by Ludwig Tieck
CHAPTER VII.
Roland had in the mean while by several successful engagements entirelycleared the higher mountainland of the royal troops. The Camisards wereincamped in safety in the woods, and upon the lofty mountain tablelands, and all were rejoicing in the hope of soon beholding theirworship and liberty of conscience reestablished. Edmond had been butslightly wounded in the last combat, and was now sitting by the side ofRoland, that he might converse with him on the probable issue of thewar. Cavalier was incamped opposite on the confines of the wood,surrounded by Clary, Marion, and other religious men, who werediscoursing on ghostly matters. Upon the most elevated height stoodMazel, the charcoal-burner, Eustace, young Stephen, and a swarm ofyoung people, all in the greatest excitement, for they were expectingthe commander Castanet, who on this day intended to conduct Mariette,his bride, from the village below, in order to unite himself with herin the bonds of marriage. "So the God of love," said Lacostederidingly, "has made his way even to these solitary mountains, andwhat is still more, into the enlightened hearts of such pious rebels ofthe woods? The old heathens were certainly quite right to call him,although a boy, the greatest among all the Gods."
"Cease your profitless mockery," said Marion, who had also climbed upto the summit, "our brother has been long since betrothed to her; thepoor girl is there exposed to the daily peril of her life, because herconnexion is known, here at least she will share the fortunes of herhusband, and shall be protected by us; and if marriage be a holyordinance, why should not the command of the Lord be fulfilled in thesolitude of the mountains, under oppression and distress, with areligious, modest mind and christian humility?" "Do not troubleyourself," said Lacoste, "at least no expence or parade will attend themarriage, I think too, that neither bridegroom, nor any of the guestswill retire nosily to bed."
At that moment Castanet, his bride and a croud of his friends issuedfrom the wood, Cavalier and all the others advanced to greet them withkindness. The young girl was dark and not particularly tall: a peasantgirl of a healthy robust appearance, a little embarrassed at first butin a short time she conducted herself with a composed and easy bearingin the circle of the brethren.
"Brother Castanet," said the tall slender Marion, "it is you that Ihave to thank for my conversion, but for your early admonitions, Ishould perhaps now be wandering in error, permit your grateful pupilhere in the circle of the brethren; to bless you in your new condition,under the Almighty eye religiously and christian-like." Roland andEdmond had also approached, and Elias and Marion delivered a short,touching discourse concerning their oppression, the distress of thetimes, and how by reason of the perishable tenure of all earthly goods,and the ever increasing danger, it was expedient to unite together inthe name of the Lord, in life and in death; that they might find solaceand strength in general consolation of love and mutual perseverance. Asimple meal was prepared, and in peaceable enjoyment, the variousgroups dispersed; while many sang psalms, and others discussed theirpast adventures. It was announced that a troop was approaching, and thepale, sickly Duplant advanced with a band of men leading a number ofprisoners, among whom were Clement and the Vicar, who had again headedthe volunteers in an expedition against the Camisards. Roland and theothers now arose, and formed a large circle to pass sentence on theunfortunate men. Young Clement trembled violently on seeing himselfexposed to the cruel arbitration of his enemies, and the Vicar lookedround, to try and discover an acquaintance, to be able to find, at anyrate, some means of deliverance, or mitigation of his condition. Atlength he perceived Cavalier, who with the rest had approached nearer,and cried: "Oh! best of young men, I know not 'tis true, who you maybe, but you have, as you know, rescued us formerly, intercede for menow, for I perceive clearly that you must be quite at home here amongyou comrades."
"Have not you and your fellows," said Roland, with the greatestgravity, "reduced to ashes that same benevolent house since that time,which then saved our brother Cavalier, as well as yourself, and theexecrable hermit." "There is not much to say in reply to this," saidthe priest, opening wide his eyes, "than that I am wondering, that thelittle delicate fellow should be nothing less than Cavalier."
