MARGUERITE DE VALOIS.
65
"Haw! haw! Bec-dc-Fer!" cried Charles;
" haw! haw!"
The noble bird, like an arrow, mounted after
the heron, which had now well-nigh disap-
peared.
" Ah, coward!" said Charles, putting his
horse to its speed, and throwing back his head,
so as not to lose sight of the chase; " courage,
Bec-de-Fer!"
The contest was most curious; the falcon was
rapidly nearing the heron; the only question
was, which could rise the higher. Fear had
better wings than courage. Tlie falcon passed
underneath, and the heron, profiting by his ad-
vantage, dealt him a blow with his long beak.
The falcon staggered, and seemed as if about to
fly, but soon recovering himself, went after the
heron. The latter, pursuing his advantage, had
changed the direction of his flight, and sought
the forest; but the falcon folio wed him so
closely, that the heron was fain again to mount,
and in a few seconds the two birds were scarcely
distinguishable.
" Bravo, Bee de-Fer," cried Charles, " see, he
is uppermost!"
"Faith!" said Henry,  "I confess I do not
see the one or the other."
" Nor I," said Marguerite.
" If you can't see them, you may heir them.
At least the herou," replied Charles.    "Hark!
he asks quarter."
As he spoke, two or three plaintive cries, were
heard.
" Look, look!" cried Charles, " and you will
see them descend quicker than they went up."
As the King spoke, the two birds reappeared:
the falcon was uppermost.
" Bec-de-Fer has him!" shouted Charles.
The heron, outflown by the falcon, no longer
sought to defend himself; be folded his wings,
and dropped like a stone; but his adversary did
the same; and when the fugitive again resumed
his flight, he received a stroke that stunned him ;
he fell to the earth, and the falcon, uttering a
note of victory, alighted by him.
" Brave falcon!" cried Charles, galloping to-
ward the spot where the heron lay. But sud-
denly he stopped, and, uttering a piercing cry,
let fall his bridle, and pressed his hands to his
stomach.    All the courtiers hastened up.
" It is nothing," said he, with inflamed
features and haggard eyes. "But I felt as if a
hot iron was passing through me just now; but
it is nothing." And he galloped on.
D'Alenon turned pale.
"What is the matter now?" asked Henry of
Marguerite.
" 1 know not," replied she; "but did you see
Charles?he was purple!"
" He is not generally so," said Henry.
Arrived at the scene of combat, Charles sprang
off his horse; but on alighting, he was forced to
seize the saddle to prevent himself from falling.
"Mybrotber," cried Marguerite, " whatisthe
matter?"
"1 feel," said Charles, "what Portia must
have felt when she swallowed her burning coals.
It seems as if my breath was  flame."
Meantime the falcon was reclaimed, and all
the suite gathered round Charbs.
" What is all this?" cried he. " Corpse de
Christ ! it is nothing, or at most only the sun that
affects me. Unhood all the falcons!there go
a whole flight of herons!"
Five or six falcons were instantly unhooded,
whilst all the chase galloped along the bank of
the river.
"Well, madame, what say you?" asked
Henry.
" That the moment is favorable, and that if
the King does not lookback, we may easily gain
?he forest."
Henry called the attendant who had the fallen
heron in charge, and whilst the Court swept on,
remained behind, as if to examine the bird. At
this moment, as if to aid his plans, a pheasant
rose. Henry slipped the jesses of his falcon; he
had now the pretext of a chase on his own ac-
count to assist him.
CHAPTER LI.
THE  PAVILION  OP  FRANOIS  THE   FIRST.
At the right of the Alle des Violettes is a
long clearing, so far that it cannot be discovered
from the high-road, but yet the high-road can
be seen from the clearing.
In the middle of this clearing two men were
lying on the grass, having a traveling cloak
spread beneath them, at their side a long sword,
and a musketoon (then called a petronel) with
the muzzle turned from them. One of them
was leaning on his knee and one hand, listening
like a hare or deer.
