at the frontier, in a mountain hamlet. a black night, about one o'clock in the morning; a winter night inundated by cold and heavy rain. at the front of a sinister house which casts no light outside, ramuntcho loads his shoulders with a heavy smuggled box, under the rippling rain, in the midst of a tomb-like obscurity. itchoua's voice commands secretly,—as if one hardly touched with a bow the last strings of a bass viol,—and around him, in the absolute darkness, one divines the presence of other smugglers similarly loaded, ready to start on an adventure.
it is now more than ever ramuntcho's life, to run almost every night, especially on the cloudless and moonless nights when one sees nothing, when the pyrenees are an immense chaos of shade. amassing as much money as he can for his flight, he is in all the smuggling expeditions, as well in those that bring a suitable remuneration as in those where one risks death for a hundred cents. and ordinarily, arrochkoa accompanies him, without necessity, in sport and for a whim.
they have become inseparable, arrochkoa, ramuntcho,—and they talk freely of their projects about gracieuse, arrochkoa seduced especially by the attraction of some fine prowess, by the joy of taking a nun away from the church, of undoing the plans of his old, hardened mother,—and ramuntcho, in spite of his christian scruples which affect him still, making of this dangerous project his only hope, his only reason for being and for acting. for a month, almost, the attempt has been decided upon in theory and, in their long talks in the december nights, on the roads where they walk, or in the corners of the village cider mills where they sit apart, the means of execution are discussed by them, as if the question was a simple frontier undertaking. they must act very quickly, concludes arrochkoa always, they must act in the surprise of a first interview which shall be for gracieuse a very disturbing thing; they must act without giving her time to think or to recant, they must try something like kidnapping—
“if you knew,” he says, “what is that little convent of amezqueta where they have placed her: four old, good sisters with her, in an isolated house!—i have my horse, you know, who gallops so quickly; once the nun is in a carriage with you, who can catch her?—”
and to-night they have resolved to take into their confidence itchoua himself, a man accustomed to suspicious adventures, valuable in assaults at night, and who, for money, is capable of everything.
the place from which they start this time for the habitual smuggling expedition is named landachkoa, and it is situated in france at ten minutes' distance from spain. the inn, solitary and old, assumes as soon as the night falls, the air of a den of thieves; at this moment while the smugglers come out of one door, it is full of spanish carbineers who have familiarly crossed the frontier to divert themselves here and who drink while singing. and the hostess, accustomed to these nocturnal affairs, has said joyfully, a moment ago, in basque tongue to itchoua's folks:
“it is all right! they are all drunk, you can go out!”
go out! it is easier to advise than to do! you are drenched at the first steps and your feet slip on the mud, despite the aid of your sticks, on the stiff slopes of the paths. they do not see one another; they see nothing, neither the walls of the hamlet along which they pass nor the trees afterward, nor the rocks; they are like blind men, groping and slipping under a deluge, with the music of rain in their ears which makes them deaf.
and ramuntcho, who makes this trip for the first time, has no idea of the passages which they are to go through, strikes here and there his load against black things which are branches of beeches, or slips with his two feet, falters, straightens up, catches himself by planting at random his iron-pointed stick in the soil. they are the last on the march, arrochkoa and ramuntcho, following the band by ear;—and those who precede them make no more noise with their sandals than wolves in a forest.
in all, fifteen smugglers on a distance of fifty metres, in the thick black of the mountain, under the incessant sprinkling of the shower; they carry boxes full of jewels, of watches, of chains, of rosaries, or bundles of lyons silk, wrapped in oilcloth; in front, loaded with merchandise less valuable, walk two men who are the skirmishers, those who will attract, if necessary, the guns of the spaniards and will then take flight, throwing away everything. all talk in a low voice, despite the drumming of the rain which already stifles sounds—
the one who precedes ramuntcho turns round to warn him:
“here is a torrent in front of us—” (its presence would have been guessed by its noise louder than that of the rain—) “we must cross it!”
“ah!—cross it how? wade in the water?—”
“no, the water is too deep. follow us. there is a tree trunk over it.”
groping, ramuntcho finds that tree trunk, wet, slippery and round. he stands, advancing on this monkey's bridge in a forest, carrying his heavy load, while under him the invisible torrent roars. and he crosses, none knows how, in the midst of this intensity of black and of this noise of water.
on the other shore they have to increase precaution and silence. there are no more mountain paths, frightful descents, under the night, more oppressing, of the woods. they have reached a sort of plain wherein the feet penetrate; the sandals attached to nervous legs cause a noise of beaten water. the eyes of the smugglers, their cat-like eyes, more and more dilated by the obscurity, perceive confusedly that there is free space around, that there is no longer the closing in of branches. they breathe better also and walk with a more regular pace that rests them—
but the bark of dogs immobilizes them all in a sudden manner, as if petrified under the shower. for a quarter of an hour they wait, without talking or moving; on their chests, the perspiration runs, mingled with the rain that enters by their shirt collars and falls to their belts.
by dint of listening, they hear the buzz of their ears, the beat of their own arteries.
and this tension of their senses is, in their trade, what they all like; it gives to them a sort of joy almost animal, it doubles the life of the muscles in them, who are beings of the past; it is a recall of the most primitive human impressions in the forests or the jungles of original epochs.—centuries of civilization will be necessary to abolish this taste for dangerous surprises which impels certain children to play hide and seek, certain men to lie in ambush, to skirmish in wars, or to smuggle—
they have hushed, the watch-dogs, quieted or distracted, their attentive scent preoccupied by something else. the vast silence has returned, less reassuring, ready to break, perhaps, because beasts are watching. and, at a low command from itchoua, the men begin again their march, slower and more hesitating, in the night of the plain, a little bent, a little lowered on their legs, like wild animals on the alert.
before them is the nivelle; they do not see it, since they see nothing, but they hear it run, and now long, flexible things are in the way of their steps, are crushed by their bodies: the reeds on the shores. the nivelle is the frontier; they will have to cross it on a series of slippery rocks, leaping from stone to stone, despite the loads that make the legs heavy.
but before doing this they halt on the shore to collect themselves and rest a little. and first, they call the roll in a low voice: all are there. the boxes have been placed in the grass; they seem clearer spots, almost perceptible to trained eyes, while, on the darkness in the background, the men, standing, make long, straight marks, blacker than the emptiness of the plain. passing by ramuntcho, itchoua has whispered in his ear:
“when will you tell me about your plan?”
