Read Ebook: Le Négrier Vol. IV Aventures de mer by Corbi Re Edouard

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 236 lines and 28271 words, and 5 pages

An intense spirit of religious devotion animated Marquette throughout the winter. It was his zeal in the service of his Heavenly Master that had led him, in his illness, to brave the rigors of a winter in the wilderness. Despite his bodily affliction, the observance of religious exercises was maintained. Mass was said every day throughout the winter, but they were able to observe Lent only on Fridays and Saturdays. On December 15 the mass of the Conception was celebrated. Early in February a novena, or nine days' devotion to the Virgin, was begun, to ask God for the restoration of Marquette's health. Shortly afterward his condition improved, in consequence, as he believed, of these devotions. An opportunity to give his religion a practical application was afforded him in the latter part of January. A deputation of Illinois Indians came bringing presents, in return for which they requested, among other things, a supply of powder. Marquette refused this, saying he had come to instruct them and to restore peace, and did not wish them to begin a war with their neighbors, the Miamis.

Toward the end of March the ice began to thaw, but on breaking up it formed a gorge, causing a rapid rise in the river. The camping-place was suddenly flooded, the occupants having barely time enough to secure their goods upon the trees. They themselves spent the night on a hillock, with the water steadily gaining upon them. The following day the gorge dissolved, the ice drifted away, and the travelers prepared to resume their journey to the village of the Illinois.

Eleven days were consumed in this journey, during which Marquette suffered much from illness and exposure. According to Father Dablon he was received by the Indians "as an angel from Heaven." He preached to them and established his mission, and then, feeling the hand of death upon him, began his return journey to the distant mission of St. Ignace.

And now we come to what may be regarded as the next scene in the annals of Chicago. A crowd of the Illinois accompanied Marquette, as a mark of honor, for more than thirty leagues, vying with each other in taking charge of his slender baggage. Then, "filled with great esteem for the gospel," they took leave of him, and continuing his journey he shortly afterward reached Lake Michigan. The route followed from this point was by way of the eastern side of the lake. But the missionary's life was to terminate sooner than the voyage. On May 19 he died, on the lonely shore of the lake, and was buried near the mouth of a small river in the state of Michigan which was long to bear his name.

A successor to Marquette at the mission of the Illinois was found in the person of Father Claude Allouez, who was then stationed at the mission of St. Francis Xavier at Green Bay. In October, 1676, with two companions he set out in a canoe for his new field of work. The winter closed down early, however, and before they had proceeded far they were compelled to lie over until February with some Pottawatomie Indians. Then they proceeded once more, in a way "very extraordinary"; for instead of putting the canoe into the water, they placed it upon the ice, over which a sail and a favoring wind "made it go as on the water." When the wind failed they drew it along by means of ropes. New obstacles to their progress arose, however, so that not until April did they enter "the river which leads to the Illinois." At its entrance they were met by a band of eighty Illinois Indians who had come from their village to welcome Allouez. The ceremony of reception which ensued may well be set forth in the words of the missionary himself, in whose honor it was staged.

"The captain came about 30 steps to meet me, carrying in one hand a firebrand and in the other a Calumet adorned with feathers. Approaching me, he placed it in my mouth and himself lighted the tobacco, which obliged me to make a pretense of smoking it. Then he made me come into his Cabin, and having given me the place of honor, he spoke to me as follows:

'My Father, have pity on me; suffer me to return with thee, to bear thee company and take thee into my village. The meeting I have had today with thee will prove fatal to me if I do not use it to my advantage. Thou bearest to us the gospel and the prayer. If I lose the opportunity of listening to thee, I shall be punished by the loss of my nephews, whom thou seest in so great number; without doubt, they will be defeated by our enemies. Let us embark, then, in company, that I may profit by thy coming into our land.'"

