Sleep--calm, natural sleep--was not, however, to be procured so soon;
and though I laid down and remained quiet, in imitation of the
smugglers, what, what would I not have given for the slumber they
enjoyed! I need not go farther into my feelings--I need not tell all
the bitter and agonising reflections that reiterated themselves upon
my brain, till I thought reason would have abandoned me. What I had
been--what I was--what I was to be--each one of them had some peculiar
pang; so that on neither the past, the present, nor the future, could
my mind rest without torture; and yet I could not sleep.
It may easily be conceived, then, that the two hours which elapsed,
between our arrival at the rendezvous and the break of day, was a
space too dreadful to be rested on without pain, even now, when
the whole has been given over to the more calm dominion of
remembrance:--remembrance, that has the power to rob every part of the
past of its bitter, except remorse; and to mingle some sweet with even
the memory of pain and misfortune, provided our own heart finds
nothing therein for reproach.
As soon as the very first faint streaks of light began to interweave
themselves with the grey clouds in the east, the smugglers were upon
their feet, and, gathering round Garcias and myself, began to ask a
great many more questions than they had ventured on the night before.
My dress and my person became objects of some curiosity among them;
and it so unfortunately happened that more than one of the smugglers,
who had seen me at the mill in former days, instantly recognised me at
present. However, as probably no one of them would have found it
agreeable himself to assign his exact reasons for joining the lawless
band with which he consorted, I escaped all questions as to the cause
of my appearing amongst them. Each, probably, attributed it to some
separate imagination of his own; but the high favour in which our
house stood with this honourable fraternity, assured me the most
enthusiastic reception; and they mutually rivalled one another in
their endeavours to serve me, and render my situation comfortable.
It was in vain now to attempt concealing from any one of the band my
rank in life; but in order that accident should not extend my real
name beyond the mere circle of those who knew me, I followed a custom
which I found they generally adopted themselves--that of
distinguishing themselves, each by a different appellation, when
actually engaged in any of their hazardous enterprises, from that by
which they were ordinarily known in the world. I therefore took the
name of De l'Orme, to which I was really entitled by birth; the Comté
de l'Orme having been in our family from time immemorial.
These arrangements, the quick questions of the smugglers, their wild,
strange manners, and picturesque appearance, all formed a relief to a
mind anxious to escape from itself; and perhaps no society into which
I could have fallen would have afforded me so much the means of
abstracting my thoughts from all that was painful in my situation.
After having satisfied their curiosity in regard to me, the Spaniards,
to the number of twenty, gathered round Garcias to hear how he had
disposed of the smuggled goods, which had been deposited at the mill;
and certainly, never did a more picturesque group meet my view, than
that which they presented, with their fine muscular limbs, rich
coloured dresses, deep sun-burnt countenances, and flashing black
eyes; while each cast himself into some of those wild and picturesque
attitudes, which seem natural to mountaineers; and the form of Garcias
towering above them all, looked like that of the Farnesian Hercules,
fresh from the garden of the Hesperides.
Garcias' story was soon told. He informed them simply, that all was
safe, produced the little bag which contained the profits of their
last adventure, and told them how much the miller expected to gain for
the goods at present in his hands. I remarked, however, he wisely said
not a word of the death of Derville the douanier, although undoubtedly
it would have met with the high approbation of his companions; and
probably would have given him still greater sway, than even that which
he already possessed, over the minds of a class of men, on whom
anything striking and bold is never without its effect.
All this being concluded, instant preparation was made for our
departure. A horse was assigned to me from amongst those which had
borne the smuggled wares across the mountains; and all the worthy
fraternity being mounted, we had already begun to wind down the
ravine, in an opposite direction from that on which Garcias and myself
had arrived, when the sound of voices, heard at a little distance
before us, made us halt in our march. In a moment after, one of the
smugglers, who had been sent out as a sort of piquette in front, and
whose voice we had heard, returned, dragging along a poor little man,
in whom I instantly recognised the unfortunate player apothecary, who
had given me so much relief by his chirurgical applications a day or
two before. He had a small bundle strapped upon his back, as if
equipped for travelling; and seemed to be in mortal fear, holding back
with all his might, while the smuggler pulled him along by the arm, as
we often see a boy drag on an unwilling puppy by the collar, while the
obstinate beast hangs back with its haunches, and sets its four feet
firmly forward, contending stoutly every step that it is forced to
make in advance.
