They were now at some distance from each other, when Hullin called out to his comrade: "He! Marc, inform Catherine Lefevre, as thou pa.s.sest by, that all goes on well. Tell her I am going into the mountains."
The other a.s.sented by a nod, and they both continued their different ways.
CHAPTER VI
AMONG THE MOUNTAINEERS
An extraordinary agitation reigned at that time all along the line of the Vosges: the tidings of the invasion which was approaching spread from village to village, and among the farm-houses and woodmen"s cottages of the Hengst and the Nideck. The hawkers, wagoners, tinkers, all that floating population which is continually moving from the mountains to the plains and from the plains to the mountains, brought every day, from Alsace and the borders of the Rhine, many strange reports. "The towns," so these people said, "were being put into a state of defence; expeditions were being made to provision them with corn and meat; the roads to Metz, Nancy, Huningue, and Strasbourg were swarming with convoys. Everywhere you met powder and ammunition wagons, cavalry, infantry, artillery, going to their posts. Marshal Victor still held the route to Saverne; but the bridges of the fortresses were already raised from seven in the evening to eight in the morning."
No one thought that all this could bode any good. Nevertheless, though many were seriously afraid of war, and though the old women lifted up their hands to heaven, crying, "Jesus! Mary! Joseph!" the greater number were preparing the means of defence. Under such circ.u.mstances, Jean-Claude Hullin was well received by all.
The same day, toward five in the evening, he reached the summit of the Hengst, and halted with the patriarch of forest-hunters, old Materne.
He spent the night there; for in winter the days are short and the roads difficult. Materne promised to keep watch over the defile of the Zorn, with his two sons Kasper and Frantz, and to reply to the first signal which was made from the Falkenstein.
On the following day, Jean-Claude started early for Dagsburg, so as to come to an understanding with his friend Labarbe, the wood-cutter.
They visited together the nearest hamlets, reanimating the love of country in the people"s hearts; and the next day Labarbe accompanied Hullin into Christ-Nickel"s, the anabaptist farmer of Painbach--a sensible and respectable man, but who could not be prevailed upon to partic.i.p.ate in their glorious enterprise. Christ-Nickel had only one reply for all their observations; "It is well, it is just, but the Bible saith, "Put up thy sword into its place. He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword."" He promised them, however, to pray for the good cause: it was all they could obtain.
They went from there to Walsch, and had some hearty shakes of the hand with Daniel Hirsch, a former marine gunner, who agreed to collect all the people of his district.
At this place Labarbe left Jean-Claude to make his way by himself.
For eight days longer he beat about the mountain, from Soldatenthal, to Leonsberg, Meienthal, Abreschwiller, Voyer, Loettenbach, Cirey, Pet.i.t-Mont, and Saint-Sauveur; and on the ninth day he reached St.
Quirin and saw the bootmaker Jerome. They visited the pa.s.s of Blanru together; after which Hullin, satisfied with what he had done, took his way to the village. He had been walking briskly for about two hours, picturing to himself the life of the camp,--the bivouac, marches and counter-marches--all that life of a soldier which he had so often regretted, and which he now saw returning with enthusiasm--when in the far distance, amidst the shades of the twilight, he perceived the hamlet of Charmes in a bluish mist, his little cottage sending forth a scarcely perceptible line of smoke, the small gardens surrounded with palisades, the stone-covered roofs, and to the left, bordering the hill, the great farm of Bois-de-Chenes, with the saw-mills of Valtin at the end of the now dark ravine.
Then suddenly, and without knowing why, his soul was filled with a great sadness.
He slackened his pace, and thought of the calm, peaceable life he was abandoning--perhaps forever; of his little room, so warm in the winter, and cheerful in spring when he opened his windows to the breath of the woods; of the tic-tac of the old timepiece, and then of Louise, his good little Louise, spinning in the silence with downcast eyes, and in the evenings singing some quaint strain with her pure penetrating voice when they were both feeling weary. These reflections laid such hold of him that the slightest objects, every instrument used in his profession,--the long shining augers, the round-handled hatchet, the mallets, the little stove, the old closet, the platters of varnished wood, the ancient figure of Saint Michael nailed to the wall, the old four-post bed at the bottom of the alcove, the stool, the trunk, the copper lamp,--all these things impressed themselves on his mind like a living picture, and the tears came into his eyes.
But it was Louise, his darling child, whom he pitied. How she would weep, and implore him to renounce the war! And how she would hang on his neck, saying:--"Oh! do not leave me, Papa Jean-Claude! Oh, I will love you so much! Oh, surely you will not abandon me!"
