THE FOREST OF VAZON

_A GUERNSEY LEGEND OF THE EIGHTH CENTURY_. 

London:HARRISON & SONS, 59, PALL MALLBooksellers to the Queen and H. R. H the Prince of Wales1889. 

PREFACE. 

Nothing authentic is known of the history of Guernsey previously to itsannexation to the Duchy of Normandy in the tenth century. The onlysources of information as to events which may have occurred before thatdate are references in monkish chronicles of the usual semi-mythicaltype, and indications conveyed by cromlechs and menhirs, fragments ofCeltic instruments and pottery, and a few Roman relics. It isunfortunate that we are thus precluded from acquiring any knowledge ofthe development of a people as to whom the soundest among conflictingconjectures seems to be that, coming originally from Brittany, theypreserved the purity of the Celtic race through periods when in otheroffshoots of the same stock its characteristics were being obliteratedby the processes of crossing and absorption. 

If early local records had existed they would hardly have failed tohave given minute details of the convulsion of nature which resulted inthe destruction by the sea of the forest lands on the northern andwestern sides of the island, and in the separation of tracts ofconsiderable magnitude from the mainland. Geologists are agreed inassigning to this event the date of March, 709, when great inundationsoccurred in the Bay of Avranches on the French coast; they are notequally unanimous as to the cause, but science now rejects the theory ofa raising of the sea-level and that of a general subsidence of theisland. The most reasonable explanation appears to be that theoverpowering force of a tidal wave suddenly swept away barriers whoseresistance had been for ages surely though imperceptibly diminishing, and that the districts thus left unprotected proved to be below thesea-level--owing, as regards the forests, to gradual subsidence easilyexplicable in the case of undrained, swampy soil; and, as regards therocks, to the fact that the newly exposed surface consisted ofaccumulations of already disintegrated deposits. 

It is unquestionable that before the inroad of the sea the inlet in thesouth-west of the island known as Rocquaine Bay was enclosed by twoarms, the northern of which terminated in the point of Lihou; on whichstill stand the ruins of an old priory, while the southern ended in theHanois rocks, on which a lighthouse has been erected. Lihou is atpresent an island, accessible only at low water by a narrow causeway;the Hanois is entirely cut off from the shore, but it is a noteworthyfact that the signs of old cart-ruts are visible at spring tides, andthat an iron hook was recently discovered attached to a submerged rockwhich had apparently served as a gatepost; besides these proofs of theexistence of roads now lying under the waves, it is said that an oldorder for the repair of Hanois roads is still extant. That Vazon and theBraye du Valle were the sites of forests is indisputable, though theformer is now a sandy bay into which the Atlantic flows withouthindrance, and the latter, reclaimed within the present century by anenterprising governor, formed for centuries a channel of the sea bywhich the Clos du Valle, on which the Vale Church stands, was separatedfrom the mainland. A stratum of peat extends over the whole arm of theBraye, while as regards Vazon there is the remarkable evidence of anoccurrence which took place in December, 1847. A strong westerly gale, blowing into the bay concurrently with a low spring tide, broke up thebed of peat and wood underlying the sand and gravel, and lifted it uplike an ice-floe; it was then carried landwards by the force of thewaves. The inhabitants flocked to the spot, and the phenomenon wascarefully inspected by scientific observers. Trunks of full-sized treeswere seen, accompanied by meadow plants and roots of rushes and weeds, surrounded by those of grasses and mosses; the perfect state of thetrees showed that they had been long buried under the sand. Some of thetrees and boughs were at first mistaken for wreckage, but the fishermensoon discovered their error and loaded their carts with the treasurelocally known as "gorban. " Subsequent researches have shown that acornsand hazel-nuts, teeth of horses and hogs, also pottery and instrumentsof the same character as those found in the cromlechs, exist among theVazon peat deposits. There is therefore abundant evidence that thelegends relating to the former inhabitants of the forest are based ontraditions resting on an historical foundation. 

CONTENTS. 

 CHAPTER I. --TRADITION

 CHAPTER II. --SUPERSTITION

 CHAPTER III. --DEVOTION

 CHAPTER IV. --REVELATION

 CHAPTER V. --AFFLICTION

 CHAPTER VI. --CONSOLATION

 CHAPTER VII. --ANNIHILATION

CHAPTER I. 

TRADITION. 

 "What can he tell that treads thy shore? No legend of thine olden time, No theme on which the mind might soar High as thine own in days of yore. "

 _The Giaour_. --BYRON

In the beginning of the eighth century Guernsey was a favoured spot. Around, over the Continent and the British Isles, had swept successiveconquests with their grim train of sufferings for the conquered; butthese storm-clouds had not burst over the island. The shocks whichpreceded the fall of the Roman Empire had not been felt, nor had thethroes which inaugurated the birth of Frankish rule in Gaul and Saxonsupremacy in Britain, disturbed the prevailing tranquillity. Occasionaldescents of pirates, Northmen from Scandinavian homes or Southmen fromthe Iberian peninsula, had hitherto had a beneficial effect by keepingalive the martial spirit and the vigilance necessary for self-defence. In the third century three Roman ships had been driven on shore andlost; the legionaries who escaped had established themselves in theisland, having indeed for the moment no alternative. When theircommander succeeded in communicating with Gaul he suggested a permanentoccupation, being secretly influenced by tales of mineral wealth towhich he had lent an ear. Disillusioned and recalled, he was followed bya sybarite, whose palate was tickled by banquets of fish of which hewrote in raptures to his friends at Capri and Brindisi. This excellentman, dying of apoplexy in his bath, was replaced by a rough soldier, wholost no time in procuring the evacuation of a post where he saw with aglance that troops were uselessly locked up. From this time nothing hadbeen heard of the Romans; their occupation had lasted forty years, andin another forty the only physical traces of it remaining were a camp atJerbourg, the nearly obliterated tessellated pavement and fragments ofwall belonging to the sybarite's villa, which occupied the site in theKing's Mills Valley where the Moulin de Haut now stands, the pond inthe Grand Mare in which the voluptuary had reared the carp over which, dressed with sauces the secret of which died with him, he dwelt lovinglywhen stretched on his triclinium, and the basins at Port Grat in whichhe stored his treasured mullet and succulent oysters. The islanders wereof one mind in speeding the parting guests, but the generation which sawthem go were better men than their fathers who had trembled at thelanding of the iron-thewed demi-gods. Compelled to work as slaves, theyhad learnt much from their masters; a knowledge of agriculture and ofthe cultivation of the grape, the substitution of good weapons andimplements of husbandry for those of their Celtic ancestors, improveddwellings, and some insight into military discipline, --these weresubstantial benefits which raised them in some respects above theirContinental and British neighbours, among whom patriotism had, on thedisappearance of the civilization of the Romans, revived the morecongenial barbarism. Arrivals among them of Christian monks, scanty atfirst, more frequent since the landing of S. Augustine in Britain, hadalso had a certain effect. The progress of conversion was, however, slow; the people were bigoted, and the good fathers were compelled, asin Brittany, to content themselves with a few genuine converts, wiselyendeavouring rather to leaven the mass by grafting Christian truths onthe old superstitions than to court certain defeat, possible expulsionor massacre, by striving to overthrow at once all the symbols ofheathenism. 

The island was larger in extent than it is at present, as, in additionto the Vale district, the islet of Lihou, Vazon Bay, and the rock groupknown as the Hanois formed part of it. It is with the events thataltered this configuration that the following legend deals. 

CHAPTER II. 

SUPERSTITION. 

 "Awestruck, the much-admiring crowd Before the virgin vision bowed, Gaz'd with an ever-new delight, And caught fresh virtues at the sight. "

 EDWARD MOORÉ'S _Fables_. 

On the 24th of June, in the year 708, merry crowds were thronging toVazon Forest. It was a lovely spot. The other portions of the islandwere bare and somewhat rugged; here the humidity of the soil favouredthe growth of fine, vigorous timber. On the low ground flourished oakand sycamore, torn and bent near the shore where the trees met the forceof the Atlantic gales, growing freely and with rich verdure where betterprotected. On the higher slopes were massed beech, birch, and the sweetchestnut which was even then domesticated in the island. Glades, bursting with a wealth of flowers nurtured by the mildness of theclimate, penetrated the wood in every direction; streams bubbling upfrom springs, and forming little cascades where their course was checkedby granite boulders, lent an additional charm. Towards the centre of theforest these streams united to form a lake, or rather a natural moat, surrounding an island in the midst of which stood a gigantic oak. Thiswas the only tree on the island; round it, at even distances, wereplaced twelve stones, beyond which a meadow glittering with varied huesextended to the surrounding water. 

It was to this island that the holiday-makers were wending their way:young men and maidens, and such elders as had vigour enough to traversethe rough tracks leading from the interior. They were a small race, lithe and active, with strong black hair and dark eyes now twinklingwith merriment They poured over the wooden bridges into the precincts ofthe towering oak, under which the elders seated themselves with themusicians, the younger people streaming off to the clear ground betweenthe stones and the water. 

When all were assembled the music struck up at a signal from an elder. The instruments were akin to the goat-skin pipes of Lower Brittany; themusic wild, weird, appealing to the passion if not melodious to the ear. At any rate the effect was inspiriting. First, the men danced, themaidens seating themselves round the dancers and chanting the followingwords, to the rhythm of which they swayed their bodies gracefully:--

 "Mille Sarrazins, mille Sarmates, Un jour nous avons tués. Mille, mille, mille, mille, mille Perses, Nous cherchons à present. "

The dance, footed to this truculent chant, had no warlike features;beginning with a march, or rather a tripping walk, it ended with featsin which each dancer defied his neighbour to out-spring him; nor did thevocalists appear to expect representations of strife and doughty deeds. The words, Roman by origin, as is clear from the allusion to thePersians, had been adapted to a native air by the conquerors, and hadbeen left by them as a legacy to the islanders. Next, the maidens trod ameasure, the men standing round and applauding; the dance was quiet andsoft, consisting principally of graceful movements of the body as if thedancers were getting themselves into training for greater efforts; inthis case the dancers themselves chanted words suitable to the music. This ended, there was a pause before the principal business of the daybegan, the dance in which both sexes joined, to be followed by thebestowal of a wreath on the loveliest of the maidens. 

During the pause it was evident that an unusual incident had occurred. The best-looking of the girls were pouting, the attention of the youthswas distracted. During the latter part of the dance the applause hadbeen intermittent; towards the close it had almost ceased. The elders, looking about under their shaggy eyebrows, had not been long indiscovering the cause, and when they had found it allowed theirattention to wander also. 

The disturbing element was, indeed, not far to seek. Close to one of thebridges was seated a maiden, unknown to all of them, but lovely enoughto hold the glance of old and young. Unlike the natives she was tall andfair; masses of golden hair encircled her oval face and clustered overher blue eyes. Who was she? Whence came she? None could answer. Bydegrees some of the boldest of the youths approached, but their bluffmanners seemed to displease her; though unaccustomed to rebuffs theyretired. One, however, among them fared differently. Jean Letocq, amember of the family to which the hero belonged who near this very spotdiscovered the sleeping troops of the Grand Sarrazin, was admired andbeloved both by youths and maidens. First in every sport, having showncourage and resource in times of peril both by sea and land, tender ofglance and gentle of tongue, he held a pre-eminence which none disputed, and which was above the reach of envy. The fair stranger, from his firstglance at her, had fascinated, enthralled him: his eyes fastenedgreedily on her every movement; he noted well her reception of those whohad addressed her, and when he approached he came, bare-headed, with alow obeisance and a deferential air. He seated himself by her insilence, after murmuring a few words of welcome to the feast, to whichshe made no answer. Presently he spoke again, softly and courteously;she replied without constraint, speaking his own language fluently, though with a foreign accent. The ice once broken their talk rippled on, as is the wont of light words, brightly uttered. Jean drank in eachgentle phrase, watched every graceful gesture; his heart bounded whenshe carelessly smiled. But he lost not his daring: when the musiciansagain struck up he boldly asked her to join in the dance. 

