Александр Дюма
The War of Women. Volume 2
XIV
Meanwhile the words, "The king! the king!" repeated by the sentinel rather as a warning to his fellows than as a mark of respect, were taken up by several voices, and at last reached the fort. Thereupon a man appeared upon the crown of the ramparts, and the whole garrison gathered about him.
He raised his staff of office; immediately the drums beat the salute, the soldiers presented arms, and a heavy gun boomed solemnly.
"You see," said the queen, "they are coming to their senses at last, – better late than never. Let us go on."
"Pardon, madame," said Maréchal de La Meilleraie, "but I cannot see that they are making any movement to throw open the gates, and we cannot enter unless the gates are open."
"They have forgotten to do it in the surprise and excitement caused by this august and unexpected visit," a courtier ventured to suggest.
"Such things are not forgotten, monsieur," the marshal replied. "Will your Majesties deign to listen to a word of advice from me?" he added, turning to the king and queen.
"What is it, marshal?"
"Your Majesties should withdraw to the distance of five Hundred yards with Guitaut and the guards, while I ride forward with the musketeers and light-horse, and reconnoitre the place."
The queen replied with a single word.
"Forward!" said she. "We will see if they will dare refuse to let us pass."
The young king, in his delight, drove his spurs into his horse, and galloped ahead of the others.
The marshal and Guitaut darted forward and overtook him.
"You cannot pass!" said the sentinel, still maintaining his hostile attitude.
"It is the king!" cried the pages.
"Halt!" cried the sentinel, with a threatening gesture. At the same moment the hats and muskets of the soldiers assigned to the defence of the outermost intrenchment appeared above the parapet.
A prolonged murmur greeted the sentinel's words and hostile demonstrations. Monsieur de La Meilleraie seized the bit of the king's horse, and turned him around, at the same time bidding the queen's coachman to turn and drive back. The two insulted majesties withdrew some seven or eight hundred yards, while their attendants scattered like a flock of birds at the report of the hunter's rifle.
Maréchal de La Meilleraie, master of the situation, left some fifty men as escort for the king and queen, and with the rest of his force rode back toward the fortifications.
When he was within a hundred yards of the moat, the sentinel, who had resumed his calm and measured tread, halted once more.
"Take a trumpet, put a handkerchief on the end of your sword, Guitaut," said the marshal, "and summon this insolent governor to open his gates."
Guitaut obeyed; he hoisted the emblem of peace, which affords protection to heralds in all civilized countries, and went forward toward the intrenchment.
"Qui vive?" cried the sentry.
"Flag of truce," Guitaut replied, waving his sword, with the bit of cloth at the end.
"Let him approach," said the same man who had previously appeared upon the rampart of the main fort, and who had doubtless reached the outwork by an underground passage.
The gate opened, and a drawbridge was lowered.
"What is your errand?" demanded an officer who was awaiting Guitaut at the gate.
"To speak to the governor," he replied.
"I am he," said the man, who had been seen twice already.
Guitaut noticed that he was very pale, but tranquil and courteous.
"Are you the governor of Vayres?" Guitaut asked.
"Yes, monsieur."
"And you decline to open the doors of your fortress to his Majesty the king, and the queen regent?"
"I regret that I must so decline."
"What do you demand?"
"The liberty of Messieurs les Princes, whose captivity is bringing ruin and desolation upon the kingdom."
"His Majesty does not chaffer with his subjects."
"Alas! monsieur, we know it; and for that reason we are prepared to die, knowing that we shall die in his Majesty's service, although we seem to be making war upon him."
"'Tis well," said Guitaut; "that is all we wished to know."
With a brusque nod to the governor, who replied with a most courteous salute, he withdrew.
There was no movement discernible upon the bastion.
Guitaut rejoined the marshal, and reported the result of his mission.
"Let fifty men ride at full speed to yonder village," said the marshal, pointing toward the hamlet of Isson, "and bring hither instantly all the ladders they can find."
Fifty men rode off at a gallop, and very soon reached the village, which was only a short distance away.
"Now, messieurs," said the marshal, "dismount. Half of you, armed with muskets, will cover the other half, as they scale the ramparts."
The command was greeted with joyful shouts. Guards, musketeers, and light-horse were on the ground in an instant, loading their weapons.
Meanwhile the fifty foragers returned with some twenty ladders.
Everything was quiet within the fortification; the sentinel paced up and down, and the ends of the musket-barrels and the peaked hats could still be seen over the parapet.
The king's household marched forward, led by the marshal in person. It was composed of about four hundred men in all, half of whom made ready to carry the outwork by assault, and the other half to cover the operation.
