"Then that is a decided and well-understood business?" demanded Hullin.
"Yes, yes, it is decided."
"Well, comrades," said the worthy fellow, joyously, "let us warm ourselves with a few good gla.s.ses of wine. It is ten o"clock; let each one return to his village, and make his preparations. To-morrow morning all the defiles must be vigorously occupied."
They quitted the shed, and Hullin, in the presence of his followers, named Labarbe, Jerome, and Piorette chiefs of the defiles: then he told those of the Sarre to a.s.semble as soon as possible near the farm of Bois-de-Chenes, with axes, mattocks, and muskets. "We shall leave at two o"clock, and encamp on the Donon across the route," said he to them. "To-morrow, at dawn, we will begin the breastworks."
He retained Materne and his two sons Frantz and Kasper, announcing to them that the battle would commence undoubtedly on the Donon, and that good shots would be wanted on that side, which gave them pleasure.
Mistress Lefevre had never looked happier than when she got into her cart again, and, kissing Louise, said in her ear:--"All goes well.
Jean-Claude is a man: he sees everything; he draws people to him. I have known him forty years, yet he surprises even me." Then turning round--"Jean-Claude," cried she, "we have a ham waiting for us down there and a few old bottles, which the Germans shall not drink."
"No, Catherine, they shall not drink them. Go on, I am coming."
But just as they were starting, and when already a number of mountaineers were climbing the hillsides to regain their villages, quite in the distance, on the path of Trois-Fontaines, appeared a large thin man on a big roan cob, with a flat-brimmed cap of rabbit-skin covering the whole back of his neck: a great sheep-dog with a black s.h.a.ggy coat bounded along near him; and the ends of his enormous surtout flapped behind him like wings. Every one cried out,--"It is Doctor Lorquin from the plain--the one who attends poor people gratis.
He comes with his dog Pluto. He is a good man."
In fact he it was. He galloped on, shouting, "Halt! stop! halt!" And his red face, sharp eyes, red-brown beard, broad shoulders, great horse and dog, all cleaved the air and grew upon the view. In two seconds he had reached the foot of the mountain, crossed the meadow, and appeared at the bridge, before the shed. Instantly, in breathless tones, he began to say:--"Ah! the cunning rogues who want to enter on a campaign without me; they shall pay for it!" And tapping a small box he carried at his crupper,--"Listen, my good fellows, listen! I have something inside there of which you shall give me an account: every description of knife, large, small, round and pointed, to take from you the b.a.l.l.s and shot of all kinds which you are going to be regaled with!"
Whereupon he burst out laughing, and all those near him felt a cold shiver in all their veins.
Having delivered himself of this pleasantry, Doctor Lorquin continued in a graver tone:--"Hullin, I must pull your ears! What, when the country has to be defended, you forget me! others have to warn me. It appears to me, however, that a doctor will not be out of the way here.
I must call you to account."
"Pardon me, doctor, I was wrong," said Hullin, squeezing his hand.
"During the last week so many things have happened! One does not always think of everything; and besides, such a man as you are, need not be told how to fulfil his duty."
The doctor was appeased.
"All that is right and good," he cried; "but nevertheless by your fault I am too late; the good places are taken, the crosses distributed.
Come, where is the general, that I may make complaints to him?"
"I am the general."
"Oh! oh! really?"
"Yes, doctor, I am the general; and I promote you to be our head surgeon."
"Chief surgeon of the partisans of the Vosges! Well, it suits me. No malice now, Jean-Claude."
Approaching the cart, the worthy man told Catherine that he relied on her for the organization of the ambulances.
"Everything shall be ready, doctor," replied the farm-mistress.
"Louise and I are going to set to work this evening. Is it not so, Louise?"
"Oh, yes, Mamma Lefevre," said she, enchanted to perceive that the campaign was going to begin. "We shall work well; we will spend the night at it even. M. Lorquin shall be well pleased with us."
"Well, then, let us go. You will dine with us, doctor?"
They trotted away. While keeping pace with them, the good doctor related to Catherine laughingly how the tidings of the general rising had reached him; the affliction of his old housekeeper, Marie, who wanted to prevent his going to be ma.s.sacred by the "kaiserlichs," and the various episodes of his journey from Quibolo to the village of Charmes. Hullin, Materne, and his sons were coming on behind, their carbines on their shoulders; and thus they ascended the hill-side toward the farm of Bois-de-Chenes.
