Everything occurred as De Beauvais had predicted. The authorities in the
little villages we passed glanced at my passport, and as instantaneously
handed it back, and we journeyed like couriers of the Emperor, without
halt or impediment.
We reached Lisieux early in the evening, where, having dismissed the
servant and horses, I took my way on foot towards a small fishing
village, called La Hupe, where at a certain cabaret I was to find my
guide to Biville.
The address of the sailor written on a card, and marked with a peculiar
cipher by De Beauvais, was at once recognized by the old Norman, who
welcomed me with a rude but kindly hospitality.
“Thou art more like a man to make this venture than the last three who
came down here,” said he, as he slowly measured me with his eye from
head to foot. “These priests they sent us never dared even to look at
the coast, much less to descend the cliffs; but thou hast a look about
thee of another fashion. And now, the first thing is to have something
to eat, and I promise thee a _goutte_ of brandy will not be amiss to
prepare thee for what is before thee.”
“Is there, then, so much of danger in the descent?”
“Not if a man's head be steady and his hand firm; but he must have both,
and a stout heart to guide them, or the journey is not over-pleasant.
Art thou cool enough in time of peril to remember what has been told
thee for thy guidance?”
“Yes; I hope I can promise so much.”
“Then thou art all safe; so eat away, and leave the rest to me.”
Although the sailor's words had stimulated my curiosity in the highest
degree, I repressed every semblance of the feeling, and ate my supper
with a well-feigned appearance of easy indifference; while he questioned
me about the hopes of the Bourbon party in their secret machinations,
with a searching inquisitiveness that often nearly baffled all my
ingenuity in reply.
“Ah! _par Saint Denis!_” said he, with a deep sigh, “I see well thou
hast small hope now; and, in truth, I feel as thou dost. When George
Cadoudal and his brave fellows failed, where are we to look for success?
I mind well the night he supped here.”
“Here, said you?”
“Ay, where you sit now,--on the same seat. There was an English
officer with him. He wore a blue uniform, and sat yonder, beneath that
fishing-net; the others were hid along the shore.”
“Was it here they landed, then?”
“Yes, to be sure, at the Falaise; there is not another spot to land on
for miles along the coast.”
The old sailor then began a circumstantial account of the arrival of
George and his accomplices from England; and told how they had one by
one scaled the cliffs by means of a cord, well known in these parts,
called the “smuggler's rope.” “Thou shalt see the spot now,” added he,
“for there's the signal yonder.”
He pointed as he spoke to an old ruined tower, which crowned a cliff
about half a mile distant, and from a loophole in which I could see a
branch of ivy waving, as though moved by the wind.
“And what may that mean?”
“The cutter is in sight; as the wind is off shore, she 'll be able to
come in close to-night. Indeed, if it blew from the westward, she dared
not venture nearer, nor thou, either, go down to meet her. So, now let's
be moving.”
About twenty minutes' walking brought us to the old signal-tower, on
looking from the window of which I beheld the sea plashing full three
hundred feet beneath. The dark rocks, fissured by time and weather, were
abrupt as a wall, and in some places even overhung the waves that rolled
heavily below. Masses of tangled seaweed and shells, which lay in the
crevices of the cliffs, showed where in times of storm the wild waters
were thrown; while lower down, amid fragments of rocks, the heavy beams
and planks of shipwrecked vessels surged with every motion of the tide.
“You cannot see the cutter now,” said the old sailor,--“the setting sun
leaves a haze over the sea; but in a few minutes more we shall see her.”
“I am rather looking for the pathway down this bold cliff,” replied I,
as I strained my eyes to catch something like a way to descend by.
“Then throw thine eyes in this direction,” said the sailor, as he
pointed straight down beneath the window of the tower. “Seest thou that
chain there? Well, follow it a little farther, and thou may'st mark a
piece of timber jutting from the rock.”
“Yes, I see it plainly.”
