The certainty that Bruhl and his captives were not far off, and the
likelihood that we might be engaged within the hour, expelled from the
minds of even the most timorous among us the vapourish fears which had
before haunted them. In the hurried scramble which presently landed us
on the bank of the stream, men who had ridden for hours in sulky
silence found their voices, and from cursing their horses’ blunders soon
advanced to swearing and singing after the fashion of their kind. This
change, by relieving me of a great fear, left me at leisure to consider
our position, and estimate more clearly than I might have done the
advantages of hastening, or postponing, an attack. We numbered eleven;
the enemy, to the best of my belief, twelve. Of this slight superiority
I should have reeked little in the daytime; nor, perhaps, counting
Maignan as two, have allowed that it existed. But the result of a
night attack is more difficult to forecast; and I had also to take into
account the perils to which the two ladies would be exposed, between the
darkness and tumult, in the event of the issue remaining for a time in
doubt.
These considerations, and particularly the last, weighed so powerfully
with me, that before I reached the bottom of the gorge I had decided to
postpone the attack until morning. The answers to some questions which
I put to the inhabitant of the house by the ford as soon as I reached
level ground only confirmed me in this resolution. The road Bruhl had
taken ran for a distance by the riverside, and along the bottom of
the gorge; and, difficult by day, was reported to be impracticable for
horses by night. The castle he had mentioned lay full two leagues away,
and on the farther edge of a tract of rough woodland. Finally, I doubted
whether, in the absence of any other reason for delay, I could have
marched my men, weary as they were, to the place before daybreak.
When I came to announce this decision, however, and to inquire what
accommodation the peasant could afford us, I found myself in trouble.
Fanchette, mademoiselle’s woman, suddenly confronted me, her face
scarlet with rage. Thrusting herself forward into the circle of light
cast by the lanthorn, she assailed me with a virulence and fierceness
which said more for her devotion to her mistress than her respect for
me. Her wild gesticulations, her threats, and the appeals which she
made now to me, and now to the men who stood in a circle round us, their
faces in shadow, discomfited as much as they surprised me.
‘What!’ she cried violently, ‘you call yourself a gentleman, and lie
here and let my mistress be murdered, or worse, within a league of you!
Two leagues? A groat for your two leagues! I would walk them barefoot,
if that would shame you. And you, you call yourselves men, and suffer
it! It is God’s truth you are a set of cravens and sluggards. Give me as
many women, and I would--’
‘Peace, woman!’ Maignan said in his deep voice. ‘You had your way and
came with us, and you will obey orders as well as another! Be off, and
see to the victuals before worse happen to you!’
‘Ay, see to the victuals!’ she retorted. ‘See to the victuals, forsooth!
That is all you think of--to lie warm and eat your fill! A set of
dastardly, drinking, droning guzzlers you are! You are!’ she retorted,
her voice rising to a shriek. ‘May the plague take you!’
‘Silence!’ Maignan growled fiercely, ‘or have a care to yourself! For a
copper-piece I would send you to cool your heels in the water below--for
that last word! Begone, do you hear,’ he continued, seizing her by the
shoulder and thrusting her towards the house, ‘or worse may happen to
you. We are rough customers, as you will find if you do not lock up your
tongue!’
I heard her go wailing into the darkness; and Heaven knows it was not
without compunction I forced myself to remain inactive in the face of a
devotion which seemed so much greater than mine. The men fell away one
by one to look to their horses and choose sleeping-quarters for the
night; and presently M. d’Agen and I were left alone standing beside the
lanthorn, which the man had hung on a bush before his door. The brawling
of the water as it poured between the banks, a score of paces from us,
and the black darkness which hid everything beyond the little ring
of light in which we stood--so that for all we could see we were in a
pit--had the air of isolating us from all the world.
I looked at the young man, who had not once lisped that day; and I
plainly read in his attitude his disapproval of my caution. Though he
declined to meet my eye, he stood with his arms folded and his head
thrown back, making no attempt to disguise the scorn and ill-temper
which his face expressed. Hurt by the woman’s taunts, and possibly
shaken in my opinion, I grew restive under his silence, and unwisely
gave way to my feelings.
‘You do not appear to approve of my decision, M. d’Agen?’ I said.
‘It is yours to command, sir,’ he answered proudly.
