impulse of the moment, no voice was louder or more joyous than
Vincent's. It now only remained for Maurepas to bring his numerous
troops up to the point of junction. He must presently arrive; and then,
as Placide and other sanguine young soldiers thought, and as Sabes and
his companion began seriously to fear, the negro force under L'Ouverture
might defy all Europe.

News, stirring news, came from all corners of the colony with every
fresh arrival. Deesha, especially, could tell all that had been done,
not only at L'Etoile, and in all the plain of Cul-de-Sac, but within the
districts of the unfaithful generals, Clerveaux and La Plume. Her boy
Juste, though too young to take a practical part in the war, carried the
passion and energy of a man into the cause, and was versed in all the
details of the events which had taken place since the landing of the
French. It was a sore mortification to Juste that he was not permitted
to remain by his father's side at the Plateaux; but he consoled himself
with teaching his little brother Tobie the military exercise, and with
sport. Juste was as fond of sport as on the day when he floated under
calabashes, to catch wild ducks; and this was well; for at Le Zephyr,
under present circumstances, the sportsman was one of the most useful
members of the establishment. The air of the mornes was celebrated for
its power of creating an appetite; and there were many mouths to feed:
so that Juste was assured, on all hands, that he had as important a
function to fulfil as if he had been a soldier. As it was believed
impossible for human foot to stray beyond the morne by any other passage
than that of the Plateaux, the boys were permitted to be out early and
late, in the woods and upon the hill-sides; and often did Genifrede and
the sentries hear the far-off shouts of the little sportsmen, or see the
puff of smoke from Juste's rifle in the valley, or under the verge of
the groves. Many a nest of young orioles did Tobie abstract from the
last fork of a branch, when the peculiar note of the parent-bird led him
on into the midst of the thicket where these delicate creatures hide
themselves. The ring-tail dove, one of the most exquisite of table
luxuries, he was very successful in liming; and he would bring home a
dozen in a morning. He could catch turkeys with a noose, and young pigs
to barbecue. He filled baskets with plover's eggs from the high lands;
and of the wild-fowl he brought in, th