THE MERCY OF CAPTAIN FERRAGANT
I had come to a place where the road runs, narrower than ever, between
banks covered with bushes. All at once the perfect loneliness and
silence were broken by three or four men leaping out of the bushes in
front of me and barring the way, one presenting a pistol, another a long
pike, while a third prepared to seize my rein. I instantly spurred
forward, to make a dash for it: at the same time I was conscious that
other fellows had sprung into the road behind me. The knave caught both
reins close to the bit, and hung on under the horse's head, while the
poor animal tried to rear. I drew sword and dagger, and leaned forward
to run this fellow through. As I made my thrust, my senses suddenly went
out in a kind of fire-streaked darkness. As I afterwards learned, I had
been struck on the back of the head with a loaded cudgel by one of the
unseen men behind. When I came to myself I was lying on the earth in a
little bushy hollow away from the road: my hands were tied behind me,
and around each ankle was fastened a rope, of which one of my assailants
held the loose end. These two fellows and their four comrades were
seated on the ground, eating the fowls and drinking the wine and milk I
had provided for the Countess. One of them wore my sword, another had my
dagger. My purse lay empty on the grass, and my horse was hobbled with
the strap from my baskets.
My first thought was of the key. Searching about with my eyes, I
presently saw it, with the other one, at the edge of the bushes, where
they had doubtless been thrown as of no value.
My head was aching badly, but that was nothing to the terror in my heart
for the Countess: if I was hindered from going to her, who was to give
her aid?--nay, who was to release her from that dark hiding-place? She
would die for lack of food and air,--her cell of refuge would be her
tomb!
"Ah!" exclaimed one of the robbers; "the worthy young gentleman comes to
life."
"You are right," said I, trying to hit the proper mood in which to deal
with them. "I'm not sorry, either, as I was in some haste to get on. My
friends, as you appear to have emptied me of everything that can be of
any use to you, what do you say to allowing my poor remaining self to go
about my business?"
"And to give information about us as soon as you get to Chateaudun, eh?"
said one.
I was satisfied to let them think I was bound for Chateaudun.
"No," I replied. "Poor as I am, the toll you have collected from me is
not as much as my necessity of finishing my journey. So if you will
untie me, and can find it in your hearts to give me back my horse--or at
worst to let me go afoot,--I will cry quits, and give you my word of
honour to forget you completely."
"You speak well, young gentleman: but it's not to us that you need
speak. We shall be taking you presently to one you can make proposals
to."
"Why should you waste time in taking me to your leader, when you are
quite able to make terms yourselves?" said I. "Come. I can offer him no
more than I can offer you. Suppose it were a hundred crowns: he would
have the lion's share of it, and you poor fellows would get but a small
part. If I deal with you alone, he need be never the wiser, and you will
have the whole sum to divide among you."
"And how would you get the five hundred crowns?"
"I said one hundred: I would get them by going for them: I would give
you my promise on the honour of a gentleman."
The ruffians laughed. "No," said the one who had spoken most. "You would
have to stay with us, and send for them. And our leader is the one to
manage that. He will make you a fine, fair offer, no doubt."
My heart sank. I tried persuasion, but nothing could move them.
Doubtless each was afraid of the others, or they were very strongly
under the dominion of their chief.
I asked them to give me back my keys, whereupon one of them put the keys
in his own wallet. They finished the food and drink, and made ready to
depart. Their preparations consisted mainly of blindfolding me with a
thick band of cloth, putting me on my horse, and tying together under
the animal's belly the ropes that bound my ankles. Then a man mounted
behind me, I heard another take the rein to lead, the horse was turned
around several times so as to confuse my sense of direction, and we set
off. We presently crossed a stream, and a little later I knew by sound
and smell that we were in the forest. When we had traversed a part of
it, the horse was again turned around twice or thrice, and we continued
on our way. All the time I was thinking of her who waited for me in the
darkness of her tomb-like prison.
At last, by feeling the sun upon me and by other signs, I knew that we
had come to a space clear of trees. We stopped a moment, and I heard
calls exchanged and a gate opened; and then my horse's feet passed from
turf to a very rough, irregular pavement. The sound of horses in their
stalls at one side, the cooing of pigeons at the other, the gate, the
rude paving, the remote situation, all taken together informed me that
we were in an enclosed farm-yard. We stopped a second time, and my ankle
ropes being then detached from each other, I was hauled down from the
horse. The men with me were now greeted by others, who came apparently
from the side buildings. I was led forward into a stone-floored passage,
where I had to sit on a bench, guarded by I know not how many, while one
went up a flight of stairs near at hand, evidently to give an account of
their prize to somebody in authority. Presently a voice from above
called down, "Bring the prisoner hither," and I was taken upstairs and
through a doorway.
