THE RED-COATS.
The nuptial procession wended its way slowly. All thought to themselves,
and freely expressed the view to their friends, that a better matched
couple could not be. She was sweet and charming, and he of a virile
bearing which was enhanced by his Breton costume--round hat with wide
brim; long black waistcoat and upper vest; wide, white, floating hose
that descended to the knees and were held around the waist by a broad
belt of scarlet serge; and grey cloth stockings, displaying Nominoe's
well-shaped calves, which were glued to the sides of his strong grey
horse. Tina, whose fresh and rosy countenance was framed in her coif
surmounted with her nuptial ribbons, wore a corsage of green cloth
embroidered with white thread and cut square over her linen gorgerette
which betrayed the coy pulsations of her virginal bosom, seeing that, in
order to keep her balance, one of her arms encircled Nominoe. The sweet
child had been silent since her departure from the paternal roof. Now
she spoke, and, blushing, said timidly to Nominoe:
"Nominoe--I have a confession to make to you--"
"A confession of what, dear Tina?" answered the young man
affectionately, turning his head to his wife in order to see her over
his shoulder.
But Tina, foreseeing the move, put in: "I beg you, do not look at me! If
you do I would not dare to say a word!"
"It shall be as you desire, sweet girl;" and smiling, he added: "What
can be that redoubtable secret that you fear to confess to my face?
Speak, my dear Tina; reveal your secret to me."
"A sad secret--that I am ashamed of, very much ashamed. I pray to God
you may pardon me for it. I have been very guilty."
Tina's voice was so moved as she spoke these words, that Nominoe was
surprised, and involuntarily moved in his saddle in order to turn around
to his wife. But once more she stopped him, saying:
"I entreat you, do not look at me," and she proceeded after a short
pause: "I am your wife--you must not be ignorant of any of my thoughts,
be they good or bad. No! nothing must remain hidden from my husband."
"A bad thought in your mind, you angelic creature! That is impossible.
You surely exaggerate some trifle, my dear Tina."
"And yet it is so, Nominoe. I doubted you--I doubted your love."
"And why? And when was that?"
"This morning, seeing you delayed in arriving, I said to myself:
'Nominoe does not want me for his wife'--'Nominoe does not love me'--"
And noticing that an involuntary shudder ran over the young man's frame,
Tina interjected, almost alarmed:
"Do you feel hurt at my mistrust? I knew you would! I deserve your
reproof. That is the very reason that I accuse myself. I prefer to be
blamed by you, rather than to conceal aught from my husband. May the
sincerity of my confession earn your pardon for me."
The young man remained silent, surprised and struck by the correctness
of Tina's presentiment. To himself he thought: "What a fatality hovers
over this marriage! My union is consecrated before man, it will shortly
be before God. Let me at least reassure the poor child."
Nominoe was about to answer his young wife when an unexpected incident
suddenly changed the course of his thoughts. His attention being at
first turned to Tina's words, and being immediately afterwards absorbed
in his own meditations, Nominoe had not noticed the approach of a
detachment of soldiers that seemed to be hastening to meet the nuptial
procession. Suddenly the captain of the troop waved to the peasants to
stop.
"Fire and flames! Let us face these red-coats!" said Tankeru to Salaun.
"We are unarmed, and we have women and children with us," answered
Salaun. "No imprudence--let us wait till the hour shall have come. I
shall ride forward and ascertain what these soldiers want."
"Father," said Nominoe overhearing Salaun's words, "I shall accompany
you. You must not go alone."
"You forget that you have your wife on your crupper. Both of you remain
near Tankeru," answered Salaun, and making his horse jump forward, he
rode towards the soldiers.
Paskou the Long and Madok the miller, the one in his capacity of
Baz-valan, the other of Brotaer, both official representatives of the
wedding, joined Salaun Lebrenn. The three trotted briskly towards the
armed force in order to ascertain the reason for the hold-up.
The King's soldiers, fifteen in number and commanded by a sergeant,
belonged to the Crown Regiment, and wore the red uniform. The sergeant
in command of the detachment had an assumed military name. He called
himself La Montagne. He was an athletic man, tall of stature and in the
prime of life. His uniform consisted of a scarlet coat embroidered with
alternate blue and silver threads. His hose, his stockings and the
lining of his cloak were blue and of the color of his shoulder knot. His
sword hung from a white baldric that matched the cockade in his
three-cornered hat, which was surmounted by red and blue feathers,
gallooned in silver, and challengingly tipped on his hair which,
agreeable to the new military regulation, was dressed in the fashion
called _cadenette_. His hair was curled on his temples, and was twisted
behind his neck in a thick queue, tied with a leather thong. The face of
the weather-beaten soldier--clean shaven, except for his moustache, and
furrowed by a deep scar--bore the stamp of hardihood, daring and
insolence. In his hand he carried a long cane with an ivory head. His
soldiers, clad in a uniform like his own, except that a simple galloon
of white wool ornamented their coats and hats, were armed with a new
pattern of guns that replaced the old muskets. A triangular and pointed
blade of steel, resembling the long poniards used by the people of
Bayonne, and therefore called a _bayonet_, was attached to the muzzle of
these guns.