Duplant said, "The Lord has given you into our hands at the moment thatyou were in the act of plundering a commune after having slain severalof our friends. We came unexpectedly, to the succour of the oppressed,many have fallen, some escaped, but these, forty in number, have becomeour prisoners."
"Shall they die?"
"Have mercy on us," whined Clement, as he threw himself down beforeRoland.
"I cannot give you grace," said the latter retiring from the circle,"you spare none of us and with your own free will you urge on tomurder: endure then your fate."
"Little man," cried the Vicar, "world-renowned Cavalier, listen toreason and be humane."
"Is it seemly in you to speak thus?" replied the young commander, "you,who revel in cruelty; who has called upon you to dye your hands withthe blood of innocence."
Castanet came forward: "Will you, beloved, honoured brethren, deliverthe execrable wretches up into my hands?" asked he, looking round thecircle. "Yes! yes!" resounded from all sides, "this solemn day belongsto you, annihilate them, command, do with them what you will, they aregiven up to you."
"Now we are falling out of the frying-pan into the fire," said thepriest to Clement, "for the thick, stout, prophecying man will play anugly game with us, even the gentle Cavalier would not grant us grace;courage! make the best of a bad game, and do not be so chop-fallen."
Castanet took Mariette, by the hand, who was weeping bitterly, for, ashort time before, these men had slain, or delivered up her brothers tobe executed; "Weep not," said he, with suppressed sorrow! "let us givean example to these miserable wretches, that we think better than they;that our union may not be stained with blood. I pity these poor, theseerring men, and this timid youth. Return without danger to youdwellings and preach mercy to your party; refrain from blood and tellyour magistrates, who call their cruel bloodthirstiness justice, howmuch better are our sentiments, how much better we are than they.Heaven will the more readily bless my marriage the less I indulge mywrath and desire of vengeance." Young Clement threw himself again onhis knees, weeping with gratitude; the others, who had already giventhemselves up as lost, followed his example, the priest alone drewhimself up after a very low bow, and said stammering withembarrassment: "You are a generous man, Mr. Castanet, and I shall knowhow to extend your fame, although people are loath to believe anythingof the kind of such as you; I however have experienced it myself, andthank you for it in my own name, and in that of these prisoners. Mr.Cavalier, let us commend ourselves to God, au revoir!" "No, not aurevoir!" cried Cavalier, hastily advancing, "this may only happen inone way, in the field, and I counsel you with your bold, unblushingmanner not to reckon again on our generosity, nor brave ourcondescending flexibility; for mercy and love are not always to bedispensed, and should we see each other a third time, it will be yourdeath, thus does the spirit prophecy to me."
"Let the spirit rest, Sir Captain," said the clergyman, as he againmade a low bow and retired with the volunteers and Clement, who allmore or less testified their gratitude and emotion.
Lacoste now came forward and said laughing: "Generosity, as I observe,is common among you, and your turn is come do-day, thick, little stump.Thus every trade, even that of incendiary, has its good side; nothingin the world is perfectly bad, as there is nothing perfectly good to befound in it. To-day, however, there is a greater extension ofgenerosity than what was lately accorded, when I alone remained, thoughmy companions were not a whit worse than myself. But such magnificencesuits so festive and splendid a wedding, and the short-legged fellowhas delivered his speech in quite a royal style and in a mostimpressive tone. You, rosy-cheeked, stunted-grown, and brown-armedspouse, be now the Queen and Princess of these mountains. Infanta ofhave-nothing, Dauphiness of hunger-sufferings, heiress of all the airycastles, and governess of all mad-visionaries, I present
you my sincerecongratulations, and hope to see you soon rise to the rank of theprophets."
"Scoffer!" said Castanet reddening; "your presence would not suit ourassembly, if your speeches were not useful in rendering our humilitystill more humble, and to make our reproach before men, and our miserystill more conspicuous to us."
"That thereby spiritual pride be so much the more glorified! Be nothowever disturbed in your feelings and convictions by me; compared witha christian, my speech is merely the barking of a dog, and in thisanimal dignity, I now indeed follow my illustrious patron, thespiritually-minded Edmond, and prophet also by the grace of God."
A murmur arose round about, which probably would have broken out intoanger and tumult, had not Cavalier directed the attention of thebrethren to a different subject. "My friends," cried he in a livelymanner, "I have just had a vision. At this very moment the commandantof Usez has sent a courier with important dispatches to the Marshal atNismes. New troops are to arrive, and they intend hemming us in on allsides. But little was said, neither could I distinguish all. The enemyhas just ridden out of the gates of the city; Bertrand, if thou wiltseize him, thou wilt meet him in the ravine two miles from hence. He isnot to be mistaken, he wears a red coat, and a blue cloak over it, inconsequence of the threatening rain, he has spread his whitehandkerchief over his new hat, by these marks he will be clearly enoughknown to you: he is an elderly man, who, I should think, has never beena soldier. Bring him here safe and sound with his dispatches."
Bertrand took with him two assistants, and mounted on light ponies,they hurried down the mountain towards the well known ravine.
Lacoste listened to these instructions with staring eyes: "Littlebrother," said he thoughtfully, "if thy information be at all true, thylittle finger has more penetration than the whole of my large body. ButI still believe, thy red-coated courier will not be found in the circleof created beings, and good Bertrand will have been made a little bitof an April-fool by his general, in order to afford some innocentamusement to the bridal pair. If it's not all a humbug, well and good,more must be said about it when an opportunity occurs."
"May it not be allowed to-day," began young Stephen, blushing up to theeyes, "to play a little on the flute?" while he was yet asking, he tookit in his hand, and Roland smilingly gave his assent. He first played apsalm, and after they had gravely chimed in with him, the fair-hairedamateur, to please the company, gave a few worldly, airs. The swarthyEustace, who was now quite convalescent sprang merrily forward, andcried: "Brother! if thou lovest me, play, to enliven me, the old danceof the Cevennes, to which formerly, in my youth, we tripped so gaily."
The young man modestly commenced his melody, and as he received nointerruption, he continued to play with renewed vigour, and it was notlong before several, castanets were heard with their pleasingclattering, so that Eustace could no longer, resist singing aloud, withthe most grotesque gestures, and jumping round the circle highlydelighted. The little shoemaker Anton, as well as the still youngerFrancois could not withstand so enticing an invitation, they danced aspartners, and several other young people came forward to exhibit theirrustic dexterity.
An old, careworn man now came from the wood and cried: "As this is tobe a day of merriment, suffer then my son, the silly Michael, toreceive a little honor; besides, consider his small capacity forprophecying, formerly when a shepherd in the fields, he learned severalinimitable capers, which well deserve to be seen. The tall lad has suchstrong legs, that he can spring almost to the height of a man."
Michael, a robust, tall lad of an idiotic appearance, advancedsneakingly and lazily, turning his little blue eyes timidly andinquisitively round on the circle, and as he thought he perceived nodisapprobation any where, he suddenly changed his lagging laziness intothe most surprising activity, and jumped backwards two or three yardshigh, turned head-over-heels in the air, and ran over the ground in thesame manner, and was so souple in all his motions, that it was scarcelypossible for the eyes to follow his changes. Eustace, in amazement,clapped his hands over his head, and the young lads in admiration triedto imitate their unattainable model. With the loud laughter, which thecomical jestures and attitudes excited, the merry Stephen was compelledto suspend his blowing for awhile, and the whole enclosure, when theold and religious men had retired, appeared only a merry, nay,extravagantly joyous company, which the bride, and even the graveCastanet, by their loud applause encouraged to new and still moreextraordinary feats of skill.
As the grass was already tolerably beaten down, the dance might becontinued with greater safety; and now old Favart stepped upon thelevel ground, and said: "As we are celebrating a festival to-day, praypermit for once, that the brothers Mark Anthony and Cesar may performsome of their exploits, they think, that they know some more refinedamusements, which would contrast very well with the high leaping andpeasant dances."
