THE MOTHER.
[Illustration 106]
I.
DEATH PASSES.
That evening the mother, whom we have seen wandering onward with no
settled plan, had walked all day long. This was, to be sure, a matter
of every-day occurrence. She kept on her way without pause or rest; for
the sleep of exhaustion in some chance corner could no more be called
rest than could the stray crumbs that she picked up here and there like
the birds be considered nourishment. She ate and slept just enough to
keep her alive.
She had spent the previous night in a forsaken barn,--a wreck such as
civil wars leave behind them. In a deserted field she had found four
walls, an open door, a little straw, and the remains of a roof, and on
this straw beneath the roof she threw herself down, feeling the rats
glide under as she lay there, and watching the stars rise through the
roof. She slept several hours; then waking in the middle of the night,
she resumed her journey, so as to get over as much ground as possible
before the excessive heat of the day came on. For the summer pedestrian
midnight is more favorable than noon.
She followed as best she could the brief directions given her by the
Vautortes peasant, and kept as far as possible toward the west. Had
there been any one near, he might have heard her incessantly muttering
half aloud, "La Tourgue." She seemed to know no other word, save the
names of her children.
And as she walked she dreamed. She thought of the adventures that had
befallen her, of all she had suffered and endured, of the encounters,
the indignities, the conditions imposed, the bargains offered and
accepted, now for a shelter, now for a bit of bread, or simply to
be directed on her way. A wretched woman is more unfortunate than a
wretched man, inasmuch as she is the instrument of pleasure. Terrible
indeed was this wandering journey! But all this would count for nothing
if she could but find her children.
On that day her first adventure was in a village through which her
route lay; the dawn was barely breaking, and the dusk of night still
shrouded all the surrounding objects; but in the principal village
street a few doors were half open, and curious faces peeped out of
the windows. The inhabitants seemed restless like a startled hive of
bees,--a disturbance due to the noise of wheels and the clanking of
iron, which had reached their ears.
On the square in front of the church, a frightened group was staring at
some object that was descending the hill towards the village. It was
a four-wheeled wagon drawn by five horses, whose harness was composed
of chains, and upon which could be seen something that looked like a
pile of long joists, in the middle of which lay an object whose vague
outlines were hidden by a large canvas resembling a pall. Ten horsemen
rode in front of the wagon, and ten behind. They wore three-cornered
hats, and above their shoulders rose what seemed like the points of
naked sabres. The whole procession advanced slowly, its dark outlines
sharply defined against the horizon; everything looked black,--the
wagon, the harness, and the riders. On entering the village they
approached the square with the pale glimmer of the dawn behind them.
It had grown somewhat lighter while the wagon was descending the hill,
and now the escort was plainly to be seen,--a procession of ghosts to
ail intents, for no man uttered a word.
The horsemen were gendarmes; they really were carrying drawn sabres,
and the canvas that covered the wagon was black.
The wretched wandering mother, entering the village from the opposite
direction, just as the wagon and the gendarmes reached the square,
approached the crowd of peasants and heard voices whispering the
following questions and answers,--
"What is that?"
"It's the guillotine."
"Where does it come from?"
"From Fougères."
"Where is it going?"
"I don't know. They say it is going to some castle near Parigné."
"Parigné!"
"Let it go wherever it will, so that it does not stop here."
There was something ghostlike in the combination of this great wagon
with its shrouded burden, the gendarmes, the clanking chains of the
team, and the silent men, in the early dawn.
The group crossed the square and passed out from the village, which lay
in a hollow between two hills. In a quarter of an hour the peasants who
had stood there like men petrified saw the funereal procession reappear
on the summit of the western hill. The great wheels jolted in the ruts,
the chains of the harness rattled as they were shaken by the early
morning wind, the sabres shone; the sun was rising, and at a bend of
the road all vanished from the sight.
It was at this very moment that Georgette woke up in the library beside
her still sleeping brothers, and wished her rosy feet good-morning.
II.
DEATH SPEAKS.
The mother had watched this dark object as it passed by, but she
neither understood nor tried to understand it, absorbed as she was in
the vision that pictured her children lost in the darkness.
She too left the village soon after the procession which had just
passed, and followed the same road at some distance behind the second
squad of gendarmes. Suddenly the word "guillotine" came back to her,
and she repeated it to herself; now, this untaught peasant woman,
Michelle Fléchard, had no idea of its meaning, but her instinct warned
her; she shuddered involuntarily, and it seemed dreadful to her to be
walking behind it,--so she turned to the left, quitting the highway,
and entered a wood, which was the Forest of Fougères.
After roaming about for some time she spied a belfry and the roofs of
houses,--evidently a village on the edge of the forest; and she went
towards it, for she was hungry.
It was one of those hamlets where the Republicans had established a
military outpost.
She went as far as the square in front of the mayoralty-house.
Here, too, there was agitation and anxiety. A crowd had gathered in
front of the flight of steps leading to the hall, and here, standing on
one of these steps was a man accompanied by soldiers, who held in his
hand a large unfolded placard. A drummer stood on his right, and on his
left a bill-sticker, with his brush and paste-pot. Upon the balcony,
over the door, stood the mayor, wearing a tricolored scarf over his
peasant's dress.
[Illustration 107]
The man with the placard was a public crier.
He wore a shoulder-belt from which hung a small wallet, in token
that he was going from village to village proclaiming certain news
throughout the district.
Just as Michelle Fléchard arrived, he had unfolded the placard and was
beginning to read in a loud voice,--
"THE FRENCH REPUBLIC ONE AND INDIVISIBLE."
The drum beat. There was a stir in the crowd. A few took off their
caps, others jammed their hats more firmly on their heads; in those
times one could almost recognize a man's political views, throughout
that district, by the fashion of his head-gear; hats were worn by
Royalists, caps by Republicans. The confused murmur of voices ceased,
and all listened as the crier proceeded to read:--
"By virtue of the orders given to as, and of the authority
vested in us by the Committee of Public Safety,--"
Again the drum beat, and again the crier continued:--
"--and in execution of the decree of the National
Convention, that outlaws all rebels taken with arms in
their hands, and declares that capital punishment shall be
inflicted on any man who harbors them or aids and abets in
their escape,--"
One peasant whispered to his neighbor,--
"What does capital punishment mean?"
"I don't know," the neighbor replied.
The crier waved the placard:--
"--in accordance with Article 17 of the law of the 30th of
April, that gives to the delegates and sub-delegates full
authority over the rebels,--"
Here he made a pause, then resumed:--
"--the individuals designated under the following names
and surnames are declared outlawed:--"
The audience listened with a close attention.
The voice of the crier sounded like thunder:--
"--Lantenac, brigand,--"
"That's Monseigneur," muttered a peasant.
And the whisper ran through the crowd, "It's Monseigneur."
And the crier pursued,--
"--Lantenac, ci-devant Marquis, brigand; the Imânus,
brigand;--"
Two peasants looked askance at each other.
"That's Gouge-le-Bruant."
"Yes; that's Brise-Bleu."
The crier went on reading the list:--
"Grand-Francoeur, brigand;--"
A murmur-ran through the crowd.
"He's a priest."
"Yes,--the Abbé Turmeau."
"I know; he is a curé somewhere near the forest of La Chapelle."
"And a brigand," added a man in a cap.
The crier went on:--
"--Boisnouveau, brigand; the two brothers Pique-en-bois,
brigands; Houzard, brigand;--"
"That's Monsieur de Quélen," said a peasant.
"--Panier, brigand;--"
"That's Monsieur Sepher."
"--Place-Nette, brigand;--"
"That's Monsieur Jamois."
Paying no heed to these remarks, the crier continued:--
"--Guinoiseau, brigand; Chatenay, called Robi, brigand;--"
One peasant whispered, "Guinoiseau is the same person we call Le Blond;
Chatenay comes from Saint-Ouen."
"--Hoisnard, brigand;--" continued the crier.
"He is from Ruillé," some one in the crowd was heard to say.
"Yes, that's Branche-d'Or."
"His brother was killed at the attack of Pontorson."
"Yes, Hoisnard-Malonnière."
"A fine-looking fellow of nineteen."
"Attention!" called out the crier; "here is the end of the list:--
"--Belle-Vigne, brigand; La Musette, brigand; Sabre-tout,
brigand; Brin-d'Amour, brigand;--"
Here a lad jogged the elbow of a young girl; she smiled.
The crier continued,--
"--Chante-en-hiver, brigand; Le Chat, brigand--"
"That's Moulard," said a peasant.
"--Tabouze, brigand.--"
"That's Gauffre," said another.
"There are two of the Gauffres," added some woman.
"Good fellows, both of them," muttered a lad.
The crier waved the placard, the drum beat to command silence, and then
he resumed the reading:
"--And the above-named, wheresoever they may be taken, as
soon as their identity is proved, will be put to death
upon the spot;--"
There was a movement in the crowd.
The crier pursued,--
"--and any man who protects them, or aids them to escape,
will be brought before a court-martial and forthwith put
to death. Signed--"
The silence grew intense.
"--Signed: Delegate of the Committee of Public Safety,
"CIMOURDAIN."
"A priest," said a peasant.
"The former curé of Parigné," remarked another.
"Turmeau and Cimourdain," added a townsman,--"a White priest and a Blue
one."
"And both of them black," remarked another townsman.
The mayor, who stood on the balcony, lifted his hat as he cried,--
"Long live the Republic!"
A roll of the drum made it known that the crier had not yet finished.
He waved his hand.
"Listen," he said, "to the last four lines of the Government
proclamation. They are signed by the chief of the exploring column of
the Côtes-du-Nord, Commander Gauvain."
"Listen," cried voices in the crowd.
The crier read,--
"Under penalty of death,--"
All were silent.
"--it is forbidden, in pursuance with the above, to lend
aid or succor to the nineteen rebels herein named, who are
at present shut up and besieged in the Tourgue."
