But, almost in the very act of thus dreaming, there came upon me the memory of all that multitude of obstacles--I might almost say, of impossibilities--which lay in the way to the fulfilment of such hopes. But I felt at the same time that, though it was only a fancy, it was a noble one; that, though it was merely a wild aspiration after that which could not be, it was a high aspiration; one that might lead me to great attempts, if not to great deeds; one that would even guard me against low and debasing pursuits, that would elevate my purposes, and give object to my energies and exertions. I felt that such an object was holy and great, and I speak with reverence when I say that it seemed to me then like the star which led the Magi from the east.
As this image rose upon my mind, it soothed and it strengthened me; and I could gaze upon the city, with its manifold towers and steeples reposing calmly in the rich purple light of evening, and upon the distant sloping grounds beyond, leading away towards Blancford, and on the wanderings of the bright Garonne, as, rolling down from Langdon, it swept on by the city towards its meeting with the kindred stream, and on their joint progress to the ocean: I could gaze, in short, upon all the natural objects which my eye had been accustomed to behold from childhood, without that deep feeling of regret on quitting them which I had experienced the moment before; and, as I turned my horse's rein to ride on, I murmured,
"I shall see you all again, perhaps, with a lighter heart and a spirit more at rest."
The country was well known to me; for, during the last two or three years, I had made manifold excursions from the chateau in different directions; and now, leaving the high road somewhat to the right, I took a bridle-path which conducted me towards my place of rest for the night more rapidly, though somewhat more roughly, than the ordinary track.
Advancing somewhat quickly, for my charger was impatient of the bridle, I passed a man upon a small rugged horse, neither very fat nor very comely in its appearance, and apparently little able to carry him and the large package which he bore on the croup behind. When first I saw him he was trailing a spear along, with one end of the shaft describing a long zigzag line upon the road; but the sound of a horse's feet made him turn round rapidly, and his lance was brought into rest in a moment, in a way that bespoke no slight practice in charging a sudden enemy.
Whether on an occasion he might charge any one without much considering if it were an enemy or friend, I did not know at the time; but such things were very common in those days, though I think the worthy gentleman was somewhat too badly mounted to attempt the experiment upon me, even if I had been alone.
We passed, however, in all safety, with a "Good-evening, seigneur," on the part of our fellow-traveller. I had only time, as I passed by, to remark that he was a tall, rawboned man, with a countenance which did not prepossess any one very much in his favour. He was somewhat dirty in his clothing, and rugged in his person and appearance also; though there was a roguish twinkle in his eye, which did not escape my attention, even in the slight glance I obtained.
In a short time after I arrived at Cubzac, and rode straight to the inn, the hospitable doors of which showed themselves very willing to give me admission.
When I stood in the courtyard, however, and saw my armour and my valise unloaded from Andriot's horse, while the aubergiste waited to conduct me, with every appearance of reverence, towards the hall of general entertainment, a strange feeling suddenly came over me, from the recollection that it was not yet four-and-twenty hours since the arrival of the Baron de Blancford at his own chateau, that all I had done--the making of a new acquaintance, my dealings with the Jew, the purchase of horses and of arms, and a hundred little incidents, which appeared to me like the occupations of a life--had in reality occupied but a few hours. So it was, however: my whole fate and course of existence had been changed as by the stroke of a magician's wand, which had set me free in a moment from the state of indolent dependance in which I had been forced to remain like one of the spirits in the old fables, imprisoned motionless in the heart of some knotted oak, and had sent me forth in a moment to active life and energetic exertion.
There was something ennobling, elevating, inspiring in the feelings, very different from the sensations with which I had looked back upon the scenes I was leaving, from the northern bank of the Garonne. That all this had been accomplished in so short a space, gave me a sensation of power and energy; a confidence in myself which I had before wanted; and in the calm and deliberate step, and thoughtful air with which I followed the landlord into the auberge, no one, I think, could have discovered any trace of a mind as inexperienced as that of a mere boy.
The hall of the inn was a very spacious one; and a long table appeared in the middle, at the farther end of which I could just see, through the dim twilight of the evening, some seven or eight persons assembled round what seemed a hasty supper. One of the servants of the inn, however, brought in lights almost immediately after I had entered; and it then became evident that the party had just arrived from some long journey. There were two or three grave, elderly men of respectable appearance, apparently tradesmen of some importance, or merchants. There was a good dame, too, of the same class, with two or three little girls of seven or eight years old, and one or two women servants; besides which, there was a youth of eighteen or nineteen, strong and well made, scarcely tasting his supper, but sitting beside the rest, and resting thoughtfully, with his head leaning on his hand.
