THE MAJOR OF MUSKETEERS.
The whole of our regiment looked forward with joy and ardour to
entering on this new arena of operations, where we hoped to do deeds
more worthy of us than the futile and desultory conflicts maintained
by the brave, but almost fugitive King Christian, along the shores of
the Lesser Belt; and though at times I caught the old spirit, from
the fire, animation, and example of my comrades, the presence of
Ernestine, and the doubt which overhung the fate of Gabrielle, were
to me a source of great anxiety.
Christian having heard that the Count of Carlstein was with the
Imperialists at the siege of Stralsund, was so gracious as to offer
Ernestine the use of a small vessel with a white flag, that she
might, accompanied by a slender retinue, rejoin him; but she modestly
declined, and requested permission to remain until she could obtain
some certain tidings of her sister; and the king pledged himself,
that between this day and that of the rendezvous at Elsineur, nothing
should be left undone to discover in what direction Count Merodé had
marched.
Ernestine's proud heart was filled with gratitude, and on her knees
she wept and kissed the rough brown hand of the warrior king, who
immediately raised her up.
In the cabin of Sir Nikelas Valdemar she stood, amid a group of some
twenty noble ladies of Holstein, all fugitives, and bound for
Zealand; but in her satin hood of that bright yellow, which so finely
became her beautiful black hair, and with her dark, yet timid and
dovelike eyes, my Ernestine was the fairest among that group of fair
ones.
By the isles of Fuhnen and Zealand we were to march for Elsineur,
while the king was to go round with the fleet by sea, and take on
board some of the little garrisons he had left in Faasinge,
Œrœ, and the lesser isles. The ladies on board the _Anna
Catharina_, being anxious to reach the cathedral city of Roschilde or
Copenhagen, landed with us at Faaborg, from whence they proceeded at
once towards their various destinations; some in caleches, others by
waggon, the usual vehicle of the country, for transmission from place
to place.
The Baron Karl had kindly placed his gilded caleche with its two
sturdy switch-tailed Holsteiners at the service of Ernestine, so long
as she might require them, and, having no other means of protection,
she resolved with her female attendants to travel with our column
towards Elsineur. The circumstance of her being with us, thrown in a
manner so isolated, completely under my wardship (a beautiful young
girl under the charge of a young fellow of three-and-twenty--and that
young fellow an officer), certainly made me think, that, if we were
married, a great deal of trouble in the mode of travelling, and
expense in the matter of billets, might be saved; but her unprotected
state, the distance from her father, and the mystery that overhung
her sister's fate, compelled me to keep such occasional thoughts to
myself.
Ernestine placed perfect confidence in every soldier of our regiment,
and there were not less than a hundred tall gillies in my own
company, each of whom considered it their bounden duty to risk life
and limb, if necessary, in defence of the foreign lady who was the
kinswoman of their captain, and consequently the kinswoman of every
one who bore the name of Rollo or M'Farquhar.
On the morning we landed at Faaborg, a beautiful and unclouded sun
arose from a brilliant sea, and its morning light tipped the foamy
waves with purple; even in storms, the waves of that shallow sea are
never so great as those of the outer ocean; but by their fury and
rapidity they are much more dangerous, as they roll through the
narrow straits, to deposit amber on the sands of Courland and on the
Prussian shore.
At the small and unsheltered port of Faaborg, the Danish boats landed
us on the ruinous quay; the little that had survived the time when
the soldiers of Christian III. burned the town, was ill built and
fast decaying. Being situated at the end of a shallow bay, and among
marshes, Ian resolved that we should at once march inland, lest the
effect of a swampy district on our mountaineers in the summer season,
might cause some fatal distemper. As the king had directed him to
halt for four days, that we might recover from the close confinement
of the ships, he marched for Hesinge, a small town which we entered
about mid-day, with our drums beating and pipes playing, to the great
consternation and manifest annoyance of the townsmen and boors; who,
although too cowardly to fight their own battles, gave ever a poor
welcome to those who were good-natured enough to do that favour for
them.
During this ten miles' march, I had frequently walked by the door of
Ernestine's caleche; she was becoming intensely dejected; for to lose
sight of the Baltic seemed like relinquishing all hope of recovering
Gabrielle.
As the regiment drew up in close column under the colours in the main
street of the little town, where all their bright arms flashed in the
sun, as they were ordered on the ground, with the clatter of seven
hundred butts of steel, a well-dressed cavalier, who wore a suit of
peach-coloured velvet, laced with silver, large calf-skin boots, a
broad hat bound with galloon, and garnished by a red feather, with a
sword and pair of pistols in his girdle, rose up from a table under a
beech that stood before the door of the Inn, which was named the
Green-Tree.
While his horse which stood near took corn from a wooden bowl, he had
been regaling himself with a pipe of tobacco and a can of pale
Odenzee beer, when the rat-tat of our drums and the flashing of our
arms, as we marched in, had excited his attention. He came slowly
towards us. I saw him look once or twice into the caleche which
followed the baggage wains, and then, as became a well-bred cavalier,
he touched his beaver to its fair occupant. His figure now seemed
familiar to me.
"Welcome to Hesinge, Captain Rollo," said he, grasping my hand, with
a broad laugh.
"Major Fritz!" I exclaimed; "I thought you were at Vienna."
"Henckers! I was there, long enough, paying the penalty of admiring
a pair of pretty ankles in white stockings."
"Oh--the mask?"
