by G. A. Henty
Chapter 9: Bad News.
Neither Leigh nor Jean Martin was at Saumur, when this decision wasarrived at. The very night that the town was taken, one of theformer's band, who was wounded and, greatly against hisinclination, had been left behind, arrived there on horseback. Hewas the bearer of terrible news.
He was the bearer of terrible news.]
Early on the previous day, a troop of the enemy's cavalry hadarrived. They had apparently ridden all night, and without excitingany alarm on the way. They had made straight for the chateau,without going into the village. Beyond the fact that they belongedto the force operating from Nantes, none knew the route they hadfollowed. They had doubtless expected to arrest Jean at the chateaubut, on finding him absent, had seized his wife, had placed her intheir midst, set fire to the chateau, and ridden off before anyforce could be gathered to oppose them. Jean and Leigh were horrorstricken at the news.
"What is to be done?" the former exclaimed. "What can be done?"
"I should say," Leigh said, "that the first thing to do will be totell the generals that we must, for the present, leave them. Thenwe must go to Nantes in disguise, find out where she is imprisoned,and see what can be done to rescue her."
"Certainly that is the best thing, Leigh. Let us start at once."
"It will be daylight in two hours, Jean, and that will make nodifference. I will go and talk with my boys. They are asleeptogether on the steps of the church of Saint Marie. They may beuseful to us, and I am sure would follow us anywhere."
Jean made no reply. He had buried his face in his hands, and deepsobs broke from him. Tears were streaming down Leigh's cheek as hespoke, but he put his hand upon Jean's shoulder and said, in avoice which he tried to keep steady:
"It is terrible, Jean, but we must not give up hope. We have beatenthe Blues in the field, and it is hard if we cannot manage to beatthem, somehow, in this business."
The other made no reply, and Leigh, feeling that it would be bestto leave him to himself for the present, went downstairs.
The lad who had brought the message was seated against the wall,holding the horse's bridle in his hand. Being a stranger in theplace, he did not know where to go.
"Come with me, Philippe. The others are all in the great square, ahundred yards away. They got their bread yesterday morning, andwill have plenty of it left for you and the horse. It can take adrink at the fountain, in the centre.
"Ah," he exclaimed stopping suddenly, "you said nothing about thechild, and we did not think to ask. Did my sister take it away withher, or was it left?"
"I did not hear, captain. My mother ran into the house crying, andsaid:
"'The Blues have come, and have set fire to the chateau and carriedmadame away prisoner. Take the horse and ride to the army, and tellMonsieur Martin what has happened.'
"I ran into the stable and saddled it, took two loaves of bread,one for him and one for myself, and started. I should have beenhere in the middle of the day, but I lost my way in the lanes lastnight, and had to stop till daylight and, even then, rode for along time in the wrong direction."
Leaving the lad and horse in the middle of the square, Leigh wentto the steps of the church. A great number of peasants weresleeping there. He was not long in finding his own band. He rousedAndre and Pierre with some difficulty for, having both been up allthe previous night, they slept heavily.
"Come with me," Leigh said, as soon as they were sufficientlyroused to understand who was speaking to them. "I want to have atalk with you.
"I have some bad news," he went on, as they passed beyond thesleepers; "the Blues have been at the chateau. They have burned itdown, and have carried off Madame Martin."
Exclamations of rage broke from both the lads. Patsey had, duringthe months she had spent on the estate, made herself extremelypopular among the peasantry; whose cottages she constantly visited,and who always found her ready to listen to their tales of trouble,and to supply dainty food for the sick. The thought, too, that thechateau had been burned down was also a blow, for all the tenantryconsidered that they had a personal interest in the affairs oftheir seigneur.
"How was it that there was no defence?" Andre asked. "I know thatmost of the men were away, but surely enough might have beengathered to keep the Blues back, until madame escaped to thewoods."
"It seems they rode by night, and arrived there soon after daybroke. They had evidently come on purpose to seize your lord for,as soon as they found that he was not there, they went away atonce, only stopping to set fire to the chateau. They were evidentlyin a hurry to be off.
