The Rebellion in the Cevennes, an Historical Novel. Vol. II.

by Ludwig Tieck

  CHAPTER II.

  They proceeded with the troop in silence. In order to elude the king'ssoldiers, who were in the neighbourhood, they were compelled to make acircuit. Catinat with his band conducted the prisoners that they mightbe delivered up to Roland, to pronounce sentence on them in the lonelymountains, and Cavalier and Edmond separated from their companions inorder to reach the distant height by a footpath through the wood.

  They walked together in silence for a long time. In Edmond's mind allthat had appeared to him solid was by the late crowding events thrownconfusedly together. The wound and the weakness that it occasioned, thewandering in the night and the emotions which alternately shook him,had at first wonderfully raised his mental and physical strength, andnow almost entirely exhausted it. As they advanced farther into theobscurity of the wood, he thought of himself and his concerns as of astranger; what he had experienced, what desired and effected flitted inhis memory as a strange tale of by-gone times, and Cavalier appearedeither to respect his silence, or to be himself too much occupied withweighty thoughts to require any conversation. On issuing from the wood,the light of the moon broke forth from behind heavy, lowering clouds.As the silvery light with its calm brightness spread over the rocks,the venerable head of his father presented itself to the imagination ofthe youth, and a refreshing and reviving flood of tears gushed from hiseyes. He turned to his companion to excuse his long protracted silence.

  "Brother," replied the latter, "the spirit has also visited me andshewn me visions in which I viewed a consoling futurity. Oh that that,which I know will and must take place, would soon happen, to spare theblood and sorrow of the poor people."

  "What has been revealed to thee beloved brother," asked Edmond.

  They seated themselves on a flat piece of rock which bordered on aprecipice, and Cavalier began: "I imagined myself transported far, farfrom hence, beyond our mountains, our plains and rivers. I quitted mynative mountains reluctantly. I saw foreign cities, I heard the varioustones of different men. As I was carried away through the immensity ofspace, a beautiful, a very beautiful garden opened to my view, manycascades were throwing their waters up in the warm summer air, andbeneath them there were strange figures of men and fish, and nakedwomen, and marine animals, artificially hewn out of brilliant stone,every thing, such as I had never before seen, and I know not if I everheard of them. A large and very extensive palace shone and dazzled withits innumerable columns and windows. While I was viewing all inamazement, I suddenly felt a conviction that I should immediately seeour king, our Louis, descend from the great steps before which I stood,that I should speak to him, that he had already been waiting for me;and thus it happened, in all the splendour of majesty, surrounded byhis whole court, he descended. He did not embarrass me, it was merelydazzling, as when the sun upon his journey suddenly darts through avapour, and we still retain and know all our ideas and purposes. Nowthen was the moment upon which the fate of our country hung, in whichto say all to him, who had requested to speak to me, and to move hishumane, his kingly heart. This hour will come, in which the salvationof many, many thousands will repose on my tongue, and the Lord willthen lay his fiery flame upon it, that its brand may also light hisspirit; then will our brethren and our faith be free, then will all ourfoes fall powerless to the ground, and the sword be no more required. Iwill pray that this glorious day may only soon arrive, soon be sent bythe Lord; that there may be an end to this unhappy warfare. When, justas I intended to address the King, we issued from the wood; thouspakest to me, and the prophetic vision disappeared." "How camest thoulately, my friend and brother, into our house?" asked Edmond, "amultiplicity of events has prevented me until this moment from askingyou about it."

