CHAPTER IV.
IN SIGHT OF THE ABBEY.
Upon leaving the convent of St. Saturnine, Berthoald took with his menthe road to the abbey of Meriadek. The march of the troop was delayed bythe condition in which they found two of the bridges on their route; theroads, moreover, were in such a state that the carts containing thebooty of the warriors, together with the Arabian and Gallic women whomthey had captured in the environs of Narbonne, frequently sank to theaxles of the wheels in the mud.
Two days after Broute-Saule had been delivered to the claws and beak ofthe sparrow-hawk, Berthoald and his men arrived near Nantes. The sun wasgoing down, night was near. The young chief on horseback rode a fewpaces ahead of his companions, among whom were several fresh recruitsraised by Charles from the other side of the Rhine--men as savage andfierce as the first soldiers of Clovis, and, like them, dressed in skinsand wearing their hair tied at the top of their heads--just as, morethan two centuries before, Neroweg, one of the leudes of the Frankishking, had worn his. The other warriors were casqued and cuirassed.Berthoald was reserved, almost haughty towards the men of his band. Theygrumbled at his coolness and general bearing towards them. But theascendency of his courage, his redoubtable physical strength, his raredexterity in arms, the promptitude of his war expedients, finally, thehigh favor that he enjoyed with Charles held the savage men of war incontrol. Accordingly, Berthoald rode alone at the head of his troop.Often, since his departure from the abbey of St. Saturnine, he haddropped into a reverie at the thought of the charming Septimine. He wasthinking of the young girl when Richulf, one of his men, rode up to hischief and said to him:
"According to the information that we gathered on the way, our abbeymust lie hereabouts. If you will, let us interrogate the slaves that wesee on the fields."
Awakening from his reverie, Berthoald made an affirmative sign with hishead, and the two hastened the pace of their horses.
"As for me," said Richulf, a sort of German giant of an enormous girth,"I am enjoying in advance the face that our abbot will make when weshall tell him: 'We are here by the grace of Charles Martel. Vacate theplace, priest of Satan, and give us the key of the cellar and pantry forus to eat and drink our fill!'"
Being now near the slaves towards whom they had ridden, Berthoald askedone of them where the abbey of Meriadek was.
"Not far from here, seigneur; the crossroad that you see there downbelow, bordered with poplars, leads straight to the abbey."
"Is an abbot or an abbess at the head of the abbey of Meriadek?"
"It is our holy abbess Meroflede."
"An abbess!" repeated Berthoald in surprise. And laughing he askedagain: "Is she young and handsome, this abbess Meroflede?"
"Seigneur, I could not answer your question, never having seen her butfrom a distance and enveloped in her veils."
"If she envelops herself in her veils she must be ugly," put in Richulf,shaking his head doubtfully. "Are the lands of the abbey fertile? Has itmany herds of swine? Does it gather in good wine?"
"The lands of the abbey are very fertile, seigneur ... the herds ofswine and sheep are very large. Two days ago we carried our rent to theabbey and the colonists their money. It was with difficulty that thelarge shed of the monastery could contain all the cattle and provisionstaken there."
"Berthoald," said Richulf, "Charles Martel has dealt generously by us.But we arrive two days too late. The rents are paid, perhaps alsoconsumed by the abbess and her nuns. We will find neither pork nor wineleft."
The young chief did not seem to share the apprehensions of hiscompanion, and said to the slave: "Well, my poor fellow, that road linedwith poplars, there ahead of us, leads to the abbey of Meriadek?"
"Yes, seigneur; you can reach the place in half an hour."
"Thank you for the information."
Berthoald and Richulf were about to turn their horses' heads and rejointheir troop when the latter, breaking out into a loud guffaw, observed:"By my beard, I have never seen anyone so kind and civil towards thesedogs as you, Berthoald."
"It pleases me to be so--"
"And that makes you an odd man in everything that concerns these slaves.One would think that it hurts you to see them.... We have about twentyfemale slaves in the carts that we are dragging after us as part of thebooty. Some of them are very beautiful. You never as much as had thecuriosity of looking at them ... yet they belong to you as much as tothe rest of us."
"I have told you that I lay no claim whatever to my share of humanflesh," impatiently answered Berthoald. "The sight of those poorcreatures is painful to me. You refused to give them their freedom....Have your way.... But do not mention them again to me."
