IN THE LION'S DEN.
The night passed. When the next day drew to its close Albinik and Meroe
had traversed all the burnt country, from Vannes to the mouth of the
Loire, which they were now approaching. At sunset they came to a fork in
the road.
"Of these two ways, which shall we take?" mused Albinik. "One ought to
take us toward the camp of Caesar, the other away from it."
Reflecting an instant, the young woman answered:
"Climb yonder oak. The camp fires will show us our route."
"True," said the mariner, and confident in his agility he was about to
clamber up the tree. But stopping, he added: "I forgot that I have but
one hand left. I cannot climb."
The face of the young woman saddened as she replied:
"You are suffering, Albinik? Alas, you, thus mutilated!"
"Is the sea-wolf[3] caught without a lure?"
"No."
"Let the fishing be good," answered Albinik, "and I shall not regret
having given my hand for bait."
The young woman sighed, and after looking at the tree a minute, said to
her husband:
"Come, then, put your back to the trunk. I'll step in the hollow of your
hand, then onto your shoulder, and from your shoulder I can reach that
large branch overhead."
"Fearless and devoted! You are always the dear wife of my heart, true as
my sister Hena is a saint," tenderly answered Albinik, and steadying
himself against the tree, he took in his hand the little foot of his
companion. With his good arm he supported his wife while she placed her
foot on his shoulder. Thence she reached the first large bough. Then,
mounting from branch to branch, she gained the top of the oak. Arrived
there, Meroe cast her eyes abroad, and saw towards the south, under a
group of seven stars, the gleam of several fires. She descended, nimble
as a bird, and at last, putting her feet on the mariner's shoulder, was
on the ground with one bound, saying:
"We must go towards the south, in the direction of those seven stars.
That way lie the fires of Caesar's camp."
"Let us take that road, then," returned the sailor, indicating the
narrower of the two ways, and the two travelers pursued their journey.
After a few steps, the young woman halted. She seemed to be searching in
her garments.
"What is the matter, Meroe?"
"In climbing the tree, I've let my poniard drop. It must have worked out
of the belt I was carrying it in, under my blouse."
"By Hesus; we must get that poniard back," said Albinik, retracing his
steps toward the tree. "You have need of a weapon, and this one my
brother Mikael forged and tempered himself. It will pierce a sheet of
copper."
"Oh; I shall find it, Albinik. In that well-tempered little blade of
steel one has an answer for all, and in all languages."
After some search up the foot of the oak, Meroe found her poniard. It
was cased in a sheath hardly as long as a hen's feather, and not much
thicker. Meroe fastened it anew under her blouse, and started again on
the road with her husband. After some little travel along deserted
paths, the two arrived at a plain. They heard far in the distance the
great roar of the sea. On a hill they saw the lights of many fires.
"There, at last, is the camp of Caesar," said Albinik, stopping short,
"the den of the lion."
"The den of the scourge of Gaul. Come, come, the evening is slipping
away."
"Meroe, the moment has come."
"Do you hesitate now?"
"It is too late. But I would prefer a fair fight under the open heavens,
vessel to vessel, soldier to soldier, sword to sword. Ah, Meroe, for us,
Gauls, who despise ambuscade or cowardice, and hang brass bells on the
iron of our lances to warn the enemy of our approach, to come
here--traitorously!"
"Traitorously!" exclaimed the young woman. "And to oppress a free
people--is that loyalty? To reduce the inhabitants to slavery, to exile
them by herds with iron collars on their necks--is that loyalty? To
massacre old men and children, to deliver the women and virgins to the
lust of soldiers--is that loyalty? And now, you would hesitate, after
having marched a whole day and night by the lights of the conflagration,
through the midst of those smoking ruins which were caused by the horror
of Roman oppression? No! No! to exterminate savage beasts, all means are
good, the trap as well as the boar-spear. Hesitate? Hesitate? Answer,
Albinik. Without mentioning your voluntary mutilation, without
mentioning the dangers which we brave in entering this camp--shall we
not be, if Hesus aids our project, the first victims of that great
sacrifice which we are going to make to the Gods? Come, believe me; he
who gives his life has nothing to blush for. By the love which I bear
you, by the virgin blood of your sister Hena, I have at this moment, I
swear to you, the consciousness of fulfilling a holy duty. Come, come,
the evening is passing."