It is not to be supposed that the exact words of the "Captain" have been preserved, though it may well be that the general tenor of his remarks is here set forth. The speech concluded, they set out together, and "shortly after" arrived at the Chief's abode. We have no clue, further than this, to the location of the Indian camp. Probably it was in the vicinity of the portage; for aside from the fact that this furnished a logical stopping-place Marquette tells us that during his sojourn here, two years before, Indians were encamped in his vicinity during a portion of the winter.

After a brief stay among the Indians on the Illinois, where his labors met with great success, Allouez left them, returning again the next year. We have no details of these journeys, however, and our next account of the presence of white men in this region involves us in the schemes and deeds of the masterful La Salle.

La Salle conceived the ambitious design of leading France and civilization together into the valley of the Mississippi. But vast obstacles interposed to hinder him in its execution. Canada must be his base of operations, and Canada abounded in hostile traders and priests who jealously sought to checkmate him at every opportunity. The initiation of his design involved the establishment of a colony in the Illinois country. In 1678 he sent out in advance a party of men to engage in trade for him and ultimately to go to the Illinois country and prepare for his coming. Meanwhile he himself was busied with further preparations for the execution of his project; a sailing vessel was constructed close above Niagara Falls, and in August, 1678, its sails were spread upon Lake Erie for the voyage around the upper lakes. Arrived at Green Bay, the vessel was loaded with furs and started on its return, while La Salle and fourteen followers, in four canoes, continued their way down the western shore of Lake Michigan. The party laboriously made its way past the site of the modern cities of Milwaukee and Chicago and around the southern end of the lake to the mouth of the St. Joseph River. This had been agreed upon as the place of rendezvous with Tonty, La Salle's faithful lieutenant, who with twenty men was toiling, meanwhile, down the eastern side of the lake from Mackinac. Tonty had been delayed, and La Salle employed the period of waiting for him in building Fort Miami on an eminence near the mouth of the river. This became, therefore, the oldest fort in this region, and constituted an important base of operations for the prosecution of his designs.

At last Tonty arrived, bringing news which rendered probable the loss of La Salle's sailing vessel, the "Griffin," with her cargo of furs. Early in December the combined party ascended the St. Joseph River to the portage leading to the Kankakee, near the site of the modern city of South Bend. Down the latter river they passed and into the Illinois, until they came to the great Indian village, in the vicinity of Starved Rock, where Marquette and Allouez had labored as missionaries during the past five years. The place was deserted, however, the inhabitants having departed for their annual winter hunt. The journey was resumed, therefore, as far as Lake Peoria, near which place a village of the Illinois was found.

A parley was held with the Indians, in the course of which La Salle unfolded his design of building a fort in their midst, and a "great wooden Canoe" on the Mississippi, which would go down to the sea, and return thence with the goods they so much desired. La Salle was successful in overcoming alike the suspicions of the natives, the intrigues of his enemies, and the disloyalty of his own men. A site suitable for a fort was selected, and here in the dead of winter was constructed the first civilized habitation of a permanent character in the modern state of Illinois; the Indians gave to the fort the name of Checagou, but by La Salle it was christened Fort Crevecoeur.

La Salle had thus established himself in the heart of the Mississippi Valley, and had initiated the work of carving out what was to become the imperial domain of French Louisiana. But the major portion of that work lay yet before him, and difficulties were to succeed one another in its prosecution until the leader's death at the hands of a hidden assassin was to terminate his life in seeming failure. It is not our purpose here to attempt a history of La Salle's career; rather our aim is to sketch such of its salient features as may be pertinent to the unfolding of the story of the genesis of Chicago. The loss of the "Griffin" imposed upon La Salle the necessity of returning to Fort Frontenac for supplies. Having urged forward the construction of his fort and arranged for the departure of Hennepin and his associates on what eventuated in their famous exploration of the upper waters of the Mississippi, La Salle left Tonty in command at Fort Crevecoeur, and himself, in March, 1680, set forth on his long and terrible journey. In its course he again paused near Starved Rock, noted the ease with which it might be defended, and passing on to Fort Miami, dispatched orders to Tonty to occupy and fortify it. He then crossed on foot the trackless waste of southern Michigan in the season of spring floods, and came at last to his destination. He spent some months in setting his affairs in order, and in August, 1680, set out on the return to Illinois, passing by way of Mackinac and thence down the eastern side of Lake Michigan to Fort Miami.

