CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE GRAIN OF MUSTARD SEED.
The Acadians swept towards the bay, but their governor was not withthem. La Salle had gone alone over the cliffs, along the way whichOnawa had revealed, and he went not unseen. The Kentishman followed,searching out each footprint in the snow. Once again the priest wasdestined to take up the sword, before assuming the mantle of spiritualpower. As he passed among the pines the loneliness of the place beganto make him fear, and when he stopped with a curse, because he knew notwhich way to turn, he seemed to behold the sword of his dream flashinglike lightning between the mitre and himself. And while halting heheard perplexing shouts, lessening, receding, and growing faint, as hismen rushed down upon their foes.
Hearing those shouts Upcliff looked up from the field of ice, and hisheart for an instant ceased when he saw that the enemy had gained thepass.
"Now, men of Somerset," he shouted, "let our bird fly right soon, or weshall never sight England again."
"We can do no more than our best, captain," growled the sailor JacobSadgrove. "My arms are near dead with work."
"Out!" cried Madeleine, sweeping forward. "Out, and make room for awoman."
She caught up the axe which the grumbler had dropped, and, lifting herbrave arms, attacked the barrier of ice with never a thought of fear,until the sailor returned glumly to his work for shame.
"Only a few more yards," the deceiving girl cried, throwing back herflushed face. "Look not behind. To regard work closely is to fear it.Attack boldly, and it is done. See how the ship struggles to be free!Soon we shall fly through the open water, with the wind in our sails.Then shall you rest, and it shall delight you to remember the work."
So she called, laughing and singing at intervals, and running here andthere to encourage the toilers, a faithful angel of hope, while theaxes rang more strongly and the men cast side-glances towards the foeand swore breathlessly at their impotence.
"Get you aboard, lass," said Upcliff, loosening his cutlass. "Here iswork for men. My lads, we shall make a good fight for country andfaith, and die, if God will, like true men facing odds. Now we aretaken on both sides."
He pointed to the north-west. Out of the gloom of dawn and thefog-wreaths, which ever haunt the Nova Scotian banks, sailed afull-rigged man-of-war beating against the breeze. It was theprovision ship making for the settlement now that the helmsman couldsee to steer between the rocks.
"Nothing but a miracle can serve," quoth the skipper. "And the age ofmiracles is past."
"Have but faith, and the miracle shall yet be wrought," criedMadeleine, her magnificent confidence strong within her, even in thathour when a less bold spirit would have seen the doors of a heretic'sprison reopening. "God shall yet make a way for us to escape. I knowwe are not doomed. Help me, captain, and you sailors, with your faith.We are never to be taken. We are to escape from our enemies, and Godshall give to us the victory."
Upcliff smiled sadly as he gazed at the radiant face of the prophetess,shaking his grizzled head as he muttered:
"May the good Lord bless you, girl. You send us forth strong to fight."
Then again he faced his men and formed them in line; and when theystood ready to receive the enemy, every man his cutlass in hand, themaster cried out strongly:
"Let no man surrender. For such the French have a gallows. Lads, weshall, by God's grace, leave a deep mark on yonder little army beforethe ship comes nigh. See you how slowly she labours down? She canscarce make headway against the tide, and the breeze freshens everyminute. Now for a bold stand, a stern struggle, and may the Lord havemercy on us all."
Stout Somerset throats answered him with a cheer. They had exercisedtheir privilege of grumbling over the uncongenial work of cutting a wayfor their ship through the ice-field while their compatriots foughtupon the cliffs; but not a man drew back from the prospect of thathopeless battle.
The Acadians struggled down the long hill, floundering in the softsnow, and, halting upon the flat, drew up in the form of a crescent.There were signs of unwillingness among the settlers, due in part tothe reputation gained in those days by Englishmen of never shrinkingfrom a struggle to the death. They were also perturbed by the absenceof La Salle, whom they had not seen since Woodfield had beenoverwhelmed and left for dead in the defile.
While the French thus hesitated, Upcliff and his impetuous men were foradvancing to the attack; but Madeleine came before them, and in astrained voice, altogether unlike her usual tones, implored the skippernot to move towards the shore.
"Do not leave the ice," she cried. "I charge you go not beyond theice."
"The maid has surely lost her wits," muttered Upcliff.
"See the eyes of her!" whispered Jacob Sadgrove to his nearestcompanion. "Have seen a horse look so, when he knows of somewhatcoming, and would speak of it if he might."
A roar broke the morning fog. The ship had fired to encourage herallies. The ball splashed into the black water far from the gallant_Dartmouth_, which quivered and shook her sails in furious helplessness.
"Swear to me that you will not leave the ice-field," cried Madeleine.
"Ay, if you wish it," said Upcliff; adding bluntly: "May die as wellhere as yonder. Stand together, lads. They come!"
"Oh, why so long?" prayed Madeleine, bending upon the snow. "It istime for the miracle. I know we are to be saved, but it is terrible towait. I know that not a hair upon the head of any of these men shallbe harmed; but they know it not, and they prepare for death becausethey cannot see. Oh, God, send us now the miracle!"
"Stand firm!" shouted Upcliff. "Let them make the charge, and we shallsmite them as they stumble in the snow."
He spoke, and straightway a mighty report rang along the shore. Theice on which the men planted their resolute feet quivered and heaved.The attackers halted and drew back; the attacked stared at one anotherin superstitious wonderment. No smoke drifted behind. The guns uponthe ship had not spoken. But the echoes of that dry, sharp sound stillcrashed among the cliffs.
Madeleine rose, and sent her rapturous voice singing into the ears ofall: "The miracle! The miracle!"
Already a channel of black water frothed and bubbled between theEnglish sailors and the French settlers, a channel which widened eachmoment, as the ice-floe which the change of temperature had parted sosuddenly from the shore drifted seawards, drawn out by the strong gulfcurrent, bearing the men snatched from death, the little ice-lockedship, and the girl who had trusted so firmly and so well.
They flocked round her, the rough sailors, crying like children, andknelt to kiss her hands.
"To work!" she cried, pointing to the silver strip which held the floeunited.
But before the men could again use their axes the strain told. The icecracked again and the field was divided into two parts. There was amomentary danger lest the brigantine should be crushed between thefloes, but this peril was averted by the regularity of the current.The men swung themselves aboard, lifting Madeleine up the ladder ofropes and so upon deck. The enemy already had become grotesque blackspots upon the shore.
"Clear the decks for battle!" the captain thundered as the little shipran free of the ice.
The Frenchman had altered her course, and was bearing down upon the_Dartmouth_, roaring with all her guns.