The Blacksmith's Hammer; or, The Peasant Code: A Tale of the Grand Monarch

by Eugène Sue

  CHAPTER III.

  THE RED-COATS.

  The nuptial procession wended its way slowly. All thought to themselves,and freely expressed the view to their friends, that a better matchedcouple could not be. She was sweet and charming, and he of a virilebearing which was enhanced by his Breton costume--round hat with widebrim; long black waistcoat and upper vest; wide, white, floating hosethat descended to the knees and were held around the waist by a broadbelt of scarlet serge; and grey cloth stockings, displaying Nominoe'swell-shaped calves, which were glued to the sides of his strong greyhorse. Tina, whose fresh and rosy countenance was framed in her coifsurmounted with her nuptial ribbons, wore a corsage of green clothembroidered with white thread and cut square over her linen gorgerettewhich betrayed the coy pulsations of her virginal bosom, seeing that, inorder to keep her balance, one of her arms encircled Nominoe. The sweetchild had been silent since her departure from the paternal roof. Nowshe spoke, and, blushing, said timidly to Nominoe:

  "Nominoe--I have a confession to make to you--"

  "A confession of what, dear Tina?" answered the young manaffectionately, turning his head to his wife in order to see her overhis shoulder.

  But Tina, foreseeing the move, put in: "I beg you, do not look at me! Ifyou do I would not dare to say a word!"

  "It shall be as you desire, sweet girl;" and smiling, he added: "Whatcan be that redoubtable secret that you fear to confess to my face?Speak, my dear Tina; reveal your secret to me."

  "A sad secret--that I am ashamed of, very much ashamed. I pray to Godyou may pardon me for it. I have been very guilty."

  Tina's voice was so moved as she spoke these words, that Nominoe wassurprised, and involuntarily moved in his saddle in order to turn aroundto his wife. But once more she stopped him, saying:

  "I entreat you, do not look at me," and she proceeded after a shortpause: "I am your wife--you must not be ignorant of any of my thoughts,be they good or bad. No! nothing must remain hidden from my husband."

  "A bad thought in your mind, you angelic creature! That is impossible.You surely exaggerate some trifle, my dear Tina."

  "And yet it is so, Nominoe. I doubted you--I doubted your love."

  "And why? And when was that?"

  "This morning, seeing you delayed in arriving, I said to myself:'Nominoe does not want me for his wife'--'Nominoe does not love me'--"

  And noticing that an involuntary shudder ran over the young man's frame,Tina interjected, almost alarmed:

  "Do you feel hurt at my mistrust? I knew you would! I deserve yourreproof. That is the very reason that I accuse myself. I prefer to beblamed by you, rather than to conceal aught from my husband. May thesincerity of my confession earn your pardon for me."

  The young man remained silent, surprised and struck by the correctnessof Tina's presentiment. To himself he thought: "What a fatality hoversover this marriage! My union is consecrated before man, it will shortlybe before God. Let me at least reassure the poor child."

  Nominoe was about to answer his young wife when an unexpected incidentsuddenly changed the course of his thoughts. His attention being atfirst turned to Tina's words, and being immediately afterwards absorbedin his own meditations, Nominoe had not noticed the approach of adetachment of soldiers that seemed to be hastening to meet the nuptialprocession. Suddenly the captain of the troop waved to the peasants tostop.

  "Fire and flames! Let us face these red-coats!" said Tankeru to Salaun.

  "We are unarmed, and we have women and children with us," answeredSalaun. "No imprudence--let us wait till the hour shall have come. Ishall ride forward and ascertain what these soldiers want."

  "Father," said Nominoe overhearing Salaun's words, "I shall accompanyyou. You must not go alone."

  "You forget that you have your wife on your crupper. Both of you remainnear Tankeru," answered Salaun, and making his horse jump forward, herode towards the soldiers.

  Paskou the Long and Madok the miller, the one in his capacity ofBaz-valan, the other of Brotaer, both official representatives of thewedding, joined Salaun Lebrenn. The three trotted briskly towards thearmed force in order to ascertain the reason for the hold-up.

  The King's soldiers, fifteen in number and commanded by a sergeant,belonged to the Crown Regiment, and wore the red uniform. The sergeantin command of the detachment had an assumed military name. He calledhimself La Montagne. He was an athletic man, tall of stature and in theprime of life. His uniform consisted of a scarlet coat embroidered withalternate blue and silver threads. His hose, his stockings and thelining of his cloak were blue and of the color of his shoulder knot. Hissword hung from a white baldric that matched the cockade in histhree-cornered hat, which was surmounted by red and blue feathers,gallooned in silver, and challengingly tipped on his hair which,agreeable to the new military regulation, was dressed in the fashioncalled _cadenette_. His hair was curled on his temples, and was twistedbehind his neck in a thick queue, tied with a leather thong. The face ofthe weather-beaten soldier--clean shaven, except for his moustache, andfurrowed by a deep scar--bore the stamp of hardihood, daring andinsolence. In his hand he carried a long cane with an ivory head. Hissoldiers, clad in a uniform like his own, except that a simple galloonof white wool ornamented their coats and hats, were armed with a newpattern of guns that replaced the old muskets. A triangular and pointedblade of steel, resembling the long poniards used by the people ofBayonne, and therefore called a _bayonet_, was attached to the muzzle ofthese guns.