There are truisms which have more power to annoy than the veriest
reproaches. I should have borne in mind the suspense and anxiety he was
suffering, and which had so changed him that I scarcely knew him for
the gay young spark on whose toe I had trodden. I should have remembered
that he was young and I old, and that it behoved me to be patient. But
on my side also there was anxiety, and responsibility as well; and,
above all, a rankling soreness, to which I refrain from giving the name
of jealousy, though it came as near to that feeling as the difference
in our ages and personal advantages (whereof the balance was all on his
side) would permit. This, no doubt, it was which impelled me to continue
the argument.
‘You would go on?’ I said persistently.
‘It is idle to say what I would do,’ he answered with a flash of anger.
‘I asked for your opinion, sir,’ I rejoined stiffly.
‘To what purpose?’ he retorted, stroking his small moustache haughtily,
‘We look at the thing from opposite points. You, are going about your
business, which appears to be the rescuing of ladies who are--may I
venture to say it? so unfortunate as to entrust themselves to your
charge. I, M. de Marsac, am more deeply interested. More deeply
interested,’ he repeated lamely. ‘I--in a word, I am prepared, sir, to
do what others only talk of--and if I cannot follow otherwise, would
follow on my feet!’
‘Whom?’ I asked curtly, stung by this repetition of my own words.
He laughed harshly and bitterly. ‘Why explain? or why quarrel?’
he replied cynically. ‘God knows, if I could afford to quarrel with
you, I should have done so fifty hours ago. But I need your help; and,
needing it, I am prepared to do that which must seem to a person of your
calm passions and perfect judgment alike futile and incredible--pay the
full price for it.’
‘The full price for it!’ I muttered, understanding nothing, except that
I did not understand.
‘Ay, the full price for it!’ he repeated. And as he spoke he looked at
me with an expression of rage so fierce that I recoiled a step. That
seemed to restore him in some degree to himself, for without giving me
an opportunity of answering he turned hastily from me, and, striding
away, was in a moment lost in the darkness.
He left me amazed beyond measure. I stood repeating his phrase about
‘the full price’ a hundred times over, but still found it and his
passion inexplicable. To cut the matter short, I could come to no other
conclusion than that he desired to insult me, and aware of my poverty
and the equivocal position in which I stood towards mademoiselle, chose
his words accordingly. This seemed a thing unworthy of one of whom I
had before thought highly; but calmer reflection enabling me to see
something of youthful bombast in the tirade he had delivered, I smiled
a little sadly, and determined to think no more of the matter for the
present, but to persist firmly in that which seemed to me to be the
right course.
Having settled this, I was about to enter the house, when Maignan
stopped me, telling me that the plague had killed five people in it,
letting only the man we had seen; who had, indeed, been seized, but
recovered. This ghastly news had scared my company to such a degree that
they had gone as far from the house as the level ground permitted, and
there lighted a fire, round which they were going to pass the night.
Fanchette had taken up her quarters in the stable, and the equerry
announced that he had kept a shed full of sweet hay for M. d’Agen and
myself. I assented to this arrangement, and after supping off soup and
black bread, which was all we could procure, bade the peasant rouse us
two hours before sunrise; and so, being too weary and old in service to
remain awake thinking, I fell asleep, and slept; soundly till a little
after four.
My first business on rising was to see that the men before mounting made
a meal, for it is ill work fighting empty. I went round also and saw
that all had their arms, and that such as carried pistols had them
loaded and primed. Francois did not put in an appearance until this work
was done, and then showed a very pale and gloomy countenance. I took no
heed of him, however, and with the first streak of daylight we started
in single file and at a snail’s pace up the valley, the peasant, whom I
placed in Maignan’s charge, going before to guide us, and M. d’Agen and
I riding in the rear. By the time the sun rose and warmed our chilled
and shivering frames we were over the worst of the ground, and were able
to advance at some speed along a track cut through a dense forest of
oak-trees.
Though we had now risen out of the valley, the close-set trunks and the
undergrowth round them prevented our seeing in any direction. For a mile
or more we rode on blindly, and presently started on finding ourselves
on the brow of a hill, looking down into a valley, the nearer end of
which was clothed in woods, while the farther widened into green sloping
pastures. From the midst of these a hill or mount rose sharply up,
until it ended in walls of grey stone scarce to be distinguished at that
distance from the native rock on which they stood.
‘See!’ cried our guide. ‘There is the castle!’