The two ci-devant noblemen after this short preface, exhibited in thethen customary dances of the more refined society, but these did notexcite that admiration among the spectators, with which Michael hadbeen encouraged; the wilder exertions therefore resumed their place,and the noblemen found themselves compelled to conform to this taste,if they wished to share in the festivity. Many other instruments struckup, a flute resounded, a hautboy was raised, and between these andStephen's pipe a flageolet was heard, mingled at intervals with theloud and merry song of the mountaineers; now the air of a dance, nowold national songs, and merriment and jesting resounded loudly throughthe wood, so that the cliffs of the adjacent precipices repeated withjoyful echo the tones of wild gaiety.
The merry-making, that to-day, once in motion, would have lastedlonger, had it not been suddenly interrupted and broken up by aterrible outcry. The fearful sound proceeded from the summit of apointed cliff, which rose almost perpendicularly over the green swardto the scene of the joyous tumult. All eyes turned quickly thither, andthey beheld a demoniacal figure with upraised, extended arms, face,head, and body coloured and besmeared with blood. Once again thelunatic shouted, and then ran and precipitated himself down the steeprock into the arms of the brethren. It was the wrathful Ravanel. "Curseyou! curse! ye apostates!" screamed he, "as if mad; that ye thus forgetthe Lord! Lamenting, mourning, discoloured with the blood of ourbrethren, of the enemy and with my own, shed in the holy cause, Ireturned to summon ye to vengeance, and I find the idolators here inthe heathenish dance round the golden calf. Thus Moses descending fromSinai, in his wrath broke the tables of the law, as I now in my burningzeal, curse the bond that unites me to ye, ye impious ones!"
They tried to pacify the zealot. Stephen had long since replaced hispipe, the dancers stood at an embarrassed distance, and Eustace, whocould as quickly turn from prayer to the dance as from this to that,was already sunk in profound meditation. "My brother," shouted theinfuriated man anew, "has been executed to-day at Florac, ten believershave suffered martyrdom with him; I wished to rescue them, but havebeen beaten back with my brethren with a great deal of bloodshed, andin the mean while we forget our God, our misery, our faith, thusscandalously bring curses on yourselves, voluntarily draw down themalediction of heaven, the scornful laugh of hell voluntarily uponye,--does no fire then fall down upon the scum? does not the earth openand swallow the iniquitous bands? Howl! howl! ye laden with sin, androll in the dust, smite on your stony hearts and be contrite beforethe Almighty, that peradventure his mercy may awaken and a look ofgrace from the fiery wrath of his eye may light upon ye."
He threw himself down and writhed on the ground. "Mercy! mercy!" roaredhe in convulsions,--"No, there is no compassion, mercy is a lie, loveis no more!"--"Now is woe come upon us!" sighed Eustace, "our brother isagain fallen into his ravings! assist me with your prayers, belovedbrethren, that his reason may become strong again.--" He threw himselfon his knees by his side and prayed fervently. Duplant and Salomon cameforward, that they might help the old man in his supplications; but forthe present their good intention had no influence on the lunatic, whowas exclaiming as if unconsciously, while
he was trying to tear himselfaway from the arms of his friends who were supporting him. "Whither artthou fled," cried he, "lost, wandered away, thou great inexpressiblebeing, whom we with stammering tongue wish to call God? It was afearful, a terrible event, when before the beginning of time, createdspirits in their arrogance rebelled against him, and would be God andruler and crush and annihilate him. Then he withdrew himself from therebels through the whole heaven of heavens, through all the starryinfinities, through the immensity of space, which thought alone canreach, presentiment alone can fathom, and the audacious ones lonely andabandoned, in their malice, bitter as gall in their wrathful fire, inimpotent fury, were transfixed and turned to stone and in their darkinterior their last, their expiring consciousness is lost, those arethe cliffs, the stony rocks, the deep masses of granite, which reachfar into the centre of the earth and still rise up in defiance overclouds and vapour: that is the flesh and bone of the arrogants that theearth is now compelled to bind together as with a cramp iron. Thenmalice, wrath and discontent as if extinct; Yea, the flame expired,when it should have nourished itself. Was it lost, departed loverecovering itself again, which would collect and burst from itspowerless state. Figures move in the sea, in the air, and on the earth,and all persecute, hate, kill one another; bloodthirstiness is delight,lacerations, tearing asunder, martyrdom and devourings of one anotherare raiment and food. Yea, malice is now for the first time awakenedinto life, if it contracts and unites itself with the sentiment oflove, thou hoary darkness of the primeval rocks, and as a lighted brandpenetrates into the bones of the snuffing lions and tigers, and roarsin the waterfall, that crumbles the mountains and thirst in the fierytorrent, that greedily eats its way to the stream and siding with hisbrother, the storm, swallows up woods and fields, and mocking as deadspits forth from itself the former existence as dead, cold as ashes."
