ld seemed to be falling
into chaos around him. He was there for the duty of the hour--to meet
by appointment the leader of the insurgents, Jean Francais, whom, till
now, he had always supposed to be his friend, as far as their
intercourse went, though Jean had never been so dear to him as Henri.
He had not sat long, listening for sounds of approach amidst the clatter
of the neighbouring palm-tree tops, whose stiff leaves struck one
another as they waved in the wind, when Jean appeared from behind the
mill.

"You have stopped our wheel," said Toussaint, pointing to the reeking
water-mill. "It will be cracked in the sun before you can set it going
again."

"Yes, we have stopped all the mills," replied Jean. "Every stream in
the colony has a holiday to-day, and may frolic as it likes. I am
afraid I made you wait supper last night?"

"You gave me poison, Jean. You have poisoned my trust in my friends. I
watched for you as for a friend; and what were you doing the while? You
were rebelling, ravaging, and murdering!"

"Go on," said Jean. "Tell me how it appears to you; and then I will
tell you how it appears to me."

"It appears to me, then, that if the whites are to blame towards those
who are in their power--if they have been cruel to the Oges, and their
party--if they have oppressed their negroes, as they too often have, our
duty is clear--to bear and forbear, to do them good in return for their
evil. To rise against them cunningly, to burn their plantations, and
murder them--to do this is to throw back the gospel in the face of Him
who gave it!"

"But you do not understand this rising. It is not for revenge."

"Why do I not understand it. Because you knew that I should disapprove
it, and kept me at home by a false appointment, that I might be out of
the way. Do you say all this is not for revenge? I look at the hell
you have made of this colony between night and morning, and I say that
if this be not from revenge, there must be something viler than revenge
in the hearts of devils and of men."

"And now, hear me," said Jean, "for I am wanted at Latour's, and my time
is short. It was no false appointment last night. I was on my way to
you, when I was stopped by some news which altered our plans in a
moment, and made us rise sooner, by three days, than we expected. I was
coming to tell you all, and engage you to be one of our chiefs. Have
you heard that the _Calypso_ has put into port at the other