University of Virginia Library

15. CHAPTER XV.
SCENE WITHIN THE BARRIERS.

When Renault left the ill-jointed friends, he rode
rapidly back in the direction of the barrier he had left
in pursuit of the sorceress.

As he approached the post, the sentry levelled his
arquebuss, and challenged him as before. Renault
hastily gave the countersign, galloped with unchecked
speed across the avenue that connected the barrier with
the Place d' Armes, and entered the dark lane into which
he had been about to turn when first challenged from
the barrier. The lane was bordered on one side by a few
low-roofed, ancient houses, stuccoed with white plaster,
having their windows guarded by upright iron bars;
and on the other by a line of that universal shade-tree
in the south, the “Pride of India,” or “China-tree.”
They stretched their umbrageous limbs quite
across the narrow alley or court, and so shut out the
moonlight, that the horseman proceeded on his way
almost in total darkness. At length he came to the
extremity of the lane, where, stopping up farther passage,
stood a vast, gloomy edifice, with a single tower
at one angle, in ruins. It was built after the massive
models of the age, with a low, elaborate facade, embrasures
around the roof, long, narrow, iron-fenced windows,
with a projecting balcony to each, and a surface
of gray stucco, dingy and crumbling with time. It
was in the midst of a grove of majestic sycamores;
and so densely were they planted, it appeared to stand
surrounded by a vast forest. The gateway, or grande
porte, was a low arch, from which the keystone had
fallen out, and the bastions of which had partly sunk.
One of the massive leaves of its gate hung by a single
hinge; the other was gone, while the long grass grew

rank and thick wherever it could find roothold in the
crevices of the broken flagging. It had the appearance
of an edifice of a public nature rather than of a
private abode; and an unhung bell in the tower, the
decayed fragment of a flagstaff rising from the centre,
and the royal arms of France carved in stone above
the entrance, showed that at a former period this must
have been its destination.

As Renault approached the gloomy building, with
its dark, iron-guarded windows, through which the moon
shone into tenantless apartments, save that the lizard
and the owl abode there, he slackened his rein; but,
without stopping, his horse trotted through beneath the
echoing arch, and issued into an area open to the sky,
the four sides of which were bounded by the inner
walls of the edifice. All was dark and still around
him, and the iron fall of his horse's hoofs reverberated
with startling loudness.

In the midst of this court towered a lofty palm-tree,
half shielding with its spreading leaves the whole
space within. Beside it was a broken fountain, now
become a silent and motionless pool, in which the water
lay black and dead, while rank verdure grew around
it. Here, as elsewhere, the pavement was broken and
in ruins. At the opposite side of the court was a lofty
door, which, from its height and situation, appeared
to lead into an extensive hall beyond. Renault rode
across the court to this door, and, without dismounting,
took his bugle from his belt, and wound a low, peculiar
note upon it. It was immediately replied to by a similar
one within, and the quick fall of bars and the clanging
of chains were instantly followed by the opening
of one of the gates, and the appearance of a young
man in the costume of a courreur du bois, like that he
wore, but less rich in its decorations.

“I am tardy, Jean,” said Renault, riding past him
into a long, paved passage or corridor. A lamp hung
above a door at the far-distant extremity, by the light
of which numerous saddled horses were rendered visible,
secured by their bridles to the iron bars of a row

of windows, and guarded by two young men in the
same costume as the other. “Are all here?”

“All, Signor Captain. Alfrède had feared something
had happened to you with these dangerous times.”

“I sent Gobin to tell him I should be detained till
one; but he chanced to fall in with some gentleman
of his own capacity, and forgot my message. Ha!
Charleval is impatient!”

While he was speaking, a door beyond the farthest
of the troop of horses was flung wide open, and a vast
lighted apartment was shown, crowded with men. A
handsome young man, dressed precisely like the quadroon,
save the addition of a scarlet sash worn across
his breast, came forth, and warmly welcomed Renault,
who dismounted beside him, giving his horse in charge
of one of the young men.

“You are well arrived, Renault,” said the youth.

“Gobin should have informed you of the cause of
my delay. I met him as I came in from the fortress,
and bid him hasten to say I should be detained an hour
after midnight.”

“There is yet time for action ere the dawn,” answered
the other, with spirit.