  A drummer and a man clad in a blouse, who carried on his back a ball ofrope and in his hand a bell which he rang when the drum beat, precededthe troop. The sergeant marched at its head; behind him came two menclad in black. One was the bailiff of the Seigneur of Plouernel andMezlean, the other the usher of the fisc. Salaun Lebrenn, the Baz-valanand the Brotaer, the last mounted on his ass, and his two companions ontheir horses, reined in a few paces from the detachment. Obedient to thesuggestion of Salaun, and anxious to avoid a collision, all threealighted, and approached the sergeant, holding their mounts by thebridle. The soldiers had halted upon the command of their chief, and,drawn up in a semi-circle, they leaned upon the barrels of their guns.

  "Messieurs," said Salaun courteously, "we are peaceful people; we arecelebrating a wedding; I am the father of the bride; our companyconsists of our relatives and friends."

  "And I," put in Paskou the Long with an air of importance, "I am theBaz-valan of the wedding, the master of ceremonies."

  "And I," added Madok the miller without lowering his eyes before thepiercing looks of the sergeant, "I am the Brotaer. You ordered ourprocession to stop--it obeyed--what do you want? Speak. We shall bepleased to accommodate you."

  "By God's death! Here is a pack of inquisitive rustics!" observedSergeant La Montagne to the bailiff and the usher, after measuringSalaun, Paskou the Long and Madok the miller with his eyes.

  And addressing his two acolytes over his shoulder, La Montagne added,pointing with the tip of his cane at those whom he was referring to:"Are not these the ragamuffins whom you are looking for?"

  "No," answered the bailiff and the usher. "The delinquents, whom we areafter, are among the other people of the wedding."

  "Soldiers, load your guns--and fire upon the woolen caps if they butbudge!" ordered the sergeant. "Drummer, beat the march, and forward!Soldiers, fire upon these peasants at the slightest resistance!"

  "And you, ring the bell--and forward!" said the usher to his subaltern."The bell is to the civilian what the drum is to the military. Forward,and ring loud, so that those ragamuffins may hear you, and be notifiedof our approach."

  Grieved and alarmed at seeing their pacific intervention so rudelybrushed aside, the three Bretons exchanged a few words in a low voice,and when the troop was about to resume its march, Salaun Lebrennaddressed the sergeant, the bailiff and the usher in carefully measuredwords: "Messieurs, I do not know the purpose of your coming here. Butbe your purpose whatever it may, I entreat you to postpone until afterthe marriage ceremony
the measures that you intend to take. Do not alarmand throw our relatives, friends, wives and children into a fright. Areyou in quest of any one? I give you my word of honor that no one willattempt to escape. I invite you to escort us back to the burg ofMezlean--"

  Salaun Lebrenn broke off. He noticed that he and his two companions hadfallen into a sort of ambush. While simulating great attention to whatwas being said to him, the sergeant had whispered a few words to hiscorporal, and the latter, obeying the orders given him, had disposed hissoldiers in such manner that the three Bretons found themselvessurrounded from all sides, and unable to rejoin their friends.Addressing himself thereupon to Salaun Lebrenn, who, no less surprisedthan his two friends at finding himself obviously treated as a prisoner,looked at his companions in amazement, the sergeant said sneeringly:

  "Your promise notwithstanding, that none of those woolen bonnets will beallowed to run off, I prefer something more substantial than a promise,rather than to have to chase all over this devilish country that is socut up with moats and hedges. I shall hold you as hostages, you and yourtwo companions. You are the chiefs of the band. You will be a guaranteefor the rest. If any one of them escapes, you will go to prison, andstay there until each of you will have paid me two gold louis--besidessix pistoles for my men. That's the end of it. I want no answer orfurther remarks from you. Forward!"

  "So, then, you arrest us?" observed Salaun calmly. "Besides, you placeus under ransom. But what do you charge us with? What crime are weguilty of, sergeant?"

  "You double rustic! I charge you with speaking when I order you to holdyour tongue! Head and bowels! Forward, or I shall knock you down!" criedthe petty officer brutally, raising his cane; and stroking his moustachehe proceeded:

  "Oh, there is the wedding! The bride may, perhaps, be worth rumpling!Bah! She probably is but one of their big flat-footed wenches! And yet,who knows! We shall see! Drummers, beat the march!"