She was not offended, her look showed no displeasure, but she refused;he renewed his request; suddenly a change came over her face, she lookedrapidly round as though searching for some one who was not present, aflash came into her eyes, she sprang to her feet. "Why should I notdance!" she said; "they are merry, why should I alone be sad!" She lethim lead her into the ring. If she had been enchanting when seated, whatwas her power when she moved! She was a model of grace and loveliness;the contrast of her colouring to that of her neighbours inspired thesuperstitious with some terror, but made the braver spirits gaze morecuriously, indifferent to the half-concealed anger and affected disdainof their partners. Every moment she gained more hearts, though she lether eyes rest only on those of Jean. After the dance was over she seatedherself in her former position; the women then, according to custom, retired outside the stone circle, while the men clustered round the oakto award the prize. The ceremony had up to this day been looked on as apure formality: for the last two summers the wreath had been by commonconsent placed on the brows of Suzanne Falla, and none who woke thatmorning had doubted that it would rest there again before night. But nowthe men's heads were turned; there was commotion both outside and insidethe circle; then a hush, as the old men rose in their places and theyoung men formed a lane to the tree. Jean stepped out, and taking thestranger by the hand, led her to where a white-haired veteran stood withthe wreath in his hand. The next moment it was placed on her brows, andthen all voices burst into a song of triumph, which rang to the remotestglades of the forest. Suzanne did not join in the song; her little heartwas breaking; all the passion of her hot nature was roused; she feltherself unfairly, unjustly, treated; insulted on the very day that wasto have crowned her pride. She could not control herself, nor could sheaccept her defeat: she stamped her foot on the ground, and poured out atorrent of objurgation, accusing Jean of treachery, demanding to knowwhence he had produced her rival, appealing to the elders to revise thejudgment. Then, suddenly ceasing, as she saw by the looks of thosearound her that while in some her fate created pity, in others it gaverise to amusement, in many to the pleasure which poor human nature feltthen as now in a friend's misfortune, her mood altered: she turned and, rapidly leaving the crowd, crossed one of the bridges. Hastening hersteps, but not watching them, she tripped over the straggling root of ayew, and fell, her temple striking a sharp boulder, one of many croppingup in the forest. Poor girl! in one moment passion and pride had flown;she lay senseless, blood streaming from the wound. 

A quick revulsion of feeling swept through the impressionable people. Her departure had been watched, the fall observed, and the seriousnature of the accident was soon known; all hurried to the spot where shelay, full of sympathy and distress. Jean, perhaps not altogetherunremorseful, was among the first to proffer aid; the stranger, leftalone, took off the wreath and placed it on one of the stones of thecircle, by which she stood contemplating the scene. 

The blow, struck deep into the temple, was beyond any ordinary means ofcure; life indeed seemed to be ebbing away. "Send for Marie!" the crysprang from many mouths: "send for Marie the wise woman! she alone cansave her!" Three or four youths ran hastily off. 

"Wish ye for Marie Torode's body or her spirit?" said a harsh femalevoice; "her body ye can have! but what avail closed eyes and rigidlimbs? Her spirit, tossed by the whirling death-blast, is beyond yourreach!"

The speaker, on whom all eyes turned, was an aged woman of unusualheight; her snow-white hair was confined by a metal circlet, her eyeswere keen and searching, her gestures imperious; her dress was simpleand would have been rude but for the quaintly ornamented silver girdlethat bound her waist, and the massive bracelets on her arms. Like thegirl she was seen for the first time; her almost supernatural appearanceinspired wonder and awe. She bent over the prostrate form: "Marie saidwith her last breath, " she muttered to herself, "that ere the oaks weregreen again the sweetest maidens in the island would be in her embrace, but she cannot summon this one now! her vext spirit has not yet thepower!"

She examined the wound, and raising herself said, "No human hand cansave her. The Spirits alone have power: those Spirits who prolong humanlife regardless of human ills; but they must be besought, and who willcare to beseech them?"

"Prayers may save her, " answered a stern voice, "but not prayers todevils! The Holy Virgin should we beseech, by whom all pure maidens arebeloved. She will save her if it be God's will, or receive her into herbosom if it be decreed that she should die. "

The words were those of Father Austin, one of the monks of Lihou, distinguished by his sanctity and the austerity of his habits. He wasspare, as one who lived hardly; his grey eyes had a dreamy lookbetokening much inward contemplation, though they could be keen enoughwhen, as now, the man was roused; there was a gentleness about his mouthwhich showed a nature filled with love and sympathy. 

The woman drew herself to her full stature, and turned on him a defiantlook. 

"Gods or devils!" she said in a ringing tone--"which you will! What canan immured anchorite know of the vast mysteries of the wind-bornespirits? Is this child to live or die? My gods can save her; if yourscan, let them take her! She is nought to me. "

"When Elijah wrestled with the prophets of Baal, where did victoryrest?" said the priest, and he too stooped down and inspected the wound. "She is past cure, " he said, rising sadly; "it remains but to pray forher soul. "

At this critical moment an agonizing shriek rang through the forest. Thesame runners who had sped to Marie Torode's cottage and had learnt therethat the wise woman had in truth passed away, had brought back withthem Suzanne's mother, who threw herself on her child's bodyendeavouring to staunch the blood, and to restore animation. Finding herefforts vain, she had listened anxiously to the words that had passed, and on hearing the priest's sentence of doom she burst into franticgrief and supplication. Turning to each disputant she cried--"Save her!save her young life! I suckled her, I reared her, I love her!--oh, how Ilove her!--do not let her die!"

"She can be saved!" curtly responded the stranger. The priest wassilent. A murmur arose. Austin, who had trained himself to study thoseamong whom he laboured, saw that the feeling was rising strongly againsthim. His antagonist saw it also, and pressed her victory. 

"Yes!" she said scornfully, "it is a small matter for my Gods to saveher, but they will not be besought while this bald-pate obtrudes hispresence. Let him leave us!"

The priest was much perplexed. He knew the skill of these lonely women;secretly he had faith in their power of witchcraft, though attributingit to the direct agency of Satan. He thought it not impossible thatthere was truth in the boast; and his heart was wrung with the mother'sgrief. On the other hand, the public defeat was a sore trial; but it wasclear to him that for the present at least the analogy of Elijah'sstruggle was imperfect: he must wait, and meanwhile bear hisdiscomfiture with meekness. He prepared to retire. The victor was not, however, even now satisfied. "Take with you, " she said, "yon idol thatdefaces the sacred oak!"

The good fathers, following their usual practice of associating emblemsof heathen with those of Christian worship, in the hope of graduallydiverting the reverence to the latter without giving to the former aruder shock than could be endured, had suspended a small cross on theoak, hoping eventually to carve the tree itself into a sacred emblem; itwas to this that the woman was pointing with a sneer. 

But this time she had made a blunder. Father Austin turned to thecrucifix and his strength and fire returned. Taking it from the tree, reverently kissing it and holding it aloft, he said solemnly--"Let mybrothers and sisters come with me! We will pray apart, where no profanewords can reach us. Perchance our prayers may be granted!" Not a few ofthe hearers followed him; sufficient indeed to make an imposingprocession: the triumph of the Evil One was at least dimmed. 

But his adversary did not appear to notice their departure. She gave asharp glance in the direction of the oak, and the now discrowned girlwas quickly at her side. Receiving some rapid instructions, the latterdisappeared into the wood, and shortly returned with some herbs, whichshe passed to her companion; she then resumed her position by the stone. The old woman placed some leaves, which she selected, on the wound: thebleeding at once ceased; squeezing juice from the herbs, she applied anointment made from it; then, opening a phial attached to her waist-belt, she poured some drops of liquid into the girl's mouth, gently partingher lips. This done, she stood erect and began an incantation, or rathera supplication, in an unknown tongue. As she proceeded her form becamerigid, her eye gleamed, her arms, the hands clenched, were raised aboveher head. The sun flashed on the circlet, glittered on the embossedgirdle: on the right arm was a heavy bracelet, composed of a goldenserpent winding in weird folds round a human bone; the head was towardsthe wearer's wrist, and the jewelled eyes which, being of large size, must have been formed of rare stones, glowed and shot fire as the redbeams struck on them through the branches. It seemed that a forkedtongue darted in and out, but this may have been imagined by the heatedfancies of the bystanders. The prayer ended; the stillness of deathrested a moment on man and nature; then a wild gust of wind, strikingthe oak without any preliminary warning, bent and snapped the upperbranches, and crashed inland through the swaying forest. The watcherssaw the colour return to the cheeks of the wounded girl, who opened hereyes and sate up. "Take her home, " said the sorceress, now quitecomposed, to the mother; "she is yours again!--till Marie calls her!"she added in a low voice to herself. The happy mother, shedding tears ofjoy, but in vain attempting to get her thanks accepted, obeyed theinjunction. 

As she and her friends disappeared, the old woman, turning to the awedpeople who seemed more than ever disposed to look on her as asupernatural being, said sternly--"Why linger you here? Are youunmindful of your duties? See you not how the shadows lengthen?" Thesewords produced a magical effect: the deep emotions by which the mass hadbeen recently swayed were swiftly replaced by equally profound feelingsof a different nature, as cloud succeeds cloud in a storm-swept sky. 

And now a singular scene was enacted. A procession was formed, headed bythe old men, bare-headed; the musicians followed, behind whom walkedwith solemn step the younger members of the community. This procession, emerging from the western border of the forest, slowly climbed theslopes of the Rocque du Guet, and arriving at the summit bent its wayseaward, halting at the edge of the precipitous cliff. 

The sun was nearing the horizon. The scene was one of unsurpassedloveliness. Behind lay the central and southern portions of the island, hushed as if their primaeval rocks were still tenantless. The outlinesof the isles of Herm and Jethou were visible, but already sinking intothe shades of evening. On the left the bold bluffs of L'Erée and Lihou, on the right the rugged masses of the Grandes and the Grosses Rocques, the Gros Commet, the Grande and Petite Fourque, lay in sharpenedoutline, the lapping waves already assuming a grey tint. These massesformed the framework of a picture which embraced a boundless wealth ofcolour, an infinite depth of softness. Straight from the sun shot outacross Cobo Bay a joyous river of gold, so bright that eye could illbear to face its glow; here and there in its course stood outquaintly-shaped rocks, some drenched with the fulness of the gloriousbath, others catching now and again a sprinkling shower. On each side ofthe river the sea, clear to its depths where alternate sand and rockmade a tangle of capriciously mingled light and shade; its surface, hereblue as the still waters of the Grotta Azzurra, there green as theolive, here again red-brown as Carthaginian marble, lay waveless, aswith a sense that the beauty was too perfect to be disturbed. Suddenlythe scene was changed; the lustrous outflow was swiftly drawn in andabsorbed; a grey hue swept over the darkening surface; in the distancethe round, blood-coloured, orb hung above the expectant ocean. 

Then all assembled fell on their knees. The music gave out sharpplaintive notes which were answered by the voices of men and women inshort, wailing, as it were inquiring, rhythm; this continued till thesun was on the point of disappearance, when music and voices togetherburst into a sad chant, seemingly of farewell; the kneeling peopleextending their hands seaward with an appealing gesture. One figure onlywas erect; on the projecting boulder, which is still so conspicuous afeature of the Rocque du Guet, stood the sorceress, her arms alsooutstretched, her figure, firm, erect, sharply outlined, such asTurner's mind conceived when he sketched the Last Man. 

Father Austin contemplated the scene from a distance. By his side washis favourite convert, Jean Letocq. 