Bidding the men dismount in haste, that the chance of our being seen by
the enemy--which was not great--might be farther lessened, I began to
inspect the position at leisure; my first feeling while doing so being
one of thankfulness that I had not attempted a night attack, which
must inevitably have miscarried, possibly with loss to ourselves, and
certainly with the result of informing the enemy of our presence. The
castle, of which we had a tolerable view, was long and narrow in shape,
consisting of two towers connected by walls, The nearer tower, through
which lay the entrance, was roofless, and in every way seemed to be more
ruinous than the inner one, which appeared to be perfect in both its
stories. This defect notwithstanding, the place was so strong that my
heart sank lower the longer I looked; and a glance at Maignan’s face
assured me that his experience was also at fault. For M. d’Agen, I
clearly saw, when I turned to him, that he had never until this moment
realised what we had to expect, but, regarding our pursuit in the light
of a hunting-party, had looked to see it end in like easy fashion. His
blank, surprised face, as he stood eyeing the stout grey walls, said as
much as this.
‘Arnidieu!’ Maignan muttered, ‘give me ten men, and I would hold it
against a hundred!’
‘Tut, man, There is more than one way to Rome!’ I answered oracularly,
though I was far from feeling as confident as I seemed. ‘Come, let us
descend and view this nut a little nearer.’
We began to trail downwards in silence, and as the path let us for a
while, out of sight of the castle, we were able to proceed with less
caution. We had nearly reached without adventure the father skirts of
the wood, between which and the ruin lay an interval of open ground,
when we came suddenly, at the edge of a little clearing, on an old hag;
who was so intent; upon tying up faggots that she did not see us until
Maignan’s hand was on her shoulder. When she did, she screamed out, and
escaping from him with an activity wonderful in a woman of her age, ran
with great swiftness to the side of an old man who lay at the foot of a
tree half a bowshot off; and whom we had not before seen. Snatching up
an axe, she put herself in a posture of defence before him with gestures
and in a manner as touching in the eyes of some among us as they were
ludicrous in those of others; who cried to Maignan that he had met his
match at last, with other gibes of the kind that pass current in camps.
I called to him to let her be, and went forward myself to the old man,
who lay on a rude bed of leaves, and seemed unable to rise. Appealing
to me with a face of agony not to hurt his wife, he bade her again and
again lay down her axe; but she would not do this until I had assured
her that we meant him no harm, and that my men should molest neither the
one nor the other.
‘We only want to know this,’ I said, speaking slowly, in fear lest my
language should be little more intelligible to them than their PATOIS to
me. ‘There are a dozen horsemen in the old castle there, are there not?’
The man stilled his wife, who continued to chatter and mow at us, and
answered eagerly that there were; adding, with a trembling oath, that
the robbers had beaten him, robbed him of his small store of meal, and
when he would have protested, thrown him out, breaking his leg.
‘Then how came you here?’ I said.
‘She brought me on her back,’ he answered feebly.
Doubtless there were men in my train who would have done all that these
others had done; but hearing the simple story told, they stamped and
swore great oaths of indignation; and one, the roughest of the party,
took out some black bread and gave it to the woman, whom under other
circumstances he would not have hesitated to rob. Maignan, who knew
all arts appertaining to war, examined the man’s leg and made a kind of
cradle for it, while I questioned the woman.
‘They are there still?’ I said. ‘I saw their horses tethered under the
walls.’
‘Yes, God requite them!’ she answered, trembling violently.
‘Tell me about the castle, my good woman,’ I said. ‘How many roads into
it are there?’
‘Only one.’
‘Through the nearer tower?’
She said yes, and finding that she understood me, and was less dull of
intellect than her wretched appearance led me to expect, I put a series
of questions to her which it would be tedious to detail. Suffice it
that I learned that it was impossible to enter or leave the ruin except
through the nearer tower; that a rickety temporary gate barred the
entrance, and that from this tower, which was a mere shell of four
walls, a narrow square-headed doorway without a door led into the court,
beyond which rose the habitable tower of two stories.
‘Do you know if they intend to stay there?’ I asked
‘Oh, ay, they bade me bring them faggots for their fire this morning,
and I should have a handful of my own meal back,’ she answered bitterly;
and fell thereon into a passion of impotent rage, shaking both her
clenched hands in the direction of the castle, and screaming frenzied
maledictions in her cracked and quavering voice.
I pondered awhile over what she had said; liking very little the thought
of that narrow square-headed doorway through which we must pass before
we could effect anything. And the gate, too, troubled me. It might not
be a strong one, but we had neither powder, nor guns, nor any siege
implements, and could not pull down stone walls with our naked hands. By
seizing the horses we could indeed cut off Bruhl’s retreat; but he might
still escape in the night; and in any case our pains would only increase
the women’s hardships while adding fuel to his rage. We must have some
other plan.
