Francezka Part 10

We had great stores of arms and ammunition, together with some heavy guns--these last conveyed to the island by a miracle of ingenuity and determination--and we had victuals in abundance. It began to look as if we could give Bibikoff and his Russians, and even Lacy, some trouble yet to get us out of Courland.

Count Saxe, on landing, went straight to refresh himself in the old castle, where two or three rooms in the towers, at each end of the terrace, were still habitable. The terrace was overgrown with ivy and periwinkle, and some ancient rose trees were still living and blooming. On this terrace, which seemed steeped in age and tranquillity, Count Saxe determined to mount two of his four great guns which had been transported to Uzmaiz.

Our rest was short before we set to work, with pick and shovel, every man of us. Count Saxe did not disdain to show us how to work. We labored day and night, with but short intervals for sleep. Sleeping or working, however, my mind was always full of Francezka. With discretion on Gaston Cheverny's part there was no reason to fear for her; but although his wit and courage were above cavil, his discretion was an unknown quant.i.ty. For him, much as I loved him, I felt no immediate concern. He was a soldier, whose trade was danger, and he had known a plenty of it since leaving France; but for Francezka, that delicately nurtured creature, who had never slept but in a soft bed, who was accustomed to waiting maids and valets, who was so young and so charming, so adventurous--what of her?

We scarcely reckoned upon hearing from Gaston Cheverny very promptly, still there was room for anxiety when a whole week pa.s.sed and we heard nothing. Gaston was amply supplied with money, and Count Saxe had charged him to lose no time in communicating with us, nor was he likely to delay--so that the failure to hear from him was slightly disquieting.

One week went by, and then another, and we heard nothing of Francezka and Gaston. We had other things to give us thought, for we got news that Bibikoff was looking for us, with four thousand Russians, and, as soon as we were found, General Lacy was to step in and finish us--if he could. This only put more strength into our thews and sinews, for if the Russians caught us before our defenses were completed, it would go hard with us. So we had enough to think about. But it did not diminish our courage or our industry. If only Mademoiselle Capello were safe! That was the thought in my heart.

On the fifteenth day after our arrival, about noon, as I stood on the terrace making some changes, under Count Saxe's eye, for one of the guns to be planted there, I happened to glance toward the point of the mainland, and saw a strange figure standing there waving a crimson mantle by way of a signal; and it was Francezka's mantle.

Count Saxe saw it as soon as I, and recognized it.

"Go you at once, with a boat," he said, and I lost no time.

When I stepped out of the boat on the mainland, the fellow who had been signaling came up to me. He was barelegged, and wore the tattered uniform of a Russian foot soldier, with a sheepskin mantle, but he spoke remarkably good French for a foot soldier.

"I have a letter," he said in French, "for Count Saxe."

"You mean," I replied, "for his Highness, the Duke of Courland. Give it me then, and, also, that mantle." And I shoved a gold piece into his hand. He grinned and gave up both the mantle and the letter.

With them, I returned to the island. Count Saxe met me at the landing place, and I handed him the letter, which was from Gaston Cheverny. It read:

Your Highness:

Here I am with my young brother Francois, in the hands of the Russians. Francois is young and delicate, and must be succored. A ransom of ten thousand crowns is asked for us both--nor will the Russians agree to part with one of us without the other. Francois must be succored, I say. My estate in France is not great, but it is ten thousand crowns at least, and I think the ransom not excessive. Francois, I repeat, must be succored. Your Highness's ever faithful

Gaston Cheverny.

Count Saxe looked at me reflectively, after I had read the letter.

"Of course, she must be succored. Ten thousand crowns is a large sum for some purposes; not large to pay as ransom for a lady."

"Not for some ladies," I answered. "Not for Mademoiselle Capello."

"Babache, you are a Tatar and have the sentiments of a Tatar," said my master; and then he got with me into the boat and we pulled across the bright blue water to where the rascal awaited us, sunning himself with great enjoyment in the August noon.

Count Saxe saw through the fellow's disguise at once. He liked not to deal with rascals, but knew how to perfectly, and said at once in French:

"What will be done to Monsieur Cheverny and the lad if we decline to pay the ransom?"

For answer the fellow grinned, and drew his hand, as an executioner draws his sword, across his neck.

Count Saxe said not a word in reply, but went through the pantomime of a platoon of soldiers firing at the order "One! Two! Three!" upon the condemned.

The Russian understood very well, and laughed.

"But we have not yet come to that," said Count Saxe. "Here is a man, Captain Babache, who will go with you and see the young man and the lad. On his report depends whether we shall pay anything or not."

"He must take the ten thousand crowns with him," said the fellow. "It would be a pity to shoot the lad, Francois. He is such a brave lad. We marched him far and fast; he was footsore and weary, but he marched, and not a moan escaped him."

At that my heart was like to burst. I could see Francezka--that pale, beautiful face--those eyes, so seductive, yet so undaunted--that lofty spirit which made her soul the captain of her body. And surely, Gaston must have committed some great folly to have brought them to that pa.s.s. All this went galloping through my mind while Count Saxe was saying:

"My friend, I see you are a determined rascal, and that you know the boy at least must be ransomed. So, Babache here will return with you, and ten trusty men shall carry the ten thousand crowns. But I warn you that you are dealing with Maurice of Saxe, and if harm comes to a hair of the heads of those prisoners, or of Babache and his men, I will give over the pursuit of the crown of Courland, until every soul of you rests in Abraham's bosom. Do you hear me?"

