CHAPTER XXVII.

THE MAJOR OF MUSKETEERS.

The whole of our regiment looked forward with joy and ardour to entering on this new arena of operations, where we hoped to do deeds more worthy of us than the futile and desultory conflicts maintained by the brave, but almost fugitive King Christian, along the shores of the Lesser Belt; and though at times I caught the old spirit, from the fire, animation, and example of my comrades, the presence of Ernestine, and the doubt which overhung the fate of Gabrielle, were to me a source of great anxiety.

Christian having heard that the Count of Carlstein was with the Imperialists at the siege of Stralsund, was so gracious as to offer Ernestine the use of a small vessel with a white flag, that she might, accompanied by a slender retinue, rejoin him; but she modestly declined, and requested permission to remain until she could obtain some certain tidings of her sister; and the king pledged himself, that between this day and that of the rendezvous at Elsineur, nothing should be left undone to discover in what direction Count Merodé had marched.

Ernestine's proud heart was filled with gratitude, and on her knees she wept and kissed the rough brown hand of the warrior king, who immediately raised her up.

In the cabin of Sir Nikelas Valdemar she stood, amid a group of some twenty noble ladies of Holstein, all fugitives, and bound for Zealand; but in her satin hood of that bright yellow, which so finely became her beautiful black hair, and with her dark, yet timid and dovelike eyes, my Ernestine was the fairest among that group of fair ones.

By the isles of Fuhnen and Zealand we were to march for Elsineur, while the king was to go round with the fleet by sea, and take on board some of the little garrisons he had left in Faasinge, Œrœ, and the lesser isles. The ladies on board the _Anna Catharina_, being anxious to reach the cathedral city of Roschilde or Copenhagen, landed with us at Faaborg, from whence they proceeded at once towards their various destinations; some in caleches, others by waggon, the usual vehicle of the country, for transmission from place to place.

The Baron Karl had kindly placed his gilded caleche with its two sturdy switch-tailed Holsteiners at the service of Ernestine, so long as she might require them, and, having no other means of protection, she resolved with her female attendants to travel with our column towards Elsineur. The circumstance of her being with us, thrown in a manner so isolated, completely under my wardship (a beautiful young girl under the charge of a young fellow of three-and-twenty--and that young fellow an officer), certainly made me think, that, if we were married, a great deal of trouble in the mode of travelling, and expense in the matter of billets, might be saved; but her unprotected state, the distance from her father, and the mystery that overhung her sister's fate, compelled me to keep such occasional thoughts to myself.

Ernestine placed perfect confidence in every soldier of our regiment, and there were not less than a hundred tall gillies in my own company, each of whom considered it their bounden duty to risk life and limb, if necessary, in defence of the foreign lady who was the kinswoman of their captain, and consequently the kinswoman of every one who bore the name of Rollo or M'Farquhar.

On the morning we landed at Faaborg, a beautiful and unclouded sun arose from a brilliant sea, and its morning light tipped the foamy waves with purple; even in storms, the waves of that shallow sea are never so great as those of the outer ocean; but by their fury and rapidity they are much more dangerous, as they roll through the narrow straits, to deposit amber on the sands of Courland and on the Prussian shore.

At the small and unsheltered port of Faaborg, the Danish boats landed us on the ruinous quay; the little that had survived the time when the soldiers of Christian III. burned the town, was ill built and fast decaying. Being situated at the end of a shallow bay, and among marshes, Ian resolved that we should at once march inland, lest the effect of a swampy district on our mountaineers in the summer season, might cause some fatal distemper. As the king had directed him to halt for four days, that we might recover from the close confinement of the ships, he marched for Hesinge, a small town which we entered about mid-day, with our drums beating and pipes playing, to the great consternation and manifest annoyance of the townsmen and boors; who, although too cowardly to fight their own battles, gave ever a poor welcome to those who were good-natured enough to do that favour for them.

During this ten miles' march, I had frequently walked by the door of Ernestine's caleche; she was becoming intensely dejected; for to lose sight of the Baltic seemed like relinquishing all hope of recovering Gabrielle.

As the regiment drew up in close column under the colours in the main street of the little town, where all their bright arms flashed in the sun, as they were ordered on the ground, with the clatter of seven hundred butts of steel, a well-dressed cavalier, who wore a suit of peach-coloured velvet, laced with silver, large calf-skin boots, a broad hat bound with galloon, and garnished by a red feather, with a sword and pair of pistols in his girdle, rose up from a table under a beech that stood before the door of the Inn, which was named the Green-Tree.

While his horse which stood near took corn from a wooden bowl, he had been regaling himself with a pipe of tobacco and a can of pale Odenzee beer, when the rat-tat of our drums and the flashing of our arms, as we marched in, had excited his attention. He came slowly towards us. I saw him look once or twice into the caleche which followed the baggage wains, and then, as became a well-bred cavalier, he touched his beaver to its fair occupant. His figure now seemed familiar to me.

"Welcome to Hesinge, Captain Rollo," said he, grasping my hand, with a broad laugh.

"Major Fritz!" I exclaimed; "I thought you were at Vienna."

"Henckers! I was there, long enough, paying the penalty of admiring a pair of pretty ankles in white stockings."

"Oh--the mask?"