The king, the queen, and their suite followed the movements of the little troop from afar, with keen anxiety.
The queen seemed to have lost all her assurance. In order to have a better view of what was taking place, she caused her carriage to be partly turned, so that it stood side wise to the fortification.
The assailants had taken but a few steps when the sentinel came to the outer edge of the rampart.
"Qui vive?" he cried in a stentorian voice.
"Make no reply," said Monsieur de La Meilleraie, "but march on."
"Qui vive?" cried the sentinel a second time, putting his musket to his shoulder.
"Qui vive?" the challenge rang out a third time, and the sentinel levelled his weapon.
"Fire on the villain!" said Monsieur de La Meilleraie.
Instantly the royalist ranks poured forth a volley; the sentinel staggered, dropped his musket, which rolled down into the moat, and fell, crying: —
"To arms!"
This beginning of hostilities was answered by a single cannon-shot. The ball whistled over the heads of the first rank, ploughed through the second and third, killed four men, and eventually disembowelled one of the horses attached to the queen's carriage.
A cry of alarm went up from the party in attendance upon their Majesties; the king was forced to fall back still farther; Anne of Austria was near fainting with rage, and Mazarin with fear. The traces of the dead horse were cut, and those of the living horses as well, for they threatened to wreck the carriage with their terrified plunging and rearing. Eight or ten of the guards took their places, and drew the queen out of range.
Meanwhile the governor unmasked a battery of six pieces.
When Monsieur de La Meilleraie saw that battery, which would be likely to make short work of his three companies, he thought that it would be injudicious to proceed further with the attack, and ordered a retreat.
The moment that the king's household took its first backward step, the hostile preparations exhibited in the fortress disappeared.
The marshal returned to the queen, and requested her to select some spot in the neighborhood for her headquarters. Thereupon the queen, looking about, espied the small house on the other side of the Dordogne, standing by itself among the trees.
"Ascertain to whom yonder house belongs," she said to Guitaut, "and request accommodations for me therein."
Guitaut crossed the river in the Isson ferry-boat, and soon returned, to say that the house was unoccupied save by a sort of intendant, who said that it belonged to Monsieur le Duc d'Épernon, and was altogether at her Majesty's service.
"Let us go thither, in that case," said the queen; "but where is the king?"
The little fellow was found to have ridden apart a short distance; he returned when he heard them calling him, and although he tried to hide his tears, it was very evident that he had been weeping.
"What's the matter, sire?" the queen asked him.
"Oh! nothing, madame," the child replied, "except that some day I shall be king, and then – woe to them who have injured me!"
"What is the governor's name?" the queen inquired.
No one was able to tell her, until they asked the question of the ferryman, who replied that his name was Richon.
"'Tis well," said the queen. "I will remember that name."
"And so will I," said the young king.
XV
About a hundred men of the king's household crossed the Dordogne with their Majesties; the others remained with Monsieur de La Meilleraie, who, having decided to besiege Vayres, was awaiting the arrival of the army.
The queen was no sooner installed in the little house – which, thanks to Nanon's luxurious tastes, she found infinitely more habitable than she anticipated – than Guitaut waited upon her to say that an officer, who claimed to have important matters to discuss with her, requested the honor of an audience.
"Who is the man?" demanded the queen.
"Captain Cauvignac, madame."
"Is he of my army?"
"I do not think it."
"Ascertain that fact, and if he is not of my army, say that I cannot receive him."
"I crave your Majesty's pardon for venturing to differ with you on that point," said Mazarin, "but it seems to me that if he is not of your army, that is the very best of reasons for receiving him."
"Why so?"
"Because, if he is of your Majesty's army, and seeks an audience, he cannot be other than a faithful subject; whereas, if he belongs to the enemy's army, he may be a traitor. At this moment, madame, traitors are not to be despised, for they may be extremely useful."
"Admit him," said the queen, "since Monsieur le Cardinal so advises."
The captain was at once introduced, and presented himself with an easy and assured demeanor which amazed the queen, accustomed as she was to produce a far different effect upon all who approached her.
She eyed Cauvignac from head to foot, but he sustained the royal scrutiny with marvellous self-possession.
"Who are you, monsieur?" said she.
"Captain Cauvignac," was the reply.
"In whose service are you?"
"I am in your Majesty's service, if such be your pleasure."
"If such be my pleasure? Surely! Indeed, is there any other service in the kingdom? Are there two queens in France?"
"Assuredly not, madame; there is but one queen in France, and she it is at whose feet I have the honor to lay my most humble respect; but there are two contrary opinions in France, – at least, I thought as much just now."