Manifold were the caps and mantles which covered the whole party; and one would certainly have supposed, from the way in which they were wrapped up, that we were in the midst of winter rather than in the warmest time of year. It often happened at that time, however, that such superabundant garments were adopted for the purpose of concealment; and I judged, and judged rightly, that these might be a party of wealthy traders, who, travelling through a disturbed country, and in dangerous times, chose to be recognised as little as possible, lest the report of wealth might draw upon them the attention of the plunderers with whom the country was overrun.
All their eyes had been turned upon me as soon as I entered; the conversation they were carrying on ceased; and, as if for something to say, one of the elder men addressed the younger, saying,
"Why do you not eat your supper, Martin? You are not sick, are you?"
"Not sick, uncle, but sorry," replied the lad.
"Pshaw! Thou art a whimsical boy," replied the elder man. "I can tell thee, however poor a trade thou mayest follow, it is richer than that of a soldier. Here is this gentleman coming in," he added, raising his eyes to me as I stood half way up the table. "He looks as if he knew something of arms, and I dare say will tell thee that to sell silk or linen, however little one may get, is better than fighting all day, watching all night, and having hard blows for one's only payment."
I laughed at his description of the soldier's life; and, as he addressed me first, replied at once, "I cannot think we are so badly off as that, my good sir. Every one knows his own taste; and, though certainly fortunes are rarely made by the sword, yet honour is gained, and glory, and frequently competence; and you must remember there is not a noble family in the land which does not owe its elevation to the sword."
"That was in other days, that was in other days," said the elder man. "But I am right, then, in thinking you a soldier, sir?"
I nodded my head, and was about to reply somewhat more fully, when Andriot entered the room and whispered a word or two in my ear, which made me rise and go out, while the landlord busily put down my cover, and prepared to give me supper.
The intelligence which the lad had brought me was simply that the man with the spear, whom we had passed on the road, had come into the inn-yard, and, finding him there, had asked him many questions concerning me. The good youth had been in one of his loquacious moods, and had given the interrogator more information than I thought right, telling him my name, and that I was a gentleman going to join the army. On this the other had immediately asked to speak with me, and I accordingly went out at once, in order to put my mind at ease with regard to the person in whose favour Andriot had shown himself so communicative.
I found him in the courtyard busy in unloading his beast, and examining the contents of the package he had thus carried behind him, which proved to be a considerable store of very miscellaneous pieces of armour, both offensive and defensive. The cuirass was at that moment on the top, and, from its condition, left little doubt that one of its possessors, at least, had seen some service like itself; for not only did sundry hacks and dents betray the fact of many a close encounter, but a large round hole appeared to have been perforated, either by bullet or lance, on the right-hand side, near the armhole; and the gap was now curiously stopped up by means of a piece of thick leather, attached by nails driven through the iron and clinched on the inside.
"Why, my good friend," I said, looking at the cuirass, and without taking any immediate notice of his message, "that piece of leather will never keep out anything."
"It will keep out anything I want it to keep out," replied the man, looking up at me with a laugh.
"And what is that?" I demanded; "What is it you want it to keep out?"
"The wind," he replied; "for when the wind gets in between cold iron and an empty stomach, a man gets melancholy, and has no appetite for dry blows. But I know what you mean; that sword, or bullet, or spear would go through it as easily as a skewer through a cock of the Indies; but there's not much chance of any other bullet finding out that place again; and if it did, no great matter, for it would meet with its fellow here, just lying between the ribs, under my armpit, and that would stop it from going any farther."
"That is looking upon the matter rationally," I replied; "but now, my good friend, what is it that you wanted with me?"
"Why, simply this, seigneur," he replied; "finding that you are a soldier going to join the army, and having heard of your name a great many years ago as a very brave and gallant gentleman--"
"You must mean my father," I said, interrupting him: "my name you most likely have never heard."
"Ay, I dare say it was your father, now look at you," he replied, "for you couldn't be much out of your swaddling-clothes at the time I talk of. However, I was going to propose, that you, being travelling alone, or nearly so, and I alone, or what's somewhat worse than alone, having nothing but a bad beast with me, which trots me five miles an hour, and thinks itself a miracle--I was going to propose, I say, that we should join company; for in these days we may fall in with friends and acquaintances by the way, where we shall find two right hands better than one. Besides, we may chance to fall in with some booty, and two dogs will always kill more game than twice one dog."
On the very face of the matter, the proposal was somewhat impudent; for at least my clothing, my horses, and, I trust, my appearance altogether, were those of a man of high birth; but when I came to look my companion over more attentively by the twilight, which did not improve his appearance, it struck me as more impudent still. He was a person of about forty-five years of age, lean, long-limbed, thin-flanked, broad in the shoulders, with as unprepossessing a countenance as it was possible to imagine, and nothing on earth to redeem it from a sort of assassin-like expression, except a merry but somewhat sarcastic glance, which occasionally came into his eyes, or, rather, into one of them, for it was the right eye only which had any movement; and I afterward found that the left was made of glass, though a very good imitation of the other.
