The Casque's Lark Part 13

"Calm yourself," I answered; "my wounds are slight. I concealed from you both the mission on which I was bound. I went to the camp of the Franks, our savage foes. I carried a message from Victoria."

"To the camp of the Franks!" Ellen and Sampso cried terrified. "That meant death!"

"And this is the being who saved my life," I said to my wife, pointing at Elwig, who stood motionless at the door. "I must bespeak the attention of you both in her behalf until to-morrow."

When they learned that I owed my life to the Frankish woman my wife and her sister hastened toward Elwig, moved by a simultaneous impulse of grat.i.tude; but they almost immediately stopped short, intimidated and even frightened by the sinister and impa.s.sive countenance of Elwig, the priestess, who seemed not to see them, and whose mind probably hovered over scenes far away.

"Give her some dry clothes, those that she has on are wet," I said to my wife and her sister. "She does not understand Gallic; your thanks will be lost upon her."

"Had she not saved your life," Ellen said to me, "I would think the woman's face looks somber and threatening."

"She is a savage like the rest of her people. Get her some dry clothes, and I shall take her to the little side room, where I shall lock her up as a matter of precaution."

Sampso went into a contiguous room to fetch a tunic and mantle for Elwig, while I said to my wife:

"Did you hear any noise at the window of your room to-night, shortly before I came in?"

"None whatever--neither did Sampso; she did not leave me since evening; we both felt uneasy at your absence. But why do you ask?"

I did not then answer my wife, seeing that Sampso at that moment returned with the clothes that she had gone after. I took them, pa.s.sed them over to Elwig and said to her:

"My wife and her sister offer you these clothes. Yours are wet. Is there anything else that you wish? Are you hungry, or thirsty? What would you have?"

"I want solitude," was Elwig's answer, rejecting the proffered clothes with a gesture; "I want the black night. Only that will suit me at present."

"Very well--follow me," I said to her.

Leading the way, I opened the door of a little chamber, and raising the lamp in order to light its interior, I said to the priestess:

"You see yonder couch--rest yourself, and may the G.o.ds render peaceful to you the night that you are to pa.s.s under my roof."

Elwig made no answer; she threw herself upon the couch and covered her face with her hands.

"And now," I said to my wife as I closed and locked the door, "these duties of hospitality being attended to, I burn with the desire to embrace my little Alguen."

I found you, my child, sleeping peacefully in your cradle. I covered you with kisses, that were all the sweeter to me seeing I had that very day feared never to see you again. Your mother and her sister examined and bandaged my wounds. They were slight.

While Ellen and Sampso were attending to me, I spoke to them of the man whom I had caught sight of on the window sill, and who seemed to be peeping through the shutters. They were greatly astonished at my words; they had heard no sound; they had been together since evening. While talking over the matter, Ellen said to me:

"Did you hear the news?"

"No."

"Tetrik, the Governor of Gascony and relative of Victoria, arrived this evening. The Mother of the Camps rode out on horseback to meet him. We saw him go by."

"And did Victorin accompany his mother?"

"He rode beside her. That must be the reason that we did not see him during the day."

The arrival of Tetrik gave me food for reflection.

Sampso left me alone with Ellen. It was late. Early the next morning I was to report to Victoria and her son the result of my mission to the camp of the Franks.

CHAPTER VIII.

CAPTAIN MARION.

Early in the morning I repaired to Victoria's residence. The humble house of the Mother of the Camps was reached through a long narrow path, skirted on either side by high ramparts that const.i.tuted the outer fortifications of one of the gates of Mayence. I was about twenty paces from the house when I heard behind me the following cries uttered in terror:

"Save yourself! Save yourself!"

Looking back, I saw with no little fright a two-wheeled cart dashing rapidly towards me. The cart was drawn by two horses whose driver had lost control over them.

