III.
THE LEGEND OF GUERNACHE.--Chap. I.
Showing how Guernache, the Musician, a great favorite with our Frenchmen, lost the favor of Captain Albert, and how cruelly he was punished by the latter.
Guernache, the drummer, was one of the finest fellows, and thehandsomest of our little colony of Frenchmen. Though sprung of veryhumble origin, Guernache, with a little better education, might havebeen deemed to have had his training among the highest circles of theCourt. He was of tall and erect figure, and of a carriage so noble andgraceful that, even among his associates, he continued to be an objectof admiration. Besides, he was a fellow of the happiest humor. Hiskindness of heart was proverbial. His merriment was contagious. His eyeflashed out in gayety, and his spirit was ever on the alert to seizeupon the passing pleasure, and subject it to the enjoyment of hiscompanions. Never was fellow so fortunate in finding occasion formerriment; and happy, indeed, was the Frenchman who could procureGuernache as a comrade in the performance of his daily tasks. The toilwas unfelt in which he shared--the weight of the task was dissipated,and, where it wore heavily, he came to the succor of his droopingcompanion, and his superior expertness soon succeeded in doing thatwhich his pleasantry had failed to effect. He was the best fishermanand hunter--was as brave as he was light-hearted--was, altogether, soperfect a character, in the estimation of the little band of Albert,that he found no enemy among his equals, and could always choose hiscompanion for himself. His successes were not confined to his owncountrymen. He found equal favor in the sight of the Indians. Among hisother accomplishments, he possessed the most wonderful agility--hadbelonged, at one time, to a company of strolling players, and his skillon tight and slack rope--if we are to credit old stories--would put tothe blush the modern performances of the Ravels and Herr Cline. It wasthrough his means, and partly by his ingenuity, that the Indian hunterwas entrapped and brought into the fort,--through whose agency theintimacy had been effected with the people of Audusta and the otherchiefs; and, during this intimacy, Guernache had proved, in variousways, one of the principal instruments for confirming the favorableimpressions which the Indian had received in his intercourse with theFrenchmen. He was everywhere popular with the red men. Nothing, indeed,could be done without him. Ignorant of his inferior social positionamong the whites, the simple savages sent for him to their feasts andfrolics, without caring for the claims of any other person. He had butto carry his violin--for, among his other accomplishments, that offiddling was not the smallest--to secure the smiles of the men and thefavors of the women; and it was not long before he had formed, among thesavages, a class for dancing, after the European fashion, upon the banksof the Edisto. Think of the red men of Apalachia, figuring under aParisian teacher, by night, by torch-light, beneath the great oaksof the original forest! Such uncouth antics might well offend, withnever-lessening wonder, the courtly nymphs of the Seine and the Loire.But the Indians suffered from no conventional apprehensions. They werenot made to feel their deficiencies under the indulgent training ofGuernache, and footed it away as merrily, as if each of their damselssported on a toe as light and exquisite as that of Ellsler or Taglioni.King Audusta, himself, though well stricken in years, was yet seducedinto the capricious mazes which he beheld with so much pleasure, and,for a season, the triumph of Guernache among the palms and pines of_Grande Riviere_, was sufficiently complete, to make him wonder at timeshow his countrymen ever suffered his departure from the shores of LaBelle France!
At first, and when it was doubtful to what extent the favor of thered-men might be secured for the colony, Captain Albert readilycountenanced the growing popularity of his fiddler among them. Hispermission was frequently given to Guernache, when king Audustasolicited his presence. His policy prompted him to regard it as highlyfortunate that so excellent an agent for his purposes was to be foundamong his followers; and, for some months, it needed only a suggestionof Guernache, himself, to procure for him leave of absence. The worthyfellow never abused his privileges--never was unfaithful to histrust--never grew insolent upon indulgence. But Captain Albert, thoughclaiming to be the cadet of a noble house, was yet a person of a meanand ignoble nature. Small and unimposing of person, effeminate of habit,and accustomed to low indulgences, he was not only deficient in thehigher resources of intellect, but he was exceedingly querulous andtyrannical of temper. His aristocratical connexions alone had securedhim the charge of the colony, for which nature and education had equallyunfitted him. His mind was contracted and full of bitter prejudices;and, as is the case commonly with very small persons, he was alwaystenacious, to the very letter, of the nicest observances of etiquette.After a little while, and when he no longer had reason to question thefidelity of the red men, he began to exhibit some share of disliketowards Guernache; and to withhold the privileges which he had hithertopermitted him to enjoy. He had become jealous of the degree of favor inwhich his musician was held among the savages, and betrayed this changein his temper, by instances of occasional severity and denial, thesecret of which the companions of Guernache divined much sooner thanhimself. Though not prepared, absolutely, to withhold his consent, whenking Audusta entreated that the fiddler might be spared him, he yetaccorded it ungraciously; and Guernache was made to suffer, in some way,for these concessions, as if they had been so many favors granted tohimself.