  When Paskou the Long heard the sergeant's allusions to the bride, heraised his two long arms to heaven; Madok the miller, a resolute man,clenched his fists, and casting a defiant look at the soldier, was aboutto explode, when he was restrained by a sign from Salaun. Madok yieldedto his friend, realizing that it would be an act of madness to attempt,under the circumstances, a struggle against the armed men. Surrounded bythese, the three Bretons resigned themselves to move forward, leadingtheir mounts by the bridle. The detachment resumed its march, drumsbeating and bell ringing, towards the nuptial procession. The sergeantwalked ahead.

  Such was the terror with which the soldiers of Louis XIV inspired thepoor folks of our country districts, that at the first sight of thered-coats the children threw themselves weeping into their mothers'arms; the young girls drew timidly close to their parents; and a goodnumber of the vassals began to tremble, while the blacksmith and otherdetermined men of his stamp could hardly control their anger. At thisplace the road was narrowed between two bluffs topped with brush. Thedetachment divided in two. One-half halted at the head of the processionin order to bar its passage, should it attempt to proceed; the otherhalf marched on to the rear in order to cut off the retreat.

  Kept as hostages in the midst of the rear guard platoon, Salaun Lebrenn,Paskou the Long and Madok the miller were unable to approach theirfriends. Nominoe, with his wife on the crupper of his horse, saw with asmuch surprise as anxiety his father a prisoner of the soldiers.

  "Let none of you budge or breathe, ye rustics! If you do, by God'sdeath! my men will open fire, and will rip you open with theirbayonets!" cried Sergeant La Montagne, stepping with his cane raisedtowards the peasants, who crowded back upon one another in order to makeroom for him.

  Turning thereupon to the bailiff and the usher:

  "Do your work! I shall in the meantime step over to the bride andinspect her," added the swash-buckler, looking to the right and to theleft.

  It did not take the sergeant long to discover the charming face of thebride, who, moreover, was recognizable by the nuptial ribbons, and wasall the more in evidence being on horseback behind Nominoe.

  "God's blood! The handsome girl! The lassie is too dainty a morsel forthat clod-hopping husband!" exclaimed the sergeant, and he took severalsteps to draw nearer to Tina.

  A heavy roll of the drum, accompanied by the repeated ringing of thebell, drowned the last words of the impudent soldier. After that signalfor silence, the bailiff of the very high, very powerful, very honorableand very redoubtable Seigneur Justin-Dominic-Raoul Neroweg, Count ofIssoire in Auvergne; Baron of Nointel, Valdeuil and other places inBeauvoisis; Seigneur of Plouernel and Mezlean in Brittany, etc., etc.,announced:

  "That the said Gildas Lebrenn, vassal and lease-holder of the fief ofMezlean, having, with evil intent and for other reasons, put off, beyondthe only and last term, the payment of the taxes, imposts and duties,which it had pleased the very high and very powerful and very redoubtedseigneur, etc., etc., to assess upon his vassals of Mezlean, therefore,the furniture, crops, cattle, domestic and field animals, householdutensils, etc., etc., of the said Gildas Lebrenn are hereby ordered tobe seized and sold by virtue of _military constraint_. And if the saidgoods and chattels of the said Gildas shall not suffice to meet hisobligations, then action shall be instituted against a house, to himbelonging as the property of his wife, and the said house, in default ofa purchaser in block, shall be demolished, and its doors, windows,beams, rafters and other debris shall be sold to the highest bidder atthe option of the said bailiff, who, having presented himself at thesaid farm, called Karnak, in order to execute the orders hereincontained and to effect the seizure, found the house closed and thestable empty, the latter of which should have contained especially twoyokes of white and orange oxen, the which, being exposed by themalignity of the said Gildas to being kept out of the farm in theevening and to being surreptitiously sold during the day, the said ushernow came to seize them bodily, _hic et nunc_, without prejudice to theother seizures which he reserves the right of operating on the saidfarm, including the materials that may proceed from the demolition ofthe house above referred to.[5]

  "The bailiff, being also vested with the powers of the very respectable,discreet, pious and venerable curate of the parish, shall collect byforce of the same seizures, an arrear of tithes due to the saidvenerable person by the said Gildas Lebrenn and other vassals hereinbelow named, etc., etc.