"Well, it is no loss to us. After having amused ourselves with them onthe road we can sell them for at least from fifteen to twenty gold souseach, according to what a Jew, who looked at them, said to us."
"Enough!... I have heard enough about the Jew and the slaves!" andwishing to put an end to a conversation that was painful to him, hetouched the flanks of his horse with his spurs to join his Frankishcompanions whom he hailed from afar. "Friends, good news! Our abbey isrich, well stocked with cattle, and fertile; and we are to succeed anabbess; whether she be young or old, handsome or ugly, I do not yetknow. We shall see her within an hour and shall be able to judge."
"Long live Charles Martel!" cried one of the warriors. "There's noabbess without nuns.... We shall have a good laugh with the nuns!"
"I would have preferred to have dispossessed some fighting abbot. But Iconsole myself with the thought that we are to be masters of numerousherds of swine."
"Richulf, you can think of nothing but loins of beef and ham!"
Thus gaily conversing, the warriors followed the avenue bordered withpoplars. The abbey was presently descried from the distance, rising inthe center of a sort of peninsula, and reached from this side by anarrow road that was built between two ponds.
"Hurrah for Charles Martel!"
"What a magnificent building! Look at it, Berthoald!"
"Vast domains! And that grand forest in the horizon--it surely allbelongs to our abbey. We shall be able to hunt at our ease."
"It must be full of game. We shall hunt deer, bucks and wild boars....Long live Charles Martel!"
"And the ponds that extend down there on either side of the road, theymust be full of fish.... We shall fish carp, tench and pike that I likeso well!... Long live Charles!"
"Do you not find, comrades, that this abbey has a certain martialaspect, with its high battlements, its counter forts, its ramparts, itsfew and narrow windows and its ponds that surround it like a naturaldefence?"
"So much the better! Within its walls we shall be entrenched as within afortress; and should it please the successors of our good Charles, orthe phantom kings, to dispossess us in turn, as we are about todispossess this abbess, we shall be able to prove that we wear hose andnot skirts."
"Our tapers are lances, our benedictions sabre cuts."
"Let us hasten our horses; it will soon be night and I am hungry....Upon the word of Richulf, two whole hams, four pikes and a wholemountain of cabbage will barely suffice to appease my hunger."
"Sharpen your teeth, glutton! As to me, I propose to invite the abbessand her nuns. The feast will then be complete."
"I shall invite the young and handsome ones to share our lodgings at theabbey. What say you, comrades?"
"What! Invite them, Sigewald!... They must, by my beard! They shall beforced to remain with us.... The good Charles will laugh at the move. Ifthe Bishop of Nantes should raise a howl, we shall tell him to come andtake his sheep from the wolves."
"The devil take the Bishop of Nantes! The day of these tonsured peoplehas gone by, that of the soldier has come!... We are masters in ourhouse!"
While his companions were delivering themselves of these gross jokes,Berthoald preceded them silent and pensive. Charles had invested himwith the high dignity of count; he dragged a rich booty behind him inhis carts; the donation of the abbey i
nsured to him the possession of alarge income; all notwithstanding, the young chief seemed troubled inmind; at times a bitter and painful smile curled his lips. The Frankishriders were presently on the narrow road at either side of which animmense pond extended as far as the eye could reach. Richulf presentlysaid to the young chief: "I do not know whether it is the dusk thatimpedes my sight, but it looks to me as if this road is cut off by amound of earth a little distance ahead of us."
"Let us look at that a little closer," said Berthoald, putting his horseto a gallop. Richulf and Sigewald followed him. Soon the three foundtheir advance intercepted by a deep and wide moat cut into the road andfilled with water that flowed into it from two ponds. On the other sideof the moat rose a kind of breastwork of earth protected with enormouspiles. The obstacle was serious. Night drew near, and on either side theponds extended as far as the eye could reach. Berthoald turned around tohis companions who were no less surprised than himself: "The breastwork,like the abbey, has a decidedly martial mien."
"This ground has been recently thrown up. The bark of the piles is stillfresh, as also the leaves of the hedge that crowns the parapet.... Whatthe devil can these precautions of defence mean?"
