all proven men--not an old "Red," a theoretic
Communard or a National Guard among them. They were chary even of any
whose families were connected with the Small Arms Factory, for the
business must be gone about with the most perfect secrecy.
Meantime Chanot took Chardon more fully into his confidence.
"We will let these fools thresh away at the walls of the _lycee_. I know
a professor there who has a good knowledge of defence. That business
will keep them busy all night. Renard is the man's name. He was in the
Algerian wars--grand high priest he was, or something like that. But
they say that he kilted his petticoats and charged with the regiment. He
will be a hard nut to crack if they get out of bed quick enough to man
the walls."
"But," suggested Chardon, "our business is to take the place before the
man is awake. They will keep no watch."
"Monks and priests are always about at night in a place like St. Andre.
They have midnight Masses, and they take turns to play the spy on the
boys and ushers. Besides" (he beckoned Chardon closer to him and spoke
in his ear) "we do not want them to finish the business too soon!"
"How so?" cried Chardon, much astonished; "the sooner we get our
treasure back the sooner we can divide it and scatter out of Aramon. The
game is up."
"Up, indeed--I believe you," said Chanot; "but what are some fragments
of gold plate? How will they divide those? There will be a battle royal
if it comes to that. Do you want to be there and go running
helter-skelter over the fields with that rabble? No, you and I have
something better on hand. I know where Keller Bey is, his treasure and
his daughter!"
Chardon looked his amazement, but he did not interrupt. Chanot was a
kind of god to him, and it had always been his chief pride to be chosen
as his confidant.
"No," said the Expropriator-in-Chief, "we will choose two other fellows
as determined as ourselves, only more stupid. We will attack the house
where Keller Bey lies. I do not know exactly where it is, but I have a
guide ready--Matteo le Gaucher, you know him? Well, that does not
matter. He has been in hospital but is able for his task now. I have
been cooking him with talk and tobacco all through his illness, and I
wormed the secret out of him. He was not unwilling. I think he was glad
of somebody to confide in, or else he had some vengeance on hand. He is
a little twisted atomy and thinks himself at war with all the world."
"Can you trust him?" demanded Chardon.
"Yes, with a pistol at his ear and a hand on his arm. Otherwise I should
as soon think of trusting him as a Protestant pastor!"
Chardon grinned delightedly and they began to lay out their plans. They
chose the pair who were to share the secret with them.
"We want men of action, not gabblers like Barres. I have a boat ready at
Les Saintes to take us off, we must get fellows who can ride, for if we
are pursued we must borrow horses and make straight across the
Camargue."
"Leduc is of that country," said Chardon, "he could guide us, and Violet
was a rough-rider in the eleventh hussars."
"But are they men to trust?" demanded Chanot, with a sharp suspicion. A
man of the country and an ex-cavalryman might account for Chardon and
himself in that wild country and no one be any the wiser. Besides, who
would trouble themselves about the fate of a couple of fleeing outlaws?
"They are as good as you will get," said Chardon, "and we shall be more
than their match in any case. They cannot get the boat without you, and
without a boat on the coast of Les Saintes a man is like an eel in a
trap. He can get in but he cannot get out."