From that old, dismantled1 farmhouse2, built on to the tower, there sloped down, toward where a small stream ran some four hundred yards away, a long stretch of bare land, covered sometimes in the summer heat by short, coarse grass, while in the winter time it was, if any of it were left uneaten by the sheep, frost-bound or snow-covered. It was so now on this clear, cold winter night, its surface being dotted by innumerable folds and pens into which those sheep had once been driven, but which, since the mountaineers had been forced into revolution and had raided the place, were empty. They were so on this night, of sheep. Yet not of other living things, unless the moon played strange tricks with the eyes of those regarding the pens. Instead, were being filled rapidly with human forms creeping like Indians or painted snakes toward them, wriggling3 their bodies beneath the hurdles4 they were composed of, entering by that way into the ready-found ambush5--the forms of the Miquelets, the most hated by the Camisards of all the troops which had been sent against them; the men whose extermination6 was more vowed7 and determined9 than the extermination of either dragoon, chevau-léger, or milice.
"You see?" whispered Le Leopard10 to Cavalier and Montbonneux as they stood together sheltering themselves from observation behind the great stone posts of the farmhouse's antique stoop, "you see? They first, then next the cavalry11. Observe, beyond the stream; look through the trunks of the trees across it. The moon sparkles on breast and back and the splints of the gorgets. You see?" Then added, "And hear?"
For from down toward where Le Léopard had directed the other's attention there rang that which told beyond all doubt that the foe12 was lurking13 there; discovered them to the surrounded, hemmed-in Camisards. The neigh of a horse, long, loud, and shrill14, taken up a moment later by others in their company and answered.
After that no need for further disguise or hiding. The presence of the enemy was made known. An instant later the trumpets15 rang out the "Advance!" Across the stretch of bare land the cavalry of Montrevel were seen riding fast.
"To arms! To arms!" sounded Cavalier's voice on the night air, it rivalling almost in distinctness the clear sounds of the royal trumpeters. "To arms! The tyrants16 are upon us. To arms! I say," and ere, with one wild shriek17 in unison18 from the throats of the Miquelets, the latter sprang from their ambush, the Protestants had leaped from the floors where they had flung themselves and were in the open, face to face with the Pyrenean wolves.
Instantly the whole surface of the earth beneath the bright rays of the moon was changed. Soon no moon was seen. The smoke from countless19 firelocks covered, obscured her. Smoke dispelled20 for an instant now and again by volleys of flame belched21 forth22 from fusil and carabine, flame that showed Miquelets dashing at huge mountaineers' throats, their long knives in their hands or 'twixt their teeth as they so sprang and clutched; that showed, too, these savage23 creatures forced to release their grasp, hurled24 to the earth, their brains clubbed out by butt25 and stock. Showed also the dragoons in the midst of all, sabring, thrusting, cutting down, overriding26 ally and foeman indiscriminately, reeling back themselves over their chargers' haunches as, from the windowless apertures27 of the tower, came hail after hail of bullets from Camisards ensconced therein.
But still the battle raged. Still from the Protestants' throats rang their war cry, "For God and his children!" from those of the royalists, "For God and the King!" from those of the Miquelets, in their hideous28 shrieking29 falsetto, "Guerra al Culchielo!" "Guerra al Morté!"
"Save yourself and her," cried Cavalier, rushing back for a moment to the farmhouse kitchen and stumbling over the dead body of the treacherous30 peasant, Guignon, who had been poniarded by Le Léopard the moment he was certain that the man had betrayed them, "save yourself--and her. There is a backway by the fosse to an ancient passage 'neath the old castle; save yourselves. We are lost, lost! Outnumbered! Save yourselves!"
Then in a moment he saw that neither Martin nor Urbaine were there. Gone! either to destruction or safety, he knew not which, yet gone. And he rushed back to his doomed31 band; rushed back to see that the tower was in flames, that all of his men who were in it were beyond earthly salvation32. Already it seemed to rock beneath the great spouting33 flames that leaped forth from roofless summit and openings where windows might once have been. Doomed!
Le Léopard came near him at this moment, an awful spectacle--bleeding from a dozen wounds, his vast and iron-gray beard crimson34, yet with his eyes glaring as ever. Came near, staggering, reeling, yet able to gasp35:
"To the fosse, to the fosse! You can save some that way. To the fosse!"
"Come you also," muttered Cavalier, "Come----"
"I come!" Le Léopard exclaimed. "Nay36, never more. See!" and he tore open his rough coat, showing on his breast a hideous gaping37 wound. And as he did so he reeled more heavily than before, then fell across the body of a dragoon lying close by.
