CHAPTER V.
INTO THE SHALLOWS.
The following day, at sunrise, the wind being favorable and the seasmooth, the Roman galleys were to sail. Caesar wished to be present atthe embarkment. He had Albinik brought to him. Beside the general was asoldier of great height and savage mien. A flexible armor, made ofinterwoven iron links, covered him from head to foot. He stoodmotionless, a statue of iron, one might say. In his hand he held ashort, heavy, two-edged axe. Pointing out this man, the interpreter saidto Albinik:
"You see that soldier. During the sail he will stick to you like yourshadow. If through your fault or by treason, a single one of the galleysgrates her keel, he has orders to kill you and your companion on theinstant. If, on the contrary, you carry the fleet to harbor safely, thegeneral will overwhelm you with gifts. You will then give the most happymortals cause for envy."
"Caesar shall be satisfied," answered Albinik.
Followed by the soldier with the axe, he and Meroe went up into thegalley Pretoria which was to lead the fleet. She was distinguished fromthe other ships by three gilded torches placed on the poop.
Each galley carried seventy rowers, ten sailors to handle the sails,fifty light-armed archers and slingers, and one hundred and fiftysoldiers cased in iron from top to toe.
When the galleys had pulled out from shore, the praetor, militarycommandant of the fleet, told Albinik, through an interpreter, to steerfor the lower part of the bay of Morbihan, in the neighborhood of thetown of Vannes, where the Gallic army was assembled. Albinik with hishand at the tiller was to convey to the interpreter his orders to themaster of the rowers. The latter beat time for the rowers, according tothe pilot's orders, with an iron hammer with which he rapped on a gongof brass. As the speed of the Pretoria, whose lead the rest of the Romanfleet followed, needed quickening or slackening, he indicated it byquickening or slowing the strokes of the hammer.
The galleys, driven by a fair wind, sailed northward. As the interpreterhad done before, so now the oldest sailors admired the bold manoeuvreand quick sight of the Gallic pilot. After a sail of some length, thefleet found itself near the southern point of the bay of Morbihan, andknew that now it was to enter into those channels, the most dangerous onall the coast of Brittany because of the great number of small islands,rocks and sand banks, and above all, because of the undercurrents, whichran with irresistible violence.
A little island situated in the mouth of the bay, which was still moreconstricted by two points of land, divided the inlet into two narrowlanes. Nothing in the surface of the sea, neither breakers nor foam norchange in the color of the waters gave token of the slightest differencebetween the two passes. Nevertheless, in one lay not a rock, while theother was strewn with danger. In the latter channel, after a hundredstrokes of the oars, the ships in single file, led by the Pretoria,would have been dragged by a submarine current toward a reef of rockswhich was visible in the distance, and over which the sea, calmeverywhere else, broke tumultuously. The commanders of the severalgalleys could perceive their peril only one by one; each would be madeaware of it only by the rapid drifting of the galley ahead of him. Thenit would be too late. The violence of the current would drag and hurlvessel upon vessel. Whirling in the abyss, fouling the bottom, andcrashing into one another, their timbers would part and they would sinkinto the watery depths with all on board, or else dash themselves on therocky reef. A hundred more strokes of the oar, and the fleet would beannihilated in this channel of ruin.
The sea was so calm and beautiful that not one of the Romans had anysuspicion of danger. The rowers accompanied with songs the measured fallof their oars. Of the soldiers some were cleaning their arms; some werestretched out in the bow asleep; others were playing at huckle-bones. Ashort distance from Albinik, who was still at the helm, a white hairedveteran with battle-scarred face was seated on one of the benches in thepoop, between his two sons, fine young archers of eighteen or twentyyears. They were conversing with their father, each with one armfamiliarly laid on a shoulder of the old warrior, whom they thus heldtight in their embrace; all three seemed to be talking in pleasantconfidence, and to love one another tenderly. In spite of the hatred heentertained for the Romans, Albinik could not help sighing with pitywhen he thought of the fate of these three soldiers, who did not imaginethey were so near the jaws of death.
Just then one of those light boats used by the Irish seamen shot outfrom the bay of Morbihan by the safe channel. Albinik had, on hisjourneys, made frequent voyages to the coast of Ireland, an island thatis inhabited by people of Gallic stock. They speak a language almost thesame as that of the Gauls, yet difficult to understand for one who hadnot been as often on their coast as Albinik had.
The Irishman, either because he feared that he would be pursued andcaught by one of the men-of-war which he saw approaching, and wished toavoid that danger by coming up to the fleet of his own accord, or elsebecause he had useful information to give, steered straight toward thePretoria. Albinik shuddered. Perhaps the interpreter would question theIrishman, and he might point out the danger which the fleet ran intaking one of the passages. Albinik therefore gave orders to bend to theoars, in order to get inside the channel of destruction before theIrishman could join the galleys. But after a few words exchanged betweenthe military commandant and the interpreter, the latter ordered them towait for the boat which was drawing near, so as to ask for tidings ofthe Gallic fleet. Albinik obeyed; he did not dare to oppose thecommandant for fear of arousing suspicion. Before long the little Irishshallop was within hailing distance of the Pretoria. The interpreter,stepping forward, hailed the Irishman in Gallic:
"Where do you come from, and where are you bound to? Have you met anyvessels at sea?"
