THE RESCUE.
The prisoners in the _ergastula_ had drawn as close as possible to the
iron railing. Little Odille, who had fallen asleep on the knees of the
bishopess, awoke with a start, saying:
"Ronan, are they coming to take us to the place of execution? I am ready
for everything."
"No, little Odille! it is barely midnight; I know not what may be
happening at the burg; all the Franks who were watching us left their
posts before our prison and followed one of their men who came after
them; all ran towards the burg brandishing their arms."
"Ronan, my brother, listen in the direction of the seigniorial
mansion--it seems to me I hear an odd noise proceeding from that
direction."
"I hear tumultuous cries--the clash of arms."
"Ronan, the Vagres must have come to our deliverance, the burg is on
fire!"
"The fire spreads--look--look--it is as clear as day in front of the
prison."
"A man is running this way--why, it is Karadeucq, our father!"
"Loysik! Ronan! Oh! my sons."
"You here, father?"
"Ronan, Loysik, all of you within, join me to break down the iron
railing."
"Alas! we cannot budge--our feet are all sore--we have been put to the
torture!"
"To see my two sons and yet not to be able to save them--malediction!
This way, Master of the Hounds! my brave fellow, this way--let us free
my sons!"
"My beautiful bishopess, are you there? Come, give me a kiss across the
railing!--Your lips have pressed mine. I now feel stronger. We two,
Karadeucq, will have to tear down this railing. I have set fire to the
four corners of the burg--stables, barns, lofts, all is aflame. The
count's main building that is now full of Franks, who are mutually
slaying one another, and which is built of frame, has also taken fire;
it is beginning to burn like a faggot stuck into a furnace."
"Woe is us! it is impossible to break down the railing!"
"Free us, father!"
"Oh, my sons, I shall die of rage before I fall under the axe of the
Franks, if I cannot set you free."
"Come, old Karadeucq, one more effort; the Franks who guarded the
_ergastula_ are now thinking of nothing else but to extinguish the fire;
let us dig a hole under the railing with our poniards, with our nails."
"The Franks! There they are--they are coming back to the _ergastula_;
they are running this way."
"I can see their weapons glistening by the light of the conflagration."
"Father, there is no hope left! You are lost! Blood and death, lost! And
here we are, sore and incapable to defend you!"
About a score of men at arms and several leudes ran with their arms in
the direction of the _ergastula_; one of them was heard to say: "A part
of these dogs of slaves are profiting by the fire in order to revolt; I
heard them say that they were going to set the chief of the Vagres and
the rest of the prisoners free. Quick, quick, let us put them all to
death--we shall afterwards see to the slaves. Who has the key to the
railing?"
At the very moment when Sigefrid was handing the key to the Frankish
warrior his eyes fell upon Karadeucq.
"What are you doing there, old vagabond?"
"Noble youth, frightened by the fire, my bear has escaped; I am running
after him--he has crouched down yonder not far from the railing. Alas,
what a misfortune this fire is!"
"Sigefrid, I have unlocked the railing," said one of the Franks; "shall
we begin with the men or the women?"
"I shall begin with the men!" cried Karadeucq, planting his dagger in
the breast of Sigefrid.
"I also!" cried the Master of the Hounds, stabbing another one of the
Franks.
"Vagrery! Vagrery! To us, all brave slaves! Death to the Franks! War
upon the seigneurs! Liberty to the slaves! Long live all Gaul!"
"The Vagres!" cried the thunder-struck Franks, dumbfounded at the death
of the two leudes. "The Vagres! These demons seem to rise from
underground and from the depth of hell!"
"This way!" cried Ronan in a thundering voice. "This way, my Vagres!
Kill the Franks!"
The cry was addressed to the Vagres, whom Ronan saw pouring in.
Attracted by the light of the conflagration, the signal that was agreed
upon, the good, brave Vagres had crossed the fosse; but how? Was not
that fosse filled with such deep slime that a man would be swallowed up
in it if he attempted to cross it? Certainly, but Ronan's Vagres had,
since nightfall, been prowling like wolves around a sheep fold, and
carefully sounded the fosse; after which the clever lads hewed down with
their axes two large ash trees that stood straight as arrows nearby,
stripped off the flexible branches and with them bound the trunks
closely together. The long and light improvised bridge was thrown across
the fosse, and nimble as cats they crept one after another over the two
trunks and reached the opposite side. During the aerial perilous
passage two of the Vagres fell off and immediately disappeared in the
bottom of the fosse; they were Wolve's-Tooth and Symphorien, the
rhetorician--may their names live and be blessed in Vagrery! Their
companions had no sooner arrived on the other side of the fosse, than
they met, running towards the _ergastula_ to liberate the prisoners,
about thirty revolted slaves armed with clubs, scythes and forks. After
the warriors of Chram and those of Neroweg had long fought in the dark
in the banquet hall, they suddenly dropped their quarrel, and leaving
the dead and wounded on the field of battle, gave no thought but to the
fire--the men of the count to extinguish it, the men of Chram to save
the horses and baggage of their master and take them out of the burning
stable. The Franks who had hastened to the _ergastula_ in order to put
the prisoners to death were only a score at the most; they were
surrounded and cut to pieces by Ronan's Vagres and by the slaves, after
offering a desperate resistance. Not one of these Franks escaped; no,
not one! Two of the slaves took Ronan upon their shoulders, two others
raised Loysik on theirs, and at the request of his bishopess the Master
of the Hounds took up little Odille in his vigorous arms as one might
raise a child from its cradle, the young girl being too weak to walk.