"What mean you, sirrah?" demanded the queen, with a frown.
"I mean, madame, that I was riding about in this vicinity, and as I happened to be upon the summit of a slight eminence which overlooks the whole country-side, admiring the landscape, which, as your Majesty must have noticed, is surpassingly beautiful, I thought I saw that Monsieur Richon did not receive your Majesty with all the respect to which you are entitled; that fact confirmed a suspicion I had previously entertained, namely, that there are two ways of thinking in France, the royalist way and another, and that Monsieur Richon is of that other way of thinking."
Anne of Austria's brow grew darker and darker.
"Ah! you thought you saw that?" said she.
"Yes, madame," Cauvignac replied with the most innocent candor. "I even thought that I saw that a cannon was fired from the fort, and that the ball with which it was loaded had something to say to your Majesty's carriage."
"Enough. Did you seek audience of me, monsieur, only to indulge in such absurd remarks as these?"
"Ah! you are discourteous," was Cauvignac's mental reflection; "you shall pay the dearer for that."
"No, madame, I sought an audience to say to you that you are a very great queen, and that my admiration for you knows no bounds."
"Indeed!" said the queen, dryly.
"Because of your grandeur, and my admiration, which is its natural consequence, I resolved to devote myself heart and soul to your Majesty's cause."
"Thanks," said the queen, ironically. "Guitaut," she added, turning to the captain of the guards, "show this prating fool the door."
"Pardon, madame," said Cauvignac, "I will go without being driven out; but if I go you will not have Vayres."
Whereupon he saluted her Majesty with perfect grace, and turned upon his heel.
"Madame," said Mazarin, in an undertone, "I think that you are ill-advised to send this man away."
"Stay a moment," said the queen, "and say what you have to say; after all, you are a strange fellow, and most amusing."
"Your Majesty is very kind," said Cauvignac, bowing low.
"What were you saying about obtaining possession of Vayres?"
"I was saying that if your Majesty still entertains the purpose, which I fancied I detected this morning, of gaining admission to Vayres, I will make it my duty to show you the way in."
"How so?"
"I have a hundred and fifty men of my own at Vayres."
"Of your own?"
"Yes, of my own."
"Even so?"
"I turn over those one hundred and fifty men to your Majesty."
"What then?"
"What then?"
"Yes."
"Why, then, it seems to me that the devil's in it if with a hundred and fifty doorkeepers your Majesty cannot cause a door to be opened."
"'T is a witty knave," said the queen, with a smile.
Cauvignac evidently guessed that a compliment was intended, for he bowed a second time.
"What is your price, monsieur?" she asked.
"Oh! mon Dieu, madame! – five hundred livres for each doorkeeper; those are the wages I pay my men."
"You shall have them."
"And for myself?"
"Ah! you must have something for yourself also?"
"I should be proud to hold a commission by virtue of your Majesty's munificence."
"What rank do you demand?"
"I should love to be governor of Braune. I have always longed to be a governor."
"Granted."
"In that case, save for a trifling formality, the bargain is concluded."
"What is that formality?"
"Will your Majesty deign to sign this bit of paper, which I prepared in advance, hoping that my services would be acceptable to my magnanimous sovereign?"
"What is the paper?"
"Read it, madame."
With a graceful movement of his arm, and bending his knee with the utmost deference, Cauvignac presented a paper to the queen, who read as follows: —
"'On the day that I enter Vayres, without striking a blow, I will pay to Captain Cauvignac the sum of seventy-five thousand livres, and will make him governor of Braune.'
"And so," the queen continued, restraining her indignation, "Captain Cauvignac has not sufficient confidence in our royal word, but demands a written promise!"
"In matters of importance, madame, a written promise seems to me most desirable," rejoined Cauvignac, with a bow. 'Verba volant,' says an old proverb; 'words fly away,' and, saving your Majesty's presence, I have been robbed."1
"Insolent knave!" exclaimed the queen, "begone!"
"I go," said Cauvignac, "but you will not have Vayres."
Again the captain turned upon his heel and walked toward the door; and Anne of Austria, whose irritation was far deeper than before, did not recall him.
Cauvignac left the room.
"See to it that that man is secured," said the queen.
Guitaut started to execute the order.
"Pardon, madame," said Mazarin, "but I think that your Majesty is wrong to yield to an angry impulse."
"Why so?"
"But I fear that we may need this man later, and that, if your Majesty molests him in any way, you will then have to pay double for his services."
"Very well," said the queen, "we will pay him what we must; but meanwhile let him be kept in sight."
"Oh! that's another matter, and I am the first to approve that precaution."