"Strange!" he said, placing his hand on his companion's shoulder. "Yourrace are not sun-worshippers. Never, except on this day of the year, dothey show this feeling; but who that saw them to-day would doubt thatthey are so! Is it that from old times their intense love of nature hasled them to show in this way their sadness at its decay? or do they bymourning over the close of the sun's longest day symbolize theirrecognition of the inevitable end of the longest life of man? I cannottell. But, blind as this worship is, it is better than that of the workof man's hands. By God's will your countrymen may be led from kneelingto the created to mount the ladder till they bend the knee only to theCreator. It may be well, too, that their chosen object of veneration isthe only object in nature which dies but to rise again. Thus may they beled to the comprehension of the great truth of the resurrection. ButSatan, " he added with warmth, "must be wrestled with and cast down, specially when he takes the forms of temptation which he has assumedto-day: those of power and beauty. Prayer and fasting are sorelyneeded. "

For once his pupil was not altogether docile. "Thou hast taught me, father, " he replied, "the lesson of charity. This old woman is sinful, her error is deep, but may she not be converted and saved?"

"The devils can never regain Paradise, " replied the priest sternly. "Armthyself, Jean, against their wiles, in which I fear thou art alreadyentangled. The two forms we have to-day seen are but human in seeming:demons surely lurked beneath. "

Jean was now in open rebellion. "Nay, good father, " he said decisively, "the maiden was no fiend; if her companion be an imp of darkness, aswell she may, be it my task to rescue her from the evil snare into whichshe has fallen!" He had indeed a vivid recollection of the soft, humanhand to which he had ventured to give a gentle pressure when he hadassisted in placing the wreath on the fair, marble, brow, and had nodoubt of the girl's womanhood. As he spoke he vanished from the side ofthe priest, who, seeing the two objects of his pious aversion enteringthe darkening glades of the wood, was at no loss to divine the cause ofhis disappearance. The holy father shook his head, and sighed deeply. Hewas accustomed to disappointments, but this day his path had to anunusual extent been beset with thorns. His faith was unshaken, and hehumbly laid the fault on his own shoulders, promising further privationsto his already sorely afflicted body. Meanwhile he descended the hill, directing his course to Lihou. Pausing on his way through the forest toreplace the cross on the oak, he saw Jean, walking slowly homewards, hislistless step showing that his quest had failed. The Evil One had, hethought, for the time at least, forborne to press his advantage. Furtheroff he heard the scattered voices of the dispersing throng. 

CHAPTER III. 

DEVOTION. 

 "There glides a step through the foliage thick, And her cheek grows pale and her heart beats quick, There whispers a voice through the rustling leaves, And her blush returns, and her bosom heaves; A moment more--and they shall meet. 'Tis past--her lover's at her feet. "

 _Parasina_. --BYRON. 

After visiting all the accessible parts of the island Jean satisfiedhimself that it was useless to search further in them for traces of thestrangers. Persons so remarkable could not, it was clear, concealthemselves from the knowledge of the inhabitants. He must thereforeeither admit that the monk's surmise was correct, or must search inquarters hitherto unexplored. Though his rejection of the formeralternative was a foregone conclusion, his adoption of the latter was aremarkable proof of the strength of his passion. There was only onedistrict unexplored, and that was practically unapproachable. 

Early in the sixth century some piratical vessels had entered RocquaineBay in a shattered condition; the crews succeeded in landing, but theships, for seagoing purposes, were beyond repair. The pirates penetratedinland, driving out the inhabitants from Torteval and some of theadjoining valleys. Here they settled; and being skilled in hunting andfishing, having a fair knowledge of husbandry, and finding the positionpeculiarly adapted for their marauding pursuits, throve and prospered:so much so that when, some years afterwards, they had an opportunity ofleaving, the majority elected to remain. Their descendants had continuedto occupy the same district. Who they were, whether pure Northmen or ofsome mixed race, it would be idle to conjecture: they were originallyput down by the islanders as Sarrazins, that being the name under whichthe simple people classed all pirates; the strangers, however, resentedthis description, and had consequently come to be spoken of as LesVoizins, a definition to which no exception could be taken. Hardy andwarlike, quick of temper and rough of speech, they had an undisputedascendancy over the natives, to whom, though dangerous if provoked, theyhad often given powerful aid in times of peril. On the whole they madenot bad neighbours, but a condition was imposed by them the violationof which was never forgiven: no native was permitted, under any pretext, to enter their territory; death was the sure fate of an intruder foundin Rocquaine Bay or setting foot in the Voizin hills or valleys. Whatever may have been the cause of this regulation the result had beento keep the race as pure as it was on the day of the first landing. 

Now it was in the Terre des Voizins that Jean had resolved to seek hisbeloved, and his resolution was unalterable. He knew the danger; hewished to avoid death if possible; he meant to employ to the full theresources at his command; foolhardy as his enterprise seemed it was longand carefully planned. He knew that in the summer evenings it was thecustom of the Voizin women to visit the sunny shores of the bay: this hehad seen from Lihou; could he then succeed in landing unperceived, andin concealing himself in one of the many clefts of the rocks, he feltsure that if the well-known form were there he would descry it; whatwould follow afterwards was a question which had taken many fantasticshapes in his imagination, none of which had assumed a definite form. 

Towards the close of July the conditions were favourable for hisattempt. In the night a strong tide would be running into the bay; thewind was south-westerly, the moon set early. He prepared to start. Hehad selected a small and light boat, which would travel fast under hispowerful strokes, and might be so handled as not to attract attention;in it he had stored provisions which would last for a few days and asmall cask of fresh water. Towards evening he shaped his course forLihou. 

He had seen but little of the monk since the day of the feast, but hewas yearning to see him now. His love for the man, his reverence for thetruths he taught, his thought of his own future if he lost his life inhis rash expedition, all urged him to seek a parting interview. 

The brothers received him affectionately and bade him join their frugalmeal. The monks were five in number: they had been six, but one hadrecently been drowned while returning from a pious mission to Herm. Jeanknew them all; they were honest, God-fearing men, trustful and truthful. If their reasoning powers were not great, their faith was unswerving. Their life was a prolonged asceticism, and they had fair reason toexpect that martyrdom would be their earthly crown. 

The only exceptional feature of the repast was the appearance of one whohad never yet been seated there in Jean's presence; this guest was thehermit who dwelt on the extreme point, against which the Atlantic wavesdashed in their fiercest fury. The recluse did not seem to cultivate theduty of abstemiousness, but he maintained silence. Jean could notforbear furtively scanning his appearance, which was indeed remarkable. He would have been of large stature in any country; compared with thenatives his proportions were gigantic. His broad shoulders and musculararms betokened enormous strength; his hair and beard were fair; his blueeyes had a clear, frank, expression; there was firmness of purpose inhis massive jaw; he seemed between forty and fifty, and would have beenstrikingly handsome but for three deep scars which totally marred theexpression of his features. As Jean eyed him he returned the compliment, but the meal was soon over and the youth accompanied Father Austin tohis cell. 

There a long and sleepless night was passed by both. The monk in vainendeavoured to combat Jean's resolution; he argued, prayed, indeedthreatened, but without effect. Finding his efforts hopeless heabandoned them, and endeavoured to fortify his charge against theinfluence of the spell under which he believed him to have fallen. Thenthe young man was again the pupil; he listened humbly and reverently tothe repetition of the great truths which the father strove to rivet onhis mind, and joined earnestly in the prayers for truth and constancy. As daylight broke, and he at length laid himself down to rest, hislatest vision was that of the good man kneeling by him with that raptlook of contemplation which seemed to foreshadow his immortality. 

Jean slept profoundly for some hours. When night began to fall hereceived Austin's blessing, no further reference being made to hisexpedition, and when the moon was on the eve of disappearance helaunched his boat. As he rounded Lihou point another boat shot out, theoccupant of which hailed him. Recognizing the hermit, Jean paused. "Yousteer wrong, " said the giant, speaking with an accent which at oncereminded his hearer of that of the maiden; "your course is to the risingsun. " "I go where I will, " replied Jean, nettled at this unlooked-forinterruption. "Youth, " answered the other, "I have watched thee and wishthee well! rush not heedlessly to certain death!" "Stay me not!"resolutely answered Jean, wondering at the interest taken in him by thisstrange being. "Thou knowest not!" said the hermit sternly; "it is notonly from death I wish to save thee, but from worse than death; I tellthee I--" He checked himself, as if fearful of saying too much, and benthis eyes searchingly into those of Jean, who murmured simply, "I amresolved. " "Then God help thee and speed thee!" said the giant. Glancinginto the boat he saw one of the curved and pierced shells then, as now, used by Guernsey seamen as signal-horns: pointing to it he said, "If inperil, where a blast may be heard on Lihou, sound the horn twice: it isa poor hope but may serve thee!" He was gone. 

Jean paddled into the dreaded bay; the moon had now sunk and he wasfurther favoured by a slight mist. Knowing the tides from infancy, heworked his way noiselessly till he approached where the Voizin fleetlay, then laid himself down and let the current take him. He passedseveral boats in safety; as far as he could judge, from the observationshe had taken from Lihou, he was nearly past the anchorage when a crash, succeeded by a grating sound, warned him of danger. A curse, followed byan ejaculation of surprise and pleasure, enlightened him as to thenature of the collision: he was in contact with one of the anchoredvessels. "Odin is good!" cried a voice; "ha! a skiff drifted from awrecked vessel! and all eyes but mine sleeping!" The speaker threw overa small anchor and grappled the boat. Jean was prepared; without amoment's hesitation he cut the anchor-rope: his craft drifted onwards, leaving the fisherman grumbling at the rottenness of his tackle. Heoffered a short prayer of gratitude, and in a few minutes venturedcautiously to resume his oars. He heard the breaking of the waves, butseamanship on the unknown and indistinct coast was useless. Two sharpblows, striking the boat in rapid succession, told him that he hadtouched a submerged rock; the strong tide carried him off it, but thewater poured in through a gaping rent. He was now, however, on a sandybottom: he sprang out, pulled the boat up as far as possible, and satdown to wait for light. 

The first break of dawn showed him his position: he was facingnorthward; he was therefore on the Hanois arm of the bay. Fortune hadindeed been kind to him, for he had drifted into a small cleft shelteredby precipitous rocks, a place where concealment was fairly possible, asit was accessible only by land at the lowest tides. He examined hisstore of provisions, which was uninjured; storing it among the rocks herested till the sun sank. He then cautiously climbed the cliff, andlooked on the scene revealed by the moonlight. Seawards stood a roughround tower; no other building was visible on the point, which seemeddeserted. The loneliness gave him courage; when the moon set, the nightbeing clear, he explored further and satisfied himself that there wereno human beings, except the occupants of the tower, living on theserocks. He retired to his hiding-place to rest; before dawn he againascended and concealed himself among the bracken and brambles whichformed the only available shelter. During the whole day he saw but oneperson, an elderly woman, whose dark features and bright kerchief showedher to be of southern or gipsy origin, and who passed backwards andforwards carrying water to the tower. His examination increased hisconfidence; he calculated, by measuring the time occupied by the oldwoman in passing with an empty and returning with a full pitcher, thatthe spring frequented by her could not be far distant; at night hefound it just beyond the junction of the rocks with the mainland. Thewater was cool and fresh, and considerably revived him; he noticed toothat the luxuriant brushwood, nourished by the moisture, offered a goodplace for concealment; he returned, removed thither what remained of hisprovisions, and ensconced himself in his new retreat. 

In the morning he saw two figures approaching from the tower; one wasthe same servant he had seen before, but the other!--his heart throbbedand leaped, his brain reeled, his eyes gazed hungrily; he could not be, he was not, mistaken!--the second figure was the heroine of his dreams!She walked silently. Jean saw that memory had not played him false: herbeauty, her grace, were no freak of his imagination; would the holyfather now say that she was a devil, while thus she moved in herloveliness, a woman to be loved and worshipped!--a very woman, too! notabove the cares of life! Seating herself by the spring she despatchedher companion on an errand to supply domestic wants, promising to awaither return. 

