CHAPTER XII.
TO BATTLE!
Upon leaving Victoria's house I hastened home to arm myself and take myhorse. From all parts of the camp trumpets and clarions were heardblowing signals. When I entered my house I found Sampso and my wife,whom the tidings of the landing of the Franks had speedily reached,busily engaged getting my arms ready. Ellen was vigorously furbishing mysteel cuirass, the polish of which was soiled by the fire that waskindled upon it the day before by order of Neroweg, the Terrible Eagleand powerful king of the Franks.
"You are truly a soldier's wife," I said smiling to Ellen, seeing herprovoked at not being able to restore the tarnished spot to thebrilliancy of the rest of the cuirass. "The brilliancy of your husband'sarmor is your own greatest ornament."
"If we were not so much pressed for time," Ellen answered, "we wouldhave succeeded in furbishing off this black spot. Sampso and I have forthe last hour been wondering how you managed to blacken and tarnish yourarmor in this manner."
"They look like traces of fire," said Sampso, who was actively engagedpolishing my casque with a piece of smooth skin. "Only fire can tarnishthe polish of steel in that way."
"You have guessed right, Sampso," I answered her laughing and taking upmy sword, my battle axe and my dagger; "there was a big fire in the campof the Franks; those hospitable folks insisted that I draw near to thebrasier; the evening was cool, and I hugged the fire a little tooclosely."
"I perceive that the announcement of battle throws you into a mirthfulmood, my Schanvoch," put in my wife. "That is like you, I have longnoticed it."
"And the announcement of battle does not sadden you, my Ellen, becauseyou have a stout heart."
"I draw my strength from the faith of our fathers, my Schanvoch. Itteaches me that we proceed to live in other worlds in the company ofthose whom we have loved in this," Ellen sweetly answered me while sheand Sampso helped to buckle on my cuirass. "That is why I put intopractice our mothers' maxim that the Gallic woman never grows pale whenher brave husband departs for battle, and that she reddens with joy athis return. And if he does not return, she is proud at the knowledgethat he died as a brave man, and every evening she says to herself: 'Onemore day has passed, one more step is taken towards those unknownworlds, where we shall meet our dear ones again.'"
"Let us not talk of absence but of return," said Sampso, offering me mycasque, which she had so carefully polished with her own hands that shecould have seen her sweet face in the burnished steel. "You have alwaysbeen so lucky in war, Schanvoch, that I feel sure you will return tous."
"I rely on your faith, dear Sampso. I depart happy in the knowledge ofyour sisterly affection, and of Ellen's love. I shall return happy,above all if I shall have been able to leave a fresh mark on the face ofa certain king of those Frankish skinners of human bodies, as a tokenof acknowledgment for the loyalty of the hospitality that he yesterdaybestowed upon me. But here I am armed. A kiss to my little Alguen, andthen to horse!"
As I was about to proceed to my wife's room, Sampso held me back,saying:
"Brother--what of the strange woman?"
"You are right, Sampso; I forgot all about her."
As a matter of precaution I had locked Elwig's room. I knocked at thedoor and called out to her:
"Shall I come in?"
I received no answer. Alarmed at the silence I opened the door. Elwigsat on the edge of the couch with her head in her hands, in theidentical posture that I saw her last.
"Did sleep bring you rest?"
"There is no more sleep for me!" she answered brusquely. "Riowag isdead! I weep for my lover!"
"My wife and sister will take you at noon to Victoria the Great. Shewill treat you as a friend. I announced to her your arrival in ourcamp."
The sister of Neroweg, the Terrible Eagle, shrugged her shoulders withindifference.
"Do you need anything?" I asked her. "Would you eat or drink?"
"I want water--I am thirsty--"
Despite the priestess' refusal to eat, Sampso went for someprovisions--a pitcher of water, some bread and fruits--and placed themnear Elwig, who remained motionless and mute. I again locked the doorand gave the key to my wife, saying:
"You and Sampso will take the poor woman to Victoria at noon. But becareful that she is not left alone with our child--"
"Do you fear anything?"
"Everything is to be feared from those barbarian women; they are as wilyas they are ferocious. I killed her lover in defending myself againsthim; she is quite capable of strangling my child out of vengeance."
