to raise it immediately. Indignant at the tyranny of the black king, several chiefs of his army had formed a conspiracy to assassinate him during his attendance at church. Christophe was always punctual at mass, and upon these occasions the church was filled with officers in waiting, and surrounded with soldiers. It had been arranged to stab him while he was kneeling at the altar, and then to proclaim the death of the tyrant to the soldiery, whose attachment to their monarch, it was thought, was not so warm as to render such an enterprise hazardous.
This dangerous undertaking had been prepared in such secrecy, that a great number of the officers and soldiers of the army had been drawn into the ranks of the conspirators, and all things were now in readiness for the final blow. In this stage of the transaction, a mulatto proved faithless to his associates, and informed Christophe minutely of all the plans of the conspiracy, and of all the agents who had devoted themselves to his destruction.
The monarch, thus possessed of a full knowledge of all that had been prepared against him, concealed the vengeful feelings that burned within him under an appearance of the utmost composure. He feared lest a whisper intimating that he had been informed of the intentions of the conspirators might snatch them from his vengeance by urging them to desert to the enemy. At the usual hour the troops paraded at the church, and Christophe, instead of entering to assist at the mass, placed himself at the head of his army, and designated by their names the leaders of the conspiracy, who were ordered to march to the centre.