“Well, the path thou asketh for is beneath that spar. It is a good rope
of stout hemp, and has carried the weight of many a brave fellow before
now.”
“The smuggler's rope?”
“The same. Art afraid to venture, now thou seest the place?”
“You'll not find me so, friend. I have seen danger as close before now,
and did not blink it.”
“Mark me well, then,” said he, laying his hand on my arm. “When thou
readiest that rope, thou wilt let thyself cautiously down to a small
projecting point of rock; we cannot see it here, but thou wilt soon
discern it in the descent. The rope from this goes no farther, for that
spot is nigh sixty fathom below us. From thence the cliff slopes sharply
down about thirty or forty feet. Here thou must creep cautiously,--for
the moss is dry and slippery at this season,--till thou nearest the
edge. Mark me well, now: near the edge thou'lt find a large stone
fast-rooted in the ground; and around that another rope is fastened, by
which thou may'st reach the bottom of the precipice. There is but one
place of peril in the whole.”
“The sloping bank, you mean?”
“Yes; that bit will try thy nerve. Remember, if thy foot slip, there's
nothing to stop thy fall; the cliff is rounded over the edge, and the
blue sea beats two hundred feet below it. And see! look yonder, far away
there! Seest thou the twinkling, as of a small star, on the water?”
“The cutter will throw up a rocket, will she not?”
“A rocket!” repeated he, contemptuously; “that's some landsman's story
thou hast been listening to. A rocket would bring the whole fleet of
boats from Tréport on her. No, no; they know better than that: the
faintest glimmer of a fishing-craft is all they 'll dare to show. But
see how steadily it burns now! we must make the signal seawards.”
“Halloo, Joseph! a light there.”
A boy's voice answered from the upper part of the tower,--the same
figure who made the signal towards the shore, and whose presence there I
had altogether forgotten; and in a few minutes a red glare on the rocks
below showed that the old man's command was obeyed, and the beacon
lighted.
“Ah! they see it already,” cried he, triumphantly, pointing seawards;
“they've extinguished the light now, but will show it again, from time
to time.”
“But tell me, friend, how happens it that the marines of the Guard, who
line this coast, do not perceive these signals?”
“And who tells thee that they do not? They may be looking, as we are
now, at that same craft, and watching Her as she beats in shore; but
they know better than to betray us. Ah, _ma foi!_ the 'contrebande'
is better than the Government. Enough for them if they catch some poor
English prisoner now and then, and have him shot; that contents the
Emperor, as they call him, and he thinks the service all that is brave
and vigilant. But as to us, it is our own fault if we fall in with them;
it would need the rocket you spoke of a while ago to shame them into it.
There, look again,--thou seest how far in shore they've made already;
the cutter is stealing fast along the water. Answer the signal, Joseph.”
The boy replenished the fire with some dry wood, and it blazed up
brilliantly, illuminating the gray cliffs and dark rocks, on which the
night was fast falling, but leaving all beyond its immediate sphere in
deepest blackness.
“I see not, friend, by what means I am to discover this sloping cliff,
much less guide my way along it,” said I, as I gazed over the precipice,
and tried to penetrate the gloomy abyss below me.
“Thou 'lt have the moon at full in less than two hours; and if thou 'lt
take a friend's counsel, thou 'lt have a sleep ere that time. Lay thee
down yonder on those rushes; I 'll awake thee when time comes for it.”
The rather that I resolved to obey my old guide in his every direction,
than from any desire for slumber at such a time, I followed his advice,
and threw myself full length in a corner of the tower. In the perfect
stillness of the hour, the sea alone was heard, surging in slow, minute
peals through many a deep cavern below; and then, gathering for fresh
efforts, it swelled and beat against the stern rocks in passionate fury.
Such sounds, heard in the silence of the night, are of the saddest; nor
was their influence lightened by the low, monotonous chant of the old
sailor, who, seated in a corner, began to repair a fishing-net, as he
sang to himself some ditty of the sea.
