XII.
THE CHEVALIER AT HOME--MONTLUC COUNSELS GOURGUES FROM HIS COMMENTARIES.
Having taken his farewell of the Floridians, and embarked with all hispeople, it was on board of his vessels, with their wings spread to thebreeze, that the Chevalier De Gourgues offered up solemn acknowledgmentsto Heaven, for the special sanction which he had found in its favor forthe enterprise achieved. It was with a heart full of gratitude, that hebowed down on the deck of his little bark, and offered up his prayer tothe God of Battles for the succor afforded him in his extremity. It waswith a light heart that he meditated upon the sanguinary justice doneupon the cruel enemies of his people; the honor of his country's flagredeemed by a poor soldier of fortune, when disgraced and deserted bythe monarch and the court, who derived all their distinction from itsvenerable and protecting folds. It was with a just and honorable pridethat he felt how certainly he had made the record of his name in thepages of history, by an action grateful to the fame of the soldier, andstill more grateful to the fears and sympathies of outraged humanity.The acclamations of the wild Floridian--their praises and songs ofvictory, however wild and rude--were but a foretaste of those whichhe had a right to expect from the lips of his countrymen in _la BelleFrance_! Alas! the hand of power covered the lips of rejoicing! Thedespotism of the land shook a heavy rod over the people, silencing thevoice of praise, and chilling the heart of sympathy. But let us notanticipate.
The Chevalier De Gourgues sailed from the mouth of the Tacatacorou, onthe third of May, 1568. For seventeen days the voyage was prosperous,and his vessels ran eleven hundred leagues; and on the sixth of June,thirty-four days after leaving the coast of Florida, he arrived atRochelle. The latter half of his voyage had been far different from thefirst. As at his departure from France, he suffered severely from headwinds and angry tempests. His provisions were nearly exhausted, and hispeople began to suffer from famine. His consorts separated from himin the storm, one of them, the _patache_, being lost with its wholecomplement of eight men; the other not reaching port for a month afterhimself. His escape was equally narrow from other and less mercifulenemies than hunger and shipwreck. The bruit of his adventure, to hisgreat surprise, had reached the country before him. The Spanish court,well served, in that day, by its emissaries, had been advised of hisprogress, and that he had appeared at Rochelle. A fleet of eighteensail, led by one large vessel, was instantly despatched in pursuit ofhim.
Received with good cheer and great applause by the people of Rochelle,it was fortunate that he did not linger there. He set forth with hisvessel for Bordeaux; there he went to render an account to his friend,the Marechal Blaize de Montluc, of his adventures. This timely movementsaved him. The pursuing Spaniards reached Che-de-Bois the very day thathe had left it, and continued the chase as far as Blaze. He reachedBordeaux in safety, and made his report to the king's lieutenant.
Montluc was one of those glorious Gascons who would always much preferto fight than eat. He was proud of the chevalier as a Gascon, and heloved him as a friend. But the approbation that he expressed in private,he did not venture openly to speak.
"You have done a famous thing, Monsieur De Gourgues, you have saved thehonor of France, and won immortal glory for yourself; but the king'slieutenant must not say this to the king's people. I praise God that youare a Gascon like myself, and no race, I think, Monsieur De Gourgues,was ever quite so valiant as our own; but my friend, I fear they donot love us any the better that they have not the soul to rival us. Ifear that the glory thou hast won will bring thee to the halter only.Hearken, my friend, Dominique, dost thou know that, at this very moment,thy vessel is pursued by a host of Spanish caravels? the winds rend andthe seas sink them to perdition! Thou knowest, how I hate, and scorn,and spit upon the cut-throat scoundrels! Well! That is not all. I tellthee, Dominique, my friend, there is a courier already on his way to theambassador of Spain, who will demand thy head from our sovereign, thatit may give pleasure to his sovereign, the black-hearted and venomousPhilip. What would he with thy head, my friend? I tell thee, it is hiswretched selfishness that would take thy head--not that it may be usefulto him, but that it shall no longer be of use to thee! Was there eversuch a fool and monster! Thou shouldst keep thy head, my friend, so longas thou hast a use for it thyself, even though it ache thee many timesafter an unnecessary bottle!"
"Think'st thou, Montluc, that there is any danger that the court ofFrance will give ear to the king of Spain?"
"Give ear! Ay, give both ears, my friend! Our head is in the lap ofSpain already. She hath the shears with which she shall clip the hair bywhich our strength is shorn; and, if she will, me thinks, she may cliphead as well as hair, when the humor suits. It is not now, my friend, aswhen we fought against the bloody dogs at Sienna, remembering only tooutdo the famous deeds of the stout men-at-arms that followed Bayard andLa Palisse in the generation gone before. Ah! _Monsieur_, thou wast withme in those days. Thou rememberest, I trow, the famous skirmish whichwe had before the little town of Seve. But I will read thee from mycommentaries, which I have been writing in imitation of Roman Caesar, ofthe wonderful wars and sieges in which I have fought, and in which Ihave evermore found most delight."
And he drew forth from his cabinet, as he spoke, the great volume ofmanuscripts, afterwards destined to become the famous depository of hisdeeds.
"I have written like a Gascon, Monsieur De Gourgues, but let nonecomplain who is not able to do battle like a Gascon! He who fights well,my friend, may surely be allowed the privilege of showing how goodlywere his deeds. I will read thee but a passage from that famous skirmishat Seve; not merely that thou shouldst see the spirit of what I havewritten, and bear witness to the truth, but that thou mayst find forthyself a fitting lesson for thy own conduct in the straight which isbefore thee."