"No more of that--for I cannot, with patience, think of the outrageous ass I made of myself. However, I escaped; reached Rostock, disguised as a valet of General Arnheim, and wearing a suit of his livery, which I purchased at Vienna, took shipping at the Baltic, reached Nyeborg last week, and was on my way to join the king, when I now learn that his majesty is sailing round by the Great Belt for Helsingör. I am most anxious to serve again."

"Christian will gladly receive you."

"'Pon my soul, I would be most happy to take charge of your baggage guard."

"Thank you, major--but Willie Lumsden, my own lieutenant, has that duty assigned him."

"I think it would be a very interesting service, notwithstanding the dust, the noise, and the screeching of the wheels at one's ear. Ay, faith!" he continued, looking back, "'tis a dainty dame."

"Who--Herr Major?"

"She, with the dark hair and yellow hood in yonder caleche. Those arms are very like Klosterfiörd's. Surely Karl has not been such a blockhead as to marry the daughter of old Rantzau--Gunhilda, the holiday nun--the prudish little sister of St. Knud?"

"Our pistolier is still in the full enjoyment of single blessedness."

"Then whose ware may she be?"

I did not make any answer.

"Your colonel's lady," continued this incorrigible fellow; "for I do not perceive any other caleche. What! you grow red as a turkeycock! Zounds--it cannot be--is she thine? my dear fellow, I congratulate you. Happy dog! I should like to be in your shoes for six hours. Is she Carlstein's daughter? Faith! she turned the heads of half the Viennese."

I had some trouble in preserving my countenance and my temper, while Fritz ran on in this fashion. He quickly perceived this.

"Come," said he; "taste the beer of Odenzee. I drink to you, Herr Captain. You are a most fortunate dog; but upon my soul I would not like to have a wife half so pretty."

"Why so, Fritz?" said I, rather amused by his rattling manner.

"Because a girl like Lady Ernestine will never want for lovers. They will swarm about her, like flies round a honey-pot.'

"But I have the strongest faith in her."

"Faith! oh, that is an excellent and most necessary quality for one who has ideas of matrimony."

"Come, Herr Fritz--now, do not be impertinent."

"I--impertinent--not for the world."

"Your faith was strong in a pretty mask of black velvet."

"Enough, enough, my boy. I shall say no more," said he, clinking his can against mine; "my faith was not strong; but I am not the first man who has been led out of his way by seeing a mincing step, a lifted skirt, and a pair of pretty ankles, encased in spotless white stockings. Der Teufel! no. By the by, do you mean to beat up the Imperialists in this neighbourhood?"

"Imperialists here--in Odenzee--on this side of the Belt?"

"They are in every region but the Infernal, I believe, which should be their proper quarter. Is it possible that you do not know that a regiment of German musketeers occupy the old castle on the Cape of Helnœsland, about six Danish miles from this?"

"No, and sure I am that M'Farquhar, our lieutenant-colonel, knows nothing of it either."

"'Tis nevertheless true, though. Count Merodé, with his regiment, have ensconced themselves there, and have been playing some pretty pranks among the wives and daughters of our boors for a week past."

"Merodé!" I exclaimed, in a breathless voice, alike thunderstruck, and overjoyed by this intelligence. "Tell me, if there are any ladies with him."

"How should I know, my comrade?" asked the major waggishly, as he filled the beer cans again. "Is one--is that pretty one in the caleche, not enough for you? But doubt not, that wherever the Merodeurs are, a large assortment of the weaker vessels are always to be found."

"Ah, Heavens! Ernestine, be joyful! Think of what I have just heard!" said I, rushing from the major to the door of the caleche, where Ian had dismounted and was conversing with her; "our dear Gabrielle is in yonder castle on the promontory--not two cannon-shots distant."

"What the devil is all this about?" said Fritz, with a perplexed air, as he switched his capacious boots; "'pon my soul, 'tis highly dramatic!"

The eyes of Ernestine were filled with tears.

"Dioul! are you sure of this?" said Ian, whose hand wandered about the hilt of his long claymore.

"I am sure that at least Merodé is there."

"Enough then," said Ian; "madam, if this Austrian robber does not surrender your sister to us in four-and-twenty hours--spotless and unharmed as when he seized her--by the soul of my father! by the bones that lie under Cairn na Cuihmne! and by the Holy Iron, I will give his head to the wolves, and his heart to the eagles!"

Honest Ian commenced in German, and gradually slid into his Gaëlic, consequently, Ernestine understood only the half of what he said; but enough, however, to be assured, that he meant to rescue her sister at all hazards.

"May God bless you, kind cousin!" said she placing her hands on his shoulders, while her dove-like eyes, that beamed with affectionate admiration, were fixed on his dark and handsome face. "If a brave heart and a strong hand can save her, Gabrielle is already saved: and she could not owe her freedom to one she loves better than her cousin, Ian Dhu!"

"Let Merodé look to himself," continued Ian; "for it is not every day that he and his ruffianly caterans, have seven hundred Highlandmen to reckon their accounts with."

Big Phadrig, who was standing near, with his enormous tuagh, or Lochaber axe, gave it a flourish, and ran to acquaint the regiment (which had now piled arms) of the pretty piece of work that was likely to be cut out for it; while Ian assembled M'Alpine, M'Coll, Kildon, Major Fritz, and several other officers, under the _Green Tree_, where--assisted by several cans of Odenzee beer--a solemn council of war was held upon the occasion.

Our suppositions were correct; for, as the sequel proved, poor Gabrielle was actually that moment Merodé's prisoner in the old castle of Helnœsland.