CHAPTER XXVI
THE FOREST OF CHÂTEAU-REGNAULT
The forest of Château-Régnault was fortunately only about a league and a half distant from Noizai. Gabriel urged his horse thither at a gallop; but after he had reached the spot, he rode about in every direction for more than an hour without falling in with any party, either of friends or foes.
At last he thought he distinguished the regular gallop of cavalry beyond a bend in the path he was pursuing; but they could not be Huguenots, for they were laughing and talking, while the Huguenots were too vitally concerned to conceal their movements not to preserve most complete silence.
"No matter!" thought Gabriel; and he hurried on, and soon came upon the red scarfs of the king's troops.
As he made his way toward their leader he recognized him, and was recognized by him.
It was Baron de Pardaillan,—a gallant young officer who had made the Italian campaign with him under Monsieur de Guise.
"Ah, it is the Comte de Montgommery!" cried Pardaillan. "I thought you were at Noizai, Count."
"I have just come from there," said Gabriel.
"Well, what has occurred there?—ride by my side awhile and tell me."
Gabriel told the story of the sudden arrival of the Duc de Nemours, of his carrying the terrace and the drawbridge, of his own mediation between the parties, and the peaceful submission which had been its happy result.
"Pardieu!" exclaimed Pardaillan; "Monsieur de Nemours was in luck, and I should be glad to be equally fortunate myself. Do you know, Monsieur de Montgommery, against whom my own movements are directed at this moment?"
"La Renaudie, doubtless."
"Precisely. And do you know what La Renaudie is to me?"
"Why, your cousin, I believe,—yes, I remember."
"Yes, he is my cousin," Pardaillan said; "and more than that, he is my friend and my comrade-in-arms. Ah, do you know how bitter a thing it is to fight against one who has so often fought at one's side?"
"Yes, indeed," replied Gabriel; "but you are not sure of meeting him, are you?"
"Alas! I am only too sure!" returned Pardaillan. "My instructions are exact; and the reports of those who have betrayed him are only too accurate. See! after marching another fifteen minutes I shall find myself face to face with La Renaudie in the second path to the left."
"But suppose you were to avoid that path?" whispered Gabriel.
"I should be false to my honor and to my duty as a soldier," was Pardaillan's reply. "Besides, it is better that I should not be able to do it. My two lieutenants received Monsieur de Guise's orders as well as myself, and they would interfere to prevent my running counter to them. No; my only hope is that La Renaudie will consent to surrender, and a faint hope it is; for he is as proud as Lucifer, and as brave as a lion. Moreover, he has an opportunity to fight, and will not be taken by surprise, as Castelnau was; and again, we are not very superior to him in point of numbers. However, you will assist me, will you not, Monsieur de Montgommery, in urging him to yield?"
"Alas!" said Gabriel, with a sigh, "I will do my best."
"The Devil take these civil wars!" cried Pardaillan, in conclusion.
They rode along in silence for almost ten minutes.
When they had taken the second path to the left, Pardaillan said,—
"Now we should be approaching them. How my heart beats! For the first time in my life, I believe, as God hears me, that I am afraid."
The royal troops were no longer laughing and talking, but advanced slowly and cautiously.
They had not gone two hundred paces, when they thought they could see through a thicket of trees the glistening of weapons upon a path, which ran parallel with the main road.
Their uncertainty was not of long duration, for almost immediately a firm voice cried out,—
"Halt! Who goes there?"
"It is La Renaudie's voice," Pardaillan said to Gabriel.
Then he replied to the challenge,—
"Valois and Lorraine!"
Instantly, La Renaudie on horseback, followed by his little band, debouched from the bypath.
However, he ordered his troops to halt, and rode forward a few steps alone.
Pardaillan imitated him by crying to his people, "Halt!" and riding toward him accompanied only by Gabriel.
One would have said they were two friends in haste to meet after a long separation, rather than two foes ready to meet in deadly conflict.
"I should have already replied to you as I ought," said La Renaudie, as he approached, "if I had not thought that I recognized the voice of a friend. Unless I am greatly mistaken, that visor conceals the features of my dear Pardaillan."
"Yes, it is I, my poor La Renaudie," replied Pardaillan; "and if I may give you a brother's advice, it is to abandon your enterprise, dear friend, and lay down your arms at once."
"Oh, yes! that is indeed brotherly advice!" retorted La Renaudie, ironically.
"Yes, Monsieur de la Renaudie," interposed Gabriel, coming forward, "it is the advice of a loyal friend, I bear you witness. Castelnau surrendered to the Duc de Nemours this morning; and if you do not follow his example, you are lost."
"Aha, Monsieur de Montgommery!" exclaimed La Renaudie, "are you with these fellows?"
