"State it."
"General Hatry and his hundred men are surrounded by a triple force. I offer them their lives; but they must lay down their arms, and make oath not to serve again in the Vendee for five years."
Roland shook his head.
"Better that than to see his men annihilated."
"Maybe so; but he would prefer to have his men annihilated, and be annihilated with them."
"Don"t you think," asked Cadoudal, laughing, "that it might be as well, in any case, to ask him?"
"True," said Roland.
"Well, colonel, be so good as to mount your horse, make yourself known to him, and deliver my proposal."
"Very well," replied Roland.
"The colonel"s horse," said Cadoudal, motioning to the Chouan who was watching it. The man led it up. The young man sprang upon it, and rapidly covered the distance which separated him from the convoy.
A group of men were gathered on its flank, evidently composed of General Hatry and his officers. Roland rode toward them, scarcely three gunshots distant from the Chouans. General Hatry"s astonishment was great when he saw an officer in the Republican uniform approaching him. He left the group and advanced three paces to meet the messenger.
Roland made himself known, related how he came to be among the Whites, and transmitted Cadoudal"s proposal to General Hatry.
As he has foreseen, the latter refused it. Roland returned to Cadoudal with a proud and joyful heart. "He refuses!" he cried, as soon as his voice could be heard.
Cadoudal gave a nod that showed he was not surprised by the refusal.
"Then, in that case," he answered, "go back with my second proposition.
I don"t wish to have anything to reproach myself with in answering to such a judge of honor as you."
Roland bowed. "What is the second proposition?"
"General Hatry shall meet me in the s.p.a.ce that separates the two troops, he shall carry the same arms as I--that is, his sabre and pistols--and the matter shall be decided between us. If I kill him, his men are to submit to the conditions already named, for we cannot take prisoners; if he kills me his men shall pa.s.s free and be allowed to reach Vannes safely. Come, I hope that"s a proposition you would accept, colonel?"
"I would accept it myself," replied Roland.
"Yes," exclaimed Cadoudal, "but you are not General Hatry. Content yourself with being a negotiator this time, and if this proposition, which, if I were he, I wouldn"t let escape me, does not please him, come to me. I"m a good fellow, and I"ll make him a third."
Roland rode off a second time; his coming was awaited by the Republicans with visible impatience. He transmitted the message to General Hatry.
"Citizen," replied the general, "I must render account of my conduct to the First Consul. You are his aide-de-camp, and I charge you on your return to Paris to bear testimony on my behalf to him. What would you do in my place? Whatever you would do, that I shall do."
Roland started; his face a.s.sumed the grave expression of a man who is arguing a point of honor in his own mind. Then, at the end of a few seconds, he said: "General, I should refuse."
"Your reasons, citizen?" demanded the general.
"The chances of a duel are problematic; you cannot subject the fate of a hundred brave men to a doubtful chance. In an affair like this, where all are concerned, every man had better defend his own skin as best he can."
"Is that your opinion, colonel?"
"On my honor."
"It is also mine; carry my reply to the royalist general."
Roland galloped back to Cadoudal, and delivered General Hatry"s reply.
Cadoudal smiled. "I expected it," he said.
"You couldn"t have expected it, because it was I who advised him to make it."
"You thought differently a few moments ago."
"Yes; but you yourself reminded me that I was not General Hatry. Come, what is your third proposition?" said Roland impatiently; for he began to perceive, or rather he had perceived from the beginning, that the n.o.ble part in the affair belonged to the royalist general.
"My third proposition," said Cadoudal, "is not a proposition but an order; an order for two hundred of my men to withdraw. General Hatry has one hundred men; I will keep one hundred. My Breton forefathers were accustomed to fight foot to foot, breast to breast, man to man, and oftener one to three than three to one. If General Hatry is victorious, he can walk over our bodies and tranquilly enter Vannes; if he is defeated, he cannot say it is by numbers. Go, Monsieur de Montrevel, and remain with your friends. I give them thus the advantage of numbers, for you alone are worth ten men."
Roland raised his hat.
"What are you doing, sir?" demanded Cadoudal.
"I always bow to that which is grand, general; I bow to you."
"Come, colonel," said Cadoudal, "a last gla.s.s of wine; let each of us drink to what we love best, to that which we grieve to leave behind, to that we hope to meet in heaven."
Taking the bottle and the one gla.s.s, he filled it half full, and offered it to Roland. "We have but one gla.s.s, Monsieur de Montrevel; drink first."
"Why first?"
"Because, in the first place, you are my guest, and also because there is a proverb that whoever drinks after another knows his thought."
Then, he added, laughing: "I want to know your thought, Monsieur de Montrevel."
Roland emptied the gla.s.s and returned it to Cadoudal. The latter filled his gla.s.s half full, as he had done for Roland, and emptied it in turn.
"Well," asked Roland, "now do you know my thought, general?"
"My thought," said Roland, with his usual frankness, "is that you are a brave man, general. I shall feel honored if, at this moment when we are going to fight against each other, you will give me your hand."
The two young men clasped hands, more like friends parting for a long absence than two enemies about to meet on the battlefield. There was a simple grandeur, full of majesty, in this action. Each raised his hat.
"Good luck!" said Roland to Cadoudal; "but allow me to doubt it. I must even confess that it is from my lips, not my heart."
"G.o.d keep you, sir," said Cadoudal, "and I hope that my wish will be realized. It is the honest expression of my thoughts."
"What is to be the signal that you are ready?" inquired Roland.
"A musket shot fired in the air, to which you will reply in the same way."
"Very good, general," replied Roland. And putting his horse to a gallop, he crossed the s.p.a.ce between the royalist general and the Republican general for the third time.