The Knight of Malta Part 5

Luquin, delighted with an opportunity for conversation, carefully sought a spot where she could be comfortably seated.

When he had found it, he gallantly took off his mantle and spread it out on the rock, so that Stephanette could have a seat with a back; then, crossing his hands on the head of his cane, and leaning his chin on his hands, he contemplated Stephanette with a calm and happy adoration.

When she had recovered from the effects of her precipitous descent, Stephanette turned to Luquin, and said, with the air of a spoiled child, and a woman sure of her despotic domination:

"Why, Luquin, did you come to the watchman's cabin for me, when I told you to wait for me at the foot of the mountain?"

Luquin, preoccupied with admiration for Stephanette's fine colour, which the walk had imparted, did not reply.

"Did ever anybody see the like?" cried she, with an impatient stamp of her little foot. "Do you hear what I say to you, Luquin?"

"No," said the captain, coming out of his reflective mood; "all that I know is that from Nice to Bayonne, from Bayonne to Calais, from Calais to Hambourg, from Hambourg to--"

"Have you finished your European trip, Luquin?"

"Indeed, from one pole to the other there is not a prettier girl than you, Stephanette."

"What! Did you make such an extensive voyage to arrive at that discovery, captain? I pity the privateers of the _Holy Terror to the Moors, by the Grace of G.o.d_, if the voyages of this poor old polacre have no better results!"

"Do not speak ill of my polacre, Stephanette; you will be glad to see its blue and white pavilion when I return from Nice, and how you will watch for my coming from the turret of Maison-Forte!"

Luquin's conceitedness disgusted Stephanette; she replied, with an ironical air:

"Well, well! I see that a watchman on the cape of L'Aigle is altogether unnecessary. All the young girls who wait impatiently for the return of Captain Trinque-taille, and all the jealous ones who watch his departure with their eyes fixed on the sea, will be sufficient to discover the pirates. There is nothing more to fear from corsairs."

Luquin took on an air of modest triumph, and said:

"By St. Stephen, my patron, I am too sure of your love, and too happy in it, Stephanette, to care if I am expected or regretted by other girls; and although Rose, the daughter of the haberdasher in La Ciotat,--who resembles the flower whose name she bears,--often tells me--"

"My faith! Thank you for your confidences, Luquin," said Stephanette, with a jealous impatience she could not dissimulate. "If I told you all that the patron Bernard or Master Terzarol said to me, it would take till evening."

Captain Luquin frowned when he heard the names of his rivals, and exclaimed:

"Thunder of heaven! If I knew that those two rascals dared even to look at your shoes as you pa.s.s, I would make a figurehead for my polacre of one, and a weather-c.o.c.k for my mast of the other! But no! They know that Luquin Trinquetaille is your betrothed, and his name rhymes too well with battle for them to want an issue with me."

"Well, well, my fine bully!" replied Stephanette, recalling the watchman's advice, and fearing to excite the jealousy of the inflammable captain; "if Bernard and Terzarol talk to me ever so long, I shall reply that every one knows I am too much in love with the most wicked devil in La Ciotat But wait,--see here what Master Peyrou gave me for you. Read that, and do everything he orders. It is late; the sun is setting, and it is getting cold. Let us go back to Maison-Forte; mademoiselle will be anxious."

The two lovers hastened on their way, and, as they walked, Trinquetaille read the following instructions given by the watchman:

"Every morning at sunrise the captain will change the charge of his cannon, and will put on the ball one of the red flies affixed to this paper.

"After that, make a double cross on the ball with the thumb of the left hand. From sunrise to sunset, cabin-boys must relieve each other on the watch at the top of the mast; they will always look at the east and the south, and every five minutes repeat 'St Magnus.'

"Set the swords in order on the stem, three by three, point downward.

"Set the muskets on the right of the deck, three by three.

"On the day of departure, at the rising of the moon, carry on deck a vase filled with oil; throw in it seven grains of salt, saying with each grain 'St Elmo and St Peter.'

"Leave the vase on deck until the moon goes down. At that moment cover it over with a black veil, on which write in vermilion the word 'Syrakoe.' Every morning at sunrise, rub the arms and the locks of the muskets with this oil."

At this point, Captain Trinquetaille stopped and said to Stephanette:

"By St. Elmo, Master Peyrou is a sorcerer. Three months ago, if I had had these flies of magic paper, my swivel-guns, instead of resting mute on their pivots when I applied the match, would have replied sharply to that Tunis chebec which surprised our convoy, and we did not see until it was almost on us--"

"But, Luquin, do not your sentinels see at a distance?"

"No; and if, while they were watching, they had said 'St. Magnus'

every five minutes, as Master Peyrou says in his sorcery, it is certain the virtue of St. Magnus would have prevented the pirates' approach without being seen."

"And would you have made use of this magic oil for the muskets, Luquin?"

"Without doubt, the day that my guns would not go off, I would have given all the oil which burns in the eternal lamp of the Chapel of Notre Dame de la Garde, for one drop of this oil with the seven grains of salt, and that formidable word 'Syrakoe' written on the cover."

"Why so, Luquin?"

"My artillery was useless, and I wished to board the chebec with a grand reinforcement of musket-shot, but as wicked fate would have it, the arms were below, and the locks of the muskets were rusty; you see, then, Stephanette, if we had arranged the arms on deck, three by three, and had rubbed the musket locks with this magic oil of Syrakoe, we would have been able to resist, and perhaps capture this pirate chebec instead of flying before it, like a cloud of sparrows from a hawk!"

It is easy to see that, under these mysterious and cabalistic formulae, the watchman on the cape of L'Aigle gave the best practical advice, and endeavoured to restore such nautical precautions and practices as had, through negligence or want of care, fallen into disuse.

The red flies, placed every morning on the b.a.l.l.s with a sign of the cross, had no doubt a very negative virtue, but to perform this magical operation, it was necessary to change the charge of the artillery, often damaged by the water of the sea, which swept the deck, and thus the powder was kept dry and the guns ready for use.

The counsel of the watchman, followed exactly, prevented serious disaster, whether it pertained to the oil of Syrakoe, or the cries of "St Magnus," or the arms arranged three by three on the deck.

In looking steadily toward the east and the south, points of crossing by the pirates, the sentinels of course could give warning of their approach.

In invoking St. Magnus every five minutes, they would not run the risk of sleeping at their posts.

In short, it was important to have always on deck arms in good condition and readiness. The watchman accomplished this by ordering them to be arranged in stacks of three, and carefully rubbed with oil, which would preserve them from the inclemency of the weather.

In formulating his recommendations in cabalistic phrase, he a.s.sured the execution of them.

After renewed praises of the watchman's wisdom, Luquin and Stephanette arrived at Maison-Forte. Notwithstanding her air of gaiety, the young girl's heart was deeply pained at the thought of her lover's departure the next morning. Tears flowed down her cheeks; she extended her hand to Trinquetaille, and said, with a trembling voice:

"Good-bye, Luquin, every morning and evening I will pray G.o.d to keep you from meeting these wicked pirates. Oh, why do you not abandon this perilous calling, which gives me continual anxiety?"

"I will, when I have gained enough, so that Mlle.

Trinquetaille"--only the n.o.bility had the t.i.tle of madame--"need not envy the richest citizen of La Ciotat." "How can you talk so, Luquin?" said the young girl, reproachfully, as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "What matters finery and a little more comfort to me, when you are risking your life every day?"

"Do not be distressed, Stephanette, the watchman's advice shall not be lost: with the help of St. Magnus, and the magic oil of Syrakoe, I can defy all the pirates of the regency. But, good-bye, Stephanette, good-bye, and think of Luquin."

With these words, the worthy captain pressed Ste-phanette's white hands, and hurried away, lest he should betray the emotion which filled his heart, as if it were a thing unworthy of him.

The young girl's eyes followed her lover as long as possible, and at nightfall she entered Maison-Forte, the home of Raimond V., Baron des Anbiez.

CHAPTER VI. MAISON-FORTE