"What's that?" cried a voice.
It was a woman's voice,--the voice of the mother.
III.
MUTTERINGS AMONG THE PEASANTS.
Michelle Fléchard had mingled with the crowd. She had not listened,
but some things one may hear without listening. She had heard the word
"Tourgue," and raised her head.
"What's that? Did he say La Tourgue?"
People looked at her. The ragged woman seemed like one dazed.
Voices were heard to murmur, "She looks like a brigand."
A peasant woman, carrying a basket of buckwheat cakes, went up to her
and whispered,--
"Keep still."
Michelle Fléchard stared stupidly; again she had lost all power
of comprehension. That name, "La Tourgue" passed like a flash of
lightning, and night closed once more. Had she no right to ask for
information? What made the people look at her so strangely?
Meanwhile the drum had beaten for the last time, the bill-poster pasted
up the notice, the mayor went back into the house, the crier started
for some other village, and the crowd dispensed.
One group was still standing in front of the notice. Michelle Fléchard
drew near.
They were commenting on the names of the outlaws.
Both peasants and townsmen were there; that is to say, both Whites and
Blues.
"After all, they have not caught everybody," said a peasant. "Nineteen
is just nineteen, and no more. They have not got Riou, nor Benjamin
Moulins, nor Goupil from the parish of Andouillé."
"Nor Lorieul, of Monjean," remarked another.
And thus they went on:--
"Nor Brice-Denys."
"Nor François Dudouet."
"Yes, they have the one from Laval."
"Nor Huet, from Launey-Villiers."
"Nor Grégis."
"Nor Pilon."
"Nor Filleul."
"Nor Ménicent."
"Nor Guéharrée."
"Nor the three brothers Logerais."
"Nor Monsieur Lechandellier de Pierreville."
"Idiots!" exclaimed a stern-looking, white-haired man. "They have them
all, if they have Lantenac."
"They have not got him yet," muttered one of the young fellows.
"Lantenac once captured, the soul is gone. The death of Lantenac means
death to the Vendée," said the old man.
"Who is this Lantenac?" asked a townsman.
"He is a ci-devant," replied another.
And another added,--
"He is one of those who shoot women."
Michelle Fléchard heard this, and said,--
"That's true."
When people turned to look at her she added,--
"Because he shot me."
It was an odd thing to say; as if a living woman were to call herself
dead. People looked at her suspiciously.
And truly she was a startling object, trembling at every sound,
wild-looking, shivering, with an animal-like fear; so terrified was she
that she frightened other people. There is a certain weakness in the
despair of a woman that is dreadful to witness. It is like looking upon
a being against whom destiny has done its worst. But peasants are not
analytical; they see nothing below the surface. One of them muttered,
"She might be a spy."
"Keep still and go away," whispered the kind-hearted woman who had
spoken to her before.
"I am doing no harm," replied Michelle Fléchard; "I am only looking for
my children."
The kind woman winked at those who were starring at Michelle Fléchard,
and touching her forehead with her finger, said,--
"She is a simpleton."
Then drawing her aside, she gave her a buckwheat cake.
Without even stopping to thank her, Michelle Fléchard began to devour
the cake like one ravenous for food.
"You see, she eats just like an animal: she must be a simpleton;" and
one by one the crowd gradually dispersed.
After she had eaten, Michelle Fléchard said to the peasant woman,--
"Well, I have finished my cake; now, where is the Tourgue?"
"There she is at it again!" cried the peasant woman.
"I must go the Tourgue. Show me the road to La Tourgue."
"Never!" cried the peasant woman. "You would like to be killed, I
suppose; but whether you would or not, I don't know the way myself. You
must surely be insane. Listen to me, my poor woman. You look tired;
will you come to my house and rest?"
"I never test," replied the mother.
"And her feet are all torn," muttered the peasant woman.
"Didn't you hear me telling you that my children were stolen from me,
one little girl and two little boys? I came from the _carnichot_ in the
forest. You can ask Tellmarch le Caimand about me, and also the man I
met in the field down yonder. The Caimand cared me. It seems I had
something broken. All those things really happened. Besides, there is
Sergeant Radoub; you may ask him; he will tell you, for it was he who
met us in the forest. Three,--I tell you there were three children,
and the oldest one's name was René-Jean: I can prove it to you; and
Gros-Alain and Georgette were the two others. My husband is dead; they
killed him. He was a farmer at Siscoignard. You look like a kind woman.
Show me the way. I am not mad, I am a mother. I have lost my children,
and am looking for them. I do not know exactly where I came from. I
slept last night on the straw in a barn. I am going to the Tourgue.
I am not a thief. You can't help seeing that I am telling you the
truth. You ought to help me to find my children. I don't belong to this
neighborhood. I have been shot, but I do not know where it happened."
The peasant woman shook her head, saying,--
"Listen, traveller; in times of revolution you must not say things that
cannot be understood, for you might be arrested."
"But the Tourgue," cried the mother; "madam, for the love of the Infant
Jesus and of the Blessed Virgin in Paradise I pray you, I beg of you, I
beseech you, madam, tell me how I can find the road to the Tourgue!"
Then the peasant woman grew angry.
"I don't know! And if I did, I would not tell you! It is a bad place.
People don't go there."
"But I am going there," said the mother.
And once more she started on her way.
The woman, as she watched her depart, muttered to herself:--
"She must have something to eat, whatever she does;" and running after
Michelle Fléchard, she put a dark-looking cake in her hand, saying,--
"There is something for your supper."
Michelle Fléchard took the buckwheat-cake, but she neither turned nor
made reply as she pursued her way.
She went forth from the village, and just as she reached the last
houses she met three little ragged and barefooted children trotting
along. She went up to them and said,--
"Here are two boys and a girl;" and when she saw them looking at her
bread, she gave it to them.
The children took the bread, but they were evidently frightened.
She entered the forest.
IV.
A MISTAKE.
Meanwhile, on this very day, before dawn, amid the dim shadows of the
forest, the following scene took place on the bit of road that leads
from Javené to Lécousse.
All the roads of the Bocage are shut in between high banks, and those
enclosing the one that runs from Javené to Parigné by way of Lécousse
are even higher than usual; indeed the road, winding as it does, might
well be called a ravine. It leads from Vitré, and has had the honor of
jolting Madame de Sévigné's carriage. Shut in as it is by hedges on the
right and on the left, no better spot for an ambush could well be found.
That morning, one hour before Michelle Fléchard, starting from a
different part of the forest, had reached the first village, where she
beheld the funereal apparition of the wagon escorted by the gendarmes,
a crowd of unseen men, concealed by the branches, crouched in the
thickets through which the road from Javené runs after it crosses the
bridge over the Couesnon. They were, peasants dressed in coats of skin,
such as were worn by the kings of Brittany in the sixteenth century
and by the peasants in the eighteenth. Some were armed with muskets,
others with axes. Those who had axes had just built in a glade a kind
of funeral pile of dry fagots and logs, which was only waiting to be
set on fire. Those who had muskets were posted on both sides of the
road, in the attitude of expectancy. Could one have seen through the
leaves, he might have discovered on every side fingers resting on
triggers and guns aimed through the openings made by the interlacing of
the branches. These men were lying in wait. All the muskets converged
towards the road, which had begun to whiten in the rising dawn.
Amid this twilight low voices were carrying on a dialogue:--
"Are you sure of this?"
"Well, that's what they say."
"She is about to go by?"
"They say she is in this neighborhood."
"She must not leave it."
"She must be burned."
"We three villages have come out for that very purpose."
"And how about the escort?"
"It is to be killed."
"But will she come by this road?"
"So they say."
"Then she is coming from Vitré."
"And why shouldn't she?"
"Because they said she was coming from Fougères."
"Whether she comes from Fougères or from Vitré, she certainly comes
from the devil."
"That is true."
"And she must go back to him."
"I agree to that."
"Then she is going to Parigné?"
"So it seems."
"She will not get there."
"No."
"No, no, no!"
"Attention!"
It was the part of prudence to be silent now, since it was growing
quite light.
Suddenly these men lurking in ambush held their breath, as they heard
the sound of wheels and horses' feet. Peering through the branches,
they caught an indistinct glimpse of a long wagon, a mounted escort,
and something on the top of the wagon, all of which was coming towards
them along the hollow road.
"There she is," cried the one who appeared to be the leader.
"Yes, and the escort too," said one of the men who lay in wait.
"How many are there?"
"Twelve."
"It was said that there were to be twenty."
"Twelve or twenty, let us kill them all."
"Wait till they are within our reach."
[Illustration 108]
A little later and the wagon with its escort appeared at a turn of the
road.
"Long live the King!" cried the peasant leader; and as he spoke,
a hundred muskets were fired at the same instant. When the smoke
scattered, the escort was scattered likewise. Seven horsemen had
fallen, and the other five had made their escape. The peasants rushed
to the wagon. "Hallo! this is not the guillotine," cried the leader;
"it's a ladder."
In fact, there was nothing whatever in the wagon but a long ladder.
The two wounded horses had fallen, and the driver had been killed by
accident.
"There is something suspicious about a ladder with an escort, all the
same," said the leader. "It was going in the direction of Parigné. No
doubt it was intended for scaling the Tourgue."
"Let us burn the ladder," cried the peasants.
As to the funereal wagon for which they were watching, it had taken
another road, and was already two miles farther away, in the village
where Michelle Fléchard had seen it pass at sunrise.
V.
VOX IN DESERTO.
After leaving the three children to whom she had given her bread,
Michelle Fléchard started at random through the woods.
Since no one would show her the way, she must find it without help.
From time to time she paused, and sat down to rest; then up and away
again. She was overcome by that intense weariness which one feels first
in the muscles, then in the bones,--like the fatigue of a slave. And
a slave indeed she was,--the slave of her lost children. They must be
found; each passing moment might be fatal to them. A duty like this
debars one from the right to breathe freely; yet she was very weary.