"Here is a spy," cried the smuggler, pulling his prisoner forward into
the midst of the wild group, that our halt had occasioned; "I caught
him dodging about in the bushes there, at the entrance of the ravine;
and, depend on it, the _gabellateurs_ are not far off."
The poor player, who understood not one word of this Spanish
accusation, gazed about, with open mouth, and starting eyes, upon the
dark countenances of the smugglers, who, I believe, were only
meditating whether it would be better to throw him over the first
precipice, or hang him up on the first tree; and whose looks, in
consequence, did not offer anything re-assuring.
"_Messieurs! messieurs! respectable messieurs!_" cried he, gazing
round and round in an agony of terror, without being able to say any
more; when suddenly his eye fell upon me, and darting forward with a
quick spring, that loosed him from the smuggler's hold, he cast
himself upon his knees, embracing my stirrup; while half-a-dozen guns
were instantly pointed at his head, from the idea that he was about to
make his escape. The clicking of the gun-locks increased his terror
almost to madness; and, creeping under my horse's belly, he made a
sort of shield for his head, with my foot and the large clumsy
stirrup-iron, crying out with the most doleful accents, "Don't fire!
don't fire! pray don't fire!--Monseigneur!--Illustrious scion of a
noble house!--pray don't fire--exert thine influence benign, for the
preservation of a lowly supplicant."
By this time, one of the smugglers had again got the player by the
collar; and, dragging him out with some detriment to his doublet, he
placed him once more in the midst. "Garcias," cried I, seeing them
rather inclined to maltreat their captive, "do not let them hurt him;
your companion is under a mistake. This poor little wretch, depend on
it, had no more idea of spying upon your proceedings, than he had of
spying into the intrigues of the moon. He is a miserable player, who
is unemployed, and half starving, I believe. I will answer for his
being no spy."
At my intercession, Garcias interfered to prevent any further
annoyance being inflicted upon the hero of the buskin, and questioned
him, in French, in regard to what he did there. For a moment or two,
his terror and agitation deprived him of the power of explaining
himself; but soon beginning to perceive that the storm had in some
degree subsided, he took courage, and summoning up his most elevated
style, he proceeded to explain his appearance amongst them, mingling,
as he went on, a slight degree of satire with his bombast, which I was
afraid might do him but little service with his hearers.
"Gentlemen!" cried he, "if ye be--as, from your gay attire and
splendid arms, your noble bearing and your bronzed cheeks, I judge ye
are--lords of the forest and the mountain--knights, wanderers of the
wild--magistrates, executors of your own laws, and abrogators of the
laws of every other person--I beseech ye, show pity and fellow-feeling
towards one who has the honour of being fully as penniless as
yourselves; who, though he never yet had courage enough to cut a
purse, or talent enough to steal one, has ever been a great admirer of
those bold and witty men, who maintain the blessed doctrine of the
community of this world's goods at the point of the sword, and put
down the villanous monopoly of gold and silver with a strong hand and
a loaded pistol."
"Make haste, good friend!" cried Garcias, smiling; "we are not what
you take us for, but we have as much need of concealment as if we
were. Therefore, if you would escape hanging on that bough, give a
true account of yourself in as few words as possible. Such active
tongues as yours sometimes slip into the mire of falsehood. See that
it be not the case with you. Say, how came you in this unfrequented
part of the country, at this early hour?"
"Admirable captain!" cried the player, again beginning to tremble for
his life, "you shall hear the strange mysterious turns of fate that
conducted me hither, to a part of which, that noble scion of an
illustrious house--who seems either to be your prisoner or your
friend, I know not which; but who, in either capacity, is equally
honourable and to be honoured--can bear witness. Know, then,
magnanimous chief, no later than yesterday morning, towards the hour
of noon, according to that illustrious scion's express command, I
proceeded to the principal gate of the mighty Château de l'Orme, where
I had expected a certain further fee or reward, which he promised me
for having solaced and assuaged the pains of those wounds still
visible upon his brow and hands. But judge of my surprise when, on
entering the court-yard, I found the whole place in confusion and
dismay; men mounting in haste, women screaming at leisure, dogs
barking, horses neighing, and asses braying; and on my addressing
myself to an elderly gentleman with a long nose, for all the world
like a sausage of Bigorre, asking him, with a sweet respectful smile,
if he could show me to my lord the young count, he bestowed a buffet
on my cheek, which had even a greater effect than the buffet which
Moses gave the rock, for it brought fire as well as water out of my
eyes both at once."
