I
A round moon flooded the thickets with gold and inky shadows. The night
was hot, poisonous with the scent of blossoms and of rotting tropic
vegetation. It was that breathless, overpowering period between the
seasons when the trades were fitful, before the rains had come. From the
Caribbean rose the whisper of a dying surf, slower and fainter than the
respirations of a sick man; in the north the bearded, wrinkled Haytian
hills lifted their scowling faces. They were trackless, mysterious,
darker even than the history of the island.
Beneath a thatched roof set upon four posts was a table, spread with
food, and on it a candle burned steadily. No wind came out of the hot
darkness; the flame rose straight and unwavering. Under a similar
thatched shed, a short distance away, a group of soldiers were busy
around a smoldering cook-fire. There were other huts inside the jungle
clearing, through the dilapidated walls of which issued rays of light
and men's voices.
Petithomme Laguerre, colonel of tirailleurs, in the army of the
Republic, wiped the fat of a roasted pig from his lips with the back of
his hand. Using his thumb-nail as a knife-blade, he loosened a splinter
from the edge of the rickety wooden table, fashioned it into a
toothpick, then laid himself back in a grass hammock. He had expected to
find rum in the house of Julien Rameau, but either there had been none
or his brave soldiers had happened upon it; at any rate, supper had been
a dry meal--only one of several disappointments of the day. The sack of
the village had not been at all satisfactory to the colonel; one yellow
woman dead, a few prisoners, and some smoldering ruins--surely there was
no profit in such business.
Reclining at ease, he allowed himself to admire his uniform, a splendid
creation of blue and gold which had put him to much pains and expense.
It had arrived from Port au Prince barely in time to be of service in
the campaign. As for the shoes, they were not so satisfactory. Shoes of
any sort, in fact, cramped Colonel Petithomme Laguerre's feet, and were
refinements of fashion to which he had never fully accustomed himself.
He wore them religiously, in public, for a colonel who would be a
general must observe the niceties of military deportment, even in the
Haytian army, but now he kicked them off and exposed his naked yellow
soles gratefully.
On three sides of the clearing were thickets of guava and coffee trees,
long since gone wild. A ruined wall along the beach road, a pair of
bleaching gate-posts, a moldering house foundation, showed that this had
once been the site of a considerable estate.
These mute testimonials to the glories of the French occupation are
common in Hayti, but since the blacks rose under Toussaint l'Ouverture
they have been steadily disappearing; the greedy fingers of the jungle
have destroyed them bit by bit; what were once farms and gardens are now
thickets and groves; in place of stately houses there are now nothing
but miserable hovels. Cities of brick and stone have been replaced by
squalid villages of board and corrugated iron, peopled by a
shrill-voiced, quarreling race over which, in grim mockery, floats the
banner of the Black Republic inscribed with the motto, "Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity."
Once Hayti was called the "Jewel of the Antilles" and boasted its
"Little Paris of the West," but when the black men rose to power it
became a place of evil reputation, a land behind a veil, where all
things are possible and most things come to pass. In place of monastery
bells there sounds the midnight mutter of voodoo drums; the priest has
been succeeded by the "papaloi," the worship of the Virgin has changed
to that of the serpent. Instead of the sacramental bread and wine men
drink the blood of the white cock, and, so it is whispered, eat the
flesh of "the goat without horns."
As he picked his teeth, Colonel Petithomme Laguerre turned his eyes to
the right, peering idly into the shadows of a tamarind-tree, the
branches of which overtopped the hut. Suspended from one of these was an
inert shape, mottled with yellow patches where the moonbeams filtered
through the leaves. It stirred, swayed, turned slowly, resolving itself
into the figure of an old man. He was hanging by the wrists to a rawhide
rope; his toes were lightly touching the earth.
"So! Now that Monsieur Rameau has had time to think, perhaps he will
speak," said the colonel.
A sigh, it was scarcely a groan, answered.