Jean's principal characteristic was rapid resolution: he reasoned that asmall alarm might make the girl fly; that his chance of retaining herwas an overpowering shock. He stepped boldly out and stood before her. The maiden sprang quickly to her feet; there was no terror in her face;she was of true blood; if she was afraid she did not show it; it wasclear she recognized the apparition, but intense surprise, overpoweringother emotions, kept her dumb. Jean had thus the chance of speakingfirst, and deftly he used his opportunity. In a few rapid sentences hetold the tale of his search, of his adventures, of his selection of hishiding-place; then he paused. The maiden was not long in finding words. There was a flush on her cheek and a tear hanging on her eyelash whichmade Jean very happy. "You must go, " she said, "but where? Your life isforfeit! forfeit to the Gods!" She shuddered as she said this. "Inyonder tower lives my mother, on the shore are my people; there is noescape on either hand! A chance has saved you hitherto; none dareapproach our home without my mother's permission, which is rarely given;but on this spot they may find you, may seize you, may--!" She stopped, with an expression of horror, and covered her face with her hands. 

But Jean was not anxious; he was radiant with happiness. He seatedhimself and spoke of love, deep passionate love; so gentle was he, sosoft, so courteous, and yet so ardent, that the maiden trembled; when hedared to take her hand she did not withdraw it. The moment of bliss wasbrief; a step was heard. "Hide yourself quickly, " she whispered, "Titais returning. " Jean promptly obeyed the injunction. The old womanarrived with a well-filled wallet, and looked fondly at her youngmistress. The signs of recent agitation struck her. "What has befallenthee, Hilda?" she cried anxiously. The girl took her arm and led herseawards. Jean, watching, could see the start and angry expression ofthe older, the coaxing, pleading attitude of the younger woman; he couldsatisfy himself that the resistance of the former was gradually beingovercome, and as they returned he saw that the maiden's victory wasindisputable. She summoned Jean, who was inspected by Tita at first withdistrust, then with modified approval. "You must stay here, " said themaiden earnestly, "closely hidden till nightfall; my absence has beenalready sufficiently long, and nothing can be done while daylightlasts. " Bidding him farewell she sped with her guardian towards thetower, while Jean retired to his bushes a prey to fond thoughts andfeverish hopes. 

Before sundown he saw the tall figure of the sorceress wendinglandwards. She did not approach the spring. Hilda quickly followed withher former companion. "We have a long journey, " she said, "and shorttime: we must start at once. " Removing all traces of his lair he obeyedwithout hesitation. They ascended the steep cliff. The night was clear, the moon at this hour was bright and lustrous. "We have three hours, "said the maiden, "ere we leave our guest!"--she looked archly at Jean asshe thus described him--"it should suffice!" They were now on theheights of Pleinmont; no one was moving, though voices of men and beastscould be plainly heard in the distance. "They feast to-night to theGods, " said Hilda; "we need fear only some belated laggard!" The heatherwas not yet springing, but Jean could see that gorse was on the bloom, which he considered a favourable omen: they stepped out bravely on theshort springy turf. Tita's steps were slower than those of the youngpair, who were deaf to her calls for delay. Never to his dying day didJean forget that happy night-walk. His soul was poured out in love, andhe knew that his love was returned. He was steeped to the full in joy;no thought of future cares or perils crossed his mind. They had passedthree or four headlands before the girl halted and waited for herattendant, who came up muttering to herself and grumbling; complimentsfrom Jean and caresses from Hilda restored her good humour, and the workof the evening commenced. "Follow me closely, " said the girl; "let youreye be keen and your step firm: the descent is no child's sport. " Jeanlooked at the cliff, fitted for the flight of gull or cormorant ratherthan the foot of man, still less of gentle maiden: Hilda was alreadyover the brink: Jean, following, saw that she was on a path no broaderthan a goat's track; the difficulties of the descent need not bedescribed; it was possible for a clear head and practised foot, to thenervous or the unsteady the attempt must have been fatal. Arrived atthe bottom the climbers found themselves in a small cleft strewn withhuge boulders; the rocks towered high above them. Hilda glanced at themoon. "We must be quick, " said she, showing him some deep caverns in therock; "there, " she said, "is your home. Here you are safe; my motheralone knows the secret of these caves. I must mount again; you mustclimb with me to mark the path more closely. " She sprang to the rock andcommenced to ascend as nimbly as she had come down. Jean saw thenecessity of taking every precaution; he noted carefully each feature ofthe track. Arrived at the summit she bade him farewell. She pointed outa place where Tita would from time to time leave him provisions, andsaid that he would find water in the caves; she then tripped quicklyoff. Jean did not linger, seeing that if he did so light would fail himfor his return. He crossed the track for the third time, reached thecaves, and slept soundly till dawn. 

When he awoke he inspected his strange retreat. He was in a large hall, two hundred feet long, and some fifty feet high and broad; this chamberwas entered by a small orifice of no great length, through which he hadpassed on the preceding night; it was warm, and dry except where thestream of which Hilda had spoken trickled through to the sea. It was thefissure now known as the Creux Mahie, and to which an easy access hasbeen arranged for the benefit of the curious. Here Jean passed threemonths. Hilda frequently visited him, and always kept him supplied withfood; she warned him also when he might safely roam on the cliffs above. There was no obstacle to her visits, even when they extended to aconsiderable length, as the mother seemed always to be satisfied as toher absences when Tita accompanied her; and the latter, whoseinfirmities prevented her from descending, had no means of shorteningthe interviews. 

Thus the lovers had opportunity to study each other's characters. Themaiden's pure heart knew no distrust, and Jean was faithful andchivalrous as Sir Galahad. They spoke not always of love: words wereunnecessary to explain what every look betokened. Jean found her skilledin strange, mystical, lore, but ignorant of all that sways and rulesmankind. The history of the selfish struggles of human interests andpassions was to her a sealed book. She had been carefully shrouded fromthe knowledge of evil; but, in order to protect her in the roughturbulent little world in which she lived, it had been necessary to keepher from association with her countrymen, and so she had never mingledwith them except under the charge of her mother, in whose presence thefiercest were submissive. Jean, therefore, in speaking to her of familyintercourse, of the intermingling of members of the household, ofbright chat with friends, opened up to her views of life of which shehad formed no conception. Then he told her of his own people; describedthe three generations living under one roof; depicted the daily round, the care of the old and the young, the work, the return of the workersto their wives, sisters, and children, the love of the mothers for theirinfants, the reverence for age, the strong mutual affection of husbandand wife, brother and sister. To these descriptions she listened with ahappy smile, the mission of woman dawning on her; and many were thequestions she asked, till she seemed to have mastered the picturespainted for her. Above all, Jean strained to bring her to the knowledgeof the God of the Christian, for he himself was an earnest, intelligentdisciple. He found her mind clearer than he had expected. Judith (thishe now knew was the mother's name) was a remarkable woman; her mind waslofty, if darkened. While others were satisfied with the grossness of amaterial creed her spirit soared aloft. Her Gods commanded her implicitfaith, her unswerving allegiance. Seated on the storm-clouds, sweepingthrough space, they represented to her infinite force. She attributed tothem no love for mankind, which was in her creed rather their plaything, but she credited them with the will and the power to scatter good andill before they claimed the soul of the hero to their fellowship, orcast into a lower abyss that of the coward or the traitor. She believedthat she saw their giant forms half bending from their vapoury thrones, and she thought that she read their decrees. Sorceress she may havebeen; in those days sorcery was attributed to many who had obtained aknowledge of laws of nature, then considered occult, now recognizedamong the guiding principles from which scientific deductions are drawn. She believed in the power of magic, which she was universally understoodto possess; but she was no vulgar witch: rather was she a worthypriestess of her not ignoble deities. The effect upon Hilda's mind ofthe teachings of such a woman is easy to conceive. She had been allowedto know little of the wild orgies of the barbaric feasts offered to theGods by her countrymen, of their brutal excesses, of their humansacrifices: from this knowledge she had been as far as possibleshielded: she knew only of the dim mystic beings, half men, half Gods, from whose wrath she shrank with terror. To a mind so constituted andtrained the revelation of the story of the infant Christ was apassionate pleasure. She never tired of listening to the tale of thebirth in the stable of Bethlehem; but she loved not to dwell on thehistory of the passion and death, which was at that time beyond herunderstanding. She drank in with parted lips all that concerned the HolyMother, of whom she was never weary of hearing. Jean had a rude drawingof the Madonna and Child, given him by Father Austin: the figures hadthe angularity and rigidity of Byzantine art, but the artist hadrepresented his subject with reverence, and no lack of skill, and sheloved to dwell on the pure mother's face, and on the longing look in theeyes of the Child. She accepted wholly the idea of a God who lovedmankind, of infinite goodness and mercy: if she could not as yet enterinto the subtlety of doctrine she could give that childlike faith whichis the envy of doctrinarians. 

CHAPTER IV. 

REVELATION. 

 "I curse the hand that did the deid, The heart that thocht the ill, The feet that bore him wi' sik speid, The comely youth to kill. "

 _Gil Morrice_. --OLD BALLAD. 

Jean had often expressed his curiosity to see the interior of the tower, and Hilda had promised to gratify it. On the 25th of October anopportunity occurred. She informed her lover that on that day a feast ofunusual importance would be held from which none would be absent, andthat her mother would be engaged at it from noon to midnight. On thatday, therefore, he walked freely along the cliffs, and was admitted tothe dwelling. He had unconsciously based his idea of its contents uponhis recollections of the squalid abode of Marie Torode, where humanskulls, skeletons, bones of birds and beasts, dried skins, and otherghastly objects had been so grouped as to add to the superstitiousfeeling inspired by the repulsive appearance of the crone herself. Hisastonishment was therefore proportionate when he saw what to his eyesappeared exceptional luxury. A wooden partition divided the room on thelower story into two chambers of unequal size: the larger, in which hestood, was the common dwelling apartment, the other was given over toHilda. The upper story, approached by a ladder and also by an externalstaircase, was sacred to Judith; Tita occupied some outbuildings. Thesitting-room was hung with rich stuffs of warm and glowing colours; hereand there fitful rays of the sun flickered upon gold brocade andOriental embroidery; rugs and mats, which must have been offered forsale in the bazaars of Egypt and Morocco, were littered about in strangecontrast with the bracken-strewed floor. On the walls were inlaidbreastplates and helmets, pieces of chain armour, swords and daggers ofexquisite workmanship. On shelves stood drinking vessels of roughermake, but the best that northern craftsmen could produce. The seats wererude and massive: one of them, placed by a window fronting the settingsun, was evidently the favourite resting-place of Judith. Above thisseat was a shelf on which lay some of the mysterious scrolls of whichJean had seen specimens in the possession of the fathers. Instruments ofwitchcraft, if such existed, must have been in the upper story: nonewere visible. All this splendour was manifestly inconsistent with thehomely taste and abstracted mode of thought of the sorceress. In pointof fact she was hardly aware of its existence. The decorator was Tita, in whom was the instinct of the connoisseur, supported by noinconsiderable knowledge to which she had attained in those early yearsof which she never could be induced to speak. When a rich prize wasbrought into the bay, freighted with a cargo from Asia, Africa, or theEuropean shores of the Mediterranean, she never failed to attend theunloading, during which, by the help of cajolery, judiciousdepreciation, and other ingenious devices still dear to the virtuoso, she succeeded in obtaining possession of articles which would haveenraptured a modern collector. Judith was apparently indifferent to ahabit which she looked upon as a caprice of her faithful servant, andthe only evidence of her noticing it was her concentration in her ownapartments of all that related to her personal studies and pursuits. 

It was now Jean's turn to listen and learn, and Hilda's to explain andinstruct. Towards nine o'clock he was preparing to return. He wasindifferent to the darkness, as by this time he knew the track so wellthat he crossed it fearlessly at all hours. His hand was on the boltwhen Tita announced in alarm that Judith was returning and was on thepoint of entering. Hardly was there time to conceal him behind thehangings before she appeared. Her countenance was pale and worn, hertone, as Hilda took off her outer garments was weary and sad. "Theportents were hostile and dangerous, " she said; "they foretold woe, disaster, ruin. Will the mighty ones reveal to me the future? I cannottell! But my spirit must commune with them till dawn breaks. Dost hearthem? They call me now!" She held up her finger as a sudden blast rockedthe tower to its foundations. "Aye, " she continued more firmly after apause, "they will not forget those who are true to them. But thispeople! this people!" She hid her face with her hands as if to cover apainful vision. After a time she rose to her feet and took the girl bythe hand. Leading her to the seat by the window on which she placedherself, and making her kneel by her side, she said--

"Hilda! the chill mist closes round! my life draws to its end! Nay, weepnot, child! were it not for thee I would long ere this have prayed thegods my masters to remove me from my sojourn among the degenerate sonsof our noble fathers; but I trembled for thy fate, sweet one!" Theselast words were almost inexpressibly tender. "I dared not trust thyslight frame to battle unsheltered with the storm. Now the blastsummoning me is sounded. I cannot much longer disobey, though I maycrave for brief respite. But I have found thee refuge! thou wilt be ina safe haven. Stay! I must speak while the spirit is on me!"