“Patience, Charleval! How is the band?”

“Enthusiasm itself!”

“I will see them.”

Renault entered the hall as he spoke, and four
hundred swords clashed together in the air to welcome
him, but not a voice was heard; it was one martial
ringing of steel alone, such as would make a soldier's
blood leap. The apartment was lofty and wide,
and beneath the white flag of France at one end hung
drooping a Spanish flag, its silken folds soiled and
torn.

Renault waved his sword in acknowledgment, and
then, while every eye was fixed in silent expectation
upon the two, walked apart with the young man he
had called Charleval to a recess, where stood an elderly
soldier leaning upon his sword, beneath whose military
hat were visible the noble features of the president

of the council. He was surrounded by several
gentlemen in arms, who a few hours before were presiding
in the council-chamber.

“Are we to ride?” asked the president, with interest.

“Osma's night-landing hath defeated our plans utterly,”
answered Renault, with mortification; “there
is no alternative but retreat.”

“For this we may thank the Count Jules,” replied
the president, quickly.

“My brother Jules hath more than this to answer
for,” answered Renault. “We must to the fortress,
and plot now with Ihuahua how to recapture, now that
we can no longer save the town.”

“One hour earlier,” said the other, warmly, “and
Orleans would have been lost to Spain for ever!”

A few words will explain the character and object
of this midnight assembly, and the ends of its leaders,
which were so signally defeated, as it appears, by the
sudden step taken by Osma in occupying the city before
morning. In the first demand made by Spain
three years before for the submission of Orleans, Renault
had made himself conspicuous by cutting down
the Spanish flag after the Count of Osma had hoisted
it upon the flagstaff. This gallant deed operated as
an act of oblivion to the memory of his acknowledged
Ethiopian blood, and, in the enthusiasm of patriotic
feeling, the youth of the province and city passed a
resolution to receive him as one of themselves in all
relations and circumstances. This at once gave him
a high degree of influence, not only among the quadroons,
but, being a youth of a military spirit, brave,
daring, and patriotic, and gifted with eloquence, he
soon gained a moral power over those around him;
and in the preparations made for the defence of the
city, and maintaining of the allegiance to France, he
had conferred upon him the rank of major, and was
appointed by the Marquis of Caronde, his father, one
of his aides-de-camp. Two years having glided away
without any interruption from Spain, the diligence of

the citizens abated, their military spirit subsided, and
the troops were so far disbanded, that only a nominal
guard was kept on duty at the barriers of the city.
The marquis, who had so long governed them under
France, at length dying a few months before the second
appearance of the Condé of Osma, the city became
divided into two parties, which had their origin
in the bold claim of young Jules Caronde, who, at the
head of some forty young men as unprincipled, took
possession of the government-house and the insignia
of rank, and proclaimed himself governor.

This step was met with indignant surprise by the
better portion of the citizens; but his gold, which he
lavished freely, brought to his party a large accession
from that class whose desperate condition any political
change might improve; from men whose patriotism
lay no deeper than their interests, and who, flattered
by the notice of a noble, attributed to their
worth what was due only to their worthlessness, and
became willing “paws” to the subtle leader who
would make use of them. The citizens got possession
of the gates of the armory and of the treasury,
while Jules and his insurgents maintained their position
in the government-house and Place d'Armes.
There they were regularly and closely besieged for
twenty days, at the end of which time they were forced
to capitulate: the canaille, in number three or
four hundred men, being permitted to resume their
occunations, and retain the freedom of the city as before,
while Jules and his party were banished from the
capital for the term of a year and a day.

They retired to a small fortress on a lake a league
from the town, adjoining one where a horde of the
“Ladrones of the Lagoons,” ninety in number, had
their stronghold, with whom they formed a treaty of
amity, and afterward admitted, with subordinate privileges,
several of their number to their companionship.
These Ladrones were composed of outlaws of the
province, escaped criminals from Cuba, and others
who, by their crimes, had become outcasts from the

civilized world. Their position commanded, by various
outlets, both the bay of Mexico and the river, and
their pastime (or profession, it may be) was that of
piracy. This they carried on by small, sharp-prowed
boats of great speed, in which they issued from their
inland fastnesses, and suddenly, like a troop of hawks,
pounced upon their unsuspecting prey, whether it were
the voyager descending the Mississippi with his richly-laden
barge, or the lugger freighted with ingots
from the mines of Mexico; while the murdering steel
silenced for ever all claimants to the ill-gotten booty.
Such were the allies of the leader of the insurgents,
though Jules and his friends had no share with them
in their piracies. Their alliance was based on mutual
jealousy and fear rather than on feelings of love or
amity; although, if kindred tastes offer any basis for
friendship, the two chiefs should have been on terms
of the closest brotherhood.

