Hans of Iceland, Vol. 2 of 2; The Last Day of a Condemned

HANS OF ICELAND
Ordener convicts Himself.
Etched by Léopold Flameng.—From drawing by François Flameng.
IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II. The Last Day of a Condemned BY VICTOR HUGO
The Centenary Edition LIMITED TO ONE THOUSAND COPIES · NUMBER 555

H A N S O F I C E L A N D.
Peter, good fellow, has lost his all at dice.—Régnier.
THE regiment of musketeers from Munkholm was on the march through the narrow passes lying between Throndhjem and Skongen. Sometimes it moved along the brink of a torrent, and the long line of bayonets crept through the ravine like a huge serpent with glittering scales; sometimes it wound around a mountain, making it look like one of those triumphal columns about which curves an army of heroes in bronze.
The soldiers marched with trailing weapons and cloaks dragging in the dust, looking surly and tired, for these noble fellows are averse to anything but battle or inaction. The coarse banter and threadbare jests which delighted them but yesterday had lost their savor. The air was chill, the sky clouded. Nothing would raise a laugh in the ranks, unless one of the sutler-women should get an awkward tumble from her little Barbary horse, or a tin saucepan should happen to roll over the precipice and rebound from rock to rock.
To while away the monotony of the journey, Lieutenant Randmer, a young Danish baron, accosted old Captain Lory, who had risen from the ranks. The captain, moody and silent, moved with a heavy but confident step; the lieutenant, light and agile, played with a twig which he had plucked from the bushes that lined the read.