They were, indeed, favors to the musician, though, to what extent,Albert entertained no suspicion. It so happened that among his otherconquests, Guernache had made that of a very lovely dark-eyed damsel, aniece of Audusta, and a resident of the king's own village. After theinformal fashion of the country, into which our Frenchmen were aptreadily to fall, he had made the damsel his wife. She was a beautifulcreature, scarcely more than sixteen; tall and slender, and so naturallyagile and graceful, that it needed but a moderate degree of instructionto make her a dancer whose airy movements would not greatly havemisbeseemed the most courtly theatres of Paris. Monaletta,--for such wasthe sweet name of the Indian damsel,--was an apt pupil, because she wasa loving one. She heartily responded to that sentiment of wonder--commonamong the savages--that the Frenchmen should place themselves under thecommand of a chief, so mean of person as Albert, and so inferior ingifts, when they had among them a fellow of such noble presence asGuernache, whose qualities were so irresistible. The opinions of herhead were but echoes from the feelings in her heart. Her preference forour musician was soon apparent and avowed; but, in taking her to wife,Guernache kept his secret from his best friend. No one in Fort Charlesever suspected that he had been wived in the depth of the greatforests, through pagan ceremonies, by an Indian Iawa,[10] to the lovelyMonaletta. Whatever may have been his motive for keeping the secret,whether he feared the ridicule of his comrades, or the hostility of hissuperior, or apprehended a difficulty with rivals among the red men, bya discovery of the fact, it is yet very certain that he succeeded inpersuading Monaletta, herself, and those who were present at his wildbetrothal, to keep the secret also. It did not lessen, perhaps, thepleasure of his visits to the settlements of Audusta, that the peculiarjoys which he desired had all the relish of a stolen fruit. It was now,only in this manner that Monaletta could be seen. Captain Albert, witha rigid austerity, which contributed also to his evil odor among hispeople, had interdicted the visits of all Indian women at the fort. Thisinterdict was one, however, which gave little annoyance to Guernache.A peculiar, but not unnatural jealousy, had already prompted himrepeatedly to deny this privilege to Monaletta. The simple savage hadfrequently expressed her desire to see the fortress of the white man, tobehold his foreign curiosities, and, in particular, to hearken to theroar of that mimic thunder which he had always at command, and which,when heard, had so frequently shaken the very hearts of the men of herpeople.
[10] Iawa was the title of the priest or prophet of the Floridian. The word is thus written by Laudonniere in Hakluyt. It is probably a misprint only which, in Charlevoix, writes it "Iona."
In this relation stood the several parties, when, one
day, a messengercame to Fort Charles from King Audusta, bearing a special invitation toCaptain Albert to attend, with the savage tribes, the celebration of thegreat religious "feast of _Toya_." He was invited to bring as many ofhis men as he thought proper, but, in particular, not to forget theirfavorite Guernache. The feast of Toya, seems to have constituted thegreat religious ceremonial of the nation. It took place about themiddle, or the close of summer, and seems to have been a sort of annualthanksgiving, after the laws of a natural religion, for the maturingof their little crops. Much of the solemnities were obvious andostentatious in their character. Much more, however, was involved andmysterious, and held particularly sacred by the priesthood. The occasionwas one, at all events, to which the Indians attached the greatestimportance; and, naturally anxious to acquire as great a knowledge aspossible of their laws, customs and sentiments, Captain Albert veryreadily acceded to the invitation,--preparing, with some state, toattend the rustic revels of Audusta. He took with him a fair proportionof his little garrison, and did not omit the inimitable Guernache.Ascending the river in his pinnace, he soon reached the territoriesof the Indian monarch. Audusta, with equal hospitality and dignity,anticipated his approach, and met him, with his followers, at the riverlanding. With a hearty welcome, he conducted him to his habitations, andgave him, at entrance, a draught of the cassina beverage, the famous teaof the country. Then came damsels who washed their hands in vessels ofwater over which floated the leaves of the odorous bay, and flowers ofrare perfume; drying them after with branches of plumes, scarlet andwhite, which were made of the feathers of native birds of the mostglorious variety of hue. Mats of reed, woven ingeniously together bydelicate wythes of all colors, orange and green, and vermillion, dyedwith roots of the forest, were then spread upon the rush-strewn floor ofthe royal wigwam; and, with a grace not unbecoming a sovereign born inthe purple, Audusta invited our Frenchmen to place themselves at ease,each according to his rank and station. The king took his place amongthem, neither above the first, nor below the last, but like a friendwithin a favorite circle, in which some might stand more nearly thanothers to his affections. They were then attended with the profoundestdeference, and served with the rarest delicacies of the Indian_cuisine_. As night came on, fresh rushes were strewed upon the floor,and they slept with the cheerful music of songs and laughter, whichreached them at intervals, through the night, from the merry makers inthe contiguous forests. With the dawning of the next day, preparationsfor the great festival were begun.