"Mother!" sobbed the girl, clasping the old woman's knees. 

"Hilda!" said Judith slowly, "call me no longer by that name! I am notthy mother; before men only do I call thee daughter. Silence!" sheexclaimed imperatively, as Hilda looked quickly up, doubting whether sheheard aright. "Silence! and listen!"

"I have loved thee truly, child, and have nurtured thee as a motherwould! and thou art no stranger! the same blood runs in our veins! Yes!thou art mine! for thy father was my brother. Does not that give thee tome? Hush! thou shalt hear the tale. "

Hilda's were not the only ears that drank in every word of the followingstory. 

"Twenty years ago what a demi-god was Haco! He was a giant, but even menwho feared him loved him. Though brave and strong as Odin himself, hismind was gentle and kind as a maiden's; first in council, in war, inmanly sports, he ever had an open ear and a helping hand for thetroubled and distressed. He was adored, nay, worshipped, by all. Whatwonder then that when he and the proud chief Algar courted the samemaiden, he was preferred! Thou knowest not, Hilda, the mysteries of atender heart; may it be long indeed before thy heart is seared by humanpassion!" It was fortunate that darkness hid the burning blush whichsuffused Hilda's face and neck at this pious wish. Judithproceeded:--"Thy father wedded and thou wast born. He poured on thyinfant form all the wealth of his great generous heart. Algar nursed hisrevenge: he dared not act openly, for our house was as noble as hisown--nay, nobler!" she added haughtily, "but he bided his time. Haco'stower was near the shore, a pleasant, lovely, spot. One night the newswas borne to me that enemies had landed, and that his dwelling was inflames; I hurried towards it; I was stopped by armed warriors; Algar'smen, they said, had hastened to the rescue; the chief had ordered thatno women should leave their homes. It was in vain that I urged andprotested. When at last I reached the spot the struggle was said to beover, and the assailants, beaten off, were declared to have sailed away. Algar himself came to me with well-assumed grief. He had arrived, heswore, too late to save. The tower had been fired whilst the inmatesslept, the wife and child had perished; Haco, after performingincredible feats of valour, had fallen before the strokes of numerousfoes; when he himself had come with a chosen band, while sending therest of his forces to other posts which the unforeseen danger mightthreaten, nothing remained but to avenge the murder. Why recount thecaitiffs lies? Where were the signs of landing, of hasty re-embarkation?Where were the dead of the strangers? Thrown into the sea! he said; itwas foul falsehood, and fouler treachery. I found your father's body; hewas smitten and gashed, but nobler than the living. I touched him andwas silent. I knew what none others guessed. I arose. The spirits of theGods came over me, and I cursed his slayer. Never had I spoken sofiercely; men stood and wondered. I prayed the Gods to make the wretchwho had caused my darling's death miserable by land and by sea, by dayand by night, in the field and at the board, loathed by his friends, andscorned by his foes. The Gods heard my imprecations; as I turned my eyesskywards they looked from their clouds, wrath kindling on their brows, and Algar's face was white with fear, his hand trembled and his kneeshook. 

"'We must bury him, ' he faltered. 

"'Yea, ' said I, 'but in a hero's grave, and after the custom of ourfathers. '

"There was a murmur of applause. Algar could not refuse. 

"They brought the choicest of the boats, they made the sails bright andgay, they put in it the dead man's arms, and food to accompany him tothe land of spirits. Then they bound him before the mast, his faceturned seaward. At sundown they towed the boat to deep water, so piercedher that she might sink slowly under the waves, and then they left thehero to his rest. I had gone out with them: alone I said to him my lastfarewell. But they did not know my secret. They did not guess that I hadascertained by my art that life was yet in him, that I had pouredbetween his lips subtle drops which would maintain animation for manydays and nights, during which consciousness might be restored; nor didthey imagine that when I kneeled before him I had stopped the leak bywhich the water was to flow into the doomed boat. Algar was now thedeceived; it was a living man, not a corpse, who started on that voyage. Haco lives still, though where my art cannot tell. I thought that MarieTorode knew, and sought her on her death-bed to question her, but eithershe could not or she would not tell. " Hilda's mind was in such confusionthat she could not speak. The old woman continued. "Algar lived on--yes, lived that he might suffer all the evils with which my curse loaded him, and died that he might be hurled into the abyss where traitors andcravens writhe and groan. Enough of him!

"When I returned to my tower, a figure was crouching before the hearth:it was Tita, and you were in her arms. The faithful creature, whom yourfather had chosen from a band of captives to be your nurse, had, unperceived, saved your life from the flames. Thenceforward you were mycare. I took your mother's place as best I could. Others knew not yourparentage, nor did they dare to question me. None suspected the truth. "

When she reached this point she bent over the kneeling girl and gave hera kiss, tender as a mother's if not a mother's kiss; her fingerscaressed the head bowed upon her knees; for a time the silence was onlybroken by Hilda's sobs. She then spoke again, this time quickly, sternly, as if to prevent interruption. 

"I cannot leave thee alone, and I will not! Listen, child, and besilent! What I now tell thee is beyond thy young understanding: thouhast but to shape thy will to my bidding: it is for me to launch thyvessel on its voyage, the Gods will help thy riper judgment to steer itscourse! The time has come when thou must wed! I have chosen for thee asuitor, the chief to whom all thy countrymen bend the knee. Garthmundclaims thee as his bride; ere eight days expire the marriage feast willbe held. He is of noble birth, there is none nobler; he is young andstrong, and should be favoured by the Gods if he prove worthy of them. He is a fitting bridegroom for Haco's daughter. "

The girl was dazed and trembling. She knew this chief: he answeredJudith's description, but was rough and coarse. Had she not met Jeanshe might not have dared to refuse, but now she felt that death would bemore welcome than this marriage. "Spare me, mother!" she said, as if shehad not heard the disclaimer of maternity. "I am too young, too weak. "The old woman pressed her hand on the girl's lips. "We will not speakfurther to-night, " she said; "thou canst not see Garthmund for threedays, for so long the feast will last. May the Gods protect thee!" Sherose: the fitful moonlight streamed on her gaunt form; she turned andslowly ascended to her chamber. 

The terrified girl quickly released Jean, who led her from the tower. Ifshe was broken and trembling he was erect and resolute; no longer thesoft lover, but the prompt man of action. She felt the bracinginfluence. "We have three days, " he said. "Within that time we mustflee. I will not return to the cave; my task must be to repair theboat. " He mentioned certain articles which he begged her to provide, pressed her to his breast, and disappeared in the darkness. 

At daylight he examined the little vessel. She was no worse than she hadbeen, as each incoming tide, reaching the place where she was secured, had floated her, but the rock had opened a large jagged fissure. Hildabrought him such materials as she could procure, a log of wood, barkwhich she stitched with her own hands, a hatchet and nails. Jeanutilized also the vraick with which the sand was strewn. He workedwithout fear of detection, knowing that the whole population was inland;but the lovers had to rely on themselves alone, for, when there was aquestion of flight, Tita was no longer to be trusted. 

On the third day Jean found the boat fairly seaworthy. Hilda felt asevere pang at leaving Judith, who had not reverted to the subject ofher marriage. Whether her parent or not, she loved her dearly; she feltalso the pain of parting with Tita, but her resolution never swerved. She had given her heart to Jean; she felt also a presentiment that shewould discover her father; while it was her belief that the parting fromher old associates was but temporary. 

When the sun went down Jean set his sail, meaning to make a rapid dashacross the bay, and seeing no cause for concealing his movements. Therewas more swell than he liked for so frail a craft, but wind and tidewere favourable to the enterprise, and the night was exceptionallybright, the moon being full; this brightness would have been fatal hadthe inhabitants been on the alert, but under present circumstances thepale beams were welcome. Hilda took the helm; she knew every passage inthe labyrinth of submerged rocks, and they were soon in comparativelyopen water. Jean then assumed control, wrapping the maiden in hiscloak, for the waves were tossing their spray over the boat as sheheeled over to the breeze. 

They had traversed in safety three-fourths of their course when Jean, looking seaward, saw a dark sail bearing down on them. One of the pirateships, delayed by contrary winds, was hurrying homeward, the crew offive men hoping to arrive ere the feast was over. Jean's hope that theboat might not be discovered was soon dispelled: the vessel altered hercourse slightly and hailed. Jean made no answer. The pirate wasevidently in no mood to parley; the crew were in a fierce temper, angryand discontented at the postponement of their arrival. She made adeliberate attempt to run the boat down. Jean divined her object and, putting up his helm sharply at the right moment, let her shoot by himastern; he then resumed his course. A second attempt was clumsier, andwas easily evaded; the assailants were hurried and impatient; nor didthey know the seamanlike qualities of the man with whom they weredealing. But Jean saw that ultimate escape was hopeless, and this wasequally apparent to Hilda who, however, though pale as death, gave afirm pressure of the hand in response to his grasp. At this moment anobject glimmered under the youth's feet: stooping down he touched theshell. The hermit's parting words flashed on his mind: he seized on thehope of rescue, and sounded two loud and clear blasts. 

The pirates now altered their tactics. Handling their vessel with morecare they succeeded, after two or three unsuccessful attempts, inranging alongside and grappling the boat. A man sprung on board andseized Hilda. "A rare booty!" he cried, --"the Gods repent of theirwaywardness. " Jean was engaged with those of the crew who had seized theboat; the man laughingly gave the girl a rough embrace: it was the lastact he had to record before entering the spirit world. Hilda drew fromher bosom one of the daggers which Jean had noticed on the tower walls, whose blade, still sharp and keen, might have been forged by a Damascussmith; it struck deep to the heart of the ruffian, who fell lifelessinto the waves. Jean had now freed the craft, but the respite was short:before she had made much progress she was again captured. The pirates, furious at the death of their comrade, made a determined onslaught. Jean, fighting desperately, received from behind a terrific blow whichlaid him senseless. But a superstitious feeling made them hesitatebefore committing further outrage; they had recognized Hilda, and fearedthe consequence of Judith's vengeance if she were injured. There was notime, however, for delay; the, rude repairs, torn by the trampling feet, had given way, and the leak had re-opened: the boat was fast sinking. The pirates cared not for Jean's lifeless body; that might sink or swim;but they felt they must save the girl whatever might be her futuredoom. Even their hearts softened somewhat as they watched her erect inthe sinking boat, her face pallid, her fair hair shining in themoonlight, but her lips set, her lovely eyes bent tearless on herprostrate lover, her right hand, holding the blood-stained dagger, hanging listlessly by her side. 

Watching an opportunity, a stalwart youth seized her from behind andpinned her arms. The next moment he himself was seized as if he were adog, and hurled into the water. The new combatant, whose arrival had soeffectually changed the aspect of affairs, was the hermit, who followedup his first stroke by another still more decisive. Springing into thepirate craft, wrenching a weapon from the grasp of the chief of theassailants, he drove before him the three remaining men, terror-struckat his sudden and inexplicable appearance, his superhuman size andstrength. One by one he swept them overboard; then grasping a hugestone, which formed part of the ballast, he dashed it with the fullforce of his gigantic strength through the planks of the boat, which atonce began to fill. All this was the work of a few moments. He thenleaped into the skiff, which sank as he swiftly transferred to his ownvessel its two occupants. 

