cadoudal's idea
half an hour later the chouans were encamped in a half circle around the town of la guerche. they bivouacked in groups of ten, fifteen, and twenty, with a fire for each group, and were cooking their supper as peacefully as if a gunshot had never been heard from redon to cancale.
the cavalry bivouacked by themselves, on the borders of a little brook which formed one of the sources of the seiche. their horses were saddled but not bridled, so that horses as well as men could enjoy their food.
in the midst of the encampment, seated under an immense oak, cadoudal, coster de saint-victor, mademoiselle de fargas, and five or six of the chouans were gathered. these latter deserve that their pseudonyms of branche-d'or, brise-bleu, chante-en-hiver, bénédicité, monte-à-l'assaut, c?ur-de-roi, and tiffauges should be handed down to posterity together with that of their leader.
mademoiselle de fargas and coster de saint-victor ate with good appetites, using the hand which was not disabled. mademoiselle de fargas had wished to empty her six thousand francs into the general funds, but cadoudal had refused receiving her money only as a deposit.
the six or seven chouan leaders whom we have named, ate as if they were not sure of being able to eat on the morrow. but the whites did not have as many privations to endure as the republicans, although the latter were able to exact contributions. the whites, with whom the people of the neighborhood were in entire sympathy, and who paid for whatever they ate, lived in comparative abundance.
as for cadoudal, preoccupied with some thought which[pg 508] seemed to be struggling in his mind, he went and came, having taken only a glass of water, his customary beverage. he had obtained from mademoiselle de fargas all the information which she could give him about fran?ois goulin and his guillotine. he stopped suddenly, and turning to the group of breton leaders, he said: "i want a willing man to go to la guerche and get such information as i require."
all rose spontaneously.
"general," said chante-en-hiver, "without wronging my comrades, i think i am better fitted than any of them for this mission. my brother lives at la guerche. i will wait until it is dark, and then i will go to him. if i am stopped i can appeal to him; he will answer for me, and that will be the end of it. he knows the town like his own pocket; we will do whatever you want done, and i will be back with the information within the hour."
"very well," said cadoudal, "this is what i have decided upon. you all know that the blues are dragging a guillotine around with them, to strike terror to our hearts and to intimidate us; and that the infamous goulin has charge of it. fran?ois goulin, who was, you will remember, the hero of the drownings at nantes. he and perdraux were carrier's tools. they have both boasted of having drowned more than eight hundred priests. well, providence has sent this man again, who went to paris, not only to ask immunity, but reward for his infamous crimes, that he might expiate his ill-doing on the spot where he committed it. he has brought the infamous guillotine among us. let him perish by the foul instrument that he watches over; he is not worthy of a soldier's bullet. now we must take both him and his instrument, and transport them to some spot where we are absolute masters, that the execution may not be interfered with. chante-en-hiver will go to la guerche; he will come back and tell us all about the house where goulin lodges, the place where the guillotine stands, and the number of men who guard it. when we ascertain these facts, i have a plan which i shall[pg 509] explain to you; and if you agree to it we will carry it out this very night."
the chiefs applauded loudly.
"the deuce!" observed coster de saint-victor, "i have never seen a man guillotined, and i have sworn that i would have nothing to do with the abominable machine until my turn came to be beheaded; but when fran?ois groulin is brought to book, i promise to be in the front rank of spectators."
"you hear, chante-en-hiver?" asked cadoudal.
chante-en-hiver did not wait for him to speak twice. he laid aside all his weapons with the exception of his knife, with which he never parted. then, asking coster de saint-victor to look at his watch, and learning that it was half-past eight, he promised to return by ten. five minutes later he disappeared.
"now," said cadoudal, addressing the remaining chiefs, "how many horses were taken on the battlefield, with their saddles, etc.?"
"twenty-one," said c?ur-de-roi; "i counted them myself."
"can we find twenty chasseur or hussar uniforms that are complete?"
"general, there are nearly one hundred and fifty dead on the field of battle," replied branche d'or; "we have only to take our pick."
"we must have twenty hussar uniforms, and one of them must belong to a quartermaster-general, or a sub-lieutenant."
branche-d'or rose, whistled, collected a dozen men, and started off with them.
"i have an idea," said coster de saint-victor. "is there a printing-shop at vitré?"
"yes," replied cadoudal; "i had my manifesto printed there the day before yesterday. the manager is a worthy man named borel, who is entirely with us."