A drummer and a man clad in a blouse, who carried on his back a ball of
rope and in his hand a bell which he rang when the drum beat, preceded
the troop. The sergeant marched at its head; behind him came two men
clad in black. One was the bailiff of the Seigneur of Plouernel and
Mezlean, the other the usher of the fisc. Salaun Lebrenn, the Baz-valan
and the Brotaer, the last mounted on his ass, and his two companions on
their horses, reined in a few paces from the detachment. Obedient to the
suggestion of Salaun, and anxious to avoid a collision, all three
alighted, and approached the sergeant, holding their mounts by the
bridle. The soldiers had halted upon the command of their chief, and,
drawn up in a semi-circle, they leaned upon the barrels of their guns.
"Messieurs," said Salaun courteously, "we are peaceful people; we are
celebrating a wedding; I am the father of the bride; our company
consists of our relatives and friends."
"And I," put in Paskou the Long with an air of importance, "I am the
Baz-valan of the wedding, the master of ceremonies."
"And I," added Madok the miller without lowering his eyes before the
piercing looks of the sergeant, "I am the Brotaer. You ordered our
procession to stop--it obeyed--what do you want? Speak. We shall be
pleased to accommodate you."
"By God's death! Here is a pack of inquisitive rustics!" observed
Sergeant La Montagne to the bailiff and the usher, after measuring
Salaun, Paskou the Long and Madok the miller with his eyes.
And addressing his two acolytes over his shoulder, La Montagne added,
pointing with the tip of his cane at those whom he was referring to:
"Are not these the ragamuffins whom you are looking for?"
"No," answered the bailiff and the usher. "The delinquents, whom we are
after, are among the other people of the wedding."
"Soldiers, load your guns--and fire upon the woolen caps if they but
budge!" ordered the sergeant. "Drummer, beat the march, and forward!
Soldiers, fire upon these peasants at the slightest resistance!"
"And you, ring the bell--and forward!" said the usher to his subaltern.
"The bell is to the civilian what the drum is to the military. Forward,
and ring loud, so that those ragamuffins may hear you, and be notified
of our approach."
Grieved and alarmed at seeing their pacific intervention so rudely
brushed aside, the three Bretons exchanged a few words in a low voice,
and when the troop was about to resume its march, Salaun Lebrenn
addressed the sergeant, the bailiff and the usher in carefully measured
words: "Messieurs, I do not know the purpose of your coming here. But
be your purpose whatever it may, I entreat you to postpone until after
the marriage ceremony the measures that you intend to take. Do not alarm
and throw our relatives, friends, wives and children into a fright. Are
you in quest of any one? I give you my word of honor that no one will
attempt to escape. I invite you to escort us back to the burg of
Mezlean--"
Salaun Lebrenn broke off. He noticed that he and his two companions had
fallen into a sort of ambush. While simulating great attention to what
was being said to him, the sergeant had whispered a few words to his
corporal, and the latter, obeying the orders given him, had disposed his
soldiers in such manner that the three Bretons found themselves
surrounded from all sides, and unable to rejoin their friends.
Addressing himself thereupon to Salaun Lebrenn, who, no less surprised
than his two friends at finding himself obviously treated as a prisoner,
looked at his companions in amazement, the sergeant said sneeringly:
"Your promise notwithstanding, that none of those woolen bonnets will be
allowed to run off, I prefer something more substantial than a promise,
rather than to have to chase all over this devilish country that is so
cut up with moats and hedges. I shall hold you as hostages, you and your
two companions. You are the chiefs of the band. You will be a guarantee
for the rest. If any one of them escapes, you will go to prison, and
stay there until each of you will have paid me two gold louis--besides
six pistoles for my men. That's the end of it. I want no answer or
further remarks from you. Forward!"
"So, then, you arrest us?" observed Salaun calmly. "Besides, you place
us under ransom. But what do you charge us with? What crime are we
guilty of, sergeant?"
"You double rustic! I charge you with speaking when I order you to hold
your tongue! Head and bowels! Forward, or I shall knock you down!" cried
the petty officer brutally, raising his cane; and stroking his moustache
he proceeded:
"Oh, there is the wedding! The bride may, perhaps, be worth rumpling!