Before another hour was over, Jean, stretched on a pallet, was receivingthe attention of loving hands in a cell of the Lihou monastery. 

CHAPTER V. 

AFFLICTION. 

 "The race of Thor and Odin Held their battles by my side, And the blood of man was mingling Warmly with my chilly tide. "

 _Danube and the Euxine_. --AYTOUN. 

Father Austin received his pupil's companion with the courtesy due toher distress, but with much misgiving. After tending his patient, whosesituation was critical, he paced thoughtfully towards the cell in whichhe had placed her, revolving in his mind the difficulties of the case. His amazement was intense when he slowly opened the door. The maiden waskneeling, her back towards him; before her was the little picture of theMadonna; she was praying aloud; her words were simple but passionatelypathetic; she threw herself and her lover upon the mercy of the HolyMother with a trust so absolute, a confidence so infinite, that the monkcould hardly refrain from tears. How had he been blinded! as he lookedand listened the scales fell from his eyes: he humbly owned his error. 

The noise of his step startled her; she rose and looked at himinquiringly. "Maiden, " he said, answering her appealing look, "his fateis in the hands of God, whose ears are ever open to the prayers of thosethat fear Him. "

Often and often had Jean spoken to her of Father Austin; she loved himalready, but she had yet to fathom the nobleness of his soul. Hissingle-heartedness and abnegation of self, his tenderness and quicksympathy (virtues tempering his fierce abhorrence of Paganism), hisstern reprobation of the evil, and his yearning for the good, in theuntutored barbarians among whom he laboured, were gradually revealed inthe discourses which they held daily while Jean lay between life anddeath. Reaping and garnering what Jean had sown, he scattered freshseed, opening out to her the great history of God in man. Qualitieshitherto unsuspected in her developed; if an apt pupil, she was aninstructive teacher of the wealth of charity and purity that dwells inan untainted woman's heart. And she had another friend: the hermitwatched over her with touching care and assiduity. He appeared strangelyattracted to her; the holy fathers marvelled to see this rough being, who had seemed to them an animal to be feared while pitied, caring forthe maiden's comfort with a woman's gentleness: he seemed never weary ofcontemplating her, sometimes murmuring to himself as he did so. Anylittle delicacy that the island could afford, game, fish, shellfish, wasprovided for her by him. Once, thinking her couch hard, he disappearedand returned bearing, whence none knew, soft stuffs better fitted forher tender form; on this occasion the whole man seemed transformed, whenhe stepped in with a smile in his big frank eyes, and a ruddy glow onhis bronzed scarred cheeks, placed his offering at her feet, and strodeaway. Strange, too, to say, Hilda seemed to return the feeling: happy inthe presence of Austin, she was yet with him as the pupil with themaster; but with the recluse she was gentle, affectionate, and evenplayful. The monks attempted not to solve the puzzle of the bond thatknitted together the two strange beings; analysis of character troubledlittle their saintly minds. 

At length consciousness returned; Jean opened his eyes and recognisedAustin. This was a joyful moment. Quiet was all that was now necessaryto complete the restoration of his health, which could not, however, beanticipated for a considerable time. The first inquiry of the patientwas for Hilda, and he was allowed to see her; on the next day they werepermitted to interchange a few words, after which Austin explained whathe had already decided. Hilda, he pointed out, could not fitly remainin Lihou, where she had been allowed to reside only until her lover wasout of danger; the laws of the establishment, which forbade the presenceof women, must now be put in force, but a fitting home had been providedfor her; she would be placed with the Sisters at the Vale; the hermitwould conduct her thither on the following day. The girl bowed to thisdecision, sorely as she grieved to leave him she loved; the next morningthey parted, and she embarked with her guardian who, shielding herlovingly from all harm, placed her, ere nightfall, in her new abode. 

Judith had not discovered the girl's departure till the sun was well up, when she heard of her absence from the frantic Tita. The old woman'sforce of character was colossal; pettinesses, small passions, wereunknown to her. Had her sphere been larger her promptitude of resource, keenness of perception, resolute look onwards and upwards, solidity ofpurpose, and incisive action might have graven her name on the tables ofhistory. Stagnating in the shallow pools of the unstoried rocks in whichshe passed her life, these grand qualities were wasted and perverted. She lost no time now in recrimination; a few sharp questions enabled herto judge how far the weakness of affection had played the traitor withthe old woman, whom she left to settle matters with her own conscience. She saw Garthmund, and told him that, in consequence of theunsatisfactory augury of the last sacrifice, she had decided to postponethe marriage. Nor did she appear to notice the indifference with whichthe chief, who could not pretend that he ardently loved a bride who waspractically a stranger to him, received the decision. It took her sometime to discover where Hilda had taken refuge; it speaks ill for femalereticence that she discovered it shortly after the girl's removal to thesisterhood. She satisfied herself that her own people had no suspicionof the flight, as none of the crew of the belated boat had reached theshore; and she gathered, from the transfer of the maiden to the convent, that Father Austin was, on his side, resolved not to make known theelopement of Garthmund's intended wife. Her paramount wish was torecover her niece, but she perceived that she must act warily, and mustbe ready to deal with the many contingencies which would inevitablyarise during the development of her schemes. Hilda's position under theimmediate protection of the religious communities was a seriousobstacle. Judith believed that against them her magic arts would be ofno avail; she was therefore driven to confine herself to earthlycombinations; but she was in no wise daunted by this difficulty, whichin point of fact cleared her judgment, and assisted her by inducing herto make the best of the materials at her disposal. The obvious plan forthe recovery of the girl was to induce Garthmund to attack the nunnery, and drag his bride from it; but to this there were many objections. Acknowledgment of Hilda's flight would be in itself a confession offailure. She had promised to produce the girl when she was required; toseek the chief's assistance to enable her to fulfil the promise would bea diminution of her prestige, and consequently of her power. Again, itwas by no means certain that the chief who, it has been said, was nolove-sick bridegroom, would consent to undertake the enterprise; nor, ifhe did undertake it, was his prospect of success unquestionable, for theislanders, though not ready listeners to the Christian teaching, wouldhave united to repel a heathen attack on their teachers whom theyhonoured and respected. Judith therefore rejected this expedient, arranging her plan of operations with remarkable ingenuity. 

Her first aim was to promote ill-feeling between the Voizins and theirneighbours; this part of the campaign was prosecuted with vigour. Cattlewere lost on either side of the boundary; houses were burnt; old wellsran dry; rumours, mysteriously circulated, spoke of these as noaccidental mishaps; suspicions were whispered; instances of retaliationfollowed. At the time when a dangerous feeling was thus growing up afamine broke out in the Voizin country while the islanders were wellsupplied. The hungry Voizin men heard voices in the darkness scoffingat them, laughter and sneers. When their carts were sent to fetch thenecessaries of life, lynch-pins were loosened; in more than one case thedraught oxen were houghed; the provisions, when received, were mouldyand unwholesome. At last sickness broke out, with stories of poison;then the tension became insupportable. The Voizin chief, too proud to goto his neighbours, summoned them to him; the messenger was murdered. This assassination, of which the natives denied all knowledge, was metby prompt reprisals; three Perelle fishermen were hung on the spot wherethe body was found. From this date the outbreak of hostilities was but aquestion of time. A sternness of purpose ruled in the councils of theVoizins which frustrated all attempts at conciliation. A little beforeChristmas a trivial incident kindled the smouldering flames, and thehordes, pouring from the Torteval valleys, swept over the districts nowknown as the parishes of St. Saviour's and the Câtel; the resistance wastame and ineffectual, sufficient only to give occasion for considerableslaughter and plunder. The invaders, seeing no reason for returning totheir famine-stricken fastnesses, settled themselves in the enjoyment ofthe abundance of the vanquished, who, in their turn, with theiraccustomed versatility, submitted patiently, and even cheerfully, to ayoke which, after the first onslaught was over, pressed lightly; theVoizins, to whom fighting was a pastime, bearing no malice, and passingimperceptibly into a genial mood. 

Judith now prepared to develop the next move, the object of which was toundermine the authority of the monks, and make them vulnerable byisolation. Derisive hints were dropped respecting the failure of the newreligion to help its votaries in the hour of peril; the victory of theVoizins was attributed to the superiority of their Gods rather than todeficiency in courage on the part of their foes: this theory, which wasnot unpalatable to those who had been half-hearted in defence of theirhomes, was also utilized by the more sober spirits as an argumentwherewith to restrain the more ardent from attempting to renew thestruggle under similar conditions. The observances of the religion ofThor and Odin, or rather of that debased form of it which prevailedamong this singular people, were celebrated under their more alluringaspects: frequent feasts and dances captivated the laughter-lovingislanders, who had been tried somewhat severely by the severity of the_régime_ which Austin had endeavoured to impose since he had seen dangerin his damaging encounter with Judith. After a time it was proclaimedthat none would be permitted to join in the revelries who were enemiesto the Gods who presided at them. This stroke was successful: themajority openly embraced the creed of their conquerors, and showed theusual spirit of perverts in exceeding the latter in their zeal to sweepaway all traces of the religion which they had abandoned. The minoritywho held true to their faith drew together, a grim and resolute band, prepared for a bold defence and, if Christ so willed it, for martyrdom. 

It was not Judith's purpose, now that the disruption of the islanderswas effected, to leave time for the Christians to mature plans forresistance. Garthmund, at her instigation, delivered simultaneousattacks on Lihou and the Vale; he himself superintending the latteroperation in order that he might see that the sorceress's instructions, that all in the nunnery were to be made prisoners uninjured, and broughtto her closely veiled, were implicitly obeyed. To the surprise of theislanders, however, both assaults, though made with spirit and absoluteconfidence of success, were completely repulsed; the same resultattended a renewed attack, made two days subsequently with fresh andincreased forces supported by native levies. Garthmund found that inboth places he had before him not only resolute troops, but skilled andenterprising commanders. 

CHAPTER VI. 

CONSOLATION. 

 "Mother! list a suppliant child! Ave Maria! Ave Maria! Stainless styled. Foul demons of the earth and air, From this their wonted haunt exiled, Shall flee before thy presence fair. "

 _Lady of the Lake_. --WALTER SCOTT. 

Jean's recovery after Hilda's departure had been slow and lingering; butfor the unwearied care of the good fathers and of the recluse, aided bya constitution of no ordinary strength, he must have succumbed to theterrible injuries which he had received. As, however, the days began tolengthen, and signs of spring to appear even on the wild rock where hehad taken refuge, his vigour gradually returned. It had been necessarythat he should be protected from excitement; consequently, whilereceiving from the hermit regular reports from the Vale, and many asweet message from his love which made his heart leap with happiness, he knew nothing till the beginning of February of the incursion of theVoizins, and the accompanying events. Since he had been alone, however, he had dwelt for hours together on the strange story which he hadoverheard in the tower, the principal figure of which, while his brainhad been still confused, had been always mingled in his delirium withthe massive form of the hermit. Father Austin, watching him withanxiety, at length suggested that he should relieve his mind byrepeating the tale to the recluse himself. He readily adopted thesuggestion. His listener, who had been too delicate to question Hilda asto her antecedents, but who had been burning to learn the explanation ofthe striking resemblance of her features to a face which, whether hewaked or slept, ever haunted him, though more often contorted in agonythan wreathed in smiles, heard with impatience the history of Algar'streachery; but when Jean detailed the escape of Tita and her charge, andidentified the latter with the maiden whom he had rescued, he sprang tohis feet at the risk of plunging his patient into a fresh crisis offever, and exclaimed, "May the choicest gifts of heaven be showered onthee, brave youth! the blessed angels and saints will love thee for thisdeed!" He reflected a moment, then turned his eyes full on Jean's face, "Why should I leave it to Austin to tell thee what he has long knownunder the solemn secrecy which binds priest and sinner? Thou shalt knowit from my own lips: I am Haco! Drifted hitherward on that lonelyvoyage, I was released by holy men, now saints above, who healed mywounds and taught me to bury my pride, and to kneel humbly before theCross. I never doubted that I was childless as well as wifeless; had Idone so, I should have returned at all risks to claim my own. But she!Hilda! 'twas her mother's name! this maiden, towards whom my soul wentout in yearning, is my own! yes! my child! If a wild feeling rose when Iwatched her I crushed it out, for I thought that I had stifled all humanpassions; but now--" He fell on his knees, and hid his face in hishands, his giant frame convulsed with sobs; but it was evident that hewas controlling himself, and when he rose his rugged face was full ofhumanity: youth seemed to have returned to it; under the disfiguringscars Jean could trace without difficulty the fearless, generousfeatures of which Judith had spoken with such enthusiasm. Haco warmlygrasped the sick man's hand, and left the cell. 

