est men may be. It was as little conceivable that they could
expect the negroes to enter into slavery again at a word, after having
enjoyed freedom, and held rule for ten years. There must still be hope
of peace; and Toussaint spared no effort to preserve it, till the
strangers should declare their intentions by some unequivocal act.

For this object, L'Ouverture appeared gifted with ubiquity. No flying
Arab was ever in so many places so nearly at once. Pongaudin, like
every other estate which was in friendly hands, was a sort of camp.
Here the Commander-in-chief and his officers had their head-quarters;
and here he was to be found, at intervals of a few hours. During those
intervals, he was inspecting the fortifications of Saint Marc, one of
the strongest places of the island, and under the charge of Dessalines;
or he was overlooking the bight of Leogane, from behind Port-au-Prince;
or he was visiting L'Etoile, made a strong post, and held by Charles
Bellair and his wife (for Deesha would not leave her husband);--or he
was riding through the mornes to the north, re-animating, with the sight
of his beloved countenance, the companies there held in reserve. He was
on the heights of the Gros Morne, an admiring spectator, on occasion of
that act of Christophe which was the real cause of the delay and
indecision of Leclerc and his troops.

The main body of the French army was preparing to land, immediately on
its arrival at Cap Francais, when Christophe sent his friend and brother
officer, Sangos, on board the fleet, to acquaint Leclerc with the
absence of the Commander-in-chief of the colony, without whose
permission the landing of troops could not be allowed. If a landing by
force were attempted, the city would immediately be fired, and the
inhabitants withdrawn. General Leclerc could not believe this to be
more than an empty threat; but thought it as well to avoid risk, by
landing in the night at points where he was not looked for.
Accordingly, he sent some of his force on shore at Fort Dauphin, to the
east; while he himself, with a body of troops, set foot on the fatal
coast which he was never to leave, at Le Limbe, on the western side of
the ridge which commanded the town, hoping to drop into the military
quarter from the heights, before he was looked for. From these heights,
however, he beheld the town one mass of fire. Christophe had withdrawn
the inhabitants, including two thousand whites, who were to be he