After the expulsion of Jules, which restored the
city to its civic propriety, and made a happy and
bloodless end of a civil war that threatened to over-turn
the state, the citizens assembled, and chóse from
their body six councillors or rulers, who, four months
afterward, as has been seen in the person and conduct
of their president, showed so much virtue and honest
patriotism. Among the warmest movers for, and subsequent
supporters of, the electoral government, was
the young quadroon Renault, who also was the most
direct and formidable opponent of the young Caronde.
The hostility of these two young men had originated
in parental partiality, and was nourished on the part of
the latter by the various mortifications and disappointments
of which he had been made the victim. He hated
Renault also, naturally enough, because he was his
brother, and had Moorish blood in his veins; but he
hated him most for his virtue, and the superior rank he
held in men's minds. He garnered up vengeance in his
soul, and fed upon it; and, knowing Renault's heart's
dearest idol, he resolved (not that the lawless passion
which the beauty of Azèlie kindled in his thoughts

was not incentive enough) to couple his vengeance
with his lust, and with the same blow gratify the two
deepest feelings of his bosom. Renault knew the
heart of his brother well, and hated him, as the good
man hates sin, with a virtuous and indignant hatred,
and free from any mixture of vengeance. He also
feared him and watched him!

Lest he should visit upon the city, in alliance with
the Ladrones, some retributive mischief, the councillors
had appointed a municipal guard, consisting of one
hundred quadroons under Renault, and one hundred
and fifty young creoles under Sieur Charleval, the son
of a noble exiled friend of the Marquis of Caronde, and
of whom the marquis became guardian on the death of
his father. Between himself and Renault there existed
a firm friendship, which had been formed on the eventful
day Osma had been so disgracefully driven back to
his ship. He was the leader of the band of “Seven
Brothers,” all of whom, save himself, had united themselves
now to the cause of Jules, thus eclipsing the
bright star of gallantry they had won on that day.
About this time a deputation arrived from the Commanche
warrior Ihuahua and his son Prince Tlasca,
offering to come with a thousand men to aid the defence
of Louisiana against Spain, if Count Osma should
return. This extraordinary offer was viewed with
suspicion, as no motive could be assigned for it; and
answer was returned, that when the province should be
in a strait to call in foreign aid, it would avail itself of
this prince's courtesy.

Affairs remained in this condition until the day Count
Osma again appeared below the town and demanded its
submission. On the morning of that day it happened
that Jules was in town with eight or ten of his party;
for he himself, with small bands of his adherents, were
permitted by the mild councillors, at the earnest solicitation
of relatives and friends (all of them being in
some way connected with the leading families of the
place), to enter the town occasionally, and remain until
sunset. It was on this occasion that he conceived the

plan of getting possession of the person of Azèlie, by
the diabolical plea of the bondage of her mother. It
was the silence of the council that imboldened him,
aided by a few of his former adherents among the
lower class of citizens, who furnished him and his
friends with weapons to attack Renault, unsuspicious
of danger, in the public thoroughfare, and subsequently
to assail his dwelling, for the prupose of seizing Azèlie
and bearing her away to his stronghold. This latter
step was only required to rouse the lion in the breast
of Renault, and arm him with the deadliest hostility
towards the author of it. The startling report of the
arrival of the Spaniard had alone preserved the life and
honour of his sister. At the news, the mind of Jules,
which was ever active to seize upon advantages that
would escape less subtle men, was impressed with a
scheme to obtain an influence in the city that might
ultimately lead to his investiture of the sole authority.
He instantly acted upon the impulse; and, hastening
from the assault, presented himself before the council,
which he knew opposed to the Spanish yoke, and offered
his services and those of his adherents for the defence
of the city. It was a crisis that admitted of no
deliberation; and, hoping the best, the rulers consented
to accept the aid he offered, seemingly with much
fair patriotism. This step gained, he hastened from
the city to the fortress, and returned with the sixty
young men composing his band. The magistrates,
however, with all the precaution circumstances would
admit of being taken, deprived them of their arms when
they appeared at the barrier, with the intention of returning
them in the council-chamber, when the crisis
should arrive for demanding their aid. They, however,
had succeeded in obtaining arms of a peculiar invention
from a skilful smith, who was a tool of Caronde, and were
not long in making use of them for purposes of their
own. Their object, whatever it might have been beyond
the possession of the keys of the treasury, and,
through the defeat of the Spaniards, to inspire confidence
in the rabble, was, however, not only unsuccessful,
but, as has been seen, attended with the most
disastrous consequences to the person of their chief.