What might have been the original shape of his nose I do not know; but a large cut across the bridge and down one cheek seemed to indicate that its conformation had been somewhat violently changed into its present Socratic turn upward.
His long gray hair, thin and ragged, his unwashed face, his untrimmed beard, all added to the sinister appearance of his countenance, and, in short, no one could look at him without doing him the same bitter injustice that I did him at that moment, and thinking him as murderous and rascally a person as it was possible to set one's eyes on. Besides all this, his garments were anything but that which one would have desired in a friend and companion; for his buff jerkin, besides the rusty stains which had been left upon it after having been worn under ill-cleaned armour, was soiled and dirty in various other ways, and in more than one place patched with a piece of gray cloth.
He stood my survey quite quietly; and, indeed, the discrepant gaze of his two eyes rendered it somewhat difficult to tell whether he was looking full in my face or across the inn-yard on the other side. After having remained for about half a minute silent, however, he brought both eyes into a straight line, demanding, in a significant tone. "Am not I an ugly dog?"
"Yes," I replied, "you are. But you have made a little mistake, my good friend; I am not seeking companions, but raising a troop to serve under my command."
"Then I am the very man you want," he replied; "for I have experience, and you have none, that's clear enough; and I do not much care what I do, whether it be as a leader or follower, so that I do something."
"I don't think you would do much credit to my new troop," I replied, "unless you troubled the brook a little oftener, and gave the barber a sous at least once a month."
"Oh, that is easily remedied," said the adventurer; "I have no sous to spare, but I have ten fingers, baiting one which was hacked off at the battle of St. Denis, which will do as well for me as any barber in Christendom; and then, again, though water is not plenty in this hot weather, yet it is to be had. As to my jerkin, too, a couple of ounces of chalk, and the worth of a denier of yellow ochre, will put that all to rights; so that, if you like to have me, I will turn out to-morrow morning as smart a trooper as you'd wish to see. I cannot get rid of my face though, so you must make the best of that."
"What religion are you of?" I asked, wishing to ascertain that point first before I divulged my own.
"I don't know," he replied. "What is yours?"
There was a sort of quaint oddity about the fellow which amused me, and, I confess, made me think better of him, though I know not why, and I demanded, without answering his question, "Who have you served under?"
"Two or three dozen," he answered; "but I have got my character written down for the benefit of those whom it may concern by a great many of my different friends, and I have not altered a word of their certificates, for it is useless for a man to try to change his nature, and it will come out sooner or later. Who will you have?" he continued; "here is Martigues on the one side, and Andelot on the other. Here is Puygaillard, and Lossac, and Stuart, and--"
"Stay, stay," I said; "That will do. Let me see Martigues on the one side, and Stuart on the other."
"You are a cute bird, after all," he said; "You wont be limed, I see, to show yourself a Protestant or a Catholic. However, here are the papers."
And, lifting up the flap of his jerkin, he drew from an inner pocket a number of dirty pieces of paper, of which he placed in my hands two, saying, "There they are."
The first I opened was in a strange hand, and it went on as follows:
"This is to signify that Moric Endem is the greatest liar in Europe; but none the worse for that. He fights like a tiger, and will now and then obey his orders."
This was signed "Martigues;" and the other, which I instantly recognised as the same handwriting wherein Stuart had given me a letter to the Prince de Condé, was much in the same strain.
"I hereby aver," it said, "That Moric Endem is better than he looks. He will stand by a friend or leader till the last, and has done so many brave things, that he is a fool for bragging of things that he never did."
I smiled as I read such accounts of my volunteer, but paused for a moment to consider whether there was a possibility of my being deceived. Had I been still is the frame of mind in which I had set out that morning, I should have lost my opportunity, and rejected the offer of a man who afterward proved of infinite use to me. But, as I have said, I had become somewhat more confident in myself by this time: Stuart's recommendation to increase my numbers as far as possible had been strong; and therefore I determined to run the risk, as in case of any malconduct on the part of my new follower, I and Andriot were at least two to one against him.
"And now, Monsieur Moric Endem," I said, "Which would you rather serve on, the Catholic or the Protestant side? Answer me fairly, for on the reply hangs all our proceedings."