Having found the passage, Montluc read as follows:
"As the Signior Francisco Bernardin and myself, who, for that time werethe Marshals of the camp, drew nigh to the place, and were beginning tolodge the army, there sallied forth from fort, and church, and trench,a matter of two or three hundred men, who charged upon us with thegreatest fury. I had with me at that time, but the Captain Charry--amost brave captain, whom thou must well remember--"
Gourgues nodded assent--
"----with fifty arquebusiers and a small body of horse. Knowing this myweakness, the Baron de Chissy, our camp-master, sent me a reinforcementof one hundred arquebusiers. But my peril was such, that I sent to himstraightway for other help, telling him that we were already at it, andclose upon the encounter. At this very moment, Monsieur de Bonnivet,returning post from court, and hearing of the fighting, said to theBaron de Chissy, without alighting from his horse--
"'Do thou halt here till the Marechal shall arrive, and, meanwhile, Iwill go and succor Monsieur de Montluc.'
"He was followed by certain captains and arquebusiers on horseback.We had but an instant for embrace when he arrived, for the enemy werealready charging our men.
"'You are welcome, Monsieur de Bonnivet,' I said to him quickly; 'butalight, and let us set upon these people, and beat them back again intotheir fortress.'
"Whereupon, he and his followers instantly alighted, and he said to me,'do you charge directly upon those, who would recover the fort.'
"Which said, he clapped his buckler upon his arm, while I caught up anhalbert, for I ever (as thou knowest) loved to play with that sort ofcudgel. Then I said to Signior Francisco Bernardin--
"'Comrade, whilst we charge, do you continue to provide the quarters.'
"But to this he answered--
"'And is that all the reckoning you make of the employment the Marechalhath entrusted to our charge? If it must be that you will fight thus--Iwill be a fool for company, and, once in my life, play Gascon also.'
"So he alighted and went with me to the charge. He was armed with veryheavy weapons, and had, moreover, become unwieldy from weight of years.This kept him from making such speed as I. At such banquets, my bodymethought did not weigh an
ounce. I felt not that I touched the ground;and, for the pain of my hip (greatly hurt as thou knowest by a fall atthe taking of Quiers) that was forgotten! I thus charged straightwayupon those by the trench upon one side, and Monsieur de Bonnivet did asmuch upon his quarter; so that we thundered the rogues back with such avengeance, that I passed over the trench, pell-mell, amidst the route,pursuing, smiting and slaying, all the way, till we reached the church!I never so laid about me before, or did so much execution at any onetime. Those within the church, seeing their people in such disorder,and so miserably cut to pieces, in a great terror, fled from the place,taking, in flight, a little pathway that led along the rocky ledges ofthe mountain, down into the town. In this route, one of my men caughthold upon him who carried their ensign; but the fellow nimbly and verybravely disengaged himself from him, and leapt into the path; making forthe town as fast as he could speed. I ran after him also, but he was tooquick even for me, as well he might be,--_for he had fear in both hisheels!_"
Here Montluc paused, and closed the volume.
"It is enough that I have read; for thou wilt see the counsel that Idesign for thee. It is not easy for thee to take it, being a Gascon; butsuch it is, borrowed from the wisdom of that same ensign. Thou sawesthim scamper, for thou wert on that very chase;--now, if thou wouldstsave thy head from the affections of the king of Spain, _take fear inboth thy heels_, and run as nimbly as that ensign."
"Verily, it is not easy, Monsieur de Montluc, seeing that I am consciousof no wrong, but rather of a great service done to my country; and if myown king deliver me not up, wherefore should I fear him of Spain."
"That is it, my friend! Our king will, not from his own nature, butfrom that of others, who love not this service to thy country. TheQueen-mother will deliver thee up, the Princes of Lorraine will deliverthee up, and the devil will deliver thee up--all having a greataffection for the king of Spain--if thou trust not the counsel of thyfriends, and wilfully put thy head in one direction where the wisdom ofthy heels would show thee quite another. Hast thou forgotten that goodproverb of the Italians, which we heard so much read from their lips andhonored in their actions,--'_No te fidar, et no serai inganato?_' Aboveall, _mon ami_, trust nothing to thy hope, when it builds upon thyservice done to kings. It is a hope that has hung a thousand goodfellows who might be living to this day. Now, in counselling thee toflight and secrecy, I counsel thee against my own pride and pleasure. Itwould be a great delight to me to have thee near me, while I read theeall mine history;--the beginning, even to the end thereof;--the thousandsieges, battles and achievements, in which I have shown good example tothe young valor of France, and made the Gascon name famous throughoutthe world."
The heart of the Chevalier Gourgues was not persuaded. He could notbelieve that his good deeds for his country's good and honor, would meetwith ill-return and disgrace.
"The king will do me justice."
"Verily, should he even give thee to him of Spain, or hang thee himself,they will call it by no other name," answered the other drily.
"But the baseness and the cowardice of flight! This confiding one'scourage and counsel to one's heels, Montluc!"
"Is wisdom, as thou shouldst know from the story of Achilles. Verily, itrequires that the secret meaning of this vulnerableness of the heel onthe part of the son of Thetis, is neither more nor less than that hewas a monstrous coward--that he would have been the bravest man of theworld, but for the weakness that always made him fly from danger. It wasin the form of allegory that the satirical poet stigmatised a man inauthority. You see nothing in the treatment of Hector by Achilles, butwhat will confirm this opinion. He will not fight with him himself, butmakes his myrmidons do so. What is this, but the case of one of our ownplumed and scented nobles, who procures his foe, whom he fears, to bemurdered by the Biscayan bully whom he buys?--But, let me read thee apassage from my commentaries bearing very much upon this history."