"Here is Philippe Rehan, who has brought the news. He only knowswhat I have told you, as he mounted and rode off at once."
"I suppose they have taken our young lord, too?"
"Philippe does not know about that. He says they came from thedirection of Nantes, and no doubt my sister has been taken there."
"What is to be done, captain?" Andre asked, as he and Pierre lookedat each other helplessly, in face of this trouble.
"Monsieur Martin and I are going to leave, at once. We don't knowwhat we are going to do yet, but we shall certainly try, by allmeans, to get her out of prison. How it is to be managed we havenot even thought, but if it can be done, we shall do it. Now, I amsure that we can rely upon your assistance."
"We will do anything," Andre exclaimed; while Pierre said, "We willbe cut to pieces for you, captain."
Leigh gave a hand to each.
"I am sure of it," he said. "And the band?"
"Every one of those we had at first we could answer for," Andrereplied. "And I believe that the others can be trusted, too. Theyall esteem it a high honour to have been received into the band ofCathelineau's scouts. They knew that there would be danger, whenthey joined, and that they must be prepared to die for the cause.All would certainly be faithful; there would be no fear aboutthat."
"I have not the least idea, at present, what I shall want you todo; but at any rate we shall go to Nantes, and it is there that youmust meet us. We shall ride off in an hour's time. Let the otherssleep till there is a general movement, then you can tell them whathas happened, and that my orders are that you shall march home, atonce. You can be there by tomorrow night, can you not?"
"It will be two long marches, but we will be there, captain."
"We shall not be much before you. By that time we shall havedetermined how we shall set about the matter, and shall be able togive you instructions; which will probably be that you are to meetus, at some point we will arrange, just outside the town. Ofcourse, you will not go in a body, but singly or in pairs; crossingthe river at various points, and travelling by different roads.Enter the town as if you belonged to villages round.
"I will ask Monsieur de la Rochejaquelein to let you have anotherpistol, each, before you leave. Of course, you will hide your armsunder your clothes. I don't know that it will be necessary to useforce; of course, at first we shall try bribery.
"At any rate, you will both be most useful in obtaininginformation. There are very many people who know Monsieur Martin bysight, and a few who know me. Possibly some of your band may havefriends in Nantes; and these, if they are of our party, would beable to ask questions, and to find out the place in which my sisteris imprisoned, much better than strangers could do.
"We have heard nothing of what is passing in Nantes for many weeksand, as they have sent troops to arrest Monsieur Martin, it ispossible that his father may also be arrested. If he is at liberty,he would be sure to know where my sister is imprisoned."
The day was breaking now, and Leigh went next to the large housewhich had been set apart for the use of the generals. He knewRochejaquelein's room, having been chatting with him till late, theevening before. The young count sat up in bed, as he opened thedoor.
"You have given me a start, Leigh," he said, with a smile. "I wasdreaming that the Blues had retaken the town and, when the dooropened, thought that it was a party come to make me prisoner.
"Is there any bad news? You look
grave."
"Bad news as far as Jean Martin and I are concerned. A messengerarrived, two hours ago, with the news that a party of Blues fromNantes arrived at his chateau, without being observed, as they hadtravelled all night and reached it at daybreak. They had no doubtbeen specially sent to arrest Jean but, finding that he was away,they burnt the chateau, and carried off my sister a prisoner.
"We are going to start at once. I trust that you will explain, tothe other generals, the cause of our absence."
"I am sorry, indeed, to hear your news," Rochejaquelein saidwarmly. "A curse upon the Blues! Why can't they content themselveswith making war on men, without persecuting and massacring women?
"Certainly I will explain, to Cathelineau and the others, the causeof your absence. But what are you thinking of doing?"
"That we have not even considered. We mean to get her out of theirhands, if possible; but until we see whether she has been reallytaken to Nantes--of which I have little doubt--which prison she isplaced in, and how it is guarded, we can form no plan. If possible,we shall bribe the jailers. If not, we will try to rescue her byforce.