How strangely came the thought to my mind, that all the peril I once
incurred to reach France, the hoped-for, wished-for land, I should
again brave to escape from its shores! Every dream of boyish ambition
dissipated, every high hope flown, I was returning to my country as poor
and humble as I left it, but with a heart shorn of all the enthusiasm
that gave life its coloring. In what way I could shape my future career
I was not able even to guess; a vague leaning to some of England's
distant colonies, some new world beyond the seas, being all my
imagination could frame of my destiny. A sudden flash of light,
illuminating the whole interior of the tower, startled me from my
musings, while the sailor called out,--
“Come, wake up, friend! The cutter is standing in close, and a signal to
make haste flying from her mast.”
I sprang to my legs, and looked out. The sea was all freckled with the
moonlight, and the little craft shone like silver, as the bright beams
glanced on her white sails. The tall cliffs alone preserved their gloom,
and threw a dark and frowning shadow over the waves beneath them.
“I can see nothing close to shore,” said I, pointing to the dark rocks
beneath the window.
“Thou'lt have the moon presently; she's rising above the crest of the
hill, and then the cliffs are clear as at noonday. So, make haste! strap
on that knapsack on your shoulder; high up, mind; and give thine arms
full play,--that's it. Now fasten thy shoes over all; thou wert not
about to wear them, surely?” said he in a tone almost derisive. “Take
care, in keeping from the face of the rock, not to sway the rope; it
wears the cordage. And, above all, mind well when thou reachest the
cliff below; let not thy hold go before thou hast well felt thy footing.
See, the moon is up already!”
As he spoke, a vast sheet of yellow light seemed to creep over the whole
face of the precipice, displaying every crag and projection, and making
every spot of verdure or rock brilliant in color; while, many a fathom
down below, the heavy waves were seen,--now rising in all their majestic
swell, now pouring back in their thousand cataracts from every fissure
in the precipice. So terribly distinct did each object show, so
dreadfully was each distance marked, I felt that all its former gloom
and darkness were not one half so thrilling as that moonlight splendor.
“La bonne Marie guard thee now!” said the old seaman, as he wrung my
hand in his strong fingers. “Be steady and cool of head, and there is
no danger; and look not downwards till thou hast got accustomed to the
cliff.”
As he said this, he opened a small door at the foot of the tower stair,
and passing through himself, desired me to follow. I did so, and now
found myself on a narrow ledge of rock, directly over the crag; below,
at about ten feet, lay the chain to which the rope was attached, and to
reach it was not the least perilous part of the undertaking. But in this
I was assisted by the old man, who, passing a rope through a massive
iron staple, gradually lowered me till my hand came opposite the chain.
“Thou hast it now,” cried he, as he saw me disengage one hand and grasp
the iron links firmly.
“Yes, all safe! Good-by, friend; good-by!”
“Wait yet,” cried he again. “Let not go the cord before thou thinkest
a minute or so; I have known more than one change his mind when he felt
himself where thou art.”
“Mine is made up. Farewell!”
“Stay, stay!” shouted he rapidly. “See, thou hast forgotten this purse
on the rock here; wait, and I will lower it with a cord.”
By this time I had grasped the chain firmly with both hands, and with
the resolve of one who felt life depend on his own firmness, I began
the descent. The old man's voice, as he muttered a prayer for my safety,
grew fainter and fainter, till at length it ceased to reach my ears
altogether.
Then, for the first time, did my heart sink within me. The words of one
human being, faint and broken by distance, suggested a sense of sympathy
which nerved my courage and braced my arm; but the dreary silence that
followed, only broken by the booming of the sea below, was awful beyond
measure.
Hand below hand I went, the space seeming never to lessen, as I strained
my eyes to catch the cliff where the first rope ended. Time, as in
some fearful dream, seemed protracted to years long; and I already
anticipated the moment when, my strength failing, my hands would
relinquish their hold, and I should be dashed upon the dark rocks below.
