The Hour and the Man Part 31

"So they say everywhere. This is the way, mademoiselle. Monsieur Pascal is up here--the secretary, you know--and Mademoiselle Raymond, and her gouvernante, and several more, who have nothing to do with the fighting."

"But I do not want to see any fighting," said Euphrosyne, turning upon the stairs to descend. "Tell Mademoiselle Raymond that I cannot bear to see fighting."

"There is no fighting yet, mademoiselle, indeed: and many say there will not be any. Indeed you must see such a fine sight as this. You can see the Commander-in-chief galloping about the square, with his two trompettes at his heels."

Euphrosyne turned again, and ran up to the top, without once stopping.

There she was hastily introduced to Monsieur Pascal, and placed by the gouvernante where she could see everything.

By this time it had become a question whether the Commissary and his suite could get away. They were making every effort to do so; but it was clear that their road would have been blockaded if the Commander-in-chief and his trompettes had not ridden round and round the party of soldiers which escorted them, clearing a pa.s.sage by the power of a voice and a presence which always prevailed. Meantime, a huge body of people, which filled all the streets in the northern quarter, was gaining ground, pressing forwards against the peaceable opposition of the town's-people, and the soldiers, commanded by Moyse. The clamour of voices from that quarter was prodigious, but there were no shots. The wharves were covered with gentlemen, ladies, children, servants, and baggage, all being precipitated by degrees into boats, and rowed away, while more were perpetually arriving.

"Is not this admirable?" said Monsieur Pascal. "The secret has actually been kept that the Commissary is on his way to the water side. See! the cultivators are pressing on in this direction. They think he is here.

If they knew where he was, they might catch him. As it is, I believe he will escape."

"Oh! are they coming here? Oh, my poor grandfather!" cried Euphrosyne, turning very pale.

"Fear nothing," said Afra. "They will presently learn that there is nothing to come here for. Will they not, Monsieur Pascal?"

"No doubt: and if not, there is nothing to fear, I believe. Not a shot has been fired yet, but from the alarm gun."

"Oh, how it echoed from the Haut-du-Cap!" cried Afra. "I wonder what the cultivators understood by it. See! my father's barge! There is fighting there, surely."

As Hedouville and his suite approached the wharf, the Governor's barge, which had lain at a little distance from the sh.o.r.e, began to press in, among the crowd of other boats, at a signal from one of the trompettes.

The other boats, which were taking in terrified women and children, resisted this movement, and refused, at such a moment, its usual precedence to the Governor's barge. There was a hustling, a struggling, a shrieking, an uproar, so loud as to reach the ears and understandings of the insurgents. The word spread that the Commissary was escaping them. They broke through their opponents, and began a rush to the wharves. Not a few shots were now fired; but the young ladies scarcely heeded them in the excitement of this decisive moment.

"Oh, they will seize him! They will tear him in pieces!" cried Afra.

"He cannot--no, he never can get away!" exclaimed Euphrosyne.

"And he gave me the sweetest smile as he was going out!" said the weeping gouvernante.

"There! Bravo! Bravo!" cried Monsieur Pascal; and Pierre echoed "Bravo!"

"What is it? What is it?" cried the girls.

"He is safe! He and his party--they are all safe! Not in the barge-- that is upset. You see those two green boats, now pulling off. They are there. They leaped into those boats just in time."

"Oh, look, look! what dreadful confusion!" cried Euphrosyne, covering her eyes with her hands.

"It is not so sure that they are safe yet," observed Pierre. "See how the blacks are pouring into the water!"

"And carrying the ladies and children with them, I fear," said Monsieur Pascal, gazing anxiously through his gla.s.s.

In fact, the negroes had no idea of giving up the pursuit because they had reached the water. Hundreds plunged in; and their heads were seen bobbing about all the surface of the bay. The rowers, however, pulled well, and presently left the greater number behind, to find satisfaction in the coolness of the element.

"There is no great harm done," said Monsieur Pascal, still gazing through his gla.s.s. "They have picked up two ladies and three children; and none seem to be missing."

"It is well that you and Monsieur were not there, Euphrosyne," observed Afra.

Euphrosyne shuddered, and Pierre looked all amazement at the absurdity of such an idea.

"No fear for us, Mademoiselle," said he. "See how empty the streets are, down below. None but the guard left, within half a mile."

It did indeed appear as if the whole population of the town and plain was collected on the sh.o.r.es of the bay. Those who had thrown themselves into the sea had to wait for a footing on land, unless they chose to swim round the point--which some of them did. When at length the crowd began to move up into the town, it was because the Commander-in-chief was riding away, after having addressed the people.

"What have you been about, child?" exclaimed Monsieur Revel, an hour after. "You are never beside me when I wake."

Euphrosyne did not point out that this was the first time she had failed to watch his siesta. She said that she had been seeing the Commissary set sail.

"What, already! He is in a great hurry, I think."

"The wind is quite fair, grandpapa. I suppose that is the reason why he made all the s.h.i.+ps in the harbour sail the same way. He has carried off three frigates, and all the s.h.i.+pping in the roads. The sea is quite clear, grandpapa. There is not a single sail in sight, all along, as far as you can see. They are all off for France."

"What in the world made him do that?"

"Perhaps we shall hear, some day. To be sure, he had to carry a good many people away with him."

"Did many whites go with him?"

"I do not know how many whites. They say fifteen hundred went altogether; but many of these were mulattoes; and some few blacks, who went for a frolic, and will come back again when they have seen France."

"Strange doings! Strange doings!" sighed the old man.

"And we shall have some glorious doings to-morrow, grandpapa. There was a little bustle and struggle when the Commissary went away--I am glad you were asleep, and did not hear it. There will be no more--there will be no riot now, everybody says--the Commander-in-chief has behaved so finely, and the people are so fond of him. The danger is all over; and the town's-people have begged him--the Deliverer, as they call him--to attend the great church to-morrow, in state. Te Deum will be sung in all the churches, and it is to be a great fete-day. Are you not pleased?"

"Not at all pleased that Hedouville is gone, and fifteen hundred of his friends, and all the s.h.i.+pping."

"Well, but we are all at peace now, and everybody satisfied."

"Why are we here, then? Why am I not at home?"

"We will go home in a day or two. The streets will be noisy to-night; and besides, one removal is enough for one day. Afra will follow her father after to-morrow--he is gone, you know, this morning--"

"Whose guest am I, then? If I am the guest of the negro Toussaint--"

"You are the guest of Monsieur Raymond while Afra is here. When she sets out, we will go home."

"And shall I have to be swung up to the balcony, and have my brains dashed out, while all the nuns are staring at me?"

"Oh, no," replied Euphrosyne, laughing. "There will be nothing then to prevent your going in your own carriage to your own door. I am afraid we shall not find my pretty little humming-birds there. They will think I have forgotten them."

"Ay, those humming-birds," said Monsieur Revel, appearing to forget all his troubles.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

DREAMING AWAKE.

Though the peace of the town was now considered secure, there was little less bustle throughout the day and night than there had been in the morning. The cultivators were all gone home. They poured out of the town almost as fast as they had poured into it, happy to have attained their object, in the defeat of the French authorities, and to be returning without the loss or punishment of a man. As they attained the height behind which they would lose sight of the sea, they turned for one more view of the empty bay, and of the fleet, now disappearing on the horizon. They gave three cheers; and this was the last that was heard of them, except by such as met them in the plain, where they sang, as they walked, the words of their chief's proclamation. In negro fas.h.i.+on, they had set it to music; and very well it sounded, when sung from the heart.