Father Austin had, it appeared, learnt Judith's story from Hilda, butthis confidence also had been made under the seal of confession. He hadbeen confirmed in his impression of its accuracy by the tale he hadalready heard from Haco, whose strange arrival was still a favouritetopic among the monks, though none of those now in the monastery hadwitnessed it. The three men were now able openly to discuss the subjectin its various bearings, but they agreed that the mystery should not berevealed till peace was restored. 

Haco had from the first foreseen the danger to be apprehended from theVoizin incursion. The monks were still further surprised to see thebeing, whose gentleness had amazed them on Hilda's arrival, now a leaderof men, active, vigorous, inspiring others with the love of life withwhich he himself seemed to be animated. Before the attack came Jean wassufficiently recovered to be able to render efficient assistance; he hadably seconded Haco in the two encounters, after which he was speciallyentrusted with the defence of the Vale. 

Judith was in no degree daunted by temporary failure: her naturerevelled in overcoming opposition; her spirit rose to the occasion. Garthmund was inclined to be sulky after his second defeat, and mighthave abandoned the enterprise had he dared to do so; but fear of thesorceress kept him firm. For a month the system of blockade was tried, varied by occasional assaults which, being made with less spirit thanthe earlier ones, were easily repulsed. The blockade was not moresuccessful. Haco had provided ample stores for the small garrison whichhe had considered sufficient to protect the promontory of Lihou, naturally almost impregnable; and the force defending the Vale, campedchiefly on Lancresse Common, was only nominally blockaded. The sallies, made from time to time, were ordered more with a view of keeping up themartial spirit of the men than with that of providing for wants, for thefriendly inhabitants of the eastern side of the island, emboldened byrecent proofs that the dreaded Voizins were not invincible, ran theirboats almost with impunity into the little creeks into which the heaviercraft of the enemy could not follow them. 

Judith hardly noticed these details. Her attention was fixed upon thekey of the position. She knew that a resistance of this description wasaltogether contrary to the unwarlike character of the natives; she wasconvinced that they were actuated by some abnormal spirit, and that ifthe motive power were removed the machine would collapse. She made ither business to ascertain what the spring was that guided them. All herart failed in detecting the presence of Haco, perhaps because herengines were powerless when directed against one of her own blood; butshe easily ascertained that the warriors in the opposing camp looked toJean as their leader, that his spirit pervaded all, and that his ardourto protect his sacred charge filled him with a wondrous power whichastonished even those who from childhood had bent to his unchallengedprimacy. 

Having satisfied herself as to the character of the opposing force, hernext step was to secure Jean's person. This presented no difficulty toher. A scroll was delivered to the young leader by an unknown messenger, who at once disappeared. Jean, seeing that the characters were thosewhich, as he believed, Austin alone was able to trace, took the scrollto the sister who alone was able to interpret them. What Sister Theresaread was alarming:--"Hasten! I am grievously sick; my strength fails! Imust see thee without delay. " Jean was distressed beyond measure, butHilda, whom he hurried to consult, agreed with him that no time must belost in obeying the summons; the fact that Haco was at Lihou convincedthem that the father would not have sent for Jean if his case had notbeen one of extreme danger. After a hasty farewell and a promise ofspeedy return, for his presence with the forces was imperative and hegrudged every hour of absence from his beloved, he set out alone in hisboat. Before an hour had passed he was captured by a flotilla which hadbeen lying in ambuscade behind the Grandes Rocques, and was a prisonerin the enemy's camp. 

If Judith had been an ordinary woman she would have been content withthis result, would have executed the prisoner, and have awaited thesubmission of his disheartened followers; and she would have failed, defeated by the indomitable courage and resource of Haco. But it was notin this clumsy fashion that her genius moulded the materials at hercommand. She now controlled, as she believed, the mainspring of theresistance, which would probably cease with the death of Jean. But heraim went far beyond the mere submission of her antagonists; she wishedthat the blow should be struck in such a manner as to stamp out thefalse creed which had held the islanders in thrall, to prove to allsceptics the powers of her own Gods and the impotence of those of heropponents, and to commit the recently reconverted islanders soirretrievably that they could not afterwards backslide. She wished also, by making an example that would inspire terror, to establish theundisputed supremacy of her people in the whole island. But, side byside with these political considerations, were the religious influenceshonestly and steadfastly working in her powerful intellect. When shecommuned with her Gods she thought of no earthly good or ill: she lovedthese strange conceptions, and fixed her whole soul on conciliatingthem. It was now her conviction that they were displeased: theirdispleasure, awful as she believed it to be, did not terrify her, but itvexed her to the inmost heart: she feared that they had not been rightlypropitiated, and resolved that the shortcoming must be remedied. 

All her reflections pointed with unerring force to the same conclusion. She held in her hands the strong frame, the stout heart, the rulingmind. All were concentrated in Jean Letocq. He, then, must be offered upas a fitting sacrifice. By such an offering the deities could not failto be appeased, and by the death of this man in this fashion all thenatural exigencies of the situation would be satisfied. She neverallowed herself to dwell for one moment on the fact that the victim wasbeloved by Hilda. On this point she had armed herself with bars of brassand triple steel. He might have fooled the girl, but at the thought oflove her heart was ice. 

The sorceress communicated her resolution to Garthmund. The chieftainexhibited no surprise: he expressed a grim approval of the proposal, which seemed likely to give an excuse for revelry and to bring thecampaign to a prompt conclusion, and proceeded to make the requisitearrangements. 

The 30th of March was the day chosen. The forces investing the twobeleaguered positions were ordered to assemble, that on the western sideon the low ground between L'Erée and Lihou, that on the northern undershelter of the woods of the Braye du Valle, facing the fortificationsthrown up by the defenders. At a given signal, the kindling of a beaconon the Rocque du Guet, the two hosts were to make simultaneously adetermined assault. The islanders not engaged in these operations, withthe exception of those openly or secretly sympathizing with theChristians, poured into Vazon Forest, none remaining behind but thoseabsolutely incapable of conveying themselves or of being conveyed. 

By this time the consternation in the enemy's camp was all that thesorceress could desire. Jean's capture had been ascertained, and all theparticulars respecting his coming fate were known by means of spies. Haco shook his head at the proposals of rescue made by spirited youths. "Success would be hopeless, " he said; "failure would be fatal to thosewhose lives are precious to us. If he dies we will brace every nerve toavenge him, but we must be patient, and await their onslaught. Then willcome our turn! then will we spring at their dastard throats! then shallthey drink freely of their own gore!" If the man of the sword thoughtthe case hopeless, what could the men of the cloister do? They did allin their power--prayed ceaselessly, fasted, did penance under theguidance of Father Austin; but nevertheless the fatal morning arrived. 

Hilda knew her lover's danger. When he failed to return, and when Haco, arriving from Lihou, admitted that he had not been seen at themonastery, her heart sank; she, better than any of those around her, knew the stern, implacable patriotism and fanaticism of Judith'snature; she fully realized the savage dispositions of her countrymen, their contempt of human life, and their brutal treatment of captives. She had some conception of their fearful orgies, and she shuddered whenher mind touched, not daring to dwell, on Jean's possible fate. She hadsufficient presence of mind to bear up bravely before Haco, who had nosuspicion that she had a perception of the terrible truth from whicheven his rent and seared feelings shrank; nor did she reveal to FatherAustin, during a short visit which he paid her at great risk this innerserpent which was devouring her young heart. Sister Theresa and herfellows marvelled at her as on the morning of the fatal day she passedbetween them, her eyes rapt in contemplation, her look serene and calm, though beneath the surface lay a depth of unutterable woe, sinking, receding, chill as the dark, haunted, bosom of an unfathomable mountainlake. 

She sought her own cell and begged to be left alone. Then the full heartburst the bounds imposed by the strong will. She placed before her thelittle Madonna, from which she never parted, and fell on her knees. Sheprayed till noon, and her prayer continued still; it was not simply awoman's supplication: her whole essence was poured out before the HolyMother, who was the object of her special adoration. This girl had neverknown evil: for nineteen years her mind had rippled on, sparkling withgood deeds, little bright thoughts, gentle inspirations sweetly obeyed;then first streamed in the warm current of human love, followed by therapid thrilling rush of the flow of Divine awakening. The little streamhad become a torrent; but one in which every element was pure, for itscomponent parts were faith in God, trust in man, the will to act, thepower to bear, contentment in joy and resignation in sorrow. Above all, she had ever before her the words which Austin had told her comprisedthe sermon of the universe--"Thy will be done!" Was it possible that, inthe days when miracles were yet wrought, such a prayer at such a timefrom such a saint should not be heard? Some three hours had passed afternoon when she felt a sweet languor overspread her. A mist crept beforeher eyes, which quickly passed away and was replaced by a radiancebrighter than the sun's rays; her eyes had power however to look aloft, and she gazed with clasped hands and with loving reverence: the HolyVirgin herself stood before her, holding in her arms the Blessed Infant;the Mother looking down with a smile inexpressibly tender andcompassionate, the Child stretching forth its dimpled hand and givingits blessing. She sank in rapture, the glory too great for her. As thevision faded she arose, a marvellous strength possessing her. Shestepped forth, and found herself in the midst of a crowd gazing, horror-stricken, seawards. "Fear nothing, " she said with a calmexpression that seemed to permeate the whole assembly like an innervoice; "he is saved, and you are saved!" The words came opportunely. 

CHAPTER VII. 

ANNIHILATION. 

 "Prophet-like that lone one stood, With dauntless words and high, That shook the sere leaves from the wood As if a storm pass'd by. "

 _The Last Man_. --CAMPBELL. 

 "So perish the old Gods! But out of the sea of time Rises a new land of song, Fairer than the old. "

 _The Seaside and the Fireside_. --LONGFELLOW. 

Full of evil augury was the morning of this eventful day in VazonForest. There were the same trees, the same glades and streams, as onthe well-remembered Midsummer day of the preceding year; but nature andman alike were in a different mood. The trees were leafless andchurlish, the glades ragged and colourless; the turbid, dusky streamsbore but small resemblance to the limpid rivulets of June; the nativeyouths were absent, engaged in military service; the maidens, headed bySuzanne Falla, had indeed an appearance of mirth, but there was a hollowring in the boisterous recklessness of their merriment; the old mentramped feebly and aimlessly, for the reverence for age had beentransferred to the veterans of the conquerors. The latter also suppliedthe musicians; and the clanging of drums and cymbals, with the blast ofhorns, replaced the sylvan melody of the aborigines. 

Still there was every sign of festivity. The proceedings began withdances in which the men, who posed as athletes and warriors, gaverepresentations of deeds of martial prowess. Then the girls were allowedto foot their native dances in their own fashion. Dances for both sexesfollowed, in which the native maidens found it difficult to concealtheir terror of the rough partners ever ready to become rougher wooers. 

These preliminaries concluded, the business of the day began. Thoughthis wild race sacrificed human beings, they did not treat their victimswith the coldblooded cruelty of the Druids, who slaughtered them as ifthey were oxen or sheep; their custom was to burn their captives; and itis not for critics, whose pious forefathers kindled the fires ofSmithfield, to assert that their practice was wholly barbarous. In thepresent case a pyre, some twelve feet high, was built at the foot of ahuge granite boulder, near the sea-coast: it was constructed of drywood, and was drenched with combustible materials. Jean was bound firmlyto a strong hurdle, made of birch stems and withies securely lashedtogether. Judith, Garthmund, and the principal elders, placed themselvesunder the venerable oak; the people stood at a respectful distance. Twelve stalwart warriors bore the litter on which the prisoner wasstretched, and placed it on stone trestles planted for the purpose inthe intervening space. Then the priests arrived; twelve old men whosewhite locks and beards, and snowy dresses, gave them a venerableappearance which was soon belied by their performances. 