The indomitable Tonty, almost alone in this sea of savagery, had done what he could to save the Illinois from destruction. His efforts proved vain, and with his few followers he fled from impending destruction. Their goal was distant Mackinac, and their route was up the Illinois and the Des Plaines to Lake Michigan and thence northward along its western shore. Doubtless the forlorn little party passed by Chicago, though we have no direct details as to this portion of their journey. Hardships and dangers in abundance were endured before the survivors found refuge with a band of friendly Pottawatomies at some point to the southward of Green Bay.

Shortly after the destruction of the Illinois La Salle, in ignorance of what had happened, came from Fort Miami to the relief of Tonty. In the ghastly remains of the village at Starved Rock he read the story of this new disaster to his plans. Failing to find the bodies of Tonty and his companions among them, he followed in the track of the pursued and pursuing savages until he reached the Mississippi. Concluding at last that Tonty had not come this way he retraced his steps to the junction of the Kankakee with the Des Plaines, and turning up the latter stream soon found traces of Tonty's party. It was now the dead of winter. Convinced of Tonty's escape, La Salle abandoned the canoes, which he had dragged with him on sledges thus far and made his way overland through extreme cold and deep snow to Fort Miami, where he arrived at the end of January.

The design was now conceived by La Salle of welding the western tribes into a confederation, which, under the guidance of himself and his French followers, should oppose the marauding incursions of the Iroquois into the West. The year 1681 was devoted to the furthering of this project and to the gathering of La Salle's scattered resources for a renewal of his attempt at establishing himself in the Mississippi Valley. Late in the year he was again at Fort Miami with a considerable party of French and Indians, ready for the exploit which has given him his greatest fame--the descent of the Mississippi to its mouth.

From Fort Miami the route followed led around the foot of Lake Michigan to Chicago; thence across the portage and down the Des Plaines, the Illinois, and the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. The expedition set forth in two divisions, Tonty with the first crossing over to the Chicago River in the closing days of December, 1681, where he prepared sledges for transporting the canoes and equipment on the ice, and awaited the arrival of his chief. La Salle with the second division arrived early in January, and after a detention of a few days, occasioned by unfavorable weather, the united party set out, dragging their sledges on the surface of the frozen rivers until open water was reached below Lake Peoria. There they embarked, and three months later, on April 9, 1682, at the mouth of the Great River he had descended La Salle took formal possession, under the name of Louisiana, of all the vast country drained by it and by its tributaries, stretching "from the Alleghenies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to the farthest springs of the Missouri."

La Salle's discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi caused him to broaden his projects. He would establish a colony at the mouth of the Great River to serve as an outlet for his colony on the Illinois where he hoped to gather the furs on which he relied to render his whole vast enterprise commercially successful. The prosecution of his designs, therefore, depended ultimately on his ability to make the Illinois colony profitable. On his return to Mackinac from the descent of the Mississippi, in the autumn of 1682, he learned that the Iroquois were about to renew their attacks upon the West. The best efforts of himself and Tonty were now directed, therefore, to the fortification of Starved Rock, which he planned to serve as the center of his colony and its rock of defense against the invader.

Here, on a cliff which rises sheer from the water's edge to a height of one hundred and twenty-five feet, with its crest about an acre in extent, and accessible only by a narrow pathway in the rear, during the winter of 1682 and 1683 the fort was constructed. At the same time the work of alliance with the Indians went vigorously forward until from the lofty ramparts of St. Louis, the name given by La Salle to his fortress, the leader could look down upon the lodges of four thousand warriors, gathered from half a score of tribes, and a total population of upward of twenty thousand souls. The stability of the colony thus gathered depended on La Salle's ability to protect his allies against the Iroquois, and to furnish them with goods and a market for their furs.