  "That was a very, very disastrous day," replied Cavalier, as theyproceeded onwards. "We were surrounded on all sides, by the treacheryof a few faithless brethren, we were enticed down into the plain, thespirit was silent within us and we thought ourselves secure. A part ofmy people had gone to encounter the hermit and I heard (a false reportas I afterwards learned) that he had been entirely routed, when,suddenly, another new army was in our rear. The fugitives before usrallied again and faced round. We were compelled to fight our waythrough in order to find the mountain footpath, where the heavy horseof the royal party could not follow; with great loss, it is true, but,still fortunately, I led my people through, I succeeded in turning theenemy, so that we had them only on one side of us. Fighting and flyingwe reached the wood and being one of the last that I might secure theretreat of my party, I found myself suddenly cut off. My horse carriedme at full gallop as far as it could, I shot dead two dragoons, who werepursuing me, but the noble beast fell down; I lost sword, hat, andfire-arms, while I was disengaging myself from the saddle scarcelyquick enough, I changed clothes with a peasant in a field; soldierswere scouring in every direction, at the risk of being recognised. Iwas forced to seek a shelter, and moreover the storm burst forth, andthus the Lord conducted me to the house of your venerable father. A fewdays after, things would have been much worse with me, if my youngerbrother, who is now a prisoner at Nismes, had not liberated me."

  "With what admiration I must look upon thee, brother," resumed Edmond,"thou who younger than I, hast already done such great things, who hasthad so much success, that the whole country speaks of thee. From whenceproceeds this daring, yet circumspect courage, this experience, thisskill to deceive the enemy, to conquer them, or to escape their artfulsnares! where couldst thou have learned all this?"

  "I have not learned it," replied Cavalier, "nor do I know if the likecan be learned. You esteem me too highly, brother Edmond, if youbelieve, that that which I do proceeds from reflection or skill. It istrue I do not lose courage, I preserve my _sang froid_, although I seebefore and around me a thousand foes with their swords and guns, butsuch is my nature, there is no merit or extraordinary courage in this.When I was yet a little boy, minding my good old nobleman's sheep, Iwas never frightened when I perceived the wolf. I remained calm, andslew two of these bad fellows, whereupon every body admired my greatcourage, and I could not at all understand what they meant by it. Thus,then, my spirit was roused, and I engaged in this war, in which I soonsucceeded in liberating my brethren and defeating the enemy, so thatall the companions of the faith placed their full confidence in me, andexpected the blessing and success of their hopes from me; but brotherRoland is much wiser and more experienced, he has more penetration andI must be considered only as a learner in comparison to him, yet theLord had not endowed him with so much success as me, on that accountthe combatants preferred following me. Now when I lead out thebrethren, and the affair does not turn out as we have arranged andthought, the spirit suddenly directs me, I see, I remark all that whichwas before unknown to me, of its own accord my mouth gives the rightorders, it soars, it hovers round me, so that I know not what to say,and it leads me and my followers through the enemy's troops. Likejoyous intoxication, it flies with me through the tumult, and thevictory is won."

  "Thou wast a shepherd then in thy childhood?" said Edmond; "how fittingif they compare thee to David."

  "I grew up poor and desolate in the solitude of the mountains," repliedthe former: "I had forgotten myself, I could never have thought that Ishould at some future period have to fight for the Lord, for my faithhad died within me; and I agreed to all they proposed. Until then,zealous brethren rekindled the extinguished embers into flame, so thatmy life was restored, and I was enabled to seek and find the Lord.Afterwards, when they had so cruelly murdered our brethren, zealouswrath drove me into their holy community. And since then, I am anhumble instrument in the hand of the Most High. I could not believe,that I should have been so highly honored, when I was compelled toendure all the drudgery of an apprentice at St. Hypolite, and mymaster, the baker, for a slight, often for no reason at all, beat meand pulled my hair; yet he was one of our firm companions in the faith,who, however could not control his passion."

  "So the priest was right after all," said Edmond w
ith a smile, "when hewould recognise you for a baker by your knees." "Well," said Cavalier,"the singular man is not deficient in intellect and penetration. If heknew more of men than of their legs, perhaps he would be less impious,for, from the foot, he ought at length to arrive at the heart, andfinally at the mind. It is true we probably stand in the same relationto great nature; and if the Lord in his mercy does not approach uspersonally, we cannot succeed even in loosening the thongs of hisshoes, if it is indeed permitted to talk of him in such a worldlymanner."