"I am taking my band with me. I can depend upon them, and there isno one in Nantes on whom we can rely. They will, of course, enterthe town singly; and will, I am sure, give us their loyal service,should we require it."
"If they serve you as well as they serve the cause, you couldscarce have better assistants. I would that I could go with you. Itwould be an adventure after my own heart, but private friendshipmust give way to our country's needs. I hope, Leigh, that it willnot be long before we meet again, and that I may hear that you havebeen successful."
Half an hour later, Leigh and Jean Martin started. The latter'sfirst question, when Leigh returned, had been regarding the child.It was now nearly fifteen months old but, in the terrible shockcaused by the news of his wife having been carried off, Jean hadnot thought of it till Leigh had left the room.
"The child is as nothing to me," he said, when Leigh had told himthat the messenger had heard nothing of it. "It would have been,some day; but so far 'tis as nothing compared to Patsey. It sleptwith the nurse, and may possibly have escaped; unless, indeed,Patsey wished to take it with her."
"I do not think that she would do that," Leigh said. "No doubt itwould have been a comfort, to have it with her; but she would haveknown that its chances of life would be slight, indeed, and foryour sake she would have concealed it, if possible, before she wasseized."
They reached the ruins of the chateau at noon next day, havingstopped for the night at Chemille, in order to rest their horsesand keep them in condition for another long ride, if necessary. Theouthouse had been left standing. Francois came out, on hearing thesound of the horses' hoofs.
"Thank God you are back, master!" he said. "It has been a terribletime."
"Is the child safe, or was it taken with its mother?" Jean asked.
"He is safe, sir. Marthe saved it. When madame heard the Blues rideup, and looked out and saw their uniforms, she ran into Marthe'sroom and said:
"'Hide the child, Marthe! Run with it downstairs, without wakingit, and put it in a cupboard in the kitchen. They will never thinkof searching for it there. Then return to your bed again. Tell yourmaster, when he comes back again, I have left little Louis forhim.'
"I was getting up when I heard the horsemen, and guessed that itwas the Blues and, without waiting a moment, dropped from my windowand ran past the stable, and hid myself in the shrubbery behind it.I had scarcely done so when I heard them come round the house.
"Then there was a great knocking at the door and, a minute later, apistol shot was fired. I heard afterwards that madame told Henri toopen the door. As he did so, the officer of the Blues shot himthrough the head.
"For ten minutes I heard nothing more. Then someone came to thestable, took out the two horses, and then set fire to it. Lookingout through the bushes, I saw the smoke coming out from two orthree windows of the chateau. Then I made off as quickly as Icould, got into the church, and set the bells ringing; thinkingthat it might frighten off the Blues, though I knew that the menwere all away, and there was no chance of help.
"Soon they came riding along at full speed, and I saw madame in themiddle of them. As soon as they had gone, the women all ran outfrom their houses. We tried our best to put out the flames, but thefire had too much hold.
"As we were doing this, I saw Marthe with the child in her arms. Ithad been saved well-nigh by a miracle, she said, and she told mehow her mistress had run in to her. She caught up the child, andthen, thinking that if they saw its clothes they would search forit, she opened the drawers, seized them all, and ran down and putthem and the child into the kitchen cupboard, as her mistress hadtold her, then ran back to her bedroom and began to dress.
"She heard her mistress call to Henri to go down and open the door.She heard the pistol shot, and the Blues pour into the house. Shehurried on her clothes and went out. They were searching all overthe chateau. The officer came up to her, with a pistol in his hand.
"'Where is your master?' he said.
"'I do not know,' she replied. 'He rode away from here ten daysago, and has not been back since.'
"'That is the tale your mistress tells,' he said.
"'It is true, sir. You go into the village and ask any of the womenthere, they will tell you the same thing. I will swear on the crossthat it is so.'
"He seemed very angry, but turned away from her. Presently themistress came down, under a guard of two soldiers and, as shepassed, she said:
"'Goodbye, Marthe. Tell your master that I am thankful, indeed,that he was not here.'