This hostile and untimely slaughter in the Place
d'Armes, by inducing the captain-general, Osma, to land
his troops and take possession of the city by night, also
defeated a plan for his disputing his anticipated occupation
of the town by daylight, which had been formed
by the patriotic Renault and Charleval, with the consent
and aid of the president and council. The plan
had been conceived by Renault when the council was
first called together by the missive of the captain-general;
and he secretly sent a messenger, none other
than Gobin himself, with a sprig of myrtle to every
young man who had composed his former command
under the marquis, as well as to those who constituted
the municipal guard, and who were denominated courreurs
du bois, from the resemblance of their costume to
that of the Mexican hunters. This silent message
was understood by every one who received it, as well
as the time and place for the meeting; for, on sudden
emergencies, he had before called them together by
the same sign. There was no hesitation. Each youth
placed the myrtle sprig in his bonnet; and, keeping
himself away from the Place d'Armes, notwithstanding
the excitement there, when night approached hastened
to the well-known rendezvous. Hither Renault
himself instantly repaired, after conveying the wounded
Don Henrique to his dwelling, and found four hundred
of the bravest spirits in the province, with Charleval
at their head, ready to receive him. He here
detailed to them a plan for defending the town, and explained
to them the means by which it could be carried
into successful execution.

Concert in action, courageous hearts, and the full
determination to cast off the yoke of Spain, were sufficient,
he said, to effect anything. “We have twelve
pieces of cannon in the Place d'Armes, and ammunition
in abundance,” he continued. “In twenty minutes
we can form a battery that shall blow the Spanish
fleet out of the water. If the Spaniards are permitted

to land in the morning, the first imprint of their
feet upon our sands will be indelible. If they attempt
to land, let us dispute their foothold, knee to knee,
breast to breast! If we would be free, the blow must
be struck this might. Let us march to the Place
d'Armes, and save the city. It is a sword in our
hands now, or fetters about our necks to-morrow.”

“If we are defeated, Renault?” asked Charleval.

“I had laid my plans for success, not defeat,” he
answered. “If Heaven give us not the best of it, we
must return from the town, and form an alliance with
Tlasca, and try to regain what we have lost. The
fortress of St. John will, till then (if God be not with us
to-night!), alone represent the liberties of Louisiana!”

At this moment, the bustling and ever-busy Gobin
came running to the hall, and cried that the Spaniards
had left their ships in great numbers, and were making
a landing.

“The battery, then, is lost to us! Alfrède, ride, I
pray thee, and bring back the report. I will marshal
the men, and be ready to gallop to the Place d'Armes
at a word,” cried Renault to Charleval. “Ride fast
and free! If the landing is effected, the city is lost,
and not a blow struck to save it! It is the night's
work of Jules that hath done this for us!” added the
indignant quadroon, as he turned to give the stirring
orders for his party to mount.

Charleval flew at winged speed towards the spot,
swiftly followed by the inquisitive jester on foot,
whose restless desire to know what was happening on
all sides would not permit him to miss seeing the end
of Sieur Charleval's errand, whom, without doubt, he
expected to behold attack, sword in hand, the whole
Spanish army, and drive them back into the river,
which would have been a rare spectacle for Gobin,
and an event by no means to be missed.

When Alfrède reached the Place d'Armes, he saw
at a glance that all was lost. The levée was already
bristling with long lines of steel, and waving with
plumes, while a squadron of Spanish horse was drawn

up along the shore, ready to ride forward and take
possession of the square.

