by Eugène Sue
CHAPTER VII.
"WAR! WAR! WAR!"
A furious barking of dogs in the yard and a distinct noise of hardrapping at the gate of the palisade interrupted the stranger'snarrative. Still laboring under the painful impression of the traveler'swords, the family of the brenn for a moment imagined their homestead wasbeing attacked. The women rose precipitately, the little ones rushed totheir mothers' arms, the men ran for their arms that hung from thewalls. But the dogs soon ceased barking, although the rapping at thegate continued unabated. Joel said to his family:
"Although they are still rapping, the dogs do not bark. They must knowwho is at the gate."
Saying this, the brenn stepped out. Several of his kinsmen, the strangerincluded, followed him out of prudence. The yard gate was opened and twovoices were heard outside the palisades crying:
"It is we, friends, ... Albinik and Mikael."
Indeed the two sons of the brenn were distinguished by the light of thetorches, and behind them their horses, panting for breath and white withfoam. After tenderly embracing his sons, especially the mariner, who wasabsent over a year on his sea journeys, Joel entered the house withthem, where they were received with joy and not a little surprise bytheir mother and other relatives.
Albinik the mariner and Mikael the armorer were, like their father andtheir brother, men of large and robust stature. Over their clothes theycarried a caped cloak of heavy woolen fabric streaming with the rain.Upon entering the house, and even before embracing their mother, the newarrivals stepped to the altar and approached their lips to the sevensmall twigs of mistletoe that stood dipped in the copper bowl on thelarge stone. They there noticed a lifeless body covered with oakbranches, near which Julyan still sat.
"Good evening, Julyan," said Mikael. "Who is dead?"
"It is Armel; I killed him this evening in a sword contest," answeredJulyan; "but as we have both pledged brotherhood to each other, I shalljoin him to-morrow beyond. If you wish it I shall mention you to him."
"Yes, yes. Julyan; I loved Armel and expected to find him alive. In thebag on my horse I have a little harpoon head of iron that I forged forhim; I shall place it to-morrow on the pyre of you two--"
"And you must tell Armel," added the mariner smiling, "that he went awaytoo soon; his friends Albinik and Meroe would have told him their lastexperience at sea."
"It is Armel and myself," replied Julyan with a smile, "who will laterhave pretty stories to tell you. Your sea trips will be like nothing tothe travels that await us in those marvelous worlds that none has seenand all will see."
After Margarid's two sons had answered the tender inquiries of theirmother and family, the brenn said to the unknown traveler:
"Friend, these are my two sons."
"May it please heaven that the suddenness of their arrival may not becaused by some evil event," answered the traveler.
"I say so, too, my children," rejoined Joel. "What has happened that youcome at so late an hour and in such hurry? Happy be your return,Albinik, but I did not expect it so soon. But where is the gentleMeroe?"
"I left her at Vannes, father. This is what has happened. I returnedfrom Spain by the gulf of Gascony on the way to England. The bad weatherforced us to put in at Vannes. But by Teutates, who presides over alljourneys by land and sea, here on earth and beyond, I did notexpect--no, I did not expect to see what I saw in that town. I,therefore, left my vessel in port in charge of my sailors with my wifeas their chief, I took a horse and galloped to Auray. There I gave thenews to Mikael, and we hastened hither to forewarn you, father."
"And what is it you saw at Vannes?"
"What did I see? All the inhabitants, in revolt, full of indignation andrage, like the brave Bretons that they are!"
"And what is the reason of it all, children?" asked Mamm' Margaridwithout leaving her distaff.
"Four Roman officers, without any other escort than four soldiers and ascalmly insolent as if they were in some enslaved country, came inyesterday and commanded the magistrates of the town to issue orders toall the neighboring tribes to send to Vannes ten thousand bags ofwheat--"
"And what else?" asked Joel laughing and shrugging his shoulders.
"Five thousand bags of oats."
"And what else?"
"Five hundred barrels of hydromel."
"Of course," said the brenn laughing louder, "they must also drink--andwhat else?"
"A thousand heads of beef."
"And, of course, the fattest--What else?"
"Five thousand sheep."
"That's right. One soon gets tired of beef only. Is that all, my boy?"
"They also demanded three hundred horses to furnish new equipages to theRoman cavalry, besides two hundred wagons of forage."
"And why not? The poor horses must be fed," continued Joel sneeringly."But there must be some more orders. If they begin to issue orders, whystop at all?"
"The provisions were to be taken in wagons as far as Poitou andTouraine."
"And what is the wide maw that is to swallow up those bags of wheat,those muttons, those heads of beef and those barrels of hydromel?"
"Above all," added the traveler, "who is to pay for all thoseprovisions?"
"Pay for them!" replied Albinik. "Why, nobody. It is a forced impost."
"Ha! Ha!" laughed Joel.
"And the wide maw that is to gulp up the provisions is none other thanthe Roman army, which is wintering in Touraine and Anjou."
A shudder of rage mixed with disdain ran through the family of thebrenn. "Well, Joel," the unknown traveler remarked, "do you still thinkthat it is a long way from Touraine to Britanny? The distance does notseem to me long, seeing that the officers of Caesar come calmly andwithout escort, empty-pursed and swinging high their canes, to provisiontheir army here."
Joel no longer laughed; he dropped his head and remained silent.
"Our guest is right," put in Albinik; "these Romans came empty-pursedand swinging high their canes. One of them even raised his cane over oldRonan, the oldest magistrate of Vannes, who, like you, father, objectedstrongly to the Roman exaction."
"And yet, children, what else can we do but laugh at these demands. Tolevy these provisionings upon us and the neighboring tribes of Vannes;to force us to carry the requisitions to Touraine and Anjou with ouroxen and horses which the Romans will surely keep also, and all that atthe very season of the late sowing and of our autumn labors; to ruinnext year's harvest;--why, that is to reduce us to living upon the grassthat would have fed the cattle that they rob us of!"
"Yes," said Mikael the armorer; "they want to take away our wheat andour cattle, and leave the grass to us. By the iron of the lance that Iwas forging this very morning, it shall be the Romans who, under ourblows, will bite the grass on our fields!"
"Vannes is now preparing to defend herself if attacked," added themariner. "They have begun to throw up trenches in the neighborhood ofthe port. All our sailors are to be armed, and if the Roman galleysattack us by sea, never will the sea crows have had a like feast ofcorpses upon our beach."
"While crossing to-night the other tribes," resumed Mikael, "we spreadthe news and sounded the alarm. The magistrates of Vannes have also sentout messengers in all direction ordering that fires be lighted from hillto hill, and thereby give immediate notice of the imminent danger fromone end of Britanny to the other."
Without once dropping her distaff, Mamm' Margarid had listened to thereport given by her sons. When they stopped speaking she calmly said:
"As to those Roman officers, my sons, were they not sent back to theirarmy--after a thorough caning?"
"No, mother; they were lodged in jail at Vannes, all except two of theirsoldiers whom the magistrates charged to declare to the Roman generalthat no provisions whatever were to be furnished him, and that hisofficers were to be as hostages."
"It would have been better to give the officers a thorough caning anddrive them in disgrace out of the town," replied Mamm' Margarid. "Thatis the way thieves are treated, and
these Romans tried to rob us."
"You are right, Margarid," said Joel; "they came to rob us--to starveus! to carry away our harvests and our cattle!" And Joel, now in atowering rage, added: "By the vengeance of Hesus! To think of theirtaking our fine turn-out of six young oxen with skins slick as wolves!Our four yokes of black bulls that have such a beautiful white star inthe center of their foreheads!"
"And our beautiful white heifers with yellow heads!" said Mamm' Margaridshrugging her shoulders and never quitting her distaff, "our sheep whosefleece is so nice and thick.... Come, a good caning for these Romans!"