And the honest fellow could see the terror in her beautiful eyes--he could feel her arms round his neck. For a moment he fancied that he might deceive her, make her believe anything, no matter what, and so account for his absence to her satisfaction; but such means were not in accordance with his character, and his sadness increased the more.
Arrived at the farm of Bois-de-Chenes, he went in to tell Catherine Lefevre that all was going well, and that the mountaineers were only awaiting the signal.
A quarter of an hour after, Master Jean-Claude came down by the Houx road in front of his own little house.
Before pushing open the creaking door, the idea struck him to see what Louise was about at that moment. He glanced into the little room through the window: Louise was standing by the curtains of the alcove; she seemed very animated, arranging, folding and unfolding clothes on the bed. Her sweet face beamed with happiness, and her large blue eyes sparkled with a sort of enthusiasm; she even talked aloud. Hullin listened; but a cart happening to pa.s.s at the time in the street, he could hear nothing. Making a firm resolve, he entered, saying quietly: "Louise, I have returned."
Immediately the young girl, joyous and skipping like a deer, ran to embrace him.
"Ah! it is you, Papa Jean-Claude! I was expecting you. Mon Dieu! mon Dieu! how long you stayed away! At length you are back."
"It was, my child," replied the honest fellow, in a more undecided tone, putting his stick behind the door and his hat on the table, "it was because----"
He could say nothing else.
"Yes, yes, you went to see our friends," said Louise, laughing: "I know all about it--Mamma Lefevre has told me everything."
"What! thou knowest? And dost thou not mind? So much the better, so much the better! it shows thy sense. And I, who fancied thou wouldst have cried!"
"Cry! and what for, papa Jean-Claude? Oh, I am courageous; you don"t know me yet--go!" She put on a resolute air, which made Hullin smile; but he did not smile long when she continued: "We are going to war--we are going to fight--we are going to pa.s.s up the mountain!"
"Hullo! we are going! we are going!" exclaimed he in astonishment.
"Certainly. Then are we not going?" said she, regretfully.
"That is to say--I must leave thee for a little time, my child."
"Leave me--oh, no! I go with thee; it is all agreed upon. Look, see!
my small parcel is ready, and here is yours, which I have arranged.
Don"t trouble yourself, let me alone, and you will be satisfied!"
Hullin could not get over his stupefaction. "But, Louise," he exclaimed, "thou canst not think of such a thing. Consider: we must pa.s.s nights abroad, and march and run; consider the cold, the snow, the musketry! It cannot be."
"Come," said the young girl, in a tearful voice, throwing herself into his arms, "do not pain me! You are only making fun of your little Louise. You cannot forsake her!"
"But thou wilt be much safer here--thou wilt be warm--thou wilt hear from us every day."
"No, no. I will not--I must go too. The cold does not harm me. Only too long have I been shut up. I, too, must breathe a little. Are not the birds out of doors? The robins are out all the winter. Have I not known what cold was when I was quite tiny? and hunger also?"
She stamped, and, for the third time, putting her arms round Jean-Claude"s neck,--"Come then, Papa Hullin," said she softly, "Mamma Lefevre said yes. Would you be more naughty than she was? Ah, if you only knew how much I love you!"
The good man had sat down and turned away his head, so as not to yield, and did not allow himself to be embraced.
"Oh, how naughty you are to-day, Papa Jean-Claude!"
"It is for thy sake, my child."
"Well, all the worse. I will run away after you. Cold--what is cold?
And if you are wounded--if you ask to see your little Louise for the last time, and she is not there--near you, to take care of you, and love you to the end--oh, you must think me very cold-hearted."
She sobbed, and Hullin could not stand it any longer.
"Is it true that Mamma Lefevre consents?"
"Oh, yes--oh, yes--she told me so. She said to me,--"Try and make Papa Jean-Claude decide. I am willing, and quite satisfied.""
"Well, what can I do against two of you. Thou shalt come with us; it is quite decided."
She gave a scream of delight which ran through the cottage,--"Oh, how kind you are!"
And with one rub she wiped all her tears away,--"We are going to be off, to take to the woods and to make war."
"Ah," said Hullin, shaking his head, "I see it now; thou art always the little gypsy. As soon try to tame a swallow."
Then making her sit on his knees:--"Louise, it is now twelve years since I found thee in the snow: thou wast blue, poor little one. And when we were in the cottage, near a good fire, and thou wert slowly reviving, the first thing thou didst was to smile at me. And since that time thy will has always been mine. With that smile thou hast led me wherever thou wouldst."