"Guitaut, see what becomes of him," said the queen.
Guitaut went out, and returned half an hour later.
"Well! what has become of him?" the queen demanded.
"Your Majesty may be perfectly easy in your mind, for your man shows not the least inclination to leave the neighborhood. I made inquiries, and found that he is domiciled at the inn of one Biscarros, within three hundred yards of this house."
"And has he gone thither?"
"No, madame; he had gone to the top of a hill near by, and is watching Monsieur de La Meilleraie's preparations for forcing the intrenchments. That spectacle seems to possess great interest for him."
"What of the rest of the army?"
"It is coming up, madame, and drawing up in line of battle as fast as it arrives."
"In that case the marshal proposes to attack at once?"
"In my opinion, madame, it would be much better to give the troops a night's rest before risking an attack."
"A night's rest!" cried the queen; "the royal army to be delayed a night and day by such a paltry affair as this! Impossible! Guitaut, go and order the marshal to attack the fort at once. The king proposes to lie tonight at Vayres."
"But, madame," murmured Mazarin, "it seems to me that the marshal's precaution – "
"And it seems to me," retorted Anne of Austria, "that when the royal authority has been outraged, it cannot be avenged too swiftly. Go, Guitaut, and say to Monsieur de La Meilleraie that the queen's eye is upon him."
Dismissing Guitaut with a majestic gesture, the queen took her son by the hand and left the room; and, without looking to see if she was followed, ascended a staircase leading to a terrace. This terrace commanded a view of the surrounding country by means of vistas most artfully designed.
The queen cast a rapid glance in every direction. Two hundred yards behind her was the Libourne road, with the hostelry of our friend Biscarros gleaming white in the sunlight. At her feet flowed the Dordogne, calm, swift, and majestic. At her right arose the fort of Vayres, silent as a ruin; the redoubts newly thrown up formed a circle around it. A few sentinels were pacing back and forth upon the gallery; five pieces of cannon showed their bronze necks and yawning mouths through the embrasures. At her left Monsieur de La Meilleraie was making his dispositions to camp for the night. The main body of the army had arrived and was drawn up in close order around the marshal's position.
Upon a hillock stood a man following attentively with his eyes every movement of besiegers and besieged; it was Cauvignac.
Guitaut crossed the river on the ferry-boat.
The queen stood like a statue upon the terrace, with contracted brow, holding the hand of little Louis XIV., who gazed on the scene before him with an interest beyond his years, and from time to time said to his mother:
"Madame, please let me mount my battle-horse, and go with Monsieur de La Meilleraie to punish these insolent fellows."
At the queen's side was Mazarin, whose crafty, mocking features had assumed for the moment that cast of serious thought which they wore on great occasions only; and behind the queen and the minister were the maids of honor, who took pattern by their mistress's silence, and hardly dared exchange a few hurried words in undertones.
In all this there was an appearance of peace and tranquillity; but it was the tranquillity of the mine, which a spark is soon to change into a destructive tempest.
The eyes of all were fixed with special intentness upon Guitaut, for from him was to come the explosion which was awaited with such diverse emotions.
The army likewise was in a state of painful suspense; and the messenger had no sooner stepped ashore upon the left bank of the Dordogne and been recognized than every eye was turned upon him. Monsieur de La Meilleraie, as soon as he caught sight of him, left the group of officers in the centre of which he was standing, and went to meet him.
Guitaut and the marshal talked together for a few seconds. Although the river was quite wide at that point, and although the distance was considerable between the royal party and the two officers, it was not so great that the surprised expression upon the marshal's face could not be detected. It was evident that the order conveyed to him seemed ill-advised and unseasonable, and he looked doubtfully toward the group in which the queen could be distinguished. But Anne of Austria, who understood his thought, made so imperative a gesture with both head and hand that the marshal, who knew his imperious sovereign of old, bent his head in token of acquiescence, if not of approbation.
Instantly, at a word from him, three or four captains, who exercised the functions of aides-de-camp of the present day, leaped into the saddle and galloped away in three or four different directions. Wherever they went the work of pitching the camp, which had just been begun, was at once broken off, and at the beat of the drums and the shrill call of the bugles, the soldiers let fall the armfuls of straw they were carrying, and the hammers with which they were driving in the tent-stakes. All ran to their weapons, which were stacked in due order; the grenadiers seized their muskets, the common soldiers their pikes, the artillerymen their various instruments; for a moment there was incredible confusion, caused by all these men running in all directions; but gradually order succeeded chaos, and every man was in his proper place, – the grenadiers in the centre, the king's household on the right, the artillery on the left; the drums and trumpets were silent.