“in a moment, at our return!—oh, do not fear, itchoua, i will tell you!”
at this moment when his chest is heaving and his muscles are in action, all his faculties doubled and exasperated by his trade, he does not hesitate, ramuntcho; in the present exaltation of his strength and of his combativeness he knows no moral obstacles nor scruples. the idea which came to his accomplice to associate himself with itchoua frightens him no longer. so much the worse! he will surrender to the advice of that man of stratagem and of violence, even if he must go to the extreme of kidnapping and housebreaking. he is, to-night, the rebel from whom has been taken the companion of his life, the adored one, the one who may not be replaced; he wants her, at the risk of everything.—and while he thinks of her, in the progressive languor of that halt, he desires her suddenly with his senses, in a young, savage outbreak, in a manner unexpected and sovereign—
the immobility is prolonged, the respirations are calmer. and, while the men shake their dripping caps, pass their hands on their foreheads to wipe out drops of rain and perspiration that veil the eyes, the first sensation of cold comes to them, of a damp and profound cold; their wet clothes chill them, their thoughts weaken; little by little a sort of torpor benumbs them in the thick darkness, under the incessant winter rain.
they are accustomed to this, trained to cold and to dampness, they are hardened prowlers who go to places where, and at hours when, other men never appear, they are inaccessible to vague frights of the darkness, they are capable of sleeping without shelter anywhere in the blackest of rainy nights, in dangerous marshes or hidden ravines—
now the rest has lasted long enough. this is the decisive instant when the frontier is to be crossed. all muscles stiffen, ears stretch, eyes dilate.
first, the skirmishers; then, one after another, the bundle carriers, the box carriers, each one loaded with a weight of forty kilos, on the shoulders or on the head. slipping here and there among the round rocks, stumbling in the water, everybody crosses, lands on the other shore. here they are on the soil of spain! they have to cross, without gunshots or bad meetings, a distance of two hundred metres to reach an isolated farm which is the receiving shop of the chief of the spanish smugglers, and once more the game will have been played!
naturally, it is without light, obscure and sinister, that farm. noiselessly and groping they enter in a file; then, on the last who enter, enormous locks of the door are drawn. at last! barricaded and rescued, all! and the treasury of the queen regent has been frustrated, again tonight, of a thousand francs—!
then, fagots are lighted in the chimney, a candle on the table; they see one another, they recognize one another, smiling at the success. the security, the truce of rain over their heads, the flame that dances and warms, the cider and the whiskey that fill the glasses, bring back to these men noisy joy after compelled silence. they talk gaily, and the tall, white-haired, old chief who receives them all at this undue hour, announces that he will give to his village a beautiful square for the pelota game, the plans of which have been drawn and the cost of which will be ten thousand francs.
“now, tell me your affair,” insists itchoua, in ramuntcho's ear. “oh, i suspect what it is! gracieuse, eh?—that is it, is it not?—it is hard you know.—i do not like to do things against my religion, you know.—then, i have my place as a chorister, which i might lose in such a game.—let us see, how much money will you give me if i succeed?—”
he had foreseen, ramuntcho, that this sombre aid would cost him a great deal, itchoua being, in truth, a churchman, whose conscience would have to be bought; and, much disturbed, with a flush on his cheeks, ramuntcho grants, after a discussion, a thousand francs. anyway, if he is piling up money, it is only to get gracieuse, and if enough remains for him to go to america with her, what matters it?—
and now that his secret is known to itchoua, now that his cherished project is being elaborated in that obstinate and sharp brain, it seems to ramuntcho that he has made a decisive step toward the execution of his plan, that all has suddenly become real and approaching. then, in the midst of the lugubrious decay of the place, among these men who are less than ever similar to him, he isolates himself in an immense hope of love.
they drink for a last time together, all around, clinking their glasses loudly; then they start again, in the thick night and under the incessant rain, but this time on the highway, in a band and singing. nothing in the hands, nothing in the pockets: they are now ordinary people, returning from a natural promenade.
in the rear guard, at a distance from the singers, itchoua on his long legs walks with his hands resting on ramuntcho's shoulder. interested and ardent for success, since the sum has been agreed upon, itchoua whispers in ramuntcho's ear imperious advices. like arrochkoa, he wishes to act with stunning abruptness, in the surprise of a first interview which will occur in the evening, as late as the rule of a convent will permit, at an uncertain and twilight hour, when the village shall have begun to sleep.
“above all,” he says, “do not show yourself beforehand. she must not have seen you, she must not even know that you have returned home! you must not lose the advantage of surprise—”
while ramuntcho listens and meditates in silence, the others, who lead the march, sing always the same old song that times their steps. and thus they re-enter landachkoa, village of france, crossing the bridge of the nivelle, under the beards of the spanish carbineers.
they have no sort of illusion, the watching carbineers, about what these men, so wet, have been doing at an hour so black.
