CHAPTER VI.
A large company was invited at the Marshal's at Nismes. The Intendant,the Lord of Basville, sat by the side of the Lord of Montrevel, manyofficers and respectable inhabitants of the town surrounded the table,and at the head the beautiful Lady of Andreux added lustre to theassembly, who with her husband was present to do honour to thisbanquet. Some of her female relatives, distinguished ladies of Nismes,sat between the gentlemen, and all seemed as merry as if they were notpondering on the common oppression of the country. The Intendant of theprovince alone preserved his serious demeanour and joined not in therepeated laughter of the others; he was deeply engaged in earnestconversation with Colonel Julien, who also seemed to be totallyregardless of the lively mood of the company. An important advantagehad been obtained the day before over the rebels, and all wereflattering themselves, that in a short time they would see theseunhappy insurrections brought to an end. The Marshal was in higherspirits than people had been used to see him for a long time; hissallies were laughed at and the homage which he conspicuously addressedto the Lady of Andreux, was gratefully received by her and returnedwith pointed elegance.
"Colonel Julien related to the Intendant the wonderful manner in whichhe had effected his escape from the recesses of the mountains of theCevennes, three months previously. He was in command of a smallexpedition and thought to have entirely defeated the rebels in a hotencounter, when he perceived himself on all sides suddenly surroundedtowards evening. 'Around us,' said he, 'were steep, barren mountains,while we were preparing for a retreat, all the heights were suddenlyoccupied by multitudes of people, before and behind us were swarms ofdark figures, we could not long remain doubtful of our position; forsuddenly large stones rolled down on our troop, which in their heavydescent crushed our people murderously. Here there was no rallying tobe thought of, therefore we retreated almost flying towards a mill neara mountain stream. I was convinced I should find this pass alsooccupied, and gave myself up for lost. The rocks crushed my soldiersright and left, resistance being impossible. Now sprung from the otherside, like chamois, more than a hundred down from the steep heights,and in this disorder, where we could not hold our footing, a bloodyfight ensued; I had been already wounded three times, and my fightingmen were rapidly decreasing, darkness came on, when, in a moment, whilethe Camisards burst into their howling hymns, a panic seized the restof my troop, and they all rushed towards the opening of the valley. Thevictorious band pursued them from the other side, new foes beset them.Bleeding, I leaned solitarily against a rock and saw through thetwilight my company hewn down, the former could not perceive me,however, firmly they had sworn my death. I dragged myself sidewaystowards the little bridge that leads to the mill on the other side,certain of meeting death; but I found it undefended. A fault that Ishould not have expected from the rebels, for they were headed byCavalier, as I heard in the midst of the cries and hubbub. All thismisfortune, however, happened to me only in consequence of falseinformers, who brought me lying accounts; men, that I had long known,and whose fidelity seemed to me to have been tried; but they merelyplayed this part, the better to deceive me, for they belonged to theCamisards.'
"The worst of this is," said the Intendant, "that we dare trust no one,not a single one. The most sincere, the most zealous patriots inappearance, betray us. We are reproached for severity and harshness,but I fear we are yet too mild and compassionate, for these faithlessrebels deserve no quarter; they can only be subdued by continued,inexorable severity."
"They should be wholly extirpated," interrupted the Marshal, who in themiddle of his own lively conversation had only listened to the lastwords.
Julien looked gravely at the Intendant, while he sighed: "You reallybelieve then that these unfortunate men are no longer deserving ofhuman consideration." "Hardly so indeed," said the Lord of Basville,"for through their own cruelty and disgraceful conduct of every kind,they have rendered themselves unworthy of any sympathy. But go onColonel: how were you saved in this pressing position?"
"With scarcely strength sufficient to advance a single step, I draggedmyself across the river, through the copse and over a meadow towardsthe mill, for no choice was left me. It was now become quite dark, andyet I would have willingly avoided this mill, for the people there weremore than merely suspicious. Two of the sons had gone over to therebels some time before, and it had been my intention after my victoryto take all these people from their houses along with me, and to havethem interrogated in prison. A dog announced my arrival; this was thelast thing I was conscious of, for I fell fainting before the door ofthe house. When I recovered from my insensibility, I found myselfundressed upon a bed, my wounds bound up, and many strange facesgathered round me, which, by the glimmering light of a lamp caused me amost disagreeable impression. An old man with white hair, who seemed tohave the most authority, was the only one in whom I could have anyconfidence; the more horrible among them, were some women, particularlyan elderly one, whom I took for the old man's wife. 'Your wounds arenot mortal,' said the old miller, 'you will soon recover, be tranquilon this point.'--May I in reality have no cause for uneasiness?rejoined I. Am I with loyal subjects of the king?--'By heaven, we aresuch!' exclaimed the aged man with tears in his eyes, 'we have alreadymade many sacrifices to him, and we will protect you, although you seemto know us well, nor are you either unknown to us. My two sons haveboth suffered martyrdom--but the king commanded it should be so, andGod permitted it, we dispute no more with him.' Hereupon the women,particularly the old ones, set up a terrific howling; some youngfellows gazed at me with cruel, sanguinary looks; I was prepared forall. 'Peace,' cried the old man, 'this man has not come under my roofas a foe, but as one requiring assistance, who injures a hair of hishead, will have to answer for it to me!--We found you lifeless at ourdoor, we recognized you on the spot,' continued he turning to me; 'weneed only to have left you without assistance, and _we_ did not murderyou; but I have staunched the blood, you may return to-morrow to thetown, and I will take care that you shall be conveyed with all speed tothe nearest village in an easy manner, for when our companions arrivein a mass, as it may happen to-morrow, I might not be able to protectyou any longer.' And so it happened. During the night some rebels, whowere seeking after me, were sent away even in the twilight of morning;I was placed comfortably in a small vehicle and conveyed to the openingof the valley from whence I could be carried in safety to the town."