"By the hammer of Charles!" said Berthoald. "Here we have an abbess whois well up in the art of entrenchment! But there must be some otherroute to reach the abbey and--" Berthoald did not finish the sentence. Avolley of stones thrown by slingers hid behind the hedge that crownedthe parapet, reached the three warriors. Their casques and cuirassesbroke the shock, but the young chief was rudely struck in the shoulder,while the horse of Richulf, that was near the edge of the road and washit in the head, reared so violently that it fell over upon its riderand both rolled into the pond, which was so deep at that spot that horseand rider disappeared completely. The Frank soon rose back to thesurface and managed with great difficulty to clamber up the bank, whilehis horse swam away frightened towards the center of the pond, where,finally exhausted, it rolled over and sank.
"Treason!" cried Berthoald.
The deep moat filled with water was thirty feet wide. In order to crossit, according to the art of war, it would have been necessary to fetchlumber from a great distance and commence a regular siege. Night,moreover, was on. While the young chief consulted with his companionsupon the unexpected occurrence, a voice from behind the hedge calledout: "This first volley of stones is but a shower of roses to what is instore for you if you attempt to force a passage."
"Whoever you be, you shall pay dearly for this assault," criedBerthoald. "We are come by orders of Charles, chief of the Franks, whomade a gift of the abbey of Meriadek to me and my men. I command here.It is for you to obey."
"And I," replied the voice, "make you a gift, preparatory to somethingbetter, of that volley of stones that you just got."
"We can not to-night force a passage; but we shall encamp on this road.To-morrow, at break of day, we shall storm your entrenchment. So, I warnyou, the abbess of this convent and her nuns will be treated like womenof conquered towns. The young ones will be distributed among us, the oldones will be whipped, and the men will be slaughtered."
"Our holy abbess, Dame Meroflede, minds not such threats," answered thevoice. "The abbess consents to admit the chief of those bandits, butalone, into the convent.... His companions will camp for the night onthe causeway. To-morrow at break of day he shall rejoin his troop. Andwhen he shall have reported to them what he saw in the monastery, and inwhat style preparations are making to receive them, they will realizethat the very best thing for them to do will be to return and fightnear Charles, the heathen who dares to dispose of the goods of theChurch! By the horns of Satan, we shall know how to chase you hence!"
"I shall punish your insolence!"
"My horse is drowned," added Richulf in a rage; "the water streams frommy armor; I am chilled through; my stomach is empty; and yet we arecondemned to spend the night in the open!"
"Enough words! Decide!" replied the voice. "From the top of thisbreastwork a long plank will be lowered over to you. However unsteady offoot your chief may be, he will be able to cross the moat in safety. Ishall take him to the abbey; to-morrow he shall rejoin his companions,and may the devil, who brought you here, lead you back to hell!"
During this debate the other Franks of Berthoald's troop and presentlyalso the carts and baggages, all of which entered without mistrust uponthe narrow causeway, had come up to where the young chief stood. Heexplained what had happened, and showed them the moat and the oppositebreastwork, which, under the circumstances, could neither be cleared nortaken. The straggling beneficiaries of the abbey, no less nonplussed andno less furious than Berthoald himself, broke out into threats andimprecations against the abbess. Nevertheless, night having now fallen,there was no choice but to camp upon the road. It was also decided thatBerthoald should proceed alone to the abbey, and that early the nextmorning they were to consider what to do, according to his report; butwhatever their decision might be upon Berthoald's report, it wasdetermined that if Berthoald should fall a victim to treason and notreturn in the morning, force would be immediately resorted to. As tohimself, wholly disregarding any danger that might threaten, Berthoaldinsisted upon accepting the offer of admitting him to the monastery. Theyoung chief yielded in this as much to the spirit of adventure as to anoverpowering curiosity to see the fighting abbess. Agreeable to thetender made by Ricarik, who guarded the breastwork, a plank was pushedout horizontally from within the parapet, it swayed to the right andleft for a moment and then dropped so that one end rested on the side ofthe ditch where Berthoald stood and the other remained firmly fastenedto the parapet. Berthoald left his horse in charge of one of hiscompanions, and with a firm and light step walked over the plank,quickly reaching the parapet, into which the plank was immediately drawnback.