THE ATTACK ON THE MOUNT
The rock loomed black before them, as the troopers, escorting the
Governor's daughter, rode up to the Mount. Entering the town, at its
base, dark walls on either side of them shut out the broad map of the
heavens and left but a narrow open space above; few lights were
visible, so that many of the houses seemed tenantless; even at the
tavern, unwonted stillness prevailed. Apparently was the return
well-timed; in twisting street and tortuous byway, where hostile faces
had been prone to frown upon the soldiers of his Excellency, emerging
from, or ascending to, the stronghold of the summit, now only chill
drafts of air swept down to greet them; passed on with shrill
whisperings, and died away in the distance.
Nearing the massive portals that opened wide into his Excellency's
realm, my lady suppressed a shiver; but the Marquis, in a low tone
ventured to jest on the depressing and melancholy aspect of the Mount
at that hour. To these light remarks she returned no answer, and he
had just begun to rally her on a certain quietness of spirits, apparent
on the beach and irreconcilable with the circumstances of the moment,
when a sharp exclamation fell from the girl's lips.
In front of them, between the soldiers and the entrance to that upper
part of the Mount, many dark forms had suddenly darted forth; at the
same time from near-by houses came unmistakable sounds of life and
activity; doors were thrown open and windows raised. The town they
thought asleep had merely been watching; now showed its bright eyes in
a multitude of menacing lights around them; below, where likewise a
mysterious marshaling had occurred, from alleys, corners, and hovels,
immediately after the passing of the Governor's party!
"What does it mean?" Again she heard the Marquis' tones, less
confident now, as he turned to the commandant.
"Treachery!" The commandant's voice rang out. "They've broken faith
with us!"
"Dogs!" My lord gazed uncertainly ahead; dubiously behind. "What are
we going to do?"
"Do?" The commandant suppressed an imprecation. "Push on to the upper
gates!"
"To the gates!" cried the Marquis; then wheeled quickly. "But
you--Elise!"
"Never mind me!" she returned, with steady lips and eyes.
There was no time for further words; a sharp order from the commandant
and the troopers spurred forward toward the entrance in the wall and
those whose purpose it was to oppose them.
What happened thereafter the girl was but vaguely cognizant of; reports
of guns, flashing of steel surrounded her; the clattering of hoofs
mingled with the loud shouts of men.
"The Bastille of the North! Down with it!"
This was their battle-cry; on every side she heard it, though hardly
realizing the purport of the words; confused, she listened to her
father's name--her own--bandied about. She wondered why those on the
wall, the soldiers within, did not fire and repel all these people.
Then almost at once came the answer. The troopers' comrades were mixed
in the melee without; she and they, too--so adroitly had the moment for
striking been planned--might be swept down in the volleys from the
ramparts. A cannon boomed above; but its deafening reverberations were
answered only with laughter and jeers-- _Mon dieu_! Did his
Excellency think to frighten them with sound, as if they were timid
children fleeing from thunder? Was his Excellency aiming at stars?
And again that cry: "The Bastille of the North! We, too, will take our
Bastille!"--dominated the clashing of arms and the tumult of strife.
For what seemed an interminable period, the Governor's daughter saw,
through flashes of light, men struggling, striking; then launched
suddenly forward, by an irresistible movement of the horses, found
herself within the gates. The Marquis who had early been separated
from her in the strife, was nowhere in sight. Behind now sounded the
fray; a short distance from the wall, and she looked back; fiercer than
ever, soldiers and people contended within the entrance; beneath the
portals. As she strove to restrain her horse she heard the voice of
her father.
"_Mon pere_! _Mon pere_!" she cried eagerly, divining his face in the
light of lamps on that side of the wall. He answered only with a
laconic command to go at once to the palace; and, regarding his
features, tragically appealing to her at the moment--so strange and
different they seemed!--she prepared to obey. But ere turning: "You
think the soldiers can hold the gate?" she asked.
"Yes; yes!" he replied sharply, as if annoyed at the question.
"But if--"
"There is no 'if'!" said the Governor, and as the girl rode away, his
look, hard, steely, shifting to the soldiers, made quick mental note;
they were holding the gates. Satisfied with the front his men
presented, and, delivering a few brief orders to the commandant whose
valor in rallying his forces had been commendable, his Excellency
walked toward the great stairway leading up to the open space near the
church. Arrived at this high point from which the town unfolded itself
in the starlight and flicker of lamps, he sought, as best he might, to
acquaint himself further with the situation; to judge the numbers of
the assailants and the extent of their preparations.
The scene that met his eyes was not so reassuring as he had expected;
that which until now he had considered but a spasmodic outbreak of a
comparatively few townspeople, excited by the news of the Bastille and
bent on any petty mischief, resolved itself into more than an
orderless, desultory uprising. To his startled gaze the rock, like an
ant-hill disturbed, seemed swarming with life. Even as he peered down,
new relays of men poured upward from dark byways to the reinforcement
of those already gathered at the portals, and, for the first time, his
confidence, bred of contempt for the commonalty, became slightly
shaken. Fate, which had struck him sharply in the capture of his
daughter and the enforced negotiations leading to the release of one he
would have dealt with after his own fashion, now gripped him closer.
What did it portend? Whence came all these people?