"It appears to me," said this individual,
" that the hunt drew very close upon us just
now. I heard the cries of the hunters as they
cheered on the falcon."
" And now," said tbe other, who appeared to
await events with much more philosophy than
his comrade, " now I hear them no longer;
" they must be a long way off."
"What the devil! my dear Annibal," said
the other, " would you have? We must wait
quietly; the place hides us and our mules and
horses very well; De Mouy has selected a good
spot, one whicli has all tbe concealments and
privacy indispensable to a conspirator."
"An, good!" said the other gentleman;
"that's the word, is it? Well, I expected it.
So, then, we are conspiring, are we?"
"We are not conspiring; we are serving the
King and Queen."
" Well, it's all very odd!" said Coconnas,
yawning. "It is not yet twelve o'clock, and
therefore we have time for a nap;" and so say-
ing, Coconnas stretched himself on his mantle
like a man who is about to add practice to pre-
cept, but as his ear touched the ground, he
raised his finger and motioned La Mole to be
silent.
Then a distant sound was heard, at first
scarcely perceptible, and to unpracticed ears
would only have been the wind, but to the cav-
aliers it was the distant galloping of horses.
La Mole sprang to his feet in a moment.
" Here they are!" said he. " Now then for
a start!"
Coconnas rose more quietly, and then a regu-
lar and measured noise struck the ear of the two
friends; the neighing of a horse made the horses
they had at ten paces off prick up their ears, and
in an alley there passed, like a white shadow, a
female, who, turning toward them, made a par-
ticular signal and disappeared.
" The Queen!" they exclaimed, both at once.
" What can this mean?" said Coconnas.
' ' And she did so with her arm, ' ' said La Mole,
" which means: ' Presently '------"
" She did so," said Coconnas, wliich means:
' Go at once"
" The signal means: ' Wait for me.' "
" It means: ' Away at once !' "
" Well " said La Mole " let each act on his
own conviction.    Do you go1 will remain."
Coconnas shrugged his shoulders and laid
down on the grass. At the same moment, in
the opposite direction from that which the
Queen had followed, but in the same alley, there
passed, at top speed, a troop of horsemen, whom
the two friends recognized as Protestants. They
disappeared rapidly.
"Peste! the thing becomes serious," said
Coconnas, rising. " Let us go to the Pavilion
of Franois the First."
"No," replied LaMole. " by no means. If
we are discovered, the attention of the King will
be especially directed toward tbe pavilion, as
that is the general rendezvous."
" Well, perhaps you are right," grumbled
Coconnas.
Hardly had these word been uttered, than a
horseman passed like a flash of lightning amidst
the trees, and leaping over ditches, bushes, bri-
ers, and all obstacles, reached the young men.
He had a pistol in each band, and guided his
horse in his furious career with his knees only.
" M. deMouy !" exclaimed Coconnas, uneasy,
and now more on the alert than La Mole; " M.
de Mouy flying! Then it is every one for him-
self!"
" Quickquick!" cried the Huguenot;
"away with you!all is lost!I have come
round to tell you so, and now to horse and
away!"
" And the Queen!" cried La Mole.
But the voice of the young man was lost in
the distance, and be neither heard lior replied.
Coconnas had soon made up his mind, whilst
La Mole remained motionless, following De
Mouy with his eyes, as he disappeared amongst
the branches. He hastened to the horses, and
leaping on his own, threw the bridle of the
other to La Mole, and prepared to dash off.
" Come, come!" he exclaimed, " Let us be off,
as De Mouy advises, and De Mouy is a sensible
man.    Away, away, La Mole!"
"One moment," said La Mole; "we came
here for something."
" Unless it is to get hanged," replied Cocon-
nas, " I would advise you to lose no more
time.    I would only observe,  that when M. de
Mouy de Saint-Phale flies, all the world  may-
flee to."
