They were now so near the fire, which had long flamed at a distance on the blackness of night, that it gleamed upon the road, and they could distinguish figures moving about the blaze.The way winding still nearer, they perceived in the valley one of those numerous bands of gipsies, which at that period particularly haunted the wilds of the Pyrenees, and lived partly by plundering the traveller.Emily looked with some degree of terror on the savage countenances of these people, shewn by the fire, which heightened the romantic effects of the scenery, as it threw a red dusky gleam upon the rocks and on the foliage of the trees, leaving heavy masses of shade and regions of obscurity, which the eye feared to penetrate.
They were preparing their supper; a large pot stood by the fire, over which several figures were busy.The blaze discovered a rude kind of tent, round which many children and dogs were playing, and the whole formed a picture highly grotesque.The travellers saw plainly their danger.Valancourt was silent, but laid his hand on one of St.
Aubert's pistols; St.Aubert drew forth another, and Michael was ordered to proceed as fast as possible.They passed the place, however, without being attacked; the rovers being probably unprepared for the opportunity, and too busy about their supper to feel much interest, at the moment, in any thing besides.
After a league and a half more, passed in darkness, the travellers arrived at Beaujeu, and drove up to the only inn the place afforded;which, though superior to any they had seen since they entered the mountains, was bad enough.
The surgeon of the town was immediately sent for, if a surgeon he could be called, who prescribed for horses as well as for men, and shaved faces at least as dexterously as he set bones.After examining Valancourt's arm, and perceiving that the bullet had passed through the flesh without touching the bone, he dressed it, and left him with a solemn prescription of quiet, which his patient was not inclined to obey.The delight of ease had now succeeded to pain; for ease may be allowed to assume a positive quality when contrasted with anguish; and, his spirits thus re-animated, he wished to partake of the conversation of St.Aubert and Emily, who, released from so many apprehensions, were uncommonly cheerful.Late as it was, however, St.Aubert was obliged to go out with the landlord to buy meat for supper; and Emily, who, during this interval, had been absent as long as she could, upon excuses of looking to their accommodation, which she found rather better than she expected, was compelled to return, and converse with Valancourt alone.They talked of the character of the scenes they had passed, of the natural history of the country, of poetry, and of St.Aubert; a subject on which Emily always spoke and listened to with peculiar pleasure.
The travellers passed an agreeable evening; but St.Aubert was fatigued with his journey; and, as Valancourt seemed again sensible of pain, they separated soon after supper.
In the morning St.Aubert found that Valancourt had passed a restless night; that he was feverish, and his wound very painful.The surgeon, when he dressed it, advised him to remain quietly at Beaujeu; advice which was too reasonable to be rejected.St.Aubert, however, had no favourable opinion of this practitioner, and was anxious to commit Valancourt into more skilful hands; but learning, upon enquiry, that there was no town within several leagues which seemed more likely to afford better advice, he altered the plan of his journey, and determined to await the recovery of Valancourt, who, with somewhat more ceremony than sincerity, made many objections to this delay.
By order of his surgeon, Valancourt did not go out of the house that day; but St.Aubert and Emily surveyed with delight the environs of the town, situated at the feet of the Pyrenean Alps, that rose, some in abrupt precipices, and others swelling with woods of cedar, fir, and cypress, which stretched nearly to their highest summits.The cheerful green of the beech and mountain-ash was sometimes seen, like a gleam of light, amidst the dark verdure of the forest; and sometimes a torrent poured its sparkling flood, high among the woods.
Valancourt's indisposition detained the travellers at Beaujeu several days, during which interval St.Aubert had observed his disposition and his talents with the philosophic inquiry so natural to him.He saw a frank and generous nature, full of ardour, highly susceptible of whatever is grand and beautiful, but impetuous, wild, and somewhat romantic.Valancourt had known little of the world.His perceptions were clear, and his feelings just; his indignation of an unworthy, or his admiration of a generous action, were expressed in terms of equal vehemence.St.Aubert sometimes smiled at his warmth, but seldom checked it, and often repeated to himself, 'This young man has never been at Paris.' A sigh sometimes followed this silent ejaculation.
He determined not to leave Valancourt till he should be perfectly recovered; and, as he was now well enough to travel, though not able to manage his horse, St.Aubert invited him to accompany him for a few days in the carriage.This he the more readily did, since he had discovered that Valancourt was of a family of the same name in Gascony, with whose respectability he was well acquainted.The latter accepted the offer with great pleasure, and they again set forward among these romantic wilds about Rousillon.
They travelled leisurely; stopping wherever a scene uncommonly grand appeared; frequently alighting to walk to an eminence, whither the mules could not go, from which the prospect opened in greater magnificence; and often sauntering over hillocks covered with lavender, wild thyme, juniper, and tamarisc; and under the shades of woods, between those boles they caught the long mountain-vista, sublime beyond any thing that Emily had ever imagined.