"Miser that you are!" impatiently exclaimed the colonel. "Your money can
do you no good now. Is it not better to part with it easily than to rot
in a government prison? You understand, the jails are full; many
mulattoes like you will be shot to make room."
"There is no--money," faintly came the voice of the prisoner. "My
neighbors will tell you that I am poor."
Both men spoke in the creole patois of the island.
"Not much, perhaps, but a little, eh? Just a little, let us say."
"Why should I lie? There is none."
"Bah! It seems you are stubborn. Congo, bring the boy!" Laguerre spoke
gruffly.
A man emerged from the shadows at the base of the tree and slouched
forward. He was a negro soldier, and, with musket and machete, shuffled
past the corner of the hut in the direction of the other houses, pausing
as the colonel said:
"But wait! There is a girl, too, I believe."
"Yes, monsieur. The wife of Floréal."
"Good! Bring them both."
Some moments later imploring voices rose, a shrill entreaty in a woman's
tones, then Congo and another tirailleur appeared; driving ahead of them
a youth and a girl. The prisoners' arms were bound behind them, and
although the girl was weeping, the boy said little. He stepped forward
into the candle-light and stared defiantly at the blue-and-gold officer.
Floréal Rameau was a slim mulatto, perhaps twenty years old; his lips
were thin and sensitive, his nose prominent, his eyes brilliant and
fearless. They gleamed now with all the vindictiveness of a serpent,
until that hanging figure in the shadows just outside turned slowly and
a straying moonbeam lit the face of his father; then a new expression
leaped into them. Floréal's chin fell, he swayed uncertainly upon his
legs.
"Monsieur--what is this?" he said, faintly.
The girl cowered at his back.
"Your father persists in lying," explained Laguerre.
"What do you--wish him to say?"
"A little thing. His money can be of no further use to him."
"Money?" Floréal voiced the word vacantly. He turned to his wife,
saying, "Monsieur le Colonel asks for money. We have none."
The girl nodded, her lips moved, but no sound issued; she also was
staring, horror-stricken, into the shadows of the tamarind-tree. Her
arms, bound as they were, threw the outlines of her ripe young bosom
into prominent relief and showed her to be round and supple; she was
lighter in color even than Floréal. A little scar just below her left
eye stood out, dull brown, upon her yellow cheek.
Laguerre now saw her plainly for the first time, and shook off his
indolence. He swung his legs from the hammock and sat up. Something in
the intensity of his regard brought her gaze away from the figure of
Papa Rameau. She saw a large, thick-necked, full-bodied black, of bold
and brutal feature, whose determined eyes had become bloodshot from
staring through dust and sun. He wore a mustache, and a little pointed
woolly patch beneath his lower lip. Involuntarily the girl recoiled.
"Um-m! So!" The barefoot colonel rose and, stepping forward, took her
face in his harsh palm, turning it up for scrutiny. His roving glance
appraised her fully. "Your name is--"
"Pierrine!"
"To be sure. Well then, my little Pierrine, you will tell me about this,
eh?"
"I know nothing," she stammered. "Floréal speaks the truth, monsieur.
What does it mean--all this? We are good people; we harm nobody. Every
one here was happy until the--blacks rose. Then there was fighting
and--this morning you came. It was terrible! Mamma Cleomélie is
dead--the soldiers shot her. Why do you hang Papa Julien?"
Floréal broke in, hysterically: "Yes, monsieur, he is an old man. Punish
me if you will, but my father--he is old. See! He is barely alive. These
riches you speak about are imaginary. We have fields, cattle, a
schooner; take them for the Republic, but, monsieur, my father has
injured no one."
Petithomme Laguerre reseated himself in the hammock and swung himself
idly, his bare soles scuffing the hard earthen floor; he continued to
eye Pierrine.
Now that young Rameau had brought himself to beg, he fell to his knees
and went on: "I swear to you that we are not traitors. Never have we
spoken against the government. We are 'colored,' yes, but the black
people love us. They loved Cleomélie, my mother, whom the soldiers shot.