My entrance drew an ejaculation from a person already in the room, who
thereupon gave orders in a low voice. I was made to sit on the floor,
and my ankles were tied close together. A chain was then wound
ingeniously about my ankle-bonds, my legs, and the cords at my wrists;
passed through a hole in the floor and around a cross beam, and finally
fastened with a padlock, in such a way that I was secured beyond power
of extricating myself.
"Now, go, and wait in the passage," said the voice in which the previous
orders had been given. "But first take that rag from his eyes. He may as
well see: it will amuse him, and will not hurt us,--I will take care of
that."
The band was removed, and I found myself in a bare, plastered room with
a barred window. In front of me stood a large man with a mask on his
face. Where the mask ended, his beard began, so that he presented a
visage entirely of black. The robbers who had brought me hither went
out, closing the door, and I was left alone with this man.
He regarded me a moment; then dropped into a chair, with a low grunt of
laughter.
"That it should be this fool, of all fools!" he began. "Who shall say
there is no such thing as luck? Monsieur, I am sure it will please you
to know into whose hands you have fallen."
He took off his mask, and there was the red-splashed face of Captain
Ferragant.
Surprise made me dumb for a moment, for he had hitherto disguised his
voice. He sat looking at me with a most cruel expression of malevolent
triumph.
"So, this is where you have fled,--and you are the chief of the
robbers!" said I.
"Call me that if you like. It matters nothing what names you prefer to
use. No ears will ever hear them but mine; and mine will not be long
afflicted with the sound."
I shuddered, for I knew the implacability of this man, and my death
meant the death of the Countess,--death in the dark, mouldy basement of
the tower, death by stifling and starvation while she waited in vain for
me, a slow and solitary death, rendered the more agonizing to her mind
by suspense and fears. And this horrible fate must needs be hers just
when the cause of her sorrows and dangers had been removed! It was a
thought not to be endured.
"You will have your jest," said I. "But I see no reason why you should
bear me malice. The Count de Lavardin is now a dead man, I hear. I can
no longer be against him, nor you for him. Therefore bygones should be
bygones, and I suppose you will make terms with me as with any other man
who happened to come before you as I do."
"You do me an injustice, young gentleman: I am not so mercenary,--I do
not always make terms. It is true, I served the Count for pay; that is
what my company is for, and if he had not gone out of his chateau to
hunt his wife, we might have defended the place till the enemy was tired
out. But he allowed himself to be caught in the road,--you have heard
the news, then? What do they say of me?"
"That when you saw the Count was killed, you ran away."
"Yes, I was of no use to the Count then, and his own men in the chateau
were not well inclined toward me. They were for giving up the place, the
moment he was dead. I thought best to save my good fellows for better
service elsewhere."
"Then your company and the band of robbers in this forest are the same?"
"If you call them robbers,--they forage when there is need. I did not
have them all at the chateau. The good fellows who brought you here were
not at Lavardin with me. It is well, when one is in a place, to have
resources outside. And so we meet again, my young interloper! You were
rude to me once or twice at Lavardin. I shall pay you for that, and
settle scores on behalf of my friend the Count as well."
"How much ransom do you want?" I asked bluntly. "Name a sum within
possibility, and let me go for it immediately: you know well you can
rely upon my honour to deliver it promptly at any place safe for both of
us, and to keep all a secret."
"Do not insult me again. I have told you I am above purchase."
Despite his jesting tone, my hope began to fall.
"You are not above prudence, at least," I said. "I assure you there are
people who will move earth and heaven to find what has become of me, and
whose powers of vengeance are not light."
"If I went in fear of vengeance, my child, I should never pass an easy
moment. I have learned how to evade it,--or, better still, to turn it
back on those who would inflict it. I fear nobody. When the game is not
worth the risk, one can always run away, as I did from Lavardin when the
Count's death threw his men into a panic."
"Good God!" I cried, giving way to my feelings; "what will move you,
then? What do you wish me to do? Shall I humiliate myself to plead for
my life? shall I beg mercy? If I must descend to that, I will do so."
For you will remember another life than mine was staked upon my fate,
and time was flying. How long could she endure without food, without
drink, without renewal of air, in that locked-up place of darkness?
"Mercy, I beg," I cried, in a voice broken by fears for her.
"You have hit upon the right way, at last," said the Captain, and my
heart bounded in spite of his continued irony of voice and manner. "You
beg for mercy, you shall have it. I will give you your life, and your
liberty as well: on your part, you will tell me where the Countess de
Lavardin is; as soon as I have made sure you have told the truth, I will
set you free."
I gazed at him in silence.
"Is not that merciful?" said he; "a full pardon for all your affronts
and offences, in return for a trifling piece of information?"
