A Madeira Party
Page 10
ready! Quick, my other pistol!' As he stood he had now one in eachhand. Instantly the trap was pulled up without hesitation or caution.There were several lighted candles standing on the barrels, and thus Isaw, stooping over the opening, lantern in hand, a big municipal guard.Instantly there was the flash and roar of the Duke's pistol, and thehuge brute, with a cry, pitched head down into the open trap. He rolledoff the Duke's shoulder, and as he tumbled over on to me, I half fell,half leaped, and he came down with an awful crash, his head striking thefloor of stone. As he fell the thief threw himself upon him. My mothercried, '_Mon Dieu!_' There was a pause--when the thief called out, 'Heis dead.' As he spoke I ran up the stone stair, too curious to beafraid, and peeped under the Duke's left arm. The smoke was thick, andI saw nothing for a moment. Then a second officer ran down the stonesteps of the upper cellar and drew a pistol. He had a large lantern,and as he turned it on us the Duke fired. I saw the man's right arm sinkand the pistol drop; and now a strange thing happened. For a moment theman stood leaning back against a great cask. The hand in which heclutched the lantern shook violently as with a spasm. '_Diable_! Thatis strange,' cried the Duke. As I stood beside him in fear and wonder,the wounded officer swayed to the left, and I heard a gurgling noise andsaw rush out under the man's arm a great gush of red fluid--as it seemedto me blood. Then of a sudden the man doubled up and came down in aheap on the floor. I heard him groan piteously.
"Cried the Duke, 'Stay there.' This was to me. 'Be still, all of you.'Indeed, I had no mind to move; one dead man above and one below wereguards enough. The Duke went by the municipal without more than a look,saying, as he set foot on the upper stair, 'I have shot that man and thewine-barrel too. _Sacre bleu_, what a waste!' So it was good Bordeaux,and not blood. This reassured me. In a minute more I heard the Duke saycheerfully: 'All goes well. A lantern, quick! There is no one else.'
"Our thief was ready in a moment, and the two, with my small person inthe rear, turned to consider the Jacobin. 'Dead, I think,' said theDuke. 'And if not, it were wise to attend to his case,' said our thief.'No, no,' I heard my mother cry from the top of the staircase; 'we willhave no more bloodshed.'
"Neither Duke nor thief said anything in reply, but laid the man in aseasy a posture as could be found for one with an ounce of lead cleanthrough him. After this they went down to look at the other officer. Hewas past doubt, and dead enough. 'And now,' said the Duke, 'even if webury these two, which Madame makes impossible, other devils will infestthe house, and in a few hours we shall be one and all lost to hope.'
"'There are the catacombs,' said the thief, 'and nothing else. Thesooner we leave, the better our chances. No one will follow us,Monsieur.'
"'But shall we ever get out of these caves?' said my mother.
"'To stay is certain death,' returned Duke Philip.
"'And to fly by that great opening uncertain death,' said the thief. 'Ilike better the uncertain.'
"'We will go,' said my mother.
"Upon this the Duke bade us carry the utmost loads of wine and eatableswe could support. The thief packed baskets, and strung bottles of wineand milk on cords so as to let them hang from our shoulders. Each hadalso a blanket, and we were thus pretty heavily loaded, but the thiefcarried nearly as much as all the rest together. The Duke sat down alittle while to reload his own arms and those taken from the dead guard,and soon we followed one another through the great black hole inmournful procession. With one dim lantern flashing cones of light hereand there on the dripping, moldy walls, we went down a slope and along atunnel not broad enough for two to walk abreast. At the first halt Isaw my mother whisper to Duke Philip, and soon after he gave to ourthief the sword and pistol of the dead guard. Before and behind us wasdarkness. We may have gone two hundred yards, the Duke urging haste,when we came to a sharp turn in the tunnel, and stopped as if of oneaccord.
