shouts, on the approach of their chief. La Plume and Clerveaux, to
whom such demonstrations were less familiar than to the other generals,
no longer doubted that all would be well. They pronounced that the
colony already showed itself invincible. Toussaint thought that he
might have been of the same opinion, if the expected foe had been any
other than French. The event must show whether the pains he had taken
to unite his race with their fellow-citizens as brethren would now
weaken or strengthen his cause--whether it would enhance or mitigate the
bitterness of the impending quarrel.

On the morning of the last day of their survey of the interior, the
party emerged from the shade of the woods, and, crossing the grassy
levels of the Llanos, reached the ferry by which the Ozama was to be
crossed near its mouth. On the opposite bank were horsemen, who, on
observing the party approaching the ferry, put spurs to their horses,
and galloped southwards, in the direction of the city. They need not so
have hastened; for the Deliverer was stopped at every fishing hamlet--
almost at every hut along the shores of the bay, to receive the loyal
homage of the inhabitants--Spanish as well as French. In the midst of
these greetings the eye and the soul of the chief were absent--looking
to what lay before him. There, at some distance, springing from the
level of the plain, rose the cathedral of Saint Domingo, and other lofty
buildings, whose outline was distinctly marked against the glittering
sea which spread immediately behind. An ungovernable impatience seized
him at length, and he broke away, bursting through the throngs upon the
road, and resolving not to stop till he should have seen his fate, as a
brother, in his brother's eyes.

A procession of priests was issuing from the city gates as he
approached. They were robed, and they bore the Host under a canopy. At
the first sound of their chant, the generals and their suite threw
themselves from their horses, and prostrated themselves upon the grass.
On rising, they perceived that the whole city had come out to meet them.
"The whole city," Toussaint heard his companions say: and his heart
throbbed when he strained his sight to see if the Governor of the city
was the only one left at home. The procession of priests had now
turned, and was preceding him--slowly--so slowly, that he would fain
have dispensed with the solemnity. The people crowded round his horse
and impeded h