  Just as daylight was extending itself over every object, and when theyhad turned round a projecting rock, they perceived in the valleybeneath then, the Camisards marching with their prisoners. At the samemoment old Favart came running up and announced to them, that Rolandhad descended with a troop from, the summit of that mountain, but thatColonel Julien with a considerable body of men, was now posted betweenthem both, and that it would be very difficult to turn them. Catinatmarched forward with his band and was highly exasperated on perceivingthe obstacle to his further progress. "Mameluke!" exclaimed he, "thisJulien whose death I have long since sworn, crosses all ourundertakings. No mercy, should he once fall into our hands, nor need heexpect any either, as he is an apostate brother, who has abandoned ourreformed community, merely to please the government and to enjoyworldly honour."

  A loud shouting was heard, and Ravanel with a band, who had fortunatelyescaped the royal troops, rushed from a narrow defile. They halted uponthe summit and the prisoners were brought forward. The court martial,which was quickly held, sentenced them all to death, and scarcely werethe words pronounced, when the ready Ravanel shot the foremost deadwith his pistol, so that the gushing blood sprinkled Edmond, who wasstanding close by. The fallen man expired instantly after a fewstruggles. Edmond drew back pale and horrified.

  "Thou hast surely not seen much blood yet, young man?" cried Ravanelmockingly; "Thou oughtst to celebrate thy consecration to-day, andmassacre some of those wretches thyself."

  "Not now, brother Ravanel," said Catinat, "the royal troops arestationed so near and we do not know their number, therefore we mustnot attract them hither by our firing. It would be difficult enough todisengage ourselves from them afterwards."

  "But the villains must not be suffered to live!" exclaimed Ravanel, hisanger aroused anew, drawing his sword he struck the next prisoner tohim, who also fell instantly weltering in his blood.

  "Ought a brother to be blood thirsty?" asked Edmond.

  "He ought well be so," cried Ravanel turning angrily towards him: "Ohmy friend, he, who has once tasted the pleasure of stretching an enemyat his feet, becomes like a lion after the palatable sweetness,scarcely able to spare his keeper. I am feeble and weak when I am longwithout seeing blood; it ascends like the smoke of a lamp in themournful twilight, as the rosy dawn after the darkness of night."

  Cavalier reprimanded the enthusiast for his cruelty, and Catinat ledthe remaining prisoners to the brink of a precipice, when they fellunder the swords of the Camisards. Their leader the fiercest among themall, only remained alive. He now called out in a powerful voice: "Stay!far be it from me to beg for my life, I would not for once owe anobligation to such pitiable people, though, what I require, you maygrant me without prejudice to yourselves."

  "What dost thou require, knave?" asked Cavalier, while the othersclustered still closer round him, "That you unbind my arms," said thefierce, wild man with an expression of the most profound contempt:"that I may once more, and for the last time, put my flask to myparched lips, which has been a friend and comforter to me in all mysorrows, and that you will afterwards be careful to deliver me speedilyfrom such contemptible society as yours."