"And the powerful horses of the stock of your magnificent stallionTom-Bras," put in the traveler. "They will, after all, have to draw yourharvest to Touraine, and will then serve to replace the worn-out horsesof the Roman cavalry.... True, to them, the labor will not be excessive... because you will now probably discover that it is not far fromTouraine to Britanny."
"Well may you mock, friend," said Joel. "You were right, and I confessmyself to have been wrong. Oh! If only the provinces of Gaul had fromthe start confederated themselves against the first assault of theRomans! If united they had put forth but one-half the efforts that theyput forth separately--we would not now be exposed to the insolentdemands and to the threats of these heathens! Well may you mock!"
"No, Joel, I will mock no longer," gravely answered the traveler. "Thedanger is near; the hostile camp lies only a twelve day's march fromhere; the refusal of the magistrates of Vannes and the imprisonment ofthe Roman officers--all that means speedy war--a merciless war, as onlythe Romans know how to wage! If we are vanquished it means to us deathon the battle field, or slavery far away! The slave merchants follow thetracks of the Roman army; they are greedy after prey. Whatever survives,whether whole or wounded--men, young women, girls, children--all aresold at auction like cattle for the benefit of the vanquisher, and areforthwith consigned by the thousands to Italy or to Southern Gaul wherethe Romans are settled! Arrived at their destination, the male slaves ofrobust frame are often forced to fight ferocious animals in the circusfor the amusement of their masters; the young women and girls, even thechildren are subjected to monstrous debaucheries. Such is war with theRomans if vanquished!" cried the stranger. "Will you allow yourselves tobe vanquished? Will you submit to such disgrace? Will you deliver tothem your wives, your sisters, your daughters and children, ye Gauls ofBritanny?"
Hardly had the traveler uttered these words when the whole family ofJoel--men, women, young girls, children--all down to the dwarfy Stumpy,rose to their feet and with their eyes shooting fire, their cheeksinflamed, cried tumultuously, waving their arms:
"War! War! War!"
Joel's large battle mastiff, fired by these cries, rose on his hind legsand laid his fore-paws on the breast of his master, who, while caressinghis enormous head said:
"Yes, old Deber-Trud, like our tribe you will hunt the Romans.... Thequarry shall be for you.... Your jaws shall be red with blood!... Wow!Wow, Deber-Trud! At the Romans! At the Romans!"
Hearing the well-known war-cry, the mastiff responded with furiousbarks, displaying fangs as redoubtable as a lion's. Hearing Deber-Trud,the outside watch-dogs, as well as those locked up in the kennels,answered him. Frightful was the war-cry raised by the pack.
"A good omen, friend Joel," observed the traveler. "Your dogs bark deathto the enemy."
"Yes, yes; death to the enemy!" cried the brenn. "Thanks be to the gods,in our Breton Gaul, on the day of peril, the watch-dog becomes awar-dog! the draw-horse becomes a war-horse! the ox of the field awar-ox! the harvest carts chariots of war! the laborer a warrior! evenour peaceful and fruitful earth turns to war and devours the stranger!at every step he finds a grave in our fathomless marshes, and hisvessels vanish in the whirlpools of our bays which are more terrible intheir calm than in the tempest of their fury!"
"Joel," now said Julyan, who had left the body of his friend, "Ipromised Armel to meet him to-morrow yonder--Such a death would bepleasant to me.... To die fighting the Romans is a duty.... What shall Ido?"
"Ask to-morrow one of the druids of Karnak."
"And our sister Hena," said Albinik the mariner to his mother. "It isnearly a year I have not seen her.... She is surely still the pearl ofthe Isle of Sen? My wife Meroe charged me to remember her to Hena."
"You will see her to-morrow," answered Mamm' Margarid; and laying downher distaff she arose. It was the signal for the family to retire. Mamm'Margarid looked around and said:
"Let us retire, my children; it is late; to-morrow at break of day wemust begin our war preparations;" and turning to the traveler:
"May the gods grant you a good rest and pleasant dreams!"