"And what was the cause of all this tumult? Did you hear?" demanded
Garcias, who had observed my eye, while the player told what he had
seen at the Château de l'Orme, straining up his countenance with an
anxiety that would bear no delay.
"To speak the truth, most mighty potentate of the mountains," replied
the stroller, "I asked no farther questions where such answers seemed
amongst the most common forms of speech. I thought the striking reply
of my first respondent quite sufficient, though not very satisfactory;
and, judging he might like my back better than my face, I got my heels
over the threshold, and came away as fast as possible. I did not
return to the cottage where I had spent the last six weeks, for I had
happily my pack on my back, and my worthy host and hostess were so
much obliged to me for boarding and lodging with them all that time,
that I doubt they would have retained my goods and chattels as a
keepsake, if I had ventured myself within reach of their affectionate
embraces; though, God help me! they had already kept, as a
remembrance, the gold piece which monseigneur gave me at first. I,
last night, made my way to Argelez, and liberally offered the
gross-minded _aubergiste_ of the place, to treat himself and his
company to the whole of 'The Cid,' to be enacted by myself alone, for
the simple consideration of a night's lodging and a dinner; but he,
most grovelling brute! fingered my doublet with his cursed paw, and
said he was afraid the dresses and decorations would be too expensive,
as they must evidently all be new. Indignantly I turned upon my heel,
and walked on till I came to this valley, where I found a nice warm
bush, and slept out my night after Father Adam's fashion. This
morning, hearing voices, and knowing not whence they came, I began to
look about with some degree of caution, when suddenly pounces upon me
this dark-browed gentleman, and drags me hither, to the manifest
injury of my poor doublet, which, God help it! has had so many a pull
from old mischievous Time, that it can ill bear the rude touch of any
other fingers. This is my tale, renowned sir; and if it be not true,
may the buskin never fit my foot, may the dagger break in my grasp,
and the bowl tumble out of my fingers!"
The latter part of the poor player's speech had been sufficiently long
to give me the time necessary for recovering from the effect of that
portion of it which had personally affected myself, and I pointed out
to Garcias that his tale must undoubtedly be true, begging him at the
same time, to free the poor little man and send him away.
"No, no!" replied the smuggler, "that must not be. He has found his
way to a retreat which none but ourselves knew; such secrets are heavy
things to carry, and he might drop his burden at some _douanier's_
door who would pay for it in gold. No, no! willing or unwilling, he
must come with us to Spain, and we will teach him a better trade than
ranting other people's nonsense to amuse as great fools as himself."
The little player at first seemed somewhat astounded at such an
unexpected alteration in his prospects; but learning that, in the very
first place, board and lodging was to be provided for him, and a horse
as soon as one could be procured, his countenance brightened up, and
he trudged contentedly after the band of smugglers, eating a large
lump of cheese and a biscuit, which Garcias had given him as
occupation on the road. Strange, strange world, where the most abject
poverty is the surest buckler against misfortune! When I stood and
considered that wretched player's feelings and my own, and saw how
little he was affected by things which would have pained me to the
very soul--how little he heeded being torn from his native land, with
nothing but blank uncertainty before him--and how he enjoyed the crust
which fortune had given him--I could hardly help envying his very
misery, which so armoured him against all the shafts of adversity to
which I stood nakedly opposed.
My present journey through the Pyrenees, though tending very nearly in
the same direction as the first, lay amongst scenes of a still wilder
description, for the smugglers carefully avoid all the ordinary paths,
and, though now unburdened with any seizable goods, as heedfully
guarded against a meeting with the officers of the _douane_ as if they
were escorting a whole cargo. They seemed to take a delight in the
mystery and secrecy of their ways; but, in truth they found it
necessary to keep the whole world, except those concerned, in perfect
ignorance of the great extent to which their contraband traffic was
carried on, and for this purpose, glided along through the deepest
shades of the pine forests, and over the highest and least frequented
parts of the hills, by paths impracticable to any but themselves.
Towards the close of the first day, we halted by the side of a small
mountain-lake, whose calm, still, shadowy waves, I almost hoped were
the waters of oblivion. Round about, the mountains rose up on every
side, seeming to shelter it from a world, and not a breath of wind
rippled the surface of the water, so that the reflections of the high
snowy peaks of the hills above, the dark rocks that dipped themselves
in its waves, and the gloomy pines that skirted it to the east, were
all seen looking up like ghosts from below, while ever and anon a
light evening cloud skimming over the sky found there its reflection
too, and was seen gliding over the bosom of the calm expanse. The turf
that spread from the margin of the lake to the bases of the mighty
rocks that towered up around, was covered with every kind of flower,
though at so great an elevation; and the rhododendron in full blossom,
vied with the beautiful pink saffron, as if striving which should most
embellish that favoured spot of green that nature seemed to have
fancifully placed there, as a contrast between the cold dark waters
and the stern grey rock.