Old Karadeucq followed his two sons.
The struggle that took place in front of the _ergastula_ and which was
crowned with triumph for the Vagres consumed less time than it takes to
describe it; but there was still much to be done in order to leave the
fortified enclosure of the burg. It was necessary to reach the bridge,
the only practicable issue, by reason of Ronan, Loysik and Odille, all
of whom were unable to walk. It was necessary in order to reach the
bridge to follow the inside wall of the embankment under the trees that
lined one side of the parade ground; and the parade ground itself,
wholly exposed and in plain view of the burning buildings had then to be
crossed. Wise and prudent in counsel, old Karadeucq made the troop halt
where it was screened by the trees from the eyes of the enemy, and said
to them:
"To attempt to leave the burg in a body would be to invite being slain
to the last man. The moment we are seen, some of the Franks in their
fury will stop trying to extinguish the fire and will fall upon us.
There is only one chance of escape. The moment we reach the open ground,
which you must traverse, let us separate and mix up boldly among the
frightened Franks, who are seeking to save all they can from the flames.
Let us throw ourselves in among the frightened crowd and seem to be
engaged in some work of salvage, going, coming, running hither and
thither. We shall thus be able to clear the dangerous passage and shall
separately reach the bridge--our general _rendezvous_."
"But, father, carried as we are by these good slaves, how could Loysik
and I avoid being detected?"
"That matters not; the slaves will be thought to be transporting some
wounded men taken from the ruins; conceal your faces somehow and moan as
loud as you can. As to the Master of the Hounds, who has prudently
stripped himself of his bear skin, he can boldly run through the crowd
carrying the little slave in his arms as if he had saved some young girl
from the flames in the women's apartment. The bishopess can wrap herself
up in the coat of the Master of the Hounds; she will have no difficulty
in safely crossing the crowd in the midst of the general tumult."
The wise advice of the father of Loysik and Ronan was carried out
successfully from point to point.
By the faith of a Vagre, beautiful was the spectacle of the vast
Frankish burg enveloped in and consumed by the flames! At every turn
were heard roofs tumbling in with a crash and throwing upward toward the
starry vault of heaven large jets of flame and sparks of fire. The
northern wind, blowing fresh and strong, drove towards the south large
sheets of flame that surged, like the waves of an angry sea, over the
crumbling buildings below. At the moment when, carried on the shoulders
of the two slaves, Ronan passed before the seigniorial mansion, which
was entirely built of frame and shingled with oaken laths, he saw the
flaming roof, which had for some little time been supported by large
charred beams, fall in with the rattle of thunder and dash itself
against the foundation of volcanic rocks. Nothing remained standing of
the count's once proud residence but a few huge beams, whose blackened
and smoking sides were brought out into strong relief by the curtain of
fire before which they seemed to tremble. The casques and the cuirasses
of the leudes of Chram were seen glistening in the light of the
conflagration; they were running hither and thither in a joint effort
with the men of Neroweg to save the horses and mules from the burning
stables.
What an infernal tumult, and how sweet to the ear of a Gaul! By the
bones of our fathers the music and the sight were magnificent! The
neighing of horses, the bellowing of cattle, the imprecations of the
Franks, the cries of the wounded leudes whom the flaming ruins burned,
or rolled down upon and crushed! And what a beautiful illumination
lighted the tableau--a ruddy flamboyant light!
The two sons of old Karadeucq whom the slaves were carrying on their
backs, as well as little Odille, in the arms of the Master of the
Hounds, finally crossed the bridge over the fosse, closely preceded and
followed by all the Vagres and the revolted slaves who joined them. They
had all successfully threaded their way through the crowds of scurrying
Franks around the burning buildings. After the troop of Karadeucq was
safely on the other side a vigorous shove threw the keeper off the
bridge down into the fosse, in the bottom of which he disappeared.
"Are we all outside of the enclosure of the burg?" asked old Karadeucq.
"Yes, all--all!"
"Now let us cut down the bridge; I have broken down the chains that hold
it on the other side; if the Franks take it into their heads to pursue
us we shall have a long lead over them. Once we reach the forest, then,
good bye Franks! Long live the Vagrery and old Gaul! Oh, my sons, you
are now free from danger! Ronan, Loysik, one more embrace, my sons!"
"By the sacred joy of this father and his two sons, beautiful bishopess,
you are my wife. I shall not leave you unto death!"
"Loysik, you said to me this very night in the prison, 'Fulvia, if you
were free to-day and met the Master of the Hounds, also free, what would
you answer if he asked you to be his wife?' Being now free," added the
bishopess turning towards the Vagre, "I shall be your devoted wife and a
true mother if God should grant us children."
"And you, little Odille, you have neither father nor mother left, will
you have Ronan for husband, if you survive your wounds?"
"Ronan, even if I were dead, the hope of being your wife would raise me
from my grave!"