"Then the officers told the men to set fire to the house, in adozen places. They had all got bundles, having taken everythingthey thought of value. As soon as they had set fire to the curtainseverywhere, and saw that the flames had got a good hold, theymounted and rode off.
"They had not searched the kitchen much, as they had only openedthe closets large enough for a man to hide in and, not expecting tofind anything worth taking, had not troubled themselves to lookinto the small ones; so Marthe had only to take the child out.Fortunately it had not awoke. When we found that it was hopeless totry and put the fire out, Marthe took the child over to the farm ofMadame Rehan who, as soon as she got the news of the mistress beingcarried off, had sent her son away on horseback to tell you."
"Thank God, the child has been spared!" Jean Martin said,reverently. "We will go to the cure's.
"The boys will all be back tonight. Give the horses a good feed. Weshall set out perhaps tonight, perhaps tomorrow morning."
"Ah, Monsieur Martin," the cure said, as they entered his house,"this is a sad homecoming for you. If we had known that the Blueswere coming, but a quarter of an hour before they arrived, we couldhave got madame away to a place of safety. I knew nought about ituntil the church bells began to ring. Just as I was about to goout, five minutes later, to learn the cause, I saw them ride pastwith Madame Martin in their midst. We did not know that there wereany of them within twenty miles of us, and thought that there wasno chance, whatever, of their coming to a little village likeours."
"They came, no doubt, for me," Jean said gloomily. "If they hadfound Leigh and myself at home, they would not have taken the placeso easily. He and I and the two men could have made a stoutdefence. I hear that there were not more than twenty of them, and Iwarrant that there would not have been many of them left, when thefight was over."
"I am sure," the cure said, "that if you had been there, and theplace had been defended, all the women within sound of the churchbell would have come in with arms, and would have fought like menin the defence of yourself and madame; but as it was, the wholething was such a surprise, with everyone in bed and asleep, thatthe enemy were off before anyone could think of what had best bedone. As it was, the women from all the farms round were here,armed with hatchets or pitchforks, half an hour after the bellbegan to ring. Of course, in the village here we knew that it wastoo late to do anything,
but to flock to the church and pray forthe safety of our good lady."
"Thank you, my friend. Leigh and I are going to Nantes, to see ifanything can be done to get her out of prison. Leigh's band arecoming also. Of course, they will travel singly. If of no otheruse, they will be better able to ask questions than we.
"I am going over now to Rehan's farm, to see my boy and to thankMarthe for saving him."
"It was well managed, indeed," the priest said. "I went overyesterday to see the child, and the nurse told me how its escapehad been contrived. It was a happy thought on the part of itsmother, and the woman carried it out well.
"But before you go, you must take a meal. I am sure that you mustwant it."
"I will not say no to that," Jean replied, "for we have not brokenour fast this morning."
In half an hour, the cure's table was most abundantly furnishedfor, as soon as the news spread through the village that theseigneur had arrived, and was at the house of the priest, the womenbrought in little presents--a dozen eggs, a fowl, or some troutthat had been caught by the boys in the stream, that morning.
One or two of the women volunteered to assist the cure's servant.Three fowls were hastily plucked, cut asunder, and grilled over thefire. As soon as they were nearly ready, they were placed in frontof the fire to be finished, while the trout took their place. Therepast began with these, the fowls followed, and it was concludedwith an omelette.
"I have not eaten such a meal, father," Martin said, "since I rodeaway. I think, after this, I shall be able to take a more hopefulview of matters. In that respect the meal will be thrown away uponLeigh, for he always takes the brightest view of everything, andhas never ceased to assure me that we are sure to manage to get mywife out of the hands of these villains, somehow; and as he has sofar always succeeded in what he has attempted, I feel a good dealof faith in him. I should be as hopeful as he, if I knew that theHenriette was in the river at Nantes, and that I had to my hand adozen stout fellows I could thoroughly rely on."
After paying a visit to the farm, praising Marthe, and arrangingthat she should continue to live there, they returned to thevillage.
"We will go over to the chateau, Leigh, before we do anything else.I want to see how hot the ruins are."
"I should think that they must be pretty cool by this time, Jean.You see, it is nearly four days since it was burnt."