"We may well be astonished at this false virtue," said the Intendant,"but we must refuse it our consideration, for that will not benecessary, if these unfortunate men remain faithful to the king andobey his mandates."
The company was still sitting at desert and sipping choice wines, when,suddenly, a great uproar was raised in the house, several men'sfootsteps were heard hastening up the steps, the doors burst open andin rushed the clergyman of St. Sulpice, pale, and trembling, followedby a few citizens, and among these a young man who seemed quite besidehimself, "What is the matter?" demanded the Marshal in an authoritativetone, and the Intendant arose and addressed himself to the youngcitizen. "Now Clement," said he, "recollect yourself, what has happenedto you?" "Is not this the leader of the city militia at Nismes?" askedthe Marshal with contempt.
"Even so," replied the Lord of Basville, "he led the troop ofvolunteers." "He seems to have lost the power of speech in hisexpedition," said the Lord of Montrevel, laughing.
"They are behind us--they will be here directly," stammered out youngClement.
"Who?" enquired the Marshal, who had resumed his seat.
"Cavalier and the Camisards!" cried the young man.
"Not so bad, not quite so bad as that," rejoined the priest, who seemedmore composed. "But our troop is totally defeated and the rebels havebeen all along in our rear, and they have the insolence to appear onthe plain of Nismes, as if they were going to threaten the townitself."
"Thus it is," said the Marshal cuttingly, "when citizens meddle withaffairs to which they are not equal; give the young man a
glass of wineto revive him." Casting at the same time a side glance at theIntendant, "Sit down reverend priest," he continued, "you appear morecomposed, give us a little more circumstantial account."
"According to the order of the gracious Lord Marshal," said the priest,bowing profoundly, "We set fire yesterday to the village, which hadfurnished provisions to the rebels, when they had quartered themselvesthere; we then set out five hundred men strong, and three hundredsoldiers marched at the same time, with a hundred dragoons on the otherside of the river. The wretched, burned out creatures ran howling intothe wood and we pursued our way whilst we saw about a hundred rebelsflying before us. Behind the wood we joined the royal troops andsurrounded the vineyards on three sides near Nages. Some Camisardsshowed themselves sideways, who, however, after a few shotsdisappeared, We now advanced on the right, the soldiers on the left, inbetween the mountains; we fell among the brambles, and--as if fire wasvomited forth from all sides, balls flew in among us without our beingable to see any one, we hesitate, we halt. Now the villains in themountains spring to their feet yelling and psalm-singing bellow downupon us, together with hissing balls; we defend ourselves and put ourhopes in the royal troops, but the superiority is too great, our peoplefall, we are compelled to retreat. Difficult enough it was to retirefrom the mountains, the greater part of our men remain lying there:arriving on the plain, there we beheld the military also beaten andtaking flight."
"Defeated!" screamed the Marshal.
"They are most likely following us," replied the priest.
"The volunteers," said the Intendant, "have apparently not beenproperly supported, as it has often happened already, and how shall thecitizen bear up if the soldier takes flight?"
The Marshal, his face crimsoned, would have retorted angrily, when someofficers, covered in dust and bewildered, entered hastily. "The rebels,Lord Marshal," said a young captain, "are seen before the gates ofNismes; Cavalier has played us a fine trick this time; our informersenticed us among the vineyards, the volunteers did not unite with us ashad been agreed upon and we are entirely routed. Cavalier knows how todispose of his men like an old soldier.
"Lord Marshal," exclaimed a veteran colonel entering the room, "the foeis without! and the fearful Catinat has, through retribution, as hecalls it, reduced three catholic villages to ashes, and with his ownhands set fire to the churches."
Some prisoners were brought in, among whom there was a child of twelveyears of age. "What means this lad?" exclaimed the Marshal.
"He is a brother of Cavalier," replied the old colonel, "we had alreadymade this dangerous leader prisoner, we had taken possession of abridge and he could not rejoin his people, when this brat, this boyhere, rallied the rebels, harangued them, brandished his sword in hisoutstretched hand, fell upon us, retook the bridge, made his brotherfree, but became himself our prisoner."
"Satan's brood!" growled the Marshal, "away with them all to prison,and we, gentlemen, to our posts!" all hastened out, the guests hadalready retired without taking leave: the boy looked boldly andsmilingly round the saloon, and carelessly followed his guard; no oneremained behind but Colonel Julien and the Intendant, who took theirhats and sticks to go to their respective houses. "This cannotcontinue," said the Lord of Basville, "the king sacrifices his armyfruitlessly and the rebellion becomes more obstinate and stronger."
"Things will change," said the Colonel, "I have the surest intelligencefrom Paris;--but you testify too openly your contempt of him; he alsoknows what you report concerning him at court."
"Can I do otherwise," said the Intendant, "if I am a faithful servantto the king? you have witnessed all, and must acknowledge in yourheart, that but for this Marshal, this rebellion would never havebecome a war; he nourishes it, he is rejoicing at the idea of becomingimportant through it, he squanders all his time with women and is braveas a soldier only through pityful vanity, and he piques himself ingaining the affections of silly women."
"If we now obtain a better general," said Julien, "it is to be hoped,that this system of overreached severity and cruelty would be given upand trial made of gentle means."
"No good subject of the king can counsel that," said the Intendanttaking a hasty leave of the Colonel.
The streets were in an uproar and every one was hastening to makeresistance against the rebels, who appeared more dangerous than ever.