"I am neither with them nor with yourself," said Gabriel, in a grave and melancholy tone. "I stand between you."
"Oh, forgive me, Monsieur le Comte," added La Renaudie, deeply moved by the noble and dignified bearing of Gabriel. "I had no wish to wound you, and I think I would doubt my own loyalty rather than yours." "Pray believe me, then," said Gabriel, "and do not hazard a useless and disastrous conflict. Surrender."
"Impossible!" replied La Renaudie.
"But reflect, I beg you," said Pardaillan, "that we are no more than a feeble advance-guard."
"For Heaven's sake," retorted the Protestant leader, "do you suppose that my whole force consists of this handful of gallant fellows whom you see?"
"I warn you," said Pardaillan, "that you have traitors in your ranks."
"Well, they are in yours now," returned La Renaudie. "I will undertake to obtain your pardon from Monsieur de Guise," cried Pardaillan, who knew not which way to turn.
"My pardon!" exclaimed La Renaudie; "I hope to be more concerned with granting than receiving pardons!"
"Oh, La Renaudie! La Renaudie! Surely you do not wish to compel me to draw my sword against you,—Godefroy, my old comrade, my play-fellow?"
"We must be prepared even for that, Pardaillan; for you know me too well to believe that I am inclined to yield the field to you."
"Monsieur de la Renaudie," cried Gabriel, "once more I tell you that you are wrong."
But he was rudely interrupted.
The horsemen on both sides, Remaining apart, but in full view of one another, could not understand the meaning of all this parleying between their chiefs, and were burning with eagerness to come to closer quarters.
"In God's name, what do they find to talk about at such length?" muttered the troopers of Pardaillan.
"Ah!" said the Huguenots, "do they think that we came here to watch them while they talk over their private business?"
"Wait a moment! wait!" said one of La Renaudie's band, in which every soldier was a leader, "I know a way to cut short their conversation;" and just as Gabriel began to speak, he fired a pistol-shot at the king's troops.
"You see," cried Pardaillan, sorrowfully, "your people have struck the first blow!"
"But without any order from me!" retorted La Renaudie, warmly. "However, the die is cast, and it makes no difference now. Forward, my friends, forward!"
He turned toward his men as he spoke, and Pardaillan, not to be taken by surprise, did the same, and also shouted, "Forward!"
The firing began.
Gabriel, however, remained motionless between the red and the white, the Royalists and the rebels. He scarcely even drew his horse aside, but sustained the fire of both parties.
At the first volley the plume of his helmet was cut through by a ball, and his horse killed under him.
He extricated his feet from the stirrups and stood in the same spot without a tremor, and like one dreaming in the midst of that terrible affray.
The supply of powder was soon exhausted; and the two little bands rushed forward, and continued the combat with their swords.
Gabriel, amid all the clashing and clanging, never stirred from his place, nor did he once lay his hand upon his sword; he simply stood gazing at the mad blows which were raining about him, as if he had been the image of France among her foes.
The Protestants, inferior in numbers and in discipline, began to falter.
La Renaudie in the tumult found himself face to face with Pardaillan once more.
"Engage with me!" he cried; "let me at least die by your hand."
"Ah!" said Pardaillan, "the one of us two who slays the other will be the more generous."
They crossed swords with much vigor. The blows they dealt resounded upon their coats-of-mail like hammer-strokes upon the anvil. La Renaudie circled about Pardaillan, who, sitting firmly on his saddle, parried and thrust without token of weariness. Two rivals thirsting for vengeance could not have seemed more implacable.
At last La Renaudie buried his sword in the breast of Pardaillan, who fell headlong from his horse.
But the cry which followed the fatal blow came from the lips of La Renaudie.
Happily for the victor, he had not even the time to look upon his disastrous victory, for Montigny, Pardaillan's page, levelled his arquebuse at him and fired, and he fell from his horse mortally wounded.
Nevertheless, before he expired La Renaudie yet retained strength sufficient to strike dead upon the spot, with a backward stroke of his sword, the page who had shot him.
Around these three bodies the battle waged more furiously than ever.
But the Huguenots were clearly worsted; and in a short time, being deprived of their leader, they were utterly routed.
The greater number of them were killed; but a few were taken prisoners, and some escaped.
This horrible bloody affray lasted less than ten minutes.
The royal troopers prepared to return to Amboise, and the bodies of La Renaudie and Pardaillan were placed upon the same horse.
The Forest of Château-Regnault.
Gabriel, who, despite his eager longing, and spared without doubt by both sides, had not received a scratch, gazed mournfully at the two lifeless bodies in which, but a few moments before, had beat the two noblest hearts he had ever known.
"Which of the two was the braver?" he asked himself. "Which better loved the other? Which is the greater loss to his unhappy country?”