Halting when they reached the victim, the priests faced the oak, andchanted a solemn, wailing dirge; this, which might have been a farewellto the spirit whose departure they were preparing to accelerate, was notunimpressive. Then one stepped forward whose voice was yet clear andloud; he passed a warm eulogy on the qualities of the captive, whom hedescribed in exaggerated phrases as a sage in council, and a hero inbattle, endowing him also with every domestic virtue which seemed in hiseyes worthy of enumeration. This discourse was followed by a warlikesong in honour of Thor and Odin, and it was during the course of thishymn that it became clear from their rolling eyes and unsteady gait thatthe old men were in a state of no ordinary excitement. All night theyhad been feasting their deities, and the solemnity had involved deeppotations; now, as the rapid movements of a dance which accompanied theinspiriting words sent the fumes into their heads, they appeared to bebeside themselves. The bystanders, however, attributing their frenzy toreligious fervour, and not unaccustomed to such manifestations, lookedon unmoved. The music ceased; and the song of triumph gave way to ahideous scene over which it were painful to dwell. The drunken old men, with incredible agility, whirled round the prostrate form of Jean. Therewas no question now of eulogizing his virtues: he was accused, inlanguage which seemed devil-born, of every crime, every infamy, of whichthe human race is capable; held up to scorn and ignominy, he was cursedand execrated with a shower of blasphemy and obscenity; a by-stander, contemplating his calm, clear face, the lips parted in prayer, gleamingamidst the contorted features of the screaming miscreants, might havebelieved him to be already passing, unscathed, through the terrors ofpurgatory. 

It is impossible at this day to fathom the mystery of this terriblerelic of some remote superstition. It may have been that the abhorrenceand extinction of evil was roughly typified, or that it was understoodthat the death of the victim would, as if he were a scapegoat, cleansethe worshippers of the sins with which he was thus loaded. It is idle togrope where all is, and must be, dark; all that can be asserted withany certainty is that the preliminary eulogy, a more modern practice, was intended to enhance the value of the offering which they were aboutto make to the Gods. 

The warriors now resumed their burden, and a procession was formedtowards the pyre, on which the litter-bearers, mounting by an inclinedplane, placed the doomed youth. Judith ascended the huge boulder, whichwas some eight feet higher than the pyre at its foot. The chief andpeople grouped themselves round its base. The priests stood ready toapply the torch when the sorceress gave the signal, and the distantwatchman on the Guct waited in his turn for the first flash of flame tokindle the beacon which was to set the assailing forces in motion. 

Judith turned to the expectant crowd: her glance was searching, in hereye was an ineffable look of scorn. "Down on your knees!" she said, "craven sons, whose sires would blush to own you! You who have steepedyour hearts in pride and boastfulness! Were your fathers slow to drawthe sword and quick to sheathe it? Did they cower by their hearths whenwarm blood was being spilt? did they feast when others fought? wouldthey not have leaped, as the tempest rushes from its caves, to scatterlike the sand those who should have dared to bend the knee to falseGods, objects of their loathing and derision? Runs this noble blood inyour stagnant veins? From giants ye have become pigmies!" The majesticcontempt with which these words had been delivered had a crushingeffect. She continued her harangue for some time in the same strain. Every Voizin's head was bowed, every form bent and trembling. Thesorceress then, slowly turning, faced seaward. Her arms assumed thewell-known beseeching attitude, the serpent bracelet glittering fiercelyin the sun. Her voice changed, became softer. "Yet they are my people!"she continued, "and the last of our race. Ennoble them, great Gods!quicken their hearts and spare them!" Looking outward with the rapt lookof a prophetess in whom, though torn with tempests of fanaticism and ofpassion, human and superhuman, no thought was mean, no sentimentignoble, she poured out this her prayer; not for mercy!--her Gods knewnot this attribute; nor could she understand it; if the craven continuedto be a craven she felt he were better dead;--not for peace andcontentment!--to these blessings neither she nor they attachedvalue;--but for fearlessness and steadfastness of purpose, and also forcourage to die for the truth! there were petitions poured out by thiswoman that would have honoured the lips of the champion of any creed. 

The supplication ended, she seemed about to raise her hand to give theanticipated signal when a look of amazement passed over her features;she brushed her hand over her eyes and looked again, then folded herarms and gazed steadily seawards. What she saw might have shattered evenher nerves of iron. At the close of her prayer, which had exactlycoincided with the moment when Hilda stepped from her cell, the bosom ofthe sea heaved and rose: a wave, ten feet high, glided, stole as itwere, so gently did it move, into the forest; but so rapidly, that inone minute every human being except herself and Jean was engulphed. Theywere gone, the high-couraged and the craven, the frenzied priest and thelaughing child, with their passions, their hopes, and their fears, without the faintest note of warning of coming danger! Judith glanced atJean, almost contemptuously; he, not having seen what had happened, wasstill momentarily expecting the application of the torch. A second wavecrept in, smaller than the former, but overwhelming the pyre. The dazedwarrior on the Guet reported that after this second wave had passed hesaw the tall form still towering on the peak, but that when he lookedagain the rock, though still above water, was tenantless; a little laterthe granite mass, together with the tops of the tallest trees, lay underan unruffled surface. 

When the pyre was submerged the litter, to which Jean was attached, floated off and formed a tolerably secure raft. His life was safe for atime; but he would have been exposed to a still more ghastly fate fromthe swooping sea-birds had he not been able by a supreme effort towrest one of his arms from its bands. In speechless wonderment he wascarried seaward by the slowly receding tide. Suddenly his raft washailed by a well-known voice. Friendly hands cut the ropes that boundhim, and he was lifted into a boat. The occupant was Haco who, attractedto the spot when hurrying to the Vale, by the cries of the clusteringgulls, had thus again saved his life. 

The giant pulled vigorously to the point which, now known as the Hommet, terminates the northern arm of Vazon Bay; there he landed the youth, toenable him to stretch his cramped limbs, and to clothe him in sucharticles as he could spare from his own equipment. A rapid explanationpassed between them. Haco told him how the force investing Lihou had, when apparently waiting for a signal to move, been overwhelmed by a wavewhich cut off the promontory from L'Erée, and had perished to a man. Jean could tell of nothing but the sudden cessation of the tumult andthe floating of his litter. The minds of both were wandering, burninglyanxious as they were to know what had passed at the Vale. Scaling theHommet, they obtained a sufficient view to satisfy them that LancresseCommon no longer formed a portion of the mainland; an hour afterwards, entering the Grand Havre, they saw an unbroken channel between thatinlet and St. Sampson's: every trace of the invading host haddisappeared. Jean was soon in Hilda's arms; and the two lovers, withHaco, spent the remainder of the day in pious thanksgiving to the HolyMother by whose special interposition, testified so miraculously to themaiden, the cause of Christ had triumphed and the parted had beenreunited, when the last gleam of safety seemed to have beenextinguished. 

The next morning Father Austin arrived. Hilda was then made acquaintedwith her relationship to Haco, whose tender attentions during her latetroubles had already won her unreserved affection. The news was aninexpressible joy to her, and it was touching to see how she nestled inthe deep embrace of her father, whose feelings, so long pent up, now atlast found vent. Jean absented himself during the day, but on thefollowing morning insisted that his nuptials should no longer bedeferred. The same evening, in the little chapel of the nunnery, Austinbestowed his blessing on a union which had been sanctified by suchspecial manifestations of Divine approval. 

The readjustment of the shattered organization of the island wasimperative. The inhabitants of the eastern side, and those of the Vale, had for the most part preserved their lives by their absence from theforest; the Christian converts who had aided in the struggle were alsosafe; with these exceptions the island was practically depopulated. Jeanwas elected chief by acclamation. After giving such pressing directionsas immediate exigencies required, he acceded to his wife's ardent wishto obtain intelligence respecting Judith, and also to ascertain the fateof Tita. 

The Lihou monks had already reported that all communication was brokenbetween the Hanois and the shore, but that the tower appeared to beintact. On an April morning Haco and the young couple sailed acrossRocquaine Bay, and landed close to the tower, which now stood on arugged and inhospitable island. The door was opened by Tita, who smiled, and prattled, and caressed her young mistress like a lap-dog. Sherecognised Jean with indifference, but a start, followed by a shudder, seized her when she observed Haco; her terror, however, seemed to passaway when he spoke a few soothing words to her. It was evident that ashock, or a succession of shocks, had unsettled the poor woman's brain. On the name of Judith being mentioned, she pointed fearfully to theupper story. Uncertain as to her meaning, Jean cautiously ascended theladder, and ascertained that the sorceress was in truth there. After aconsultation it was decided that Haco and Hilda should seek herpresence. 

As father and daughter entered the apartment, they saw the old womanhalf-seated, half-lying, on a couch placed close to the window; herface, which was turned seaward, was haggard, the leanness bringing intostrong relief the handsome chiselling of her profile; the sternness ofher mouth was somewhat relaxed; there was an indication almost ofsoftness in its corners. Her high spirit had accepted, not resented, defeat. 

As her eye fell on her two visitors there was no gleam of defiance, nomark of anger, or even surprise; but, when Haco stood fully revealedbefore her, a flash of triumph and pleasure shot into it, kindling everyfeature with its glow. "You here, Haco!" she cried, "and with her! TheGods have relented. You will hold her fast in their worship, and leadher steps to the land of her sires! I die contented. " She fell backexhausted. "Sister, " said the giant, laying his hand softly on hershoulder, "it is too late; when Algar slew my loved one the Pagan diedin me; I am a servant of the God of the Christians. " Hilda awaitedfearfully the result of this announcement, but she knew not thegreatness of the old woman's soul. It was long ere her voice was heardagain. Presently, raising herself, she said, "I would it had beenotherwise; but I have erred, I have misjudged. I thought that your Godswere false; puny creations of a nerveless brain; but they are strong, Iown their power! It may be that the great ones of old have wearied ofour spiritless race, and abandoned us. So perchance you may be wise toturn to the new-comers!" Her voice failed her, but as they knelt by herside her hands wandered over their heads and lingered with a caressingmovement among Hilda's locks. She seemed to have forgotten Jean, whomshe doubtless believed to have been lost in the general calamity. Suddenly she started up and pointed to a storm-cloud rising rapidly fromthe western horizon, assuming a succession of fantastic shapes as itpassed upwards. "Do you not see them?" she cried--"the great, theglorious ones! they bend from their seats; they smile! see their power!Their majesty! their locks stream, their swords are half drawn! theysheathe them, they lean forward, they extend their arms! they beckon!--Icome, I come!" She stretched out her arms with the old familiar gestureand sank back, having breathed her spirit to the tempest which she lovedso well. 

They buried her on the cliffs of Pleinmont, where a cairn long markedher resting-place. Tita was taken to the Vale; all attempts to restoreher from the shock which her nerves had received failed till on onesunny morning Hilda's infant was placed on her knees: when the childcrowed, and smiled at her, the cloud imperceptibly passed away, never toreturn. From that time she assumed her regular place in the household. 

Haco abandoned his Lihou cell; his rough readiness of resource, unfailing good-humour, and skill in managing men, proved invaluableduring the task of the restoration of the broken links of government andsociety. 

The labours of Father Austin and his coadjutors did not relax, but theircourse lay in smoother waters: if their prospects of martyrdom werediminished they were more than consoled by the knowledge that theypossessed among them a veritable saint, to whom the Holy Virgin hadvouchsafed the honour of a personal appearance, and that they had beenwitnesses of a miraculous interposition, the evidence of which would beindelible as long as the sea should wash the storm-beaten cliffs oftheir beloved island.