But still, all around, the fight went on; the sabres swung and the volleys rattled38, while from the tower there rose now the death song of those within it. Above all else that was heard a hymn39 of praise to the God of Battles, the God also of the outcasts--a hymn blessing40 and magnifying his name. And as it rolled through the fumes41 and the grime there came next an awful roar, a vast uprising of a monstrous42 sheet of fresh flame, and, with a crash, the tower came to earth, burying beneath its ruins not only those within it, but also many others around, Camisards and royalists.
"They are bringing their culverins," cried one now above all the tumult43, "to play upon the house," and in answer there rang out now another voice which all knew, the voice of Cavalier, the words he shouted being: "Disperse44, disperse, my brethren! Children of the mountains and the clouds, disperse as do the clouds themselves. Not to-night is our triumph, yet it will come. It must come."
He spoke45 truly. The triumph was to come ere long now. The Camisards were to gain their cause at last, but it was not to be to-night, nor by the sword. Instead, by the gentle mediation46 and mercy of one whose name is still spoken gently in the Cévennes--the name of the great and good Villars.
"You can go no farther?" Urbaine said an hour later to Martin Ashurst, "no farther. Oh, my God, my God, that it should come to this! And for me, for my sake!"
"Nay, dear one, what matter? We are together to the last. And you love me. What more is there to ask?"
"Alas47! Alas! I can not live without you, stay behind alone. My love, my love, you must not leave me. Shall not go before. If you die, then must I die too."
And as she spoke she loosened his vest and sought for the wound in his shoulder which had brought him to this pass.
They had found the fosse the Camisards knew of in the old farmhouse. Even as the attack began, Martin, seeking for a place of refuge for her, had thrust open a door at the back of the great old kitchen in which they were, and had led her out of the dangerous room that gave upon the spot where the conflict had begun. Had led her on through a passage sloping down into the earth from behind the house, until, by following it, they found themselves in a place which none could have supposed would have been there; a place like a crypt, stone-flagged, the stones themselves roughly hewn, the pillars dwarfed48, yet strong enough to bear a vast fabric49 above them; a place so old, so long since built, that it may have been some Roman sepulchre, or hiding-place of Albigenses in long-forgotten days, or secret chapel50 of worship beneath the old feudal51 castle that had once existed.
Yet there it was, calm and quiet. Even the sounds of the battle now waging in all its fury without came gently to their ears, was scarce heard more strongly than the murmur52 in a shell or the breaking of the ocean on a far-off shore. Calm and quiet, with, through a recess53 in the farther wall, perhaps once a niche54 or shrine55, a moonbeam streaming brightly and making the dull flame of the lantern Martin had brought with him, snatching it off the nail where it hung, burn dull and rustily56.
And Urbaine, entering with him this haven57 into which they had penetrated--surely none of those soldiers knew of it, would find it, surely God in his mercy would not permit that--flung herself on her lover's breast sobbing58 that they were saved again; again were saved by him whom she so loved with her whole heart and soul.
Then started back, a look of terror on her face--a look of awful fear and apprehension--seeing what she did see in her lover's eyes as she sought them.
"My God!" she half whispered, half shrieked59, shuddering60, "what--what is it? Martin, my love? Oh, what--what has happened?"
For his lips were cold, there was no answering warmth in them as they met hers; his face was white as death, his eyes dull and filmy.
"It--it--is not much. But--I--am struck. As we left the place above, a bullet--through the window--struck me. I--I--can go no farther. Alas, I can not stand," while as he spoke he swayed heavily against the middle pillar of the crypt, then slid, clutching at it, to the earth.
Even as he did so, even, too, as she a moment later undid61 his vest to seek for the wound, there came to her ears, though perhaps not to his as he lay there faint and almost insensible, the sound of many rushing feet, a heavy trampling62; then, next, men passing swiftly by and farther on through the fosse--men whose smoke-grimed faces (sometimes, too, their wounded faces) she recognised as the moonbeams flickered63 on them. Camisards fleeing hastily, dispersing64 as Cavalier had said. The Camisards in whose power she had once been, in whose company she had but a few hours ago descended65 from the mountains.
"O God!" she moaned, "are they pursued by Montrevel's troops? If so, and he, my love, is found here by those troops!"
But he was not all unconscious; he could still hear, and, hearing, understood that moan.
"Nay, dearest," he whispered back, "even so it matters not. The Protestants, these men, are our friends. Baville's pass, the packet he bade me give you on our wedding morn--alas, our wedding morn!--will hold us safe from the soldiers. Fear not, ma mie."
Baville! The name stung her like an adder's fang66. Baville! The man who had slain67 her father, and then endeavoured by a false, pretended love, to take that father's place! The man she would never see again, had vowed, as deeply as one so gentle as she could vow8, never to see or know again.
Baville! And he had written to her, sent her a packet. Her lover had it about him at this moment. What could such a thing mean? What import? Yet, yet she upbraided68 herself for thinking of her own griefs and sorrows now at such a time as this. Baville! Faugh! Baville! Yet if he knew to what a pass they had come, knew that this man whose life might be ebbing69 slowly from him now, was ebbing slowly, was here? If he knew that he who had saved her was dying? Baville! The man whom once she had loved with a daughter's love.
