Part 16 (1/2)
Cinq-Mars had been little alarmed at this menacing gesture, contenting himself with tightening the reins of his horse and bringing the spurs close to his sides, knowing that with a single leap of the nimble animal he should be carried behind the wall of a hut which stood near by, and should thus be sheltered from the Spanish fusil before the operation of the fork and match could be completed. He knew, too, that a tacit convention between the two armies prohibited marksmen from firing upon the sentinels; each party would have regarded it as a.s.sa.s.sination.
The soldier who had thus prepared to attack Cinq-Mars must have been ignorant of this understanding. Young D'Effiat, therefore, made no visible movement; and when the sentinel had resumed his walk upon the rampart, he again betook himself to his ride upon the turf, and presently saw five cavaliers directing their course toward him. The first two, who came on at full gallop, did not salute him, but, stopping close to him, leaped to the ground, and he found himself in the arms of the Counsellor de Thou, who embraced him tenderly, while the little Abbe de Gondi, laughing heartily, cried:
”Behold another Orestes recovering his Pylades, and at the moment of immolating a rascal who is not of the family of the King of kings, I a.s.sure you.”
”What! is it you, my dear Cinq-Mars?” cried De Thou; ”and I knew not of your arrival in the camp! Yes, it is indeed you; I recognize you, although you are very pale. Have you been ill, my dear friend? I have often written to you; for my boyish friends.h.i.+p has always remained in my heart.”
”And I,” answered Henri d'Effiat, ”I have been very culpable toward you; but I will relate to you all the causes of my neglect. I can speak of them, but I was ashamed to write them. But how good you are! Your friends.h.i.+p has never relaxed.”
”I knew you too well,” replied De Thou; ”I knew that there could be no real coldness between us, and that my soul had its echo in yours.”
With these words they embraced once more, their eyes moist with those sweet tears which so seldom flow in one's life, but with which it seems, nevertheless, the heart is always charged, so much relief do they give in flowing.
This moment was short; and during these few words, Gondi had been pulling them by their cloaks, saying:
”To horse! to horse, gentlemen! Pardieu! you will have time enough to embrace, if you are so affectionate; but do not delay. Let our first thought be to have done with our good friends who will soon arrive. We are in a fine position, with those three villains there before us, the archers close by, and the Spaniards up yonder! We shall be under three fires.”
He was still speaking, when De Launay, finding himself at about sixty paces from his opponents, with his seconds, who were chosen from his own friends rather than from among the partisans of the Cardinal, put his horse to a canter, advanced gracefully toward his young adversaries, and gravely saluted them.
”Gentlemen, I think that we shall do well to select our men, and to take the field; for there is talk of attacking the lines, and I must be at my post.”
”We are ready, Monsieur,” said Cinq-Mars; ”and as for selecting opponents, I shall be very glad to become yours, for I have not forgotten the Marechal de Ba.s.sompierre and the wood of Chaumont. You know my opinion concerning your insolent visit to my mother.”
”You are very young, Monsieur. In regard to Madame, your mother, I fulfilled the duties of a man of the world; toward the Marechal, those of a captain of the guard; here, those of a gentleman toward Monsieur l'Abbe, who has challenged me; afterward I shall have that honor with you.”
”If I permit you,” said the Abbe, who was already on horseback.
They took sixty paces of ground--all that was afforded them by the extent of the meadow that enclosed them. The Abbe de Gondi was stationed between De Thou and his friend, who sat nearest the ramparts, upon which two Spanish officers and a score of soldiers stood, as in a balcony, to witness this duel of six persons--a spectacle common enough to them.
They showed the same signs of joy as at their bullfights, and laughed with that savage and bitter laugh which their temperament derives from their admixture of Arab blood.
At a sign from Gondi, the six horses set off at full gallop, and met, without coming in contact, in the middle of the arena; at that instant, six pistol-shots were heard almost together, and the smoke covered the combatants.
When it dispersed, of the six cavaliers and six horses but three men and three animals were on their legs. Cinq-Mars was on horseback, giving his hand to his adversary, as calm as himself; at the other end of the field, De Thou stood by his opponent, whose horse he had killed, and whom he was helping to rise. As for Gondi and De Launay, neither was to be seen. Cinq-Mars, looking about for them anxiously, perceived the Abbe's horse, which, caracoling and curvetting, was dragging after him the future cardinal, whose foot was caught in the stirrup, and who was swearing as if he had never studied anything but the language of the camp. His nose and hands were stained and b.l.o.o.d.y with his fall and with his efforts to seize the gra.s.s; and he was regarding with considerable dissatisfaction his horse, which in spite of himself he irritated with his spurs, making its way to the trench, filled with water, which surrounded the bastion, when, happily, Cinq-Mars, pa.s.sing between the edge of the swamp and the animal, seized its bridle and stopped its career.
”Well, my dear Abbe, I see that no great harm has come to you, for you speak with decided energy.”
”Corbleu!” cried Gondi, wiping the dust out of his eyes, ”to fire a pistol in the face of that giant I had to lean forward and rise in my stirrups, and thus I lost my balance; but I fancy that he is down, too.”
”You are right, sir,” said De Thou, coming up; ”there is his horse swimming in the ditch with its master, whose brains are blown out. We must think now of escaping.”
”Escaping! That, gentlemen, will be rather difficult,” said the adversary of Cinq-Mars, approaching. ”Hark! there is the cannon-shot, the signal for the attack. I did not expect it would have been given so soon. If we return we shall meet the Swiss and the foot-soldiers, who are marching in this direction.”
”Monsieur de Fontrailles says well,” said De Thou; ”but if we do not return, here are these Spaniards, who are running to arms, and whose b.a.l.l.s we shall presently have whistling about our heads.”
”Well, let us hold a council,” said Gondi; ”summon Monsieur de Montresor, who is uselessly occupied in searching for the body of poor De Launay. You have not wounded him, Monsieur De Thou?”
”No, Monsieur l'Abbe; not every one has so good an aim as you,” said Montresor, bitterly, limping from his fall. ”We shall not have time to continue with the sword.”
”As to continuing, I will not consent to it, gentlemen,” said Fontrailles; ”Monsieur de Cinq-Mars has behaved too n.o.bly toward me.
My pistol went off too soon, and his was at my very cheek--I feel the coldness of it now--but he had the generosity to withdraw it and fire in the air. I shall not forget it; and I am his in life and in death.”