That was murder. Monsieur--she would have harmed nobody. She was only
frightened." The suppliant's shoulders were heaving, his voice was
choked by emotion. "She is unburied. I appeal to your kind heart to let
us go and bury her. We will be your servants for life. You wish money.
Good! We will find it for you. I will work, I will steal, I will kill
for this money you wish--I swear it. But old Julien, he is dying there
on the rope--"
Floréal raised his tortured eyes to the black face above him, then his
babbling tongue fell silent and he rose, interposing his body between
Pierrine and the colonel. It was evident that the latter had heard
nothing whatever of the appeal, for he was still staring at the girl.
Floréal strained until the rawhide thongs cut into his wrists, his bare,
yellow toes gripping the hard earth like the claws of a cat until he
seemed about to spring. Once he turned his head, curiously, fearfully,
toward his young wife, then his blazing glance swung back to his captor.
The silence roused Laguerre finally, and he rose. "Speak the truth," he
commanded, roughly, "otherwise you shall see your father dance a
bamboula while my soldiers drum on his ribs with the cocomacaque."
"He is feeble; his bones are brittle," said the son, thickly.
"As for you, my little Pierrine, you will come to my house; then, if
these wicked men refuse to speak, perhaps you and I will reach an
understanding." Laguerre grinned evilly.
"Monsieur--!" With a furious curse Floréal flung himself in the path of
the black man; the wife retreated in speechless dismay.
Petithomme thrust young Rameau aside, crying, angrily: "You wish to
live, eh? Well, then, the truth. Otherwise--"
"But--she? Pierrine?" panted Floréal, with a twist of his head in her
direction.
"I may allow her to go free. Who can tell?" He led the girl out across
the moonlit clearing and to the largest house in the group. He
reappeared, making the door fast behind him, and returned, stretching
himself in the hammock once more.
"Now, Congo," he ordered, "let us see who will speak first." Taking a
pipe from his pocket, he filled it with the rank native tobacco and
lighted it. The tirailleur he had addressed selected a four-foot club of
the jointed cocomacaque wood, such as is used by the local police, and
with it smote the suspended figure heavily. Old Julien groaned, his son
cried out. The brutality proceeded with deliberation, the body of old
Julien swung drunkenly, spinning, swaying, writhing in the moonlight.
Floréal shrank away. Retreating until his back was against the table, he
clutched its edge with his numb fingers for support. He was young, he
had seen little of the ferocious cruelty which characterized his
countrymen; this was the first uprising against his color that he had
witnessed. Every blow, which seemed directed at his own body, made him
suffer until he became almost as senseless as the figure of his father.
His groping fingers finally touched the candle at his back; it was
burning low, and the blaze bit at them. With the pain there came a
thought, wild, fantastic; he shifted his position slightly until the
flame licked at his bonds. Colonel Laguerre was in the shadow now,
watching the torture with approval. Maximilien, the other soldier,
rested unmoved upon his rifle. Floréal leaned backward, and shut his
teeth; an agony ran through his veins. The odor of burning flesh rose
faintly to his nostrils.
"Softly, Congo," directed the colonel, after a time. "Let him rest for a
moment." Turning to the son he inquired, "Will you see him die rather
than speak?"
Floréal nodded silently; his face was distorted and wet with sweat.
Laguerre rose with a curse. "Little pig! I will make your tongue wag if
I have to place you between planks and saw you in twain. But you shall
have time to think. Maximilien will guard you, and in the morning you
will guide me to the hiding-place. Meanwhile we will let the old man
hang. I have an appetite for pleasanter things than this." He turned
toward the house in which Pierrine was hidden, whereat Floréal strained
at his bonds, calling after him:
"Laguerre! She is my wife--by the Church! My wife."
Petithomme opened the door silently and disappeared.
"Humph! The colonel amuses himself while I tickle the sides of this
yellow man," said Congo in some envy.