At these questions the Irishman motioned that he did not understand.Then he began in his own half-Gallic tongue:
"I am coming to the fleet to give you news."
"What language does the man speak?" said the interpreter to Albinik. "Ido not catch his meaning, although his language does not seem entirelystrange."
"He speaks half Irish, half Gallic," answered Albinik. "I have oftentrafficked on the coasts of his country. I understand the tongue. Thefellow says he has steered up to us to give us important news."
"Ask him what his news is."
"What information have you to give?" called Albinik to the Irishman.
"The Gallic vessels," answered he, "coming from various ports ofBrittany, joined forces yesterday evening in the bay I have just left.They are in great number, well armed, well manned, and cleared foraction. They have chosen their anchorage at the foot of the bay, nearthe harbor of Vannes. You will not be able to see them till afterdoubling the promontory of A'elkern."
"The Irishman carries us favorable tidings," cried Albinik to theinterpreter. "The Gallic fleet is scattered on all sides; part of theships are in the river Auray; the others, still more distant, towardsthe bay of Audiern, and Ouessant. At the foot of this bay, for thedefense of Vannes, are but five or six poor merchantmen, barely armed intheir haste."
"By Jupiter!" exclaimed the interpreter, "the gods, as always, arefavorable to Caesar!"
The praetor and the officers, to whom the interpreter repeated the falsenews given by the pilot, seemed also overjoyed at the dispersion of thefleet of Gaul. Vannes was thus delivered into the hands of the Romansalmost without defenses on the sea side.
Then Albinik said to the interpreter, indicating the soldier with theaxe:
"Caesar has suspected me. The gods have been kind to allow me to provethe injustice of his suspicions. Do you see that islet, about a hundredoar-lengths ahead?"
"I see it."
"In order to enter the bay, we must take one of two passages, one to theright of the islet, the other to the left. The fate of the Roman fleetis in my hands. I could pilot you by one of these passages, which to theeye is exactly like the other, and an undercurrent would tow yourgalleys onto a sunken reef. Not one would escape."
"What say you?" exclaimed the interprete
r. As for Meroe, she gazed ather husband in pained surprise, for, by his words, he seemed finally tohave renounced his vengeance.
"I speak the truth," answered Albinik. "I'll prove it to you. ThatIrishman knows as well as I the dangers attendant upon entering the bayhe has just left. I shall ask him to go before us, as pilot, and inadvance I shall trace for you the route he will take. First he willtake the channel to the right of the islet; then he will advance till healmost touches that point of land which you see furthest off; then hewill make a wide turn to the right until he is just off those blackrocks which tower over yonder; that pass behind us, those rocks shunned,we shall be safely in the bay. If the Irishman executes this manoeuvrefrom point to point, will you still suspect me?"
"No, by Jupiter!" answered the interpreter. "It would then be absurd toentertain the least doubt of your good faith."
"Judge me then," said Albinik, and he addressed a few words to theIrishman, who consented to pilot the ships. His manoeuvring talliedexactly with what Albinik had foretold. The latter, having given to theRomans this testimony of his truthfulness, deployed the fleet in threefiles, and for some time he guided them among the little islands withwhich the bay was dotted. Then he ordered the rowers to rest on theiroars. From this place they could not see the Gallic fleet, anchored atthe furthest part of the bay at almost two leagues' distance, andscreened from all eyes by a lofty promontory.
"Now," said Albinik to the interpreter, "We now run only one danger; itis a great one. Before us are shifting sandbanks, occasionally displacedby the high tides; the galleys might ground there. It is necessary,then, that I reconnoitre the passage plummet in hand, before bringingthe fleet into it. Let them rest as they are on their oars. Order thesmallest boat your galley has to be launched, with two rowers. My wifewill take the tiller. If you have any suspicion, you and the soldierwith the axe may accompany us in the boat. Then, the passagereconnoitred, I shall return on board to pilot the fleet even to themouth of the harbor of Vannes."
"I no longer suspect," answered the interpreter. "But according toCaesar's order, neither the soldier nor I may leave you a singleinstant."
"Let it be as you wish," assented Albinik.