When one has reached this stage of fatigue it becomes a question
whether another step can be taken. Could she do it? She had been
walking since morning without finding either a village or a house. When
she first started she had followed the right path, but soon wandered
into the wrong one, and at last quite lost her way among the thick
branches, where one tree looked just like another. Was she drawing
near her goal? Were her sufferings almost over? She was following the
way of the Cross, and felt all the languor and exhaustion of the final
station. Was she doomed to fall dead on the road? At one time it seemed
to her impossible to take another step: the sun was low, the forest
dark, the paths no longer visible in the grass, and God only knew what
was to become of her. She began to call, but there was no reply.
Looking around, she perceived an opening among the branches, and no
sooner had she started in that direction than she found herself out of
the wood.
Before her lay a valley no wider than a trench, across whose stony
bottom flowed a slender stream of clear water. Then she realized that
she was excessively thirsty, and approaching it knelt to drink; and
while thus kneeling she thought she would say her prayers.
When she rose she tried to get her bearings, and crossed the brook.
As far as the eye could reach on the farther side of the little valley
stretched a limitless plain overgrown with a stubbly underbrush, which
rose from the brook like an inclined plane, occupying the entire
horizon. If the forest were a solitude, this plateau might be called
a desert. In the forest there was a chance that one might encounter
a human being behind any bush; but across the plateau not an object
could be descried within reach of human vision. A few birds were flying
across the heather, as if making an effort to escape.
Then, in the presence of this utter desolation, feeling her knees
give way beneath her, the poor bewildered mother cried out amid the
solitude, like one suddenly gone mad,--
"Is there no one here?"
She paused for an answer, and the answer came.
A deep and muffled voice burst forth from the distant horizon, caught
and repeated by echo upon echo. It was like a thunderbolt; but it might
have been the firing of a cannon, or a voice answering the mother's
question, and replying, "Yes."
Then silence reigned once more.
The mother rose with renewed energy. She felt reassured by a sense of
companionship. Having quenched her thirst and said her prayers, her
strength returned, and she began to climb the plateau in the direction
from whence the voice of distant thunder had reached her ears. Suddenly
she caught sight of a lofty tower looming up against the far-away
horizon. It stood alone amid this wild landscape, and a ray of the
setting sun cast a crimson glow across it. It was more than a league
away. Beyond it stretched the forest of Fougères, its vast expanse of
verdure half hidden by the mist.
Could it have been this tower that made the noise?--for it seemed to
her to stand on the very spot whence came the thundering sound that had
rung in her ears like a call.
Michelle Fléchard had now reached the summit of the plateau, and the
plain alone lay before her.
VI.
THE SITUATION.
The moment had finally come when Cimourdain held Lantenac in his grasp.
The inexorable had conquered the pitiless. The old rebel Royalist
was caught in his own lair, with no possible chance of escape; and
Cimourdain had determined to behead the Marquis in the home of his
ancestors, on his own estate, upon his very hearthstone, so to speak,
that the feudal mansion might look upon the downfall of its feudal
lord, and thus present an example not soon to be forgotten.
For this reason he sent to Fougères for the guillotine, which we saw on
its way.
To kill Lantenac was to kill the Vendée; the death of the Vendée meant
safety for France. Cimourdain was a man utterly calm in the performance
of duty, however ferocious it might be, and not for a moment did he
hesitate.
[Illustration 109]
In regard to the ruin of the Marquis he felt quite at ease; but he had
another cause for anxiety. The struggle would no doubt be a fearful
one; Gauvain would direct the assault, and perhaps take part in it.
This young chief had all the fire of a soldier; he was the very man
to throw himself headlong into this hand-to-hand encounter. And what
if he were killed,--Gauvain, his child, the only being on earth whom
he loved! Gauvain had been fortunate thus far; but fortune sometimes
grows weary. Cimourdain trembled. Strange enough was his destiny, thus
placed between these two Gauvains, longing for the death of the one,
and praying for the life of the other.
The cannon that had started Georgette in her cradle and summoned the
mother from the depths of the woods, did more than that. Whether by
accident or intentionally on the part of the man who pointed the
gun, the ball, though intended only as a warning, struck, broke, and
partly wrenched away the iron bars that defended and closed the great
loop-hole on the first floor of the tower, and the besieged had had no
time to repair this damage.
The truth was that, in spite of their loud boasting, their ammunition
was nearly exhausted; and their situation, let it be remembered, was
more critical than the besiegers suspected. Their dream had been to
blow up the Tourgue when the enemy was once fairly within the walls;
but their store of powder was running low,--not more than thirty
rounds left for each man. They had plenty of muskets, blunderbusses,
and pistols, but few cartridges. All the guns were loaded, that they
might keep up a steady fire. But how long could this last? To keep
up the firing and economize their resources at one and the same time
would be a somewhat difficult combination. Fortunately (a gloomy kind
of fortune) it would be for the most part a hand-to-hand encounter,
in which the cold steel of sabre and dagger would take the place of
firearms. They would have a chance to hack the enemy in pieces, and
therein lay their chief hope.
The interior of the tower seemed impregnable. In the low hall where
the breach had been made the entrance was defended by that barricade
so skilfully constructed by Lantenac, called that _retirade._ Behind
it stood a long table covered with loaded weapons, blunderbusses,
carbines, muskets, sabres, hatchets, and daggers. Having been unable
to make use of the oubliette prison communicating with the lower hall,
for the purpose of blowing up the tower, the Marquis had ordered the
door of this dungeon to be closed. Above the hall was the round chamber
of the first story, which could only be reached by a very narrow
spiral staircase. This room, provided like the lower hall with a table
covered with weapons ready for use, was lighted by the wide embrasure
whose grating had just been crushed by a cannon-ball. Below this room
the spiral staircase led to the round chamber on the second story,
from which the iron door opened into the bridge-castle. This room on
the second floor was called indiscriminately "the room with the iron
door," or "the mirror room", on account of the numerous little mirrors
hung from rusty old nails against the naked stone walls,--an odd
medley of elegance and barbarism. As there were no means by which the
upper rooms could be successfully defended, this mirror-room was what
Manesson-Mallet, the authority on fortifications, calls "the last post
where the besieged may capitulate." The object was, as we have already
stated, to prevent the besiegers from reaching it.
This round chamber on the second floor was lighted by embrasures,
but a torch was burning there also. This torch, stuck in an iron
torch-holder, like the one in the lower hall, had been lighted by the
Imânus and placed quite near the end of the sulphur-match. Appalling
solicitude.
At the end of the hall, on a long board raised on trestles, food had
been placed as in a Homeric cavern; great dishes of rice, a porridge of
some kind of dark grain, hashed veal, a boiled pudding made of flour
and fruit, and jugs of cider. Whoever wished to eat and drink could do
so.
The cannon had set them all on the alert, and now they had but half an
hour of repose before them.
From the top of the tower the Imânus kept watch of the enemy's
approach. Lantenac had given orders that the besiegers should be
allowed to advance unmolested.
"They are four thousand five hundred," he said; "it would be useless to
kill them outside. Wait till they are within the walls, where we shall
be equal to them." And he added, laughing, "Equality, Fraternity."
It had been agreed that when the enemy began to advance, the Imânus
should give warning on his horn.
Posted behind the _retirade_ and on the steps of the staircase, they
waited in silence, with a musket in one hand and a rosary in the other.
The situation might be summed up as follows:--
On one side of the besiegers a breach to scale, a barricade to carry,
three rooms in succession, one above the other, to be taken by main
force, two spiral staircases to be climbed, step by step, under a
shower of bullets; the besieged meanwhile standing face to face with
death.
[Illustration 110]
VII.
PRELIMINARIES.
[Illustration 111]
Gauvain on his side was preparing for the attack. He had given his last
instructions to Cimourdain, who, it will be remembered, was to guard
the plateau, taking no part in the action, as well as to Guéchamp, who
with the main body of the army was to be stationed in the forest camp.
It was agreed that neither the lower battery of the wood nor the higher
one of the plateau was to fire, unless a sortie or an attempt to escape
were made. Gauvain reserved for himself the command of the storming
column, and this it was that troubled Cimourdain.
The sun had just set.
A tower in the open country is like a ship in mid-ocean, and must be
attacked in the same way. It is more like boarding than assaulting.
Cannon is of no avail, for of what use would it be to cannonade walls
fifteen feet thick? A port-hole through which men struggle to force
a way, while others defend the entrance with axes, knives, pistols,
fists, and teeth,--this was the kind of combat that might be expected,
and Gauvain knew that by no other means could the Tourgue be taken.
Nothing can be more deadly than an attack where the combatants can look
into one another's eyes. He was familiar with the formidable interior
of the tower, having lived there as a child.
He stood wrapped in deep thought.
A few paces from him, his lieutenant, Guéchamp, with a spy-glass in his
hand, was scanning the horizon in the direction of Parigné. Suddenly he
cried,--
"Ah! At last!"
This exclamation roused Gauvain from his reverie.
"What is it, Guéchamp?"
"The ladder is coming, commander."
"The escape-ladder?"
"Yes."
"Is it possible that it has not arrived till now?"
"No, commander; and I felt anxious about it. The courier whom I sent to
Javené returned."
"I am aware of that."
"He reported that he had found in a carpenter-shop at Javené a ladder
of the required dimensions, that he had taken possession of it, and
having had it put on a wagon, demanded an escort of twelve horsemen;
that he had waited to see them set out for Parigné,--the wagon, the
escort, and the ladder,--and had then started for home at full speed."
"And reported the same to us, adding that the team was a good one and
had started about two o'clock in the morning, and would therefore be
here before sunset. Yes, I know all that. What else?"
"Well, commander, the sun has just set and the wagon that is to bring
the ladder has not yet arrived."