When, after alighting from my horse, I gazed round on the whole scene,
and then thought of returning to the world, with its idle bustle, and
its thronging pains, and its vain babble, and unbroken discontent, I
was tempted to cast it all from me at once, and become a hermit even
there, spending my time in the contemplation of eternity; but the
thoughts that thronged upon me during one brief half hour of solitude,
while the smugglers were occupied in making their arrangements for the
night, showed me that the gayest scenes of the busy world would still
leave me, perhaps, more time for memory than I could wish memory to
fill.
At length my meditations were disturbed by the approach of the little
player, who seemed quite contented with his fate. As he came near, he
stretched forth his hand, threw back his head, and was beginning with
his usual emphasis to address me as "_Illustrious scion of a noble
house_," when I stopped him in the midst somewhat peevishly, bidding
him drop his high-flown style if he would have me listen to him, and
never to use it to me again if he wished not such a reply as had been
bestowed upon him by my father's _maître d'hôtel_. This warning and
threat had a very happy effect, for he seldom afterwards poured forth
any of his rodomontade upon me; and when denuded of its frippery, his
conversation was not without poignancy.
"Well, sir," said he, after my rebuff, "I will treat you to plain
prose, as you love not the high and metaphorical. Be it known then
unto your worship, that our friends with the dark faces have prepared
something for dinner, and invite you to partake of some excellent
Bayonne ham, and some unfortunate young trout, that an artful vagabond
with an insinuating countenance has seduced out of the protecting
bosom of their parent lake, and abandoned to the vile appetite of his
companions. Added to this, you will find some excellent _botargis_,
which you doubtless are aware is manufactured out of the roe of the
mullet, and provokes drinking, a propensity that you may satisfy at
discretion, out of certain skins of wine for that purpose made and
provided--as my poor dear supposed father used to say, who turned me
out of his house when I was nine years old."
I had too little love for my own thoughts to remain any longer alone
than I could avoid, and rising, I followed the little player to a spot
where the smugglers had spread out their supper upon Nature's table.
This was the first meal I had seen amongst them, and I found that they
ate but once a day: but to do them all manner of justice, when they
did apply themselves to satisfy their hunger, they amply compensated
for their abstinence; and as they intended to proceed no farther that
night, they were not more sparing of their wine than of their other
viands. Gradually, as the potent juice of the grape began to warm
their veins, all Spanish reserve wore away, and mirth and jocularity
succeeded. Jest, and tale, and song went round; and even Garcias
seemed to banish every circumstance of the past, and to enjoy himself
as fully, as forgetfully as the rest.
To what was this owing? I asked myself.--To the wine-cup!--It had
taught them forgetfulness!--it was temporary oblivion!--it was
happiness!--and I drained it, and redrained it, to obtain the same
blessing for myself. Strange how one error ever brings on another! and
thus it is that amendment is still so difficult to those who have done
wrong--'tis not alone that they have to renounce the fault they have
once committed, but that they have also to struggle against all those
which that one brings in its train.
I drank deep for forgetfulness; and certainly, amongst the companions
into whose society circumstances had thrown me, I was not without
encouragement. The wine they had brought with them was excellent and
abundant; and when any one began to flag in his potation, the rest
seemed to cry him on, as soldiers encourage one another in a march.
Sometimes it was a story, sometimes a jest, sometimes a song; and of
the latter, they had more amongst them than I had supposed could be
invented on one subject. The last that I remember, was sung by the
same musical youth whom Garcias and myself had found acting as
sentinel when we joined the smugglers near Argelez. His single voice
gave out the separate verses of the song to a merry Spanish air, while
all the rest joining in at the end, raised a deafening din with the
very absurd chorus.
SONG.
"Woman first invented wine,
Ere man found out to drink it;[4]
If otherwise she wer'n't divine,
For this we're bound to think it.
CHORUS.
Malaga and Alicant,
Xeres and La Mancha!
Whatever cup she offers man,
We'll take it, and we'll thank her!
Cold water's but a sober thing,
That's only fit for asses--"
* * * * * *
But before he had concluded, or his companions began roaring again
about Malaga and Alicant, my cup fell out of my hand, and I slept.