She gave Dubourg the reins of her horse, and looking back, said, "Jean-Claude, those fires are a pleasure to behold. But where is Louise?"
"Louise spent the night cutting and sewing bandages with Pelsly"s two daughters. She is at the ambulance: over there you see, where the light is shining."
"Poor child!" said Catherine, "I will go and help her. That will warm me."
Hullin watched her retreating figure, and made a gesture, as though saying, "What a woman!"
At this moment, Dives and his people were carrying the powder into the shed, and as Jean-Claude approached the nearest fire, what was his surprise to see, among the crowd of partisans, Yegof the madman, crowned as usual, gravely seated on a stone, with his feet in the ashes, and draped in his rags as though they were a royal mantle.
Anything more strange than this figure by the fire-light could not be imagined. Yegof was the only one awake of the crowd, and might readily have been taken for some barbarian king musing in the midst of his sleeping horde.
Hullin only saw in him a madman, and laying his hand softly on his shoulder, said, ironically:
"I salute thee, Yegof! Thou art come, then, to lend us the help of thy invincible arm and of thy countless armies?"
The madman, without showing the least surprise, replied: "That depends on thee, Hullin; thy fate, and that of all these people, is in thy hands. I have suspended my anger, and I will allow thee to p.r.o.nounce sentence."
"What sentence?" demanded Jean-Claude.
The other, without replying, continued, in a low solemn voice: "Behold us two on the eve of a great battle, as we were sixteen hundred years ago. At that time, I, the chief of so many people, came among thy tribe to ask a pa.s.sage."
"Sixteen hundred years ago!" said Hullin. "Zounds! Yegof, that makes us terribly old! But it is of no consequence--each to his taste."
"Yes," rejoined the madman, "but, with thy usual obstinacy, thou wouldst hear nothing. Men died on the Blutfeld--men who now call for vengeance!"
"Ah, the Blutfeld!" said Jean-Claude. "Yes, yes, an old story; I seem to have heard it before."
Yegof reddened, and his eyes sparkled.
"Thou pridest thyself on thy victory!" cried he; "but take care--take care! blood calls for blood!" And in a calmer tone, "Listen," he added. "I am not angry with thee. Thou art brave; the children of thy race might mingle with those of mine. I am anxious for an alliance with thee--thou knowest it."
"There, he is going to begin about Louise," thought Jean-Claude. And, foreseeing a formal demand, he said: "Yegof, I am sorry, but I must leave thee. I have so much to see after----"
The madman did not wait the end of this leave-taking, and rising, with his face distorted by indignation, "Thou refusest me thy daughter?"
cried he, lifting his finger solemnly.
"We will talk of that later on."
"Thou refusest!"
"Yegof, thy shouts will awaken every one."
"Thou refusest, and it is for the third time! Beware! beware!"
Hullin, despairing of making him become more reasonable, walked rapidly away, but the madman furiously pursued him with these strange words:
"Huldrix, woe on thee! Thy last hour is at hand; the wolves are coming to feed upon thy carca.s.s. All is over. I let loose the tempests of my wrath; and neither to thee nor thine shall mercy, pity, or pardon be shown. Thou hast so willed it."
And, flinging his rags over his shoulder, the poor wretch went away in the direction of the peak of Donon.
Some of the volunteers, awakened by his cries, looked up drowsily, and saw him disappearing in the darkness. They heard the fluttering of wings round the fire; then, as though it were a dream, they turned round and fell asleep again.
About an hour later, Lagarmitte sounded the _reveille_; and in a few minutes all were on their feet.
The chiefs of the ambuscade collected their men: some went toward the shed, to obtain cartridges; others filled their gourds with brandy from the cask. All this was done in good order, their chiefs being at the head of each body of men; then the several companies disappeared in the gray morning light toward the out-posts on the hill-sides.
When the sun rose, the plateau was quite deserted, and, with the exception of five or six fires which were still burning, there was no sign that the partisans were in possession of all the posts on the mountain, or in what place they had pa.s.sed the night.
Hullin hurriedly ate a crust and drank a gla.s.s of wine with his friends Doctor Lorquin and Pelsly the anabaptist.
Lagarmitte was with them, for he was not allowed to leave Master Jean-Claude all day, and had to transmit his orders in case of need.
CHAPTER XIV
"FORWARD! FORWARD!"
At seven o"clock there was no sign of any movement in the valley.
From time to time, Doctor Lorquin opened one of the windows in the large room and looked out. Nothing was stirring; the fires had smouldered away; all was still.
In front of the farm, on a bank, about a hundred feet distant, the Cossack could be seen who had been killed the previous evening by Kasper. He was white with the frost, and as hard as a stone.
In the interior, a fire had been made in the great iron stove.
Louise sat near her father, looking at him with an inexpressible affection, as though she feared never to see him again. Her red eyes showed that she had been crying.
Hullin, though firm, looked not a little moved. The doctor and the anabaptist, both grave and serious, talked over the present position of affairs, and Lagarmitte, from behind the stove, listened to them with deep interest.
"We are not only right, but it is our duty to defend ourselves," said the doctor. "Our fathers cleared these woods and cultivated them: they are our legitimate inheritance."
"No doubt," returned the anabaptist, sententiously; "but it is written, "Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not shed thy brother"s blood!""
Catherine Lefevre, who was in the act of cutting a slice of ham, evidently felt impatient at this conversation, and, turning round sharply, replied to him: "If that were true, and your religion were right, the Germans, Russians, and all these red men might take the clothes off our backs. "Tis fine, that religion of yours; yes, fine, for it gives the rogues such an advantage! It helps them to pillage people of substance. I am sure the allies would wish for us no better religion than yours. Unfortunately, everybody does not care to live like sheep. As for me, Pelsly--and I say it without wishing to annoy you--I consider it folly to grow rich for the benefit of others. But, after all, you are honest folks; one cannot be angry with you: you have been brought up from father to son in the same notions: what the grandfather thought, the grandson thinks also. But we will defend you in spite of yourselves; and afterward we will let you tell us of the peace eternal. I am fond of discourses on peace, when I have nothing else to do, and when I am thinking after dinner: then it rejoices my heart."
After having said this, she turned round and went on carving her ham.
Pelsly opened his mouth and eyes, and Doctor Lorquin burst out laughing.
Just then the door opened, and one of the sentries who had been stationed on the edge of the plateau, cried out, "Master Jean-Claude, come and see. I believe they are mounting the hill."
"It is well, Simon; I am coming," said Hullin, rising. "Louise, kiss me. Have courage, my child. Do not fear; all will go well."
He pressed her to his breast, her eyes swollen with tears. She seemed more dead than alive.
"Above all," said the worthy man, addressing Catherine, "let no one go outside or near the windows."