"Is it possible? But we must begin the attack. The hour has come. If we
are late, the besieged will think that we have retreated."
"We can attack, commander."
"But we must have the escape-ladder."
"Certainly."
"But we have not got it"
"Yes, we have."
"How is that?"
"That's what made me say, 'Ah! at last!' As the wagon had not arrived,
I took my spy-glass and have been watching the road from Parigné to the
Tourgue, and now I am content; for the wagon and the escort are yonder
descending the hill. You can see them."
Gauvain took the spy-glass and looked.
"Yes, there it is. It is hardly light enough to see it all distinctly,
but I can distinguish the escort; it is certainly that. Only it seems
to me larger than you said, Guéchamp?"
"Yes, it does."
"They are about a quarter of a league distant."
"The escape-ladder will be here in a quarter of an hour, commander."
"Then we can attack."
It was indeed a wagon approaching, but not the one they supposed it to
be.
As he turned, Gauvain saw behind him Sergeant Radoub standing with
downcast eyes, in the attitude of military salute.
"What is it, Sergeant Radoub?"
"Citizen commander, we, the men of the battalion of the Bonnet-Rouge,
have a favor to ask of you."
"What is it?"
"To be killed."
"Ah!" exclaimed Gauvain.
"Will you grant us this favor?"
"Well, that depends," said Gauvain.
"It is just this, commander. Since the affair at Dol, you have been too
careful of us. There are twelve of us still."
"Well?"
"It humiliates us."
"You are the reserved force."
"We would rather be in the vanguard."
"I need you to insure success at the close of the engagement. That is
why I keep you back."
"There is too much of this keeping back."
"It is all the same. You are in the column. You march."
"In the rear. Paris has a right to march at the head."
"I will consider the matter, Sergeant Radoub."
"Consider it to-day, commander. The occasion is at hand. Hard knocks
will be given on both sides; it will be lively work. He who lays a
finger on the Tourgue will get himself burned; we request the favor of
being in the thick of it."
The sergeant paused, twisted his moustache, and continued in a changed
voice:--
"And then you know, commander, our little ones are in this tower.
Our children are there,--the children of the battalion, our three
children. That abominable wretch Brise-Bleu, called the Imânus, that
Gouge-le-Bruand, Bouge-le-Gruand, Fouge-le-Truand, that thundering
devil of a man, threatens our children,--our children, our puppets,
commander! No harm must come to them, whatever convulsion shakes the
Tourgue. Do you understand that, commander? We will not endure it.
Just now I took advantage of the truce, and climbing up the plateau, I
looked at them through the window. Yes, they are certainly there,--you
can see them from the edge of the ravine; I saw them, and frightened
the darlings. Commander, if a single hair falls from the heads of
those little cherubs,--I swear it by the thousand names of all that is
sacred,--I, Sergeant Radoub, will demand an account of God Almighty!
And this is what the battalion says: we want the babies to be saved,
or else we all want to be killed. We have a right to ask it. Yes,
that every man of us be killed! And now I salute you, and present my
respects."
Gauvain held out his hand to Radoub as he exclaimed:--
"You are brave fellows! You will join the attacking column. I shall
divide you into two parties; six of you I shall place in the vanguard
to insure the advance, and six in the rear-guard to prevent a retreat."
"And am I still to command the twelve?"
"Of course."
"Thank you, commander. In that case, I join the vanguard."
Radoub made the military salute, and returned to the ranks. Gauvain
drew out his watch, whispered a few words to Guéchamp, and the
attacking column began to form.
VIII.
THE SPEECH AND THE ROAR.
[Illustration 112]
Meanwhile, Cimourdain who had not yet taken his position on the
plateau, and who stood beside Gauvain, approached a trumpeter.
"Sound the trumpet!" he said to him.
The clarion sounded, the horn replied.
Again the clarion and the trumpet exchanged calls.
"What does that mean?" asked Gauvain of Guéchamp. "What does Cimourdain
want?"
Cimourdain, with a white handkerchief in his hand, approached the
tower; and as he drew near, he cried aloud,--
"You men in the tower, do you know me?"
And the voice of the Imânus made answer from the heights,--
"We do."
These two voices were now heard exchanging question and reply as
follows:--
"I am the ambassador of the Republic,'
"You are the former curé of Parigné."
"I am a delegate of the Committee of Public Safety."
"You are a priest."
"I am a representative of the law."
"You are a renegade."
"I am a commissioner of the Revolution."
"You are an apostate."
"I am Cimourdain."
"You are a demon."
"Do you know me?"
"We abominate you."
"Would you like to have me in your power?"
"There are eighteen of us here who would give our heads to have yours."
"Well, then, I have come to give myself up to you."
A burst of savage laughter rang out from the top of the tower, with the
derisive cry,--
"Come!"
A deep silence of expectancy reigned in the camp.
Cimourdain continued,--
"On one condition."
"What is that?"
"Listen."
"Speak."
"You hate me?"
"Yes."
"And I love you; I am your brother."
The voice from above replied,--
"Yes--our brother Cain."
Cimourdain went on, with a peculiar inflection of voice,--soft, but
penetrating:--
"Insult me, if you will, but listen to my words. I come here protected
by a flag of truce. Poor misguided men, you are in very truth my
brothers, and I am your friend. I am the light, trying to illumine your
ignorance. Light is the essence of brotherhood. Moreover, have we not
all one common mother,--our native land? Then listen to me. Sooner or
later, you--or at least your children or grandchildren--will know that
every event of this present time is the result of the higher law, and
that this revolution is the work of God himself. But while we wait for
the time when, to the inner sense of every man, even unto yours, all
these things will be made plain, and when all fanaticisms, including
our own, will vanish before the powerful light that is to dawn, is
there none to take pity on your ignorance? Behold, I come to you, and I
offer you my head; more than this, I hold out my hand. I beg of you to
take my life and spare your own. All power is vested in me, and what I
promise I can fulfil. I make one final effort in this decisive moment.
He who speaks to you is both citizen and priest. The citizen contends
with you, but the priest implores you. I beseech you to hear me. Many
among you have wives and children. It is in their behalf that I entreat
you. Oh, my brothers--"
"Go on with your preaching!" sneered the Imânus.
Cimourdain continued:--
"My brethren, avert this fatal hour. There will be frightful slaughter
here. Many of us who stand before you will not see to-morrow's sun;
yes, many indeed will perish, and you,--you will all die. Have mercy on
yourselves. Why shed all this blood to no avail? Why kill so many men
when two would suffice?"
"Two?" asked the Imânus.
"Yes, two."
"Who are they?"
"Lantenac and myself."
Here Cimourdain raised his voice.
"We are the two men whose deaths would be most pleasing to our
respective parties. This is my offer; accept it and you are saved. Give
Lantenac to us and take me in his place; he will be guillotined, and
with me you may do what you will."
"Priest," howled the Imânus, "if we but had you, we would roast you
over a slow fire."
"So be it," said Cimourdain; and he went on:--
[Illustration 113]
"You, the condemned who are in this tower, in one hour may all be safe
and free. I offer you salvation. Will you accept?"
The Imânus burst out:--
"You are a fool as well as a villain. Why do you interfere with us? Who
invited you to come here with your speeches? You expect us to deliver
up Monseigneur, do you? What do you want to do with him?"
"I want his head, and I offer you--"
"Your skin, for we would flay you like a dog, curé; but no, your skin
is not worth his head. Begone!"
"The slaughter will be terrible. Once more I beseech you to reflect."
Night had come on during the progress of this gloomy conference,
which had been heard both within and without the tower. The Marquis
de Lantenac listened in silence, letting the affair take its course;
leaders sometimes exhibit this self-absorbed indifference, as a kind of
prerogative of responsibility.
The Imânus raised his voice above that of Cimourdain, exclaiming:--
"You men who are about to attack us, we have declared our intentions.
You have heard our offers; we shall make no change in them, and woe be
unto you if you refuse them. But if you consent, we will give you back
the three children whom we now hold, on condition that each one of us
is allowed to depart in safety."
"You may all go free, save one," replied Cimourdain.
"Who is that?"
"Lantenac."
"Monseigneur! Deliver Monseigneur! Never!"
"We must have Lantenac."
"Never!"
"We can treat with you on no other condition."
"Then you had better begin the attack."
Silence ensued.
The Imânus having given the signal on his horn, came down, the Marquis
grasped his sword, the nineteen besieged silently gathered in the lower
hall behind the _retirade_, and fell upon their knees; they heard the
measured tread of the attacking column as it advanced towards the
tower, drawing nearer and nearer in the darkness, until suddenly the
sound was close upon them, at the very mouth of the breach. Then every
man knelt and adjusted his musket or blunderbuss in an opening of
the retirade, while one of their number, Grand-Francoeur, the former
priest Turmeau, rose, and holding in his right hand a drawn sabre, and
in his left a crucifix, solemnly uttered the blessing.
"In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost!"
All fired at once, and the conflict began.
[Illustration 114]
[Illustration 115]
IX.
TITANS AGAINST GIANTS.
[Illustration 116]
It was indeed a fearful scene.
This hand-to-hand struggle surpassed all conception.
To find its parallel one must have recourse to the great duels of
Æschylus, or to the butcheries of old feudal times; to those "attacks
with short arms" that continued in vogue until the seventeenth century,
when men penetrated into fortified places by way of concealed breaches;
tragic assaults, where, says an old sergeant of the province of
Alentejo, "the mines having done their work, the besiegers will now
advance, carrying boards covered with sheets of tin, armed with round
shields and bucklers, and supplied with an abundance of grenades; and
as they force those who hold the intrenchments and _retirades_ to
give way, they will take possession of them, vigorously expelling the
besieged."