"I have no doubt that the walls will be cool enough; but there wasa lot of woodwork about it. When the roof fell in it would smotherthe fire for a time, but it might go on smouldering, even now."
"But what does it matter, Jean?"
"It matters a good deal. I have with me only a hundred francs, inpaper, which is not worth above a third of its face value. I havehere four thousand in gold, which I brought with me from Nantes, assoon as the troubles began. I buried it one day under thehearthstone of the kitchen, thinking it possible that the Bluesmight come here. The money is of the utmost importance now, for wemay want it to bribe some of the jailers; and therefore I must getit, even if it delays us for a day."
They found indeed that, as they had feared, there was still fireamong the mass of debris.
"We must quench it before we can do anything, Jean. I have no doubtthat the women will help."
Francois was at once sent round and, in a short time, all the womenin the place were assembled with pails. Martin and Francois workedthe windlass of the well, the women carried pails of water, andLeigh threw the contents on to the smouldering mass above where heknew the kitchen fireplace must have stood. Clouds of steam roseand, from time to time, some of the women with rakes pulled off theupper layer of ashes. They worked till nightfall, by which timesteam had ceased to rise.
"That will do for tonight," Jean said; "we will finish the jobtomorrow morning. Your band will be here by that time, and willhelp us to get some of these heavy beams and timbers out of theway. We can then rake the smaller stuff out, and get at thefireplace."
At eight o'clock the band arrived. Leigh went down and spoke tothem, and thanked them for the two long marches they had made. Hehad, during the afternoon, obtained a supply of bread and wine and,after they fell out, a meal was eaten before they started for theirhomes, promising to be back at six in the morning, to aid in thework of clearing away the debris.
Jean and Leigh spent a couple of hours in talk with the cure, andrelated to him the events that had passed since they had left.Then, thoroughly tired out, they retired to the room that had beenprepared for them. The work that afternoon had been heavy; they hadhad a long ride previously, and neither had slept much the nightbefore.
The next morning the work was recommenced. During the night thefire had crept in again, from the surrounding mass; but there wereplenty of hands now, and in an hour it was again extinguished. Thehearthstone was soon cleared and raised, and Martin brought out acrock, in which he had placed the gold.
"Now, Leigh," he said, "you had better have a talk with your boys,and arrange where they are to meet you. I should not press any ofthem who are unwilling to go. This is a private business, and I donot think that it would be right to urge them."
"Certainly not," Leigh agreed. "I am quite sure that all our boyswill go with us, both for Patsey's sake, and because they arefurious at the chateau being burnt down; as to the others, I shallput it to them that they are perfectly free to do as they wish.They can go with us, or they can rejoin the army, just as theylike.
"If they go, I think that it would be as well that they did notenter the town; but should take up their quarters in a copse, or ina deserted house, a mile or two away, so that we could call them ifwe wanted them. Even in a town like Nantes, forty strange boyswandering about might be noticed."
Martin, after seeing that the workers all had refreshment, went tothe cure's; as he never interfered in any way with the boys,thinking that it might lessen Leigh's authority, were he to do so.
"Now, I want to talk to you all," Leigh said, after they had drunktheir wine and eaten their bread. "In the first place, do Iunderstand that all who were first with me are ready to run aconsiderable risk to attempt, with us, to carry off Madame Martinfrom the hands of the Blues, and to save her from the fate thatfalls upon every one that they once lay a hand upon?"
"They are all willing, captain," Andre said. "We spoke to themagain, just before we came in last night, and they all said thatthey were willing and anxious."
"Good. Remember, lads, that it is not too late to draw back now."
"We should not dare show our face in the village again," Pierresaid, "if we were to hang back when there was a chance of our beingof service to so good a lady."
"I thank you with all my heart," Leigh said. "I tell you fairlythat I expected such an answer. Those who have shown such courageas you have done, and have been so loyal to the promises made mewhen I first enrolled you, would, I felt certain, not hang backnow. Now, do you draw aside for a minute or two, while I speak tothe others."
There was a movement, and the two groups stood apart.
