Colas Breugnon

by Romain Rolland

The rioters had heaped up a great pile of furniture in a corner of the court, and had set it on fire so that they might see the better. But the whole infernal orgy centered in the cellars, where from all directions came the sound of mallets, as great barrels and tuns were staved in, and the wine poured out in floods. Groans, screams, and choking coughs echoed from the low arches, as if a herd of swine had been let loose there, and already long tongues of flame and smoke came licking out of the bars of the windows. They were all so busy, each man intent on what he was doing, that no one seemed to see us as we made our way into the yard. I signed to Bardet,—he beat a long roll on his drum, and then in a voice of thunder announced my appointment as Captain. The instant he ceased I took up the word, and ordered the mob to disperse on pain of severe penalties.

At the first tap of the drum they had all drawn together like a swarm of bees, buzzing angrily; then shrieking, and hurling stones, they rushed upon us. After a fierce struggle we pushed them back, and succeeded in forcing the doors of the cellar under a hail of tiles and billets of wood from the upper windows, in spite of which we made our entrance good, and then had time to breathe and count our wounded.

Poor old Gangnot had lost another finger, and Calabre’s right eye was badly injured; for me, I had caught my thumb in the hinge of the door-flap, as I banged it shut; and by my faith, it turned me sick and faint like a woman. Fortunately there was an open keg of brandy close at hand, and after I had swallowed a dram and bathed my thumb in some of the same, my head ceased to go round; but as the fight went on, the pain made me as mad as a tiger.

By this time we were inside, and all struggling together on the stairs leading from the house to the cellar, and I felt that we could not keep this up long, as these devils were discharging their muskets, close into our very faces, so that they set Saulsoy’s beard on fire, and Gueurlu had to squeeze it out between his hard hands. Luckily the rioters were too drunk to shoot straight, or we none of us would have come out of it alive. I could see also that we had an ally in the fire, which was creeping round the court from wing to wing, toward the main building where we were; so when we had retreated to the topmost step, some of us stood firm, while the rest hastily raised a barrier of loose stones and rubbish, reaching to the lintel of the doorway. Through the chinks we stuck our pikes and lances, like the quills of a porcupine. “Now,” cried I, “those who like fire, will soon have plenty of it!”

The cellars were full of men, for the most part too drunk to realize their danger; but when the flames appeared through the cracks of the walls and began to eat away the beams of the roof, it was a perfect pandemonium of yells and curses, and like bubbling wine in a vat they rose to the surface, and made a rush for our staircase. Some of the foremost, with their clothes actually on fire, were crushed against our barricade by the weight of those behind them, and their bodies filled the doorway from side to side, like a cork in a bottle. It was horrible to see; and also to hear the fire raging and roaring! If I had been just then the simple Breugnon of everyday life, I should have tried to save the poor screaming wretches, but when a man is in authority, he must think of nothing outside of his duty; compassion at that crisis would have been sheer weakness. I knew that the safety of the city hung on the defeat of these brigands, for if they had escaped they would have outnumbered our small forces, and with the fear of the gallows before their eyes, would have fought to desperation. No, there was now nothing for it but to smoke the wasps out of their nest.

Just at this moment whom should I see over the heads of the crowd but my old schoolfellow, Gambi! He was a good-for-nothing soaker, it is true, and had no business to be where he was, but we had been playmates from childhood, had been confirmed on the same day together, and I could not bear to leave an old chum to such a fate.

I crawled between our pikes over the barrier, and somehow forced apart the tightly wedged mass of human beings, though it seemed as if there was not room to move more than your eyelids. Gambi was tottering on the edge of the lowest step, held up by those around him, and I reached him literally walking on the bodies of the others, who snapped and tore at me in passing, so that I thought that I should have to bring him away in pieces. But there is a special Providence for drunkards,—for some of them at least,—and at last I was able to seize him by the collar, and fighting and kicking out right and left, I dragged him to the floor where the air was clearer.

There was little time to spare! The fire was roaring through the doorway, as if up a chimney, driving out men from the rampart we had made, and I could smell the roasting flesh of the brigands on the staircase. Stooping low and treading on I knew not what, I dragged Gambi by his hair through a hole in the wall, and somehow managed to reach the outside of the warehouse, leaving the fire to finish the work of destruction. When my men rejoined me they were so glad to see me safe that they could not do enough for Gambi; and after we had revived and fed him, we found under his rags some beautiful colored enamels, which he had stolen, God knows where! and contrived to hold on to during all the struggle. He was of course completely sobered by this time, and weeping with gratitude he pulled out his ill-gotten treasures, and threw them away with all his strength, declaring that stolen goods would never prosper and that he could not bear to keep them!

At sunrise the next morning Robinet appeared, triumphantly leading the Procurator, a force of thirty men at arms, and a large party of peasants. Later came the Magistrate with more reinforcements, and the next day our good Duke sent in some of his own followers. Order being now restored, they set to work. First they raked among the hot cinders, then they drew up a list of property destroyed, added their own pay and expenses, and returned whence they came,—except, of course, our own officials, who remained with us.

What then was the moral of all this experience? It is this,—help yourself, and others will help you.