"The Duke cried, 'Forward! March, boys! A fine adventure, is n't it?'His cheerfulness put spirit into us all, and even the baby gave a littlelaugh, as if pleased; but why babies laugh no man knows, nor womaneither. As for the Duke, he nor we had the least idea of where we weregoing. As we started down the long stone corridor, the thief cried out,'Wait a little. I am a fool! A thief of my experience not to knowbetter! Ye saints! An empty bottle is not more stupid!'
"'Hold!' cried the Duke, as the thief darted back up the tunnel.
"'Yes, Monsieur.' But our thief made no pause, and was heard runningmadly along the stone passage out of which we had just turned.'_Peste!_' said the Duke. You will never see that rascal again. Hewill buy his own neck with ours. We shall do well to push on and leaveno traces behind us.'
"'No,' said my mother, as we stood staring after the man. 'I know notwhy he went, but he will come again.' And so we waited, and somefifteen minutes went by. At last said Duke Philip, impatient, 'Did anyone ever trust a thief, Madame? Pray remember at least that I am freefrom blame.' He was vexed.
"'A thief has been trusted before,' said my mother, in her quiet way.
"'That was for the next world, not this one. We shall regret.'
"'No,' laughed the dear lady; 'for here he is, Duke.'
"He came in quick, almost breathless haste, and hardly able to say, 'Oh,it was worth while, Madame. I have the bag of gold we left, and thatbrigand's clothes. That I should have left a bag of gold! I of allmen!'
"'_Diantre!_' cried the Duke. 'What do you want with the clothes? Arewe about to start a rag-shop? Come, we have lost time!'
"I heard our thief mutter as he fell in at the rear of the line, back ofus boys: 'He has no imagination, that Duke. He would make no figure asa thief. _Mon ami!_' (that was to me), 'do you know the toughest job inthe world?'
"'No,' I said, laughing.
"'To undress a gentleman who has departed this life. He does n't giveyou the least assistance.'
"I stumbled on, and was thinking over this queer statement when the Dukehalted us in a broader place whence three stone passages led off atvarious angles.
"'A _carrefour_, and which to follow?' said the thief.
"'It cannot matter much,' returned the Duke. I thought he did not likethe thief's assuming to take part in our counsels. Just then atremendous noise like thunder broke over us, and rumbled away in strangeechoes down the stone alleys before us.
"'Ye saints!' cried my mother, as a yet louder thunder resounded. 'Whatis that?'
"'We are under a street,' said our thief. 'It is the noise of wagons.'
"'That might be a guide,' said my mother.
"'Of a truth, yes, Madame,' exclaimed our thief. But the Duke, takingno notice, said, 'Let us take this road to the left.' The thief saidnothing, but shouldered his load, and we went on as before. It was notime to argue; nor, indeed, did it seem to matter which way of the manywe chose, so we followed after our Duke, little conscious, we boys, ofthe greatness of our peril. I suppose we must have gone for ten minutesalong a narrowing tunnel, when my mother called back to us to stop, andthe Duke said, 'We are in a wet place. But,' he added, presently, 'itis not deep; let us go on,' and we started afresh.
"As we moved ankle-deep in water, a strange sound, like the fall ofsomething, broke out behind us, and a great rush of damp wind went by uslike a live thing.
"'Halloa!' cried our thief. 'Keep still!' and so saying, hid the lanternunder the skirt of his coat. I was dreadfully scared, for these darkcaverns were full of mysterious noises. As yet we had heard none likethis which now we heard. In the dark I seized the thief's coat-tail forcompany. At intervals there were lesser noises, and when at last theyceased, the Duke cried out, 'Heavens! What was that?'
"'I will see, Monsieur,' said the thief. 'I shall not go far.' Thistime the Duke made no remonstrance. The thief was away not more thanfive minutes. He left the lantern beside my mother.
"'Well?' said she, as he reappeared.
"'Madame,' he answered, the tunnel from the wine-cellar has fallen in: agreat tumble of stone fills up all the way.'
"'Heaven has willed for us that we go on, and at least now no one canpursue us,' said my mother.
"'That is so,' said the Duke; and we moved along, perceiving that theway grew broader until we were standing in a space so great that nowalls could be seen.