The scene of the attack was terrible; it was one of those breaches
technically termed "a covered breach," and was, it must be remembered,
not a wide breach opened to daylight, but a mere crack, traversing the
wall from side to side. The powder had worked like an auger. The effect
of the explosion had been so tremendous that the tower was cracked for
more than forty feet above the chamber of the mine; but it was only a
fissure, and the practicable rent that served as a breach and afforded
an entrance into the lower hall, had the effect of having been pierced
by the thrust of a lance rather than cleft by a blow from an axe.
It was a puncture in the side of the tower, a long, deep cut, not
unlike a well, horizontal with the ground, a narrow passage twisting
and turning like an intestine through a wall fifteen feet thick, a
shapeless cylinder, abounding in obstacles, pitfalls, and all the
débris of past explosions, where a man, blinded by the darkness and
stumbling over the rubbish beneath his feet, would surely dash his head
against the granite rock.
Before the assailants yawned this black portal, like a cavernous mouth,
whose upper and lower jaws, closely set with jagged rocks, rivalled
a shark's mouth in the number of its teeth. This cavity was the only
means of entrance or exit, and while the grape-shot was raining
within, on the other side--that is to say, in the lower hall of the
ground-floor--rose the _retirade._
The ferocity of the encounter can only be compared with the encounters
of sappers in underground passages when a counter-mine has just cut
across a mine, or with the cutlass butcheries that take place when in
a naval battle a man-of-war is boarded. Fighting in the depths of a
grave reaches the very climax of all that is dreadful. The fact that
a ceiling is overhead seems to increase the horror of human slaughter.
Just as the first of the assailants came surging in, the _retirade_ was
wrapped in a sheet of lightning, and it seemed like the bursting of a
subterranean thunder-clap, report answering report as the besiegers
returned the thunder of the ambuscade. Above the uproar rose the voice
of Gauvain, shouting, "Break them in!" then Lantenac's cry, "Stand
firm against the enemy!" then the cry of the Imânus, "Stand by me, men
of Maine!" then the clang of sabres clashing one against the other,
and terrible discharges following in swift succession, dealing death
on every hand. The torch fastened to the wall but dimly lighted this
scene of horror. A lurid glare enveloped all objects, amid which
nothing could be clearly distinguished; and those who entered were
straightway struck deaf and blind,--deafened by the uproar, blinded by
the smoke. The disabled lay here and there among the rubbish; while the
combatants trampled upon the corpses, crushing the wounds and bruising
the broken limbs of the injured men, who groaned aloud in their wild
agony, and sometimes set their teeth in the feet of those who were
torturing them. Now and then a silence more appalling than sound would
settle over all. Men seized each other by the throat, and then were
heard fierce pantings, followed by gnashings of teeth, death-rattles
and imprecations, and directly all the din returned again. A stream
of blood flowed through the breach in the tower, and spreading in the
gloom, formed a dark, smoking pool outside upon the grass.
[Illustration 117]
One might have said that the tower herself was bleeding like a wounded
giantess.
Surprising to relate, all this tumult was hardly audible on the
outside. The night was very dark, and around the besieged fortress
an almost funereal sense of peace rested on forest and plain. Hell
was within, a sepulchre without. This life-and-death struggle in the
darkness, these volleys of musketry, this clamor and fury,--all this
tumult and confusion was subdued by the massive walls and arches. There
was not air enough for reverberation, and a sense of suffocation was
added to the carnage. Outside the tower the noise was scarcely audible;
and meanwhile the three little children still slumbered.
The fury of the combat deepened; the _retirade_ held its own.
There is nothing more difficult to force than this kind of barricade,
with a re-entering angle. If the besieged were at a disadvantage in
numbers, their position was in their favor. The attacking column had
suffered serious loss of men. Formed in a long line outside the tower,
it gradually worked its way through the breach, shortening as it
disappeared, like a snake twisting itself into its hole.
Gauvain, with the rashness peculiar to a youthful leader, was in the
lower hall, in the thickest of the mêlée, with the bullets flying in
all directions. Let us add, however, that he felt all the confidence of
a man who had never been wounded.
As he turned to give an order, the flash from a volley of musketry
lighted up a face close beside him.
"Cimourdain!" he-cried, "why are you here?"
"I came to be near you," replied the man, who was indeed Cimourdain.
"But you will be killed."
"What of that? Are you not in the same danger?"
"But I am needed here, and you are not."
"Since you are here, my place is by your side."
"No, my master."
"Yes, my child."
And Cimourdain remained near Gauvain.
The dead lay in heaps on the pavement of the lower hall. Although the
_retirade_ had not as yet been carried, the majority would sooner or
later gain the day. The assailants, it is true, were not protected,
while the assailed were under cover; and ten of the besiegers fell to
one of the besieged; but the latter were constantly replaced.
In proportion as the besieged diminished the besiegers increased.
The nineteen besieged were collected behind the _retirade_, since that
was the centre of attack; and among them were their dead and wounded;
not more than fifteen of them were in fighting condition. One of the
fiercest, Chante-en-hiver, had been fright-fully mutilated. He was a
thick-set Breton, with curling hair, and short of stature, but full
of life and energy. Although his jaw was broken and one of his eyes
blown out, he could still walk, and he dragged himself up the winding
staircase into the room on the first story, hoping there to be able to
say his prayers and die.
He leaned against the wall near the loop-hole trying to get a breath of
air.
The butchery down below in front of the _retirade_ had grown more
and more horrible. Once when there was a pause between two volleys
Cimourdain raised his voice.
"Besieged," he cried, "why continue this bloodshed? You are conquered.
Surrender! Remember we are four thousand five hundred against nineteen,
which is over two hundred to one. Surrender!"
"Let us put an end to that idle babble," replied the Marquis de
Lantenac.
And twenty balls responded to Cimourdain's appeal.
The _retirade_ did not reach as high as the vaulted ceiling, thus
the besieged were enabled to fire over it; but at the same time it
presented to the besiegers an opportunity for an escalade.
"An assault on the _retirade_!" cried Gauvain. "Is there a man among
you who will volunteer to scale it?"
"I," replied Sergeant Radoub.
X.
RADOUB.
A sudden stupor fell upon the assailants. Radoub had been the sixth to
enter the breach at the head of the attacking column, and of these six
men of the Parisian battalion four had already fallen. After uttering
the exclamation "I," he was seen to draw back instead of advancing, and
bending over, in a crouching attitude, he crawled between the legs of
the combatants, until, reaching the opening of the breach, he rushed
out. Was this flight? Was it possible for such a man to flee? What
could it mean?
Having escaped from the breach, Radoub, still blinded by the smoke,
rubbed his eyes, as though to dispel the horror and gloom of the night,
and by the faint glimmer of the stars began to scrutinize the wall of
the tower. He nodded with an air of satisfaction, as much as to say,
"So I was not mistaken."
Radoub had noticed that the deep fissure caused by the explosion of
the mine extended from the breach to that loop-hole on the first story
whose iron grating had been shattered and partially torn off by a
cannon-ball, and thus hanging, the network of broken bars left just
room enough for a man to pass through,--provided he could climb up to
it; and that was the question. Possibly it might be done by following
the crack, supposing the man to be a cat; and Radoub was precisely like
a cat. He was of the race which Pindar calls "the agile athletes."
Although a man may be an old soldier, it by no means follows that he is
no longer young. Radoub, who had been in the French Guards, was not yet
forty years of age, and he was as active as Hercules.
Laying his musket on the ground, he removed his shoulder-belt, threw
off his coat and waistcoat, keeping only his two pistols, which he
stuck in the belt of his trousers, and his drawn sabre, which he held
between his teeth. The butts of his pistols projected from above his
belt.
Thus burdened by no unnecessary weight, and followed in the darkness
by the eyes of all those of the attacking column who had not as yet
entered the breach, he began the ascent, climbing the stones of the
cracked wall as though they had been the steps of a staircase. It was
an advantage to him that he wore no shoes; there is nothing like a
naked foot for clinging, and he twisted his toes into the holes between
the stones. While hoisting himself by means of his fists, he used his
knees for support. It was a hard pull, not unlike climbing up the teeth
of a saw. "Luckily," he thought to himself, "there is no one in the
room on the first story; for if there were, I should never have been
allowed to climb up in this way."
He had about forty feet to climb after this fashion, and, as he
advanced, somewhat inconvenienced by the projecting butts of his
pistols, the crack grew narrower and the ascent more and more
difficult. The increasing depth of the precipice beneath his feet added
constantly to the danger of a fall; but at last he reached the edge of
the loop-hole, and on pushing aside the twisted and broken grating he
found that he had ample room to pass through. Then raising himself by a
powerful effort, he braced his knees against the cornices of the ledge,
caught hold of a fragment of the grating on either hand, and holding
his sabre between his teeth, he drew himself up as high as his waist
in front of the embrasure of the loop-hole; there, with his entire
weight resting on his two fists, he hung suspended over the abyss.
Now, with a single bound, he had but to leap into the hall of the first
story.
Suddenly he beheld in the gloom a horrible object; a face appeared in
the embrasure, like a bleeding mask with its jaw crushed and one eye
torn out, and this one-eyed mask was gazing steadily at him.
The two hands belonging to this mask were seen to reach forth from the
darkness in the direction of Radoub; one of them instantly caught the
pistols from his belt, and the other pulled the sabre from his teeth,
and thus Radoub was disarmed.
He felt his knee slipping from the sloping cornice, the grasp of his
hands on fragments of the grating barely sufficed to support him, while
behind him yawned an abyss of forty feet.
[Illustration 118]
That mask and those hands belonged to Chante-en-hiver.
Suffocated by the smoke that rose from below, Chante-en-hiver had made
his way into the embrasure of this loop-hole, where the out-door air
had revived him, the freshness of the night had checked the bleeding of
his wounds, and he had begun to feel somewhat stronger, when suddenly
in the opening before him appeared the form of Radoub; then, while the
latter hung there, clinging with both hands to the railing, with no
choice but to drop or suffer himself to be disarmed, Chante-en-hiver,
with an awful calmness, snatched the two pistols from big belt and the
sabre from his teeth.