Not all of them from the immediate neighborhood! Voices, among the
assailants, had called out in what was surely the Parisian dialect of
the rabble; here to propagate the revolution; extend the circle of
flame! And they had seen that arms were not wanting! Muskets, pikes,
swords, must have been kept concealed for some time in the town at the
base of the Mount or on the shore. In his mind's eye, too late
perhaps, his Excellency could see now how the assault had long been
planned, how all these people had only been waiting. For what? The
opportunity afforded by a treacherous word! Spoken by whom?
But a moment these reflections surged through his brain; an instant,
and his gaze swung around, at towers--turrets--as a magician might
apprehensively survey a fabulous architectural creation, handiwork of
his dark craft, threatened, through an influence beyond his control,
with destruction; then with a quick start, his Excellency wheeled;
walked toward the stairway. About to descend, the sight of a figure
coming up, caused him, however, to pause; in the flare of the light
below, something in the manner of the man's advance impressed the
governor as peculiar.
The movements of this person, who was under-sized, wiry, were agile and
cat-like; first would he stop, look around him and listen; afterward
spring forward a few steps as not quite sure of his course. But still
he came on, keeping as closely as might be to the cover of shadows,
until a growing impression he had seen the fellow before resolved
itself into positiveness in his Excellency's mind. And with the
conviction and a sudden remembrance of the place and the character of
their previous meeting, a definite disinclination to encountering the
figure on the stairs caused the Governor abruptly to draw into the
entrance of the church. There, concealed, impatiently he waited for
the man to pass on, thus affording him the opportunity to slip by and
return to the gate.
Meanwhile, the Lady Elise had repaired to the palace; a prey to
harassing doubts her father's words had failed to remove, she listened
to those sounds of the strife she no longer saw. But that she wished
to obey her father unquestioningly now--at, perhaps, a supreme moment
for both of them!--she could not have remained where she was. Never
had the palace looked so blank and deserted; she rang her bell; no one
answered. The servants had apparently all left--gone, it might be, to
look down on and behold this _guerre a la mort_ waged near the gates.
Or, perhaps, had they all, except the old nurse, fled from the palace,
never to return?
As she asked herself these questions, in the distance the noise of the
conflict grew louder; the shouts of the people more distinct, nearer!
With a sudden premonition of disaster close at hand, the desire to see
what was happening--to know the worst--seized her. No longer could she
remain in her apartments; she must return to the ramparts--to her
father; and then, if need be-- The thought drove some of the color
from her cheek, but in a moment her braver instincts spoke; there awoke
within her the courage and the spirit of her Norman ancestry.
Pale, yet determined, she hastened down the long, dimly lighted
corridor, and was nearing the door leading to the street when it
suddenly opened and a man, tall and dark, showing in his appearance
many signs of the fray, stepped in. At sight of her a quick
exclamation fell from his lips; his bold, anxious eyes lighted. "My
Lady!"
"You!" Her startled glance met his.
"I heard the firing; hastened to the Mount--here! I trust not too
late!"
"Too late!" she repeated wildly. "Where else should the Black Seigneur
be than here, at the Mount--at such a moment!"
"True!" he returned quietly. "Where else?"
She noted not the accent; behind him, through the open space a bright
fork of flame, in the direction of the soldiers' barracks, shot into
the air, and, at the same time, she saw that the officers' quarters and
out-buildings glowed red. The knowledge of what it meant--that her
apprehensions had been realized, sent a shudder through her, and
quickly as the door closed, shutting out the sight, she ran toward the
threshold, one thought in her mind--her father, and where she had last
seen him! That she was seized, held, restrained, seemed but a natural,
though terrible, incident of the moment.
"Pardon, my Lady! In a moment they will be here, and they will not
spare you! Your father is not at the gate; he left before the soldiers
gave way! Believe me, or not--it is the truth! As true as that, if
you go out, they will kill you!"
And did he not want that; why else was he here? The young man's face
darkened; he made an impatient gesture. They were but wasting time;
already were the people close without; one of the assailants, a woman,
had been shot in the assault; the others? Her Ladyship would
understand; if she wished to save herself? His tones vibrated with
strange eagerness. The palace had a rear entrance, of course? Then
had they better flee upward to some place of concealment, and, later,
when the people were concerned most in pillage, endeavor to find a way
to leave the Mount. After that, it would be easy; his ship was
waiting-- Her wild words interrupted; her father--she would go only to
him! She would never leave him now!
That which she proposed was impossible, quickly the young man answered.
The mob--the terrible mob! Did she realize to what she would expose
herself? Did she know the terrible danger? More plainly he told her.
As for her going, it was not to be thought of; he must see she did not
persist in her purpose.
"You?" My lady flashed him a glance. "You!" she repeated. "Whose men
broke faith--"
"That may be!" His voice rang bitterly. "Yet," with stubborn
resolution, "your Ladyship must not go!"
"Must not! And you presume--dare tell me that! You, the--"
"I would there were no need to cross you, my Lady," he returned, when
behind him the door, leading from the street, suddenly opened; closed.
"Elise!" The voice of the Marquis, who had hurriedly entered, rang
out; changed. "_Mon dieu_! What is this?" In the dim light, an
instant my lord stared hard at the man before him; then with drawn
blade threw himself upon him.