Bah! She probably is but one of their big flat-footed wenches! And yet,
who knows! We shall see! Drummers, beat the march!"
When Paskou the Long heard the sergeant's allusions to the bride, he
raised his two long arms to heaven; Madok the miller, a resolute man,
clenched his fists, and casting a defiant look at the soldier, was about
to explode, when he was restrained by a sign from Salaun. Madok yielded
to his friend, realizing that it would be an act of madness to attempt,
under the circumstances, a struggle against the armed men. Surrounded by
these, the three Bretons resigned themselves to move forward, leading
their mounts by the bridle. The detachment resumed its march, drums
beating and bell ringing, towards the nuptial procession. The sergeant
walked ahead.
Such was the terror with which the soldiers of Louis XIV inspired the
poor folks of our country districts, that at the first sight of the
red-coats the children threw themselves weeping into their mothers'
arms; the young girls drew timidly close to their parents; and a good
number of the vassals began to tremble, while the blacksmith and other
determined men of his stamp could hardly control their anger. At this
place the road was narrowed between two bluffs topped with brush. The
detachment divided in two. One-half halted at the head of the procession
in order to bar its passage, should it attempt to proceed; the other
half marched on to the rear in order to cut off the retreat.
Kept as hostages in the midst of the rear guard platoon, Salaun Lebrenn,
Paskou the Long and Madok the miller were unable to approach their
friends. Nominoe, with his wife on the crupper of his horse, saw with as
much surprise as anxiety his father a prisoner of the soldiers.
"Let none of you budge or breathe, ye rustics! If you do, by God's
death! my men will open fire, and will rip you open with their
bayonets!" cried Sergeant La Montagne, stepping with his cane raised
towards the peasants, who crowded back upon one another in order to make
room for him.
Turning thereupon to the bailiff and the usher:
"Do your work! I shall in the meantime step over to the bride and
inspect her," added the swash-buckler, looking to the right and to the
left.
It did not take the sergeant long to discover the charming face of the
bride, who, moreover, was recognizable by the nuptial ribbons, and was
all the more in evidence being on horseback behind Nominoe.
"God's blood! The handsome girl! The lassie is too dainty a morsel for
that clod-hopping husband!" exclaimed the sergeant, and he took several
steps to draw nearer to Tina.
A heavy roll of the drum, accompanied by the repeated ringing of the
bell, drowned the last words of the impudent soldier. After that signal
for silence, the bailiff of the very high, very powerful, very honorable
and very redoubtable Seigneur Justin-Dominic-Raoul Neroweg, Count of
Issoire in Auvergne; Baron of Nointel, Valdeuil and other places in
Beauvoisis; Seigneur of Plouernel and Mezlean in Brittany, etc., etc.,
announced:
"That the said Gildas Lebrenn, vassal and lease-holder of the fief of
Mezlean, having, with evil intent and for other reasons, put off, beyond
the only and last term, the payment of the taxes, imposts and duties,
which it had pleased the very high and very powerful and very redoubted
seigneur, etc., etc., to assess upon his vassals of Mezlean, therefore,
the furniture, crops, cattle, domestic and field animals, household
utensils, etc., etc., of the said Gildas Lebrenn are hereby ordered to
be seized and sold by virtue of _military constraint_. And if the said
goods and chattels of the said Gildas shall not suffice to meet his
obligations, then action shall be instituted against a house, to him
belonging as the property of his wife, and the said house, in default of
a purchaser in block, shall be demolished, and its doors, windows,
beams, rafters and other debris shall be sold to the highest bidder at
the option of the said bailiff, who, having presented himself at the
said farm, called Karnak, in order to execute the orders herein
contained and to effect the seizure, found the house closed and the
stable empty, the latter of which should have contained especially two
yokes of white and orange oxen, the which, being exposed by the
malignity of the said Gildas to being kept out of the farm in the
evening and to being surreptitiously sold during the day, the said usher
now came to seize them bodily, _hic et nunc_, without prejudice to the
other seizures which he reserves the right of operating on the said
farm, including the materials that may proceed from the demolition of
the house above referred to.[5]
"The bailiff, being also vested with the powers of the very respectable,
discreet, pious and venerable curate of the parish, shall collect by
force of the same seizures, an arrear of tithes due to the said
venerable person by the said Gildas Lebrenn and other vassals herein
below named, etc., etc.
"The said bailiff also comes to proceed against one Tankeru, a
blacksmith, charged with and convicted of having poached in the confines
of the forest of Mezlean, in order, wickedly and of deliberate purpose,
to interfere with the pleasures of the very high, very redoubted and
very powerful seigneur, etc., etc., by killing his game, notably a
ten-pronged deer, in the course of the night of the 5th day of the
present month, as appears from the deposition of one of the
forester-watchers of the said seigneur, etc., etc. By reason of the said
crime, the said Tankeru, a blacksmith, is ordered to be apprehended in
body, and taken to the seigniorial jail, in order there to undergo the
preliminary punishment of the whip, without prejudice to further
imprisonment and fines to be paid, etc., etc."
The complaints of the bailiff having been made known amid the mournful
silence of the nuptial party, the drum was once more beaten, the bell
was once more rung, and then the usher of the fisc spoke in turn:
"A requisition against the same Gildas Lebrenn and five other leasehold
peasants, hereinbelow named, etc., etc., who, with evil intent, or for
other wrongful cause, having paid neither the taxes, nor the tithes, nor
the capitation, etc., etc., furtively left their houses before the said
usher could present himself there this morning, taking with them their
spans of oxen, their wagons and their horses, the same being the most
important part of the havings of the said peasants; and, fearing lest
they may profit by the market day of Bezenek, which is to begin early
to-morrow morning, and surreptitiously make away with their said oxen,
wagons and horses, the said usher now comes to operate _illico_ the
seizure of the said animals and wagons, without prejudice of other
recuperations, etc., etc."
The peasants listened to the reading of the preceding jargon with
increasing consternation and rage, but without astonishment, similar
seizures being matters of daily recurrence in Brittany and in all the
other provinces of France. But what, on that day, drove the indignation
of the peasants to the point of rage was the insolence of Sergeant La
Montagne. While the bailiff and the usher reeled off their legal jargon,
the insolent swash-buckler approached Tina, and, with his plumage
dangling over his ear, stretching out his legs, arching himself in his
gallooned coat, and stroking his moustache with one hand, while with the
other he caressed the hilt of his sword, he pursued the young bride with
his brazen looks. Tina turned her head away, and took shelter behind the
back of Nominoe, who, outraged by the soldier's audacity, was livid with
anger. Nevertheless, he restrained himself; in order to preserve his
self-control all the more fully, he sought to move a little further to
the rear; but the moment he made his horse take a few steps backward,
the sergeant seized the bridle rudely and kept the animal motionless.
The peasants who saw the sergeant's conduct, began to grumble. But he,
casting a disdainful look at them and brandishing his cane, shouted:
"Head and bowels! Meseems these rustics are raising objections! By God's
death, I'll know how to bring you to your senses!"
"Think of your wives--your daughters--your children! Patience!
patience!" cried Salaun Lebrenn in a loud voice from among the platoon
of soldiers who held him, Paskou the Long and the miller at a distance.
"All keep cool, and have patience, my friends!"
The wise warning of Salaun Lebrenn was hearkened to. The grumbling
ceased. La Montagne, attributing the resignation of the peasants to the
fear that he inspired, redoubled in audacity. Brutally placing one hand
upon Tina's knees, who sat upon the crupper of Nominoe's horse, he said
to her:
"God's blood! Look at me, my pretty lassie! Fear not, my pretty maid--my
moustache causes only men to tremble," he added, fastening a look of
contempt upon Nominoe.
Thereupon, carrying outrage to its climax, the sergeant raised himself
on tip-toe, passed his arm around Tina's waist, and drawing her to him,
said: "Give me a sweet kiss! God's death! it is the meed of the brave!"
Nominoe was without arms; but with a movement that was swifter than
thought, he drew his foot from the stirrup, and with a kick of his heel,
vigorously planted in the sergeant's chest, he hurled him reeling upon
Tankeru, who was rushing to the defense of his daughter. The blacksmith
gripped the swash-buckler by the neck and threw him flat upon the
ground.
"Help, soldiers!" bellowed the sergeant as Tankeru threw him down. "To
the rescue!"
Those of the soldiers who happened to be near their chief sought to rush
to his aid, but finding themselves quickly surrounded and closely hemmed
in by the more resolute of the peasants, they were unable to ply their
bayonets.
The blacksmith cried:
"Let us disarm the red-coats!"
The cry, being repeated by the other peasants, reached the ears of the
platoon of soldiers that blocked the head of the procession. These
rushed back to the aid of their comrades, driving aside the women and
children with the butts of their guns. The mass of people, thus pushed
back and crowded closely in the middle of the road, emitted shrieks of
fright. All was confusion.
At the thickest of the turmoil a lackey on horseback rode up from the
direction the procession was headed in, preceding by about twenty paces
two other personages, also on horseback. The lackey reined in his mount,
cracked his whip and cried:
"Room! Room for Mademoiselle Plouernel! Room for the sister of
Monseigneur Neroweg of Plouernel! Make room! Make room, there!"