UPPER GEVAUDAN
(continued)
The bed was made, the room was fit,
By punctual eve the stars were lit;
The air was still, the water ran;
No need there was for maid or man,
When we put up, my ass and I,
At God's green caravanserai.
OLD PLAY.
ACROSS THE GOULET
THE wind fell during dinner, and the sky remained clear; so it was
under better auspices that I loaded Modestine before the monastery
gate. My Irish friend accompanied me so far on the way. As we
came through the wood, there was Pere Apollinaire hauling his
barrow; and he too quitted his labours to go with me for perhaps a
hundred yards, holding my hand between both of his in front of him.
I parted first from one and then from the other with unfeigned
regret, but yet with the glee of the traveller who shakes off the
dust of one stage before hurrying forth upon another. Then
Modestine and I mounted the course of the Allier, which here led us
back into Gevaudan towards its sources in the forest of Mercoire.
It was but an inconsiderable burn before we left its guidance.
Thence, over a hill, our way lay through a naked plateau, until we
reached Chasserades at sundown.
The company in the inn kitchen that night were all men employed in
survey for one of the projected railways. They were intelligent
and conversible, and we decided the future of France over hot wine,
until the state of the clock frightened us to rest. There were
four beds in the little upstairs room; and we slept six. But I had
a bed to myself, and persuaded them to leave the window open.
'HE, BOURGEOIS; IL EST CINQ HEURES!' was the cry that wakened me in
the morning (Saturday, September 28th). The room was full of a
transparent darkness, which dimly showed me the other three beds
and the five different nightcaps on the pillows. But out of the
window the dawn was growing ruddy in a long belt over the hill-
tops, and day was about to flood the plateau. The hour was
inspiriting; and there seemed a promise of calm weather, which was
perfectly fulfilled. I was soon under way with Modestine. The
road lay for a while over the plateau, and then descended through a
precipitous village into the valley of the Chassezac. This stream
ran among green meadows, well hidden from the world by its steep
banks; the broom was in flower, and here and there was a hamlet
sending up its smoke.
At last the path crossed the Chassezac upon a bridge, and,
forsaking this deep hollow, set itself to cross the mountain of La
Goulet. It wound up through Lestampes by upland fields and woods
of beech and birch, and with every corner brought me into an
acquaintance with some new interest. Even in the gully of the
Chassezac my ear had been struck by a noise like that of a great
bass bell ringing at the distance of many miles; but this, as I
continued to mount and draw nearer to it, seemed to change in
character, and I found at length that it came from some one leading
flocks afield to the note of a rural horn. The narrow street of
Lestampes stood full of sheep, from wall to wall - black sheep and
white, bleating with one accord like the birds in spring, and each
one accompanying himself upon the sheep-bell round his neck. It
made a pathetic concert, all in treble. A little higher, and I
passed a pair of men in a tree with pruning-hooks, and one of them
was singing the music of a BOURREE. Still further, and when I was
already threading the birches, the crowing of cocks came cheerfully
up to my ears, and along with that the voice of a flute discoursing
a deliberate and plaintive air from one of the upland villages. I
pictured to myself some grizzled, apple-cheeked, country
schoolmaster fluting in his bit of a garden in the clear autumn
sunshine. All these beautiful and interesting sounds filled my
heart with an unwonted expectation; and it appeared to me that,
once past this range which I was mounting, I should descend into
the garden of the world. Nor was I deceived, for I was now done
with rains and winds and a bleak country. The first part of my
journey ended here; and this was like an induction of sweet sounds
into the other and more beautiful.
There are other degrees of FEYNESS, as of punishment, besides the
capital; and I was now led by my good spirits into an adventure
which I relate in the interest of future donkey-drivers. The road
zigzagged so widely on the hillside, that I chose a short cut by
map and compass, and struck through the dwarf woods to catch the
road again upon a higher level. It was my one serious conflict
with Modestine. She would none of my short cut; she turned in my
face; she backed, she reared; she, whom I had hitherto imagined to
be dumb, actually brayed with a loud hoarse flourish, like a cock
crowing for the dawn. I plied the goad with one hand; with the
other, so steep was the ascent, I had to hold on the pack-saddle.
Half-a-dozen times she was nearly over backwards on the top of me;
half-a-dozen times, from sheer weariness of spirit, I was nearly
giving it up, and leading her down again to follow the road. But I
took the thing as a wager, and fought it through. I was surprised,
as I went on my way again, by what appeared to be chill rain-drops
falling on my hand, and more than once looked up in wonder at the
cloudless sky. But it was only sweat which came dropping from my
brow.
Over the summit of the Goulet there was no marked road - only
upright stones posted from space to space to guide the drovers.
The turf underfoot was springy and well scented. I had no company
but a lark or two, and met but one bullock-cart between Lestampes
and Bleymard. In front of me I saw a shallow valley, and beyond
that the range of the Lozere, sparsely wooded and well enough
modelled in the flanks, but straight and dull in outline. There
was scarce a sign of culture; only about Bleymard, the white high-
road from Villefort to Mende traversed a range of meadows, set with
spiry poplars, and sounding from side to side with the bells of
flocks and herds.