You came running in at that moment, my child. Hearing my voice from yourmother's room, you left your bed and came half naked to me with yourlittle arms outstretched, smiling with pleasure at the sight of myarmor, the brilliancy of which pleased your eyes. Time pressed; Iembraced you, your mother and aunt tenderly. I then proceeded to saddlemy horse, my good and strong Tom-Bras,[2] whom I named in remembrance ofour ancestor Joel, who also gave the name of Tom-Bras to the spiritedstallion that he rode at the battle of Vannes. Sampso and your mother,the latter of whom took you in her arms, accompanied me to the stable.Your aunt helped me to put on the bridle, and, caressing his sinewyneck, said to the war steed:
"Tom-Bras, do not leave your master in danger; save him with yourswiftness, if need be; defend him like the brave Tom-Bras of old who, ashe bore the brenn of the tribe of Karnak, attacked the Romans with hishoofs and teeth."
"Dear Sampso," I answered smiling as I leaped into the saddle, "do notgive Tom-Bras bad advice by urging him to save me with his swiftness. Agood war horse is rapid in pursuit, slow in flight. As to plying histeeth and hoofs, he does that to perfection; the Frankish horse that Icaptured, and that he almost tore to shreds in the stable, can testifyto that. Tom-Bras is like his master; he abhors the Franks. Adieu, dearSampso! Adieu, my beloved Ellen! Adieu, my little Alguen!"
Casting one more look at your mother who held you in her arms, Ideparted at a gallop to the parade ground, where the army wasassembling.
The distant sound of the clarions, and the neighing of the horses, towhich he responded, enlivened Tom-Bras. He bounded with vigor. I calmedhim with my voice, I patted his neck so as to control his buoyantspirits and reserve his energy for the hard day's work ahead. When I wasnear the parade ground I perceived Victoria about a hundred paces aheadof me. She rode with an escort of several mounted officers. I quicklyjoined them. Mounted on a palfrey, Tetrik rode to the left of the Motherof the Camps; at her right rode a druid bard named Rolla, whom shegreatly esteemed for his bravery, his noble character and his poetictalents. Several other druids were scattered among the various armycorps, and were to march beside the chiefs at the head of their severaldetachments.
Coifed in the light brass helmet of the antique Minerva, which wassurmounted with the Gallic cock in gilt bronze holding an expiring larkunder his spurs, Victoria sat with proud ease her beautiful steed, whosesatin coat shimmered like silver. The housings of the prancing animalwere, like its bridle, of scarlet color, they almost reached the groundand were partially covered by the long black robe of the Mother of theCamps, who seemed to inspire her mount with her own self-restraint andconfidence. Her beautiful and virile visage seemed animated with martialardor. A light flush suffused her cheeks; her bosom heaved; her largeblue eyes shone with matchless brilliancy, under their long blacklashes. Without being noticed by her, I joined the riders of her escort.With their banners to the breeze and their platoons of trumpeters attheir head, the cohorts passed by us one after the other on their way tothe parade ground. The officers saluted Victoria with their swords, thebanners dipped before her, and soldiers, captains and chiefs, in short,the whole armed force cried in enthusiastic chorus:
"Greeting to Victoria the Great!"
"Greeting to the Mother of the Camps!"
Among the first soldiers of one of the cohorts that passed us, Irecognized Douarnek, one of the four oarsmen of the day before who waswounded in the back by an arrow. Despite his recent wound, the brav
eBreton marched in his place. I pricked my horse, drew near him and said:
"Douarnek, the gods send a propitious opportunity to Victorin to proveto the army that, unworthy calumnies to the contrary notwithstanding, heis still worthy of his post."
"You are right, Schanvoch," the Breton answered. "Let Victorin win thisbattle, as he won the others, and in the joy of their triumph thesoldiers will acclaim their general and forget many a disagreeablething. We shall meet again, Schanvoch!"
Some Roman legions, our then allies, shared the enthusiasm of our owntroops. As they passed under the eyes of Victoria their acclamationsalso greeted her. The whole army, the cavalry on the two wings, theinfantry in the center, was soon gathered on the parade ground, a vastfield that lay without the camp. It was bounded by the Rhine on oneside, on the other by the slopes of a high hill. A wide road was seen ata distance. It wound its way and disappeared behind some woody slopes.The casques, the arms, the banners, all of which were surmounted by theGallic cock wrought in gilt copper, glistened in the rays of the sun,and presented the bright and cheerful sight that does so much to raisethe soldier's spirits. From the moment that she entered the paradeground Victoria put her horse to a gallop in order to join her son, who,surrounded by a group of chiefs to whom he was issuing orders, wasconspicuous in the very center of the field. No sooner had the Mother ofthe Camps, whose brass helmet, black robe and white steed pointed herout to all eyes, appeared before the front ranks of the army, than oneloud, vast, ringing cry from fifty thousand soldiers' breasts salutedVictoria the Great!