  "The said bailiff also comes to proceed against one Tankeru, ablacksmith, charged with and convicted of having poached in the confinesof the forest of Mezlean, in order, wickedly and of deliberate purpose,to interfere with the pleasures of the very high, very redoubted andvery powerful seigneur, etc., etc., by killing his game, notably aten-pronged deer, in the course of the night of the 5th day of thepresent month, as appears from the deposition of one of theforester-watchers of the said seigneur, etc., etc. By reason of the saidcrime, the said Tankeru, a blacksmith, is ordered to be apprehended inbody, and taken to the seigniorial jail, in order there to undergo thepreliminary punishment of the whip, without prejudice to furtherimprisonment and fines to be paid, etc., etc."

  The complaints of the bailiff having been made known amid the mournfulsilence of the nuptial party, the drum was once more beaten, the bellwas once more rung, and then the usher of the fisc spoke in turn:

  "A requisition against the same Gildas Lebrenn and five other leaseholdpeasants, hereinbelow named, etc., etc., who, with evil intent, or forother wrongful cause, having paid neither the taxes, nor the tithes, northe capitation, etc., etc., furtively left their houses before the saidusher could present himself there this morning, taking with them theirspans of oxen, their wagons and their horses, the same being the mostimportant part of the havings of the said peasants; and, fearing lestthey may profit by the market day of Bezenek, which is to begin earlyto-morrow morning, and surreptitiously make away with their said oxen,wagons and horses, the said usher now comes to operate _illico_ theseizure of the said animals and wagons, without prejudice of otherrecuperations, etc., etc."

  The peasa
nts listened to the reading of the preceding jargon withincreasing consternation and rage, but without astonishment, similarseizures being matters of daily recurrence in Brittany and in all theother provinces of France. But what, on that day, drove the indignationof the peasants to the point of rage was the insolence of Sergeant LaMontagne. While the bailiff and the usher reeled off their legal jargon,the insolent swash-buckler approached Tina, and, with his plumagedangling over his ear, stretching out his legs, arching himself in hisgallooned coat, and stroking his moustache with one hand, while with theother he caressed the hilt of his sword, he pursued the young bride withhis brazen looks. Tina turned her head away, and took shelter behind theback of Nominoe, who, outraged by the soldier's audacity, was livid withanger. Nevertheless, he restrained himself; in order to preserve hisself-control all the more fully, he sought to move a little further tothe rear; but the moment he made his horse take a few steps backward,the sergeant seized the bridle rudely and kept the animal motionless.The peasants who saw the sergeant's conduct, began to grumble. But he,casting a disdainful look at them and brandishing his cane, shouted:

  "Head and bowels! Meseems these rustics are raising objections! By God'sdeath, I'll know how to bring you to your senses!"

  "Think of your wives--your daughters--your children! Patience!patience!" cried Salaun Lebrenn in a loud voice from among the platoonof soldiers who held him, Paskou the Long and the miller at a distance."All keep cool, and have patience, my friends!"

  The wise warning of Salaun Lebrenn was hearkened to. The grumblingceased. La Montagne, attributing the resignation of the peasants to thefear that he inspired, redoubled in audacity. Brutally placing one handupon Tina's knees, who sat upon the crupper of Nominoe's horse, he saidto her:

  "God's blood! Look at me, my pretty lassie! Fear not, my pretty maid--mymoustache causes only men to tremble," he added, fastening a look ofcontempt upon Nominoe.

  Thereupon, carrying outrage to its climax, the sergeant raised himselfon tip-toe, passed his arm around Tina's waist, and drawing her to him,said: "Give me a sweet kiss! God's death! it is the meed of the brave!"

  Nominoe was without arms; but with a movement that was swifter thanthought, he drew his foot from the stirrup, and with a kick of his heel,vigorously planted in the sergeant's chest, he hurled him reeling uponTankeru, who was rushing to the defense of his daughter. The blacksmithgripped the swash-buckler by the neck and threw him flat upon theground.

  "Help, soldiers!" bellowed the sergeant as Tankeru threw him down. "Tothe rescue!"

  Those of the soldiers who happened to be near their chief sought to rushto his aid, but finding themselves quickly surrounded and closely hemmedin by the more resolute of the peasants, they were unable to ply theirbayonets.

  The blacksmith cried:

  "Let us disarm the red-coats!"

  The cry, being repeated by the other peasants, reached the ears of theplatoon of soldiers that blocked the head of the procession. Theserushed back to the aid of their comrades, driving aside the women andchildren with the butts of their guns. The mass of people, thus pushedback and crowded closely in the middle of the road, emitted shrieks offright. All was confusion.

  At the thickest of the turmoil a lackey on horseback rode up from thedirection the procession was headed in, preceding by about twenty pacestwo other personages, also on horseback. The lackey reined in his mount,cracked his whip and cried:

  "Room! Room for Mademoiselle Plouernel! Room for the sister ofMonseigneur Neroweg of Plouernel! Make room! Make room, there!"