La Salle's only remedy against such an enemy was to appeal in person to his monarch. Leaving Tonty in command of the colony he went, by way of Canada, to France, whence he embarked upon the enterprise which was to end so disastrously in the wilds of Texas. Under the guidance of others Louisiana became, in the following century, the fairest province of New France. Wrested from French control by the Anglo-Saxon, it has come in time to constitute the heart and center of our magnificent national domain. The geographical monuments to the memory of La Salle arnfin devinrent ma?tres du b?timent coulant presque bas d'eau et ? peu pr?s d?pourvu de vivres.

L'un d'eux, bravant cependant tous les efforts et les pri?res de ma n?gresse, s'avan?a, le couteau lev?, pour me percer sur le matelas o? j'?tais ?tendu sans mouvement et presque sans vie; mais alors mes deux chiens, qui veillaient sans cesse ? mes c?t?s, s'?lancent sur l'esclave forcen?, et le d?chirent au milieu des autres noirs, sans que ceux-ci osent braver la fureur de ces animaux dont la faim n'a servi qu'? exalter l'?nergie. Bient?t la superstition, succ?dant ? la col?re, s'empare des r?volt?s. Ils regardent comme un juste ch?timent du ciel la mort que mes deux chiens ont donn?e au n?gre qui, pour me tuer, n'a pas craint de d?daigner le signe protecteur que Fra?da a oppos? ? sa rage. Le cadavre qu'abandonnent mes dogues, est enlev? par les noirs, qui ach?vent de le mettre en lambeaux pour le manger....

Ce festin d'antropophages se fait sous mes yeux: les cris d'all?gresse de ces horribles convives bourdonnent ? mes oreilles affaiblies; car j'avais eu le fatal avantage de conserver toute ma raison malgr? les douleurs excessives qui m'encha?naient inanim?, depuis tant de jours, sur le pont br?lant de mon navire.

Aupr?s de moi, sur le gaillard d'arri?re, ?taient venus tomber et expirer, sans murmurer une seule plainte, la plupart de mes matelots. Leurs cadavres putr?fi?s ?taient rest?s ? la place m?me o? ces malheureux s'?taient tra?n?s pour chercher un refuge contre la fureur des esclaves; mais toutes les fois que les noirs avaient voulu s'emparer de leurs corps pour les lac?rer ou les d?vorer, mes chiens, plus enrag?s encore que les n?gres, avaient fait reculer les cannibales ?pouvant?s. Pitre, moins malade que moi, essaie de porter sa main mourante sur la barre, pour remettre le navire en route; mais la fi?vre redoublant avec les efforts qu'il veut faire, le replonge dans le plus affreux d?lire et l'abattement de la mort.

Je ne sais combien de jours je restai dans cette position, plus cruelle mille fois que la mort la plus horrible....

Un matin, des cris inaccoutum?s se firent entendre sur le gaillard d'avant, o? les n?gres avaient l'habitude de s'entasser comme pour se d?cider ? nous massacrer. Je vois une cinquantaine de cas malheureux monter pour la premi?re fois dans les haubans, et se livrer aux d?monstrations de la joie la plus bruyante. Fra?da, qui comprend les mots qu'ils ?changent ?nergiquement entre eux, court devant et revient presque aussit?t m'expliquer qu'on aper?oit quelque chose d'extraordinaire non loin de nous. Cette nouvelle si inattendue me retira ? peine de la stupeur dans laquelle l'exc?s de mes maux m'avait jet?: je ne pouvais plus que souffrir.