"I don't believe there is any money," Maximilien observed. "What? Am I
right?" He turned inquiringly to Floréal, but the latter had regained
his former position, and the candle-flame was licking at his wrists. "To
be sure! This is a waste of time. Make an end of the old man, Congo, and
I will take the boy back to his prison. It is late and I am sleepy."
The speaker approached his captive, his musket resting in the hollow of
his arm, his machete hanging at his side. "So, now! Don't strain so
bitterly," he laughed. "I tied those knots and they will not slip, for I
have tied too many yellow men. To-morrow you will be shot, monsieur, and
Pierrine will be a widow, so why curse the colonel if he cheats you by a
few hours?"
Congo was examining his victim, and uttered an exclamation, at which
Maximilien paused, with a hand upon Floréal's shoulder.
"Is he dead?"
"The club was heavier than I thought," answered Congo.
"He brought it upon himself. Well, the prison at Jacmel is full of
colored people; this will leave room for one more--"
Maximilien's words suddenly failed him, his thoughts were abruptly
halted, for he found that in some unaccountable manner young Rameau's
hands had become free and that the machete at his own side was slipping
from its sheath. The phenomenon was unbelievable, it paralyzed
Maximilien's intellect during that momentary pause which is required to
reconcile the inconceivable with the imminent. It is doubtful if the
trooper fully realized what had befallen or that any danger threatened,
for his mind was sluggish, and under Rameau's swift hands his soul had
begun to tug at his body before his astonishment had disappeared. The
blade rasped out of its scabbard, whistled through its course, and
Maximilien lurched forward to his knees.
The sound of the blow, like that of an ax sunk into a rotten tree-trunk,
surprised Congo. A shout burst from him; he raised the stout cudgel
above his head, for Floréal was upon him like the blurred image out of a
nightmare. The trooper shrieked affrightedly as the blade sheared
through his shield and bit at his arm. He turned to flee, but his head
was round and bare, and it danced before the oncoming Floréal. Rameau
cleft it, as he had learned to open a green cocoanut, with one stroke.
On the hard earth, Maximilien was scratching and kicking as if to drag
himself out of the welter in which he lay.
Floréal cut down his father and received the limp figure in his arms. As
he straightened it he heard a furious commotion from the camp-fire where
the other tirailleurs were squatted. From the tail of his eye he saw
that they were reaching for their weapons. He heard Laguerre shouting in
the hut, then the crash of something overturned. As he rose from his
father's body he heard a shot and saw the soldiers of the Republic
charging him. They were between him and Pierrine. He hesitated, then
slipped back into the shadow of the tamarind-tree, and out at the other
side; his cotton garments flickered briefly through the moonlight, then
the thicket swallowed him. His pursuers paused and emptied their guns
blindly into the ink-black shadows where he had disappeared.
[Illustration: As Floréal rose from his father's body he heard a shot
and saw the soldiers of the Republic charging him.]
When Colonel Laguerre arrived upon the scene they were still loading and
firing without aim, and he had some difficulty in restoring them to
order. Blood they were accustomed to, but blood of their own letting.
This was very different. This was a blow at the government, at their own
established authority. Such an appalling loss of life seldom occurred to
regular troops of the Republic; it was worse than a pitched battle with
the Dominicans, and it excited the troopers terribly.
Perhaps he had been mistaken and there was no money, thought the
colonel, as he returned to his quarters after a time. Of course the girl
still remained, and he could soon force the truth from her, but she was
the only source of information left now that Floréal had escaped, for
Laguerre had noted carelessly that the body of Julien had hung too long.
It was annoying to be deceived in this way, but perhaps the day had not
been without some profit, after all, he mused.
The road to the Dominican frontier was rough and wild. All Hayti was
aflame; every village was peopled by raging blacks who had risen against
their lighter-hued brethren. Among the fugitives who slunk along the
winding bridle-paths that once had been roads there was a mulatto youth
of scarcely twenty, who carried a machete beneath his arm. In his eyes
there was a lurking horror; his wrists were bound with rags torn from
his cotton shirt; he spoke but seldom, and when he did it was to curse
the name of Petithomme Laguerre.