"It is a piece of information I cannot give you," I replied.
"It is a waste of time and words to try to deceive me," said the red
Captain. "A young gentleman who risks so much for a lady as you have
done, and accomplishes so much for her,--yes, they were wonders of
prowess and courage, I admit, and I compliment you upon them,--a young
gentleman who does all that for a lady does not so soon lose knowledge
of her whereabouts. Do not trifle with me, Monsieur. Where is the
Countess? There is no other way by which you can save yourself."
"Do you think, then, a man who has shown the courage and prowess you
mention, for the sake of a lady, would save himself by betraying her?"
"Oh, you are young, and may have many years before you--a life of great
success and honour. There are other beautiful ladies in the world. In a
very short time you can forget this one."
"I think it is for you to forget her," said I on the impulse. "As for
me, I would rather die!"
Ah, yes, it was easy enough to die, if that were all: but to leave her
to die, and in such a manner, was another thing. Yet I knew she would
prefer death, in its worst form, to falling into the unrestrained hands
of the red Captain. The man's eyes, from the moment when he introduced
her name, betrayed the eagerness of his new hope to make himself her
master,--though he still controlled his speech. I say his new hope, for
it must have arisen upon the death of the Count, during whose life, not
daring openly to play the rival, he had found his only satisfaction in a
revenge which provided that none might have what was denied to him. It
was for me to decide now whether she should die or find herself at the
mercy of Captain Ferragant. Was it right that I should decide for her as
she would decide for herself? Was it for me to consign her to death,
though I was certain that would be her own choice? Even though the
Captain found her, was not life, with its possible chance of future
escape, of her being able to move him by tears and innocence, of some
friendly interposition of fate, preferable to the sure alternative doom?
"I will leave you to make up your mind quietly," said the Captain. "When
you are ready to speak to the point, call to the men in the
passage,--one of them will come to me. The door will be left open. I
hope you will not be slow in choosing the sensible course: I cannot give
you many hours for consideration."
He went out, addressed some orders to four or five men who sat on a
bench facing my door, and disappeared: I heard his feet descending the
stairs. My door was left wide open, so that I was directly in the gaze
of the men. But even if I had been unobserved, I could not have moved
from the place where I sat. Any effort to break my bonds, either of
wrist or ankle, by sheer strength, was but to cause weakness and pain.
My arms ached from the constraint of their position, and, because of
them behind me, it was impossible to lie at full length on my back. Nor
would the chain, without cutting into my thighs, permit me to lie on
either side. I was thus unable to change even my attitude.
But my discomforts of body were nothing in presence of the question that
tore my mind. Minutes passed; time stretched into hours: still I
discussed with myself, to which of the fates at my choice should I
deliver her? Should I give her to death, or to the arms of the red
Captain? Little as she feared the first, much as she loathed the second,
dared I take it upon myself to assign her to death? Had it been mere
death, without the horrors of darkness and desertion, without the
anxious wonder as to why I failed her, I should not have been long in
deciding upon that. For that would be her wish, and I should not survive
her. Let us both die, I should have said; for what will life be to her
after she has fallen into the hands of this villain, and what to me
after I have delivered her into them? But the peculiar misery of the
death that threatened her, kept the problem still busy in my mind.
And yet I could not bring myself to yield her to the Captain.
The day had become afternoon, and I still debated. The Countess must
have expected me to return before this time. What was her state now?
what were her conjectures? Ah, thought I, if we had not found our way to
that lonely tower, if the storm had not come up the previous night, if
we had started to leave the forest earlier!--nay, if I had had the
prevision, upon hearing of the presence of robbers, to make her turn
back to Chateaudun with me, and lodge quietly there until the Mother
Superior of the convent could be sounded, and a safe way of approach be
ascertained, all would now be well. We should have heard in the meantime
of the Count's death. Yes, everything had gone wrong since the Countess
had taken the road for the forest. The third of Blaise Tripault's maxims
which he had learned from the monk came back to me with all the force of
hapless coincidence:
"_Never leave a highway for a byway._"
The thought of Blaise Tripault made me think of my father. What a
mockery it was to know that I, chained helpless to the floor in this
remote stronghold of ruffians, was the son of him, the Sieur de la
Tournoire, the invincible warrior before whose sword no man could stay,
and who would have rushed to the world's end to save me or any one I
loved! To consider my need, and his power to help, and that only his
ignorance of my situation stood between, was so vexing that in my
bitterness of soul, regardless of the men in the passage, I cried out to
the empty air, "Oh, my father! If you but knew!"
And then, for a moment, as if the bare wall were no impediment, I saw a
vision of my father, with his dauntless brow and grizzled beard, his
great long sword at his side, riding toward me among green trees.