I could jump off neither to the right nor the left of the narrow path to let the cart pa.s.s; its wheels almost grazed the opposite walls; I was still too far from Victoria's residence to hope for escape in that direction; however swiftly I might run, I would be overtaken by the horses and trampled under their hoofs long before I could have reached the door. There was nothing left for me to do but to face the runaways, and, however hopeless the prospect, to seize them by the bit and attempt to stop them. Accordingly, I rushed forward upon the animals with my hands raised. Oh! A prodigy! Hardly did I touch the horses' reins when they suddenly reared upon their haunches. It was almost as if my mere gesture had sufficed to check their impetuous course. Happy at having escaped what seemed certain death, but aware that I was not a magician, endowed with the power to arrest a runaway team with a mere motion of my hand, I asked myself while leaping back what the cause might be of the extraordinary spectacle. I noticed that the horses still made violent efforts to proceed on their career; they reared, tugged forward and stretched out their necks, but were unable to advance, as if the cart's wheels were locked, or some superior power restrained them.

My curiosity stirred to a high pitch, I drew near, and gliding between the horses and the wall, succeeded in climbing over the dashboard of the cart whose driver I found crouching under the seat, looking more dead than alive. As the mystery seemed to deepen, my curiosity was p.r.i.c.ked still more. I ran to the rear of the vehicle and noticed with no slight amazement that a large sized man, robust as a Hercules, was clinging to two ornamental pieces that projected from the rear of the cart. It was thanks to his weight, and to the superhuman resistance that his great strength enabled him to offer, that the team was held back.

"Captain Marion!" I cried. "I should have known as much! There is none other in the whole Gallic army able to hold back a cart going at full speed."

"Tell that fool of a driver to pull in the reins. My wrists begin to tire."

I was transmitting the orders to the driver who was beginning to recover his senses, when I saw several soldiers, on guard at Victoria's dwelling, pour out of the house attracted by the noise. They opened the yard gate and thus offered a safe exit to the cart.

"There is no longer any danger," I said to the driver; "lead your horses on. But whom does this conveyance belong to?"

"To Tetrik, the Governor of Gascony, who arrived yesterday at Mayence.

He stops at Victoria's house," answered the driver, while calming down his horses.

While the cart proceeded into the yard of Victoria's residence, I walked back towards the captain to thank him for his timely aid.

Marion had left his blacksmith's anvil for the army many years previous.

He was well known and generally beloved among the soldiers, as much for his heroic courage and extraordinary strength, as for his exceptional good judgment, his sound reasoning powers, the austerity of his morals, and his extreme good fellowship. He now stood on the road, and with his casque in his hand wiped the sweat off his brow. He wore a cuira.s.s of steel scales over his Gallic blouse, and a long sword at his side. His dusty boots told of a recent and long ride on horseback. His large sunburnt face, partly covered by a thick beard that began to be streaked with grey, was open and pleasing.

"Captain Marion," I said to him, "I must thank you for having saved me from being ground under the wheels of that cart."

"I did not know it was you who ran the risk of being trampled under the hoofs of those horses like a dog! A stupid sort of a death for a brave soldier like you, Schanvoch! But when I heard that devil of a driver crying: 'Save yourself!' I surmised he was about to kill somebody and I tried to hold the cart back. Fortunately my mother endowed me with a good pair of wrists. But where is my dear friend Eustace?" added the captain looking around.

"Whom do you refer to?"

"To a brave fellow, the old companion of my blacksmith days. Like me, he left the hammer for the lance. The fortune of war served me better than it did him. Despite his bravery, my friend Eustace has remained a simple horseman, while I have been promoted to captain. But there he is, yonder, with his arms crossed, and motionless as a signpost. Ho!

Eustace! Eustace!"

At the call, the companion of Captain Marion approached slowly, with his arms crossed over his breast. He was a man of middle size and vigorous frame. His pale blonde hair and beard, his bilious complexion, his harsh and sullen physiognomy offered a striking contrast to the pleasant exterior of the captain. I asked myself what singular affinity could draw two men of such different appearance, and doubtless also such dissimilar characters, into close and constant friendship.