the traitor

the door closed behind them. daylight had not yet come, but the darkness was less profound. the traveller was surprised to see that the companions had a prisoner with them. his hands were tied behind his back, and he was fastened to a horse which two of the companions were leading. these three had entered first and had galloped to the end of the courtyard. two by two the others had followed and had surrounded them. all had then dismounted. the prisoner had remained on horseback for a moment; then they had taken him down.

"let me speak to captain morgan," said the traveller to the monk who had attended him. "he must know at once that i am here."

the monk went and whispered a few words in the leader's ears, who hastened to the traveller's side.

"from whom do you come?" he asked.

"shall i use the ordinary formula," asked the traveller, "or shall i simply tell you from whom i really come?"

"since you are here, you have probably satisfied all requirements. tell me who sent you."

"general roundhead."

"you have a letter from him?"

"here it is." and the traveller put his hand to his pocket, but morgan stopped him.

"later," said he. "first we must try a traitor. take the prisoner to the council-chamber," he added.

just then they caught the gallop of a second troop of horsemen. morgan listened attentively.

"those are our brothers," said he; "open the door."

the door was opened.

"draw back!" cried morgan.

[pg 399]

and a second company of four men entered almost as rapidly as the first.

"have you the prisoner?" cried their leader.

"yes," replied the companions of jehu with one accord.

"and you," asked morgan, "have you the report?"

"yes," replied the four with one voice.

"then all is well," replied morgan, "and justice will be done."

this is what had happened:

as we have said, several bands, known by the name of companions of jehu, or avengers, and sometimes by both, scoured the country from marseilles to besan?on. one had its headquarters in the neighborhood of avignon, a second in the jura, and a third, as we have seen, in the old chartreuse of seillon.

as all these young men belonged to families residing in the neighborhood, as soon as each undertaking was accomplished, whether or not successfully, they returned to their respective homes. a quarter of an hour later our pillager of diligences, with his hat perched over his ear, his eyeglass in his eye, and his stick in his hand, was walking through the town asking what had happened, and marvelling at the incredible insolence of these fellows to whom nothing was sacred, not even the cash of the directory. now, how could young men, some of whom were rich, and all of whom were connected with the ruling powers of the neighborhood, be suspected of highway robbery? nor were they suspected—though, had they been, no one would have taken it upon himself to denounce them.

however, the government was much annoyed to see its money turned from its original destination—the coffers of the directory at paris—into those of the chouans in brittany. they therefore decided to play a trick upon their enemies.

in one of the diligences used to convey money, they placed seven or eight gendarmes dressed as citizens, who had sent their pistols and carbines beforehand to the dili[pg 400]gence, and who had received express orders to take one of the outlaws alive. the thing had been planned so cleverly that the companions of jehu had heard nothing about it. the vehicle, with the modest appearance of an ordinary diligence—that is to say, filled with honest bourgeois—ventured into the pass of cavaillon, and was stopped by eight masked men. a sharp discharge of firearms from within the coach disclosed the trick to the companions, who, not desirous of entering into a profitless struggle, set off at a gallop, and, thanks to the excellence of their horses, soon disappeared. but one horse had his leg broken by a ball, and fell on his rider. the horseman, held down by the animal, could not escape, and the gendarmes thus fulfilled the double duty of defending the government money, and of capturing one of those who sought to lay hands on it.

like the old free-booters, like the illuminati of the eighteenth century, like the freemasons of modern times, the members of this society, in order to become affiliated with it, underwent brutal tests, and took blood-curdling oaths. one of these oaths was never to betray a companion, no matter what torture might be inflicted. if the name of a companion escaped him, or if, weakness overcoming him, any facts escaped his lips, then the companions, taking the place of that justice which granted mercy or softened the penalty as a reward for his treachery, had ordained that the first of their number who should meet him was justified in burying his dagger in the traitor's heart!

now the prisoner taken on the road from marseilles, whose assumed name was hector and whose real name was fargas, after having resisted promises as well as threats for a long time, finally weary of prison life, and tortured with loss of sleep—the worst of all tortures—and being known by his real name, had ended by confessing and naming his accomplices.

but as soon as this became known, the judges were overwhelmed by such a deluge of threatening letters and re[pg 401]marks that they resolved to conduct the trial at the other end of france, and had chosen for that purpose the little town of nantua, at the furthest extremity of the department of the ain.

but at the same time that the prisoner was removed to nantua, with every precaution taken for his safety, the companions of jehu at the chartreuse of seillon received word of the betrayal and the removal of the traitor.

"it is for you, the most devoted of our brothers," they were told—"it is for morgan, the most venturesome and daring of us all, to save the companions by destroying the report which accuses them, and likewise to make a terrible example of the person of the traitor. let him be tried, condemned and executed, and exposed to the gaze of all with the avenging poniard in his breast."

this was the terrible mission which morgan had just accomplished. he had gone with ten of his comrades to nantua. six of them, after having gagged the sentinel, had knocked at the prison door and forced the keeper at the pistol's point to open the gate. once inside, they had learned which was fargas's cell, and, accompanied by the keeper and the jailer, they had gone to it, locked in the two officials, bound the young man on a horse, which they had brought with them, and had set off at a gallop.

the other four, in the meantime, had seized the clerk, had forced him, at the dead of night, to admit them to the registry, of which he had the key, as he sometimes worked there all night, when there was great stress of business. there they had compelled him to surrender all the court records, together with the interrogatories, which contained the charges signed with the prisoner's name. then, to save the clerk, who begged them not to ruin him, and who had perhaps not made all possible resistance, they emptied a number of boxes, set fire to them, shut the door, returned the key to the clerk, who was then free to return home, and set off at a gallop themselves with the papers in their possession.

[pg 402]

it is needless to say that all who had taken part in this expedition had worn masks.

this is why the second troop, when they entered the courtyard of the chartreuse, had asked: "have you the prisoner?" and why the first troop, after replying in the affirmative, had asked: "have you the report?" and this is also the reason why morgan had remarked subsequently: "then all is well, and justice will be done!"