"'And now where are we?' said the Duke. 'Light us another candle.'When this was done, we saw that the great chamber, quarried out in pastcenturies, was too vast to give us sight of all of it, or to enable usto get a notion of its height. Close by us a mighty pyramid of bones ofmen stood in the mid space, as if these had been cast down through someopening overhead, but long since closed. These were the dead of hundredsof years. There was no odor of decay, but only a dull, musty smell,like that of decayed cheese. Here and there on this great pile werefaint tufts of bluish light, seen only where the lantern-light did notchance to fall. I was just getting a little used to this horrible sightwhen, as our steps disturbed the base of the pyramid, a good fourth ofit came rattling down with crash and clatter, and dozens of tumbledskulls rolled by us and were lost to view in the darkness. This noiseand movement alarmed not us alone; for scarce was it half over whenmyriads of rats ran out from among the bones and fled away. This prettynearly made an end of my courage; and, indeed, these beasts were so bigand so many that had they been brave we should, I think, have fallen aneasy prey.
"My mother was trembling all over, as I could feel; but she laughed aqueer little laugh when Francois said it was a mercy they were not mice,because ladies were afraid of these, but not, he had heard, of rats. Aswe had been kept in motion, by this time we were across this woefulspace, and groping along the wall for a way out. Finding none, we wentback whence we came, and started afresh, taking the extreme righthandpassage, which seemed to lead, as we guessed, toward the Luxembourg.Every few yards were ways to left or right, some hard to crawl through,but most of such size that the Duke, a tall man, could walk in themerect. We saw no more bones, but rats in legions. How they lived, whocan say? They may have come from the cellars of houses overhead. Whenwe crossed beneath streets, the immense noise of the vehicles told usthis much, but hours went by with no sound but the scamper of rats, orthe dull dripping of water from the roof. In some places it was afoul-smelling rain, and in one place a small rill fell down the wall andran off along the passage we were in.
"I do not know, Monsieur,"--and here the old gentleman, being next tome, leaned over and laid a hand on my knee,--"I do not know how I canever make you or any one feel the increasing horror of day after day ofdarkness. When we walked, it was often with no light until the thief,who kept touching the wall, would tell us there was a passage to theright or left. Then we would light the candle and decide which way togo.
"This had been a sad day and full of more danger than we lads knew of,and of many fears; but if the day was bad, the night I shall neverforget. The Duke said it was seven o'clock, and time to eat. We tookour rations eagerly enough, and then the thief wrapped up Henri and mein blankets, and we two poor little dogs fell to discussing where wewere, and when we should get out. At last we slept, and were awakenedonly by the Duke's shaking us. We got up from our damp bed, pretty welltired of our adventure. But the Duke declared we should soon be out inthe air; and so, on this our seventh morning, we set forth again. Asthe thief had some positive notion of direction, and the Duke had none,our good thief took the lead, and would have it that we boys should comebeside or after him. Except for his rattle of jokes and thieves' slangand queer stories well worth remembering, I think we boys would havegiven out early on that weary day.
"My mother moved along, saying nothing, but the Duke now and then flunga skeptical comment at our thief, who nevertheless kept on, insistingthat we must soon come into daylight.
"At last the Duke called a halt about five in the evening, and,disheartened, in total silence we ate our meal. We decided to go nofurther until morning. I drew Henri close up to me, and tucked in theblankets and tried to sleep. Unluckily, the water-drops fell thick, andthe rats were so bold and fierce that I was afraid. Assuredly, theylacked no courage, for during my brief lapses into slumber they stoleout of my coat pocket a bit of cheese, a biscuit, and a roll of twine.Once the baby set up such a yell that the thief, who stayed on guard,lit a candle, and then we saw that a rat had bitten the little fellow'sfinger.