Whereupon ensued a duel between the unarmed and the wounded,--a duel
without a parallel.
There could be no doubt that the dying man would come off victorious;
one shot would be enough to hurl Radoub into the yawning gulf below.
Luckily for Radoub, Chante-en-hiver, in consequence of holding the two
pistols in one hand, was unable to fire either, and was forced to use
the sabre, with which he gave Radoub a thrust in the shoulder,--a blow
which wounded him and at the same time saved his life.
Although unarmed, Radoub, in full possession of his strength and
heedless of his injury, which was simply a flesh-wound, suddenly swung
himself forward, and releasing his hold on the bars, leaped into the
embrasure, where he found himself face to face with Chante-en-hiver,
who had thrown the sabre behind him, as he knelt clutching a pistol in
either hand.
As he took aim at Radoub, the muzzle of his pistol was so close as
nearly to touch him; but his enfeebled arm trembled, and a minute
passed before he could fire.
Radoub availed himself of this respite to burst out laughing.
"Look here, you hideous object!" he cried, "do you think you can
frighten me with your jaw like beef _à la mode?_ Sapristi! how they
have spoiled your face for you."
Chante-en-hiver was aiming at him.
"I suppose it is rather rude to say so," continued Radoub, "but the
grape-shot has made a pretty ragged piece of work of your head.
Bellona spoiled your beauty, my poor fellow. Come, come, spit out your
little pistol-shot, my friend."
The pistol went off, and the ball, grazing Radoub's head, tore away
half his ear. Chante-en-hiver, still grasping the second pistol, raised
his other arm, but Radoub gave him no time to take aim.
"It's quite enough to lose one ear," he cried. "You have wounded me
twice, and now my turn has come."
Throwing himself on Chante-en-hiver, he gave his arm so powerful a blow
that the pistol went off in the air; then seizing him by his wounded
jaw, he twisted it until Chante-en-hiver uttered a howl of agony and
fainted.
Radoub stepped over his prostrate form and left him lying in the
embrasure.
"Now that I have made known to you my ultimatum, don't you dare to
stir," he said. "Lie there, base reptile that you are! You may be very
sure that I shall not amuse myself at present by killing you. Crawl
at your leisure over the ground, under my feet You will have to die,
anyhow. And then you will find out what nonsense your curé has been
telling you. Away with you into the great mystery, peasant!"
And he sprang into the hall of the lower story.
"One can't see his hand before him," he grumbled.
Chante-en-hiver was convulsively writhing and moaning in his agony.
Radoub looked back.
"Silence! Will you please to keep still, citizen without knowing it? I
have nothing more to do with you; for I should scorn to put an end to
your life. Now, leave me in peace."
And as he stood watching Chante-en-hiver, he plunged his hands
restlessly into his hair.
"What am I to do? This is all very well, but here I am disarmed. I
had two shots to fire, and you have wasted them, animal that you are.
And besides, the smoke is so thick that it makes my eyes water;" and
accidentally touching his tom ear, he cried out with pain.
"You have not gained much by getting my ear," he continued; "in fact,
I would rather lose that than any other member; it's only an ornament,
any way. You have scratched my shoulder, too, but that's of no
consequence. You may die in peace, rustic; I forgive you."
He listened. The noise in the lower hall was frightful. The fight was
raging more wildly than ever.
"Things are progressing downstairs. Hear them yelling 'Long live the
King!' It must be acknowledged that they die nobly."
He stumbled over his sabre that lay on the floor, and as he picked it
up, he said to Chante-en-hiver, who had ceased to moan, and who might
very possibly be dead:--
"You see, man of the woods, my sabre is not of the slightest use for
what I intended to do. However, I take it as a keepsake from you. But I
needed my pistols. Devil take you, savage! What am I to do here? I am
of no use at all."
As he advanced into the hall, tiding to see where he was and to get
his bearings, he suddenly discovered in the shadow behind the central
pillar a long table, and upon this table something faintly gleaming. He
felt of the objects. They were muskets, pistols, and carbines, a whole
row of fire-arms arranged in order and apparently only waiting for
hands to seize them. This was the reserve prepared by the besieged for
the second stage of the assault; indeed, it was a complete arsenal.
"This is a treasure indeed!" exclaimed Radoub; and half dazed with joy
he flung himself upon them.
[Illustration 119]
Then it was that he became formidable.
Near the table covered with fire-arms could be seen the wide-open door
of the staircase leading to the upper and lower stories. Radoub dropped
his sabre, seized a double-barrelled pistol in each hand, and instantly
fired at random through the door leading to the spiral staircase; then
he grasped a blunderbuss, firing that also, and directly afterwards a
gun loaded with buckshot, whose fifteen balls made as much noise as a
volley of grape-shot. After which, pausing to take breath, he shouted
in thundering tones down the staircase, "Long live Paris!"
Seizing another blunderbuss bigger than the first he aimed it towards
the vault of the winding staircase and paused again.
The uproar that ensued in the lower hall baffles description.
Resistance is shattered by such unlooked for surprises.
Two of the balls of Radoub's triple discharge had taken effect, killing
the older of the brothers Pique-en-bois and Houzard, who was M. de
Quélen.
"They are upstairs," cried the Marquis.
At this exclamation; the men determined to abandon the _retirade_ and
no flock of birds could have surpassed the rapidity of their flight, as
they rushed pell-mell towards the staircase, the Marquis urging them
onward.
"Make haste!" he cried; "now we must show our courage by flight. Let us
all go up to the second floor and there begin anew!"
He himself was the last man to leave the _retirade_, and to this act of
bravery he owed his life.
Radoub, with his finger on the trigger, was concealed on the first
landing of the staircase, watching the rout. The first men who appeared
at the turn of the staircase received the discharge full in their faces
and fell, and if the Marquis had been among them he would have been a
dead man. Before Radoub had time to seize another weapon they had all
passed, and the Marquis, moving more deliberately than the others,
brought up the rear. Supposing as they did that the room on the first
story was filled with the besiegers, they never paused until they
reached the mirror room on the second story,--the room with the iron
door and the sulphur match, where they must either capitulate or die.
Gauvain, quite as much surprised as any one of the besieged at the
sound of the shots from the staircase, and having no idea of the source
of this unexpected assistance, but availing himself of it without
trying to understand, had leaped over the _retirade_, followed by his
men, and, sword in hand, had driven the fugitives to the first story.
There he found Radoub, who, with a military salute, said to him,--
"One moment, commander. It was I who did that. I had not forgotten Dol,
so I followed your example, and took the enemy between two fires."
"You are a clever scholar," replied Gauvain with a smile.
One's eyes, like those of night birds, grow accustomed to a dim light
after a certain time, and Gauvain discovered that Radoub was covered
with blood.
"But you are wounded, comrade!"
"Oh, that is nothing, commander. What is an ear more or less? I got
a sabre-thrust, too, but I don't mind it. When one breaks a pane of
glass, of course one gets a few cuts; it is only a question of a little
blood."
In the room in the first story conquered by Radoub the men halted. A
lantern was brought, and Cimourdain rejoined Gauvain; whereupon they
both took counsel together, and well they might. The besiegers were
not in the confidence of the besieged; they had no means of knowing
their scarcity of ammunition nor their want of powder; the second story
was their very last intrenchment, and the assailants thought it not
unlikely that the staircase might be mined.
One thing was certain,--the enemy could not escape. Those who were not
killed, were like men locked in a prison. Lantenac was caught in the
trap.
Resting upon this assurance, they felt that it would be well to devote
a short time to considering the matter of bringing the affair to a
crisis. Many of their men had already been killed. They must take
measures to prevent too great a loss of life in the final assault.
There would be serious danger in this last attack. At the first onset
they would no doubt find themselves exposed to a heavy fire.
Hostilities had ceased. The besiegers in possession of the ground-floor
and the first story waited for orders from their chief to renew the
fight. While Gauvain and Cimourdain held counsel together, Radoub
listened in silence to their deliberations.
At last he timidly ventured another military salute.
"Commander!"
"What is it, Radoub?"
"Have I earned a small reward?"
"Certainly. Ask what you will."
"Then I ask to be the first one to go up."
It was impossible to refuse him; besides, he would have gone without
permission.
XI.
THE DESPERATE.
While these deliberations were in progress on the first floor, a
barricade was going up overhead. If success inspires fury, defeat fills
men with rage. The two stories were about to clash in wild frenzy.
There is a sense of intoxication in the assurance of victory. The
assailants below were buoyed up by hope, that most powerful incentive
to human effort when it is not counteracted by despair. All the
despair was above,--calm, cold, and gloomy despair. When they reached
this hall of refuge, their last resource, they proceeded first of
all to bar the entrance, and in order to accomplish this object they
decided that the blockading of the staircase would be more effectual
than barring the door. Under such circumstances an obstacle through
which one can both see what is going on and fight at the same time is a
better defence than a closed door.
All the light they had, came from the torch which Imânus had stuck in
the holder on the wall near the sulphur match.
One of those great heavy oaken chests such as formerly served the
purpose of holding clothing and linen, before the invention of chests
of drawers, stood in the hall, and this trunk they dragged out, and set
up on end in the doorway of the staircase.
It fitted so closely into the space that it blocked up the entrance,
leaving just room enough for the passage of a single man, thus
affording them an excellent chance to kill their assailants one by one.
It seemed somewhat doubtful whether any of them would attempt to enter.
Meanwhile, the obstructed entrance gave them a respite, during which
they counted the men.
Of the original nineteen, but seven remained, including the Imânus; and
he and the Marquis were the only ones who had not been wounded.
The five wounded men, who were still active,--for in the excitement of
battle no man would succumb to anything less than a mortal wound,---
were Chatenay, called Robi, Guinoiseau, Hoisnard, Branche-d'Or,
Brin-d'Amour, and Grand-Francoeur. All the others were dead.