"May that cry be heard of Hesus," my foster-sister said to the druidbard with deep emotion. "May the gods grant Gaul a new victory! Justiceand right are on our side! We are not after conquest; we only defend ourown soil, our hearths, our families, and our freedom!"
"Our cause is holy among holy causes!" answered Rolla, the druid bard."Hesus will render our arms invincible!"
We rode up to Victorin. It seems to me I never saw him handsomer, or ofa more martial bearing than on that morning, clad in his brilliant steelarmor and with his casque, ornamented, like his mother's, by the Galliccock and the expiring lark. Victoria herself, as she approached her son,could not keep from turning towards me and betraying her maternal pridewith a look that, perhaps, only I understood. Several officers, thebearers of the young general's orders to the different army corps, leftat a gallop in different directions. I drew near my foster-sister andsaid to her in a low voice:
"You reproach your son with no longer displaying that cool bravery thatmust distinguish the general of an army. And yet, watch and see how cooland collected he is. Do you not read in his masculine face the wise andcautious cast of mind of the general who will not rashly risk hissoldiers' lives, or the fate of his country?"
"Your speech is sooth, Schanvoch; I saw him just as cool and collectedat the great battle of Offenbach--one of his finest, one of his mostfruitful victories. It was that victory that restored to us the Rhinefor our frontier. It drove the accursed Franks to the other bank of theriver."
"And to-day's battle will supplement the victory won at Offenbach, if,as I expect we shall, we drive off the barbarians for all time from ourfrontier."
"Brother," replied my foster-sister, "as always, you will not leaveVictorin's side?"
"I promise you."
"He is now calm. But once the action is engaged, I fear the ardor of hisblood, and his passion for battle. You know, Schanvoch, I do not fearperil for Victorin, I am the daughter, wife and mother of soldiers; allI fear is that, carried away by the heat of action, and anxious, even atthe risk of his life, to achieve great deeds, he put the success of thisday in jeopardy, and by his death endanger the safety of Gaul, that mayotherwise be firmly established by to-day's action."
"I shall use my full powers to convince Victorin that a general mustpreserve himself for his army."
"Schanvoch," my foster-sister remarked with a tremulous voice, "youalways are the best of brothers!"
And looking towards her son, evidently anxious that none but myself bemade aware of the anxious thoughts that struggled in her maternalbreast, and her doubts concerning the firmness of his character, sheadded again, in a low voice:
"You will watch over him?"
"As over my own son."
After the young general issued his last orders, he alighted from hishorse the moment he saw his mother, walked over to where she was, andsaid:
"The hour has come, mother. I have taken with the other captains thelast dispositions on the plan of battle that I submitted to you andwhich you approved. I have reserved ten thousand men under the commandof Robert, one of the most experienced chiefs, for the protection of thecamp. He is to receive orders from you. May the gods look down favorablyupon our arms. Adieu, mother. I shall do my best--"
Saying this he bent his knee.
"Adieu, my son. Come not back, unless you come back victorious over thebarbarians!"
As she said these words, the Mother of the Camps stooped down from herhorse and reached her hand to Victorin, who kissed it and rose.
"Be brave, my young Caesar!" the Governor of Gascony called out to myfoster-sister's son. "The fate of Gaul is in your hands--and, thanks tothe gods, your hands are powerful. Furnish me the opportunity to writean ode on this fresh victory."
Victorin remounted his horse. A moment later our army set itself uponthe march, with the scouts on horseback riding ahead of the vanguard.Victorin placed himself at the head of the army. We had the bank of theRhine on our right. A few light bodies of mounted archers rode forwardas scouts, to the end of guarding our left wing against a surprise.Victorin called me to his side; I drove my horse abreast his own, and ashe hastened the step of his mount we were soon beyond the escort thataccompanied him.
"Schanvoch," he said to me, "you are an old and experienced soldier. Iwish to explain my plans to you. I confided the plan to the chief who isto take my place in the event of my being killed. I wish you also to beposted on it. You will be all the better able to help in its execution."
"I listen. Speak, Victorin."