"No more of that--for I cannot, with patience, think of the
outrageous ass I made of myself. However, I escaped; reached
Rostock, disguised as a valet of General Arnheim, and wearing a suit
of his livery, which I purchased at Vienna, took shipping at the
Baltic, reached Nyeborg last week, and was on my way to join the
king, when I now learn that his majesty is sailing round by the Great
Belt for Helsingör. I am most anxious to serve again."
"Christian will gladly receive you."
"'Pon my soul, I would be most happy to take charge of your baggage
guard."
"Thank you, major--but Willie Lumsden, my own lieutenant, has that
duty assigned him."
"I think it would be a very interesting service, notwithstanding the
dust, the noise, and the screeching of the wheels at one's ear. Ay,
faith!" he continued, looking back, "'tis a dainty dame."
"Who--Herr Major?"
"She, with the dark hair and yellow hood in yonder caleche. Those
arms are very like Klosterfiörd's. Surely Karl has not been such a
blockhead as to marry the daughter of old Rantzau--Gunhilda, the
holiday nun--the prudish little sister of St. Knud?"
"Our pistolier is still in the full enjoyment of single blessedness."
"Then whose ware may she be?"
I did not make any answer.
"Your colonel's lady," continued this incorrigible fellow; "for I do
not perceive any other caleche. What! you grow red as a turkeycock!
Zounds--it cannot be--is she thine? my dear fellow, I congratulate
you. Happy dog! I should like to be in your shoes for six hours.
Is she Carlstein's daughter? Faith! she turned the heads of half the
Viennese."
I had some trouble in preserving my countenance and my temper, while
Fritz ran on in this fashion. He quickly perceived this.
"Come," said he; "taste the beer of Odenzee. I drink to you, Herr
Captain. You are a most fortunate dog; but upon my soul I would not
like to have a wife half so pretty."
"Why so, Fritz?" said I, rather amused by his rattling manner.
"Because a girl like Lady Ernestine will never want for lovers. They
will swarm about her, like flies round a honey-pot.'
"But I have the strongest faith in her."
"Faith! oh, that is an excellent and most necessary quality for one
who has ideas of matrimony."
"Come, Herr Fritz--now, do not be impertinent."
"I--impertinent--not for the world."
"Your faith was strong in a pretty mask of black velvet."
"Enough, enough, my boy. I shall say no more," said he, clinking his
can against mine; "my faith was not strong; but I am not the first
man who has been led out of his way by seeing a mincing step, a
lifted skirt, and a pair of pretty ankles, encased in spotless white
stockings. Der Teufel! no. By the by, do you mean to beat up the
Imperialists in this neighbourhood?"
"Imperialists here--in Odenzee--on this side of the Belt?"
"They are in every region but the Infernal, I believe, which should
be their proper quarter. Is it possible that you do not know that a
regiment of German musketeers occupy the old castle on the Cape of
Helnœsland, about six Danish miles from this?"
"No, and sure I am that M'Farquhar, our lieutenant-colonel, knows
nothing of it either."
"'Tis nevertheless true, though. Count Merodé, with his regiment,
have ensconced themselves there, and have been playing some pretty
pranks among the wives and daughters of our boors for a week past."
"Merodé!" I exclaimed, in a breathless voice, alike thunderstruck,
and overjoyed by this intelligence. "Tell me, if there are any
ladies with him."
"How should I know, my comrade?" asked the major waggishly, as he
filled the beer cans again. "Is one--is that pretty one in the
caleche, not enough for you? But doubt not, that wherever the
Merodeurs are, a large assortment of the weaker vessels are always to
be found."
"Ah, Heavens! Ernestine, be joyful! Think of what I have just
heard!" said I, rushing from the major to the door of the caleche,
where Ian had dismounted and was conversing with her; "our dear
Gabrielle is in yonder castle on the promontory--not two cannon-shots
distant."
"What the devil is all this about?" said Fritz, with a perplexed air,
as he switched his capacious boots; "'pon my soul, 'tis highly
dramatic!"
The eyes of Ernestine were filled with tears.
"Dioul! are you sure of this?" said Ian, whose hand wandered about
the hilt of his long claymore.
"I am sure that at least Merodé is there."
"Enough then," said Ian; "madam, if this Austrian robber does not
surrender your sister to us in four-and-twenty hours--spotless and
unharmed as when he seized her--by the soul of my father! by the
bones that lie under Cairn na Cuihmne! and by the Holy Iron, I will
give his head to the wolves, and his heart to the eagles!"
Honest Ian commenced in German, and gradually slid into his Gaëlic,
consequently, Ernestine understood only the half of what he said; but
enough, however, to be assured, that he meant to rescue her sister at
all hazards.
"May God bless you, kind cousin!" said she placing her hands on his
shoulders, while her dove-like eyes, that beamed with affectionate
admiration, were fixed on his dark and handsome face. "If a brave
heart and a strong hand can save her, Gabrielle is already saved: and
she could not owe her freedom to one she loves better than her
cousin, Ian Dhu!"
"Let Merodé look to himself," continued Ian; "for it is not every day
that he and his ruffianly caterans, have seven hundred Highlandmen to
reckon their accounts with."
Big Phadrig, who was standing near, with his enormous tuagh, or
Lochaber axe, gave it a flourish, and ran to acquaint the regiment
(which had now piled arms) of the pretty piece of work that was
likely to be cut out for it; while Ian assembled M'Alpine, M'Coll,
Kildon, Major Fritz, and several other officers, under the _Green
Tree_, where--assisted by several cans of Odenzee beer--a solemn
council of war was held upon the occasion.
Our suppositions were correct; for, as the sequel proved, poor
Gabrielle was actually that moment Merodé's prisoner in the old
castle of Helnœsland.