Stone That the Builder Refused - Madison Smartt Bell [240]
“Dessalines!” Toussaint moaned, unaware that anyone looked or listened. “Sé Baron pou moin li yé. Dessalines will betray me to my death.”
But this must be delirium. The doctor turned to track Toussaint as he passed, still incoherently murmuring. The illusion of the black cross still burned across his eyes; it must be only a sunspot. Toussaint passed through the gate and tottered over the plank that bridged the ditch. The doctor watched him wander into the twisting trails of the bitasyon beyond.
That night he slept very poorly. A whistle of a night bird or the rustle of wind-stirred palm leaves was enough to bring him bolt upright, gasping, one hand scrabbling in the macoute for the blunt comfort of a pistol grip. For that, he checked his wounded often, though he did not go armed when he left the fort to find them in their new shelters on the edge of the bitasyon. Where Toussaint had got to, no one seemed to know. The doctor half suspected that he’d crawled off somewhere to die.
But maybe it was more likely he’d gone in search of one of those old women around the region whom he trusted to cook and care for him. When he rematerialized in the fort next morning, his fever seemed to have broken and his eyes were clear. He poured himself into the organization of the defenses with all his old accustomed energy. Though he would accept no treatment, day by day the doctor saw him strengthen.
In the space of four days all was ready to his satisfaction, and on the morning of the fifth Toussaint called his commanders into the fort. By then they included Dessalines, Lamartinière, Magny, Monpoint, and Morisset, and as many men as the walls would contain pressed into the fort behind him. Toussaint addressed them formally, as he had at Ravine à Couleuvre. No one seemed to mind the doctor, who sat crosslegged under the leafy fringe of his ajoupa—or maybe Toussaint wanted a blanc witness.
“I am returning to the north today,” he declared. “I must get news of Maurepas, and I will bring Christophe with me as I pass to Leclerc’s rear. If God wills it, I will return with Maurepas and the Ninth Demibrigade to relieve you here. Till then I confide the defense of this place to your valor!” He swept his arm toward the eastern mountains, which the rising sun had just cleared. “This place and all the lines it covers. There is a good supply of powder here, and Dessalines will get more from the reserve at Plassac. General Vernet is coming to you soon with dried beef and beans and urns for water. Bon courage!”
Dessalines made no reply, but looked off over the parapet, rather moodily, the doctor thought. Perhaps he was thinking of his wife, who would likely have to leave Petite Rivière, if this sort of siege was to be expected. It was Monpoint who stepped forward.
“General,” he said, “you may leave without worry—we who remain will be worthy of your confidence, dead or alive.”
There was a cheer, then Morisset added—“All I regret is that I, your old companion at arms, will not go with you through the dangers you are going to meet!” But he was smiling as he spoke, and among all the men the mood was elevated.
Toussaint stepped forward to clasp Morisset’s hand, then turned and kissed Placide quickly on both cheeks. The senior officers returned his salute, and Toussaint walked briskly through the gate and crossed the ditches. Astride Bel Argent, he touched his hat brim.
“Kenbe là,” he called. Hold on. With that he turned the white stallion on the trail to the interior. One company of dragoons spurred their horses after him, and seven infantry companies marched behind. The balance of the force Toussaint had brought—one infantry batallion and the two cavalry squadrons of his honor guard—remained at Petite Rivière.
So too did Dessalines remain. He stood looking dourly over the parapet at the slow muddy wind of the river below, half-consciously fidgeting with his snuffbox. If Toussaint’s oration had roused the same feeling in him as in the other officers, he concealed it well. The doctor watched the snuffbox move from one pale