"That is not a fair question," he cried, flinging down his cap upon the ground with some vehemence. "That is not a fair question to a soldier of fortune. The matter, see you, is balanced pretty evenly, my young lord. With the Catholics there is pay and but little plunder, for the Protestants have nothing to lose. With the Protestants there is no pay but plenty of plunder; for each Catholic, like a fool, comes with a fortune on his back. I have, indeed, a little hankering one way--"
"What, then," I said, "do the Protestants give no pay?"
"By St. Geronimo," he cried, slapping his thigh, "You are a Catholic! But, no," he continued, a moment after, "I remember quite well Cerons was a Protestant, and so was his cousin the Baron de Blancford. If you are the young lord, you are a Protestant too."
"Perhaps it may be so," I replied, in a low tone, but with a significant look.
"Well, then, I am your man," he said, without raising his voice; "for, to say sooth, I was born and bred a Protestant. But it is full thirty years since I thought of those things; and, on my honour, I don't well know what's the difference now. As to the rest, my young master, you must give me a crown to gild my hand, and you must give me and my horse something to eat till we get to the army, at all events; for, if I had not met with you this night, he and I would have shared supper; that is to say, he would have had the hay and I the water, and to-morrow we might have been obliged to prove troublesome to any one we met upon the road. I declare, so help me Heaven, I have not seen a crown piece for the last two months."
"I am nearly as poor as yourself, Moric," I said; "however, there is a crown for you, and now you are my follower; but I expect to see a change in your appearance by to-morrow, and you had better get your armour on your back, as I intend to do with mine, so that we may be well prepared for all things."
"You shall see a change, you shall see a change, sir," cried the man; "and I will help to fill your purse as you have now helped to fill mine. I will get this crown changed directly into silver and billon, that it may feel heavy in my purse, and make me think of the days of old; for I have had many more crowns in my pocket, I dare say, than you have in yours now. But, however--I don't know how it was--peace never lasted six months without finding me as poor as ever; the pockets grew empty, and the crowns went away, some to one slut, some to another, and the rest, as I have heard Stuart tell of an English prince, were drowned in butts of Malmsey or Burgundy, as the case might be. But I will go and polish my armour, and patch my jacket, and wash my face, and trim my beard, and then I must try and get a new horse the first time I meet an enemy, though it is to be confessed that on the back of that brute there are ten chances to one against me."
While Moric Endem was speaking, the landlord came from the house to seek me, telling me that my supper was not only ready, but getting cold; and, leaving my new follower to make the best arrangements he could, I re-entered the hall of the inn.
I found the party that I had left there concluding their supper, and they all looked at me as I sat down to mine with a sort of shy and anxious, but yet not a reserved look, somewhat like that which a dog puts on when he is willing to be familiar with us, but somewhat afraid of trusting to our kindness. The two elder men, however, and the elder lady, entered into conversation with me after a short time, and I saw evidently that they were endeavouring to probe my character and feelings. Those, however, were sad days, when no one dared to trust to his neighbour; and I as little chose to confide my views or purposes to them, as they chose to put any trust or confidence in me.
The conversation, then, was merely general: I found that one of the elder merchants had travelled much, and had considerable information, and he seemed not a little surprised to find that a young soldier could possess so much general knowledge as I had acquired during my long period of study.
The younger people, too, began to draw nearer to me; and some little sportive jests, such as I would have used towards my cousins at Blancford, appeared completely to win their hearts, so that they were speedily clinging round me, playing with the tassels of my cloak or my sword-knot, and taking a thousand little liberties, for which they were, of course, gravely reproved by their elders.
The young man who had been called Martin, however, sat silent and thoughtful for a long time, and at length only spoke to ask me some questions concerning the movements of the armies. The first words on that subject, however, seemed a signal for the party to break up, his uncle interrupting him immediately by saying it was time to go to bed; and the whole then retired, wishing me good-night and a prosperous journey on the morrow.
Their reserved conduct was not explained till the following morning, when, on rising early, I saw them setting off from the courtyard, and the aubergiste, as innkeepers generally do, came instantly to volunteer every information he possessed regarding the guests who were just gone.
"Ay, poor people," he said, "silly people they are. I told them they might trust to you, seigneur, and what a protection it would be to them to have you with them; for they are a party of rich merchants, as you might well see, sir, and doubtless have their pockets lined with many a good gold piece, so that they are afraid of all the bands of plunderers about, especially at the passages of the rivers."
"What religion are they of?" demanded I, nothing doubting they were Protestants, as the landlord himself was well known to be of my own creed.