The sun was high by this time; the edge of the wood scarcely a hundred
paces from us. By advancing a few yards through the trees I could see
the horses feeding peacefully at the foot of the sunny slope, and even
follow with my eyes the faint track which zigzagged up the hill to
the closed gate. No one appeared--doubtless they were sleeping off
the fatigue of the journey--and I drew no inspiration thence; but as
I turned to consult Maignan my eye lit on the faggots, and I saw in a
flash that here was a chance of putting into practice a stratagem as old
as the hills, yet ever fresh, and not seldom successful.
It was no time for over-refinement. My knaves were beginning to stray
forward out of curiosity, and at any moment one of our horses, scenting
those of the enemy, might neigh and give the alarm. Hastily calling
M. d’Agen and Maignan to me, I laid my plan before them, and satisfied
myself that it had their approval; the fact that I had reserved a
special part for the former serving to thaw the reserve which had
succeeded to his outbreak of the night before. After some debate Maignan
persuaded me that the old woman had not sufficient nerve to play the
part I proposed for her, and named Fanchette; who being called into
council, did not belie the opinion we had formed of her courage. In
a few moments our preparations were complete: I had donned the old
charcoal-burner’s outer rags, Fanchette had assumed those of the woman,
while M. d’Agen, who was for a time at a loss, and betrayed less taste
for this part of the plan than for any other, ended by putting on the
jerkin and hose of the man who had served us as guide.
When all was ready I commended the troop to Maignan’s discretion,
charging him in the event of anything happening to us to continue the
most persistent efforts for mademoiselle’s release, and on no account
to abandon her. Having received his promise to this effect, and being
satisfied that he would keep it, we took up each of us a great faggot,
which being borne on the head and shoulders served to hide the features
very effectually; and thus disguised we boldly left the shelter of the
trees. Fanchette and I went first, tottering in a most natural fashion
under the weight of our burdens, while M. d’Agen followed a hundred
yards behind. I had given Maignan orders to make a dash for the gate the
moment he saw the last named start to run.
The perfect stillness of the valley, the clearness of the air, and the
absence of any sign of life in the castle before us--which might have
been that of the Sleeping Princess, so fairy-like it looked against the
sky--with the suspense and excitement in our own breasts, which these
peculiarities seemed to increase a hundred-fold, made the time that
followed one of the strangest in my experience. It was nearly ten
o’clock, and the warm sunshine flooding everything about us rendered
the ascent, laden as we were, laborious in the extreme. The crisp,
short turf, which had scarcely got its spring growth, was slippery and
treacherous. We dared not hasten, for we knew not what eyes were upon
us, and we dared as little after we had gone half-way--lay our faggots
down, lest the action should disclose too much of our features.
When we had reached a point within a hundred paces of the gate, which
still remained obstinately closed, we stood to breathe ourselves, and
balancing my bundle on my head, I turned to make sure that all was right
behind us. I found that M. d’Agen, intent on keeping his distance,
had chosen the same moment for rest, and was sitting in a very natural
manner on his faggot, mopping his face with the sleeve of his jerkin.
I scanned the brown leafless wood, in which we had left Maignan and our
men; but I could detect no glitter among the trees nor any appearance
likely to betray us. Satisfied on these points, I muttered a few
words of encouragement to Fanchette, whose face was streaming with
perspiration; and together we turned and addressed ourselves to our
task, fatigue--for we had had no practice in carrying burdens on the
head--enabling us to counterfeit the decrepitude of age almost to the
life.
The same silence prevailing as we drew nearer inspired me with not a few
doubts and misgivings. Even the bleat of a sheep would have been welcome
in the midst of a stillness which seemed ominous. But no sheep bleated,
no voice hailed us. The gate, ill-hung and full of fissures, remained
closed. Step by step we staggered up to it, and at length reached it.
Afraid to speak lest my accent should betray me, I struck the forepart
of my faggot against it and waited: doubting whether our whole stratagem
had not been perceived from the beginning, and a pistol-shot might not
be the retort.
Nothing of the kind happened, however. The sound of the blow, which
echoed dully through the building, died away, and the old silence
resumed its sway. We knocked again, but fully two minutes elapsed before
a grumbling voice, as of a man aroused from sleep, was heard drawing
near, and footsteps came slowly and heavily to the gate. Probably the
fellow inspected us through a loophole, for he paused a moment, and my
heart sank; but the next, seeing nothing suspicious, he unbarred the
gate with a querulous oath, and, pushing it open, bade us enter and be
quick about it.