C'?tait une patache de la douane de la Dominique, qui venait de nous rencontrer, en louvoyant au vent du canal. Nous n'?tions qu'? six ou sept lieues dans l'est de cette ?le, sur laquelle les vents alis?s nous avaient pouss?s en latitude depuis que la manoeuvre du navire avait ?t? abandonn?e.

Cette bonne Fra?da! Sans comprendre un seul mot d'anglais, sans pouvoir entendre ce que je lui disais, sans conna?tre enfin aucun des usages d'un pays si nouveau ? ses yeux, elle sut deviner qu'il s'agissait pour moi d'une arrestation. Des esclaves du Vieux-Calebar, qu'elle avait connus avant leur captivit?, et qu'elle rencontra au Roseau, lui apprirent qu'en traversant les sept lieues de canal qui s?parent la Dominique de l? Martinique, on pourrait m'arracher au sort que me pr?paraient les Anglais, si je parvenais ? me r?tablir.

Un soir, Fra?da accourt tout effar?e aupr?s de mon lit; un vieux n?gre la suivait, marchant p?niblement. Elle ?te ? ce noir la chemise de gingas dont il est v?tu, et le pantalon de toile qu'il porte; et, sans savoir encore ce qu'elle pr?tend faire, je lui laisse passer sur mes membres ext?nu?s et cette mauvaise chemise et ce pantalon en lambeaux. Puis, ses mains tremp?es dans une infusion qu'elle a apport?e avec elle, me noircissent le visage, le cou, la poitrine et les mains. Alors elle m'arrache de mon lit: quelque affaibli que je sois, je trouve encore assez de force, dans la confiance que me donne Fra?da, pour marcher et la suivre, appuy? sur son bras. Les soldats plac?s en sentinelles ? la porte me laissent sortir, croyant voir encore aux c?t?s de Fra?da le vieux n?gre avec lequel elle est entr?e. D?s que nous nous trouvons assez ?loign?s de la maison pour n'?tre plus aper?us dans l'obscurit?, deux robustes noirs s'emparent de moi, et me portent, accabl? des efforts que j'ai faits jusque-l?, dans une pirogue, o? s'embarque aussi ma lib?ratrice. Au moment de quitter le rivage, j'entends des aboiemens: ce sont mes deux chiens, qui ne me retrouvant plus dans la maison o? j'?tais d?tenu, sont parvenus ? d?couvrir la pirogue. Ils s'embarquent aussi avec nous, ces deux fid?les compagnons de mes infortunes; et bient?t nous nous dirigeons sur la Martinique, dans notre fr?le embarcation, conduite par les deux n?gres, compatriotes de ma Fra?da.

Rosalie me revit encore mourant. Elle crut, en me pressant sur son coeur, qu'il ?tait dans sa destin?e de me rendre une seconde fois ? la vie. Cette confiance, qui donnait ? son empressement ? me secourir quelque chose de c?leste, me la faisait regarder comme mon ange sauveur, et la pauvre Fra?da s'aper?ut que d?sormais la reconnaissance que je devais ? son amour, ? son d?vouement, serait partag?e. Rosalie lui t?moigna la plus touchante bienveillance. Mais, d?s le moment o? ma n?gresse se crut sacrifi?e, elle cessa d'avoir aupr?s de moi cette vive ga?t? que lui avait inspir?e la satisfaction de m'avoir arrach? ? tant de dangers. Muette, presque inanim?e aupr?s de mon lit de douleur, elle ne recevait qu'avec indiff?rence les marques d'int?r?t que Rosalie s'effor?ait de lui prodiguer. Ses yeux, sans cesse fix?s sur les miens, paraissaient ?pier toutes les pens?e? qui n'?taient pas pour elle, et me reprocher de lui avoir cach? l'attachement que j'avais pour une femme ? laquelle je n'?tais pas mari?. Fra?da se crut trahie par moi.