"About six o'clock our thief called, 'Breakfast is served,' and wetumbled out of our covers, dazed. 'The sun is up,' said the thief, ashe lit the candle; and this was our eighth day since my father left usshut in the cave. The candles were giving out, despite our mosteconomical care, and this day we ate in darkness. I suppose this mayhave upset me, since I began to have for the first time strange fears. Iwanted to keep touch of some one. I thought I felt things go by me. Iwas afraid, and yet neither as a child nor as a man have I been calledtimid. Indeed, I was not altogether sorry when the baby cried; and, asthe thief said, he cried very solid. Somehow I also felt that my motherwas growing weak, and was feeling the long strain of doubt and dangerand deep darkness. Even the Duke grew downcast, or at least ceased fromhis efforts to encourage my mother and to cheer up his son and me. Ourthief alone never gave up. He insisted on taking the child from mymother, and crooned to it amazing lullabies. And to us he sang queerballads, and once, when we rested for two hours, he told us someastonishing tales such as I shall some day delight to relate to you.They were very queer stories, I assure you.
"When our sorry meal was over, and the wine was circulating hope withour blood, our thief proposed to try to take those ways which seemed tolead along under streets. I do not see now why this should have seemeddesirable, but it did, and we were busy all that day following thisclue, if such it were, by waiting until we heard the sound of wagons.It was time we got somewhere; for although we still had a fair allowanceof food, it was no more than would serve with economy for two dayslonger. Still more alarming was it that our candles were giving out.
"About five that afternoon of July 28th we came to a full stop where along tunnel ended in a _cul-de-sac_. It was a weary way back, and asfor us boys, we held on to one another and choked down our tears. Thethief seemed to understand, for when we again got to the turn we hadlast taken, he gave us in the dark a good dose of wine, and saying, ashe lit the lantern candle, 'Rest, Madame; I must see where now to go,'he ran down the next alley of stone, and we heard the sound of his feetuntil they were lost. Overhead the rumble and roar of wagons were nolonger heard, and the stillness was as the darkness, complete.
"On the morning of the day before, these noises now and then shook downsmall fragments of stone, to our great alarm. Once the thief said, 'Ifonly a nice little house would drop down, and we could just go up-stairsand walk out.' In fact, many houses had thus fallen into these caves,and it was by no means an impossible thing. It served to season ourfears with a laugh; but since then the constant silence had made us hopewe were going out into the suburbs and toward some opening. Alas! itcame not, and now when our thief left us we were so dispirited that fora time no one said a word of his sudden departure. Then the Duke,seeming to understand how we felt, said, 'He will come back soon'; andmy mother, whose sweet hopefulness was sapped by this long fatigue,answered, 'Or perhaps he will not. God knows.' Even I, a lad, heardher with astonishment, because she was one who never doubted that allthings would come out right, and all people would do what they should.
"I liked our thief, and when an hour went by, and there was borne in onme the idea that he had deserted us, I burst into tears. Just as mymother drew me to her, saying, 'Do not cry, my boy. God will take careof us,' I heard our thief, beside me, cry cheerily, 'This way, Madame. Iwill show you the light of day.' As we heard him we all leaped up. Hecried out, 'This way, and now to the left, Monsieur le Duc; and now thisway,' and so through several alleys until he paused and said, 'See! Thelight of day,' and certainly there was, a little way off, a palereflection against the gray stone wall beyond us.
"'I thought,' said our thief, 'that as we turned into the _impasse_ Ifelt a current of air. I was not sure enough to speak, and I went justnow to see whence it came. We have gone under the Luxembourg or perhapsVal-de-Grace, and past the barrier.' Then he explained that thiscross-passage, whence came the light, was short and tortuous, and waspartly blocked by debris; that it opened into a disused quarry; and thatit was beyond the city barrier. Upon this, it seemed needful to thinkover what was best to be done when once we were out; but my mothercried, 'Wait a little,' and knelt down, as we all did, and said aloud asweet and thankful prayer for our safety, and concerning the thief Godhad so strangely sent to help us in our extremity.
"As she ended, I looked at the man, and as we stood I saw that now therascal was shedding tears. A moment later he passed his sleeve acrosshis eyes, and said: 'If it please you, Monsieur le Duc, let us go to theopening and see more of the neighborhood.' We went with them a littleway, and stood waiting. It was so wonderful and so lovely to get aglimpse even of the fading light of day! It came straight up the