The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Volume 6Parker, Gilbert
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The Battle of the Strong: A Romance of Two Kingdoms — Volume 6
Parker, Gilbert
Anglo-French War, 1793-1802 -- Fiction; Channel Islands -- Fiction
St. John's Eve had passed. In the fields at Bonne-Nuit Bay the "Brow-
brow! ben-ben!" of the Song of the Cauldron had affrighted the night;
riotous horns, shaming the blare of a Witches' Sabbath, had been blown
by those who, as old Jean Touzel said, carried little lead under their
noses. The meadows had been full of the childlike islanders welcoming in
the longest day of the year. Mid-summer Day had also come and gone, but
with less noise and clamour, for St. John's Fair had been carried on with
an orderly gaiety--as the same Jean Touzel said, like a sheet of music.
Even the French singers and dancers from St. Malo had been approved in
Norman phrases by the Bailly and the Jurats, for now there was no longer
war between England and France, Napoleon was at St. Helena, and the
Bourbons were come again to their own.
It had been a great day, and the roads were cloudy with the dust of Mid-
summer revellers going to their homes. But though some went many stayed,
camping among the booths, since the Fair was for tomorrow and for other
to-morrows after. And now, the day's sport being over, the superstitious
were making the circle of the rock called William's Horse in Boulay Bay,
singing the song of William, who, with the fabled sprig of sacred
mistletoe, turned into a rock the kelpie horse carrying him to death.
There was one boat, however, which putting out into the Bay did not bear
towards William's Horse, but, catching the easterly breeze, bore away
westward towards the point of Plemont. Upon the stern of the boat was
painted in bright colours, Hardi Biaou. "We'll be there soon after
sunset," said the grizzled helmsman, Jean Touzel, as he glanced from the
full sail to the setting sun.
Neither of his fellow-voyagers made reply, and for a time there was
silence, save for the swish of the gunwale through the water. But at
last Jean said:
"Su' m'n ame, but it is good this, after that!" and he jerked his head
back towards the Fair-ground on the hill. "Even you will sleep to-night,
Dormy Jamais, and you, my wife of all."
Maitresse Aimable shook her great head slowly on the vast shoulders, and
shut her heavy eyelids. "Dame, but I think you are sleeping now--you,"
Jean went on.
Maitresse Aimable's eyes opened wide, and again she shook her head.
Jean looked a laugh at her through his great brass-rimmed spectacles and
added:
"Ba su, then I know. It is because we go to sleep in my hut at Plemont
where She live so long. I know, you never sleep there."
Maitresse Aimable shook her head once more, and drew from her pocket a
letter.
At sight of it Dormy Jamais crawled quickly over to where the Femme de
Ballast sat, and, 'reaching out, he touched it with both hands.
"Princess of all the world--bidemme," he said, and he threw out his arms
and laughed.
Two great tears were rolling down Maitresse Aimable's cheeks.
"How to remember she, ma fuifre!" said Jean Touzel. "But go on to the
news of her."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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