Their ammunition was exhausted, and their cartridge-boxes were empty.
On counting the cartridges, they found that there were just four rounds
apiece among the seven men.
Death was now their only resource. Behind them yawned the dreadful
precipice. They could hardly have been nearer to the edge.
Meanwhile, the attack had just begun again,--slowly, it is true, but
none the less determined. As the assailants advanced, they could hear
the butt-end of their muskets strike on each stair by way of testing
its security.
All means of escape were cut off. By way of the library? Six guns stood
on the plateau, with matches lighted. Through the rooms overhead? To
what avail? Opening on to the platform as they did, they simply offered
an opportunity to hurl themselves from the summit of the tower into the
depths below.
And now the seven survivors of this epic band realized the hopelessness
of their position; within that solid wall, which, though protecting for
the moment, would in the end betray, they were practically prisoners,
although not as yet really captured.
The voice of the Marquis broke the silence.
"My friends, all is over," he said.
Then, after a pause, he added,--
"Grand-Francoeur will for the time being resume the duties of the Abbé
Turmeau."
All knelt, rosary in hand. The sounds of the butt-ends of the
besiegers' guns came nearer and nearer.
Grand-Francoeur, bleeding from a gunshot wound which had grazed his
skull and torn away his hairy leathern cap, raised a crucifix in his
right hand; the Marquis, a thorough sceptic, knelt on one knee.
"Let each one confess his sins aloud. Speak, Monseigneur."
And the Marquis replied, "I have killed my fellow-men."
"And I the same," said Hoisnard.
"And I," said Guinoiseau.
"And I," said Brin-d'Amour.
"And I," said Chatenay.
"And I," said the Imânus.
Then Grand-Francoeur repeated: "In the name of the Most Holy Trinity I
absolve you. May your souls depart in peace."
"Amen!" replied all the voices.
The Marquis rose.
"Now let us die," he said.
"And kill, as well," said the Imânus.
The blows from the butt-ends of the muskets already shook the chest
that stood within the door, barring the entrance.
"Turn your thoughts to God," said the priest; "earth no longer exists
for you."
"Yes," rejoined the Marquis, "we are in the tomb."
All bowed their heads and smote their breasts. The priest and the
Marquis alone remained standing. All eyes were fixed on the ground,--the
priest and the peasants absorbed in prayer, the Marquis buried in his
own thoughts. The chest, under the hammer-like strokes of the guns,
sent forth its dismal reverberations.
At that moment a powerful, resonant voice suddenly rang out behind
them, exclaiming,--
"I told you so, Monseigneur!"
All the heads turned in amazement.
A hole had just opened in the wall.
A stone, fitting perfectly with the others, but left without cement
and provided with a pivot above and below, had revolved on itself like
a turnstile, and, as it turned, had opened the wall. In revolving on
its axis it opened a double passage to the right and left,--narrow,
it is true, yet wide enough to allow a man to pass; and through this
unexpected door could be seen the first steps of a spiral staircase. A
man's face appeared in the opening, and the Marquis recognized Halmalo.
[Illustration 120]
XII.
THE DELIVERER.
"Is that you, Halmalo?"
"It is I, Monseigneur. You see I was right about the turning stones,
and that there is a way of escape. I have come just in time. But you
must make haste; ten minutes more, and you will be in the heart of the
forest."
"God is great!" said the priest.
"Save yourself, Monseigneur!" cried the men.
"Not until I have seen every one of you in safety," said the Marquis.
"But you must lead the way, Monseigneur," said the Abbé Turmeau.
"Not so," replied the Marquis; "I shall be the last man to leave."
And in a severe tone he continued:--
"Let there be no strife in this matter of generosity. We have no time
for a display of magnanimity; your only chance for life is in escape.
You hear my commands: make haste now, and take advantage of this
outlet,--for which I thank you, Halmalo."
"Are we, then, to separate, Monsieur le Marquis?" asked the Abbé
Turmeau.
"Certainly, after we have left the tower; otherwise, there would be
small chance for escape."
"Will Monseigneur appoint some place of rendez-vous?"
"Yes; a glade in the forest,--the Pierre-Gauvaine. Do you know the
spot?"
"We all know it."
"All those who are able to walk will find me there to-morrow at
noonday."
"Every man will be on the spot."
"And then we will begin the war over again," said the Marquis.
Meanwhile Halmalo, bringing all his strength to bear on the turning
stone, found that it would not stir, and therefore the opening could
not be closed.
"Let us make haste, Monseigneur," he cried; "the stone will not move. I
managed to open the passage, but now I cannot close it."
In fact, the stone, from a long disuse, had stiffened, so to speak, in
its groove, and it was impossible to start it again.
"Monseigneur," said Halmalo, "I hoped to close the passage, so that
when the Blues came in and found no one here they would not know what
to make of it, and might imagine that you had all vanished in smoke.
But the stone is not to be moved, and the enemy will find the outlet
and probably pursue us; so let us lose not a minute, but reach the
staircase as quickly as we can."
The Imânus laid his hand on Halmalo's shoulder.
"Comrade," he said, "how long will it take to go through this passage
and reach the woods in safety?"
"Are any of the men seriously wounded?" asked Halmalo.
"None," they answered.
"In that case, a quarter of an hour will be sufficient."
"So if the enemy does not get in here for a quarter of an hour--"
rejoined the Imânus.
"He might pursue, but he could not overtake us."
"But they will be upon us in five minutes," said the Marquis; "that old
chest cannot keep them out much longer. A few blows from their muskets
will settle the affair. A quarter of an hour! Who could hold them at
bay for a quarter of an hour?"
"I," said the Imânus.
"You, Gouge-le-Bruant?"
"Yes, I, Monseigneur. Listen. Out of six men five of us are wounded. I
have not even a scratch."
"Nor I either," said the Marquis.
"Yes, but you are the chief, Monseigneur. I am a soldier. The chief and
the soldier are two different persons."
"Our duties are not alike, it is true."
"Monseigneur, at this moment we have but one duty between us, and that
is to save your life."
The Imânus turned to his companions.
"Comrades," he said, "we must hold the enemy in check and delay pursuit
until the last moment. Listen. I have not lost a drop of blood; not
having been wounded, I am as strong as ever, and can hold out longer
than any of the others. Go now, but leave me your weapons, and I
promise to make good use of them. I will undertake to keep the enemy at
bay a good half-hour. How many loaded pistols are there?"
"Four."
"Put them down on the floor."
They did as he required.
"That is well. I remain here, and they will find some one to entertain
them. Now, get away as fast as you can."
In moments of imminent peril gratitude finds but brief expression.
Hardly had they time to press his hand.
"We shall soon meet again," said the Marquis.
"I hope not, Monseigneur,--not quite at once, for I am about to die."
One by one they made their way down the narrow staircase, the wounded
in advance; and as they went, the Marquis drew a pencil from his
note-book and wrote a few words on the stone that, refusing to turn,
had thus left an open passage-way.
"Come, Monseigneur, you are the only one left," said Halmalo, as he
went down.
The Marquis followed him, and Imânus remained alone.
XIII.
THE EXECUTIONER.
Upon the flagstones which formed the only floor of the hall the four
pistols had been placed, and the Imânus, taking two of them, one in
each hand, advanced stealthily towards the entrance of the staircase,
obstructed and concealed by the chest.
The assailants evidently suspected a snare. They might be on the verge
of one of those decisive explosions that overwhelm both conquerer and
conquered in one common ruin. In proportion as the first attack had
been impetuous, the last was cautious and deliberate. They could not,
or perhaps did not care to batter down the chest by main force; they
had destroyed the bottom of it with the butts of their muskets and
pierced its lid with their bayonets; and now through these holes they
attempted to see the interior of the hall before venturing within it.
The glimmer of the lanterns, by means of which the staircase was
lighted, fell through these chinks, and the Imânus, catching sight of
an eye peering through one of them, instantly adjusted the barrel
of his pistol to the spot and pulled the trigger. No sooner had he
fired than to his great joy he heard a terrible cry. The ball passed
through the head by way of the eye, and the soldier, interrupted in his
gazing, fell backward down the staircase. The assailants had broken
open the lower part of the lid in two places, forming something not
unlike loop-holes; and the Imânus, availing himself of one of these
apertures, thrust his arm in it and fired his second pistol at random
among the mass of the besiegers. The ball probably rebounded, for
several cries were heard, as though three or four had been killed or
wounded, and a great tumult ensued as the men, losing their footing,
fell back in confusion. The Imânus threw down the two pistols which he
had discharged, and caught up the remaining ones; grasping one in each
hand, he peered through the holes in the chest and beheld the result of
his first assault.
The besiegers had retreated down the stairs and the dying lay writhing
in agony upon the steps; the form of the spiral staircase prevented him
from seeing beyond three or four steps.
He paused.
"So much time gained," he thought to himself.
Meanwhile, he saw a man crawling up the steps flat on his stomach,
and just at that moment, a little farther down, the head of a soldier
emerged from behind the central pillar of the winding stairs. The
Imânus aimed at this head and fired. The soldier fell back with a cry,
and as the Imânus was transferring his last pistol from his left hand
into his right, he himself felt a horrible pain, and in his turn
uttered a yell of agony. Some tone had thrust a sabre into his vitals,
and it was the very man whom he had seen crawling along the stair,
whose hand, entering the other hole in the bottom of the chest, had
plunged a sabre into the body of the Imânus.
The wound was frightful. The abdomen was pierced through and through.
The Imânus did not fall. He ground his teeth as he muttered, "That is
good!"
Then, tottering, and with great effort, he dragged himself back to the
torch still burning near the iron door; this he seized, after putting
down his pistol, and then, supporting with his left hand the protruding
intestines, with his right he lowered the torch until it touched the
sulphur-match, which caught fire, and the wick blazed up in an instant.
