After a hasty farewell and a promise of
speedy return, for his presence with the forces was imperative and he
grudged every hour of absence from his beloved, he set out alone in his
boat. Before an hour had passed he was captured by a flotilla which had
been lying in ambuscade behind the Grandes Rocques, and was a prisoner
in the enemy's camp.
If Judith had been an ordinary woman she would have been content with
this result, would have executed the prisoner, and have awaited the
submission of his disheartened followers; and she would have failed,
defeated by the indomitable courage and resource of Haco. But it was not
in this clumsy fashion that her genius moulded the materials at her
command. She now controlled, as she believed, the mainspring of the
resistance, which would probably cease with the death of Jean. But her
aim went far beyond the mere submission of her antagonists; she wished
that the blow should be struck in such a manner as to stamp out the
false creed which had held the islanders in thrall, to prove to all
sceptics the powers of her own Gods and the impotence of those of her
opponents, and to commit the recently reconverted islanders so
irretrievably that they could not afterwards backslide.
Pages:
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88