A single drum was heard behind the intrenchments; then it too ceased and deathlike silence prevailed.
Suddenly an order was given in a clear, sharp tone. The queen was too far away to hear the words, but she saw the troops form instantly in columns; she drew her handkerchief and waved it, while the young king cried excitedly, stamping upon the ground: "Forward! forward!"
The army replied with a shout of "Vive le roi!" The artillery set off at a gallop, and took up its position upon a slight elevation, and the columns moved forward as the drums beat the charge.
It was not a siege in regular form, but a simple escalade. The intrenchments thrown up in haste by Richon were earthworks; there were no trenches to be opened therefore, – it was a matter of carrying them by assault. Every precaution had been taken by the energetic commandant of Vayres, and he had availed himself of every possible advantage in the lay of the land, with unusual science.
It was clear that Richon had determined not to fire first under any circumstances, for again he waited for the provocation to come from the king's troops; but again, as on the former occasion, that terrible row of muskets, which had done such execution upon the king's household, was seen to be pointing down at them.
As the forward movement began, the six guns drawn up on the little hill were discharged, and the cannon-balls threw up showers of dirt on the crown of the ramparts.
The response was not long delayed; the artillery within the intrenchments roared forth in its turn, ploughing broad furrows in the ranks of the royal army; but at the voice of the officers, these bleeding gaps disappeared; the lips of the wound opened for an instant, then closed again; the main column, which was momentarily shaken, moved forward once more.
While the cannon were being reloaded it was the turn of the musketry.
Five minutes later, the great guns on both sides discharged their volleys again, with but a single report, like two tempests in fierce combat with each other, like two peals of thunder coming at the same instant.
As it was perfectly calm, and a dense smoke hung over the battle-field, besiegers and besieged soon disappeared in a cloud, which was rent from time to time by the vivid flash of the artillery.
From time to time men could be seen coming out from the cloud in the rear of the royal army, dragging themselves along with difficulty, and leaving a bloody track behind them, until they fell exhausted.
The number of wounded rapidly increased, and the roar of the musketry and artillery continued. The royal artillery, however, were firing irregularly and at random; for amid the dense smoke the gunners could not distinguish friends from foes. The gunners in the fort on the other hand had none but foes in front of them, and their fire was more constant and more deadly than ever.
At last the royal artillery ceased firing altogether; it was evident that the assault had begun in good earnest, and that a hand-to-hand combat was in progress.
There was a moment of keenest anxiety on the part of the spectators, during which the smoke, the firing having greatly slackened, rose slowly into the air. The royal army was then seen to be falling back in disorder, leaving heaps of dead at the foot of the ramparts. A sort of breach had been made; a few palisades were torn away, leaving an opening; but that opening bristled with men and pikes and muskets, and amid those men, covered with blood, and yet as calm and cool as if he were a disinterested spectator of the tragedy in which he was playing so terrible a part, stood Richon, holding in his hand an axe all notched by the blows he had struck with it.
Some invisible power seemed to protect him, for he was constantly in the thickest of the firing, always in the front rank, always standing erect and with uncovered head, and yet no bullet had struck him, no pike had touched him; he was as invulnerable as he was impassive.
Thrice Maréchal de La Meilleraie in person led the royal troops to the assault; thrice the royal troops were beaten back before the eyes of the king and queen.
Great tears rolled silently down the pale cheeks of the boy king; Anne of Austria wrung her hands and muttered: —
"Oh! that man! that man! If he ever falls into my hands I will make a terrible example of him!"
Luckily flight was close at hand, and spread a veil, so to speak, over the royal blushes. Maréchal de La Meilleraie ordered the bugles to blow the recall.
Cauvignac left his post, descended the hill, and sauntered across the field toward the hostelry of Master Biscarros, with his hands in his pockets.
"Madame," said Mazarin, waving his hand in Cauvignac's direction, "there's a man who for a little gold would have spared you all this bloodshed."
"Nonsense!" said the queen. "Monsieur le Cardinal, that is strange language for an economical man like yourself."
"True, madame," rejoined the cardinal: "I know the value of gold, but I know the value of blood also; and at this moment blood is more valuable to us than gold."
"Be assured," said the queen, "that the blood that has been shed shall be avenged. Comminges," she added, addressing the lieutenant of her guards, "seek out Monsieur de La Meilleraie and bring him to me."
"Bernouin," said the Cardinal to his valet, pointing to Cauvignac, who was within a few steps of the Golden Calf, "do you see that man?"
"Yes, monseigneur."
"Very good! go to him from me, and bring him secretly to my room to-night."