" M. De Muoy Saint-Phale," said LaMole,
" is not charged to carry off the Queen Margue-
rite! M. de Mouy de Saint-Phale does not love
the Queen Marguerite!"
" Mordi! and he is quite right, too! ' Corne-
de buf!' as King Charles says, we aie conspir-
ing, my dear fellow; and when men conspire,,
they should make off at the right time. Mount,,
mount, La Mole!"
" Well, well, let, us then to horse and away!"'
" That's right."
La Mole turned round to lay his'hand on the
pommel of bis saddle ; but at the mrment when
he put fool in the stirrup, a voice of command
was heard, saying:
" Halt theresurrender!"
And at the same moment the figure of a mam
was seen behind an oakthen anotherthen
thirty ; they were the light dragoons dismounted,,
who were making their way quietly, and search-
ing tbe forest.
" What did I tell you?" muttered Coconnas.
The light dragoons were within thirty paces of-
the two friends. .
" Well, gentlemen," said the Piedmontese,.
" what is your pleasure?"
The lieutenant desired his men to take aim at
the two friends.
"Gentlemen," said Coconnas, drawing his.
sword, and raising it in the air, " we surrender,-,
hut allow me to inquire wherefore we are called
on to do so?"
" That you must ask the King of Navarre."
" What crime have we committed?"
" M. d'Alenon will inform you."
Coconnas and La Mole looked at each other:
The name, of their enemy at such a moment had
very little to give them confidence. Yet they
neither of them mado any resistance. Coconnas.
was desired to alight from his horse, a ma-
neuver which he executed without a word; then
they were both placed in the center of the light
dragoons, and took the route to the Pavilion of
Franois I.
' ' YTou wished to see the Pavilion of Franois, ' '
said Coconnas to La Mole, when they saw
through the trees the walls of a pretty gothic
building; " well, there it is."
La Mole made no reply, but only extended his-
band to Coconnas. By the side of this beauti-
ful pavilion, built inthe time of LouisXII., and
which was called after Franois, because he al-
ways made it a rendezvous de chasse, was a hut
built for the huntsmen and prickers, and which
was now nearly concealed by the muskets, hal-
berds, and swords in front of it. The prison-
ers were conducted to this hut.
We wili now throw a little light on the
gloomy position of the two friends, by stating a.
few details. The Protestant gentlemen had
assembled, as was agreed, in the Pavilion of
Franois I., of which we know De Mouy had
the key. Masters of the forest, as they believed,
they had placed sentinels here and there, whom
the light dragoons, having exchanged their
white scarfs into red ones (a precaution due to-
the ingenious zeal of M. de Nancey), had laid
hands ur.on without striking a blow.
The light dragoons continued their quest, keep-
ing a good watch over the pavilion; but De
Mouy, who, as we have seen, was awaiting the
King at the end of the Alle des Violettes, had
seen these red scarfs stealing along, and instantly
suspected them. He hastily concealed himself,,
and remarked the vast circle they made in order
to beat the forest and hem in the place of ren-
dezvous. At the same moment, at the bottom
of the principal alley, he had seen the white
aigrettes and bright arquebuses of the King's,
body-guard, and then the King himself, whilst
in the opposite direction he observed the King
of Navarre. Then he had made a sign of a
cross with his hat, which was the signal agreed
upon when all was lost. At this signal the
King turned hack, and rapidly disappeared.
Then De Mouy, digging the two large rowel
of his spurs into the sides of his horse, fled like
the wind, and as he fled, gave those words of
advice to La Mole and Coconnas which we have
mentioned.
But the King, perceiving the absence of
Henry and Marguerite, had arrived, escorted hy
D'Alenon, to see them both come from the-
hut, where he had desired all to be shut up who-
were found, not only in the pavilion, but in the
forest.
D'Alenon, full of confidence, galloped close
by the King, whose excessive pain increased hi
ill humor. Twice or thrice he had nearly faint-
ed, and once had vomited blood.