  The Camisards murmured and would have cut him down, but at a sign fromCatinat, they drew back, he himself unloosed the arms of the prisoner,and watched him with his drawn sword in his hand, lest despair,perhaps, might at the moment of his death, impel him to some fool-hardyattempt. But the powerful old man looked round him with the greatestcomposure, shook his arms and shoulders that he might feel his freedomafter the restraint he had endured, then took a flask of wine from hisbosom and emptying it jocosely, dashed it against the rock, where itbroke in pieces, then turned to the bystanders, baring his neck as hesaid: "Now, if it please you!" Even Ravanel measured him with a look ofsurprise; and Edmond, who had watched all his movements, felt himselfimpelled by an inexplicable feeling to save the life of so ruthless aman. "Strange as I may appear to you, beloved brethren," cried he aloudadvancing into the circle, "I entreat you nevertheless by the highesteem with which you honour me to make over this luckless man to me,that his fate may rest in my hands. Shall this lost creature, sounprepared, in all the nakedness of his crimes, go before his accusingJudge? shall we not try to moderate the fierce temperament and to leadthe apostate closer to his Maker? Grant me this favour ye friends, donot refuse my petition and accept my own life as a pledge, that he willnot repay this deliverance by treachery and falsehood?" Cavalier, fromaffection to Edmond, joined his entreaties to those of the youth, andafter a short opposition from Ravanel and some murmurs from the troop,all unanimously consented to pardon the robber. Cavalier informed himthat his sentence was remitted, that he might, added he, feel, thatmercy which exists even in an enemy and that he might also seek formercy at the throne of justice of the Eternal. The robber looked longand searchingly with his large fire-darting eyes on Edmond. He nowbowed low to the little Cavalier, and said with a laughing countenance:"Ah! my little man! from whence derivest thou thy knowledge of Him onthe throne of justice, that thou chatterest about him as if one hadonly to go round the corner there and knock at his house, and fee thedoorkeeper for admission? You think, therefore, that I shall breathethe air within me, some time longer, and look upon this light which Ihave done for almost these seventy years past? Be it so. But I will notdeceive you, you shall not give me this wretched life in order torejoice at my conversion, for you have just pitched on the wrong onewith all your atonement, godliness, and love. I will have nothing to dowith your stories and fanaticism, with prayers and singing you shallalso spare me, though I should have no objection to march out with youand fight valiantly, because I must do something, or other, and for thepresent I have nothing better to do."

  Again a murmour arose, but now, there was no time to pass sentence, orto dispute, for the royal troops were already seen marching by. Eachleader quickly betook himself to his troop, called to them, gave theword of command, and in a short time order was restored, and all inreadiness to await the attack, Edmond and the robber, whose life he hadsolicited, stood in the ranks together. While each ranged himself inopposition to the other, several Camisards fell at the first salvo ofthe small cannon, but undismayed, they marched forward, singing theirpsalms aloud. They soon met hand to hand, and all appeared one confusedmelee, for Ravanel and his troop rushed like frantic upon the enemy,who soon gave way on that side; others tried to come to the help of thepanic-striken men, and thus the mass fought confusedly on the limitedspace of ground. A stout officer seized Edmond, while a second raisedhis arm to hew down the youth, when the robber with gigantic strength,seized both the soldiers by the hair, and knocked their heads soforcibly together, that they fell senseless to the ground. But Edmondwas rescued only for a moment, for he found himself directly afterwardsengaged in a combat with several, and a heavy blow upon the armdisabled him. He was taken prisoner, while the king's troops werecompelled by his friends to give way. They fled with their leaders, andcarried him with them. He saw himself lost, without hope ofdeliverance.

  In the wood Colonel Julien drew near and viewed his prisoners withsurprise. He sent detachments hither and thither to reconnoitre thewood; he also sent a troop backwards, to see whether the rebels wouldturn, or if they intended to follow them.

  "Leave this single prisoner to me," cried he to the last, which he alsosent forward in some minutes. "I will soon dispose of this unarmed man.Is it needful?" turned he to Edmond, when he found himself quite alonewith the latter; "So young man,
must we see each other again? I wouldnot believe the reports, nay, I can scarcely trust my own eyes now! Ohthou miserable father of so degenerate a son!"

  "Apostate!" bitterly exclaimed Edmond, "hast thou indeed the right touse such language?"

  "Go, fly," said Julien with an expression of the most contemptuouspity; "hasten into this thick underwood, I will pretend not to haveseen you. Escape ignominy and execution, before my companions returnand render it impossible."

  Edmond sprang into the thick wood, enraged, ashamed and vexed: he ranwithout stopping, and was soon in the most lonely part, and when atlast he fell exhausted and breathless in the cleft of a rock, he foundthe stout robber reposing there, whose life he had, through pity,generously solicited, as he in return had been obliged to accept hisown from the hands of a former friend, who now despised him.