He dismounted, and, leaving his horse loose, glided
along within the dark shadow cast by the Cathedral,
for the purpose of observing them and ascertaining their
numbers, when he saw, waving in the sky above him,
the white flag of France. He was more than sixty
yards from the foot of the staff, and, forgetful of his
steed, immediately, and with but one thought in his
mind, ran towards it. Gobin came up at the same instant,
and, divining his purpose from the upward direction
of his eye, bounded after him across the green.

Charleval already had the cords in his hand, and
was endeavouring to lower it, when he discovered that
it was entangled near the summit of the pole. Gobin
also saw the obstruction, and, without a word, clasped
the mast and rapidly ascended it. At this instnat
they were surprised by the approach of a horseman
from the Spanish party, who galloped towards the
flag-staff, bearing the standard of Spain. Alfrède at
once divined his purpose.

“Haste, Gobin,” he cried, “and we may win a pair
of them.”

The rider came up as he spoke, and Charleval,
turning upon him at the moment he himself was discovered
by him, seized his horse by the head and
struck the rider a blow upon the helmet that made
him reel. Boviedo, the horseman being none other
than the Andalusian, recovered himself, and instinctively
interposed his trumpet between his head and abdomen,
and several rapid blows which the ambuscado
aimed at them. Never trumpet did such service!
never brass met steel so stoutly! never trumpeter
fought so with trumpet! The clash of steel against
brass—the clanging reverberation of the hollow metal—the
warlike din! it were no marvel the Count
Osma believed his herald engaged in terrific mortal
combat! When Charleval beheld the Spaniard riding
across the Plaza to his rescue, finding his endeavours
to hit his antagonist fruitless (such skilful and praise-worthy

use did he make of his trumpet), he suddenly
sprang upon him, pitched him outright from his saddle,
tore from him the Spanish flag, and, throwing it
across the saddle-bow, leaped into his place. Gobin
at the same instant having disengaged the-cord, lowered
the broad standard within reach of his grasp.
The next moment, with it wound about his body, he
spurred past the surprised Condé at full speed, and regained
the rendezvous. On reaching it, he flung himself
from his horse, and entered the hall with a triumphant
step.

“The Place d'Armes is occupied, and Orleans is
now under a Spanish king,” he exclaimed; “but her
flag has not yet been raised, nor the unstained banner
of our own land dishonoured. Behold!”

He displayed, as he spoke, the Spanish banner affixed
to his sword, and, waving it above his head, cast it
upon the ground, and, in his enthusiasm, trampled it
beneath his feet.

“Gaze on your own proud standard!” he cried,
waving that of France in the air; “it is sacred to our
cause, and be it consecrated the winding-sheet of every
brave man who dies for the liberties of his country.
Vive France! Vive Louisienne!”

Shouts of “Vive Louisienne, Vive France,” resounded
through the assembly; and, in the enthusiasm of
the moment, all forgot that the object of their heart's
wish had been defeated.

After Alfrède had related what he had discovered
on his arrival in the Place d'Armes, and stated the
number of troops to be at least one thousand men, and
then, in fewer words, mentioned the part he had acted
in getting possession of the two flags, he himself, with
the president Sieur d'Alembert, Renault, and one or
two of the subordinate officers, retired apart to consult
upon the step to be taken for the expulsion of the Spaniards
before they should extend their power from the
city over the whole province. It was at length decided,
after an hour's deliberation, to withdraw secretly
that night in a body from the town, and hoist the provincial

flag beside that of France upon Fort St. John,
on the borders of Lake Pontchartrain.

This formidable body then broke up, secretly to reassemble
at the same place at midnight, and there
leave behind them that city which they had hoped soon
to re-enter as conquerors. Renault passed the intervening
hours until twelve o'clock in preparations for
the contemplated movement, and then hastened, as has
been seen, to see and bid a good-night to Azèlie, in
whose charge he had left the wounded youth.

After his departure from home he again sought the
rendezvous of the Orleanese patriots, or “Amis de
France,” as they came to be designated, where, after
being turned aside by the pursuit of the sorceress, he
tardily arrived, finding the brave band already some
time assembled.