CHAPTER XXXVI
AT BAY
In obedience to his mistress, Bartoletti had endeavoured to
secure the few weak fastenings of the house, but his hands
shook so, that without Fleurette's aid not a bolt would have
been pushed nor a key turned. The black girl, however,
seconded his efforts with skill and coolness, so that Hippolyte's
summons to surrender was addressed to locked doors
and closed windows. The Coromantee was now so inflamed
with rum as to be capable of any outrage, and since neither
his band nor himself were possessed of firearms, nothing
but Célandine's happy suggestion about the concealed
powder restrained him from ordering a few faggots to be
cut, and the building set in a blaze. Advancing with an
air of dignity, that would at any other time have been
ludicrous, and which he would certainly have abandoned
had he known that the Marquise covered his body with her
pistol the while, he thumped the door angrily, and demanded
to know why "dis here gentleman comin' to pay compliment
to buckra miss," was not immediately admitted; but
receiving no answer, proceeded at once to batter the panels
with an iron crowbar, undeterred by the expostulations of
Fleurette, who protested vehemently, first, that her mistress
was engaged with a large party of French officers; secondly,
that she lay sick in bed, on no account to be disturbed;
and lastly, that neither she nor ma'amselle were in the
house at all.
The Coromantee of course knew better. Shouting a horrible oath, and a yet more hideous threat, he applied his burly shoulders to the entrance, and the whole wood-
