"Ah! now he is coming back again to Louise," thought Jean-Claude; and, anticipating a formal demand: "Yégof," said he, "I am sorry, but I must leave you; I have so many things to see to----"
The fool did not wait the end of this leave-taking, and rising with his face convulsed with rage: "You refuse me your daughter!" he exclaimed, pointing upwards with a solemn air. "And it is for the third time! Beware! Beware!"
Hullin, despairing of making him listen to reason, hastily withdrew; but the fool, in furious accents, addressed to him as he went these strange words:
"Huldrix, woe to thee! Thy last hour is near. Wolves will feast again upon thy flesh. All is over. I let loose upon thee the tempests of my rage. For thee and thine let there be neither grace, nor pity, nor mercy. Thou hast willed it so." And, throwing a portion of his ragged robe over his left shoulder, he strode rapidly away towards the summit of the Donon.
Several of the mountaineers, half awakened by his cries, watched him with a dull eye as his retreating form disappeared in the darkness; they heard a sound like the flapping of wings; then, as in the vision of a dream, they turned round, and went to sleep again.
About an hour after, Lagarmitte's horn sounded the _reveille_. In a few seconds, every one was up and stirring.
The leaders of the ambuscade assembled their men. Some proceeded towards the cart-house, and distributed the cartridges; while others filled their flasks with brandy from the barrel. All this was done with the utmost order; then each division repaired, with its leader at its head, in the early twilight, towards the barricades on the mountain side.
When the sun appeared, all round the farm was silent and deserted, and with the exception of five or six fires, which were still smoking, there was nothing to announce that the volunteers occupied every point of the mountain, and that they had passed the night in that spot. Hullin then took a snack, and drank a glass of wine with his friends, Doctor Lorquin and the Anabaptist, Pelsly. Lagarmitte was with them, for he was to remain with Jean-Claude all the day, and transmit his orders in case of need.
Seven o'clock, and yet not the slightest movement was perceptible in the valley. From time to time Doctor Lorquin would throw up the sash of a window in the house-room, and look out; there was nothing stirring; the fires were out; all was still and silent.