Edmond turned away with indignation, and said: "Woe to thee slanderoustongue that in perverted folly takest upon thee to disfigure the mostholy, and inspirest superstitious rage."
"Why are you thus unjust?" said Lacoste smiling, "it affords meinexpressible pleasure to hear for once so cool and impartial aphilosopher reason thus conclusively. One does not meet every day withanything so good." The others became outrageous, and were still morefervent in their prayers. Ravanel foamed and continued crying out: "Buthow pious is the world, how mildly the brand still searches into thebowels of all! Then man came forth, the image of God, as he callshimself, and now in him hell first broke out in glowing, purpletriumph, the loud joyful laugh of inward horror. Whatever subtilty caninvent, imagination create, the wildest dream depict, andvoluptuousness can attain, will turn into martyrdom, into cutting offthe beings that give themselves out as their brother. All the pulses ofthe everlasting Satan beat joyously. Here is God! exclaims the brood,murder, torture them! here is Christ! roar the others, and slay theadversaries. Does an eye from heaven behold? Do the stars know of us?will the lost, the nameless one after eternity find himself once morein his, by himself accursed creation, and will he not then send forth,epidemics, pestilences, famines, fiery flames, and floods of waters,together with earth-quakes and a thousand all-powerful deaths on whitehorses, in order to crush this his brood, to grind, to powder intonothing, who scandalously imagine that the sparks of his spirit dwellin them. He, He himself inspires them? Yea no future hell; we are itand live in it, prophecied from the ancient prophets mouth. We dust ofdust, we curse of curse!"
Now the prayer of the prophet seemed to operate with greater fervour,for the voice of Ravanel died away, he appeared to sink into slumbertotally exhausted, and Lacoste said: "Oh that this pithy syllogismshould be thus interrupted, he might have added to the precedingseveral other arguments just as bold and subtle."
Bertrand now returned with the courier prisoner, whom he had met in theravine. "Behold," said Lacoste to himself, "all corresponds, eitherthese are slyer devils, than they have ever been considered, or thereis some other devilry in the game, which is still strange enough."
The courier, a rather elderly man, was raised from his horse, hisdispatches had already been taken from him. "Who are you?" askedCavalier. "Ah your excellency," stammered the embarrassed man, "Now Iam, indeed, nothing but an insignificant ambassador, formerly a surgeonin the royal guards."
"Your Name?"
"Dubois, by your leave."
When he announced himself as surgeon, he was commanded to bind up thewounds of Ravanel and several of the other brethren. Cavalier andRoland discovered from the papers the position of the royal troops, andit was decided to anticipate the attack. As they intended to dispatch atrusty person to reconnoitre the country, Edmond stepped forward andsaid: "As yet I have not been able to do any thing for you, my dearestbrethren, intrust this commission to me." It was granted to him, and heretired to dress according to his own ideas, in a manner befitting hisdesign; Lacoste, who would never separate from him, now pressed forwardagain as his companion. As soon as they had discussed and ordered everything, Cavalier proposed, that the courier should be detained untilthey should have brought their plan to a fortunate conclusion, andCastanet with his young wife repaired to the leafy hut, that had beengot ready for them both, while the darkness of night set in.