"i have a good mind," said coster, "since i have nothing else to do, to get into mademoiselle de fargas's car[pg 510]riage, go to vitré, and order some placards inviting the people of la guerche, including the six thousand blues, to witness the execution, by his own executioner, and his own guillotine, of fran?ois goulin, government commissioner. it would be a good joke, and it would amuse our people in the paris salons."
"do it, coster," said cadoudal. "one cannot employ too much publicity and solemnity when god executes justice."
"forward, d'argentan, my friend," said coster; "only some one will have to lend me a jacket."
cadoudal made a sign, and each of the leaders pulled off his own to offer it to coster.
"if the execution takes place," he asked, "where will it be?"
"faith!" said cadoudal, "three hundred paces from here, at the top of the hill just in front of me."
"that is all i want to know," said coster de saint-victor. and, calling to the postilion, he added: "my friend, as you may take it into your head to object to what i am going to tell you to do, i want to tell you beforehand that all objections will be useless. your horses are rested and they have eaten; you are rested and you have eaten. you will put the horses to the carriage; and as you cannot return to la guerche, because the road is obstructed, you will take me to vitré, to monsieur borel, the printer. if you agree to it, you shall have two crowns of six livres each—not assignats, but crowns. if you refuse, one of these lads here will take your place, and will naturally receive the two crowns instead of you."
the postilion took no time for reflection.
"i will go," said he.
"very well," said coster; "and since you have shown such willingness, here is one of the crowns in advance."
five minutes later the carriage was harnessed and coster was on his way to vitré.
"now," said mademoiselle de fargas, "as i have no[pg 511] part to play in all these preparations, i will ask your permission to take a little rest. i have not slept for five days and nights."
cadoudal spread his cloak on the ground and on it five or six goatskins, a portmanteau served for a pillow, and mademoiselle de fargas began her first night's bivouac, and with it her apprenticeship to civil war.
as the clock of la guerche was chiming ten, cadoudal heard a voice at his ear which said: "here i am."
it was chante-en-hiver, who had returned, as he had promised. he had gathered all the necessary information, and he told cadoudal all that we already know. goulin occupied the last house in the town of la guerche. twelve men, who slept in a room on the ground-floor, constituted his private guard. four men took turns in acting as sentinels at the foot of the guillotine, relieving each other every two hours; the three off guard slept in the anteroom on the ground-floor of fran?ois goulin's house. the horses which were used to pull the machine were stabled behind the same house.
at half-past ten, branche-d'or arrived in his turn; he had taken the uniforms from twenty dead hussars and brought them with him.
"choose twenty men who can wear these clothes without looking as if they were masquerading in them. you will take command of them. i suppose you did as i told you, and found one uniform belonging to a quartermaster-general or a sub-lieutenant?"
"yes, general."
"you will put it on, and take the command of these twenty men. you will take the road to chateau-giron, so that you will reach la guerche at the other end by the road opposite to it. when the sentinel challenges you, you will advance and say that you are come from general hedouville at rennes. you will ask for colonel hulot's house, which they will show you. you will be careful not to go there. chante-en-hiver, who will be your second in com[pg 512]mand, will show you the way through the town if you do not know it."
"i do know it, general," replied branche-d'or; "but no matter, a good fellow like chante-en-hiver is never in the way."
"you will go straight to goulin's house. thanks to your uniform, you will have no difficulty. while two men approach the sentinel and talk to him, the other eighteen will enter the house and seize the blues who are there. you will make them swear not to offer any opposition at the sword's point. as soon as they have sworn, you need trouble no further about them; they will keep their oath. masters below, you will then go up to fran?ois goulin's room. as i have no idea that he will defend himself, i will not tell you what to do in case of resistance. as for the sentinel, you understand how important it is that he should not cry 'to arms!' he will surrender or you will kill him. in the meantime chante-en-hiver will take the horses from the stable and harness them to the machine; and as it is on the road, all you will have to do is to drive straight ahead in order to rejoin us. when once the blues have given you their word, you can trust them with the secret of your mission. i am firmly convinced that there is not one among them who would court death for the sake of fran?ois goulin, and that, on the contrary, you will find more than one who will give you good advice. thus, for example, chante-en-hiver neglected to find out where the executioner lived, probably because i neglected to tell him to do so. i suppose none of you would care to fill his office, therefore he is indispensable to us. i leave the rest to your intelligence. we will make the attempt about three o'clock in the morning. at two o'clock we shall be where we were yesterday. a rocket will notify us that you have been successful."
branche-d'or and chante-en-hiver exchanged a few words in a low tone. one was objecting to something that the other was saying; finally they seemed to have[pg 513] come to some conclusion in the matter, and, turning to the general, they said: "that is enough, general. everything shall be done as you say."