Again the hurrying feet passed, again the gaunt fugitives71 went by, yet she heeded72 them not. Her whole soul was in what she was endeavouring to do--to staunch that gaping wound. Then suddenly one, an old, white-faced, terror-stricken man with long gray hair, stopped, seeing those forms; stopped, peering through the moonbeam that slanted73 down upon their faces; stopped, then advanced toward them.
"'Tis he," he whispered, bending toward the wounded man. "Martin! Martin! O Martin, my friend!"
"You know him? Your friend? You know him?" she whispered back. "Who are you?"
"His friend, Buscarlet, the inhibited74 pasteur of Montvert. Driven to the mountains at last, forced to abide75 with these unhappy outcasts, but, thank God, not yet to draw the sword. No, no, not that! Never, never! Only to pray upon my knees to them by morn and night to shed no blood, to bear, to suffer all. To do that, I followed them here. Only they will not listen. Oh, Baville, Baville, has not your tiger's fury been glutted76 yet?" And he gazed down upon the almost senseless form of Martin lying there, muttering, "If I could save you!"
Then, a moment later, he spoke again.
"Who," he said very gently now, "are you? Not his wife or sister, I know. But what?"
For a moment she did not answer, looking up at him, instead, with wide, clear eyes so full of sorrow that her glance struck him to the heart.
"I was to have been his, am his, affianced wife. And--and--God help me!--I am Baville's, that tiger's, adopted child!"
"You! His adopted child, and Martin's affianced wife!"
"Even so." And she bent77 her head and wept.
For a moment there was silence in that deserted78 place, deserted now since all the fugitive70 mountaineers had passed through the fosse; silent because no longer was heard the distant sound or hum of shot or cry of combatants. Then he bent over Martin, looked to his wound, touching79 it very gently and afterward80 replacing the hasty bandages she had made from some of her own linen81, and said:
"He is exhausted82 from his loss of blood. But, though he dies, it will not be yet. The cold is to be feared, however. If that reaches the wound--I know somewhat of surgery--he can not live. Now I go to seek succour, help!"
"Succour! Help! Where can it be obtained? In Heaven's mercy, where? N?mes is three leagues off."
"I will do my best. Pray God I am not too late."
And so he left her.
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1
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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farmhouse
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| n.农场住宅（尤指主要住房） | |
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wriggling
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| v.扭动，蠕动，蜿蜒行进( wriggle的现在分词 )；（使身体某一部位）扭动；耍滑不做，逃避（应做的事等）；蠕蠕 | |
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hurdles
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| n.障碍( hurdle的名词复数 )；跳栏；（供人或马跳跃的）栏架；跨栏赛 | |
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ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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leopard
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| n.豹 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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15
trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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16
tyrants
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| 专制统治者( tyrant的名词复数 )； 暴君似的人； （古希腊的）僭主； 严酷的事物 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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19
countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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dispelled
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| v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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belched
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| v.打嗝( belch的过去式和过去分词 )；喷出，吐出；打（嗝）；嗳（气） | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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butt
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| n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶 | |
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26
overriding
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| a.最主要的 | |
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27
apertures
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| n.孔( aperture的名词复数 )；隙缝；（照相机的）光圈；孔径 | |
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28
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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29
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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30
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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spouting
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| n.水落管系统v.（指液体）喷出( spout的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地讲；喋喋不休地说；喷水 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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38
rattled
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| 慌乱的，恼火的 | |
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39
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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fumes
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| n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体 | |
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42
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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43
tumult
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| n.喧哗；激动，混乱；吵闹 | |
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44
disperse
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| vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散 | |
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45
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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46
mediation
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| n.调解 | |
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47
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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48
dwarfed
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| vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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49
fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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50
chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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51
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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52
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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53
recess
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| n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处） | |
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54
niche
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| n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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55
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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56
rustily
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| 锈蚀地，声音沙哑地 | |
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57
haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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58
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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59
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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60
shuddering
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| v.战栗( shudder的现在分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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61
Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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62
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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63
flickered
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| （通常指灯光）闪烁，摇曳( flicker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
dispersing
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| adj. 分散的 动词disperse的现在分词形式 | |
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65
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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66
fang
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| n.尖牙，犬牙 | |
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67
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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upbraided
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| v.责备，申斥，谴责( upbraid的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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70
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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71
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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heeded
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| v.听某人的劝告，听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 )；变平，使（某物）变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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74
inhibited
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| a.拘谨的，拘束的 | |
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75
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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76
glutted
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| v.吃得过多( glut的过去式和过去分词 )；（对胃口、欲望等）纵情满足；使厌腻；塞满 | |
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77
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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78
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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80
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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81
linen
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| n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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