To my astonishment, however, he answered that they were "poor misguided Catholics. That is to say," he continued, "they are what people are beginning to call nowadays, I hear, politics, which means people that are neither very much one thing nor the other. That eldest one is the well-known Paris merchant, Martin Vern, who has so much to do with the Jews and Lombards. I've a great notion he's a Protestant at heart; though his life, and all his goods, which he loves better than his life, would be in jeopardy every hour in Paris if he did not go to mass as regularly as the clock strikes the hour. It seems that young Martin, the nephew, had his father's promise to be made a soldier of; but the father died a month or so ago, which brought them all into this part of the country, and old Martin won't hear of the boy's taking to the sword. Yet I would stake my life that they are attacked before they get many miles farther, and then they will find that young Martin's stout back and strong arm are both shield and sword for them. I hope, sir, we shall have good news of you at the army; but you might as well have won a few gold pieces by the way of conducting three fat merchants safely. With what will you please to break your fast! It is not well to set out fasting, as they have done, and it's good twelve miles ere you get to Cavignac."
"I am not going to Cavignac, my good host," I replied, not choosing exactly to have my route settled for me.
"Ay, then," he answered, "you are going to Guitres, which is farther still; but in that case you'll have to pass the Saye low down, and I fear that all the rain which fell last night may have rendered the ford impassable. Besides all that, however, I heard that Lossac and his band were lying between St. Aulaye and Contras, and it is even to be doubted whether he does not keep parties scouring the whole country up as far as Barbezieux, for he wants to prevent the bands from the South from joining our great admiral and the Prince de Condé. So you had better take my advice and keep hard away to the west, though you do get among the sands, for you are not strong enough to do much against any of his people, and must e'en have recourse to what we call fox's strength, by which I mean cunning."
I thanked the aubergiste for his good information, which was, indeed, not a little important to me; for the armies of the Prince de Condé and the Duke of Montpensier were so placed that it was difficult for either to reach its resources, and no less so, for any one wishing to join the one, to avoid falling into the hands of the other.
The tidings I had received cast me into a momentary fit of musing; and the aubergiste, seeing the effect his words had produced, and, at the same time, having a strong desire that I should take my breakfast at his house, represented to me that, if I would but wait for half an hour, a courier from Angoulême would pass through Cubzac, and from him we could extract much information.
I agreed to his suggestion; and, soon after the morning meal had been prepared, I heard the arrival of the courier himself, and learned that he had passed a small band of horse, whether troops of Lossac or not he could not tell. They amounted not to more than six or seven persons, he said, and were apparently moving back towards Cercon.
These tidings having been obtained, I had nothing farther to detain me at Cubzac; and, paying the host his reckoning, I mounted to my chamber, clothed myself in my good suit of steel, and, after calling loudly, but in vain, for Andriot, to make the rest of my goods and chattels into as small packages as possible, that it might be carried more easily, I descended to the courtyard to see what had become of my young attendant and my new follower, the latter of whom I had not seen during the whole morning.
I found them together, behind some stables at the back of the auberge, chaffering with a sturdy farmer of the neighbourhood in regard to a proposed exchange of Master Moric Endem's piece of lean cattle for a fine, fresh, sturdy, but rather vicious horse belonging to the other. Moric had offered, it seems, to give his own horse, and all the remains of the crown which I had given him the day before, together with another crown that Andriot had lent him, for the more powerful and befitting charger which had been placed before his eyes. The farmer, however, stood out for another piece of money, and I was fain now to come forward and give it, though the price seemed to be somewhat exorbitant.[1]The horse that Moric already possessed was anything but fit for the journey; and, as he willingly agreed that I was to be considered the proprietor of the beast now purchased, it gave me a greater command over him than I might otherwise have obtained.
After all this was concluded and the horse in his hands, I gave a glance towards my new follower's figure, and saw that it certainly was as much improved as his form and features would admit. The buff jerkin was now cleared from its rusty stains and spots of dirt, and was shining in the full freshness of chalk and yellow ochre. It seemed scarcely dry as yet, indeed; but that circumstance he did not appear to mind; and the plain steel cap with flying cheek-pieces, into which he had thrust his head, had been painted with a sort of Indian black since the night before, so as to look very smart, without offering a very shining or conspicuous point to the eye of a watchful enemy.
No other piece of armour had yet been put on, I suppose in order to give the buff jerkin time to dry; but when, after having told him to hasten his preparations for departure, I came down once more with Andriot to mount my horse, I found Master Moric armed from head to foot, with his cuirass also painted black; thus hiding, in a great measure, the unseemly patch upon his right side.
If I contemplated him with some attention, well pleased with his neatly-trimmed beard and well-washed face, he did not seem to regard me less narrowly or with less apparent pleasure, scanning all the pieces of my arms with an experienced eye, and rubbing his hands joyfully as he saw how easily they sat upon me. The ease with which I managed my horse too, though the brute kicked and plunged most unmercifully on first being mounted, gave him no less satisfaction; and it was only upon Andriot that he bestowed some counsels and some reproof in regard to the unsoldierly manner in which he had put on his morion. When all was completed, we set out from Cubzac, and took our road onward towards Barbezieux. As we went, Moric treated me with a large portion of his conversation, amusing by its quaint drollery, but occasionally tiresome from touches of that rhodomontade whereof he had been accused. Were his own word to be believed, there was no great action which had been enacted during the last half century that he had not either absolutely performed himself or had a very considerable and important share therein. But he even went beyond that; and when he began telling a story of any one else, it very often happened that he entirely forgot, before he came to the end of his tale, the original hero with whom he set out, dropped the third person, took up the first, changed the personage spoken of to himself, and performed all the last acts he had to relate in his own person.
The most ludicrous instance of this kind of transformation took place while he was giving me an account of the tournament at which King Henry II. had been killed not many years before, and at which Moric had been present. He asserted that the fault which occasioned the death of the king was entirely on the part of Montgomery; but, before he had finished his tale, he entirely forgot that declaration, got warm and heated with the subject, was seized with the peculiar sort of cupidity which induced him so constantly to appropriate the actions of others, and becoming Montgomery himself, described how he had killed the King of France, and explained, with the utmost perspicuity and exactitude, the eager feelings with which he had been animated, and which prevented him from recollecting in time that it was necessary to throw away instantly the broken staff of his lance.
I could not help laughing at this absurdity; but he took it all in good part, laughed himself, and declared that it was every word true, except that he was the person who did it.
In many other respects, however, his conversation was full of interest. He was an old veteran soldier, and full of information upon every practical point, both of military tactics and military habits. As far as study could render me acquainted with the subject, I was so already; but I gained more useful information from my new follower in a few hours, more directions for employing well the science that I had acquired, than I could have done from the best master of the art in weeks or months.
From him, too, I learned all the habits and manners of the camp; the rules, the regulations, the etiquettes, which I had before no notion of. What could and might be done, what could not be done, he told me; and I found that, constituted as armies of that period were--low in discipline, licentious in habits--with a little complaisance to the great leaders, and the observation of a few insignificant regulations, the captain of such a party as I proposed to raise might, in fact, do anything that he liked, and act totally independent of the general during almost the whole of his campaign, provided he showed himself daring and fearless, and ready to fight whenever he was called upon.
As we were conversing in this manner while we pursued our onward way, we came to the high grounds near the little hamlet of Marceau, and, looking down over the country below, we saw a considerable number of people riding along, as if in great haste and confusion, upon the bank of the river, and at some distance to the right another party appeared upon the edge of the little slope, while the sun, glittering upon their arms, left no doubt whatever that they were troopers of some kind.
"Those are surely the poor merchants," I said, "who left Cubzac this morning."
"Ay," said the old soldier, "They are running away from those worthies on the hill; some of Lassac's people, I suppose. But the stupid fools have missed the ford. It is there, a hundred yards to the right, and they are running away from it. I know it as well as my own buff jerkin. They will get themselves caught and plundered if they don't mind."
"Let us go down and help them," I exclaimed. "If you know the ford, we can reach them before the others, and once having them across, we can turn and take a blow or two with the pursuers."
"Bravo! bravo, my captain!" cried Moric Endem. "That's the way! That's the way! It seems as if you had been born and bred to it! Always fight the enemy when he's not more than two to one! I am with you, my good captain!"
And, spurring down the hill at full speed, we approached the party of merchants, who, terrified at seeing another body of troopers on the opposite side, paused and hesitated, till, taking off my steel cap, I waved it in the air, calling to them not to be afraid.
It seems that I was instantly recognised, for they stopped, and some advanced towards me, while, pointing with my hand towards the spot which Moric had indicated as the ford, I shouted to them to ride in that way with all speed.
People in a fright, however, never understand anything that is said to them, and they did not obey my directions till I reached them, so that by the time we got them to the side of the river, and some of the horses into the water, the enemy were close upon us. It seemed to me just like one of the military games which I had been accustomed to play with the old retainers and my young cousins. With Moric Endem and Andriot, I turned my horse upon the pursuers; the lad Martin rode up in a minute to my side; one of his uncles could not resist following; and, by a sudden and unexpected charge, we drove the enemy back, who paused for a moment's consideration before they followed us again.
"Now, seigneur," cried Moric, "quick over the stream, for the river is coming down like fury, and in ten minutes more will be impassable. We can easily keep the opposite bank when we are over."
I had remarked that the water was up to the girths of the horses' saddles when the party of merchants passed, and therefore, without more ado, I gave the necessary order for crossing the stream. We found that the little river Saye, like some of the others that flow into the Isle, subject to a sudden increase, had become a complete torrent in consequence of the rain which had fallen during the night, and was swelling every moment, coming down in large brown eddies, which nearly carried our horses off their feet. The two merchants who had remained with us and Andriot passed first, and I followed, thinking that my friend Moric was close behind me; but, in charging the Catholics, one of them had been struck to the ground, slightly wounded, near the bank of the stream, and Moric's fondness for plunder could not be restrained. The man-at-arms, indeed, had run away, but the horse had somehow got his feet entangled with the bridle, and remained very soberly lying on the ground.
Turning round when I had half crossed the stream, I perceived my worthy follower busily employed upon the saddle, and shouted to him that the enemy were upon him. He looked up, however, calculated the distance nicely, finished the operation of cutting the girths with his dagger, threw the rich saddle and its caparisons on the crupper of his own horse, sprang upon his back in a moment, and plunged into the river, with the spears of the Catholics close at his horse's flanks. The water had risen some inches since I had passed; his horse was not quite so tall as mine, and for a few feet had to swim; but Moric Endem was never at all discomposed by any such little adventure; and, keeping his spurs close to the horse's sides, brought him to land, not more than a few yards below the spot where the rest were standing.
The Catholic band pursued him into the water, and one of them seemed inclined to follow his example in swimming; but Moric was by no means unprepared; and snatching from the miscellaneous crowd of arms which surrounded his saddle a long horse-pistol, which fired with a flint and wheel, he took a deliberate aim at the pursuer's horse and shot him in the water. Though the wound was mortal, the horse, luckily for its rider, dashed out of the water before it fell; and Moric, scarcely staying to mark the effect, proceeded calmly and quietly to examine the saddle which he had taken, to rip off the gold lace and velvet which covered it, and to extract from the lining of the bow some twenty gold pieces, which were there stowed away for security.
Laughing at his prize, he rode up to us, and breaking in upon the expressions of gratitude which the merchants were pouring upon me, he pointed to the tops of a thick wood of sapins which were seen it the distance of about two miles, saying,
"We had better ride on that way; for, if these fellows see us remain talking here, they will go down to the bridge and pursue us out of very spite. If we set off quick for the wood, however, they will know that it is useless, and we shall go on in quiet."
His advice was immediately followed; and, turning round on a little elevation before we reached the wood, we had the satisfaction of seeing that the enemy had given up the pursuit, and were slowly proceeding across the country in another direction.
It was not till we had placed several miles between us and the enemy that the good merchants felt at all satisfied of their security; and they pursued their way with a degree of eagerness which soon brought us into the midst of the sandy tracks in the neighbourhood of Cheperiers. We then came to the banks of a little stream, the name of which I forget; and, as the women and children were now evidently much tired, I assured good Master Vern that there was no farther danger, at least from those who had already attacked him; and, dismounting from our horses upon the banks of the stream, we let the beasts crop the scanty herbage, while we prepared to repose and refresh ourselves from a good store of provisions which the traders had brought with them from the inn. The faces of the women and children were still somewhat pale, both from fear and fatigue, and Martin Vern and his companion looked grave and thoughtful, as I imagined, from the risk their property had just run.
Young Martin, however, who had been as far forward in our little fray with the enemy as if he had been armed with steel from head to foot, looked not a little proud of his exploits, especially as somehow, I do not very well know how, he had got a sharp gash upon the forehead, which bled a little, and promised to leave a military mark upon him that he was not likely easily to get rid of. Seeing the two elder merchants standing apart, busily talking to each other, I advanced to the young man, and, shaking hands with him, complimented him highly upon his courage and promptitude. He grasped my hand again, but said nothing that was audible, while the colour came up bright into his cheek, and he looked confused as well as gratified.
Ere I had well concluded what I had to say, however, Master Vern and his companion came up; and the former took my hand, saying, "Permit me to touch your hand, seigneur, and to offer you my very best thanks for saving us all this day. The landlord of the inn at Cubzac informed us this morning that we might well trust to you; but we poor merchants, going on business from one part of the kingdom to another, are forced in these troublous times to be so careful, that sometimes prudence acts the part of imprudence, and, by refusing to trust when we ought, we do ourselves as much harm as by trusting when we ought not."
Not knowing very well where his harangue was about to lead him, and never having been particularly fond of thanks of any kind, I took the first opportunity of replying, that what I had done was a mere nothing, a piece of common humanity; and I added, laughing, "To-day's adventure, good sir, should teach you Catholics to treat us poor Protestants somewhat better than you do; for here you have been attacked, though unarmed, and would doubtless have been plundered by your own party, while you have been defended by Protestants only because you were unoffending people."