Rosalie croyait avoir ? m'apprendre une circonstance que mon ?tat de maladie extr?me n'avait pu m'emp?cher de remarquer: elle allait ?tre m?re. Elle me l'annon?a devant Fra?da, et celle-ci comprit trop bien mon bonheur et celui de sa rivale. <>

Fra?da ne voulait plus me quitter, et cependant elle semblait voir avec impassibilit? les tendres soins que me prodiguait Rosalie, et les caresses que je recevais d'elle avec tant d'amour et de reconnaissance.

Je ne repris l'usage fatal de mes sens que long-temps apr?s cette sc?ne d'horreur et d'?pouvante. En me r?veillant du songe terrible qu'il me semblait avoir fait, je cherchais aupr?s de moi, ? mes c?t?s, celle dont je croyais encore avoir press? la main, il n'y avait que quelques minutes..... Un pr?tre, celui qui avait assist? Ivon dans ses derniers momens, veillait seul pr?s de mon lit. En l'apercevant, je versai, pour la premi?re fois de ma vie, des larmes pour lesquelles je sentais bien qu'il n'?tait plus de consolation. Le pr?tre laissa couler mes pleurs. J'aurais voulu l'interroger, sans prononcer le nom de celle que j'avais perdue. Je ne trouvai aucune expression pour ma douleur, ni pour le besoin que j'avais de parler. Oh! combien la vue d'une arme pr?s de moi m'aurait fait de bien!.. Mais on avait tout ?loign? de mes mains, d'ailleurs trop faibles pour s'emparer de ce que je cherchais.

Le pr?tre me dit avec sang-froid, en devinant mon intention:--Un suicide, mon ami! Vous, avec une ?me si forte.... ah! plut?t une pens?e religieuse.

--Une pens?e religieuse! je n'en ai pas; et puis-je en avoir, quand ce que vous appelez votre Dieu a permis le plus abominable des crimes?

--Pourquoi blasph?mer ce Dieu auquel vous ne croyez pas? Vos emportemens seraient au moins inutiles. L?onard, ne pouvez-vous donc trouver la mort qu'en commettant une l?chet? contre vous-m?me?

--Et qu'ai-je besoin, pour me d?barrasser d'une vie qui m'est odieuse, d'attendre qu'elle me soit ravie, comme il plaira ? ce monde que je laisserai apr?s moi? Est-ce l'approbation de cette soci?t? qui ne m'inspire que d?go?t ou m?pris, que je dois ?tre jaloux d'emporter au tombeau?

--Belle id?e pour un marin qui a sacrifi? son existence au d?sir de se faire citer pour sa bravoure et sa force d'?me! S'il vous faut un suicide, cherchez du moins ? l'ennoblir. Faites-vous tuer ? la mer ou dans un combat, en laissant ? votre m?re et ? votre fr?re une fortune acquise dans les dangers et un prix de votre sang.... Mais vous, L?onard, p?rir dans un lit o? vous n'avez pas eu la force de supporter un reste de vie! Demandez ? un autre qu'? moi une dose d'opium ou un poignard: je cache un coeur d'homme sons cet habit, qui vous semble peut-?tre si ridicule, et je m?prise ceux qui s'assassinent, ou qui se servent ? eux-m?mes d'empoisonneurs.

--D'empoisonneurs! Moi, m'empoisonner et mourir comme cette femme infernale, qui a si l?chement d?truit celle pour qui j'aurais mille fois donn? tout mon sang goutte ? goutte! Ah! jamais!... Et mes larmes revinrent comme pour temp?rer l'exaltation excessive de mes id?es et de ma douleur...