A small boat was lowered from the galley. Two rowers descended into it,with the soldier and the interpreter; Albinik and Meroe embarked intheir turn; and the boat drew away from the Roman fleet, which wasdisposed in a crescent, waiting on its oars, for the pilot's return.Meroe, seated at the helm, steered the boat according to the directionsof her husband. He, kneeling and hanging over the prow, sounded thepassage by means of a ponderous lead fastened to a long stout cord.Behind the little islet which the boat was then skirting stretched along sand-bar which the tide, then ebbing, was beginning to uncover.Beyond the sand-bar were several rocks fringing the bank. Albinik wasjust about to heave the lead anew; while seeming to be examining on thecord the traces of the water's depth, he exchanged a rapid look with hiswife, indicating with a glance the soldier and the interpreter. Meroeunderstood. The interpreter was seated near her on the poop; then camethe two rowers on their bench; and at the farther end stood the man withthe axe, behind Albinik, who was leaning at the bow, his lead in hishand. Rising suddenly he made of the plummet a terrible weapon. Heimparted to it the rapid motion that a slinger imparts to his sling. Theheavy lead attached to the cord struck the soldier's helmet so violentlythat the man sank to the bottom of the boat stunned with the blow. Theinterpreter rushed forward to the aid of his companion, but Meroe seizedhim by the hair and pulled him back; loosing his balance he toppled intothe sea. One of the two rowers, who had raised his oar at Albinik,immediately rolled headlong overboard. The movement given to the rudderby Meroe made the boat approach so close to the rocky islet that she andher husband both leaped on it. Rapidly they climbed the steep rocks.There was now but one obstacle to their reaching shore. That was thesand-bar, one part of which, already uncovered by the sea, was inmotion, as could be seen from the air bubbles which continually rose tothe surface. To take that way to reach the rocks of the shore was to diein the abyss hidden under the treacherous surface. Already the coupleheard, from the other side of the island, which hid them from view, thecries and threats of the soldier, who had recovered from his daze, andthe voice of the interpreter, whom the rowers had doubtlessly pulled outof the water. Thoroughly familiar with these coasts, Albinik discovered,by the size of the gravel and the clearness of the water that coveredit, that the sand-bar some paces off was firm. At that point, he andMeroe crossed, wading up to their waists. They reached the rocks on theshore, clambered up nimbly, and then stopped a moment to see if theywere pursued.
The man with the axe, hampered by his heavy armor and being, no morethan the interpreter, accustomed to move upon slippery rocks coveredwith seaweed, such as were those of the islet which they had to cross inorder to reach the fugitives, arrived after many efforts opposite thequicksands, which were now left high and dry by the tide. Furious at thesight of Albinik and his companion, from whom he saw himself separatedby only a narrow and level sand-bar, the soldier thought the passageeasy, and dashed on. At the first step he sank in the quicksand up tohis knees. He made a violent effort to clear himself but sank deeperyet, up to his waist. He called his companions to his aid, but hardlyhad he called when only his head was above the abyss. Then the head alsodisappeared. The soldier raised his hands to heaven as he sank. A momentlater only one of his iron gauntlets was to be seen convulsivelyquivering above the sand. Presently nothing was to be seen--nothingexcept some bubbles of air on the surface of the quagmire.
The rowers and the interpreter, seized with fear, remained motionless,not daring to risk certain death in the capture of the fugitives.Feeling safe at last, Albinik addressed these words to the interpreter:
"Say thou to Caesar that I maimed myself to inspire him with confidencein the sincerity of my offers of service. My design was to conduct theRoman fleet to certain perdition, sacrificing my companion and myself.Accident changed my plan. Just as I was piloting you into the channel ofdestruction, whence not a galley would have come back, we met theIrishman who informed me that the Gallic ships, since yesterdayassembled in great numbers and trimmed for fight, are anchored at thefoot of the bay, two leagues off. Learning that, I changed my plan. I nolonger wished to cast away the galleys. They will be annihilated justthe same, but not by a snare or by treachery; it will come about invalorous combat, ship to ship, Gaul to Roman. Now, for the sake of thefight to-morrow, listen well to this: I have purposely led your galleysinto the shallows, where in a few minutes they will be left high and dryon the sands. They will stay there grounded, for the tide is falling. Toattempt to disembark is to commit suicide; you are surrounded on allsides by moving quicksands like the one in which your soldier and hisaxe have just been swallowed up. Remain on board of your ships.To-morrow they will be floated again by the rising tide. And to-morrow,battle--battle to the finish. The Gaul will have once more showed thatNEVER DID BRETON COMMIT TREASON, and that if he glories in the death ofhis enemy, it is because he has killed his enemy fairly."
Then Albinik and Meroe, leaving the interpreter terrified by theirwords, turned in haste to the town of Vannes to give the alarm, and towarn the crews of the Gallic fleet to prepare for combat on the morrow.
On the way, Albinik's wife said to him:
"The heart of my beloved husband is more noble than mine. I wished tosee the Roman fleet destroyed by the sea-rocks. My husband wishes todestroy it by the valor of the Gauls. May I forever be proud that I amwife to such a man!"