“Why come yourself, in this state!” cried Toussaint, hastening to support him.
“I could more easily come than write my news,” replied Dessalines; “and it is news that I would commit to no man’s ear but your own.”
“Shall I go?” asked Monsieur Pascal of Toussaint.
“No. Stay and hear. Tell us your tidings, Jacques.”
“I am as well here as down in the south-west, or you would not have seen me.”
“You mean that all is lost there?”
“All is lost there.”
“While the enemy is beguiling us with letters, and talk of truce!” observed Toussaint to Pascal. “Where was your battle, Jacques? How can all the west be lost?”
“The French have bought La Plume. They told him your cause was desperate, and promised him honours and office in France. Get me cured, and let me win a battle for you, and I have no doubt I can buy him back again. Meantime—”
“Meantime, what has Domage done? Is he with me or La Plume? And is Chaney safe?”