The very sea-birds, which I startled in my descent, wheeled round my
head, piercing the air with their shrill cries, and as if impatient for
a prey. Above my head the frowning cliff beetled darkly; below, a depth
unfathomable seemed to stretch, from whose black abyss arose the wild
sounds of beating waves. More than once, too, I thought that the
rope had given way above, and that I was actually falling through the
air,--and held my breath in horror; then, again, the idea flashed
upon me that death inevitable awaited me, and I fancied in the singing
billows I could hear the wild shouts of demons rejoicing over my doom.
Through all these maddening visions, the instinct to preserve my life
held its strong sway, and I clutched the knotted rope with the eager
grasp of a drowning man; when suddenly I felt my foot strike a rock
beneath, and then discovered I was on the cliff of which the sailor had
told me. In a few seconds the sense of security imparted a thrill of
pleasure to my heart, and I uttered a prayer of thankfulness for my
safety.
But the fearful conviction of greater danger as suddenly succeeded. The
rope I had so long trusted terminated here; the end hung listlessly on
the rock, and from thence to the brow of the cliff nothing remained to
afford a grip save the short moss and the dried ferns withered with the
sun. The surface of this frightful ledge sloped rapidly towards the edge
where was the rock around which the rope was tied.
Fatigued by my previous exertion I sat down on that moss-grown cliff and
gazed out upon the sea, along which the cutter came, proudly dashing
the spray from her bows, and bending gracefully with every wave. She was
standing fearlessly in, for the wind was off the land, and, as she swept
along, I could have fancied her directly beneath my very feet.
Arousing myself from the momentary stupor of my faculties, I began to
creep down the cliff; but so slippery had the verdure become by heat,
that I could barely sustain myself by grasping the very earth with my
fingers. Aloud “Halloo!” was shouted from the craft, and arose in many
an echo around me; I tried to reply, but could not. A second cheer
saluted me, but I did not endeavor to answer it. The moment was full of
peril. I had come to the last spot which offered a hold, and below me,
at some feet, lay the rock, hanging, as it were, over the precipice; it
seemed to me as though a sea-bird's weight might have sent it thundering
into the depth beneath. The moon was on it, and I could see the rope
coiled twice around it, and knotted carefully. What would I have given
in that terrible minute for one tuft of grass, one slender bough, even
enough to have sustained my weight for a second or two, until I should
grasp the cord! But none was there.
A louder cry from the cutter now rang in my ears, and the dreadful
thought of destruction now flashed on me. I fixed my eyes on the rock to
measure the place; and then, turning with my face towards the cliff, I
suffered myself to slip downwards. At first I went slowly; then faster
and faster. At last my legs passed over the brow of the precipice. I
was falling! My head reeled. I uttered a cry, and in an agony of despair
threw out my hands. They caught the rope. Knot after knot slipped past
my fingers in the descent ere my senses became sufficiently clear to
know what was occurring. But even then the instinct of self-preservation
was stronger than reason; for I afterwards learned from the boat's crew
with what skill I guided myself along the face of the cliff, avoiding
every difficulty of the jagged rocks, and tracking my way like the most
experienced climber.
I stood upon a broad fiat rock, over which white sheets of foam were
dashing. Oh, how I loved to see them curling on my feet t I could have
kissed the bright water on which the moonbeams sported, for the moment
of danger was passed; the shadow of a dreadful death had moved from
my soul. What cared I now for the boiling surf that toiled and fretted
about me? The dangers of the deep were as nothing to that I escaped
from; and when the cutter's boat came bounding towards me, I minded
not the oft-repeated warnings of the sailors, but plunging in, I dashed
towards her on a retreating wave, and was dragged on board almost
lifeless from my struggles.
The red glare of the signal-fire was blazing from the old tower as we
got under weigh. I felt my eyes riveted on it as I lay on the deck of
the little vessel, which now stood out to sea in gallant style. It was
my last look of France, and so I felt it.