"Yes, and know you and believe you," replied the fellow. "We will do them no harm. We are gentlemen, if you please; I, myself, have danced with the lady, Anna Iwanowna, whom you, Count Saxe, refused to marry, and though you have not asked my views upon political affairs in this my native land of Courland, I will say to you that you will rest in Abraham's bosom before you become Duke of Courland."

"Ah," replied Count Saxe, coolly, "may I take you as a fair representative of Courland?"

"Hardly," replied he of the bare legs; "but your objects, most n.o.ble Count, and mine and those of my comrades, are not unlike. Your Highness comes to Courland, and tells us to make you Duke of Courland, or you will give us our fill of civil war. It is stand and deliver in either case."

To my amazement Count Saxe actually laughed!

For my part, the picture conjured up of Francezka tramping wearily through the fields and forests, in the company of cutthroats, her tender feet aching and wounded, put all thoughts of laughter out of my head. I was impatient only to be gone, and Count Saxe saw it.

Ten thousand crowns is a great sum of money, I think. It made a hole in Count Saxe's military chest to pay it; but when was he ever backward in handing out money when he had it, or could get it from some one else? And the services of eleven men, when time was so precious to us, could ill be spared; but Count Saxe took no note of these things.

He talked a little longer with the Russian, who had a German name, Schnelling. This Schnelling had the impudence to claim to be a part of Bibikoff's force, and when Count Saxe asked him what he was doing holding prisoners for ransom, the rascal replied that the money was to be applied for a fund of defense against Count Saxe!

At this my master could not help laughing, and expressed himself as being entirely at ease about a single crown of his money going to the fund for driving him out of Courland.

On being asked, Schnelling told us his encampment, as he called it, was three days' march from Uzmaiz.

Now Count Saxe was a good judge of whether a man was telling the truth or not. He had enjoyed remarkable opportunities for more than a year of studying the Courland vintage of lies--for every nation has its own style of lies. A Frenchman lies not like a German. A Courlander lies--however, it has been said that the devil and ninety-nine Courlanders make a hundred liars.

Count Saxe replied to this last lie of Schnelling's by saying:

"You are a marvelous soldier, to travel three days without escort of commissariat, for the village hen-roosts can not always be depended on. I guarantee that your prisoners are not half a day's march from here."

"Monsieur," said our bare-legged captain, in a tone and manner not unworthy of Jacques Haret, "I take no offense at your calling me a liar, by implication; in war, lies are stratagems. But your allusion to village hen-roosts is exceedingly painful to a gentleman like myself, who has danced at a court ball with the d.u.c.h.ess Anna Iwanowna.

However, pa.s.sing that over, I will admit that we are just half a day's march from here and looking for General Bibikoff every hour."

"Pray make General Bibikoff my compliments when you meet him," replied Count Saxe, gravely. "And since your prisoners can be reached to-night, not a moment must be lost in setting out."

It was high noon when we had perceived Schnelling, and by two o'clock all the arrangements were made, the money was put in two leather bags, I had picked out ten men and had started. I had not much fear of treachery on the part of our Russian-Courland friends. They knew Maurice of Saxe too well to try any tricks on him. We struck out through a green, well-wooded country, avoiding the highroads and ever going deeper into the forests of larch and fir that led toward the west from Uzmaiz. If my heart had not been full of Francezka, I should have enjoyed the conversation of that rascal, Schnelling. He frankly gave up his attempt to pa.s.s for a private soldier and appeared like a genuine fine gentleman, in spite of his bare legs and sheepskin cloak.

He had known many adventures in the world, and told of them, laughing uproariously at things that I would have killed any man for, had he told them on Captain Babache.

I did not wish to speak of Mademoiselle Capello to him, but in spite of me the words came out. I asked him, trying meanwhile to look unconcerned, about the boy Francois. He glanced at me sidewise, and I believe he read my heart, and delighted in torturing me.

"A lad of fine spirit, but delicate in many ways. The elder--Monsieur Gaston Cheverny--could not take better care of him if he were a sister instead of a brother. Monsieur Gaston never leaves him by day, and by night watches him. It would have been as easy, as far as Monsieur Gaston was concerned, to have got twenty thousand crowns as ten thousand."

We trudged for five hours, and the sun sank, and there was no moon. I walked on like a blind man. Schnelling seemed to know his way perfectly, but occasionally he stopped and struck his flint; when by that small, pale gleam, the abysses of darkness seemed vaster and more menacing. At last, toward ten o'clock at night, there came, on the faintly stirring dense air, the odor of smoke, of burning boughs. Then a twinkle of light was visible, and the next minute we came upon an open s.p.a.ce, in which a huge fire of resinous wood blazed and roared.

There were pickets about. This precious gang of rascals, who impudently claimed to be a part of General Bibikoff's force, had all served some time or other as soldiers, all wore uniforms, and knew perfectly well how to take care of themselves--nay, how to make themselves at ease, as far as their circ.u.mstances permitted. It is, after all, a wonderful thing that man does not seem able to rid himself wholly of either sense or virtue. These rogues were brave, and as Count Saxe antic.i.p.ated, they kept their word scrupulously about their prisoners.

As soon as my eyes became accustomed to the glare of light, I looked about me for Francezka, but saw no sign of either her or Gaston Cheverny. Schnelling walked up to a man in a colonel's uniform, and saluting, said:

"Colonel Pintsch, this gentleman, Captain Babache, brings you ten thousand crowns, with the compliments of Count Saxe, and is prepared to receive the prisoners."

Colonel Pintsch--whether he was a colonel or not, I never knew--bowed politely, and said: