e foolish act had only been
prevented by a frank and strong remonstrance from his old friend. All
this time, Toussaint's military successes had been great; and his name
now struck such awe into the lawless forces of the insurgent blacks,
that it was unnecessary for him to shed their blood. He held the post
of Marmalade, and from thence was present with such unheard-of rapidity
of march, wherever violence was expected, that the spirit of outrage
throughout the colony was, at length, kept in check. This peaceful mode
of standing by the rights of the king was more acceptable to the gentle
Toussaint than the warfare by which he had gained his power over his own
race; but he knew well that things could not go on as they were--that
order of some kind must be established--order which could be reached
only through a fierce final struggle; and of what nature this order was
to be, depended wholly upon the turn which affairs took in Europe.

He rarely brought good news from abroad. His countenance always grew
sad when Margot asked what ships had arrived from France since his last
visit. First he had to tell her that the people of Paris had met in the
Champ de Mars, and demanded the dethronement of the king; then, that
Danton had audaciously informed the representatives of France that their
refusal to declare the throne vacant would be the signal for a general
insurrection. After this, no national calamity could surprise the loyal
colonists, Toussaint said; for the fate of Louis as a king, if not as a
man, was decided. Accordingly, there followed humiliations, deposition,
imprisonment, during which little could be known of the mind, and even
of the condition of the king: and those who would have served him
remained in anxious suspense. It happened, one warm day in the spring,
when every trace of the winter hail-storms had passed away, that the
whole party were amusing themselves in trying to collect enough of the
ripening sea-side grape for a feast. The bright round leaves were broad
and abundant; but the clusters of the fruit were yet only of a pale
yellow, and a berry here and there was all that was fit for gathering.
The grape-gathering was little more than a pretence for basking in the
sun, or for lounging in the shade of the abundant verdure, which seemed
to have been sown by the hurricane, and watered by the wintry surf, so
luxuriantly did it spring from the sands and the salt waves. The
stately manchineel overhung t