The Poniard's Hilt; Or, Karadeucq and Ronan. A Tale of Bagauders and Vagres
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CHAPTER I.
"WOLVES' HEADS."
"'The devil take the Franks! Long live the Vagrery and Old Gaul!' Such is the cry of all Vagres. The Franks call us 'Wand'ring Men,' 'Wolves,' 'Wolves' Heads.' Let us be wolves!
"My father ran the Bagaudy, and I now run the Vagrery, but both to the one cry--'The devil take the Franks!' and 'Long Live Gaul!'
"Aelian and Aman, Bagauders in their days, as we in ours are Vagres, in revolt against the Romans, as we against the Franks--Aelian and Aman, put to death two centuries ago in their old castle near Paris, they are our prophets. We take communion with the wine, the treasures and the wives of the seigneurs, the bishops and rich Gauls who made common cause with the Frankish counts and dukes to whom King Clovis gave our old Gaul. The Franks have pillaged us, they massacred and burned down; so let us do likewise--pillage, massacre and burn! And let us live in joy--'Wolves,' 'Wolves' Heads' and Wand'ring men!' Vagres that we are! Let us live in summer under the green foliage, and in winter in caverns warm!
"Death unto oppressors! Freedom to the slave! Let us take from the seigneurs! Let us give unto the poor!
"What! A hundred kegs of wine in the master's cellar, and only the water of the stream for the wornout slave?
"What! A hundred cloaks in the wardrobe, and only rags for the toiling slave?
"Who was it planted the vine? Who harvested the grape and pressed it into wine? The slave! Who should drink the wine? The slave!
"Who was it that tended and sheared the sheep and wove the cloth and made the cloak? The slave!
"Who should wear the cloak? The slave!
"Up, ye poor and oppressed! Up! Revolt! Here are your good friends the Vagres! They approach! Death to the seigneurs and the bishops!
"Six men united are stronger than a hundred divided: Let us unite! Each for all, and all for each! 'The devil take the Franks! Long live the Vagrery and Old Gaul!'"
Who sang this song? Ronan the Vagre. Where did he sing it? On a mountainpath that led to the city of Clermont in Auvergne, that grand andbeautiful Auvergne, land of magnificent traditions--Bituit, who gaveRoman legions to his pack of hounds for breakfast in the morning; theChief of the Hundred Valleys! Vindex! and so many other heroes of Gaul,were they not all sons of Auvergne? of the beautiful Auvergne, to-daythe prey of Clotaire, the most odious, the most ferocious of the foursons of Clovis?
Other voices answered in chorus to the song of Ronan the Vagre. They hadmet on a mild summer's night; there were about thirty Vagres gathered atthe spot--gay customers, rough boys, clad in all styles, but armed tothe teeth, and all carrying in their caps a twig of green oak as theemblem of their solidarity.
They arrive at a place where the roads fork--one road leads to theright, another to the left. Ronan halts. A voice is heard--the voice ofWolf's-Tooth. What a Titan the man is! He is six feet high, with theneck of a bull and enormous hands; only the hoop of a barrel couldencircle his waist:
"Ronan, you said to us: 'Brothers, arm yourselves!' We armed ourselves.'Furnish yourselves with torches of straw!' Here are the torches.'Follow me!' We did. You halt; and we have halted."
"Wolf's-Tooth, I am considering. Now, brothers, answer me. Which is tobe preferred, the wife of a Frankish count or a bishopess?"
"A bishopess smells of holy water--the bishop blesses; a count's wifesmells of wine--the count, her husband, drinks himself drunk."
"Wolf's-Tooth, it is exactly the contrary: the wily prelate drinks thewine, and leaves the water to the stupid Frank."
"Ronan is right!"
"To the devil with the holy water, and long live wine!"
"Yes, long live the wine of Clermont, with which Luern, the greatAuvergnan chief of former days, used to fill up the ditches wide asponds, in order to refresh the warriors of his tribe."
"That would have been a cup worthy of you, Wolf's-Tooth! But, brothers,do answer me; to whom shall we give the preference, to a bishopess or toa count's wife?"
"To the bishopess! To the bishopess!"
"No, to the count's wife!"
"Brothers, so as to please all, we shall take both--"
"Well said, Ronan!"
"One of these roads leads to the burg of Count Neroweg, the other to theepiscopal villa of Bishop Cautin."
"We must carry off both the bishopess and the countess--we must pillageboth burg and villa!"
"With which shall we start? Shall we start with the prelate, or shall westart with the seigneur? The bishop spends more time over his cup; heloves to roll the sweet morsels over his tongue, and to taste the wineleisurely; the seigneur drinks larger quantities; he gulps them downlike a toper--"
"Ronan is right!"
"Consequently, at this hour of the night, midnight, the hour of theVagres, Count Neroweg must be full as a tick, and snoring in his bed;his wife or some concubine, lying beside him, must be dreaming with eyeswide open. Bishop Cautin, on the other hand, will be leaning with bothhis elbows on a table, and face to face with a bowl of old wine and oneof his favorite boon companions, cracking jokes."
"First to the count; he will be in bed."
"Brothers, let us first call on the bishop; he will be found up; thereis more sport in surprising a prelate at his wine than a seigneur at hissnores."
"Well said, Ronan! The bishop first!"
"March! I know the house!"
Who was it that said this? A young and handsome Vagre of abouttwenty-five years of age. He went by the name of "Master of theHounds." There was no more accurate marksman than he with his bow andarrow. His arrow simply traveled as he wished. Once the forester slaveof a Frankish duke, he was caught in an amour with one of the women ofhis seigneur's household, and escaped death by flight. He thereupon ranthe Vagrery.
"I know the episcopal house," repeated the daring fellow. "Feeling it inmy bones that some day or other we would be holding communion with thebishop's treasury, like a good master of the hounds, I went one day andtook observations around his lair. I saw the dear old man there. Neverdid I see a buck with blacker or more fiery eyes!"
"And the house, Master of the Hounds, the house; how is it arranged?"
"Bad! The windows are high; the doors heavy; the walls strong."
"Master of the Hounds," replied Ronan the Vagre, "we shall reach theheart of the bishop's house without crossing either the door, thewindows or the walls--on the same principle that you reach yoursweetheart's heart without penetrating by her eyes--the night isfavorable."
"Brothers, to you the treasures--to me the handsome bishopess!"
"Yours, Master of the Hounds, be the bishopess; ours, the booty of theepiscopal villa! Long live the Vagrery!"