CHAPTER XVII.
IN THE RAVEN'S NEST.
WHEN Le Gros Guillem was carried back to his room, he said to his wife,"Where is Noemi?"
"I believe--that is, I suppose she is going to her Aunt Tarde at LaRoque. She said something about it. Something has occurred and she isnot herself. I don't know what it is."
"I dare say!" laughed the Captain. "Noemi has witnessed this day whathas been seen by few girls. She stood it manfully--at the last."
"I dare say. I know nothing about it," said his wife.
"If she is going to La Roque, then Roger and Amanieu shall accompanyher. I have a letter to transmit to Ste. Soure."
He sent for writing materials, and wrote in a scrawling hand:
"Dear and most valiant friend, Seigneur Jean del' Peyra at Le Peuch Ste. Soure.--Please you to know that your father is let down into oblivion. Dear and well-loved Sir, God have you ever in guard.
"Written at Domme, Wednesday, and sent by the hands of Roger and Amanieu."
That was the fashion of epistolary correspondence as conducted in thosetimes. "Dear friend" was the salutation to a deadly foe, "God have youever in guard," when the writer would like to cut the throat of him headdressed.
Such was the letter received by Jean del' Peyra. It was not explicit. Hehad been in the greatest anxiety relative to his father. That he wouldbe put to ransom was his hope, but not his expectation.
He looked to the bearer of the epistle for explanation, and then for thefirst time saw Noemi, her face rigid and ghastly, as though she had seena ghost, and could not shake off the impression.
"Jean," she said, "let them go back. I will tell you all, between youand myself. No, not back. Step aside."
When Noemi saw that she and Jean were alone she said--
"Do you not understand? Your father--he has been let down into an_oubliette_."
Jean started back as though he had been struck in the face by a mailedhand.
"And now," proceeded Noemi, "there is but one chance for him, one wayopen to you."
"Where--where is it?" gasped the lad.
"At Domme. No, you cannot storm that castle. It has held out againstFrench and English, and it would hold out against your peasants."
Jean looked at her in silence. What other way was open?
"You must go yourself to Domme," she said.
"And entreat for my father? We will sell all--land, castle,seigneury--all!"
"That will not suffice. The Captain would take you and cast you in wherelies your unhappy father."
"Then what do you mean?"
"You must take me."
"Along with me--to Domme?"
"No, take and confine me here."
"I do not understand."
"I can--I saw it. I saw it at once when I was in that horrible place,when my father refused to listen to me and I pleaded for him. Then I sawclearly there was no other chance for his life."
"And that is----?"
"That you put me into the same position."
"What, in an _oubliette_?"
"Put me in a dungeon, and threaten unless your father be restored, andback here safe by sunrise to-morow, that you will cast me down as he hasbeen cast down."
"We have no _oubliettes_ here."
"You have precipices."
Jean looked in astonishment at the girl.
"See, Jean!" she said, and a dark spot came in each cheek, "by no otherway can you rescue your father than by going before _him_--I mean myfather, and threatening that unless your father be released immediately,you will have me put to the same horrible end."
"Never!"
"It must be."
"It would never be done--never."
"Listen to me, Jean. You must have me imprisoned here. Place guards overme and go to my father fearlessly. Say to him that the instant the firstspark of the sun lifts over yon hill"--she pointed to the heightsopposite--"if the Seigneur and you are not here to stay their hands, youhave told your guards to throw me down."
"If I were to threaten it, it would not be done."
"Yes, it would. Do you suppose that your peasants here and your armedmen would spare me if they knew that their Seigneur and his son had bothbeen sacrificed by Le Gros Guillem? They would tear me to pieces. Thewomen would stab me with their bodkins. I had rather be dashed down thecliffs than that."
The young man remained silent, considering. The girl's proposal did givehim a hope of recovering his father; the threat, which he did not for amoment entertain the thought of executing, might, perhaps, force the_routier_ captain to surrender his prey.
Noemi plucked a ring from her finger and extended it to Jean.
"I see," said she, "you will yield. Take this as token to my father thatI am here, as sign that your menace is not an idle one. Now lead meaway."
In the congeries of precipitous cliffs, like teeth, that rise above Ste.Soure and go by the name of Le Peuch, one possesses a rock-refuge of apeculiar character. To reach it a steep ascent has to be effected up analmost vertical piece of rock, in which places have been cut for thefeet. This climb gives access to a grassy ledge. If this ledge bepursued, a buttress of crag is reached that completely blocks theterrace. But this has been scooped out, like a carious tooth, into achamber or guard-room. It is entered by a door artificially cut, and hewho explores the place there finds himself in an apartment with a windowdug through the face looking south, and with sheer precipice below it.At the back are seats cut in the stone.