"What Meroe, the just and valiant, finds to be just and valiant, must be
so," said Albinik, pressing his companion to his breast.
"Yes, yes, to exterminate savage beasts all means are good, the trap as
well as the spear. Who gives his life has no cause to blush. Come!"
The couple hastened their pace toward the lights of the camp of Caesar.
After a few moments, they heard close at hand, resounding on the earth,
the measured tread of several soldiers, and the clashing of their swords
on their iron armor. Presently they distinguished the invaders' red
crested helmets glittering in the moonlight.
"They are the soldiers of the guard, who keep vigil around the camp,"
said Albinik. "Let us go to them."
Soon the travelers reached the Roman soldiers, by whom they were
immediately surrounded. Albinik, who had learned in the Roman tongue
these only words: "We are Breton Gauls; we would speak with Caesar,"
addressed them to his captors; but these, learning from Albinik's own
admission that he and his companion were of the provinces that had risen
in arms, forthwith took them prisoners, and treated them as such. They
bound them, and conducted them to the camp.
Albinik and Meroe were first taken to one of the gates of the
entrenchment. Beside the gate, they saw, a cruel warning, five large
wooden crosses. On each one of these a Gallic seaman was crucified, his
clothes stained with blood. The light of the moon illuminated the
corpses.
"They have not deceived us," said Albinik in a low voice to his
companion. "The pilots have been crucified after having undergone
frightful tortures, rather than pilot the fleet of Caesar along the
coast of Brittany."
"To make them undergo torture, and death on the cross," flashed back
Meroe, "is that loyalty! Would you still hesitate? Will you still speak
of 'treachery'?"
Albinik answered not a word, but in the dark he pressed his companion's
hand. Brought before the officer who commanded the post, the mariner
repeated the only words which he knew in the Roman tongue:
"We are Breton Gauls; we would speak with Caesar." In these times of
war, the Romans would often seize or detain travelers, for the purpose
of learning from them what was passing in the revolted provinces. Caesar
had given orders for all prisoners and fugitives who could throw light
on the movements of the Gauls to be brought before him.
The husband and wife were accordingly not surprised to see themselves,
in fulfillment of their secret hope, conducted across the camp to
Caesar's tent, which was guarded by the flower of his Spanish veterans,
charged with watching over his person.
Arrived within the tent of Caesar, the scourge of Gaul, Albinik and
Meroe were freed of their bonds. Despite their souls' being stirred with
hatred for the invader of their country, they looked about them with a
somber curiosity.
The tent of the Roman general, covered on the outside with thick pelts,
like all the other tents of the camp, was decorated within with a
purple-colored material embroidered with gold and white silk. The beaten
earth was buried from sight under a carpet of tiger skins. Caesar was
finishing supper, reclining on a camp bed which was concealed under a
great lion-skin, decorated with gold claws and eyes of carbuncles.
Within his reach, on a low table, the couple saw large vases of gold and
silver, richly chased, and cups ornamented with precious stones. Humbly
seated at the foot of Caesar's couch, Meroe saw a young and beautiful
female slave, an African without doubt, for her white garments threw out
all the stronger the copper colored hue of her face. Slowly she raised
her large, shining back eyes to the two strangers, all the while petting
a large greyhound which was stretched out at her side. She seemed to be
as timid as the dog.
The generals, the officers, the secretaries, the handsome looking young
freedmen of Caesar's suite, were standing about his camp bed, while
black Abyssinian slaves, wearing coral ornaments at their necks, wrists
and ankles, and motionless as statues, held in their hands torches of
scented wax, whose gleam caused the splendid armor of the Romans to
glitter.
Caesar, before whom Albinik and Meroe cast down their eyes for fear of
betraying their hatred, had exchanged his armor for a long robe of
richly broidered silk. His head was bare, nothing covered his large bald
forehead, on each side of which his brown hair was closely trimmed. The
warmth of the Gallic wine which it was his habit to drink to excess at
night, caused his eyes to shine, and colored his pale cheeks. His face
was imperious, his laugh mocking and cruel. He was leaning on one elbow,
holding in one hand, thinned with debauchery, a wide gold cup, enriched
with pearls. He looked at it leisurely and fitfully, still fixing his
piercing gaze on the two prisoners, who were placed in such a manner
that Albinik almost entirely hid Meroe.
Caesar said a few words in Latin to his officers, who had been preparing
to retire. One of them went up to the couple, brusquely shoved Albinik
back, and took Meroe by the hand. Thus he forced her to advance a few
steps, clearly for the purpose of permitting Caesar to look at her with
greater ease. He did so, while at the same time and without turning
around, reaching his empty cup to one of his young cup-bearers.
Albinik knew how to control himself. He remained quiet while he saw his
chaste wife blush under the bold looks of Caesar. After gazing at her
for a moment, the Roman general beckoned to one of his interpreters. The
two exchanged a few words, whereupon the interpreter drew close to
Meroe, and said to her in the Gallic tongue:
"Caesar asks whether you are a youth or a maiden!"
"My companion and I have fled the Gallic camp," responded Meroe
ingenuously. "Whether I am a youth or a maiden matters little to
Caesar."
At these words, translated by the interpreter to Caesar, the Roman
laughed cynically, while his officers partook of the gaiety of their
general. Caesar continued to empty cup after cup, fixing his eyes more
and more ardently on Albinik's wife. He said a few words to the
interpreter, who commenced to question the two prisoners, conveying as
he proceeded, their answers to the general, who would then prompt new
questions.
"Who are you!" said the interpreter, "Whence come you!"
"We are Bretons," answered Albinik. "We come from the Gallic camp, which
is established under the walls of Vannes, two days' march from here."
"Why have you deserted the Gallic camp!"
Albinik answered not a word, but unwrapped the bloody bandage in which
his arm was swathed. The Romans then saw that his left hand was cut off.
The interpreter resumed:
"Who has thus mutilated you?"
"The Gauls."
"But you are a Gaul yourself?"
"Little does that matter to the Chief of the Hundred Valleys."
At the name of the Chief of the Hundred Valleys, Caesar knit his brows,
and his face was filled with envy and hatred.
The interpreter resumed, addressing Albinik: "Explain yourself."
"I am a sailor, and command a merchant vessel. Several other captains
and I received the order to transport some armed men by sea, and to
disembark them in the harbor of Vannes, by the bay of Morbihan. I
obeyed. A gust of wind carried away one of my masts; my vessel arrived
the last of all. Then--the Chief of the Hundred Valleys inflicted upon
me the penalty for laggards. But he was generous. He let me off with my
life, and gave me the choice between, the loss of my nose, my ears, or
one hand. I have been mutilated, but not for having lacked courage or
willingness. That would have been just, I would have undergone it
according to the laws of my country, without complaint."
"But this wrongful torture," joined in Meroe, "Albinik underwent because
the sea wind came up against him. As well punish with death him who
cannot see clear in the pitchy night--him who cannot darken the light of
the sun."
"And this mutilation covers me for ever with shame!" exclaimed Albinik.
"Everywhere it is said: 'That fellow's a coward!' I have never known
hatred; now my heart is filled with it. Perish that Fatherland where I
cannot live but in dishonor! Perish its liberty! Perish the liberty of
my people, provided only that I be avenged upon the Chief of the Hundred
Valleys! For that I would gladly give the other hand which he has left
me. That is why I have come here with my companion. Sharing my shame,
she shares my hatred. That hatred we offer to Caesar; let him use it as
he wills; let him try us. Our lives answer for our sincerity. As to
recompense, we want none."
"Vengeance--that is what we must have," interjected Meroe.
"In what can you serve Caesar against the Chief of the Hundred Valleys?"
queried the interpreter.
"I offer Caesar my service as a mariner, as a soldier, as a guide, as a
spy even, if he wishes it."
"Why did you not seek to kill the Chief of the Hundred Valleys, being
able to approach him in the Gallic camp?" suggested the interpreter.
"You would have been revenged."
"Immediately after the mutilation of my husband," answered Meroe, "we
were driven from the camp. We could not return."
The interpreter again conversed with the Roman general, who, while
listening, did not cease to empty his cup and to follow Meroe with
brazen looks.
"You are a mariner, you say!" resumed the interpreter. "You used to
command a merchantman?"
"Yes."
"And--are you a good seaman?"
"I am five and twenty years old. From the age of twelve I have traveled
on the sea; for four years I have commanded a vessel."
"Do you know well the coast between Vannes and the channel which
separates Great Britain from Gaul?"
"I am from the port of Vannes, near the forest of Karnak. For more than
sixteen years I have sailed these coasts continuously."
"Would you make a good pilot?"
"May I lose all the limbs which the Chief of the Hundred Valleys has
left me, if there is a bay, a cape, an islet, a rock, a sand-bank, or a
breaker, which I do not know from the Gulf of Aquitaine to Dunkirk."
"You are vaunting your skill as a pilot. How can you prove it?"
"We are near the shore. For him who is not a good and fearless sailor,
nothing is more dangerous than the navigation of the mouth of the Loire,
going up towards the north."
"That is true," answered the interpreter. "Even yesterday a Roman galley
ran aground on a sand-bank and was lost."
"Who pilots a boat well," observed Albinik, "pilots well a galley, I
think."
"Yes."
"To-morrow conduct us to the shore. I know the fisher boats of the
country; my wife and I will suffice to handle one. From the top of the
bank Caesar will see us skim around the rocks and breakers, and play
with them as the sea raven plays with the wave it skims. Then Caesar
will believe me capable of safely piloting a galley on the coasts of
Brittany."
Albinik's offer having been translated to Caesar by the interpreter, the
latter proceeded:
"We accept your test. It shall be done to-morrow morning. If it proves
your skill as a pilot--and we shall take all precautions against
treachery, lest you should wish to trick us--perhaps you will be charged
with a mission which will serve your hatred, all the more seeing that
you can have no idea of what that mission is. But for that it will be
necessary to gain the entire confidence of Caesar."
"What must I do!"
"You must know the forces and plans of the Gallic army. Beware of
telling an untruth; we already have reports on that subject. We shall
see if you are sincere; if not, the chamber of torture is not far off."
"Arrived at Vannes in the morning, arrested, judged, and punished almost
immediately, and then driven from the Gallic camp, I could not learn the
decisions of the council which was held the previous evening," promptly
answered Albinik. "But the situation was grave, for the women were
called to the council; it lasted from sun-down to dawn. The current
rumor was that heavy re-enforcements to the Gallic army were on the
way."
"Who were those re-enforcements?"
"The tribes of Finisterre and of the north coasts, those of Lisieux, of
Amiens, and of Perche. They said, even, that the warriors of Brabant
were coming by sea."
After translating to Caesar Albinik's answer, the interpreter resumed:
"You speak true. Your words agree with the reports which have been made
to us. But some scouts returned this evening and have brought the news
that, two or three leagues from here, they saw in the north the glare of
a conflagration. You come from the north. Do you know anything about
that?"
"From the outskirts of Vannes up to three leagues from here," answered
Albinik, "there remains not a town, not a borough, not a village, not a
house, not a sack of wheat, not a skin of wine, not a cow, not a sheep,
not a rick of fodder, not a man, woman, or child. Provisions, cattle,
stores, everything that could not be carried away, have been given up to
the flames by the inhabitants. At the hour that I speak to you, all the
tribes of the burned regions are rallied to the support of the Gallic
army, leaving behind them nothing but a desert of smouldering ruins."
As Albinik progressed with his account, the amazement of the interpreter
deepened, his terror increased. In his fright he seemed not to dare
believe what he heard. He hesitated to make Caesar aware of the awful
news. At last he resigned himself to the requirements of his office.
Albinik did not take his eyes from Caesar, for he wished to read in his
face what impression the words of the interpreter would make. Well
skilled in dissimulation, they say, was the Roman general. Nevertheless,
as the interpreter spoke, stupefaction, fear, frenzy and doubt betrayed
themselves in the face of Gaul's oppressor. His officers and
councillors looked at one another in consternation, exchanging under
their breaths words which seemed full of anguish. Then Caesar, sitting
bolt upright on his couch, addressed several short and violent words to
the interpreter, who immediately turned to the mariner:
"Caesar says you lie. Such a disaster is impossible. No nation is
capable of such a sacrifice. If you have lied, you shall expiate your
crime on the rack."
Great was the joy of Albinik and Meroe on seeing the consternation and
fury of the Roman, who could not make up his mind to believe the heroic
resolution, so fatal to his army. But the couple concealed their
emotions, and Albinik answered:
"Caesar has in his camp Numidian horsemen, with tireless horses. Let him
send out scouts instantly. Let them scour not only the country which we
have just crossed in one night and day of travel, but let them extend
their course into the east, to the boundary of Touraine. Let them go
still further, as far as Berri; and so much further as their horses can
carry them; they will traverse regions ravaged by fire, and deserted."
Hardly had Albinik pronounced these words, when the Roman general shot
some orders at several of his officers. They rushed from the tent in
haste, while he, relapsing into his habitual dissimulation, and no doubt
regretful of having betrayed his fears in the presence of the Gallic
fugitives, affected to smile, and stretched himself again on his lion
skin. He held out his cup to one of his cup-bearers, and emptied it
after saying to the interpreter some words which he translated thus:
"Caesar empties his cup to the honor of the Gauls--and, by Jupiter, he
gives them thanks for having done just what he wished to do himself. For
old Gaul shall humble herself vanquished and repentant, before Rome,
like the most humble slave--or not one of her towns shall remain
standing, not one of her warriors living, not one of her people free."
"May the gods hear Caesar," answered Albinik. "Let Gaul be enslaved or
devastated, and I shall be avenged on the Chief of the Hundred
Valleys--for he will suffer a thousand deaths in seeing subdued or
destroyed that fatherland which I now curse."
While the interpreter was translating these words, the general, either
to hide all the more his fears, or to drown them in wine, emptied his
cup several times, and began to cast at Meroe more and more ardent
looks. Then, a thought seeming to strike him, he smiled with a singular
air, made a sign to one of the freedmen, and spoke to him in a low
voice. He also whispered a few hurried words to the Moorish slave-girl,
until then seated at his feet, whereupon she and the freedman left the
tent.
The interpreter thereupon returned to Albinik: "So far your answers have
proved your sincerity. If the news you have just given is confirmed, if
to-morrow you show yourself a capable and courageous pilot, you will be
able to serve your revenge. If you satisfy Caesar, he will be generous.
If you play us false your punishment will be terrible. Did you see, at
the entrance to the camp, five men crucified!"
"I saw them."
"They are pilots who refused to serve us. They had to be carried to the
crosses, because their legs, crushed by the torture, could not sustain
them. Such will be your lot and that of your companion, upon the least
suspicion."
"I fear these threats no more than I expect a gift from the magnificence
of Caesar," haughtily returned Albinik. "Let him try me first, then
judge me."
"You and your companion will be taken to a nearby tent; you will be
guarded there like prisoners."
At a sign from the Roman, the two Gauls were led away and conducted
through a winding passage covered with cloth, into an adjacent tent,
where they were left alone.