"It is now nearly three hours since the rafts of the Franks were seen byour scouts at about the middle of the river. Those rafts, towed by barksand loaded with troops navigate slowly. It must have taken them fully anhour to reach the bank and disembark on this side of the Rhine--"
"Your calculation is correct. But why did you not hasten the march ofthe army in order to arrive at the spot before the Franks disembarked?Landing forces are always in disorder. Their disorder would have favoredour attack."
"Two reasons kept me from doing so. I shall tell them to you. How long,do you calculate, did it take the officer, who notified us of theenemy's approach, to ride in all haste from our advanced posts toMayence?"
"About an hour and a half. It is nearly five leagues from there toMayence."
"And how long will it take an army to cover the same distance, even atforced marches, but not rapid enough to be tired out and breathless whenit reaches the spot and offers battle?"
"It would take about three hours and a half."
"Accordingly, you will perceive, Schanvoch, that it would have beenimpossible for us to have arrived in time to attack the Franks at themoment of their landing. Those barbarians' lack of discipline issurprising. They must have consumed considerable time in forming theirranks. This will enable us to arrive before and wait for them at thedefile of Armstadt--the only military route open to them in order toattack our camp, unless they throw themselves across the marsh and theforests, where their cavalry, their principal arm, could not deploy."
"That is true."
"I temporized in order to give the Franks time to approach the defile."
"If they undertake the passage, they are lost."
"I hope so. With our swords in their loins we shall drive them backtowards the river bank. Our hundred and sixty well armed barks, thatleft port under my orders and at the same time that we started on themarch, will scatter the barbarians' rafts and cut off the
ir retreat.Besides that, Captain Marion crossed the river with a picked body ofmen; he will effect a juncture with the friendly tribes on the otherbank, and will march straight upon the Frankish camp, where the enemymust have left a strong reserve force together with all their wagons.These will all be destroyed!"
Victorin was thus engaged in unfolding to me his ably conceived plan ofbattle, when we saw several of the scouts, who were sent forward,running back to us at full gallop. One of these reined in his foamingsteed and cried out to Victorin:
"The army of the Franks is advancing. It can be seen at a distance fromthe top of the hills. Their scouts approached the defile; they were allshot down by the arrows of our archers who were ambushed behind theshrubs. Not one of the Frankish scouts escaped with his life."
"Well done," replied Victorin. "Those scouts would have ridden back andwarned the Frankish army of our approach. It might not then have enteredthe defile. But I shall ride forward and judge the enemy's positionmyself. Follow me, Schanvoch!"
Victorin put his horse to a gallop; I did likewise. The escort followedus; we quickly overtook and passed our vanguard, to whom Victorin gavethe order to halt. We arrived at a place that dominated the defile ofArmstadt. The rather broad road lay at our feet, hemmed in by two steepescarpments. The one to the right seemed cut with the pick, it rose soperpendicular over the road and formed a sort of promontory on the sideof the Rhine. The escarpment to the left consisted of a rocky series ofshelves, and served, so to speak, as the basis to the vast plateauthrough the heart of which the deep and wide gully was cut. The gully orroad dipped gently till it ran out into a vast plain, bordered to theeast and north by the curve of the river, to the west by woods andmarshes, and behind us by the elevated plateau where our troops wereordered to halt. We presently distinguished at a great distance fromwhere we stood and down in the direction of the plain, a large andconfused black mass. It was the army of the Franks.
Victorin remained silent for a few seconds; he attentively examined thedisposition of the enemy's forces and the field at our feet.
"My calculation and expectation did not deceive me," he observed. "TheFrankish army is twice as large as ours. If their tactics were lesssavage, instead of entering the defile, as they will surely do, theywould, despite the difficulty that accompanies that sort of assault,climb the plateau at several places simultaneously, and thereby compelme to divide my much inferior forces in order to attack them at a largenumber of places. Nevertheless, for greater certainty, and so as to lurethe enemy into the defile, I shall resort to a ruse of war. Let usreturn to our vanguard; Schanvoch, the hour of battle has sounded!"
"And such an hour," I answered, "is always solemn!"
"Yes," he replied melancholically, "such an hour is always solemn,especially for the general, who, at this bloody game of war, plays withthe lives of his soldiers and has his country's fate for stake. Come,let us ride back, Schanvoch--and may my mother's star protect me!"
I rode back with Victorin to our troops, asking myself due to whatsingular contradiction that young man, always so firm and so calculatingat the great crises of his life, showed himself below mediocrity in thepower to combat his foibles.