I stumbled forward into the cool, dark shadow, and the woman followed
me, while the man, stepping out with a yawn, stood in the entrance,
stretching himself in the sunshine. The roofless tower, which smelled
dank and unwholesome, was empty, or cumbered only with rubbish and heaps
of stones; but looking through the inner door I saw in the courtyard a
smouldering fire and half a dozen men in the act of rousing themselves
from sleep. I stood a second balancing my faggot, as if in doubt where
to lay it down; and then assuring myself by a swift glance that the man
who had let us in still had his back towards us, I dropped it across the
inner doorway, Fanchette, as she had been instructed, plumped hers upon
it, and at the same moment I sprang to the door, and taking the man
there by surprise, dealt him a violent blow between the shoulders, which
sent him headlong down the slope.
A cry behind me, followed by an oath of alarm, told me that the action
was observed and that now was the pinch. In a second I was back at the
faggots, and drawing a pistol from under my blouse was in time to meet
the rush of the nearest man, who, comprehending all, sprang up, and made
for me, with his sheathed sword. I shot him in the chest as he cleared
the faggots--which, standing nearly as high as a man’s waist, formed a
tolerable obstacle--and he pitched forward at my feet.
This balked his companions, who drew back; but unfortunately it was
necessary for me to stoop to get my sword, which was hidden in the
faggot I had carried. The foremost of the rascals took advantage of
this. Rushing at me with a long knife, he failed to stab me--for I
caught his wrist--but he succeeded in bringing me to the ground. I
thought I was undone. I looked to have the others swarm over upon us;
and so it would doubtless have happened had not Fanchette, with rare
courage, dealt the first who followed a lusty blow on the body with a
great stick she snatched up. The man collapsed on the faggots, and this
hampered the rest. The check was enough. It enabled M. d’Agen to come
up, who, dashing in through the gate, shot down the first he saw before
him, and running at the doorway with his sword with incredible fury and
the courage which I had always known him to possess, cleared it in a
twinkling. The man with whom I was engaged on the ground, seeing what
had happened, wrested himself free with the strength of despair, and
dashing through the outer door, narrowly escaped being ridden down by my
followers as they swept up to the gate at a gallop, and dismounted amid
a whirlwind of cries.
In a moment they thronged in on us pell-mell, and as soon as I could lay
my hand on my sword I led them through the doorway with a cheer, hoping
to be able to enter the farther tower with the enemy. But the latter had
taken the alarm too early and too thoroughly. The court was empty. We
were barely in time to see the last man dart up a flight of outside
stairs, which led to the first story, and disappear, closing a heavy
door behind him. I rushed to the foot of the steps and would have
ascended also, hoping against hope to find the door unsecured; but a
shot which was fired through a loop hole and narrowly missed my head,
and another which brought down one of my men, made me pause. Discerning
all the advantage to be on Bruhl’s side, since he could shoot us down
from his cover, I cried a retreat; the issue of the matter leaving
us masters of the entrance-tower, while they retained the inner and
stronger tower, the narrow court between the two being neutral ground
unsafe for either party.
Two of their men had fled outwards and were gone, and two lay dead;
while the loss on our side was confined to the man who was shot, and
Fanchette, who had received a blow on the head in the MELEE, and was
found, when we retreated, lying sick and dazed against the wall.
It surprised me much, when I came to think upon it, that I had seen
nothing of Bruhl, though the skirmish had lasted two or three minutes
from the first outcry, and been attended by an abundance of noise. Of
Fresnoy, too, I now remembered that I had caught a glimpse only. These
two facts seemed so strange that I was beginning to augur the worst,
though I scarcely know why, when my spirits were marvellously raised and
my fears relieved by a thing which Maignan, who was the first to notice
it, pointed out to me. This was the appearance at an upper window of a
white ‘kerchief, which was waved several times towards us. The window
was little more than an arrow-slit, and so narrow and high besides
that it was impossible to see who gave the signal; but my experience of
mademoiselle’s coolness and resource left me in no doubt on the point.
With high hopes and a lighter heart than I had worn for some time I
bestirred myself to take every precaution, and began by bidding Maignan
select two men and ride round the hill, to make sure that the enemy had
no way of retreat open to him.