"Oh, sir," said both the merchants at once, "we are not the sort of Catholics you take us for. We look upon the Protestants just as much like brethren as they do each other. We see no reason why any man should be condemned for worshipping God in his own way."
"There are many sorts of Catholics in France, sir," continued Martin Vern; "and those who call usPoliticswell deserve the name themselves, for their religion is all a matter of politics together. But, however, we are no enemies to the Protestants; for I am even now going to the camp of the Prince de Condé, to treat with him on my own part, and that of my good friend Solomon Ahar, concerning some stores and other matters that he requires."
"Indeed!" I said, with some surprise; "Then I am certainly the more glad that I have rendered you this little service."
"The Prince de Condé will be glad too, sir," replied the merchant; "and I shall take care that he knows to whom it is owing. I think the aubergiste told me your name was Monsieur Cerons. But all such professions of gratitude I know are vain; and my companion and myself have agreed to beg your acceptance of this purse of fifty crowns for the service that you have already rendered us, promising you the same sum if you will kindly conduct us in safety to the camp of the prince."
Heaven knows that I was as poor as might be; that I calculated upon my sword as my sole means of fortune, and that I could never have gained any little sum in a more honest or honourable way. But yet it went against me to take the man's money, and I had to think two or three times before I could bring myself to resolve upon so doing. The merchant saw my situation, and, not knowing how inexperienced I was in such matters, attributed it to a wrong cause.
"We would offer you more, sir," he said; "but the fact is, the speculation on which we are going is a very uncertain one. We cannot gain much, but we may lose much. Otherwise--"
"Think not of that, think not of that," I said; "I was only hesitating whether I should take your money at all. Nor would I do so, but the fact is, I am but a soldier of fortune, Monsieur Vern, and am now trying to raise a troop with but small means of doing so. If I take the money at all, therefore, it is for the purpose of increasing my number as I go along, which will add to your own security. Of the fifty pieces that you offer me, I shall give ten to each of the men, and will employ the other thirty in recruiting my numbers, if I can meet with any likely men either at Jonsac or Barbezieux. The other fifty will depend upon whether we guide you well and rightly, and that I shall take without hesitation, as that to which I feel some right."
"You shall have deep thanks and gratitude into the bargain," replied the merchant; "and, although you gentlemen of the sword do not value much the good will or services of us traders, occasions do happen sometimes when, according to the old fable, the mouse can help the lion."
He held the purse in his hand, and certainly his words were calculated to make the acceptance of it palatable to me; yet I felt my cheek grow hot as I took it, and I looked round towards the women and children and the rest of the party, as if to see whether they were looking at me.
In the mean while, Andriot and Moric Endem had been aiding the merchant's wife and the women-servants to lay out the provisions on the banks of the stream and, with all the facility of an old soldier. Moric had cast down his steel cap, and was busily arranging the whole, with many a dry jest between, and merry looks and careless laughter, which made the women and the children soon forget the terror that had seized them, and prevented them from even perceiving the extraordinary ugliness of their gallant defender.
A huge cold capon, which he instantly christened "Monseigneur," was placed in the midst of the little circle; manifold eggs were arranged neatly around; various stores of salted provisions, chopped tongues, lard and sausages, were spread out by his hands, with more taste than one might have expected; and at length came two huge bottles of wine, which he called the king and queen, with various attendants, for each of which he had a name.
As we took our all places around, however, it was discovered suddenly that the eggs, which were to form no inconsiderable part of the meal, had not been cooked.
"We could soon cook them," cried Andriot, "for there's wood in the world in the neighbourhood; but where are we to find wherewithal to cook them in!"
"You get the wood, you get the wood, scapegrace," cried Moric; "run up the hill and get the wood. You show how long you have been a soldier. Don't you know that every man-at-arms carries a kettle on his head and a frying-pan on his stomach? Get ye gone, and come back speedily, and leave the cooking to me."
"Now we will put him in a fright for his polished morion," continued Moric, after the youth had gone, at the same time collecting some dry sticks and grass that lay about, and striking a light. "Susanne, my pretty one," he continued, to one of the little girls, "I see some branches lying there: go and fetch them, while I blow the fire up."
And, using his mouth for a pair of bellows, he had contrived to kindle a strong flame by the time that Andriot and the girl had returned. "Now, Andriot," he went on, "take off your morion, there's a good youth; fill it with water out of the stream, and you shall see that we will boil the eggs in a minute."
"Had I not better take yours, Master Moric?" said the young man, looking somewhat ruefully at him.
Moric burst into a loud shout of laughter, in which all the rest of the party joined. "Come, come," cried Moric, "since thou art stingy of thy morion, Andriot, we will roast the eggs, though it is a difficult task, and not to be undertaken by any but an old woman or an old soldier.