"Your case is different from that of the others," he said. "In thefirst place, you have not been with me so long; and secondly--andthis is more important--that Madame Martin is not the wife of yourseigneur, and that you owe no duty to her. The enterprise on whichwe are going to start does not concern the cause for which we arefighting. It is a private business, and there is no occasionwhatever for you to take part in it. You are free either to choosean officer among yourselves; or to rejoin the army, find Monsieurde la Rochejaquelein, and tell him that I sent you to him in orderthat he might find a suitable leader for you, among the gentlemenwith him. I would rather that you talked the matter over amongyourselves, and came and gave me an answer, in half an hour."
"Will you tell us what we shall have to do, captain?" one of themsaid.
"That I can hardly do, for I do not know myself. However, I thinkit probable that the greater portion of the band would remainoutside the town. There are copses, down by the riverside, whereyou could wait in safety until you were w
anted. Possibly you mightnot be wanted at all. Possibly you might be summoned to take partin so desperate an enterprise as storming one of the prisons. Ofcourse it would be done at night, when we should have the advantageof a surprise. I can tell you no more than that.
"Now, my last word is, I shall not think any the worse of you, ifyou decide not to go with me."
It wanted five minutes of the time, when two of the boys returnedto where he was talking with Pierre and Andre.
"We have decided, captain. You told us, when you marched away fromSaumur, that Monsieur de la Rochejaquelein had approved of yourtaking us, and therefore we shall feel that we are still doing ourduty to the cause. You have been kind, good, and thoughtful whilewe have been with you. All those of our own age in the army enviedus who were of Cathelineau's scouts, and regarded our position as agreat honour. Even if we were willing to go back, we could not doso, and tell the others that we had left you and our comrades whenyou were about to undertake some perilous service.
"But we do not wish it. We all desire to remain with you, and tofollow wherever you may lead us, and to die in your service, ifneed be."
Leigh shook them warmly by the hand.
"Bravely said, and I thank you heartily. I am proud of my scouts,and am glad to see that my confidence in you is well founded. Callthe others up."
After thanking these also, Leigh addressed the whole of them.
"Now, I will give you your orders. You must make your way bydifferent routes to Nantes. There are many villages on the bankwhere you can find a boat that will take you across. Never travelmore than two together. You must all take the green ribbons offyour hats, leave your belts behind, and hide your pistols. Ifquestions are asked you, reply that you are going to get work atNantes, where you have friends, and that you are afraid to stay inyour own villages.
"I will give each of you assignats for five francs. It would not doto give you silver. With this you can pay for your ferry across thewater, and buy food on the way. It were best that, both on thisside of the river and the other, you travel either by by-lanes orthrough the fields.
"When you get near Nantes, keep close to the river, and enter thelast large copse before you get there. Andre or Pierre are likelyto be there first, and will be on the lookout for you. They willjoin me in the town and bring you orders when necessary, and willsend two or three of you in, daily, to buy food for the rest.
"I can give you no orders beyond that. Now, I hope I shall meet youall, in three days' time, at your rendezvous.
"Pierre and Andre, you will, on the evening after you arrive, enterNantes, following the river bank. You will go along to a spot wherea church faces the river. Sit down on its steps and wait for us,until the clock strikes ten. If we are not there, return and comeback the next evening. If we are still not there, you will knowthat some bad luck has befallen us; and the band will thendisperse, and you will all find your way up home.
"I should advise you all to travel by night, when you have oncecrossed the Loire. In that way you will avoid any risk of beingquestioned."
The boys then dispersed, and Leigh returned to the priest's. He andMartin had already talked over their disguises, and had agreed thatthose of fishermen would be the most appropriate; but until theycould obtain the necessary clothes, they would go in the attire offairly well-to-do people in a country town.
"We should only have to put on a tricolour scarf, Jean, and shouldlook like municipal authorities."
"It would go against the grain to put that rag on," Martin said;"but your idea is a good one, and I would dress up as a general ofthe Blues, or as Robespierre himself, on such an errand as we arebound on.
"We cannot do better than go to Clisson. The place is in the handsof our people, and the village authorities will not dare to ask usany questions."
After dining with the cure, they mounted and rode to Clisson,arriving there at five o'clock in the afternoon. They went to theleader of the force there, as he was a friend of Jean's.
"I will send and get you the things," he said, when they told himthe object of their visit. "It is just as well, if any of thepeople here are acting as spies for the Blues--which is likelyenough--that they should not be able to give any description ofyou. We are all three about the same size, therefore I will go outand buy two suits.
"As to the scarves, I am more doubtful. I doubt if any shopkeeperhere would admit that he had even a bit of tricolour ribbon in hispossession."
"It will not matter about that," Martin said; "and, at any rate,when we get beyond the ground held by us, we shall find nodifficulty whatever in getting a couple of cockades of thosecolours.
"Thank you very much indeed," he went on. "Here are five louis. Ihave no doubt that you will be able to lay them out well for us.But remember, please, that although we are all three the sameheight, I am some four or five inches bigger round the shouldersthan Leigh; and want more room for my arms, also."
"I will remember," the other laughed. "Just let me pass this stringround you, and then round Monsieur Stansfield, and tie two knots init; and I will also measure you round the waist and leg."
In an hour he returned with one of his men, carrying two parcels.
"I had no difficulty in getting the clothes for yourbrother-in-law," he said, "but I had to go to two or three shopsbefore I could get coat and breeches wide enough for you. What doyou intend to do with your horses?"
"We shall ride into Nantes as we are, after nightfall, and shallput them up at a small inn. I know of one near the water. It iskept by a man who was at one time in my lugger, but he had his legcrushed in a storm, and had to have it taken off. He was a goodsailor, so I set him up, and can rely upon him. He will getfishermen's clothes for us and, should we have to stay there anytime, buy a boat and nets. We may want such a thing, badly."
The clothes were tried on, and found to fit fairly well. In ourdays the short-waisted coats with their long tails, and thewaistcoats extending below the waist, would be deemed laughable;but as it was then the fashion among the middle classes, andespecially the Republicans, Jean saw nothing ridiculous in it,while Leigh smiled at the figures they cut. Both had bright yellowbreeches and stockings, and low shoes.
They waited till midnight at Clisson, and then mounted again, andby morning they were within a mile or two of a ferry, a shortdistance above Nantes. They stopped at a small village, and therepurchased two tricolour cockades from the one shop it boasted,these forming conspicuous objects in the window, as a proof of thewarm adherence of its owner to the Convention.
At the little cabaret they took breakfast, and saw that the horseswere fed, then they rode on to the ferry. The boat was on theopposite side, and in half an hour it crossed. Then they took theirplaces, and were ferried over. A party of soldiers were posted atthe landing place.
"You are going to Nantes, I suppose, citizens?" the officer incommand asked.
"We are. We come from Vallet, and are going to consult thecommissary of the republic concerning some taxes that, as weconsider, it is impossible for the town to pay, which thecommissary there has imposed upon us."
"I should imagine that your errand is scarcely likely to meet withsuccess," the officer said, with a light smile. "I hear the samecomplaints at Nantes, but have not heard that any remission hasbeen made. Well, citizens, at any rate I can wish you luck on yourerrand."
It was still very early when they rode into Nantes, and but fewpeople were about the streets. Trade was almost at a standstill.The town, which had been strongly Republican, was at once deeplydiscontented with the crushing taxation imposed upon it, andhorrified at the constant executions that took place. Almost everyhouse had soldiers billeted on it, as it was considered necessaryto keep a large force there in order to overawe the south ofBrittany and, if necessary, to send supports to the generalsoperating in the west of La Vendee.
There was scarcely any shipping in the river, and even thefishermen had almost given up plying their business; their bestcustomers had fallen under the guillotine, and there was n
o demandfor fish on fast days--for to practise any of the observances ofreligion was considered to be, in itself, a proof of hostility tothe Convention. Therefore Jean and Leigh rode into the courtyard ofthe little inn without having attracted any attention, whatever.