Dropping the still burning torch upon the ground, he grasped his
pistol, and although he had fallen on the flags, he lifted himself
and used the scanty breath that was left him to fan the flame, which,
starting, ran along until it passed under the iron door and reached the
bridge-castle.
When he beheld the triumph of his villanous scheme, taking to himself
more credit for this crime than for his self-sacrifice, the man who had
acted the part of a hero and who now degraded himself to the level of
an assassin smiled as he was about to die, and muttered:--
"They will remember me. I take vengeance on their little ones, in
behalf of our own little king shut up in the Temple."
[Illustration 121]
XIV.
THE IMÂNUS ALSO ESCAPES.
[Illustration 122]
At that moment a loud voice was heard, and the chest, violently hurled
aside, was shattered into fragments,--giving passage to a man, who,
sabre in hand, rushed into the hall.
"It is I, Radoub!" he cried. "Who wants to fight me? I am bored to
death with waiting, and I must run the risk. I don't care what happens;
at all events, I have disembowelled one of you, and now I come to
attack you all. Follow me or not, as you like; but here I am. How many
are you?"
It was indeed Radoub himself, and he alone. After the slaughter that
the Imânus had made on the staircase, Gauvain, suspecting some hidden
mine, had withdrawn his men and was taking counsel with Cimourdain.
Amid the darkness, where the expiring torch cast but a feeble glimmer,
Radoub, sabre in hand, stood on the threshold and repeated his
question,--
"I am alone. How many are you?"
Receiving no reply, he advanced. Just then one of those sudden flashes,
emitted from time to time by a dying fire,--a kind of throbbing light,
which might be compared with a human sob,--burst from the torch and
illuminated the entire hall.
Radoub caught sight of one of the little mirrors hung on the wall, and
approaching it, inspected his bloody face and lacerated ear, saying as
he did so,--
"What a horrible mutilation!"
Then he turned, surprised to see the hall empty, and cried,--
"No one here! not a soul!"
His eyes lighted on the revolving stone, the passage, and the staircase.
"Ah, I understand! they have taken to their heels! Come on, comrades!
come on! They have all run away; they have gone, evaporated, dissolved,
vanished. There was a crack in this old jug of a tower; there is the
hole through which they got out, the rascals! How are we ever to get
the better of Pitt and Coburg, when men play tricks like these? The
Devil himself must have come to their aid. There is no one here!"
A pistol-shot was fired, and a ball, grazing his elbow, flattened
itself against the wall.
"Ah! some one is here, then! To whom do I owe this delicate attention?"
"To me," replied a voice.
Radoub, peering through the shadows, at last descried the form of
Imânus.
"Aha!" he cried, "I have got one of you! The others have escaped, but
you will not get off."
"Is that your opinion?" replied the Imânus. Radoub made one step
forward and paused.
"Hey I who are you, lying on the ground there?"
"I am a man on the ground, who laughs at those who are on the feet."
"What is that in your right hand?"
"A pistol."
"And in your left hand?"
"My intestines."
"I take you prisoner."
"I defy you to do it."
And the Imânus, stooping over the burning wick, blew feebly upon its
flame, and with that breath expired.
A few moments later, Gauvain and Cimourdain, followed by the others,
entered the hall. They all saw the opening, and after searching every
corner and exploring the staircase which led down into the ravine, they
felt very sure that the enemy had escaped. They shook the Imânus, but
he was dead. Gauvain, with lantern in hand, examined the stone which
had furnished the fugitives with a means of escape. He had heard of
this revolving stone, but he too had always regarded it as a fable.
While he was examining the stone he noticed certain words written with
a pencil; and holding the lantern nearer, he read as follows:--
"Au revoir, Monsieur le Vicomte.
"LANTENAC."
Guéchamp had joined Gauvain. Pursuit was manifestly out of the
question; the escape had been successful; everything was in favor of
the fugitives,--the entire country, the underbrush, the ravines, the
copses, and even the inhabitants themselves. No doubt they were far
enough away by this time; there was no possibility of finding them,
and the entire forest of Fougères was one vast hiding-place. What was
to be done? They saw themselves forced to begin the whole affair over
again. Gauvain and Guéchamp exchanged their regrets and conjectures.
Cimourdain listened gravely without uttering a word.
"By the way, Guéchamp, how was it about the ladder?"
"It has not come, commander."
"But we saw a wagon with an escort of gendarmes."
"It was not bringing the ladder," replied Guéchamp.
"What, then, was it bringing?"
"The guillotine," said Cimourdain.
XV.
NEVER PUT A WATCH AND KEY IN THE SAME POCKET.
The Marquis de Lantenac was not so far away as they supposed, although
he was in perfect safety, and beyond their reach.
He had followed Halmalo.
The staircase by which they had descended, following the other
fugitives, ended in a narrow passage quite near the ravine and the
arches of the bridge. This passage led into a deep natural fissure
in the ground which formed a connecting link between the ravine and
the forest. In this fissure, twisting and turning as it did through
impenetrable thickets and utterly hidden from the human eye, no man
could ever have been captured; he had but to follow the example of a
snake, and his safety was assured. The entrance to this secret passage
was so overgrown with brambles, that its constructors had deemed it
unnecessary to provide it with any other screen.
The Marquis had now no further need even to consider the matter of
disguise. Since his arrival in Brittany he had continued to wear the
peasant dress, feeling himself to be more truly a grand seigneur when
thus attired. He had contented himself with taking off his sword,
unfastening and throwing aside the belt.
When Halmalo and the Marquis emerged from the passage into the fissure,
nothing was to be seen of the five others,--Guinoiseau, Hoisnard
Branche-d'Or, Brin d'Amour, Chatenay, and the Abbé Turmeau.
"They have lost no time," said Halmalo.
"Follow their example," replied the Marquis.
"Does Monseigneur wish me to leave him?"
"Of course; I have told you so already. A man who is trying to escape
must remain alone if he would insure success; one man can often pass
where two would find it impossible. Were we together, we should attract
attention and imperil each other."
"Does Monseigneur know the neighborhood?"
"Yes."
"And the rendez-vous is still to be the same,--at the Pierre-Gauvaine?"
"To-morrow at noon."
"I will be there. We shall all be there."
Halmalo paused.
"Ah, Monseigneur, when I remember the time we were alone together on
the open sea, when I wanted to kill you, you who were my lord and
master and might have told me, but did not! What a man you are!"
The sole reply of the Marquis was, "England is our only resource. In
fifteen days the English must be in France."
"I have a great many things to tell Monseigneur. I have given all his
messages."
"We will attend to all that to-morrow."
"Farewell till then, Monseigneur."
"By the way, are you hungry?"
"Perhaps I am, Monseigneur. I was in such a hurry to get here, that I
have forgotten whether I had anything to eat to-day or not."
The Marquis drew from his pocket a cake of chocolate, broke it in two,
and giving one half to Halmalo, he began to eat the other himself.
"Monseigneur," said Halmalo, "you will find the ravine on your right,
and the forest on your left."
"Very well. Leave me now. Go your own way."
Halmalo obeyed, and was at once lost in the darkness. At first there
was a rustling of the underbrush soon followed by silence, and in a
few moments every trace of his passage had disappeared. This land of
the Bocage, bristling with forests and labyrinths, was the fugitives'
best ally. Men vanished before one's very eyes. It was this facility
for rapid disappearance that made our armies pause before this
ever-retreating Vendée, and rendered its combatants so formidable in
their flight.
[Illustration 123]
The Marquis stood motionless. Although he was a man who kept his
feelings under perfect control, he was not insensible to the joy of
breathing the fresh air, after having lived so long in an atmosphere of
blood and carnage. To be rescued at a moment when all seemed utterly
lost, to find one's self in safety after gazing into one's own grave,
to be snatched from death to life, is a severe shock even for such a
man as Lantenac; and although this was by no means his only experience
of the kind, he could not at once subdue his agitation. For a moment he
admitted to himself his own satisfaction, but straightway suppressed an
emotion that was akin to joy.
Drawing out his watch he struck the hour. He wondered what time it
might be, and to his great surprise discovered that it was but ten
o'clock.
When one has just passed through some terrible crisis wherein life and
death have hung in the balance it is always astonishing to discover
that those minutes so crowded with action were no longer than any
others. The warning cannon had been fired shortly before sunset, and
half an hour later, just at dusk, between seven and eight o'clock, the
assault on the Tourgue began; hence this tremendous combat beginning at
eight and ending at ten, this epic, as one might call it, had consumed
just one hundred and twenty minutes. Catastrophes often descend like
a flash of lightning, and events are marvellously fore-shortened, and
when one pauses to reflect, it would be surprising were it otherwise;
two hours' resistance offered by so small a band against a force
vastly superior to itself was extraordinary, and this struggle of
nineteen against four thousand could not be called a brief one.
But it was time to go. Halmalo must by this time be far away, and the
Marquis felt that prudence no longer required him to remain there. He
put his watch back into his waistcoat pocket, but not into the one
from which he had taken it, for he noticed that in that one it came in
contact with the key of the iron door which the Imânus had brought him,
and there was danger of breaking the crystal. Just as he was on the
point of taking the left-hand turning towards the forest, he fancied he
saw a feint ray of light.
He turned, and through the underbrush which all at once stood out
against a red background, thus revealing its minutest details with
absolute distinctness, he beheld a bright glare along the ravine very
near the spot where he was standing. At first, he turned in that
direction, then changed his mind as the folly of exposing himself to
that light occurred to him; whatever it might be, it was really no
affair of his in any event. Once more he started to follow Halmalo's
directions, and advanced several steps towards the forest.
All at once, buried and hidden by the brambles as he was, he heard
above his head a terrible cry; it seemed to come from the very edge of
the plateau, above the ravine. The Marquis raised his eyes and paused.
[Illustration: In Dæmone Deus. 124]