CHAPTER IX
THE CONSCRIPT
You can imagine the animation at the farm, the bustling of the domestics, the shouts of enthusiasm, the c.h.i.n.king of gla.s.ses and forks, the joy depicted on all faces, when Jean-Claude, Doctor Lorquin, the Maternes, and all those who had followed the cart of Catherine Lefevre were installed in the large room around a magnificent ham, and began to celebrate their future triumphs, gla.s.s in hand.
It was on a Tuesday, baking-day at the farm. Excitement had prevailed in the kitchen all the morning: old d.u.c.h.ene, with shirt-sleeves turned up and a cotton cap on his head, was taking out of the oven numberless loaves of bread, the good odor of which pervaded the whole house.
Annette received them and piled them on the hearth; Louise waited on the guests; and Catherine Lefevre superintended everything, crying out,--"Make haste, my children--make haste! The third batch must be ready when the men from the Sarre arrive. It will make six pounds of bread for each man."
Hullin, from his seat, watched the movements of the old farm-mistress.
"What a woman!" said he; "what a woman! She forgets nothing. Could one find another such in the whole country? To the health of Catherine Lefevre!"
"To the health of Catherine Lefevre!" replied the others.
The gla.s.ses met together, and they began again to talk over combats, a.s.saults, and intrenchments. Each one felt animated with an invincible confidence; every one said in himself, "All will go well!"
But heaven had in store for them yet another satisfaction on that day, especially for Louise and the Mother Lefevre. About noon, just as a beautiful gleam of winter sunshine whitened the snow and made the frost melt on the window-panes, and the great c.o.c.k, putting his head out of his coop, uttered his triumphant crow, flapping his wings--just then the watch-dog, old "Yohan," half blind and toothless, began to bark so joyously and plaintively, that everyone listened with the greatest attention. The kitchen was all excitement with the fourth batch coming out of the oven, and even Catherine Lefevre herself stopped.
"Something is going on," said she, in a low voice: and then added, all trembling, "Since my boy left, Yohan has never barked like that."
At the same moment, rapid steps traversed the court. Louise sprang toward the door, crying,--"It is he! It is he!" and almost immediately a hand tried to hasp. The door opened, and a soldier appeared on the threshold; but such a soldier, so worn, so bronzed, so emaciated! his gray hood, with its pewter b.u.t.tons, so ragged--his high leathern gaiters so torn, that all present were astonished.
He appeared unable to advance a step farther, and slowly put the b.u.t.t-end of his musket on the ground. The tip of his aquiline nose--the nose of Mother Lefevre--shone like bronze; his red mustaches shook like one of those great lean hawks which are forced by hunger to come to the very doors of the stables in winter. He looked into the kitchen, pale beneath the brown coating of his cheeks, and with his great hollow eyes filled with tears, he seemed unable to advance or say a word.
Outside, the old dog leaped, whined, and shook his chain; in the interior, one could hear the fire blazing, so great was the silence; but soon Catherine Lefevre, with a piercing voice, exclaimed,--"Gaspard! my child! It is thou!"
"Yes, my mother," replied the soldier, softly, as though suffocating.
And at the same moment Louise began to weep, while in the great room there arose a shout like thunder. All the friends ran out, Master Jean-Claude at their head, crying,--"Gaspard! Gaspard Lefevre!"
Then they saw Gaspard and his mother embracing each other. This strong, courageous woman was weeping: he did not weep; he held her pressed to his breast, his red mustaches mingling with her gray locks, and murmured,--"My mother!--my mother! Ah, how often have I thought of you!" Then, in a louder voice, he said, "Louise! Where is Louise? I saw Louise!" And Louise threw herself into his arms, and their kisses were mingled together. "Ah, thou didst not recognize me, Louise!"
"Oh, yes!--oh, yes! I knew thee, even by thy step!"
Old d.u.c.h.ene, with his cotton cap in his hands, stammered out by the fireplace,--"Lord! is it possible? My poor child! What does he look like?"
He had brought up Gaspard, and always fancied him, ever since his departure, fresh and ruddy in a beautiful uniform with red facings. It completely deranged his ideas to see him otherwise.
At that moment Hullin, raising his voice, said,--"And the rest of us, Gaspard,--thy old friends--art thou not going to take notice of us?"
Then the brave fellow turned round and exclaimed with enthusiasm,--"Hullin! Doctor Lorquin! Materne! Frantz! Why, they are all here!"
And the embraces recommenced, but this time more joyously, with shouts of laughter and shaking of hands that seemed endless.
"Ah, doctor, it is you! Ah, my old father, Jean-Claude!"