while these things were taking place at bordeaux, while the people were dragging the body of poor canolles through the street, while the duc de la rochefoucauld was returning to flatter the pride of madame la princesse by pointing out to her that her power to do evil was as great as any queen's, while cauvignac was spurring toward the city gates with barrabas, deeming it useless to pursue their mission farther, a carriage drawn by four breathless, foam-flecked horses, came to a standstill upon the shore of the garonne opposite bordeaux, and between the villages of belcroix and la bastide.
eleven o'clock had just struck.
a mounted courier, who followed the carriage, leaped hastily to the ground as it stopped, and opened the door.
a woman hurriedly alighted, looked up at the sky, which was all ablaze with a bright red light, and listened to the distant shouts and noises.
"you are sure," said she to the maid who alighted after her, "that we have not been followed?"
"no, madame; the two outriders who remained behind at madame's command, have just come up with the carriage, and they have not seen or heard anything."
"do not you hear anything in the direction of the city?"
"it seems to me that i hear shouting in the distance."
"do you see nothing?"
"i see something like the reflection of a fire."
"those are torches."
"yes, madame, yes, for they move about and dance up and down like wills o' the wisp; do you hear how much louder and more distinct the shouts seem to grow, madame?"
"mon dieu!" faltered the young woman, falling on her knees upon the damp soil; "mon dieu! mon dieu!"
it was her only prayer. a single word presented itself to her mind; her lips could pronounce no other; it was the name of him who alone could perform a miracle in her favor.
the maid was not mistaken. torches were waving and the cries seemed to be coming nearer; a musket-shot rang out, followed by fifty others and by a tremendous uproar; then the torches vanished and the shouts receded; a storm was rumbling overhead, the rain began to fall; but what cared nanon for that? it was not the lightning of which she was afraid.
her eyes were constantly fixed upon the spot where she had heard so great a tumult. she could no longer see or hear anything at that spot, and it seemed to her in the glare of the lightning that the square was empty.
"oh! i haven't the strength to wait here any longer," she cried. "to bordeaux! take me to bordeaux!"
suddenly she heard the sound of horses' footsteps rapidly approaching.
"ah! they are coming at last," she cried. "here they are! adieu, finette, i must go alone; take her up behind you, lombard, and leave in the carriage everything that i brought."
"but what do you mean to do, madame, in god's name?" cried the terrified maid.
"adieu, finette; adieu!"
"but why, adieu, madame? where are you going?"
"i am going to bordeaux."
"oh! don't do that, madame, in heaven's name! they will kill you."
"very good! for what purpose do you suppose that i am going thither?"
"oh! madame! help, lombard! help me prevent madame—"
"hush! leave me, finette. i have remembered you, never fear: go; i do not wish that any harm should befall you. obey me! they are coming nearer, here they are."
as she spoke a man galloped up to the carriage, followed at some little distance by another horseman; his horse was roaring rather than breathing.
"sister! sister!" he cried. "ah! i come in time!"
"cauvignac!" cried nanon. "well, is it all arranged? is he awaiting me? shall we go?"
but, instead of replying, cauvignac leaped down from his horse, and seized nanon in his arms. she allowed him to do as he pleased, with the stiff inertness of ghosts and fools. he placed her in the carriage, bade lombard and francinette take their places beside her, closed the door, and leaped upon his horse. in vain did poor nanon, once more in possession of her faculties, shriek and struggle.
"do not release her," said cauvignac: "whatever happens do not release her. keep the other door, barrabas, and do you, coachman, keep your horses on the gallop or i'll blow your brains out."
these orders followed one another so rapidly that there was a moment's delay in putting them in execution; the carriage was slow to move, the servants were trembling with apprehension, even the horses seemed to hesitate.
"look alive there, ten thousand devils!" shouted cauvignac; "they are coming! they are coming!"
in the distance could be heard the hoof-beats of many horses, approaching rapidly with a noise like thunder.
fear is contagious. the coachman, at cauvignac's threat, realized that some great danger was impending, and seized the reins.
"where are we going?" he faltered.
"to bordeaux! to bordeaux!" cried nanon from within the carriage.
"to libourne, ten thousand furies!" cried cauvignac.
"monsieur, the horses will fall before they have gone two leagues."
"i don't ask them to go so far!" retorted cauvignac, spurring them with his sword. "let them hold out as far as ferguzon's camp, that's all i ask."
the heavy vehicle thereupon set forth at a terrifying pace. men and horses, sweating, gasping, bleeding, urged one another on, the first by their shouts, the others by their loud neighing.
nanon tried to resist, to free herself, to leap down from the carriage, but she exhausted her strength in the struggle, and soon fell back utterly worn out; she was no longer conscious of what was taking place. by dint of seeking to distinguish cauvignac amid the hurly-burly of fleeing shadows, her head went round and round; she closed her eyes with a despairing cry, and lay cold and motionless in her maid's arms.
cauvignac rode forward to the horses' heads. his horse left a trail of fire along the road.
"help, ferguzon! help!" he cried.
his call was answered by a cheer in the distance.
"demons of hell," cried cauvignac, "you are playing against me, but i believe, upon my soul, that you will lose again to-day. ferguzon! ferguzon! help!"
two or three musket shots rang out in their rear, and were answered by a general discharge from in front.
the carriage came to a stand-still; two of the horses fell from exhaustion, and a third was struck by a bullet.
ferguzon and his men fell upon the troops of monsieur de la rochefoucauld; as they outnumbered them three to one, the bordelais soon found it hopeless to continue the struggle; they turned tail and fled, and victors and vanquished, pursuers and pursued, vanished in the darkness like a cloud driven by the wind.
cauvignac remained with the footmen and francinette beside the insensible nanon. luckily they were within a hundred yards of the village of carbonblanc. cauvignac carried nanon in his arms as far as the first house; and there, having given orders to bring up the carriage, placed his sister upon a bed, and, taking from his breast an object which francinette could not distinguish, slipped it into the poor woman's clenched hand.
the next morning, on awaking from what she thought at first was a frightful dream, nanon put her hand to her face, and felt something soft and silky caress her pale cheeks. it was a lock of canolles' hair which cauvignac had heroically rescued, at the peril of his life, from the bordelais tigers.