Immediately opposite the entrance is another door, communicating withanother ledge, which, however, does not extend more than ten feet, andends in steep cliff. Along the face of this cliff holes have beenscooped for the reception of the feet, so that a man can walk along thefront of the rock till he reaches a projecting mass like that he hastraversed, and this mass is excavated into a series of chambers.
This rock-refuge is one that could not be taken, if only moderateprecautions were observed. The man who passed in the socket-holes forhis feet to the door of the first chamber scooped out in the scar musttraverse in front of a window, through which it would suffice for achild to thrust his hand to touch him to upset his balance and send himheadlong below to certain death.
There was no place better calculated to serve as a prison than thisRaven's Nest, as it was called. Jean was by no means sure that whatNoemi said might not come true; if the peasants learned who she was,they might take advantage of his absence literally to tear her topieces, for they were greatly exasperated at the loss of their master,the old Seigneur. If he were to leave the girl for some hours at LePeuch, she must not only be protected against an attempt at recapture,but against the resentment of his own people, who might lose their headswhen they found that he as well as his father was lost to them. A womanlike Rossignol's wife was a firebrand inflamed with unslaked lust forrevenge. A few words from her might set all in movement. The SouthernGauls are an impulsive, excitable, and, when excited, an unreasoningpeople. The _routiers_ had not spared their wives and daughters, whyshould they scruple about reprisals on the daughter of their deadliestoppressor?
Distressed as Jean was at his father's fate, the fear of what mighthappen to Noemi if left alone at Le Peuch for a moment overbore hisfilial distress.
"You must follow me," he said; and he beckoned to the two men who hadattended her to accompany him as well.
Without further words he led them up the ascent, along the ledge, andinto the guard-room.
There he said to Amanieu and Roger--
"Your Captain's daughter is going to remain yonder." He pointed acrossthe gulf to the rock chambers in the projecting mass of cliff. "I shallnot be at Ste. Soure to protect her. You know what these people are.Even you are not safe, though my father granted you both your lives. AsI see, you no longer bear the brand of lawlessness. Do not concernyourself about what takes me away. I leave you here in guard of her. Letno one approach. Yonder, in those retreats, there is always a su
pply offood, in case of emergency. There is water also. You need not enter forthat. She will pass to you what you require through the window. Keepguard here for her sake and for your own, till I return." Then to Noemihe said, "Dare you follow me?"
"I!" she said, and almost laughed. "Have you forgotten the stair to theBishop's Castle?"
Jean stepped off the platform, and walked along the face of the rock andwas immediately followed by the girl, without the least misgiving orgiddiness.
On reaching the door cut in the crag on the further side, Jean steppedin.
These rock chambers are cool in summer and warm in winter. There was nowell here dug in the heart of the rock. Probably owing to its heightabove the level of the Vezere--some 300 feet--it had not been thoughtlikely that a vein of water would be tapped; so the atmospheric moisturewas caught by little runnels scored in the rock, and all these runnelsled into a receiver, in which there was generally to be found a supplyof water, though not a great quantity. Each window was provided withshutters, and doors fitted into the entrances, and could be fastened.Beds were scooped in the rock, arched above, and these couches werestrewn with heather and fern. In cupboards cut in the walls were stores,to be used in case of necessity.
When Jean had shown the girl everything, he held out his hand.
"Noemi!" he said, and his voice shook, "good-bye! We may never meetagain. But do not think that harm would be done you by me--even if theworst were to happen!"
"Jean!" she answered gravely, and went to the doorway, and looked down."Do you think that anyone who fell here, who tripped coming along thesesteps, who stumbled at the threshold, would not be dashed to pieces inan instant?"
"I am sure he would. That is what affords you protection here."
"I do not mean that, Jean." She refrained from speaking for a moment. Heput out his hand to her, and she took his. Both their hands trembled.
"Jean, I shall watch for the sunrise from the little window. If you andyour father have not returned----"
"Then we shall both perish together in the _oubliette_."
"Yes--and the moment the sun comes up----"
"Noemi--what then?"
"The moment I see the first fire-spark----"
"Noemi!" He feared to hear what she was going to say.
"Yes, Jean, I shall throw myself down--here."
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