Le pr?tre ne me quitta plus. Ce sto?cisme si paisible, qu'il feignait aupr?s de moi, me disposa ? ?couter peu ? peu les conseils de sa morale noble et courageuse, il savait que mon ?me ulc?r?e se fermerait au langage de la bigoterie, et il ne fut question entre lui et moi que de sentimens ?nergiques. La force de ma complexion sut encore vaincre l'abattement de mon esprit et de mon coeur. Je revins ? la vie pour ?prouver, plus profond?ment que je ne l'avais fait dans ma maladie, le d?go?t et presque l'horreur de l'existence. Mon caract?re prit une teinte sombre, et cette insouciance, qui m'?tait naturelle auparavant, se changea en haine pour tout ce qui m'entourait. Insensible ? mes maux, je ne con?us plus comment il existait des ?tres qui pussent souffrir autant que je l'avais fait. Je voulais revoir la mer aussit?t qu'il me deviendrait possible de mettre le pied sur un navire, et de recouvrer assez de force pour commander. Pitre, que j'avais laiss? incarc?r? et malade ? la Dominique, se pr?senta un jour ? moi, accompagn? du bon pr?tre qui ?tait parvenu ? me faire consentir ? vivre. Comment as-tu donc r?ussi ? t'?chapper, lui demandai-je?

C'?tait le portrait de Rosalie....

--Armer un navire! je le voudrais pour quitter ce malheureux pays, car je sens que j'y ?touffe. Mais la force me manque.

--Vous avez raison, c'est de la mer qu'il vous faut, ? vous et ? moi, et quelque bon coup de fusil pour trouver une belle mort; car, voyez-vous, nous n'irons pas loin l'un et l'autre apr?s la maladie qui nous a avari?s, mon capitaine. Le foie reste attaqu?, et ce n'est pas la t?te sur un oreiller qu'il nous faut rendre notre dernier d?compte... Il y a ici un beau brick-go?lette, construit ? Nantes, et qui est en vente. C'est fait pour aller chercher des n?gres, comme une jeune fille pour l'amour. Je me disais hier encore, en voyant cette belle embarcation: ce serait bien dommage de faire porter du sucre ou des boeufs de Porto-Ricco ? un fond de navire comme celui-l?, qui est ? pendre dans une ?glise. C'est taill? pour un commerce plus honorable.

Le pr?tre prit alors la parole.

--Ce brave homme a raison. Il faut que vous partiez, capitaine; la mer seule vous rendra ces forces que vous vous plaignez de ne pas recouvrer ici. Je connais le b?timent dont parle votre second: il vous conviendra, j'en suis s?r, et vos anciens armateurs ne demanderont pas mieux que d'en faire l'acquisition pour vous.

--N'est-ce pas, M. le cur?? reprend Pitre. Et je suis s?r que vous ne vous refuserez pas ? baptiser les 350 ou 400 mauricauds que nous vous am?nerons; car notre m?tier, ? nous, c'est d'aller chercher des n?gres pour que vous eu fassiez des chr?tiens ? l'arriv?e. C'est pour la religion et non pour le plaisir de vendre des noirs, que nous travaillons; pas pour autre chose.

Le pr?tre sourit ? cette saillie de Pitre. Il me proposa son bras et nous sort?mes. Nous all?mes voir le brick-go?lette pour me distraire. Mes armateurs et mes amis me revirent avec la plus vive satisfaction. Peu de jours apr?s ma premi?re sortie; le brick-go?lette ?tait achet? pour moi.

Pitre vint, palpitant de joie, m'annoncer cette bonne nouvelle.

--Quel nom donnerons-nous ? notre beau navire, capitaine L?onard?

--En noir, tout en noir.

--Pas m?me deux petits listons blancs? Deux petits listons blancs, proprement fil?s, font joliment bien cependant; ?a vous donne un air moins forban, il est vrai; mais comme ?a vous ?longe un navire!... Enfin, puisque vous le voulez, pas de listons blancs! Mais la figure? Sera-t-elle aussi en noir? Non, ?a aurait trop l'air d'une t?te de n?gresse, n'est-ce pas, et vous n'?tes plus fort l??...

--La figure, tu la peindras en blanc; mais je veux que pendant que je serai vivant, elle soit toujours couverte d'un voile noir....

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet