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diff --git a/16303-h/16303-h.htm b/16303-h/16303-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d51fe07 --- /dev/null +++ b/16303-h/16303-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,19943 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of "Guy Rivers, A Tale of Georgia", by W. Gilmore Simms. + </title> + + <style type="text/css"> + <!-- /* old browser blockout*/ + /*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ + +body { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; } + +h1,h2,h3 { text-align: center; } +h3,h4 { font-weight: normal; } + +a:link { text-decoration: none; } +a:visited { text-decoration: none; } +a:active { text-decoration: underline; } +a:link:hover { text-decoration: underline; } + +hr { width: 33%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + +hr.long { width: 100%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + +hr.short { width: 20%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; } + +.imgcenter { text-align: center; padding-top: 2em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; } + +#titlepages p { text-align: center; text-indent:0; } + +#toc { margin-right: 12%; margin-left: 12%; margin-top: 5em; } +#toc p { text-indent: -1.5em; } +table { margin-bottom: 2em; margin-top: 2em; width: 100%; } +td { vertical-align: top; } + + +#content { margin-top: 5em; margin-bottom: 2em; } +#content h2 { margin-top: 3em; } + +p { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1em; line-height: 1.3em; } + +p.noindent { text-indent: 0em; } + +.poem { text-align: center; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; } +.poem .stanza { margin-left: 28%; margin-right: auto; + text-align: left; } +.stanza div { line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 0em; + text-align: left; margin-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; } +.poem div.quote { text-indent: -2.4em; } + +.poem .in1 {margin-left: 3em;} +.poem .in3 {margin-left: 5em;} +.poem .in5 {margin-left: 7em;} +.poem .in9 {margin-left: 11em;} +.poem .out {margin-left:0;} + +.poem p.right { text-align: right; } +.poem p.quote { text-indent: -0.4em; } +.poem div.title { margin-left: 31%; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; } +.poem p.quote { text-indent: -0.4em; } +.poem div.title2 { margin-left: 35%; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; } + +.poemwide { text-align: center; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em; } +.poemwide .stanza { margin-left: 18%; margin-right: auto; + text-align: left; } +.poemwide div.quote { text-indent: -2.4em; } +.poemwide div.title { margin-left: 28%; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; } + +.poem .stanzatp { margin-left: 35%; margin-right: auto; + text-align: left; } +.stanzatp div { line-height: 1.4em; margin-top: 0em; + text-align: left; margin-left: 2em; + text-indent: -2em; } +.poem p.righttp { text-align: right; margin-right:4%; margin-top:0; } + +.small { font-size: 90%; } +.center { text-align: center; } +.right { text-align: right; } +p.title { font-size: 1.5em; text-align: center; } +.pagenum { display: inline; font-size:75%; text-align: right; + padding: 0 0 0 0 ; margin: 0 0 0 0; position: absolute; + right: 1%; color:gray;} + + /* XML end ]]>*/ + /*old browser end */ --> + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia, by William Gilmore Simms + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia + +Author: William Gilmore Simms + +Release Date: July 15, 2005 [EBook #16303] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUY RIVERS: A TALE OF GEORGIA *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Lynn Bornath +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div id="titlepages"> + +<div class="imgcenter"> +<img src="images/image01.png" width="364" height="501" alt="Frontispiece" /> +</div> + +<br /> +<h1>GUY RIVERS:<br /> +<br /> +A<br /> +<br /> +TALE OF GEORGIA.</h1> + +<br /><br /> + +<h2>BY W. GILMORE SIMMS,</h2> + +<p class="small">AUTHOR OF "THE YEMASSEE," "THE PARTISAN," "MELLICHAMPE,"<br /> +"KATHARINE WALTON," "THE SCOUT," "WOODCRAFT," ETC.</p> +<br /> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanzatp"> + <div class="in9">"Who wants</div> + <div>A sequel may read on. Th' unvarnished tale</div> + <div>That follows will supply the place of one."</div> + + <p class="righttp"><span class="small">ROGERS</span>' <i>Italy</i>.</p> +</div> +</div> +<br /><br /> +<hr class="short" /> +<p>New and Revised Edition.</p> +<hr class="short" /> + +<br /> + +<p><span class="small">CHICAGO:</span><br /> +DONOHUE, HENNEBERRY & CO.<br /> +<span class="small">407-425 DEARBORN STREET</span><br /> +<br /> +1890</p> + +<br /><br /> +<hr /> + +<p class="small">PRINTED AND BOUND BY<br /> +DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY<br /> +CHICAGO.</p> + +<hr /> + +</div> + +<div id="toc"> + +<h2>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="Table of Contents"> +<tr> + <td align="right"><span class="small">Chapter</span></td> + <td> </td> + <td align="right"><span class="small">Page</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter1">I</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE STERILE PROSPECT AND THE LONELY TRAVELLER.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page13">13</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter2">II</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE ENCOUNTER—THE CHEVALIER D'INDUSTRIE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page21">21</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter3">III</a>.</td> + <td class="small">YOUNG LOVE—THE RETROSPECT.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page35">35</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter4">IV</a>.</td> + <td class="small">A RUPTURE—THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page47">47</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter5">V</a>.</td> + <td class="small">MARK FORRESTER—THE GOLD VILLAGE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page57">57</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter6">VI</a>.</td> + <td class="small">CODE AND PRACTICE OF THE REGULATORS.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page68">68</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter7">VII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE YANKEE OUTWITS THE LAWYER.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page91">91</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter8">VIII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">NEW FRIENDS IN STRANGE PLACES.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page99">99</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter9">IX</a>.</td> + <td class="small">MORE OF THE DRAMATIS PERSONĘ.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page108">108</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter10">X</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE BLACK DOG.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page122">122</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter11">XI</a>.</td> + <td class="small">FOREST PREACHING.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page140">140</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter12">XII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">TROUBLE AMONG THE TRESPASSERS.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page154">154</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter13">IX</a>.</td> + <td class="small">NEW PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT. + <i>[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: This chapter was misnumbered in the original + book. It is actually Chapter XIII.]</i></td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page169">169</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter14">XIV</a>.</td> + <td class="small">CATASTROPHE—COLLETON'S DISCOVERY.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page180">180</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter15">XV</a>.</td> + <td class="small">CLOSE QUARTERS.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page187">187</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter16">XVI</a>.</td> + <td class="small">CONSPIRACY—WARNING.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page199">199</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter17">XVII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">REMORSE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page208">208</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter18">XVIII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">PARTING AND FLIGHT.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page220">220</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter19">XIX</a>.</td> + <td class="small">MIDNIGHT SURPRISE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page234">234</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter20">XX</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE OUTLAW AND HIS VICTIM.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page251">251</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter21">XXI</a>.</td> + <td class="small">"THOU SHALT DO NO MURDER!"</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page264">264</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter22">XXII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE BLOODY DEED.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page272">272</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter23">XXIII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">WHAT FOLLOWED THE MURDER.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page288">288</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter24">XXIV</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE FATES FAVOR THE FUGITIVE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page294">294</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter25">XXV</a>.</td> + <td class="small">SUBDUED AGONIES.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page301">301</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter26">XXVI</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE CAMP.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page313">313</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter27">XXVII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE OUTLAWS.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page323">323</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td> </td> + <td class="small"><i>[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A chapter number + was skipped in the original book.]</i></td> + <td> </td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter29">XXIX</a>.</td> + <td class="small">ARREST.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page336">336</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter30">XXX</a>.</td> + <td class="small">CHUB WILLIAMS.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page342">342</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter31">XXXI</a>.</td> + <td class="small">THE ROCK CASTLE OF THE ROBBERS.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page352">352</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter32">XXXII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">ESCAPE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page361">361</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter33">XXXIII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">DOOM.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page369">369</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter34">XXXIV</a>.</td> + <td class="small">PRAYERS AND PROMISES.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page382">382</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter35">XXXV</a>.</td> + <td class="small">NEW PARTIES ON THE STAGE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page394">394</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter36">XXXVI</a>.</td> + <td class="small">PROPOSED RESCUE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page410">410</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter37">XXXVII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">SACK AND SUGAR.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page423">423</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter38">XXXVIII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">FREEDOM—FLIGHT.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page432">432</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter39">XXXIX</a>.</td> + <td class="small">PURSUIT—DEATH.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page442">442</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter40">XL</a>.</td> + <td class="small">WOLF'S NECK—CAPTURE.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page450">450</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter41">XLI</a>.</td> + <td class="small">QUIET PASSAGES AND NEW RELATIONS.</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page469">469</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align="right"><a href="#chapter42">XLII</a>.</td> + <td class="small">"LAST SCENE OF ALL."</td> + <td align="right"><a href="#page487">487</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +</div> + +<div id="content"> +<hr /> +<span class="pagenum">[13]<a name="page13" id="page13"></a></span> +<h2>GUY RIVERS</h2> + + +<h2><a name="chapter1" id="chapter1">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE STERILE PROSPECT AND THE LONELY TRAVELLER.</h3> + + +<p>Our scene lies in the upper part of the state of Georgia, a region at +this time fruitful of dispute, as being within the Cherokee territories. +The route to which we now address our attention, lies at nearly equal +distances between the main trunk of the Chatahoochie and that branch of +it which bears the name of the Chestatee, after a once formidable, but +now almost forgotten tribe. Here, the wayfarer finds himself lost in a +long reach of comparatively barren lands. The scene is kept from +monotony, however, by the undulations of the earth, and by frequent +hills which sometimes aspire to a more elevated title. The tract is +garnished with a stunted growth, a dreary and seemingly half-withered +shrubbery, broken occasionally by clumps of slender pines that raise +their green tops abruptly, and as if out of place, against the sky.</p> + +<p>The entire aspect of the scene, if not absolutely blasted, wears at +least a gloomy and discouraging expression, which saddens the soul of +the most careless spectator. The ragged ranges of forest, almost +untrodden by civilized man, the thin and feeble undergrowth, the +unbroken silence, the birdless thickets,—all seem to indicate a +peculiarly sterile destiny. One thinks, as he presses forward, that some +gloomy Fate finds harbor in the place. All around, far as the eye may +see, it looks in vain for relief in variety. There still stretch the +dreary wastes, the dull woods, the long sandy tracts, and the rude hills +<span class="pagenum">[14]<a name="page14" id="page14"></a></span> +that send out no voices, and hang out no lights for the +encouragement of the civilized man. Such is the prospect that meets the +sad and searching eyes of the wayfarer, as they dart on every side +seeking in vain for solace.</p> + +<p>Yet, though thus barren upon the surface to the eye, the dreary region +in which we now find ourselves, is very far from wanting in resources, +such as not only woo the eyes, but win the very soul of civilization. We +are upon the very threshold of the gold country, so famous for its +prolific promise of the precious metal; far exceeding, in the +contemplation of the knowing, the lavish abundance of Mexico and of +Peru, in their palmiest and most prosperous condition. Nor, though only +the frontier and threshold as it were to these swollen treasures, was +the portion of country now under survey, though bleak, sterile, and +uninviting, wanting in attractions of its own. It contained indications +which denoted the fertile regions, nor wanted entirely in the precious +mineral itself. Much gold had been already gathered, with little labor, +and almost upon its surface; and it was perhaps only because of the +limited knowledge then had of its real wealth, and of its close +proximity to a more productive territory, that it had been suffered so +long to remain unexamined.</p> + +<p>Nature, thus, in a section of the world seemingly unblessed with her +bounty, and all ungarnished with her fruits and flowers, seemed desirous +of redeeming it from the curse of barrenness, by storing its bosom with +a product, which, only of use to the world in its conventional +necessities, has become, in accordance with the self-creating wants of +society, a necessity itself; and however the bloom and beauty of her +summer decorations may refresh the eye of the enthusiast, it would here +seem that, with an extended policy, she had planted treasures, for +another and a greatly larger class, far more precious to the eyes of +hope and admiration than all the glories and beauties in her sylvan and +picturesque abodes. Her very sterility and solitude, when thus found to +indicate her mineral treasures, rise themselves into attractions; and +the perverted heart, striving with diseased hopes, and unnatural +passions, gladly welcomes the wilderness, without ever once thinking how +to make it blossom like the rose.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[15]<a name="page15" id="page15"></a></span> +Cheerless in its exterior, however, the season of the year was +one—a mild afternoon in May—to mollify and sweeten the severe and +sterile aspect of the scene. Sun and sky do their work of beauty upon +earth, without heeding the ungracious return which she may make; and a +rich warm sunset flung over the hills and woods a delicious atmosphere +of beauty, burnishing the dull heights and the gloomy pines with golden +hues, far more bright, if for less highly valued by men, than the +metallic treasures which lay beneath their masses. Invested by the +lavish bounties of the sun, so soft, yet bright, so mild, yet beautiful, +the waste put on an appearance of sweetness, if it did not rise into the +picturesque. The very uninviting and unlovely character of the +landscape, rendered the sudden effect of the sunset doubly effective, +though, in a colder moment, the spectator might rebuke his own +admiration with question of that lavish and indiscriminate waste which +could clothe, with such glorious hues, a region so little worthy of such +bounty; even as we revolt at sight of rich jewels about the brows and +neck of age and ugliness. The solitary group of pines, that, here and +there, shot up suddenly like illuminated spires;—the harsh and +repulsive hills, that caught, in differing gradations, a glow and glory +from the same bright fountain of light and beauty;—even the low copse, +uniform of height, and of dull hues, not yet quite caparisoned for +spring, yet sprinkled with gleaming eyes, and limned in pencilling beams +and streaks of fire; these, all, appeared suddenly to be subdued in +mood, and appealed, with a freshening interest, to the eye of the +traveller whom at midday their aspects discouraged only.</p> + +<p>And there is a traveller—a single horseman—who emerges suddenly from +the thicket, and presses forward, not rapidly, nor yet with the manner +of one disposed to linger, yet whose eyes take in gratefully the +softening influences of that evening sunlight.</p> + +<p>In that region, he who travelled at all, at the time of which we write, +must do so on horseback. It were a doubtful progress which any vehicle +would make over the blind and broken paths of that uncultivated realm. +Either thus, or on foot, as was the common practice with the mountain +hunters; men who, at seventy years of age, might be found as lithe and +active, in <span class="pagenum">[16]<a name="page16" id="page16"></a></span> +clambering up the lofty summit as if in full +possession of the winged vigor and impulse of twenty-five.</p> + +<p>Our traveller, on the present occasion, was apparently a mere youth. He +had probably seen twenty summers—scarcely more. Yet his person was tall +and well developed; symmetrical and manly; rather slight, perhaps, as +was proper to his immaturity; but not wanting in what the backwoodsmen +call <i>heft</i>. He was evidently no milksop, though slight; carried +himself with ease and grace; and was certainly not only well endowed +with bone and muscle, but bore the appearance, somehow, of a person not +unpractised in the use of it. His face was manly like his person; not so +round as full, it presented a perfect oval to the eye; the forehead was +broad, high, and intellectual—purely white, probably because so well +shadowed by the masses of his dark brown hair. His eyes were rather +small, but dark and expressive, and derived additional expression from +their large, bushy, overhanging brows, which gave a commanding, and, at +times, a somewhat fierce expression to his countenance. But his mouth +was small, sweet, exquisitely chiselled, and the lips of a ripe, rich +color. His chin, full and decided, was in character with the nobility of +his forehead. The <i>tout ensemble</i> constituted a fine specimen of +masculine beauty, significant at once of character and intelligence.</p> + +<p>Our traveller rode a steed, which might be considered, even in the +South, where the passion for fine horses is universal, of the choicest +parentage. He was blooded, and of Arabian, through English, stocks. You +might detect his blood at a glance, even as you did that of his rider. +The beast was large, high, broad-chested, sleek of skin, wiry of limb, +with no excess of fat, and no straggling hair; small ears, a glorious +mane, and a great lively eye. At once docile and full of life, he trod +the earth with the firm pace of an elephant, yet with the ease of an +antelope; moving carelessly as in pastime, and as if he bore no sort of +burden on his back. For that matter he might well do so. His rider, +though well developed, was too slight to be felt by such a creature—and +a small portmanteau carried all his wardrobe. Beyond this he had no +<i>impedimenta</i>; and to those accustomed only to the modes of travel +in a more settled and civilized country—with bag and baggage—the +traveller might <span class="pagenum">[17]<a name="page17" id="page17"></a></span> +have appeared—but for a pair of +moderately-sized twisted barrels which we see pocketed on the +saddle—rather as a gentleman of leisure taking his morning ride, than +one already far from home and increasing at every step the distance +between it and himself. From our privilege we make bold to mention, +that, strictly proportioned to their capacities, the last named +appurtenances carried each a charge which might have rendered awkward +any interruption; and it may not be saying too much if we add, that it +is not improbable to this portion of his equipage our traveller was +indebted for that security which had heretofore obviated all necessity +for their use. They were essentials which might or might not, in that +wild region, have been put in requisition; and the prudence of all +experience, in our border country, is seldom found to neglect such +companionship.</p> + +<p>So much for the personal appearance and the equipment of our young +traveller. We have followed the usage among novelists, and have dwelt +thus long upon these details, as we design that our adventurer shall +occupy no small portion of the reader's attention. He will have much to +do and to endure in the progress of this narrative.</p> + +<p>It may be well, in order to the omission of nothing hereafter important, +to add that he seems well bred to the <i>mančge</i>—and rode with that +ease and air of indolence, which are characteristic of the gentry of the +south. His garments were strictly suited to the condition and custom of +the country—a variable climate, rough roads, and rude accommodations. +They consisted of a dark blue frock, of stuff not so fine as strong, +with pantaloons of the same material, all fitting well, happily adjusted +to the figure of the wearer, yet sufficiently free for any exercise. He +was booted and spurred, and wore besides, from above the knee to the +ankle, a pair of buckskin leggins, wrought by the Indians, and trimmed, +here and there, with beaded figures that gave a somewhat fantastic air +to this portion of his dress. A huge cloak strapped over the saddle, +completes our portrait, which, at the time of which we write, was that +of most travellers along our southern frontiers. We must not omit to +state that a cap of fur, rather than a fashionable beaver, was also the +ordinary covering of the head—that of our traveller was of a +finely-dressed fur, very far superior to the common fox +<span class="pagenum">[18]<a name="page18" id="page18"></a></span>skin cap +worn by the plain backwoodsmen. It declared, somewhat for the superior +social condition of the wearer, even if his general air and carriage did +not sufficiently do so.</p> + +<p>Our new acquaintance had, by this time, emerged into one of those +regions of brown, broken, heathery waste, thinly mottled with tree and +shrub, which seem usually to distinguish the first steppes on the +approach to our mountain country. Though undulating, and rising +occasionally into hill and crag, the tract was yet sufficiently +monotonous; rather saddened than relieved by the gentle sunset, which +seemed to gild in mockery the skeleton woods and forests, just +recovering from the keen biting blasts of a severe and protracted +winter.</p> + +<p>Our traveller, naturally of a dreamy and musing spirit, here fell +unconsciously into a narrow footpath, an old Indian trace, and without +pause or observation, followed it as if quite indifferent whither it +led. He was evidently absorbed in that occupation—a very unusual one +with youth on horseback—that "chewing of the cud of sweet and bitter +thought"—which testifies for premature troubles and still gnawing +anxieties of soul. His thoughts were seemingly in full unison with the +almost grave-like stillness and solemn hush of everything around him. +His spirit appeared to yield itself up entirely to the mournful +barrenness and uninviting associations, from which all but himself, +birds and beasts, and the very insects, seemed utterly to have departed. +The faint hum of a single wood-chuck, which, from its confused motions, +appeared to have wandered into an unknown territory, and by its uneasy +action and frequent chirping, seemed to indicate a perfect knowledge of +the fact, was the only object which at intervals broke through the spell +of silence which hung so heavily upon the sense. The air of our +traveller was that of one who appeared unable, however desirous he might +be, to avoid the train of sad thought which such a scene was so +eminently calculated to inspire; and, of consequence, who seemed +disposed, for this object, to call up some of those internal resources +of one's own mind and memory, which so mysteriously bear us away from +the present, whatever its powers, its pains, or its pleasures, and to +carry us into a territory of the heart's own selection. But, whether the +past in his case, were more to be dreaded than the present; or +<span class="pagenum">[19]<a name="page19" id="page19"></a></span> +whether it was that there was something in the immediate prospect +which appealed to sterile hopes, and provoking memories, it is very +certain that our young companion exhibited a most singular indifference +to the fact that he was in a wild empire of the forest—a +wilderness—and that the sun was rapidly approaching his setting. The +bridle held heedlessly, lay loose upon the neck of his steed; and it was +only when the noble animal, more solicitous about his night's lodging +than his rider, or rendered anxious by his seeming stupor, suddenly came +to a full stand in the narrow pathway, that the youth seemed to grow +conscious of his doubtful situation, and appeared to shake off his +apathy and to look about him.</p> + +<p>He now perceived that he had lost the little Indian pathway which he had +so long pursued. There was no sign of route or road on any side. The +prospect was greatly narrowed; he was in a valley, and the trees had +suddenly thickened around him. Certain hills, which his eyes had +hitherto noted on the right, had disappeared wholly from sight. He had +evidently deflected greatly from his proper course, and the horizon was +now too circumscribed to permit him to distinguish any of those guiding +signs upon which he had relied for his progress. From a bald tract he +had unwittingly passed into the mazes of a somewhat thickly-growing +wood.</p> + +<p>"Old Blucher," he said, addressing his horse, and speaking in clear +silvery tones—"what have you done, old fellow? Whither have you brought +us?"</p> + +<p>The philosophy which tells us, when lost, to give the reins to the +steed, will avail but little in a region where the horse has never been +before. This our traveller seemed very well to know. But the blame was +not chargeable upon Blucher. He had tacitly appealed to the beast for +his direction when suffering the bridle to fall upon his neck. He was +not willing, now, to accord to him a farther discretion; and was quite +too much of the man to forbear any longer the proper exercise of his own +faculties. With the quickening intelligence in his eyes, and the +compression of his lips, declaring a resolute will, he pricked the +animal forward, no longer giving way to those brown musings, which, +during the previous hour, had not only taken him to remote regions but +very much out of his way besides. In <span class="pagenum">[20]<a +name="page20" id="page20"></a></span>sober earnest, he had lost +the way, and, in sober earnest, he set about to recover it; but a ten +minutes' farther ride only led him to farther involvements; and he +paused, for a moment, to hold tacit counsel with his steed, whose +behavior was very much that of one who understands fully his own, and +the predicament of his master. Our traveller then dismounted, and, +suffering his bridle to rest upon the neck of the docile beast, he +coursed about on all sides, looking close to the earth in hopes to find +some ancient traces of a pathway. But his search was vain. His anxieties +increased. The sunlight was growing fainter and fainter; and, in spite +of the reckless manner, which he still wore, you might see a lurking and +growing anxiety in his quick and restless eye. He was vexed with himself +that he had suffered his wits to let fall his reins; and his disquiet +was but imperfectly concealed under the careless gesture and rather +philosophic swing of his graceful person, as, plying his silent way, +through clumps of brush, and bush, and tree, he vainly peered along the +earth for the missing traces of the route. He looked up for the openings +in the tree-tops—he looked west, at the rapidly speeding sun, and shook +his head at his horse. Though bold of heart, no doubt, and tolerably +well aware of the usual backwoods mode of procedure in all such cases of +embarrassment, our traveller had been too gently nurtured to affect a +lodge in the wilderness that night—its very "vast contiguity of shade" +being anything but attractive in his present mood. No doubt, he could +have borne the necessity as well as any other man, but still he held it +a necessity to be avoided if possible. He had, we are fain to confess, +but small passion for that "grassy couch," and "leafy bower," and those +other rural felicities, of which your city poets, who lie snug in +garrets, are so prone to sing; and always gave the most unromantic +preference to comfortable lodgings and a good roof; so, persevering in +his search after the pathway, while any prospect of success remained, he +circled about until equally hopeless and fatigued; then, remounted his +steed, and throwing the bridle upon his neck, with something of the +indifference of despair, he plied his spurs, suffering the animal to +adopt his own course, which we shall see was nevertheless interrupted by +the appearance of another party upon the scene, whose introduction we +reserve for another chapter.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[21]<a name="page21" id="page21"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter2" id="chapter2">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE ENCOUNTER—THE CHEVALIER D'INDUSTRIE.</h3> + + +<p>Thus left to himself, the good steed of our traveller set off, without +hesitation, and with a free step, that promised, at least, to overcome +space hurriedly, if it attained not the desired destination. The rider +did not suffer any of his own doubts to mar a progress so confidently +begun; and a few minutes carried the twain, horse and man, deeply, as it +were, into the very bowels of the forest. The path taken by the steed +grew every moment more and more intricate and difficult of access, and, +but for the interruption already referred to, it is not impossible that +a continued course in the same direction, would have brought the rider +to a full stop from the sheer inaccessibleness of the forest.</p> + +<p>The route thus taken lay in a valley which was necessarily more fertile, +more densely packed with thicket, than the higher road which our rider +had been pursuing all the day. The branches grew more and more close; +and, what with the fallen trees, the spreading boughs, the undergrowth, +and broken character of the plain, our horseman was fain to leave the +horse to himself, finding quite enough to do in saving his eyes, and +keeping his head from awkward contact with overhanging timber. The pace +of the beast necessarily sunk into a walk. The question with his rider +was, in what direction to turn, to extricate himself from the mazes into +which he had so rashly ridden? While he mused this question, Blucher +started suddenly with evidently some new and exciting consciousness. His +ears were suddenly lifted—his eyes were strained upon the copse in +front—he halted, as if reluctant to proceed. It was evident that his +senses had taken in some sights, or sounds, which were unusual.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[22]<a name="page22" id="page22"></a></span> +Of course, our traveller was by no means heedless of this +behavior on the part of the beast. He well knew the superior keenness of +the brute senses, over those of the man; and his own faculties were +keenly enlisted in the scrutiny. There might be wolves along the +track—the country was not wanting in them; or, more to be feared, there +might be a panther lurking along some great overhanging forest bough. +There was need to be vigilant. Either of these savages would make his +propinquity known, at a short distance, to the senses of an animal so +timid as the horse. Or, it might be, that a worse beast still—always +worst of all when he emulates the nature of the beast—man!—might be +lurking upon the track! If so, the nature of the peril was perhaps +greater still, to the rider if not the steed. The section of the wild +world in which our traveller journeyed was of doubtful character; but +sparingly supplied with good citizens; and most certainly infested with +many with whom the world had quarrelled—whom it had driven forth in +shame and terror.</p> + +<p>The youth thought of all these things. But they did not overcome his +will, or lessen his courage. Preparing himself, as well as he might, for +all chances, he renewed his efforts to extricate himself from his thick +harborage; pressing his steed firmly, in a direction which seemed to +open fairly, the sky appearing more distinctly through the opening of +the trees above. Meanwhile, he kept his eyes busy, watching right and +left. Still, he could see nothing, hear nothing, but the slight footfall +of his own steed. And yet the animal continued uneasy, his ears pricked +up, his head turning, this way and that, with evident curiosity; his +feet set down hesitatingly, as if uncertain whether to proceed.</p> + +<p>Curious and anxious, our traveller patted the neck of the beast +affectionately, and, in low tones, endeavored to soothe his +apprehensions:</p> + +<p>"Quietly, Blucher, quietly? What do you see, old fellow, to make you +uneasy? Is it the snug stall, and the dry fodder, and the thirty ears, +for which you long. I'faith, old fellow, the chance is that both of us +will seek shelter and supper in vain to-night."</p> + +<p>Blucher pricked up his ears at the tones, however subdued, +<span class="pagenum">[23]<a name="page23" id="page23"></a></span>of +his rider's voice, which he well knew; but his uneasiness continued; +and, just when our young traveller, began to feel some impatience at his +restiffness and coyness, a shrill whistle which rang through the forest, +from the copse in front, seemed at once to determine the correctness of +sense in the animal, and the sort of beast which had occasioned his +anxieties. He was not much longer left in doubt as to the cause of the +animal's excitement. A few bounds brought him unexpectedly into a +pathway, still girdled, however, by a close thicket—and having an +ascent over a hill, the top of which was of considerable elevation +compared with the plain he had been pursuing. As the horse entered this +pathway, and began the ascent, he shyed suddenly, and so abruptly, that +a less practised rider would have lost his seat.</p> + +<p>"Quiet, beast! what do you see?"</p> + +<p>The traveller himself looked forward at his own query, and soon +discovered the occasion of his steed's alarm. No occasion for alarm, +either, judging by appearances; no panther, no wolf, certainly—a man +only—looking innocent enough, were it not for the suspicious fact that +he seemed to have put himself in waiting, and stood directly in the +midst of the path that the horseman was pursuing.</p> + +<p>Our traveller, as we have seen, was not wholly unprepared, as well to +expect as to encounter hostilities. In addition to his pistols, which +were well charged, and conveniently at hand, we may now add that he +carried another weapon, for close quarters, concealed in his bosom. The +appearance of the stranger was not, however, so decided a manifestation +of hostility, as to justify his acting with any haste by the premature +use of his defences. Besides, no man of sense, and such we take our +traveller to be, will force a quarrel where he can make his way +peacefully, like a Christian and a gentleman. Our young traveller very +quietly observed as he approached the stranger—</p> + +<p>"You scare my horse, sir. Will it please you to give us the road?"</p> + +<p>"Give you the road?—Oh! yes! when you have paid the toll, young +master!"</p> + +<p>The manner of the man was full of insolence, and the blood, in a moment, +rushed to the cheeks of the youth. He divined, +<span class="pagenum">[24]<a name="page24" id="page24"></a></span>by instinct, that +there was some trouble in preparation for him, and his teeth were +silently clenched together, and his soul nerved itself for anticipated +conflict. He gazed calmly, however, though sternly, at the stranger, who +appeared nothing daunted by the expression in the eyes of the traveller. +His air was that of quiet indifference, bordering on contempt, as if he +knew his duties, or his man, and was resolved upon the course he was +appointed to pursue. When men meet thus, if they are persons of even +ordinary intelligence, the instincts are quick to conceive and act, and +the youth was now more assured than ever, that the contest awaited him +which should try his strength. This called up all his resources, and we +may infer that he possessed them in large degree, from his quiet +forbearance and deliberation, even when he became fully sensible of the +insolence of the person with whom he felt about to grapple.</p> + +<p>As yet, however, judging from other appearances, there was no violence +meditated by the stranger. He was simply insolent, and he was in the +way. He carried no weapons—none which met the sight, at least, and +there was nothing in his personal appearance calculated to occasion +apprehension. His frame was small, his limbs slight, and they did not +afford promise of much activity. His face was not ill favored, though a +quick, restless black eye, keen and searching, had in it a lurking +malignity, like that of a snake, which impressed the spectator with +suspicion at the first casual glance. His nose, long and sharp, was +almost totally fleshless; the skin being drawn so tightly over the +bones, as to provoke the fear that any violent effort would cause them +to force their way through the frail integument. An untrimmed beard, run +wild; and a pair of whiskers so huge, as to refuse all accordance with +the thin diminutive cheeks which wore them; thin lips, and a sharp +chin;—completed the outline of a very unprepossessing face, which a +broad high forehead did not tend very much to improve or dignify.</p> + +<p>Though the air of the stranger was insolent, and his manner rude, our +young traveller was unwilling to decide unfavorably. At all events, his +policy and mood equally inclined him to avoid any proceeding which +should precipitate or compel violence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[25]<a name="page25" id="page25"></a></span> +"There are many good people in the world"—so he thought—"who +are better than they promise; many good Christians, whose aspects would +enable them to pass, in any crowd, as very tolerable and becoming +ruffians. This fellow may be one of the unfortunate order of virtuous +people, cursed with an unbecoming visage. We will see before we shoot."</p> + +<p>Thus thought our traveller, quickly, as became his situation. He +determined accordingly, while foregoing none of his precautions, to see +farther into the designs of the stranger, before he resorted to any +desperate issues. He replied, accordingly, to the requisition of the +speaker; the manner, rather than the matter of which, had proved +offensive.</p> + +<p>"Toll! You ask toll of me! By what right, sir, and for whom do you +require it?"</p> + +<p>"Look you, young fellow, I am better able to ask questions myself, than +to answer those of other people. In respect to this matter of answering, +my education has been wofully neglected."</p> + +<p>The reply betrayed some intelligence as well as insolence. Our traveller +could not withhold the retort.</p> + +<p>"Ay, indeed! and in some other respects too, not less important, if I am +to judge from your look and bearing. But you mistake your man, let me +tell you. I am not the person whom you can play your pranks upon with +safety, and unless you will be pleased to speak a little more +respectfully, our parley will have a shorter life, and a rougher ending, +than you fancy."</p> + +<p>"It would scarcely be polite to contradict so promising a young +gentleman as yourself," was the response; "but I am disposed to believe +our intimacy likely to lengthen, rather than diminish. I hate to part +over-soon with company that talks so well; particularly in these woods, +where, unless such a chance come about as the present, the lungs of the +heartiest youth in the land would not be often apt to find the echo they +seek, though they cried for it at the uttermost pitch of the pipe."</p> + +<p>The look and the language of the speaker were alike significant, and the +sinister meaning of the last sentence did not escape the notice of him +to whom was addressed. His reply was calm, however, and his mind grew +more at ease, more collected,<span class="pagenum">[26]<a name="page26" id="page26"></a></span> +with his growing consciousness of +annoyance and danger. He answered the stranger in a vein not unlike his +own.</p> + +<p>"You are pleased to be eloquent, worthy sir—and, on any other occasion, +I might not be unwilling to bestow my ear upon you; but as I have yet to +find my way out of this labyrinth, for the use of which your +facetiousness would have me pay a tax, I must forego that satisfaction, +and leave the enjoyment for some better day."</p> + +<p>"You are well bred, I see, young sir," was the reply, "and this forms an +additional reason why I should not desire so soon to break our +acquaintance. If you have mistaken your road, what do you on this?—why +are you in this part of the country, which is many miles removed from +any public thoroughfare?"</p> + +<p>"By what right do you ask the question?" was the hurried and +unhesitating response. "You are impertinent!"</p> + +<p>"Softly, softly, young sir. Be not rash, and let me recommend that you +be more choice in the adoption of your epithets. Impertinent is an ugly +word between gentlemen of our habit. Touching my right to ask this or +that question of young men who lose the way, that's neither here nor +there, and is important in no way. But, I take it, I should have some +right in this matter, seeing, young sir, that you are upon the turnpike +and I am the gate-keeper who must take the toll."</p> + +<p>A sarcastic smile passed over the lips of the man as he uttered the +sentence, which was as suddenly succeeded, however, by an expression of +gravity, partaking of an air of the profoundest business. The traveller +surveyed him for a moment before he replied, as if to ascertain in what +point of view properly to understand his conduct.</p> + +<p>"Turnpike! this is something new. I never heard of a turnpike and a gate +for toll, in a part of the world in which men, or honest ones at least, +are not yet commonly to be found. You think rather too lightly, my good +sir, of my claim to that most vulgar commodity called common sense, if +you suppose me likely to swallow this silly story."</p> + +<p>"Oh, doubtless—you are a very sagacious young man, I make no question," +said the other, with a sneer—"but you'll have to pay the turnpike for +all that."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[27]<a name="page27" id="page27"></a></span> +"You speak confidently on this point; but, if I am to pay this +turnpike, at least, I may be permitted to know who is its proprietor."</p> + +<p>"To be sure you may. I am always well pleased to satisfy the doubts and +curiosity of young travellers who go abroad for information. I take you +to be one of this class."</p> + +<p>"Confine yourself, if you please, to the matter in hand—I grow weary of +this chat," said the youth with a haughty inclination, that seemed to +have its effect even upon him with whom he spoke.</p> + +<p>"Your question is quickly answered. You have heard of the Pony +Club—have you not?"</p> + +<p>"I must confess my utter ignorance of such an institution. I have never +heard even the name before."</p> + +<p>"You have not—then really it is high time to begin the work of +enlightenment. You must know, then, that the Pony Club is the proprietor +of everything and everybody, throughout the nation, and in and about +this section. It is the king, without let or limitation of powers, for +sixty miles around. Scarce a man in Georgia but pays in some sort to its +support—and judge and jury alike contribute to its treasuries. Few +dispute its authority, as you will have reason to discover, without +suffering condign and certain punishment; and, unlike the tributaries +and agents of other powers, its servitors, like myself, invested with +jurisdiction over certain parts and interests, sleep not in the +performance of our duties; but, day and night, obey its dictates, and +perform the various, always laborious, and sometimes dangerous functions +which it imposes upon us. It finds us in men, in money, in horses. It +assesses the Cherokees, and they yield a tithe, and sometimes a greater +proportion of their ponies, in obedience to its requisitions. Hence, +indeed, the name of the club. It relieves young travellers, like +yourself, of their small change—their sixpences; and when they happen +to have a good patent lever, such a one as a smart young gentleman like +yourself is very apt to carry about him, it is not scrupulous, but helps +them of that too, merely by way of <i>pas-time</i>."</p> + +<p>And the ruffian chuckled in a half-covert manner at his own pun.</p> + +<p>"Truly, a well-conceived sort of sovereignty, and doubtless +<span class="pagenum">[28]<a name="page28" id="page28"></a></span> +sufficiently well served, if I may infer from the representative +before me. You must do a large business in this way, most worthy sir."</p> + +<p>"Why, that we do, and your remark reminds me that I have quite as little +time to lose as yourself. You now understand, young sir, the toll you +have to pay, and the proprietor who claims it."</p> + +<p>"Perfectly—perfectly. You will not suppose me dull again, most candid +keeper of the Pony Turnpike. But have you made up your mind, in earnest, +to relieve me of such trifling encumbrances as those you have just +mentioned?"</p> + +<p>"I should be strangely neglectful of the duties of my station, not to +speak of the discourtesy of such a neglect to yourself, were I to do +otherwise; always supposing you burdened with such encumbrances. I put +it to yourself, whether such would not be the effect of my omission."</p> + +<p>"It most certainly would, most frank and candid of all the outlaws. Your +punctiliousness on this point of honor entitles you, in my mind, to an +elevation above and beyond all others of your profession. I admire the +grace of your manner, in the commission of acts which the more tame and +temperate of our kind are apt to look upon as irregular and unlovely. +You, I see, have the true notion of the thing."</p> + +<p>The ruffian looked with some doubt upon the youth—inquiringly, as if to +account in some way for the singular coolness, not to say contemptuous +scornfulness, of his replies and manner. There was something, too, of a +searching malignity in his glance, that seemed to recognise in his +survey features which brought into activity a personal emotion in his +own bosom, not at variance, indeed, with the craft he was pursuing, but +fully above and utterly beyond it. Dismissing, however, the expression, +he continued in the manner and tone so tacitly adopted between the +parties.</p> + +<p>"I am heartily glad, most travelled young gentleman, that your opinion +so completely coincides with my own, since it assures me I shall not be +compelled, as is sometimes the case in the performance of my duties, to +offer any rudeness to one seemingly so well taught as yourself. Knowing +the relationship between us so fully, you can have no reasonable +objection <span class="pagenum">[29]<a name="page29" id="page29"></a></span> +to conform quietly to all my requisitions, and yield +the toll-keeper his dues."</p> + +<p>Our traveller had been long aware, in some degree, of the kind of +relationship between himself and his companion; but, relying on his +defences, and perhaps somewhat too much on his own personal capacities +of defence, and, possibly, something curious to see how far the love of +speech in his assailant might carry him in a dialogue of so artificial a +character, he forbore as yet a resort to violence. He found it +excessively difficult, however, to account for the strange nature of the +transaction so far as it had gone; and the language of the robber seemed +so inconsistent with his pursuit, that, at intervals, he was almost led +to doubt whether the whole was not the clever jest of some country +sportsman, who, in the guise of a levyer of contributions upon the +traveller, would make an acquaintance, such as is frequent in the South, +terminating usually in a ride to a neighboring plantation, and pleasant +accommodations so long as the stranger might think proper to avail +himself of them.</p> + +<p>If, on the other hand, the stranger was in reality the ruffian he +represented himself, he knew not how to account for his delay in the +assault—a delay, to the youth's mind, without an object—unless +attributable to a temper of mind like that of Robin Hood, and coupled in +the person before him, as in that of the renowned king of the outlaws, +with a peculiar freedom and generosity of habit, and a gallantry and +adroitness which, in a different field, had made him a knight worthy to +follow and fight for Baldwin and the Holy Cross. Our young traveller was +a <i>romanticist</i>, and all of these notions came severally into his +thoughts. Whatever might have been the motives of conduct in the robber, +who thus audaciously announced himself the member of a club notorious on +the frontiers of Georgia and among the Cherokees for its daring +outlawries, the youth determined to keep up the game so long as it +continued such. After a brief pause, he replied to the above +politely-expressed demand in the following language:—</p> + +<p>"Your request, most unequivocal sir, would seem but reasonable; and so +considering it, I have bestowed due reflection upon it. Unhappily, +however, for the Pony Club and its worthy representative, I am quite too +poorly provided with worldly wealth <span class="pagenum">[30]<a name="page30" +id="page30"></a></span>at this moment to part with +much of it. A few shillings to procure you a cravat—such as you may get +of Kentucky manufacture—I should not object to. Beyond this, however +(and the difficulty grieves me sorely), I am so perfectly incapacitated +from doing anything, that I am almost persuaded, in order to the +bettering of my own condition, to pay the customary fees, and applying +to your honorable body for the privilege of membership, procure those +means of lavish generosity which my necessity, and not my will, prevents +me from bestowing upon you."</p> + +<p>"A very pretty idea," returned he of the road; "and under such +circumstances, your jest about the cravat from Kentucky is by no means +wanting in proper application. But the fact is, our numbers are just now +complete—our ranks are full—and the candidates for the honor are so +numerous as to leave little chance for an applicant. You might be +compelled to wait a long season, unless the Georgia penitentiary and +Georgia guard shall create a vacancy in your behalf."</p> + +<p>"Truly, the matter is of very serious regret," with an air of much +solemnity, replied the youth, who seemed admirably to have caught up the +spirit of the dialogue—"and it grieves me the more to know, that, under +this view of the case, I can no more satisfy you than I can serve +myself. It is quite unlucky that your influence is insufficient to +procure me admission into your fraternity; since it is impossible that I +should pay the turnpike, when the club itself, by refusing me +membership, will not permit me to acquire the means of doing so. So, as +the woods grow momently more dull and dark, and as I may have to ride +far for a supper, I am constrained, however unwilling to leave good +company, to wish you a fair evening, and a long swing of fortune, most +worthy knight of the highway, and trusty representative of the Pony +Club."</p> + +<p>With these words, the youth, gathering up the bridle of the horse, and +slightly touching him with the rowel, would have proceeded on his +course; but the position of the outlaw now underwent a corresponding +change, and, grasping the rein of the animal, he arrested his farther +progress.</p> + +<p>"I am less willing to separate than yourself from good company, gentle +youth, as you may perceive; since I so carefully <span class="pagenum">[31]<a name="page31" +id="page31"></a></span>restrain you +from a ride over a road so perilous as this. You have spoken like a fair +and able scholar this afternoon; and talents, such as you possess, come +too seldom into our forests to suffer them, after so brief a sample, to +leave us so abruptly. You must come to terms with the turnpike."</p> + +<p>"Take your hands from my horse, sirrah!" was the only response made by +the youth; his tone and manner corresponding with the change in the +situation of the parties. "I would not do you harm willingly; I want no +man's blood on my head; but my pistols, let me assure you, are much more +readily come at than my purse. Tempt me not to use them—stand from the +way."</p> + +<p>"It may not be," replied the robber, with a composure and coolness that +underwent no change; "your threats affect me not. I have not taken my +place here without a perfect knowledge of all its dangers and +consequences. You had better come peaceably to terms; for, were it even +the case that you could escape <i>me</i>, you have only to cast your eye +up the path before you, to be assured of the utter impossibility of +escaping those who aid me. The same glance will also show you the +tollgate, which you could not see before. Look ahead, young sir, and be +wise in time; and let me perform my duties without hindrance."</p> + +<p>Casting a furtive glance on the point indicated by the ruffian, the +youth saw, for the first time, a succession of bars—a rail fence, in +fact, of more than usual height—completely crossing the narrow pathway +and precluding all passage. Approaching the place of strife, the same +glance assured him, were two men, well armed, evidently the accomplices +of the robber who had pointed to them as such. The prospect grew more +and more perilous, and the youth, whose mind was one of that sort which +avails itself of its energies seemingly only in emergencies, beheld his +true course, with a moment's reflection, and hesitated not a single +moment in its adoption. He saw that something more was necessary than to +rid himself merely of the ruffian immediately before him, and that an +unsuccessful blow or shot would leave him entirely at the mercy of the +gang. To escape, a free rein must be given to the steed, on which he +felt confident he could rely; and, though prompted by the most +<span class="pagenum">[32]<a name="page32" id="page32"></a></span> +natural impulse to send a bullet through the head of his assailant, +he wisely determined on a course which, as it would be unlooked for, had +therefore a better prospect of success.</p> + +<p>Without further pause, drawing suddenly from his bosom the bowie-knife +commonly worn in those regions, and bending forward, he aimed a blow at +the ruffian, which, as he had anticipated, was expertly eluded—the +assailant, sinking under the neck of the steed, and relying on the +strength of the rein, which he still continued to hold, to keep him from +falling, while at the same time he kept the check upon the horse.</p> + +<p>This movement was that which the youth had looked for and desired. The +blow was but a feint, for, suddenly turning the direction of the knife +when his enemy was out of its reach, he cut the bridle upon which the +latter hung, and the head of the horse, freed from the restraint, was as +at once elevated in air. The suddenness of his motion whirled the +ruffian to the ground; while the rider, wreathing his hands in the mane +of the noble animal, gave him a free spur, and plunged at once over the +struggling wretch, in whose cheek the glance of his hoof left a deep +gash.</p> + +<p>The steed bounded forward; nor did the youth seek to restrain him, +though advancing full up the hill and in the teeth of his enemies. +Satisfied that he was approaching their station, the accomplices of the +foiled ruffian, who had seen the whole affray, sunk into the covert; +but, what was their mortification to perceive the traveller, though +without any true command over his steed, by an adroit use of the broker +bridle, so wheel him round as to bring him, in a few leaps, over the +very ground of the strife, and before the staggering robber had yet +fully arisen from the path. By this manoeuvre he placed himself in +advance of the now approaching banditti. Driving his spurs resolutely +and unsparingly into the flanks of his horse, while encouraging him with +well known words of cheer, he rushed over the scene of his late struggle +with a velocity that set all restraint at defiance—his late opponent +scarcely being able to put himself in safety. A couple of shots, that +whistled wide of the mark, announced his extrication from the +difficulty—but, to his surprise, his enemies had been at work behind +him, and the edge of the copse through which he was about to pass, was +<span class="pagenum">[33]<a name="page33" id="page33"></a></span> +blockaded with bars in like manner with the path in front. He +heard the shouts of the ruffians in the rear—he felt the danger, if not +impracticability of his pausing for the removal of the rails, and, in +the spirit which had heretofore marked his conduct, he determined upon +the most daring endeavor. Throwing off all restraint from his steed, and +fixing himself firmly in the stirrup and saddle, he plunged onward to +the leap, and, to the chagrin of the pursuers, who had relied much upon +the obstruction, and who now appeared in pursuit, the noble animal, +without a moment's reluctance, cleared it handsomely.</p> + +<p>Another volley of shot rang in the ears of the youth, as he passed the +impediment, and he felt himself wounded in the side. The wound gave him +little concern at the moment, for, under the excitement of the strife, +he felt not even its smart; and, turning himself upon the saddle, he +drew one of his own weapons from its case, and discharging it, by way of +taunt, in the faces of the outlaws, laughed loud with the exulting +spirit of youth at the successful result of an adventure due entirely to +his own perfect coolness, and to the warm courage which had been his +predominating feature from childhood.</p> + +<p>The incident just narrated had dispersed a crowd of gloomy reflections, +so that the darkness which now overspread the scene, coupled as it was +with the cheerlessness of prospect before him, had but little influence +upon his spirits. Still, ignorant of his course, and beginning to be +enfeebled by the loss of blood, he moderated his speed, and left it to +the animal to choose his own course. But he was neither so cool nor so +sanguine, to relax so greatly in his speed as to permit of his being +overtaken by the desperates whom he had so cleverly foiled. He knew the +danger, the utter hopelessness, indeed, of a second encounter with the +same persons. He felt sure that he would be suffered no such long parley +as before. Without restraining his horse, our young traveller simply +regulated his speed by a due estimate of the capacity of the outlaws for +pursuit a-foot; and, without knowing whither he sped, having left the +route wholly to the horse, he was suddenly relieved by finding himself +upon a tolerably broad road, which, in the imperfect twilight, he +concluded to be the same from which, in his mistimed musings he had +suffered his horse to turn aside. He had no means to +<span class="pagenum">[34]<a name="page34" id="page34"></a></span>ascertain +the fact, conclusively, and, in sooth, no time; for now he began to feel +a strange sensation of weakness; his eyes swam, and grew darkened; a +numbness paralyzed his whole frame; a sickness seized upon his heart; +and, after sundry feeble efforts, under a strong will, to command and +compel his powers, they finally gave way, and he sunk from his steed +upon the long grass, and lay unconscious;—his last thought, ere his +senses left him, being that of death! Here let us leave him for a little +space, while we hurriedly seek better knowledge of him in other +quarters.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[35]<a name="page35" id="page35"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter3" id="chapter3">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + +<h3>YOUNG LOVE—THE RETROSPECT.</h3> + + +<p>It will not hurt our young traveller, to leave him on the greensward, in +the genial spring-time; and, as the night gathers over him, and a +helpful insensibility interposes for the relief of pain, we may avail +ourselves of the respite to look into the family chronicles, and show +the why and wherefore of this errant journey, the antecedents and the +relations of our hero.</p> + +<p>Ralph Colleton, the young traveller whose person we have described, and +whose most startling adventure in life, we have just witnessed, was the +only son of a Carolinian, who could boast the best blood of English +nobility in his veins. The sire, however, had outlived his fortunes, +and, late in life, had been compelled to abandon the place of his +nativity—an adventurer, struggling against a proud stomach, and a +thousand embarrassments—and to bury himself in the less known, but more +secure and economical regions of Tennessee. Born to affluence, with +wealth that seemed adequate to all reasonable desires—a noble +plantation, numerous slaves, and the host of friends who necessarily +come with such a condition, his individual improvidence, thoughtless +extravagance, and lavish mode of life—a habit not uncommon in the +South—had rendered it necessary, at the age of fifty, when the mind, +not less than the body, requires repose rather than adventure, that he +should emigrate from the place of his birth; and with resources +diminished to a cipher, endeavor to break ground once more in unknown +forests, and commence the toils and troubles of life anew. With an only +son (the youth before us) then a mere boy, and no other family, Colonel +Ralph Colleton did not hesitate at such an exile. He had found out the +worthlessness of men's professions at a period not very remote from the +general knowledge of his loss of <span class="pagenum">[36]<a name="page36" id="page36"></a></span> +fortune: and having no other +connection claiming from him either countenance or support, and but a +single relative from whom separation might be painful, he felt, +comparatively speaking, but few of the privations usually following such +a removal. An elder brother, like himself a widower, with a single +child, a daughter, formed the whole of his kindred left behind him in +Carolina; and, as between the two brothers there had existed, at all +times, some leading dissimilar points of disposition and character, an +occasional correspondence, due rather to form than to affection, served +all necessary purposes in keeping up the sentiment of kindred in their +bosoms. There were but few real affinities which could bring them +together. They never could altogether understand, and certainly had but +a limited desire to appreciate or to approve many of the several and +distinct habits of one another; and thus they separated with but few +sentiments of genuine concern. William Colleton, the elder brother, +was the proprietor of several thousand highly valuable and +pleasantly-situated acres, upon the waters of the Santee—a river which +irrigates a region in the state of South Carolina, famous for its +wealth, lofty pride, polished manners, and noble and considerate +hospitality. Affluent equally with his younger brother by descent, +marriage had still further contributed toward the growth of possessions, +which a prudent management had always kept entire and always improving. +Such was the condition of William Colleton, the uncle of the young +Ralph, then a mere child, when he was taken by his father into +Tennessee.</p> + +<p>There, the fortune of the adventurer still maintained its ancient +aspect. He had bought lands, and engaged in trade, and made sundry +efforts in various and honorable ways, but without success. Vocation +after vocation had with him a common and certain termination, and after +many years of profitless experiment, the ways of prosperity were as far +remote from his knowledge and as perplexing to his pursuit, as at the +first hour of his enterprise. In worldly concerns he stood just where he +had started fifteen years before; with this difference for the worse, +however, that he had grown older in this space of time, less equal to +the tasks of adventure; and with the moral energies checked as they had +been by continual disappointments,<span class="pagenum">[37]<a name="page37" id="page37"></a></span> +recoiling in despondency and +gloom, with trying emphasis, upon a spirit otherwise noble and +sufficiently daring for every legitimate and not unwonted species of +trial and occasion. Still, he had learned little, beyond <i>hauteur</i> +and querulousness, from the lessons of experience. Economy was not more +the inmate of his dwelling than when he was blessed with the large +income of his birthright; but, extravagantly generous as ever, his house +was the abiding-place of a most lavish and unwise hospitality.</p> + +<p>His brother, William Colleton, on the other hand, with means hourly +increasing, exhibited a disposition narrowing at times into a +selfishness the most pitiful. He did not, it is true, forego or forget +any of those habits of freedom and intercourse in his household and with +those about him, which form so large a practice among the people of the +south. He could give a dinner, and furnish an ostentatious +entertainment—lodge his guest in the style of a prince for weeks +together, nor exhibit a feature likely to induce a thought of intrusion +in the mind of his inmate. In public, the populace had no complaints to +urge of his penuriousness; and in all outward shows he manifested the +same general characteristics which marked the habit of the class to +which he belonged.</p> + +<p>But his selfishness lay in things not so much on the surface. It was +more deep and abiding in its character; and consisted in the false +estimate which he made of the things around him. He had learned to value +wealth as a substitute for mind—for morals—for all that is lofty, and +all that should be leading, in the consideration of society. He valued +few things beside. He had different emotions for the rich from those +which he entertained for the poor; and, from perceiving that among men, +money could usurp all places—could defeat virtue, command respect +denied to morality and truth, and secure a real worship when the Deity +must be content with shows and symbols—he gradually gave it the chief +place in his regard. He valued wealth as the instrument of authority. It +secured him power; a power, however, which he had no care to employ, and +which he valued only as tributary to the maintenance of that haughty +ascendency over men which was his heart's first passion. He was neither +miser nor mercenary; he did not labor to accumulate—perhaps because he +was a lucky accumulator without any +<span class="pagenum">[38]<a name="page38" id="page38"></a></span>painstaking of his own: but +he was, by nature an aristocrat, and not unwilling to compel respect +through the means of money, as through any other more noble agency of +intellect or morals.</p> + +<p>There was only one respect in which a likeness between the fortunes of +the two brothers might be found to exist. After a grateful union of a +few years, they had both lost their wives. A single child, in the case +of each, had preserved and hallowed to them the memories of their +mothers. To the younger brother Ralph, a son had been born, soothing the +sorrows of the exile, and somewhat compensating his loss. To William +Colleton, the elder brother, his wife had left a single and very lovely +daughter, the sweet and beautiful Edith, a girl but a few months younger +than her cousin Ralph. It was the redeeming feature, in the case of the +surviving parents, that they each gave to their motherless children, the +whole of that affection—warm in both cases—which had been enjoyed by +the departed mothers.</p> + +<p>Separated from each other, for years, by several hundred miles of +uncultivated and untravelled forest, the brothers did not often meet; +and the bonds of brotherhood waxed feebler and feebler, with the swift +progress of successive years. Still, they corresponded, and in a tone +and temper that seemed to answer for the existence of feelings, which +neither, perhaps, would have been so forward as to assert warmly, if +challenged to immediate answer. Suddenly, however, when young Ralph was +somewhere about fifteen, his uncle expressed a wish to see him; and, +whether through a latent and real affection, or a feeling of self-rebuke +for previous neglect, he exacted from his brother a reluctant consent +that the youth should dwell in his family, while receiving his education +in a region then better prepared to bestow it with profit to the +student. The two young cousins met in Georgia for the first time, and, +after a brief summer journey together, in which they frequented the most +favorite watering places, Ralph was separated from Edith, whom he had +just begun to love with interest, and despatched to college.</p> + +<p>The separation of the son from the father, however beneficial it might +be to the former in certain respects of education, +<span class="pagenum">[39]<a name="page39" id="page39"></a></span>proved fatal +to the latter. He had loved the boy even more than he knew; had learned +to live mostly in the contemplation of the youth's growth and +development; and his absence preyed upon his heart, adding to his sense +of defeat in fortune, and the loneliness and waste of his life. The +solitude in which he dwelt, after the boy's departure, he no longer +desired to disturb; and he pined as hopelessly in his absence, as if he +no longer had a motive or a hope to prompt exertion. He had anticipated +this, in some degree, when he yielded to his brother's arguments and +entreaties; but, conscious of the uses and advantages of education to +his son, he felt the selfishness to be a wrong to the boy, which would +deny him the benefits of that larger civilization, which the uncle +promised, on any pretexts. A calm review of his own arguments against +the transfer, showed them to be suggested by his own wants. With a manly +resolution, therefore, rather to sacrifice his own heart, than deny to +his child the advantages which were held out by his brother, he +consented to his departure. The reproach of selfishness, which William +Colleton had not spared, brought about his resolve; and with a labored +cheerfulness he made his preparations, and accompanied the youth to +Georgia, where his uncle had agreed to meet him. They parted, with +affectionate tears and embraces, never to meet again. A few months only +had elapsed when the father sickened. But he never communicated to his +son, or brother, the secret of his sufferings and grief. Worse, he never +sought relief in change or medicine; but, brooding in the solitude, +gnawing his own heart in silence, he gradually pined away, and, in a +brief year, he was gathered to his fathers. He died, like many +similarly-tempered natures, of no known disorder!</p> + +<p>The boy received the tidings with a burst of grief, which seemed to +threaten his existence. But the sorrows of youth are usually +short-lived, particularly in the case of eager, energetic natures. The +exchange of solitude for the crowd; the emulation of college life; the +sports and communion of youthful associates—served, after a while, to +soothe the sorrows of Ralph Colleton. Indeed, he found it necessary that +he should bend himself earnestly to his studies, that he might forget +his griefs. And, in a measure he succeeded; at least, he subdued their +more fond expression, and only grew sedate, instead of +<span class="pagenum">[40]<a name="page40" id="page40"></a></span> +passionate. The bruises of his heart had brought the energies of his +mind to their more active uses.</p> + +<p>From fifteen to twenty is no very long leap in the history of youth. We +will make it now, and place the young Ralph—now something older in mind +as in body—returned from college, finely formed, intellectual, +handsome, vivacious, manly, spirited, and susceptible—as such a person +should be—once again in close intimacy with his beautiful cousin. The +season which had done so much for him, had been no less liberal with +her; and we now survey her, the expanding flower, all bloom and +fragrance, a tribute of the spring, flourishing in the bosom of the more +forward summer.</p> + +<p>Ralph came from college to his uncle's domicil, now his only home. The +circumstances of his father's fate and fortune, continually acting upon +his mind and sensibilities from boyhood, had made his character a marked +and singular one—proud, jealous, and sensitive, to an extreme which was +painful not merely to himself, but at times to others. But he was noble, +lofty, sincere, without a touch of meanness in his composition, above +circumlocution, with a simplicity of character strikingly great, but +without anything like puerility or weakness.</p> + +<p>The children—for such, in reference to their experience, we may venture +to call them—had learned to recognise in the progress of a very brief +period but a single existence. Ralph looked only for Edith, and cared +nothing for other sunlight; while Edith, with scarcely less reserve than +her bolder companion, had speech and thought for few besides Ralph. +Circumstances contributed not a little to what would appear the natural +growth of this mutual dependence. They were perpetually left together, +and with few of those tacit and readily understood restraints, +unavoidably accompanying the presence of others older than themselves. +Residing, save at few brief intervals, at the plantation of Colonel +Colleton, they saw little and knew less of society; and the worthy +colonel, not less ambitious than proud, having become a politician, had +left them a thousand opportunities of intimacy which had now become so +grateful to them both. Half of his time was taken up in public matters. +A leader of his party in the section of country in which he lived, he +was always busy in the responsibilities imposed upon him +<span class="pagenum">[41]<a name="page41" id="page41"></a></span>by such +a station; and, what with canvassing at election-polls and +muster-grounds, and dancing attendance as a silent voter at the halls of +the state legislature, to the membership of which his constituents had +returned him, he saw but little of his family, and they almost as little +of him. His influence grew unimportant with his wards, in proportion as +it obtained vigor with his faction—was seldom referred to by them, and, +perhaps, if it had been, such was the rapid growth of their affections, +would have been but little regarded. He appeared to take it for granted, +that, having provided them with all the necessaries called for by life, +he had done quite enough for their benefit; and actually gave far less +of his consideration to his own and only child than he did to his +plantation, and the success of a party measure, involving possibly the +office of doorkeeper to the house, or of tax-collector to the district. +The taste for domestic life, which at one period might have been held +with him exclusive, had been entirely swallowed up and forgotten in his +public relations; and entirely overlooking the fact, that, in the silent +goings-on of time, the infantile will cease to be so, he never seemed to +observe that the children whom he had brought together but a few years +before might not with reason be considered children any longer.</p> + +<p>Children, indeed! What years had they not lived—what volumes of +experience in human affections and feelings had the influence and genial +warmth of a Carolina sun not unfolded to their spirits—in the few sweet +and uninterrupted seasons of their intercourse. How imperious were the +dictates of that nature, to whose immethodical but honest teachings they +had been almost entirely given up. They lived together, walked together, +rode together—read in the same books, conned the same lessons, studied +the same prospects, saw life through the common medium of mutual +associations; and lived happy only in the sweet unison of emotions +gathered at a common fountain, and equally dear, and equally necessary +to them both. And this is love—they loved!</p> + +<p>They loved, but the discovery was yet to be made by them. Living in its +purest luxuries—in the perpetual communion of the only one necessary +object—having no desire and as little prospect of change—ignorant of +and altogether untutored by<span class="pagenum">[42]<a name="page42" +id="page42"></a></span>the vicissitudes of life—enjoying +the sweet association which had been the parent of that passion, +dependent now entirely upon its continuance—they had been content, and +had never given themselves any concern to analyze its origin, or to find +for it a name. A momentary doubt—the presages of a dim +perspective—would have taught them better. Had there been a single +moment of discontent in their lives at this period, they had not +remained so long in such ignorance. The fear of its loss can alone teach +us the true value of our treasure. But the discovery was at hand.</p> + +<p>A pleasant spring afternoon in April found the two young people, Ralph +and Edith—the former now twenty years of age, and the latter in the +same neighborhood, half busied, half idle, in the long and spacious +piazza of the family mansion. They could not be said to have been +employed, for Edith rarely made much progress with the embroidering +needle and delicate fabric in her hands, while Ralph, something more +absorbed in a romance of the day, evidently exercised little +concentration of mind in scanning its contents. He skimmed, at first, +rather than studied, the pages before him; conversing occasionally with +the young maiden, who, sitting beside him, occasionally glanced at the +volume in his hand, with something of an air of discontent that it +should take even so much of his regard from herself. As he proceeded, +however, in its perusal, the story grew upon him, and he became +unconscious of her occasional efforts to control his attention. The +needle of Edith seemed also disposed to avail itself of the aberrations +of its mistress, and to rise in rebellion; and, having pricked her +finger more than once in the effort to proceed with her work while her +eyes wandered to her companion, she at length threw down the gauzy +fabric upon which she had been so partially employed, and hastily rising +from her seat, passed into the adjoining apartment.</p> + +<p>Her departure was not attended to by her companion, who for a time +continued his perusal of the book. No great while, however, elapsed, +when, rising also from his seat with a hasty exclamation of surprise, he +threw down the volume and followed her into the room where she sat +pensively meditating over thoughts and feelings as vague and inscrutable +to her mind, as they were clear and familiar to her heart. With a degree +of<span class="pagenum">[43]<a name="page43" id="page43"></a></span> +warm impetuosity, even exaggerated beyond his usual manner, +which bore at all times this characteristic, he approached her, and, +seizing her hand passionately in his, exclaimed hastily—</p> + +<p>"Edith, my sweet Edith, how unhappy that book has made me!"</p> + +<p>"How so, Ralph—why should it make you unhappy?"</p> + +<p>"It has taught me much, Edith—very much, in the last half hour. It has +spoken of privation and disappointment as the true elements of life, and +has shown me so many pictures of society in such various situations, and +with so much that I feel assured must be correct, that I am unable to +resist its impressions. We have been happy—so happy, Edith, and for so +many years, that I can not bear to think that either of us should be +less so; and yet that volume has taught me, in the story of parallel +fortunes with ours, that it may be so. It has given me a long lesson in +the hollow economy of that world which men seek, and name society. It +has told me that we, or I, at least, may be made and kept miserable for +ever."</p> + +<p>"How, Ralph, tell me, I pray you—how should that book have taught you +this strange notion? Why? What book is it? That stupid story!" was the +gasping exclamation of the astonished girl—astonished no less by the +impetuous manner than the strong language of the youth; and, with the +tenderest concern she laid her hand upon his arm, while her eyes, full +of the liveliest interest, yet moistened with a tearful apprehension, +were fixed earnestly upon his own.</p> + +<p>"It is a stupid book, a very stupid book—a story of false sentiment, +and of mock and artificial feelings, of which I know, and care to know, +nothing. But it has told me so much that I feel is true, and that chimes +in with my own experience. It has told me much besides, that I am glad +to have been taught. Hear me then, dear Edith, and smile not carelessly +at my words, for I have now learned to tremble when I speak, in fear +lest I should offend you."</p> + +<p>She would have spoken words of assurance—she would have taught him to +think better of her affections and their strength; but his impetuosity +checked her in her speech.</p> + +<p>"I know what you would say, and my heart thanks you for it, as if its +very life depended upon the utterance. You would +<span class="pagenum">[44]<a name="page44" id="page44"></a></span>tell me to have +no such fear; but the fear is a portion of myself now—it is my heart +itself. Hear me then, Edith—<i>my</i> Edith, if you will so let me call +you."</p> + +<p>Her hand rested on his assuringly, with a gentle pressure. He +continued—</p> + +<p>"Hitherto we have lived with each other, only with each other—we have +loved each other, and I have almost only loved you. Neither of us, Edith +(may I believe it of you?) has known much of any other affection. But +how long is this to last? that book—where is it? but no matter—it has +taught me that, now, when a few months will carry us both into the +world, it is improper that our relationship should continue. It says we +can not be the children any longer that we have been—that such +intercourse—I can now perceive why—would be injurious to you. Do you +understand me?"</p> + +<p>The blush of a first consciousness came over the cheek of the maiden, as +she withdrew her hand from his passionate clasp.</p> + +<p>"Ah! I see already," he exclaimed: "you too have learned the lesson. And +is it thus—and we are to be happy no longer!"</p> + +<p>"Ralph!"—she endeavored to speak, but could proceed no further, and her +hand was again, silently and without objection, taken into the grasp of +his. The youth, after a brief pause, resumed, in a tone, which though it +had lost much of its impetuousness, was yet full of stern resolution.</p> + +<p>"Hear me, Edith—but a word—a single word. I love you, believe me, dear +Edith, I love you."</p> + +<p>The effect of this declaration was scarcely such as the youth desired. +She had been so much accustomed to his warm admiration, indicated +frequently in phrases such as these, that it had the effect of restoring +to her much of her self-possession, of which the nature of the previous +dialogue had a little deprived her; and, in the most natural manner in +the world, she replied—perhaps too, we may add, with much of the +artlessness of art—</p> + +<p>"Why, to be sure you do, Cousin Ralph—it would be something strange +indeed if you did not. I believe you love me, as I am sure you can never +doubt how much you are beloved by me!"</p> + +<p>"<i>Cousin</i> Ralph—<i>Cousin</i> Ralph!" exclaimed the youth with +<span class="pagenum">[45]<a name="page45" id="page45"></a></span> +something of his former impetuosity, emphasizing ironically as he +spoke the unfortunate family epithet—"Ah, Edith, you <i>will not</i> +understand me—nor indeed, an hour ago, should I altogether have +understood myself. Suddenly, dear Edith, however, as I read certain +passages of that book, the thought darted through my brain like +lightning, and I saw into my own heart, as I had never been permitted to +see into it before. I there saw how much I loved you—not as my +cousin—not as my sister, as you sometimes would have me call you, but +as I <i>will not</i> call you again—but as—as—"</p> + +<p>"As what?"</p> + +<p>"As my <i>wife</i>, Edith—as my own, own wife!"</p> + +<p>He clasped her hand in his, while his head sunk, and his lips were +pressed upon the taper and trembling fingers which grew cold and +powerless within his grasp.</p> + +<p>What a volume was at that moment opened, for the first time, before the +gaze and understanding of the half-affrighted and deep-throbbing heart +of that gentle girl. The veil which had concealed its burning mysteries +was torn away in an instant. The key to its secret places was in her +hands, and she was bewildered with her own discoveries. Her cheeks +alternated between the pale and crimson of doubt and hope. Her lips +quivered convulsively, and an unbidden but not painful suffusion +overspread the warm brilliance of her soft fair cheeks. She strove, +ineffectually, to speak; her words came forth in broken murmurs; her +voice had sunk into a sigh; she was dumb. The youth once more took her +hand into his, as, speaking with a suppressed tone, and with a measured +slowness which had something in it of extreme melancholy, he broke +silence:—</p> + +<p>"And have I no answer, Edith—and must I believe that for either of us +there should be other loves than those of childhood—that new affections +may usurp the place of old ones—that there may come a time, dear Edith, +when I shall see an arm, not my own, about your waist; and the eyes that +would look on no prospect if you were not a part of it, may be doomed to +that fearfullest blight of beholding your lips smiling and pressed +beneath the lips of another?"</p> + +<p>"Never, oh never, Ralph! Speak no more, I beseech you, in such language. +You do me wrong in this—I have no such +<span class="pagenum">[46]<a name="page46" id="page46"></a></span>wish, no such thought or +purpose. I do not—I could not—think of another, Ralph. I will be +yours, and yours only—if you really wish it."</p> + +<p>"If I wish! Ah! dear Edith, you are mine, and I am yours! The world +shall not pass between us."</p> + +<p>She murmured—</p> + +<p>"Yours, Ralph, yours only!"</p> + +<p>He caught her in his passionate embrace, even as the words were murmured +from her lips. Her head settled upon his shoulder; her light brown hair, +loosened from the comb, fell over it in silky masses. Her eyes closed, +his arms still encircled her, and the whole world was forgotten in a +moment;—when the door opened, and a third party entered the room in the +person of Colonel Colleton.</p> + +<p>Here was a catastrophe!</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[47]<a name="page47" id="page47"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter4" id="chapter4">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + +<h3>A RUPTURE—THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE.</h3> + + +<p>Colonel Colleton stood confounded at the spectacle before him. Filled +with public affairs, or rather, with his own affairs in the public eye, +he had grown totally heedless of ordinary events, household interests, +and of the rapid growth and development of those passions in youth which +ripen quite as fervently and soon in the shade as in the sun. These +children—how should they have grown to such a stature! His daughter, at +this moment, seemed taller than he had ever seen her before! and +Ralph!—as the uncle's eyes were riveted upon the youth, he certainly +grew more than ever erect and imposing of look and stature. The first +glance which he gave to the scene, did not please the young man. There +was something about the expression of the uncle's face, which seemed to +the nephew to be as supercilious, as it certainly was angry. Proud, +jealous of his sensibilities, the soul of the youth rose in arms, at the +look which annoyed him. That Edith's father should ever disapprove of +his passion for his cousin, never once entered the young man's brain. He +had not, indeed, once thought upon the matter. He held it to be a thing +of course that the father would welcome a union which promised to +strengthen the family bond, and maintain the family name and blood in +perpetuity. When, therefore, he beheld, in his uncle's face, such an +expression of scorn mixed with indignation, he resented it with the +fervor of his whole soul. He was bewildered, it is true, but he was also +chafed, and it needed that he should turn his eyes to the sweet cause of +his offence, before he could find himself relieved of the painful +feelings which her father's look and manner had occasioned him.</p> + +<p>Poor Edith had a keener sense of the nature of the case. +<span class="pagenum">[48]<a name="page48" id="page48"></a></span>Her +instincts more readily supplied the means of knowledge. Besides, there +were certain family matters, which the look of her father suddenly +recalled—which had never been suffered to reach the ears of her +cousin;—which indicated to her, however imperfectly, the possible cause +of that severe and scornful expression of eye, in the uncle, which had +so confounded the nephew. She looked, with timid pleading to her +father's face, but dared not speak.</p> + +<p>And still the latter stood at the entrance, silent, sternly scanning the +young offenders, just beginning to be conscious of offence. A surprise +of any kind is exceedingly paralyzing to young lovers, caught in a +situation like that in which our luckless couple were found on this +occasion. It is probable, that, but for this, Ralph Colleton would +scarcely have borne so meekly the severe look which the father now +bestowed upon his daughter.</p> + +<p>Though not the person to trouble himself much at any time in relation to +his child, Colonel Colleton had never once treated her unkindly. Though +sometimes neglectful, he had never shown himself stern. The look which +he now gave her was new to all her experience. The poor girl began to +conceive much more seriously of her offence than ever;—it seemed to +spread out unimaginably far, and to involve a thousand violations of +divine and human law. She could only look pleadingly, without speech, to +her father. His finger silently pointed her to withdraw.</p> + +<p>"Oh, father!"—the exclamation was barely murmured.</p> + +<p>"Go!" was the sole answer, with the finger still uplift.</p> + +<p>In silence, she glided away; not, however, without stealing a fond and +assuring glance at her lover.</p> + +<p>Her departure was the signal for that issue between the two remaining +parties for which each was preparing in his own fashion. Ralph had not +beheld the dumb show, in which Edith was dismissed, without a rising +impulse of choler. The manner of the thing had been particularly +offensive to him. But the father of Edith, whatever his offence, had +suddenly risen into new consideration in the young man's mind, from the +moment that he fully comprehended his feelings for the daughter. He was +accordingly, somewhat disposed to temporize, though there +<span class="pagenum">[49]<a name="page49" id="page49"></a></span>was +still a lurking desire in his mind, to demand an explanation of those +supercilious glances which had so offended him.</p> + +<p>But the meditations of neither party consumed one twentieth part of the +time that we have taken in hinting what they were. With the departure of +Edith, and the closing of the door after her, Colonel Colleton, with all +his storms, approached to the attack. The expression of scorn upon his +face had given way to one of anger wholly. His glance seemed meant to +penetrate the bosom of the youth with a mortal stab—it was hate, rather +than anger, that he looked. Yet it was evident that he made an effort to +subdue his wrath—its full utterance at least—but he could not chase +the terrible cloud from his haughty brow.</p> + +<p>The youth, getting chafed beneath his gaze, returned him look for look, +and his brows grew dark and lowering also; and, for anger, they gave +back defiance. This silent, but expressive dialogue, was the work of a +single moment of time. The uncle broke the silence.</p> + +<p>"What am I to understand from this, young man?"</p> + +<p>"Young man, sir!—I feel it very difficult to understand you, uncle! In +respect to Edith and myself, sir, I have but to say that we have +discovered that we are something more than cousins to each other!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed! And how long is it, I pray, since you have made this +discovery?"</p> + +<p>This was said with a dry tone, and hard, contemptuous manner. The youth +strove honestly to keep down his blood.</p> + +<p>"Within the hour, sir! Not that we have not always felt that we loved +each other, uncle; only, that, up to this time, we had never been +conscious of the true nature of our feelings."</p> + +<p>The youth replied with the most provoking simplicity. The uncle was +annoyed. He would rather that Ralph should have relieved him, by a +conjecture of his own, from the necessity of hinting to him that such +extreme sympathies, between the parties, were by no means a matter of +course. But the nephew would not, or could not, see; and his surprise, +at the uncle's course, was perpetually looking for explanation. It +became necessary to speak plainly.</p> + +<p>"And with what reason, Ralph Colleton, do you suppose that I will +sanction an alliance between you and my daughter? +<span class="pagenum">[50]<a name="page50" id="page50"></a></span>Upon what, I +pray you, do you ground your pretensions to the hand of Edith Colleton?"</p> + +<p>Such was the haughty interrogation. Ralph was confounded.</p> + +<p>"My pretensions, sir?—The hand of Edith!—Do I hear you right, uncle? +Do you really mean what you say?"</p> + +<p>"My words are as I have said them. They are sufficiently explicit. You +need not misunderstand them. What, I ask, are your pretensions to the +hand of my daughter, and how is it that you have so far forgotten +yourself as thus to abuse my confidence, stealing into the affections of +my child?"</p> + +<p>"Uncle, I have abused no confidence, and will not submit to any charge +that would dishonor me. What I have done has been done openly, before +all eyes, and without resort to cunning or contrivance. I must do myself +the justice to believe that you knew all this without the necessity of +my speech, and even while your lips spoke the contrary."</p> + +<p>"You are bold, Ralph, and seem to have forgotten that you are yet but a +mere boy. You forget your years and mine."</p> + +<p>"No, sir—pardon me when I so speak—but it is you who have forgotten +them. Was it well to speak as you have spoken?" proudly replied the +youth.</p> + +<p>"Ralph, you have forgotten much, or have yet to be taught many things. +You may not have violated confidence, but—"</p> + +<p>"I <i>have not</i> violated confidence!" was the abrupt and somewhat +impetuous response, "and will not have it spoken of in that manner. It +is not true that I have abused any trust, and the assertion which I make +shall not therefore be understood as a mere possibility."</p> + +<p>The uncle was something astounded by the almost fierce manner of his +nephew; but the only other effect of this expression was simply, while +it diminished his own testiness of manner in his speeches, to add +something to the severity of their character. He knew the indomitable +spirit of the youth, and his pride was enlisted in the desire for its +overthrow.</p> + +<p>"You are yet to learn, Ralph Colleton, I perceive, the difference and +distance between yourself and my daughter. You are but a youth, +yet—quite too young to think of such ties as those of marriage, and to +make any lasting engagement of that nature; but, even were this not the +case, I am entirely ignorant<span class="pagenum">[51]<a name="page51" +id="page51"></a></span> of those pretensions which should +prompt your claim to the hand of Edith."</p> + +<p>Had Colonel Colleton been a prudent and reflective man—had he, indeed, +known much, if anything, of human nature—he would have withheld the +latter part of this sentence. He must have seen that its effect would +only be to irritate a spirit needing an emollient. The reply was +instantaneous.</p> + +<p>"My pretensions, Colonel Colleton? You have twice uttered that word in +my ears, and with reference to this subject. Let me understand you. If +you would teach me by this sentence the immeasurable individual +superiority of Edith over myself in all things, whether of mind, or +heart, or person, the lesson is gratuitous. I need no teacher to this +end. I acknowledge its truth, and none on this point can more perfectly +agree with you than myself. But if, looking beyond these particulars, +you would have me recognize in myself an inferiority, marked and +singular, in a fair comparison with other men—if, in short, you would +convey an indignity; and—but you are my father's brother, sir!" and the +blood mounted to his forehead, and his heart swelling, the youth turned +proudly away, and rested his head upon the mantel.</p> + +<p>"Not so, Ralph; you are hasty in your thought, not less than in its +expression," said his uncle, soothingly, "I meant not what you think. +But you must be aware, nephew, that my daughter, not less from the +fortune which will be exclusively hers, and her individual +accomplishments, than from the leading political station which her +father fills, will be enabled to have a choice in the adoption of a +suitor, which this childish passion might defeat."</p> + +<p>"Mine is no childish passion, sir; though young, my mind is not apt to +vary in its tendencies; and, unlike that of the mere politician, has +little of inconsistency in its predilections with which to rebuke +itself. But, I understand you. You have spoken of her fortune, and that +reminds me that I had a father, not less worthy, I am sure—not less +generous, I feel—but certainly far less prudent than hers. I understand +you, sir, perfectly."</p> + +<p>"If you mean, Ralph, by this sarcasm, that my considerations are those +of wealth, you mistake me much. The man +<span class="pagenum">[52]<a name="page52" id="page52"></a></span>who seeks my daughter +must not look for a sacrifice; she must win a husband who has a name, a +high place—who has a standing in society. Your tutors, indeed, speak of +you in fair terms; but the public voice is everything in our country. +When you have got through your law studies, and made your first speech, +we will talk once more upon this subject."</p> + +<p>"And when I have obtained admission to the practice of the law, do you +say that Edith shall be mine?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, Ralph, you again mistake me. I only say, it will be then time +enough to consider the matter."</p> + +<p>"Uncle, this will not do for me. Either you sanction, or you do not. You +mean something by that word <i>pretensions</i> which I am yet to +understand; my name is Colleton, like your own, and—"</p> + +<p>There was a stern resolve in the countenance of the colonel, which spoke +of something of the same temper with his impetuous nephew, and the cool +and haughty sentence which fell from his lips in reply, while arresting +that of the youth, was galling to the proud spirit of the latter, whom +it chafed nearly into madness.</p> + +<p>"Why, true, Ralph, such is your name indeed; and your reference to this +subject now, only reminds me of the too free use which my brother made +of it when he bestowed it upon a woman so far beneath him and his family +in all possible respects."</p> + +<p>"There again, sir, there again! It is my mother's poverty that pains +you. She brought my father no dowry. He had nothing of that choice +prudence which seems to have been the guide of others, of our family in +the bestowment of their affections. He did not calculate the value of +his wife's income before he suffered himself to become enamored of her. +I see it, sir—I am not ignorant."</p> + +<p>"If I speak with you calmly, Ralph, it is because you are the indweller +of my house, and because I have a pledge to my brother in your behalf."</p> + +<p>"Speak freely, sir; let not this scruple trouble you any longer. It +shall not trouble me; and I shall be careful to take early occasion to +release you most effectually from all such pledges."</p> + +<p>Colonel Colleton proceeded as if the last speech had not been uttered.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[53]<a name="page53" id="page53"></a></span> +"Edith has a claim in society which shall not be sacrificed. Her +father, Ralph, did not descend to the hovel of the miserable peasant, +choosing a wife from the inferior grade, who, without education, and +ignorant of all refinement, could only appear a blot upon the station to +which she had been raised. Her mother, sir, was not a woman obscure and +uneducated, for whom no parents could be found."</p> + +<p>"What means all this, sir? Speak, relieve me at once, Colonel Colleton. +What know you of my mother?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing—but quite as much as your father ever knew. It is sufficient +that he found her in a hovel, without a name, and with the silly romance +of his character through life, he raised her to a position in society +which she could not fill to his honor, and which, finally, working upon +his pride and sensibility drove him into those extravagances which in +the end produced his ruin. I grant that she loved him with a most +perfect devotion, which he too warmly returned, but what of that?—she +was still his destroyer."</p> + +<p>Thus sternly did the colonel unveil to the eyes of Ralph Colleton a +portion of the family picture which he had never been permitted to +survey before.</p> + +<p>Cold drops stood on the brow of the now nerveless and unhappy youth. He +was pale, and his eyes were fixed for an instant; but, suddenly +recovering himself, he rushed hastily from the apartment before his +uncle could interpose to prevent him. He heard not or heeded not the +words of entreaty which called him back; but, proceeding at once to his +chamber, he carefully fastened the entrance, and, throwing himself upon +his couch, found relief from the deep mental agony thus suddenly forced +upon him, in a flood of tears.</p> + +<p>For the first time in his life, deriving his feeling in this particular +rather from the opinions of society than from any individual +consciousness of debasement, he felt a sentiment of humiliation working +in his breast. His mother he had little known, but his father's precepts +and familiar conversation had impressed upon him, from his childhood, a +feeling for her of the deepest and most unqualified regard. This feeling +was not lessened, though rebuked, by the development so unnecessarily +and so wantonly conveyed. It taught a new feeling of distrust +<span class="pagenum">[54]<a name="page54" id="page54"></a></span> +for his uncle, whose harsh manner and ungenerous insinuations in the +progress of the preceding half-hour, had lost him not a little of the +youth's esteem. He felt that the motive of his informer was not less +unkind than was the information painful and oppressive; and his mind, +now more than ever excited and active from this thought, went on +discussing, from point to point, all existing relations, until a stern +resolve to leave, that very night, the dwelling of one whose hospitality +had been made a matter of special reference, was the only and settled +conclusion to which his pride could possibly come.</p> + +<p>The servant reminded him of the supper-hour, but the summons was utterly +disregarded. The colonel himself condescended to notify the stubborn +youth of the same important fact, but with almost as little effect. +Without opening his door, he signified his indisposition to join in the +usual repast, and thus closed the conference.</p> + +<p>"I meet him at the table no more—not at his table, at least," was the +muttered speech of Ralph, as he heard the receding footsteps of his +uncle.</p> + +<p>He had determined, though without any distinct object in view, upon +leaving the house and returning to Tennessee, where he had hitherto +resided. His excited spirits would suffer no delay, and that very night +was the period chosen for his departure. Few preparations were +necessary. With a fine horse of his own, the gift of his father, he knew +that the course lay open. The long route he had more than once travelled +before; and he had no fears, though he well knew the desolate character +of the journey, in pursuing it alone. Apart from this, he loved +adventure for its own sake. The first lesson which his father had taught +him, even in boyhood, was that braving of trial which alone can bring +about the most perfect manliness. With a stout heart, and with limbs not +less so, the difficulties before him had no thought in his mind; there +was buoyancy enough in the excitement of his spirit, at that moment, to +give even a pleasurable aspect to the obstacles that rose before him.</p> + +<p>At an early hour he commenced the work of preparation: he had little +trouble in this respect. He studiously selected from his wardrobe such +portions of it as had been the gift of his uncle, all of which he +carefully excluded from among the +<span class="pagenum">[55]<a name="page55" id="page55"></a></span>contents of the little +portmanteau which readily comprised the residue. His travelling-dress +was quickly adjusted; and not omitting a fine pair of pistols and a +dirk, which, at that period, were held in the south and southwest +legitimate companions, he found few other cares for arrangement. One +token alone of Edith—a small miniature linked with his own, taken a few +seasons before, when both were children, by a strolling +artist—suspended by a chain of the richest gold, was carefully hung +about his neck. It grew in value, to his mind, at a moment when he was +about to separate, perhaps for ever, from its sweet original.</p> + +<p>At midnight, when all was silent—his portmanteau under his arm—booted, +spurred, and ready for travel—Ralph descended to the lower story, in +which slept the chief servant of the house. Cęsar was a favorite with +the youth, and he had no difficulty in making himself understood. The +worthy black was thunderstruck with his determination.</p> + +<p>"Ky! Mass Ralph, how you talk! what for you go dis time +o'night? What for you go 'tall?"</p> + +<p>The youth satisfied him, in a manner as evasive and brief as possible, +and urged him in the preparation of his steed for the journey. But the +worthy negro absolutely refused to sanction the proceeding unless he +were permitted to go along with him. He used not a few strong arguments +for this purpose.</p> + +<p>"And what we all for do here, when you leff? 'speck ebbery ting be dull, +wuss nor ditch-water. No more fun—no more shuffle-foot. Old maussa no +like de fiddle, and nebber hab party and jollication like udder people. +Don't tink I can stay here, Mass Ra'ph, after you gone; 'spose, you no +'jection, I go 'long wid you? You leff me, I take to de swamp, sure as a +gun."</p> + +<p>"No, Cęsar, you are not mine; you belong to your young mistress. You +must stay and wait upon her."</p> + +<p>"Ha!" was the quick response of the black, with a significant smirk upon +his lip, and with a cunning emphasis; "enty I see; wha' for I hab eye ef +I no see wid em? I 'speck young misses hab no 'jection for go too—eh, +Mass Ra'ph! all you hab for do is for ax em!"</p> + +<p>The eye of the youth danced with a playful light, as if a new thought, +and not a disagreeable one, had suddenly broken in +<span class="pagenum">[56]<a name="page56" id="page56"></a></span>upon his +brain; but the expression lasted but for an instant He overruled all the +hopes and wishes of the sturdy black, who, at length, with a manner the +most desponding, proceeded to the performance of the required duty. A +few moments sufficed, and with a single look to the window of his +mistress, which spoke unseen volumes of love, leaving an explanatory +letter for the perusal of father and daughter, though addressed only to +the latter—he gave the rough hand of his sable friend a cordial +pressure, and was soon hidden from sight by the thickly-spreading +foliage of the long avenue. The reader has been already apprized that +the youth, whose escape in a preceding chapter we have already narrated, +and Ralph Colleton, are one and the same person.</p> + +<p>He had set forth, as we have seen, under the excitation of feelings +strictly natural; but which, subtracting from the strong common sense +belonging to his character, had led him prematurely into an adventure, +having no distinct purposes, and promising largely of difficulty. What +were his thoughts of the future, what his designs, we are not prepared +to say. His character was of a firm and independent kind; and the +probability is, that, looking to the profession of the law, in the study +of which noble science his mind had been for some time occupied, he had +contemplated its future practice in those portions of Tennessee in which +his father had been known, and where he himself had passed some very +pleasant years of his own life. With economy, a moderate talent, and +habits of industry, he was well aware that, in those regions, the means +of life are with little difficulty attainable by those who are worthy +and will adventure. Let us now return to the wayfarer, whom we have left +in that wildest region of the then little-settled state of +Georgia—doubly wild as forming the debatable land between the savage +and the civilized—partaking of the ferocity of the one and the skill, +cunning, and cupidity of the other.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[57]<a name="page57" id="page57"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter5" id="chapter5">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + +<h3>MARK FORRESTER—THE GOLD VILLAGE.</h3> + + +<p>There were moments when Ralph Colleton, as he lay bruised and wounded +upon the sward, in those wild woods, and beneath the cool canopy of +heaven, was conscious of his situation, of its exposure and its +perils—moments, when he strove to recover himself—to shake off the +stupor which seemed to fetter his limbs as effectually as it paralyzed +his thoughts;—and the renewed exercise of his mental energies, brought +about, and for a little while sustained, an increased consciousness, +which perhaps rather added to his pain. It taught him his own weakness, +when he strove vainly to support himself against the tree to which he +had crawled; and in despair, the acuteness of which was only relieved by +the friendly stupor which came to his aid, arising from the loss of +blood, he closed his eyes, and muttering a brief sentence, which might +have been a prayer, he resigned himself to his fate.</p> + +<p>But he was not thus destined to perish. He had not lain many minutes in +this situation when the tones of a strong voice rang through the forest. +There was a whoop and halloo, and then a catch of a song, and then a +shrill whistle, all strangely mingled together, finally settling down +into a rude strain, which, coming from stentorian lungs, found a ready +echo in every jutting rock and space of wood for a mile round. The +musician went on merrily from verse to verse of his forest minstrelsy as +he continued to approach; describing in his strain, with a ready +ballad-facility, the numberless pleasures to be found in the life of the +woodman. Uncouthly, and in a style partaking rather more of the savage +than the civilized taste and temper, it enumerated the distinct features +of each mode of life with much <span class="pagenum">[58]<a name="page58" +id="page58"></a></span>ingenuity and in stanzas smartly +epigrammatic, did not hesitate to assign the preference to the former.</p> + +<p>As the new-comer approached the spot where Ralph Colleton lay, there was +still a partial though dim light over the forest. The twilight was +richly clear, and there were some faint yellow lines of the sun's last +glances lingering still on the remote horizon. The moon, too, in the +opposite sky, about to come forth, had sent before her some few faint +harbingers of her approach; and it was not difficult for the sturdy +woodman to discern the body of the traveller, lying, as it did, almost +in his path. A few paces farther on stood his steed, cropping the young +grass, and occasionally, with uplifted head, looking round with +something like human wonderment, for the assertion of that authority +which heretofore had him in charge. At the approach of the stranger he +did not start, but, seeming conscious of some change for the better in +his own prospects, he fell again to work upon the herbage as if no +interruption had occurred to his repast.</p> + +<p>The song of the woodman ceased as he discovered the body. With an +exclamation, he stooped down to examine it, and his hands were suffused +with the blood which had found its way through the garments. He saw that +life was not extinct, and readily supposing the stupor the consequence +of loss of blood rather than of vital injury, he paused a few moments as +in seeming meditation, then turning from the master to his unreluctant +steed, he threw himself upon his back, and was quickly out of sight. He +soon returned, bringing with him a wagon and team, such as all farmers +possess in that region, and lifting the inanimate form into the rude +vehicle with a tender caution that indicated a true humanity, walking +slowly beside the horses, and carefully avoiding all such obstructions +in the road, as by disordering the motion would have given pain to the +sufferer, he carried him safely, and after the delay of a few hours, +into the frontier, and then almost unknown, village of Chestatee.</p> + +<p>It was well for the youth that he had fallen into such hands. There were +few persons in that part of the world like Mark Forrester. A better +heart, or more honorable spirit, lived not; and in spite of an erring +and neglected education—of evil associations, and sometimes evil +pursuits—he was still a worthy<span class="pagenum">[59]<a name="page59" +id="page59"></a></span> specimen of manhood. We may as +well here describe him, as he appears to us; for at this period the +youth was still insensible—unconscious of his deliverance as he was of +his deliverer.</p> + +<p>Mark Forrester was a stout, strongly-built, yet active person, some six +feet in height, square and broad-shouldered—exhibiting an outline, +wanting, perhaps, in some of the more rounded graces of form, yet at the +same time far from symmetrical deficiency. There was, also, not a little +of ease and agility, together with a rude gracefulness in his action, +the result equally of the well-combined organization of his animal man +and of the hardy habits of his woodland life. His appearance was +youthful, and the passing glance would perhaps have rated him at little +more than six or seven-and-twenty. His broad, full chest, heaving +strongly with a consciousness of might—together with the generally +athletic muscularity of his whole person—indicated correctly the +possession of prodigious strength. His face was finely southern. His +features were frank and fearless—moderately intelligent, and well +marked—the <i>tout ensemble</i> showing an active vitality, strong, and +usually just feelings, and a good-natured freedom of character, which +enlisted confidence, and seemed likely to acknowledge few restraints of +a merely conventional kind. Nor, in any of these particulars, did the +outward falsely interpret the inward man. With the possession of a +giant's powers, he was seldom so far borne forward by his impulses, +whether of pride or of passion, as to permit of their wanton or improper +use. His eye, too, had a not unpleasing twinkle, promising more of +good-fellowship and a heart at ease than may ever consort with the +jaundiced or distempered spirit. His garb indicated, in part, and was +well adapted to the pursuits of the hunter and the labors of the +woodman. We couple these employments together, for, in the wildernesses +of North America, the dense forests, and broad prairies, they are +utterly inseparable. In a belt, made of buckskin, which encircled his +middle, was stuck, in a sheath of the same material, a small axe, such +as, among the Indians, was well known to the early settlers as a deadly +implement of war. The head of this instrument, or that portion of it +opposite the blade, and made in weight to correspond with and balance +the latter when hurled from the hand, was a pick of solid steel, +narrowing down to a<span class="pagenum">[60]<a name="page60" id="page60"></a></span> +point, and calculated, with a like blow, to +prove even more fatal, as a weapon in conflict, than the more legitimate +member to which it was appended. A thong of ox-hide, slung over his +shoulder, supported easily a light rifle of the choicest bore; for there +are few matters indeed upon which the wayfarer in the southern wilds +exercises a nicer and more discriminating taste than in the selection of +a companion, in a pursuit like his, of the very last importance; and +which, in time, he learns to love with a passion almost comparable to +his love of woman. The dress of the woodman was composed of a coarse +gray stuff, of a make sufficiently <i>outré</i>, but which, fitting him +snugly, served to set off his robust and well-made person to the utmost +advantage. A fox-skin cap, of domestic manufacture, the tail of which, +studiously preserved, obviated any necessity for a foreign tassel, +rested slightly upon his head, giving a unique finish to his appearance, +which a fashionable hat would never have supplied. Such was the +personage, who, so fortunately for Ralph, plied his craft in that lonely +region; and who, stumbling upon his insensible form at nightfall, as +already narrated, carefully conveyed him to his own lodgings at the +village-inn of Chestatee.</p> + +<p>The village, or town—for such it was in the acceptation of the time and +country—may well deserve some little description; not for its intrinsic +importance, but because it will be found to resemble some ten out of +every dozen of the country towns in all the corresponding region. It +consisted of thirty or forty dwellings, chiefly of logs; not, however, +so immediately in the vicinity of one another as to give any very +decided air of regularity and order to their appearance. As usual, in +all the interior settlements of the South and West, wherever an eligible +situation presented itself, the squatter laid the foundation-logs of his +dwelling, and proceeded to its erection. No public squares, and streets +laid out by line and rule, marked conventional progress in an orderly +and methodical society; but, regarding individual convenience as the +only object in arrangements of this nature, they took little note of any +other, and to them less important matters. They built where the land +rose into a ridge of moderate and gradual elevation, commanding a long +reach of prospect; where a good spring threw out its crystal waters, +jetting, in winter and summer<span class="pagenum">[61]<a name="page61" +id="page61"></a></span> alike, from the hillside or the +rock; or, in its absence, where a fair branch, trickling over a bed of +small and yellow pebbles, kept up a perpetually clear and undiminishing +current; where the groves were thick and umbrageous; and lastly, but not +less important than either, where agues and fevers came not, bringing +clouds over the warm sunshine, and taking all the hue, and beauty, and +odor from the flower. Those considerations were at all times the most +important to the settler when the place of his abode was to be +determined upon; and, with these advantages at large, the company of +squatters, of whom Mark Forrester, made one, by no means the least +important among them, had regularly, for the purposes of gold-digging, +colonized the little precinct into which we have now ventured to +penetrate.</p> + +<p>Before we advance farther in our narrative, it may be quite as well to +say, that the adventurers of which this wild congregation was made up +were impelled to their present common centre by motives and influences +as various as the differing features of their several countenances. They +came, not only from parts of the surrounding country, but many of them +from all parts of the surrounding world; oddly and confusedly jumbled +together; the very <i>olla-podrida</i> of moral and mental combination. +They were chiefly those to whom the ordinary operations of human trade +or labor had proved tedious or unproductive—with whom the toils, aims, +and impulses of society were deficient of interest; or, upon whom, an +inordinate desire of a sudden to acquire wealth had exercised a +sufficiently active influence to impel to the novel employment of +gold-finding—or rather gold-<i>seeking</i>, for it was not always that +the search was successful—the very name of such a pursuit carrying with +it to many no small degree of charm and persuasion. To these, a +wholesome assortment of other descriptions may be added, of character +and caste such as will be found ordinarily to compose everywhere the +frontier and outskirts of civilization, as rejected by the wholesome +current, and driven, like the refuse and the scum of the waters, in +confused stagnation to their banks and margin. Here, alike, came the +spendthrift and the indolent, the dreamer and the outlaw, congregating, +though guided by contradictory impulses, in the formation of a common +caste, and the pursuit of a like object—some with the view to profit +and<span class="pagenum">[62]<a name="page62" id="page62"></a></span> +gain; others, simply from no alternative being left them; +and that of gold-seeking, with a better sense than their neighbors, +being in their own contemplation, truly, a <i>dernier</i> resort.</p> + +<p>The reader can better conceive than we describe, the sorts of people, +passions, and pursuits, herding thus confusedly together; and with these +various objects. Others, indeed, came into the society, like the rude +but honest woodman to whom we have already afforded an introduction, +almost purely from a spirit of adventure, that, growing impatient of the +confined boundaries of its birthplace, longs to tread new regions and +enjoy new pleasures and employments. A spirit, we may add, the same, or +not materially differing from that, which, at an earlier period of human +history, though in a condition of society not dissimilar, begot the +practices denominated, by a most licentious courtesy, those of chivalry.</p> + +<p>But, of whatever stuff the <i>morale</i> of this people may have been +made up, it is not less certain than natural that the mixture was still +incoherent—the parts had not yet grown together. Though ostensibly in +the pursuit of the same interest and craft, they had anything but a like +fortune, and the degree of concert and harmony which subsisted between +them was but shadowy and partial. A mass so heterogeneous in its origin +and tendency might not so readily amalgamate. Strife, discontent, and +contention, were not unfrequent; and the laborers at the same +instrument, mutually depending on each other, not uncommonly came to +blows over it. The successes of any one individual—for, as yet, their +labors were unregulated by arrangement, and each worked on his own +score—procured for him the hate and envy of some of the company, while +it aroused the ill-disguised dissatisfaction of all; and nothing was of +more common occurrence, than, when striking upon a fruitful and +productive section, even among those interested in the discovery, to +find it a disputed dominion. Copartners no longer, a division of the +spoils, when accumulated, was usually terminated by a resort to blows; +and the bold spirit and the strong hand, in this way, not uncommonly +acquired the share for which the proprietor was too indolent to toil in +the manner of his companions.</p> + +<p>The issue of these conflicts, as may be imagined, was +<span class="pagenum">[63]<a name="page63" id="page63"></a></span>sometimes +wounds and bloodshed, and occasionally death: the field, we need +scarcely add—since this is the history of all usurpation—remaining, in +every such case, in possession of the party proving itself most +courageous or strong. Nor need this history surprise—it is history, +veracious and sober history of a period, still within recollection, and +of events of almost recent occurrence. The wild condition of the +country—the absence of all civil authority, and almost of laws, +certainly of officers sufficiently daring to undertake their honest +administration, and shrinking from the risk of incurring, in the +performance of their duties, the vengeance of those, who, though +disagreeing among themselves, at all times made common cause against the +ministers of justice as against a common enemy—may readily account for +the frequency and impunity with which these desperate men committed +crime and defied its consequences.</p> + +<p>But we are now fairly in the centre of the village—a fact of which, in +the case of most southern and western villages, it is necessary in so +many words to apprize the traveller. In those parts, the scale by which +towns are laid out is always magnificent. The founders seem to have +calculated usually upon a population of millions; and upon spots and +sporting-grounds, measurable by the olympic coursers, and the ancient +fields of combat, when scythes and elephants and chariots made the +warriors, and the confused cries of a yelping multitude composed the +conflict itself. There was no want of room, no risk of narrow streets +and pavements, no deficiency of area in the formation of public squares. +The houses scattered around the traveller, dotting at long and +infrequent intervals the ragged wood which enveloped them, left few +stirring apprehensions of their firing one another. The forest, where +the land was not actually built upon, stood up in its primitive +simplicity undishonored by the axe.</p> + +<p>Such was the condition of the settlement at the period when our hero so +unconsciously entered it. It was night, and the lamps of the village +were all in full blaze, illuminating with an effect the most picturesque +and attractive the fifty paces immediately encircling them. Each +dwelling boasted of this auxiliary and attraction; and in this +particular but few cities afford so abundantly the materials for a blaze +as our country villages.<span class="pagenum">[64]<a name="page64" id="page64"></a></span> +Three or four slight posts are erected +at convenient distances from each other in front of the building—a +broad scaffold, sufficiently large for the purpose, is placed upon them, +on which a thick coat of clay is plastered; at evening, a pile is built +upon this, of dry timber and the rich pine which overruns and mainly +marks the forests of the south. These piles, in a blaze, serve the +nightly strollers of the settlement as guides and beacons, and with +their aid Forrester safely wound his way into the little village of +Chestatee.</p> + +<p>Forming a square in the very centre of the town, a cluster of four huge +fabrics, in some sort sustained the pretensions of the settlement to +this epithet. This ostentatious collection, some of the members of which +appeared placed there rather for show than service, consisted of the +courthouse, the jail, the tavern, and the shop of the blacksmith—the +two last-mentioned being at all times the very first in course of +erection, and the essential nucleus in the formation of the southern and +western settlement. The courthouse and the jail, standing directly +opposite each other, carried in their faces a family outline of +sympathetic and sober gravity. There had been some effect at pretension +in their construction, both being cumbrously large, awkward, and +unwieldy; and occupying, as they did, the only portion of the village +which had been stripped of its forest covering, bore an aspect of mutual +and ludicrous wildness and vacancy. They had both been built upon a like +plan and equal scale; and the only difference existing between them, but +one that was immediately perceptible to the eye, was the superfluous +abundance of windows in the former, and their deficiency in the latter. +A moral agency had most probably prompted the architect to the +distinction here hit upon—and he felt, doubtless, in admitting free +access to the light in the house of justice, and in excluding it almost +entirely from that of punishment, that he had recognised the proprieties +of a most excellent taste and true judgment. These apertures, clumsily +wrought in the logs of which the buildings were made, added still more +to their generally uncouth appearance. There was yet, however, another +marked difference between the courthouse and jail, which we should not +omit to notice. The former had the advantage of its neighbor, in being +surmounted by a small<span class="pagenum">[65]<a name="page65" id="page65"></a></span> +tower or cupola, in which a bell of +moderate size hung suspended, permitted to speak only on such important +occasions as the opening of court, sabbath service, and the respective +anniversaries of the birthday of Washington and the Declaration of +Independence. This building, thus distinguished above its fellows, +served also all the purposes of a place of worship, whenever some +wandering preacher found his way into the settlement; an occurrence, at +the time we write, of very occasional character. To each of the four +vast walls of the jail, in a taste certainly not bad, if we consider the +design and character of the fabric, but a single window was +allotted—that too of the very smallest description for human uses, and +crossed at right angles with rude and slender bars of iron, the choicest +specimens of workmanship from the neighboring smithy. The distance +between each of these four equally important buildings was by no means +inconsiderable, if we are required to make the scale for our estimate, +that of the cramped and diminished limits accorded to like places in the +cities, where men and women appear to increase in due proportion as the +field lessens upon which they must encounter in the great struggle for +existence. Though neighbors in every substantial respect, the four +fabrics were most uncharitably remote, and stood frowning gloomily at +one another—scarcely relieved of the cheerless and sombre character of +their rough outsides, even when thus brightly illuminated by the glare +thrown upon them by the several blazes, flashing out upon the scene from +the twin lamps in front of the tavern, through whose wide and unsashed +windows an additional lustre, as of many lights, gave warm indications +of life and good lodgings within. At a point equidistant from, and +forming one of the angles of the same square with each of these, the +broader glare from the smith's furnace streamed in bright lines across +the plain between, pouring through the unclayed logs of the hovel, in +which, at his craft, the industrious proprietor was even then busily +employed. Occasionally, the sharp click of his hammer, ringing upon and +resounding from the anvil, and a full blast from the capacious bellows, +indicated the busy animation, if not the sweet concert, the habitual +cheerfulness and charm, of a more civilized and better regulated +society.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[66]<a name="page66" id="page66"></a></span> +Nor was the smith, at the moment of our entrance, the only noisy +member of the little village. The more pretending establishment to which +we are rapidly approaching, threw out its clamors, and the din of many +voices gathered upon the breeze in wild and incoherent confusion. Deep +bursts of laughter, and the broken stanza of an occasional catch roared +out at intervals, promised something of relief to the dull mood; while, +as the sounds grew more distinct, the quick ear of Forrester was enabled +to distinguish the voices of the several revellers.</p> + +<p>"There they are, in full blast," he muttered, "over a gallon of whiskey, +and gulping it down as if 'twas nothing better than common water. But, +what's the great fuss to-night? There's a crowd, I reckon, and they're a +running their rigs on somebody."</p> + +<p>Even Forrester was at a loss to account for their excess of hilarity +to-night. Though fond of drink, and meeting often in a crowd, they were +few of them of a class—using his own phrase—"to give so much tongue +over their liquors." The old toper and vagabond is usually a silent +drinker. His amusements, when in a circle, and with a bottle before him, +are found in cards and dice. His cares, at such a period, are too +considerate to suffer him to be noisy. Here, in Chestatee, Forrester +well knew that a crowd implied little good-fellowship. The ties which +brought the gold-seekers and squatters together were not of a sort to +produce cheerfulness and merriment. Their very sports were savage, and +implied a sort of fun which commonly gave pain to somebody. He wondered, +accordingly, as he listened to yells of laughter, and discordant shouts +of hilarity; and he grew curious about the occasion of uproar.</p> + +<p>"They're poking fun at some poor devil, that don't quite see what +they're after."</p> + +<p>A nearer approach soon gave him a clue to the mystery; but all his +farther speculations upon it were arrested, by a deep groan from the +wounded man, and a writhing movement in the bottom of the wagon, as the +wheel rolled over a little pile of stones in the road.</p> + +<p>Forrester's humanity checked his curiosity. He stooped to the sufferer, +composed his limbs upon the straw, and, as the vehicle, by this time, +had approached the tavern, he ordered the wagoner to drive to the rear +of the building, that the wounded<span class="pagenum">[67]<a name="page67" +id="page67"></a></span> man might lose, as much as +possible, the sounds of clamor which steadily rose from the hall in +front. When the wagon stopped, he procured proper help, and, with the +tenderest care, assisted to bear our unconscious traveller from the +vehicle, into the upper story of the house, where he gave him his own +bed, left him in charge of an old negro, and hurried away in search of +that most important person of the place, the village-doctor.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[68]<a name="page68" id="page68"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter6" id="chapter6">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + +<h3>CODE AND PRACTICE OF THE REGULATORS.</h3> + + +<p>Forrester was fleet of foot, and the village-doctor not far distant. He +was soon procured, and, prompt of practice, the hurts of Ralph Colleton +were found to be easily medicable. The wound was slight, the graze of a +bullet only, cutting some smaller blood-vessels, and it was only from +the loss of blood that insensibility had followed. The moderate skill of +our country-surgeon was quite equal to the case, and soon enabled him to +put the mind of Mark Forrester, who was honestly and humanely anxious, +at perfect rest on the subject of his unknown charge. With the dressing +of his wound, and the application of restoratives, the consciousness of +the youth returned, and he was enabled to learn how he had been +discovered, where he was, and to whom he was indebted for succor in the +moment of his insensibility.</p> + +<p>Ralph Colleton, of course, declared his gratitude in warm and proper +terms; but, as enjoined by the physician, he was discouraged from all +unnecessary speech. But he was not denied to listen, and Forrester was +communicative, as became his frank face and honest impulses. The brief +questions of Ralph obtained copious answers; and, for an hour, the +woodman cheered the solitude of his chamber, by the narration of such +matters as were most likely to interest his hearer, in respect to the +new region where he was, perforce, kept a prisoner. Of Chestatee, and +the people thereof, their employment, and the resources of the +neighborhood, Forrester gave a pretty correct account; though he +remained prudently silent in regard to the probable parties to that +adventure in which his hearer had received his hurt.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[69]<a name="page69" id="page69"></a></span> +From speaking of these subjects, the transition was natural to +the cause of uproar going on below stairs. The sounds of the hubbub +penetrated the chamber of the wounded man, and he expressed some +curiosity in respect to it. This was enough for the woodman, who had +partially informed himself, by a free conversation with the wagoner who +drove the vehicle which brought Ralph to the tavern. He had caught up +other details as he hurried to and fro, when he ran for the doctor. He +was thus prepared to satisfy the youth's inquiry.</p> + +<p>"Well, squire, did you ever see a live Yankee?"</p> + +<p>The youth smiled, answering affirmatively.</p> + +<p>"He's a pedler, you know, and that means a chap what can wheedle the +eyes out of your head, the soul out of your body, the gould out of your +pocket, and give you nothing but brass, and tin, and copper, in the +place of 'em. Well, all the hubbub you hear is jest now about one of +these same Yankee pedlers. The regilators have caught the varmint—one +Jared Bunce, as he calls himself—and a more cunning, rascally, +presumptious critter don't come out of all Connecticut. He's been a +cheating and swindling all the old women round the country. He'll pay +for it now, and no mistake. The regilators caught him about three hours +ago, and they've brought him here for judgment and trial. They've got a +jury setting on his vartues, and they'll hammer the soul out of him +afore they let him git out from under the iron. I don't reckon they kin +cure him, for what's bred in the bone, you know, won't come out of the +flesh; but they'll so bedevil bone and flesh, that I reckon he'll be the +last Yankee that ever comes to practice again in this Chestatee country. +Maybe, he ain't deserving of much worse than they kin do. Maybe, he +ain't a scamp of the biggest wethers. His rascality ain't to be +measured. Why, he kin walk through a man's pockets, jest as the devil +goes through a crack or a keyhole, and the money will naterally stick to +him, jest as ef he was made of gum turpentine. His very face is a sort +of kining [coining] machine. His look says dollars and cents; and its +always your dollars and cents, and he kines them out of your hands into +his'n, jest with a roll of his eye, and a mighty leetle turn of his +finger. He cheats in everything, and cheats everybody. Thar's not an old +woman in the country that don't say<span class="pagenum">[70]<a name="page70" +id="page70"></a></span> her prayers back'ards when +she thinks of Jared Bunce. Thar's his tin-wares and his wood-wares—his +coffeepots and kettles, all put together with saft sodder—that jest go +to pieces, as ef they had nothing else to do. And he kin blarney you +so—and he's so quick at a mortal lie—and he's got jest a good reason +for everything—and he's so sharp at a 'scuse [excuse] that it's +onpossible to say where he's gwine to have you, and what you're a gwine +to lose, and how you'll get off at last, and in what way he'll cheat you +another time. He's been at this business, in these diggings, now about +three years. The regilators have swore a hundred times to square off +with him; but he's always got off tell now; sometimes by new +inventions—sometimes by bible oaths—and last year, by regilarly +<i>cutting dirt</i> [flight]. He's hardly a chance to git cl'ar now, for +the regilators are pretty much up to all his tricks, and he's mighty +nigh to ride a rail for a colt, and get new <i>scores</i> ag'in old +scores, laid on with the smartest hickories in natur'."</p> + +<p>"And who are the regulators?" asked the youth, languidly.</p> + +<p>"What! you from Georgy, and never to hear tell of the regilators? Why, +that's the very place, I reckon, where the breed begun. The regilators +are jest then, you see, our own people. We hain't got much law and +justice in these pairts, and when the rascals git too sassy and +plentiful, we all turn out, few or many, and make a business of cleaning +out the stables. We turn justices, and sheriffs, and lawyers, and settle +scores with the growing sinners. We jine, hand in hand, agin such a chap +as Jared Bunce, and set in judgment upon his evil-doings. It's a regilar +court, though we make it up ourselves, and app'ints our own judges and +juries, and pass judgment 'cordin' to the case. Ef it's the first +offence, or only a small one, we let's the fellow off with only a taste +of the hickory. Ef it's a tough case, and an old sinner, we give him a +belly-full. Ef the whole country's roused, then Judge Lynch puts on his +black cap, and the rascal takes a hard ride on a rail, a duck in the +pond, and a perfect seasoning of hickories, tell thar ain't much left of +him, or, may be, they don't stop to curry him, but jest halters him at +once to the nearest swinging limb."</p> + +<p>"Sharp justice! and which of these punishments will they be likely to +bestow upon the Yankee?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[71]<a name="page71" id="page71"></a></span> +"Well thar's no telling; but I reckon he runs a smart chance of +grazing agin the whole on 'em. They've got a long account agin him. In +one way or t'other, he's swindled everybody with his notions. Some +bought his clocks, which only went while the rogue stayed, and when he +went they stopt forever. Some bought ready-made clothes, which went to +pieces at the very sight of soap and water. He sold a fusee to old Jerry +Seaborn, and warranted the piece, and it bursted into flinders, the very +first fire, and tore little Jerry's hand and arm—son of old +Jerry—almost to pieces. He'll never have the right use of it agin. And +that ain't all. Thar's no counting up his offences."</p> + +<p>"Bad as the fellow is, do you think it possible that they will torture +him as you describe, or hang him, without law, and a fair trial?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Lord love you, ha'n't I told you that he'll have a fair trial, +afore the regilators, and thar'll be any number of witnesses, and +judges, and sheriffs, and executioners. But, ef you know'd Bunce, you'd +know that a fair trial is the very last marcy that he'd aix of +Providence. Don't you think now that he'll git anything worse than his +righteous desarvings. He's a fellow that's got no more of a saving soul +in him than my whip-handle, and ain't half so much to be counted on in a +fight. He's jest now nothing but a cheat and a swindle from head to +foot; hain't got anything but cheat in him—hain't got room for any +principle—-not enough either to git drunk with a friend, or have it +out, in a fair fight, with his enemy. I shouldn't myself wish to see the +fellow's throat cut, but I ain't slow to say that I shall go for his +tasting a few hickories, after that a dip in the horsepond, and then a +permit to leave the country by the shortest cut, and without looking +behind him, under penalty of having the saft places on his back covered +with the petticoats of Lot's wife, that we hear of in the Scriptures."</p> + +<p>Ralph Colleton was somewhat oppressed with apathy, and he knew how idle +would be any attempt to lessen the hostility of the sturdy woodman, in +respect to the wretched class of traders, such as were described in +Jared Bunce, by whom the simple and dependent borderers in the South and +West, were shockingly imposed upon. He made but a feeble effort +accordingly, in<span class="pagenum">[72]<a name="page72" id="page72"></a></span> +this direction, but was somewhat more earnest in +insisting upon the general propriety of forbearance, in a practice which +militated against law and order, and that justice should he administered +only by the proper hands. But to this, Mark Forrester had his ready +answer; and, indeed, our young traveller was speaking according to the +social standards of a wholly different region.</p> + +<p>"There, again, 'squire, you are quite out. The laws, somehow or other, +can't touch these fellows. They run through the country a wink faster +than the sheriff, and laugh at all the processes you send after them. +So, you see, there's no justice, no how, unless you catch a rogue like +this, and wind up with him for all the gang—for they're all alike, all +of the same family, and it comes to the same thing in the end."</p> + +<p>The youth answered languidly. He began to tire, and nature craved +repose, and the physician had urged it. Forrester readily perceived that +the listener's interest was flagging—nay he half fancied that much that +he had been saying, and in his best style, had fallen upon drowsy +senses. Nobody likes to have his best things thrown away, and, as the +reader will readily conceive, our friend Forrester had a sneaking +consciousness that all the world's eloquence did not cease on the day +when Demosthenes died. But he was not the person to be offended because +the patient desired to sleep. Far from it. He was only reasonable enough +to suppose that this was the properest thing that the wounded man could +do. And so he told him; and adjusting carefully the pillows of the +youth, and disposing the bedclothes comfortably, and promising to see +him again before he slept, our woodman bade him good night, and +descended to the great hall of the tavern, where Jared Bunce was held in +durance.</p> + +<p>The luckless pedler was, in truth, in a situation in which, for the +first time in his life, he coveted nothing. The peril was one, also, +from which, thus far, his mother-wit, which seldom failed before, could +suggest no means of evasion or escape. His prospect was a dreary one; +though with the wonderful capacity for endurance, and the surprising +cheerfulness, common to the class to which he belonged, he beheld it +without dismay though with many apprehensions.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[73]<a name="page73" id="page73"></a></span> +Justice he did not expect, nor, indeed, as Forrester has already +told us, did he desire it. He asked for nothing less than justice. He +was dragged before judges, all of whom had complaints to prefer, and +injuries to redress; and none of whom were over-scrupulous as to the +nature or measure of that punishment which was to procure them the +desired atonement. The company was not so numerous as noisy. It +consisted of some twenty persons, villagers as well as small farmers in +the neighborhood, all of whom, having partaken <i>ad libitum</i> of the +whiskey distributed freely about the table, which, in part, they +surrounded, had, in the Indian phrase, more tongues than brains, and +were sufficiently aroused by their potations to enter readily into any +mischief. Some were smoking with all the industrious perseverance of the +Hollander; others shouted forth songs in honor of the bottle, and with +all the fervor and ferment of Bacchanalian novitiates; and not a few, +congregating about the immediate person of the pedler, assailed his ears +with threats sufficiently pregnant with tangible illustration to make +him understand and acknowledge, by repeated starts and wincings, the +awkward and uncomfortable predicament in which he stood. At length, the +various disputants for justice, finding it difficult, if not impossible, +severally, to command that attention which they conceived they merited, +resolved themselves into something like a committee of the whole, and +proceeded to the settlement of their controversy, and the pedler's fate, +in a manner more suited to the importance of the occasion. Having +procured that attention which was admitted to be the great object, more +by the strength of his lungs than his argument, one of the company, who +was dignified by the title of colonel, spoke out for the rest.</p> + +<p>"I say, boys—'tisn't of any use, I reckon, for everybody to speak about +what everybody knows. One speaker's quite enough in this here matter +before us. Here's none of us that sha'n't something to say agin this +pedler, and the doings of the grand scoundrel in and about these parts, +for a matter going on now about three years. Why, everybody knows him, +big and little; and his reputation is so now, that the very boys take +his name to frighten away the crows with. Now, one person can jist as +well make a plain statement as another. I know, of my +<span class="pagenum">[74]<a name="page74" id="page74"></a></span> own score, +there's not one of my neighbors for ten miles round, that can't tell all +about the rotten prints he put off upon my old woman; and I know myself +of all the tricks he's played at odd times, more than a dozen, upon +'Squire Nichols there, and Tom Wescott, and Bob Snipes, and twenty +others; and everybody knows them just as well as I. Now, to make up the +score, and square off with the pedler, without any frustration, I move +you that Lawyer Pippin take the chair, and judge in this matter; for the +day has come for settling off accounts, and I don't see why we shouldn't +be the regulators for Bunce, seeing that everybody agrees that he's a +rogue, and a pestilence, and desarves regilation."</p> + +<p>This speech was highly applauded, and chimed in admirably with all +prejudices, and the voice that called Lawyer Pippin to preside over the +deliberations of the assembly was unanimous. The gentleman thus highly +distinguished, was a dapper and rather portly little personage, with +sharp twinkling eyes, a ruby and remarkable nose, a double chin, +retreating forehead, and corpulent cheek. He wore green glasses of a +dark, and a green coat of a light, complexion. The lawyer was the only +member of the profession living in the village, had no competitor save +when the sitting of the court brought in one or more from neighboring +settlements, and, being thus circumstanced, without opposition, and the +only representative of his craft, he was literally, to employ the slang +phrase in that quarter, the "cock of the walk." He was, however, not so +much regarded by the villagers a worthy as a clever man. It required not +erudition to win the credit of profundity, and the lawyer knew how to +make the most of his learning among those who had none. Like many other +gentlemen of erudition, he was grave to a proverb when the occasion +required it, and would not be seen to laugh out of the prescribed place, +though "Nestor swore the jest was laughable." He relied greatly on saws +and sayings—could quote you the paradoxes of Johnson and the +infidelities of Hume without always understanding them, and mistook, as +men of that kind and calibre are very apt to do, the capacity to repeat +the grave absurdities of others as a proof of something in himself. His +business was not large, however, and among the arts of his profession, +and as a means for supplying<span class="pagenum">[75]<a name="page75" +id="page75"></a></span> the absence of more legitimate +occasions for its employment, he was reputed as excessively expert in +making the most of any difficulty among his neighbors. The egg of +mischief and controversy was hardly laid, before the worthy lawyer, with +maternal care, came clucking about it; he watched and warmed it without +remission; and when fairly hatched, he took care that the whole brood +should be brought safely into court, his voice, and words, and actions, +fully attesting the deep interest in their fortunes which he had +manifested from the beginning. Many a secret slander, ripening at length +into open warfare, had been traced to his friendly influence, either +<i>ab ovo</i>, or at least from the perilous period in such cases when +the very existence of the embryo relies upon the friendly breath, the +sustaining warmth, and the occasional stimulant. Lawyer Pippin, among +his neighbors, was just the man for such achievements, and they gave +him, with a degree of shrewdness common to them as a people, less +qualified credit for the capacity which he at all times exhibited in +bringing a case into, than in carrying it out of court. But this opinion +in nowise affected the lawyer's own estimate of his pretensions. Next to +being excessively mean, he was excessively vain, and so highly did he +regard his own opinions, that he was never content until he heard +himself busily employed in their utterance. An opportunity for a speech, +such as the present, was not suffered to pass without due regard; but as +we propose that he shall exhibit himself in the most happy manner at a +later period in our narrative, we shall abridge, in few, the long string +of queerly-associated words in the form of a speech, which, on assuming +the chair thus assigned him, he poured forth upon the assembly. After a +long prefatory, apologetic, and deprecatory exordium, in which his own +demerits, as is usual with small speakers, were strenuously urged; and +after he had exhausted most of the commonplaces about the purity of the +ermine upon the robes of justice, and the golden scales, and the +unshrinking balance, and the unsparing and certain sword, he went on +thus:—</p> + +<p>"And now, my friends, if I rightly understand the responsibility and +obligations of the station thus kindly conferred upon me, I am required +to arraign the pedler, Jared Bunce, before you, on behalf of the +country, which country, as the clerk reads<span class="pagenum">[76]<a name="page76" +id="page76"></a></span> it, you undoubtedly +are; and here let me remark, my friends, the excellent and nice +distinction which this phrase makes between the man and the soil, +between the noble intellect and the high soul, and the mere dirt and +dust upon which we daily tread. This very phrase, my friends, is a fine +embodiment of that democratic principle upon which the glorious +constitution is erected. But, as I was saying, my friends, I am required +to arraign before you this same pedler, Jared Bunce, on sundry charges +of misdemeanor, and swindling, and fraud—in short, as I understand it, +for endeavoring, without having the fear of God and good breeding in his +eyes, to pass himself off upon the good people of this county as an +honest man. Is this the charge, my friends?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, lawyer, that's the how, that's the very thing itself. Put it to +the skunk, let him deny that if he can—let him deny that his name is +Jared Bunce—that he hails from Connecticut—that he is a shark, and a +pirate, and a pestilence. Let him deny that he is a cheat—that he goes +about with his notions and other rogueries—that he doesn't manufacture +maple-seeds, and hickory nutmegs, and ground coffee made out of rotten +rye. Answer to that, Jared Bunce, you white-livered lizard."</p> + +<p>Thus did one of his accusers take up the thread of the discourse as +concluded in part by the chairman. Another and another followed with +like speeches in the most rapid succession, until all was again +confusion; and the voice of the lawyer, after a hundred ineffectual +efforts at a hearing, degenerated into a fine squeak, and terminated at +last in a violent fit of coughing, that fortunately succeeded in +producing the degree of quiet around him to secure which his language +had, singularly enough, entirely failed. For a moment the company ceased +its clamor, out of respect to the chairman's cough; and, having cleared +his throat with the contents of a tumbler of Monongahela which seemed to +stand permanently full by his side, he recommenced the proceedings; the +offender, in the meantime, standing mute and motionless, now almost +stupified with terror, conscious of repeated offences, knowing perfectly +the reckless spirit of those who judged him, and hopeless of escape from +their hands, without, in the country phrase, the loss at least of "wing +and tail feathers." The chairman with due gravity began:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[77]<a name="page77" id="page77"></a></span> +"Jared Bunce—is that your name?"</p> + +<p>"Why, lawyer, I can't deny that I have gone by that name, and I guess +it's the right name for me to go by, seeing that I was christened Jared, +after old Uncle Jared Withers, that lives down at Dedham, in the state +of Massachusetts. He did promise to do something for me, seeing I was +named after him, but he ha'n't done nothing yet, no how. Then the name +of Bunce, you see, lawyer, I got from my father, his name being Bunce, +too, I guess."</p> + +<p>"Well, Jared Bunce, answer to the point, and without circumlocution. You +have heard some of the charges against you. Having taken them down in +short-hand, I will repeat them."</p> + +<p>The pedler approached a few steps, advanced one leg, raised a hand to +his ear, and put on all the external signs of devout attention, as the +chairman proceeded in the long and curious array.</p> + +<p>"First, then, it is charged against you, Bunce, by young Dick Jenkins, +that stands over in front of you there, that somewhere between the +fifteenth and twenty-third of June—last June was a year—you came by +night to his plantation, he living at that time in De Kalb county; that +you stopped the night with him, without charge, and in the morning you +traded a clock to his wife for fifteen dollars, and that you had not +been gone two days, before the said clock began to go whiz, whiz, whiz, +and commenced striking, whizzing all the while, and never stopped till +it had struck clear thirty-one, and since that time it will neither +whiz, nor strike, nor do nothing."</p> + +<p>"Why, lawyer, I ain't the man to deny the truth of this transaction, you +see; but, then, you must know, much depends upon the way you manage a +clock. A clock is quite a delicate and ticklish article of manufacture, +you see, and it ain't everybody that can make a clock, or can make it go +when it don't want to; and if a man takes a hammer or a horsewhip, or +any other unnatural weapon to it, as if it was a house or a horse, why I +guess, it's not reasonable to expect it to keep in order, and it's no +use in having a clock no how, if you don't treat it well. As for its +striking thirty-one, that indeed is something remarkable, for I never +heard one of mine strike more than twelve, and that's zactly the number +they're regulated to strike.<span class="pagenum">[78]<a name="page78" +id="page78"></a></span> But, after all, lawyer, I don't see +that Squire Jenkins has been much a loser by the trade, seeing that he +paid me in bills of the Hogee-nogee bank, and that stopped payment about +the time, and before I could get the bills changed. It's true, I didn't +let on that I knowed anything about it, and got rid of the paper a +little while before the thing went through the country."</p> + +<p>"Now, look ye, you gingerbread-bodied Yankee—I'd like to know what you +mean about taking whip and hammer to the clock. If you mean to say that +I ever did such a thing, I'll lick you now, by the eternal scratch!"</p> + +<p>"Order, order, Mr. Jenkins—order! The chair must be respected. You must +come to order, Mr. Jenkins—" was the vociferous and urgent cry of the +chairman, repeated by half a dozen voices; the pedler, in the meanwhile, +half doubting the efficacy of the call, retreating with no little terror +behind the chair of the dignified personage who presided.</p> + +<p>"Well, you needn't make such a howling about it," said Jenkins, +wrathfully, and looking around him with the sullen ferocity of a chafed +bear. "I know jist as well how to keep order, I reckon, as any on you; +but I don't see how it will be out of order to lick a Yankee, or who can +hinder me, if I choose it."</p> + +<p>"Well, don't look at me, Dick Jenkins, with such a look, or I'll have a +finger in that pie, old fellow. I'm no Yankee to be frightened by sich a +lank-sided fellow as you; and, by dogs, if nobody else can keep you in +order, I'm jist the man to try if I can't. So don't put on any shines, +old boy, or I'll darken your peepers, if I don't come very nigh plucking +them out altogether."</p> + +<p>So spake another of the company, who, having been much delectified with +the trial, had been particularly solicitous in his cries for order. +Jenkins was not indisposed to the affray, and made an angry retort, +which provoked another still more angry; but other parties interfering, +the new difficulty was made to give place to that already in hand. The +imputation upon Jenkins, that his ignorance of the claims of the clock +to gentle treatment, alone, had induced it to speak thirty-one times, +and at length refuse to speak at all, had touched his pride; and, sorely +vexed, he retired upon a glass of whiskey to the farther corner of the +room, and with his pipe, nursing the fumes of his<span class="pagenum">[79]<a name="page79" +id="page79"></a></span> wrath, he +waited impatiently the signal for the wild mischief which he knew would +come.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, the examination of the culprit proceeded; but, as we +can not hope to convey to the reader a description of the affair as it +happened, to the life, we shall content ourselves with a brief summary. +The chair went on rapidly enumerating the sundry misdeeds of the Yankee, +demanding, and in most cases receiving, rapid and unhesitating +replies—evasively and adroitly framed, for the offender well knew that +a single unlucky word or phrase would bring down upon his shoulders a +wilderness of blows.</p> + +<p>"You are again charged, Bunce, with having sold to Colonel Blundell a +coffee-pot and two tin cups, all of which went to pieces—the solder +melting off at the very sight of the hot water."</p> + +<p>"Well, lawyer, it stands to reason I can't answer for that. The tin +wares I sell stand well enough in a northern climate: there may be some +difference in yours that I can't account for; and I guess, pretty much, +there is. Now, your people are a mighty hot-tempered people, and take a +fight for breakfast, and make three meals a day out of it: now, we in +the north have no stomach for such fare; so here, now, as far as I can +see, your climate takes pretty much after the people, and if so, it's no +wonder that solder can't stand it. Who knows, again, but you boil your +water quite too hot? Now, I guess, there's jest as much harm in boiling +water too hot, as in not boiling it hot enough. Who knows? All I can say +is, that the lot of wares I bring to this market next season shall be +calkilated on purpose to suit the climate."</p> + +<p>The chairman seemed struck with this view of the case, and spoke with a +gravity corresponding with the deep sagacity he conceived himself to +have exhibited.</p> + +<p>"There does seem to be something in this; and it stands to reason, what +will do for a nation of pedlers won't do for us. Why, when I recollect +that they are buried in snows half the year, and living on nothing else +the other half, I wonder how they get the water to boil at all. Answer +that, Bunce."</p> + +<p>"Well, lawyer, I guess you must have travelled pretty considerable down +east in your time and among my people, for you +<span class="pagenum">[80]<a name="page80" id="page80"></a></span> do seem to know +all about the matter jest as well and something better than myself."</p> + +<p>The lawyer, not a little flattered by the compliment so slyly and +evasively put in, responded to the remark with a due regard to his own +increase of importance.</p> + +<p>"I am not ignorant of your country, pedler, and of the ways of its +people; but it is not me that you are to satisfy. Answer to the +gentlemen around, if it is not a difficult matter for you to get water +to boil at all during the winter months."</p> + +<p>"Why, to say the truth, lawyer, when coal is scarce and high in the +market, heat is very hard to come. Now, I guess the ware I brought out +last season was made under those circumstances; but I have a lot on hand +now, which will be here in a day or two, which I should like to trade to +the colonel, and I guess I may venture to say, all the hot water in the +country won't melt the solder off."</p> + +<p>"I tell you what, pedler, we are more likely to put you in hot water +than try any more of your ware in that way. But where's your +plunder?—let us see this fine lot of notions you speak of"—was the +speech of the colonel already so much referred to, and whose coffee-pot +bottom furnished so broad a foundation for the trial. He was a wild and +roving person, to whom the tavern, and the racecourse, and the cockpit, +from his very boyhood up, had been as the breath of life, and with whom +the chance of mischief was never willingly foregone. But the pedler was +wary, and knew his man. The lurking smile and sneer of the speaker had +enough in them for the purposes of warning, and he replied evasively:—</p> + +<p>"Well, colonel, you shall see them by next Tuesday or Wednesday. I +should be glad to have a trade with you—the money's no object—and if +you have furs, or skins, or anything that you like to get off your +hands, there's no difficulty, that I can see, to a long bargain."</p> + +<p>"But why not trade now, Bunce?—what's to hinder us now? I sha'n't be in +the village after Monday."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, colonel, that'll just suit me, for I did calkilate to call +on you at the farm, on my way into the nation where I'm going looking +out for furs."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and live on the best for a week, under some pretence +<span class="pagenum">[81]<a name="page81" id="page81"></a></span> that +your nag is sick, or you sick, or something in the way of a start—then +go off, cheat, and laugh at me in the bargain. I reckon, old boy, you +don't come over me in that way again; and I'm not half done with you yet +about the kettles. That story of yours about the hot and cold may do for +the pigeons, but you don't think the hawks will swallow it, do ye? +Come—out with your notions!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, to be sure, only give a body time, colonel," as, pulled by the +collar, with some confusion and in great trepidation, responded the +beleagured dealer in clocks and calicoes—"they shall all be here in a +day or two at most. Seeing that one of my creatures was foundered, I had +to leave the goods, and drive the other here without them."</p> + +<p>The pedler had told the truth in part only. One of his horses had indeed +struck lame, but he had made out to bring him to the village with all +his wares; and this fact, as in those regions of question and inquiry +was most likely to be the case, had already taken wind.</p> + +<p>"Now, look ye, Bunce, do you take me for a blear-eyed mole, that never +seed the light of a man's eyes?" inquired Blundell, closely approaching +the beset tradesman, and taking him leisurely by the neck. "Do you want +to take a summerset through that window, old fellow, that you try to +stuff us with such tough stories? If you do, I <i>rether</i> reckon you +can do it without much difficulty." Thus speaking, and turning to some +of those around him, he gave directions which imparted to the limbs of +the pedler a continuous and crazy motion, that made his teeth chatter.</p> + +<p>"Hark ye, boys, jist step out, and bring in the cart of Jared Bunce, +wheels and all, if so be that the body won't come off easily. We'll see +for ourselves."</p> + +<p>It was now the pedler's turn for speech; and, forgetting the precise +predicament in which he personally stood, and only solicitous to save +his chattels from the fate which he plainly saw awaited them, his +expostulations and entreaties were rapid and energetic.</p> + +<p>"Now, colonel—gentlemen—my good friends—to-morrow or the next day you +shall see them all—I'll go with you to your plantation—"</p> + +<p>"No, thank ye. I want none of your company—and, look +<span class="pagenum">[82]<a name="page82" id="page82"></a></span> ye, if you +know when you're well off, don't undertake to call me your friend. I +say, Mr. Chairman, if it's in order—I don't want to do anything +disorderly—I move that Bunce's cart be moved here into this very room, +that we may see for ourselves the sort of substance he brings here to +put off upon us."</p> + +<p>The chairman had long since seemingly given up all hope of exercising, +in their true spirit, the duties of the station which he held. For a +while, it is true, he battled with no little energy for the integrity of +his dignity, with good lungs and a stout spirit; but, though fully a +match in these respects for any one, or perhaps any two of his +competitors, he found the task of contending with the dozen rather less +easy, and, in a little while, his speeches, into which he had lugged +many a choice <i>ad captandum</i> of undisputed effect on any other +occasion, having been completely merged and mingled with those of the +mass, he wisely forbore any further waste of matter, in the +stump-oratory of the South usually so precious; and, drawing himself up +proudly and profoundly in his high place, he remained dignifiedly +sullen, until the special reference thus made by Colonel Blundell again +opened the fountains of the oracle and set them flowing.</p> + +<p>The lawyer, thus appealed to, in a long tirade, and in his happiest +manner, delivered his opinion in the premises, and in favor of the +measure. How, indeed, could he do otherwise, and continue that tenacious +pursuit of his own interests which had always been the primary aim and +object, as well of the profession as the person. He at once sagaciously +beheld the embryo lawsuit and contingent controversy about to result +from the proposition; and, in his mind, with a far and free vision, +began to compute the costs and canvass the various terms and prolonged +trials of county court litigation. He saw fee after fee thrust into his +hands—he beheld the opposing parties desirous to conciliate, and +extending to him sundry of those equivocal courtesies, which, though +they take not the shape of money are money's worth, and the worthy +chairman had no scruples as to the propriety of the measure. The profits +and pay once adjusted to his satisfaction, his spirit took a broad +sweep, and the province of human fame, circumscribed, it is true, within +the ten mile circuit of his horizon, was at once open before him. +<span class="pagenum">[83]<a name="page83" id="page83"></a></span> +He beheld the strife, and enjoyed the triumph over his +fellow-laborers at the bar—he already heard the applauses of his +neighbors at this or that fine speech or sentiment; and his form grew +insensibly erect, and his eye glistened proudly, as he freely and fully +assented to the measure which promised such an abundant harvest. Vainly +did the despairing and dispirited pedler implore a different judgment; +the huge box which capped the body of his travelling vehicle, torn from +its axle, without any show of reverential respect for screw or +fastening, was borne in a moment through the capacious entrance of the +hall, and placed conspicuously upon the table.</p> + +<p>"The key, Bunce, the key!" was the demand of a dozen.</p> + +<p>The pedler hesitated for a second, and the pause was fatal. Before he +could redeem his error, a blow from a hatchet settled the difficulty, by +distributing the fine deal-box cover, lock and hinges, in fragments over +the apartment. The revelation of wares and fabrics—a strange admixture, +with propriety designated "notions"—brought all eyes immediately +around, and rendered a new order, for common convenience, necessary in +the arrangement of the company. The chairman, chair and man, were in a +moment raised to a corresponding elevation upon the table, over the +collection; and the controversy and clamor, from concentrating, as it +did before, upon the person of the pedler, were now transferred to the +commodities he brought for sale. Order having been at length obtained, +Colonel Blundell undertook the assertion of his own and the wrongs of +his fellow-sufferers, and kept uninterrupted possession of the floor.</p> + +<p>"And now, Mr. Chairman, I will jist go a little into the particulars of +the rogueries and rascalities of this same Yankee. Now, in the first +place, he is a Yankee, and that's enough, itself, to bring him to +punishment—but we'll let that pass, and go to his other +transactions—for, as I reckon, it's quite punishment enough for that +offence, to be jist what he is. He has traded rotten stuffs about the +country, that went to pieces the first washing. He has traded calico +prints, warranted for fast colors, that ran faster than he ever ran +himself. He has sold us tin stuffs, that didn't stand hot water at all; +and then thinks to get off, by saying they were not made for our +climate. And let me ask, Mr. Chairman, if they wasn't made for our +climate,<span class="pagenum">[84]<a name="page84" id="page84"></a></span> +why did he bring 'em here? let him come to the scratch, +and answer that, neighbors—but he can't. Well, then, as you've all +hearn, he has traded clocks to us at money's worth, that one day ran +faster than a Virginny race-mare, and at the very next day, would strike +lame, and wouldn't go at all, neither for beating nor coaxing—and +besides all these doings, neighbors, if these an't quite enough to carry +a skunk to the horsepond, he has committed his abominations without +number, all through the country high and low—for hain't he lied and +cheated, and then had the mean cowardice to keep out of the way of the +<i>regilators</i>, who have been on the look-out for his tracks for +the last half year? Now, if these things an't <i>desarving</i> of +punishment, there's nobody fit to be hung—there's nobody that ought to +be whipped. Hickories oughtn't to grow any longer, and the best thing +the governor can do would be to have all the jails burnt down from one +eend of the country to the other. The proof stands up agin Bunce, and +there's no denying it; and it's no use, no how, to let this fellow come +among us, year after year, to play the same old hand, take our money for +his rascally goods, then go away and laugh at us. And the question +before us is jist what I have said, and what shall we do with the +critter? To show you that it's high time to do something in the matter, +look at this calico print, that looks, to be sure, very well to the eye, +except, as you see, here's a tree with red leaves and yellow flowers—a +most ridiculous notion, indeed, for who ever seed a tree with sich +colors here, in the very beginning of summer?"</p> + +<p>Here the pedler, for the moment, more solicitous for the credit of the +manufactures than for his own safety, ventured to suggest that the print +was a mere fancy, a matter of taste—in fact, a notion, and not +therefore to be judged by the standard which had been brought to decide +upon its merits. He did not venture, however, to say what, perhaps, +would have been the true horn of the difficulty, that the print was an +autumn or winter illustration, for that might have subjected him to +condign punishment for its unseasonableness. As it was, the defence set +up was to the full as unlucky as any other might have been.</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you what, Master Bunce, it won't do to take natur in vain. If +you can show me a better painter than natur, from +<span class="pagenum">[85]<a name="page85" id="page85"></a></span> your pairts, I +give up; but until that time, I say that any man who thinks to give the +woods a different sort of face from what God give 'em, ought to be +licked for his impudence if nothing else."</p> + +<p>The pedler ventured again to expostulate; but the argument having been +considered conclusive against him, he was made to hold his peace, while +the prosecutor proceeded.</p> + +<p>"Now then, Mr. Chairman, as I was saying—here is a sample of the kind +of stuff he thinks to impose upon us. Look now at this here article, and +I reckon it's jist as good as any of the rest, and say whether a little +touch of Lynch's law, an't the very thing for the Yankee!"</p> + +<p>Holding up the devoted calico to the gaze of the assembly, with a single +effort of his strong and widely-distended arms, he rent it asunder with +little difficulty, the sweep not terminating, until the stuff, which, +by-the-way, resigned itself without struggle or resistance to its fate, +had been most completely and evenly divided. The poor pedler in vain +endeavored to stay a ravage that, once begun, became epidemical. He +struggled and strove with tenacious hand, holding on to sundry of his +choicest bales, and claiming protection from the chair, until warned of +his imprudent zeal in behalf of goods so little deserving of the risk, +by the sharp and sudden application of an unknown hand to his ears which +sent him reeling against the table, and persuaded him into as great a +degree of patience, as, under existing circumstances, he could be well +expected to exhibit. Article after article underwent a like analysis of +its strength and texture, and a warm emulation took place among the +rioters, as to their several capacities in the work of destruction. The +shining bottoms were torn from the tin-wares in order to prove that such +a separation was possible, and it is doing but brief justice to the +pedler to say, that, whatever, in fact, might have been the true +character of his commodities, the very choicest of human fabrics could +never have resisted the various tests of bone and sinew, tooth and nail, +to which they were indiscriminately subjected. Immeasurable was the +confusion that followed. All restraints were removed—all hindrances +withdrawn, and the tide rushed onward with a most headlong tendency.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[86]<a name="page86" id="page86"></a></span> +Apprehensive of pecuniary responsibilities in his own person, +and having his neighbors wrought to the desired pitch—fearing, also, +lest his station might somewhat involve himself in the meshes he was +weaving around others, the sagacious chairman, upon the first show of +violence, roared out his resignation, and descended from his place. But +this movement did not impair the industry of the <i>regulators</i>. A +voice was heard proposing a bonfire of the merchandise, and no second +suggestion was necessary. All hands but those of the pedler and the +attorney were employed in building the pyre in front of the tavern some +thirty yards; and here, in choice confusion, lay flaming calicoes, +illegitimate silks, worsted hose, wooden clocks and nutmegs, maple-wood +seeds of all descriptions, plaid cloaks, scents, and spices, jumbled up +in ludicrous variety. A dozen hands busied themselves in applying the +torch to the devoted mass—howling over it, at every successive burst of +flame that went up into the dark atmosphere, a savage yell of triumph +that tallied well with the proceeding.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!"</p> + +<p>The scene was one of indescribable confusion. The rioters danced about +the blaze like so many frenzied demons. Strange, no one attempted to +appropriate the property that must have been a temptation to all.</p> + +<p>Our pedler, though he no longer strove to interfere, was by no means +insensible to the ruin of his stock in trade. It was calculated to move +to pity, in any other region, to behold him as he stood in the doorway, +stupidly watching the scene, while the big tears were slowly gathering +in his eyes, and falling down his bronzed and furrowed cheeks. The +rough, hard, unscrupulous man can always weep for himself. Whatever the +demerits of the rogue, our young traveller above stairs, would have +regarded him as the victim of a too sharp justice. Not so the +participators in the outrage. They had been too frequently the losers by +the cunning practice of the pedler, to doubt for a moment the perfect +propriety—nay, the very moderate measure—of that wild justice which +they were dealing out to his misdeeds. And with this even, they were not +satisfied. As the perishable calicoes roared up and went down in the +flames, as the pans and pots and cups melted away in the furnace +heat,<span class="pagenum">[87]<a name="page87" id="page87"></a></span> +and the painted faces of the wooden clocks, glared out +like those of John Rogers at the stake, enveloped in fire, the cries of +the crowd were mingled in with a rude, wild chorus, in which the pedler +was made to understand that he stood himself in a peril almost as great +as his consuming chattels. It was the famous ballad of the +<i>regulators</i> that he heard, and it smote his heart with a +consciousness of his personal danger that made him shiver in his shoes. +The uncouth doggrel, recited in a lilting sort of measure, the peculiar +and various pleasures of a canter upon a pine rail. It was clear that +the mob were by no means satisfied with the small measure of sport which +they had enjoyed. A single verse of this savage ditty will suffice for +the present, rolled out upon the air, from fifty voices, the very boys +and negroes joining in the chorus, and making it tell terribly to the +senses of the threatened person. First one voice would warble</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"Did you ever, ever, ever!"—</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">and there was a brief pause, at the end of which the crowd joined in +with unanimous burst and tremendous force of lungs:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"Did you ever, ever, ever, in your life ride a rail?</div> + <div class="in1">Such a deal of pleasure's in it, that you never can refuse!</div> + <div>You are mounted on strong shoulders, that'll never, never fail,</div> + <div class="in1">Though you pray'd with tongue of sinner, just to plant you where they choose.</div> + <div>Though the brier patch is nigh you, looking up with thorny faces,</div> + <div class="in1">They never wait to see how you like the situation,</div> + <div>But down you go a rolling, through the penetrating places,</div> + <div class="in1">Nor scramble out until you give the cry of approbation.</div> + <div>Oh! pleasant is the riding, highly-seated on the rail,</div> + <div class="in1">And worthy of the wooden horse, the rascal that we ride;</div> + <div>Let us see the mighty shoulders that will never, never fail.</div> + <div class="in1">To lift him high, and plant him, on the crooked rail astride.</div> + <div class="in3">The seven-sided pine rail, the pleasant bed of briar,</div> + <div class="in3">The little touch of hickory law, with a dipping in the mire.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"Did you ever, ever, ever," &c.,</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="noindent">from the troupe in full blast!</p> + +<p>The lawyer Pippin suddenly stood beside the despairing pedler, as this +ominous ditty was poured upon the night-winds.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear that song, Bunce?" he asked. "How do you like the music?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[88]<a name="page88" id="page88"></a></span> +The pedler looked in his face with a mixed expression of grief, +anger, and stupidity, but he said nothing.</p> + +<p>"Hark ye, Bunce," continued the lawyer. "Do you know what that means? +Does your brain take in its meaning, my friend?"</p> + +<p>"Friend, indeed!" was the very natural exclamation of the pedler as he +shrank from the hand of the lawyer, which had been affectionately laid +upon his shoulder. "Friend, indeed! I say, Lawyer Pippin, if it hadn't +been for you, I'd never ha' been in this fix. I'm ruined by you."</p> + +<p>"Ruined by me! Pshaw, Bunce, you are a fool. I was your friend all the +time."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes! I can see how. But though you did stop, when they began, yet +you did enough to set them on. That was like a good lawyer, I guess, but +not so much like a friend. Had you been a friend, you could have saved +my property from the beginning."</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay, Bunce; you do me wrong. They had sworn against you long ago, +and you know them well enough. The devil himself couldn't stop 'em when +once upon the track. But don't be down in the mouth. I can save you +now."</p> + +<p>"Save me!"</p> + +<p>"Ay! don't you hear? They're singing the regulation song. Once that +blaze goes down, they'll be after you. It's a wonder they've left you +here so long. Now's your time. You must be off. Fly by the back door, +and leave it to me to get damages for your loss of property."</p> + +<p>"You, lawyer? well, I should like to know how you calkilate to do that?"</p> + +<p>"I'll tell you. You know my profession."</p> + +<p>"I guess I do, pretty much."</p> + +<p>"Thus, then—most of these are men of substance; at least they have +enough to turn out a pretty good case each of them—now all you have to +do is to bring suit. I'll do all that, you know, the same as if you did +it yourself. You must lay your damages handsomely, furnish a few +affidavits, put the business entirely in my hands, and—how much is the +value of your goods?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[89]<a name="page89" id="page89"></a></span> +"Well, I guess they might be worth something over three hundred +and twenty dollars and six shillings, York money."</p> + +<p>"Well, give me all the particulars, and I venture to assure you that I +can get five hundred dollars damages at least, and perhaps a thousand. +But of this we can talk more at leisure when you are in safety. Where's +your cart, Bunce?"</p> + +<p>"On t'other side of the house—what they've left on it."</p> + +<p>"Now, then, while they're busy over the blaze, put your tackle on, hitch +your horse, and take the back track to my clearing; it's but a short +mile and a quarter, and you'll be there in no time. I'll follow in a +little while, and we'll arrange the matter."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, lawyer, but I can't—my horse, as you see, having over eat +himself, is struck with the founders and can't budge. I put him in +'Squire Dickens' stable, 'long with his animals, and seeing that he +hadn't had much the day before, I emptied the corn from their troughs +into his, and jest see what's come of it. I hadn't ought to done so, to +be sure."</p> + +<p>"That's bad, but that must not stop you. Your life, Bunce, is in danger, +and I have too much regard for you to let you risk it by longer stay +here. Take my nag, there—the second one from the tree, and put him in +the gears in place of your own. He's as gentle as a spaniel, and goes +like a deer. You know the back track to my house, and I'll come after +you, and bring your creature along. I 'spose he's not so stiff but he +can bring me."</p> + +<p>"He can do that, lawyer, I guess, without difficulty. I'll move as you +say, and be off pretty slick. Five hundred dollars damage, lawyer—eh!"</p> + +<p>"No matter, till I see you. Put your nag in gears quickly—you have +little time to spare!"</p> + +<p>The pedler proceeded to the work, and was in a little while ready for a +start. But he lingered at the porch.</p> + +<p>"I say, lawyer, it's a hard bout they've given me this time. I did fear +they would be rash and obstropulous, but didn't think they'd gone so +far. Indeed, it's clear, if it hadn't been that the cretur failed me, I +should not have trusted myself in the place, after what I was told."</p> + +<p>"Bunce, you have been rather sly in your dealings, and they +<span class="pagenum">[90]<a name="page90" id="page90"></a></span> have +a good deal to complain of. Now, though I said nothing about it, that +coat you sold me for a black grew red with a week's wear, and threadbare +in a month."</p> + +<p>"Now, don't talk, lawyer, seeing you ha'n't paid me for it yet; but +that's neither here nor there. If I did, as you say, sell my goods for +something more than their vally, I hadn't ought to had such a punishment +as this."</p> + +<p>The wild song of the rioters rang in his ears, followed by a +proposition, seemingly made with the utmost gravity, to change the plan +of operations, and instead of giving him the ride upon the rail, cap the +blazing goods of his cart with the proper person of the proprietor. The +pedler lingered to hear no further; and the quick ear of the lawyer, as +he returned into the hall, distinguished the rumbling motion of his cart +hurrying down the road. But he had scarcely reseated himself and resumed +his glass, before Bunce also reappeared.</p> + +<p>"Why, man, I thought you were off. You burn daylight; though they do +say, those whom water won't drown, rope must hang."</p> + +<p>"There is some risk, lawyer, to be sure; but when I recollected this +box, which you see is a fine one, though they have disfigured it, I +thought I should have time enough to take it with me, and anything that +might be lying about;" looking around the apartment as he spoke, and +gathering up a few fragments which had escaped the general notice.</p> + +<p>"Begone, fool!" exclaimed the lawyer, impatiently. "They are upon +you—they come—fly for your life, you dog—I hear their voices."</p> + +<p>"I'm off, lawyer"—and looking once behind him as he hurried off, the +pedler passed from the rear of the building as those who sought him +re-entered in front.</p> + +<p>"The blood's in him—the Yankee will be Yankee still," was the muttered +speech of the lawyer, as he prepared to encounter the returning rioters.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[91]<a name="page91" id="page91"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter7" id="chapter7">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE YANKEE OUTWITS THE LAWYER.</h3> + + +<p>It was at this moment that Forrester entered the tavern-hall; curious to +know the result of the trial, from which his attendance upon Ralph had +unavoidably detained him. The actors of the drama were in better humor +than before, and uproarious mirth had succeeded to ferocity. They were +all in the very excess of self-glorification; for, though somewhat +disappointed of their design, and defrauded of the catastrophe, they had +nevertheless done much, according to their own judgment, and enough, +perhaps, in that of the reader, for the purposes of justice. The work of +mischief had been fully consummated; and though, to their notion, still +somewhat incomplete from the escape of the pedler himself, they were in +great part satisfied—some few among them, indeed—and among these our +quondam friend Forrester may be included—were not sorry that Bunce had +escaped the application of the personal tests which had been +contemplated for his benefit; for, however willing, it was somewhat +doubtful whether they could have been altogether able to save him from +the hands of those having a less scrupulous regard to humanity.</p> + +<p>The sudden appearance of Forrester revived the spirit of the +transaction, now beginning somewhat to decline, as several voices +undertook to give him an account of its progress. The lawyer was in his +happiest mood, as things, so far, had all turned out as he expected. His +voice was loudest, and his oratory more decidedly effective than ever. +The prospect before him was also of so seductive a character, that he +yielded more than was his wont to the influences of the bottle-god: who +stood<span class="pagenum">[92]<a name="page92" id="page92"></a></span> +little iron-hooped keg, perched upon a shelf conveniently +in the corner.</p> + +<p>"Here Cuffee, you thrice-blackened baby of Beelzebub!—why stand you +there, arms akimbo, and showing your ivories, when you see we have no +whiskey! Bring in the jug, you imp of darkness—touch us the +Monongahela, and a fresh tumbler for Mr. Forrester—and, look you, one +too for Col. Blundell, seeing he's demolished the other. Quick, you +terrapin!"</p> + +<p>Cuffee recovered himself in an instant. His hands fell to his sides—his +mouth closed intuitively; and the whites of his eyes changing their +fixed direction, marshalled his way with a fresh jug, containing two or +more quarts, to the rapacious lawyer.</p> + +<p>"Ah, you blackguard, that will do—now, Mr. Forrester—now, Col. +Blundell—don't be slow—no backing out, boys—hey, for a long drink to +the stock in trade of our friend the pedler."</p> + +<p>So spoke Pippin; a wild huzza attested the good humor which the +proposition excited. Potation rapidly followed potation, and the jug +again demanded replenishing. The company was well drilled in this +species of exercise; and each individual claiming caste in such circle, +must be well prepared, like the knight-challenger of old tourney, to +defy all comers. In the cases of Pippin and Blundell, successive +draughts, after the attainment of a certain degree of mental and animal +stolidity, seemed rather to fortify than to weaken their defences, and +to fit them more perfectly for a due prolongation of the warfare. The +appetite, too, like most appetites, growing from what it fed on, +ventured few idle expostulations; glass after glass, in rapid +succession, fully attested the claim of these two champions to the +renown which such exercises in that section of the world had won for +them respectively. The subject of conversation, which, in all this time, +accompanied their other indulgences, was, very naturally, that of the +pedler and his punishment. On this topic, however, a professional not +less than personal policy sealed the lips of our lawyer except on those +points which admitted of a general remark, without application or even +meaning. Though drunk, his policy was that of the courts; and the +practice of the sessions had served him well, in his own person, to give +the lie to the "<i>in vino veritas</i>" of the proverb.</p> + +<p>Things were in this condition when the company found +<span class="pagenum">[93]<a name="page93" id="page93"></a></span>increase in +the person of the landlord, who now made his appearance; and, as we +intend that he shall be no unimportant auxiliary in the action of our +story, it may be prudent for a few moments to dwell upon the details of +his outward man, and severally to describe his features. We have him +before us in that large, dark, and somewhat heavy person, who sidles +awkwardly into the apartment, as if only conscious in part of the true +uses of his legs and arms. He leans at this moment over the shoulders of +one of the company, and, while whispering in his ears, at the same time, +with an upward glance, surveys the whole. His lowering eyes, almost shut +in and partially concealed by his scowling and bushy eyebrows, are of a +quick gray, stern, and penetrating in their general expression, yet, +when narrowly observed, putting on an air of vacancy, if not stupidity, +that furnishes a perfect blind to the lurking meaning within. His nose +is large, yet not disproportionately so; his head well made, though a +phrenologist might object to a strong animal preponderance in the rear; +his mouth bold and finely curved, is rigid however in its compression, +and the lips, at times almost woven together, are largely indicative of +ferocity; they are pale in color, and dingily so, yet his flushed cheek +and brow bear striking evidence of a something too frequent revel; his +hair, thin and scattered, is of a dark brown complexion and sprinkled +with gray; his neck is so very short that a single black handkerchief, +wrapped loosely about it, removes all seeming distinction between itself +and the adjoining shoulders—the latter being round and uprising, +forming a socket, into which the former appears to fall as into a +designated place. As if more effectually to complete the unfavorable +impression of such an outline, an ugly scar, partly across the cheek, +and slightly impairing the integrity of the left nostril, gives to his +whole look a sinister expression, calculated to defeat entirely any +neutralizing or less objectionable feature. His form—to conclude the +picture—is constructed with singular power; and though not symmetrical, +is far from ungainly. When impelled by some stirring motive, his +carriage is easy, without seeming effort, and his huge frame throws +aside the sluggishness which at other times invests it, putting on a +habit of animated exercise, which changes the entire appearance of the +man.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[94]<a name="page94" id="page94"></a></span> +Such was Walter, or, as he was there more familiarly termed Wat +Munro. He took his seat with the company, with the ease of one who +neither doubted nor deliberated upon the footing which he claimed among +them. He was not merely the publican of his profession, but better +fitted indeed for perhaps any other avocation, as may possibly be +discovered in the progress of our narrative. To his wife, a good quiet +sort of body, who, as Forrester phrased it, did not dare to say the soul +was her own, he deputed the whole domestic management of the tavern; +while he would be gone, nobody could say where or why, for weeks and +more at a time, away from bar and hostel, in different portions of the +country. None ventured to inquire into a matter that was still +sufficiently mysterious to arouse curiosity; people living with and +about him generally entertaining a degree of respect, amounting almost +to vulgar awe, for his person and presence, which prevented much inquiry +into his doings. Some few, however, more bold than the rest, spoke in +terms of suspicion; but the number of this class was inconsiderable, and +they themselves felt that the risk which they incurred was not so +unimportant as to permit of their going much out of the way to trace the +doubtful features in his life.</p> + +<p>As we have already stated, he took his place along with his guests; the +bottles and glasses were replenished, the story of the pedler again +told, and each individual once more busied in describing his own +exploits. The lawyer, immersed in visions of grog and glory, rhapsodized +perpetually and clapped his hands. Blundell, drunkenly happy, at every +discharge of the current humor, made an abortive attempt to chuckle, the +ineffectual halloo gurgling away in the abysses of his mighty throat; +until, at length, his head settled down supinely upon his breast, his +eyes were closed, and the hour of his victory had gone by; though, even +then, his huge jaws opening at intervals for the outward passage of +something which by courtesy might be considered a laugh, attested the +still anxious struggles of the inward spirit, battling with the +weaknesses of the flesh.</p> + +<p>The example of a leader like Blundell had a most pernicious effect upon +the uprightness of the greater part of the company. Having the sanction +of authority, several others, the minor spirits it is true, settled down +under their chairs without a<span class="pagenum">[95]<a name="page95" +id="page95"></a></span> struggle. The survivors made some +lugubrious efforts at a triumph over their less stubborn companions, but +the laborious and husky laugh was but a poor apology for the proper +performance of this feat. Munro, who to his other qualities added those +of a sturdy <i>bon-vivant</i>, together with Forrester, and a few who +still girt in the lawyer as the prince of the small jest, discharged +their witticisms upon the staggering condition of affairs; not +forgetting in their assaults the disputatious civilian himself. That +worthy, we regret to add, though still unwilling to yield, and still +striving to retort, had nevertheless suffered considerable loss of +equilibrium. His speeches were more than ever confused, and it was +remarked that his eyes danced about hazily, with a most ineffectual +expression. He looked about, however, with a stupid gaze of +self-satisfaction; but his laugh and language, forming a strange and +most unseemly coalition, degenerated at last into a dolorous sniffle, +indicating the rapid departure of the few mental and animal holdfasts +which had lingered with him so long. While thus reduced, his few +surviving senses were at once called into acute activity by the +appearance of a sooty little negro, who thrust into his hands a +misshapen fold of dirty paper, which a near examination made out to take +the form of a letter.</p> + +<p>"Why, what the d——l, d——d sort of fist is this you've given me, you bird +of blackness! where got you this vile scrawl?—faugh! you've had it in +your jaws, you raven, have you not?"</p> + +<p>The terrified urchin retreated a few paces while answering the inquiry.</p> + +<p>"No, mass lawyer—de pedler—da him gib um to me so. I bring um straight +as he gib um."</p> + +<p>"The pedler! why, where is he?—what the devil can he have to write +about?" was the universal exclamation.</p> + +<p>"The pedler!" said the lawyer, and his sobriety grew strengthened at the +thought of business; he called to the waiter and whispered in his ears—</p> + +<p>"Hark ye, cuffee; go bring out the pedler's horse, saddle him with my +saddle which lies in the gallery, bring him to the tree, and, look ye, +make no noise about it, you scoundrel, as you value your ears."</p> + +<p>Cuffee was gone on his mission—and the whole assembly +<span class="pagenum">[96]<a name="page96" id="page96"></a></span> aroused +by the name of the pedler and the mysterious influence of the +communication upon the lawyer, gathered, with inquiries of impatience, +around him. Finding him slow, they clamored for the contents of the +epistle, and the route of the writer—neither of which did he seem +desirous to communicate. His evasions and unwillingness were all in +vain, and he was at length compelled to undertake the perusal of the +scrawl; a task he would most gladly have avoided in their presence. He +was in doubt and fear. What could the pedler have to communicate, on +paper, which might not have been left over for their interview? His mind +was troubled, and, pushing the crowd away from immediately about him, he +tore open the envelope and began the perusal—proceeding with a measured +gait, the result as well of the "damned cramp hand" as of the still +foggy intellect and unsettled vision of the reader. But as the +characters and their signification became more clear and obvious to his +gaze, his features grew more and more sobered and intelligent—a +blankness overspread his face—his hands trembled, and finally, his +apprehensions, whatever they might have been, having seemingly undergone +full confirmation, he crumpled the villanous scrawl in his hands, and +dashing it to the floor in a rage, roared out in quick succession volley +after volley of invective and denunciation upon the thrice-blasted head +of the pedler. The provocation must have been great, no doubt, to impart +such animation at such a time to the man of law; and the curiosity of +one of the revellers getting the better of his scruples in such +matters—if, indeed, scruples of any kind abode in such a +section—prompting him to seize upon the epistle thus pregnant with +mortal matter, in this way the whole secret became public property. As, +therefore, we shall violate no confidence, and shock no decorum, we +proceed to read it aloud for the benefit of all:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<span class="small">DEAR LAWYER</span>: +I guess I am pretty safe now from the <i>regilators</i>, +and, saving my trouble of mind, well enough, and nothing to complain +about. Your animal goes as slick as grease, and carried me in no time +out of reach of rifle-shot—so you see it's only right to thank God, and +you, lawyer, for if you hadn't lent me the nag, I guess it would have +been<span class="pagenum">[97]<a name="page97" id="page97"></a></span> +a sore chance for me in the hands of them savages and +beasts of prey.</p> + +<p>"I've been thinking, lawyer, as I driv along, about what you said to me, +and I guess it's no more than right and reasonable I should take the law +on 'em; and so I put the case in your hands, to make the most on it; and +seeing that the damages, as you say, may be over five hundred dollars, +why, I don't see but the money is jest as good in my hands as theirs, +for so it ought to be. The bill of particulars I will send you by post. +In the meanwhile, you may say, having something to go upon, that the +whole comes to five hundred and fifty dollars or thereabouts, for, with +a little calculation and figering, I guess it won't be hard to bring it +up to that. This don't count the vally of the cart, for, as I made it +myself, it didn't cost me much; but, if you put it in the bill, which I +guess you ought to, put it down for twenty dollars more—seeing that, if +I can't trade for one somehow, I shall have to give something like that +for another."</p> + +<p>"And now, lawyer, there's one thing—I don't like to be in the reach of +them 'ere regilators, and guess 'twouldn't be altogether the wisest to +stop short of fifteen miles to-night: so, therefore, you see, it won't +be in my way, no how, to let you have your nag, which is a main fine +one, and goes slick as a whistle—pretty much as if he and the wagon was +made for one another; but this, I guess, will be no difference to you, +seeing that you can pay yourself his vally out of the damages. I'm +willing to allow you one hundred dollars for him, though he a'n't worth +so much, no how; and the balance of the money you can send to me, or my +brother, in the town of Meriden, in the state of Connecticut. So no +more, dear lawyer, at this writing, from</p> + +<p class="right"><span style="margin-right:12%;">"Your very humble sarvant</span><br /> +"to command, &c."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The dismay of the attorney was only exceeded by the chagrin with which +he perceived his exposure, and anticipated the odium in consequence. He +leaped about the hall, among the company, in a restless paroxysm—now +denouncing the pedler, now deprecating their dissatisfaction at finding +out the double<span class="pagenum">[98]<a name="page98" id="page98"></a></span> +game which he had been playing. The trick of the +runaway almost gave him a degree of favor in their eyes, which did not +find much diminution when Pippin, rushing forth from the apartment, +encountered a new trial in the horse left him by the pedler; the +miserable beast being completely ruined, unable to move a step, and more +dead than alive.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[99]<a name="page99" id="page99"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter8" id="chapter8">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>NEW FRIENDS IN STRANGE PLACES.</h3> + + +<p>Ralph opened his eyes at a moderately late hour on the ensuing morning, +and found Forrester in close attendance. He felt himself somewhat sore +from his bruises in falling, but the wound gave him little concern. +Indeed, he was scarcely conscious of it. He had slept well, and was not +unwilling to enter into the explanatory conversation which the woodman +began. From him he learned the manner and situation in which he had been +found, and was furnished with a partial history of his present +whereabouts. In return, he gave a particular account of the assault made +upon him in the wood, and of his escape; all of which, already known to +the reader, will call for no additional details. In reply to the +unscrupulous inquiry of Forrester, the youth, with as little hesitation, +declared himself to be a native of the neighboring state of South +Carolina, born in one of its middle districts, and now on his way to +Tennessee. He concluded with giving his name.</p> + +<p>"Colleton, Colleton," repeated the other, as if reviving some +recollection of old time—"why, 'squire, I once knew a whole family of +that name in Carolina. I'm from Carolina myself, you must know. There +was an old codger—a fine, hearty buck—old Ralph Colleton—Colonel +Ralph, as they used to call him. He did have a power of money, and a +smart chance of lands and field-niggers; but they did say he was going +behindhand, for he didn't know how to keep what he had. He was always +buying, and living large; but that can't last for ever. I saw him first +at a muster. I was then just eighteen, and went out with the rest, for +the first time. Maybe, 'squire, I didn't take the rag off the bush that +day. I belonged to Captain Williams's<span class="pagenum">[100]<a name="page100" +id="page100"></a></span> troop, called the +'Bush-Whackers.' We were all fine-looking fellows, though I say it +myself. I was no chicken, I tell you. From that day, Mark Forrester +wrote himself down '<i>man</i>' And well he might, 'squire, and no small +one neither. Six feet in stocking-foot, sound in wind and limb—could +outrun, outjump, outwrestle, outfight, and outdo anyhow, any lad of my +inches in the whole district. There was Tom Foster, that for five long +years counted himself cock of the walk, and crowed like a chicken +whenever he came out upon the ground. You never saw Tom, I reckon, for +he went off to Mississippi after I sowed him up. He couldn't stand it +any longer, since it was no use, I licked him in sich short order: he +wasn't a mouthful. After that, the whole ground was mine; nobody could +stand before me, 'squire; though now the case may be different, for +Sumter's a destrict, 'squire, that a'n't slow at raising game chickens."</p> + +<p>At the close of this rambling harangue, Mark Forrester, as we may now be +permitted to call him, looked down upon his own person with no small +share of complacency. He was still, doubtless, all the man he boasted +himself to have been; his person, as we have already briefly described +it, offering, as well from its bulk and well-distributed muscle as from +its perfect symmetry, a fine model for the statuary. After the +indulgence of a few moments in this harmless egotism, he returned to the +point, as if but now recollected, from which he set out.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, Master Colleton, as I was saying, 'twas at this same muster +that I first saw the 'squire. He was a monstrous clever old buck now, I +tell you. Why, he thought no more of money than if it growed in his +plantation—he almost throwed it away for the people to scramble after. +That very day, when the muster was over, he called all the boys up to +Eben Garratt's tavern, and told old Eben to set the right stuff afloat, +and put the whole score down to him. Maybe old Eben didn't take him at +his word. Eben was a cunning chap, quite Yankee-like, and would skin his +shadow for a saddle-back, I reckon, if he could catch it. I tell you +what, when the crop went to town, the old 'squire must have had a mighty +smart chance to pay; for, whatever people might say of old Eben, he knew +how to calculate from your pocket into his with monstrous sartainty. +Well, as I was saying, 'squire, I shouldn't be afraid to go you a +<span class="pagenum">[101]<a name="page101" id="page101"></a></span> +a little bet that old Ralph Colleton is some kin of your'n. You're +both of the same stock, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"You are right in your conjecture," replied the youth; "the person of +whom you speak was indeed a near relative of mine—he was no other than +my father."</p> + +<p>"There, now—I could have said as much, for you look for all the world +as if you had come out of his own mouth. There is a trick of the eye +which I never saw in any but you two; and even if you had not told me +your name, I should have made pretty much the same calculation about +you. The old 'squire, if I rightly recollect, was something stiff in his +way, and some people did say he was proud, and carried himself rather +high; but, for my part, I never saw any difference 'twixt him and most +of our Carolina gentlemen, who, you know, generally walk pretty high in +the collar, and have no two ways about them. For that matter, however, I +couldn't well judge then; I may have been something too young to say, +for certain, what was what, at that time of my life."</p> + +<p>"You are not even now so far advanced in years, Mr. Forrester, that you +speak of your youth as of a season so very remote. What, I pray, may be +your age? We may ask, without offence, such a question of men: the case +where the other sex is concerned is, you are aware, something +different."</p> + +<p>The youth seemed studiously desirous of changing the direction of the +dialogue.</p> + +<p>"Man or woman, I see, for my part, no harm in the question. But do call +me Forrester, or Mark Forrester, whichever pleases you best, and not +mister, as you just now called me. I go by no other name. Mister is a +great word, and moves people quite too far off from one another. I never +have any concern with a man that I have to mister and sir. I call them +'squire because that's a title the law gives them; and when I speak to +you, I say 'squire, or Master Colleton. You may be a 'squire yourself, +but whether you are or are not, it makes no difference, for you get the +name from your father, who is. Then, ag'in, I call you master—because, +you see, you are but a youth, and have a long run to overtake my years, +few as you may think them. Besides, master is a friendly word, and comes +easy to the tongue. I never, for my part, could see the sense in mister, +except when<span class="pagenum">[102]<a name="page102" id="page102"></a></span> +people go out to fight, when it's necessary to do +everything a little the politest; and, then, it smells of long shot and +cold business, 'squire. 'Tisn't, to my mind, a good word among friends."</p> + +<p>The youth smiled slightly at the distinction drawn with such nicety by +his companion, between words which he had hitherto been taught to +conceive synonymous, or nearly so; and the reasons, such as they were, +by which the woodman sustained his free use of the one to the utter +rejection of the other. He did not think it important, however, to make +up an issue on the point, though dissenting from the logic of his +companion; and contented himself simply with a repetition of the +question in which it had originated.</p> + +<p>"Why, I take shame to answer you rightly, 'squire, seeing I am no wiser +and no better than I am; but the whole secret of the matter lies in the +handle of this little hatchet, and this I made out of a live-oak sapling +some sixteen years ago—It's much less worn than I, yet I am twice its +age, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"You are now then about thirty-two?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, just thirty-two. It don't take much calculating to make out that. +My own schooling, though little enough for a large man, is more than +enough to keep me from wanting help at such easy arithmetic."</p> + +<p>With the exception of an occasional and desultory remark or two, the +conversation had reached a close. The gravity—the almost haughty +melancholy which, at intervals, appeared the prevailing characteristic +of the manners and countenance of the youth, served greatly to +discourage even the blunt freedom of Mark Forrester, who seemed piqued +at length by the unsatisfactory issue of all his endeavors to enlist the +familiarity and confidence of his companion. This Ralph soon discovered. +He had good sense and feeling enough to perceive the necessity of some +alteration in his habit, if he desired a better understanding with one +whose attendance, at the present time, was not only unavoidable but +indispensable—one who might be of use, and who was not only willing and +well-intentioned, but to all appearance honest and harmless, and to whom +he was already so largely indebted. With an effort, therefore, not so +much of mind as of mood, he broke the ice<span class="pagenum">[103]<a name="page103" +id="page103"></a></span> which his own +indifference had suffered to close, and by giving a legitimate excuse +for the garrulity of his companion, unlocked once more the treasurehouse +of his good-humor and volubility.</p> + +<p>From the dialogue thus recommenced, we are enabled to take a farther +glance into the history of Forrester's early life. He was, as he phrased +it, from "old So. Ca." pronouncing the name of the state in the abridged +form of its written contraction. In one of the lower districts he still +held, in fee, a small but inefficient patrimony; the profits of which +were put to the use of a young sister. Times, however, had grown hard, +and with the impatience and restlessness so peculiar to nearly all +classes of the people of that state, Mark set out in pursuit of his +fortune among strangers. He loved from his childhood all hardy +enterprises; all employments calculated to keep his spirit from +slumbering in irksome quiet in his breast. He had no relish for the +labors of the plough, and looked upon the occupation of his forefathers +as by no means fitted for the spirit which, with little besides, they +had left him. The warmth, excitability, and restlessness which were his +prevailing features of temper, could not bear the slow process of +tilling, and cultivating the earth—watching the growth and generations +of pigs and potatoes, and listening to that favorite music with the +staid and regular farmer, the shooting of the corn in the still nights, +as it swells with a respiring movement, distending the contracted +sheaves which enclose it. In addition to this antipathy to the pursuits +of his ancestors, Mark had a decided desire, a restless ambition, +prompting him to see, and seek, and mingle with the world. He was fond, +as our readers may have observed already, of his own eloquence, and +having worn out the patience and forfeited the attention of all auditors +at home, he was compelled, in order to the due appreciation of his +faculties, to seek for others less experienced abroad. Like wiser and +greater men, he, too, had been won away, by the desire of rule and +reference, from the humble quiet of his native fireside; and if, in +after life, he did not bitterly repent of the folly, it was because of +that light-hearted and sanguine temperament which never deserted him +quite, and supported him in all events and through every vicissitude. He +had wandered much after leaving his parental home, and was now engaged +in an occupation and pursuit<span class="pagenum">[104]<a name="page104" +id="page104"></a></span> which our future pages must +develop. Having narrated, in his desultory way to his companion, the +facts which we have condensed, he conceived himself entitled to some +share of that confidence of which he had himself exhibited so fair an +example; and the cross-examination which followed did not vary very +materially from that to which most wayfarers in this region are +subjected, and of which, on more than one occasion, they have been heard +so vociferously to complain.</p> + +<p>"Well, Master Ralph—unless my eyes greatly miscalculate, you cannot be +more than nineteen or twenty at the most; and if one may be so bold, +what is it that brings one of your youth and connections abroad into +this wilderness, among wild men and wild beasts, and we gold-hunters, +whom men do say are very little, if any, better than them?"</p> + +<p>"Why, as respects your first conjecture, Forrester," returned the youth, +"you are by no means out of the way. I am not much over twenty, and am +free to confess, do not care to be held much older. Touching your +further inquiry, not to seem churlish, but rather to speak frankly and +in a like spirit with yourself, I am not desirous to repeat to others +the story that has been, perhaps, but learned in part by myself. I do +not exactly believe that it would promote my plans to submit my affairs +to the examination of other people; nor do I think that any person +whomsoever would be very much benefited by the knowledge. You seem to +have forgotten, however, that I have already said that I am journeying +to Tennessee."</p> + +<p>"Left Carolina for good and all, heh?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—perhaps for ever. But we will not talk of it."</p> + +<p>"Well, you're in a wild world now, 'squire."</p> + +<p>"This is no strange region to me, though I have lost my way in it. I +have passed a season in the county of Gwinnett and the neighborhood, +with my uncle's family, when something younger, and have passed, twice, +journeying between Carolina and Tennessee, at no great distance from +this very spot. But your service to me, and your Carolina birth, +deserves that I should be more free in my disclosures; and to account +for the sullenness of my temper, which you may regard as something +inconsistent with our relationship, let me say, that whatever my +prospects might have been, and whatever my history may be, I +<span class="pagenum">[105]<a name="page105" id="page105"></a></span> am +at this moment altogether indifferent as to the course which I shall +pursue. It matters not very greatly to me whether I take up my abode +among the neighboring Cherokees, or, farther on, along with them, pursue +my fortunes upon the shores of the Red river or the Missouri. I have +become, during the last few days of my life, rather reckless of human +circumstance, and, perhaps, more criminally indifferent to the +necessities of my nature, and my responsibilities to society and myself, +than might well beseem one so youthful, and, as you say, with prospects +like those which you conjecture, and not erroneously, to have been mine. +All I can say is, that, when I lost my way last evening, my first +feeling was one of a melancholy satisfaction; for it seemed to me that +destiny itself had determined to contribute towards my aim and desire, +and to forward me freely in the erratic progress, which, in a gloomy +mood, I had most desperately and, perhaps, childishly undertaken."</p> + +<p>There was a stern melancholy in the deep and low utterance—the close +compression of lip—the steady, calm eye of the youth, that somewhat +tended to confirm the almost savage sentiment of despairing indifference +to life, which his sentiments conveyed; and had the effect of eliciting +a larger degree of respectful consideration from the somewhat uncouth +but really well-meaning and kind companion who stood beside him. +Forrester had good sense enough to perceive that Ralph had been gently +nurtured and deferentially treated—that his pride or vanity, or perhaps +some nobler emotion, had suffered slight or rebuke; and that it was more +than probable this emotion would, before long, give place to others, if +not of a more manly and spirited, at least of a more subdued and +reasonable character. Accordingly, without appearing to attach any +importance to, or even to perceive the melancholy defiance contained in +the speech of the young man, he confined himself entirely to a passing +comment upon the facility with which, having his eyes open, and the +bright sunshine and green trees for his guides, he had suffered himself +to lose his way—an incident excessively ludicrous in the contemplation +of one, who, in his own words, could take the tree with the 'possum, the +scent with the hound, the swamp with the deer, and be in at the death +with all of them—for whom the woods had no labyrinth and the night +no<span class="pagenum">[106]<a name="page106" id="page106"></a></span> +mystery. He laughed heartily at the simplicity of the youth, +and entered into many details, not so tedious as long, of the various +hairbreadth escapes, narrow chances, and curious enterprises of his own +initiation into the secrets of wood-craft, and to the trials and perils +of which, in his own probation, his experience had necessarily subjected +him. At length he concluded his narrative by seizing upon one portion of +Ralph's language with an adroitness and ingenuity that might have done +credit to an older diplomatist; and went on to invite the latter to +quarter upon himself for a few weeks at least.</p> + +<p>"And now Master Colleton, as you are rambling, as you say, indifferent +quite as to what quarter you turn the head of your creature—suppose now +you take up lodgings with me. I have, besides this room, which I only +keep for my use of a Saturday and Sunday when I come to the village—a +snug place a few miles off, and there's room enough, and provisions +enough, if you'll only stop a while and take what's going. Plenty of hog +and hominy at all times, and we don't want for other and better things, +if we please. Come, stay with me for a month, or more, if you choose, +and when you think to go, I can put you on your road at an hour's +warning. In the meantime, I can show you all that's to be seen. I can +show you where the gold grows, and may be had for the gathering. We've +snug quarters for the woods, plenty of venison; and, as you must be a +good shot coming from Carolina, you may bring down at day-dawn of a +morning a sluggish wild turkey, so fat that he will split open the +moment he strikes the ground. Don't fight shy, now, 'squire, and we'll +have sport just so long as you choose to stay with us."</p> + +<p>The free and hearty manner of the woodman, who, as he concluded his +invitation, grasped the hand of the youth warmly in his own, spoke quite +as earnestly as his language; and Ralph, in part, fell readily into a +proposal which promised something in the way of diversion. He gave +Forrester to understand that he would probably divide his time for a few +days between the tavern and his lodge, which he proposed to visit +whenever he felt himself perfectly able to manage his steed. He +signified his acknowledgment of the kindness of his companion with +something less of hauteur than had hitherto characterized him; +<span class="pagenum">[107]<a name="page107" id="page107"></a></span> +and, remembering that, on the subject of the assault made upon him, +Forrester had said little, and that too wandering to be considered, he +again brought the matter up to his consideration, and endeavored to find +a clue to the persons of the outlaws, whom he endeavored to describe.</p> + +<p>On this point, however, he procured but little satisfaction. The +description which he gave of the individual assailant whom alone he had +been enabled to distinguish, though still evidently under certain +disguises, was not sufficient to permit of Forrester's identification. +The woodman was at a loss, though evidently satisfied that the parties +were not unknown to him in some other character. As for the Pony Club, +he gave its history, confirming that already related by the outlaw +himself; and while avowing his own personal fearlessness on the subject, +did not withhold his opinion that the members were not to be trifled +with:—</p> + +<p>"And, a word in your ear, 'squire—one half of the people you meet with +in this quarter know a leetle more of this same Pony Club than is +altogether becoming in honest men. So mind that you look about you, +right and left, with a sharp eye, and be ready to let drive with a quick +hand. Keep your tongue still, at the same time that you keep your eyes +open, for there's no knowing what devil's a listening when a poor weak +sinner talks. The danger's not in the open daylight, but in the dark. +There's none of them that will be apt to square off agin you while +you're here; for they knew that, though we've got a mighty mixed nest, +there's some honest birds in it. There's a few of us here, always ready +to see that a man has fair play, and that's a sort of game that a scamp +never likes to take a hand in. There's quite enough of us, when a +scalp's in danger, who can fling a knife and use a trigger with the +best, and who won't wait to be asked twice to a supper of cold steel. +Only you keep cool, and wide awake, and you'll have friends enough +always within a single whoop. But, good night now. I must go and look +after our horses. I'll see you soon—I reckon a leetle sooner than you +care to see me."</p> + +<p>Ralph Colleton good humoredly assured him that could not the case, and +with friendly gripe of the hand, they parted.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[108]<a name="page108" id="page108"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter9" id="chapter9">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + +<h3>MORE OF THE DRAMATIS PERSONĘ.</h3> + + +<p>In a few days, so much for the proper nursing of Mark Forrester, and of +the <i>soi-disant medico</i> of the village, Ralph Colleton was able to +make his appearance below, and take his place among the <i>habitués</i> +of the hotel. His wound, slight at first, was fortunate in simple +treatment and in his own excellent constitution. His bruises gave him +infinitely more concern, and brought him more frequent remembrances of +the adventure in which they were acquired. A stout frame and an eager +spirit, impatient of restraint, soon enabled our young traveller to +conquer much of the pain and inconvenience which his hurts gave him, +proving how much the good condition of the physical man depends upon the +will. He lifted himself about in five days as erectly as if nothing had +occurred, and was just as ready for supper, as if he had never once +known the loss of appetite. Still he was tolerably prudent and did not +task nature too unreasonably. His exercises were duly moderated, so as +not to irritate anew his injuries. Forrester was a rigid disciplinarian, +and it was only on the fifth day after his arrival, and after repeated +entreaties of his patient, in all of which he showed himself +sufficiently <i>impatient</i>, that the honest woodman permitted him to +descend to the dinner-table of the inn, in compliance with the clamorous +warning of the huge bell which stood at the entrance.</p> + +<p>The company at the dinner-table was somewhat less numerous than that +assembled in the great hall at the trial of the pedler. Many of the +persons then present were not residents, but visiters in the village +from the neighboring country. They had congregated there, as was usually +the case, on each <span class="pagenum">[109]<a name="page109" id="page109"></a></span> +Saturday of the week, with the view not less +to the procuring of their necessaries, than the enjoyment of good +company. Having attended in the first place to the ostensible objects of +their visit, the village tavern, in the usual phrase, "brought them up;" +and in social, yet wild carousal, they commonly spent the residue of the +day. It was in this way that they met their acquaintance—found society, +and obtained the news; objects of primary importance, at all times, with +a people whose insulated positions, removed from the busy mart and the +stirring crowd, left them no alternative but to do this or rust +altogether. The regular lodgers of the tavern were not numerous +therefore, and consisted in the main of those laborers in the diggings +who had not yet acquired the means of establishing households of their +own.</p> + +<p>There was little form or ceremony in the proceedings of the repast. +Colleton was introduced by a few words from the landlord to the +landlady, Mrs. Dorothy Munro, and to a young girl, her niece, who sat +beside her. It does not need that we say much in regard to the +former—she interferes with no heart in our story; but Lucy, the niece, +may not be overlooked so casually. She has not only attractions in +herself which claim our notice, but occupies no minor interest in the +story we propose to narrate. Her figure was finely formed, slight and +delicate, but neither diminutive nor feeble—of fair proportion +symmetry, and an ease and grace of carriage and manner belonging to a +far more refined social organization than that in which we find her. But +this is easily accounted for; and the progress of our tale will save us +the trouble of dwelling farther upon it now. Her skin, though slightly +tinged by the sun, was beautifully smooth and fair. Her features might +not be held regular; perhaps not exactly such as in a critical +examination we should call or consider handsome; but they were +attractive nevertheless, strongly marked, and well defined. Her eyes +were darkly blue; not languishingly so, but on the contrary rather +lively and intelligent in their accustomed expression. Her mouth, +exquisitely chiselled, and colored by the deepest blushes of the rose, +had a seductive persuasiveness about it that might readily win one's own +to some unconscious liberties; while the natural position of the lips, +leaving them slightly<span class="pagenum">[110]<a name="page110" id="page110"></a></span> +parted, gave to the mouth an added +attraction in the double range which was displayed beneath of pearl-like +and well-formed teeth; her hair was unconfined, but short; and rendered +the expression of her features more youthful and girl-like than might +have been the result of its formal arrangement—it was beautifully +glossy, and of a dark brown color.</p> + +<p>Her demeanor was that of maidenly reserve, and a ladylike dignity, a +quiet serenity, approaching—at periods, when any remark calculated to +infringe in the slightest degree upon those precincts with which +feminine delicacy and form have guarded its possessor—a stern severity +of glance, approving her a creature taught in the true school of +propriety, and chastened with a spirit that slept not on a watch, always +of perilous exposure in one so young and of her sex. On more than one +occasion did Ralph, in the course of the dinner, remark the indignant +fire flashing from her intelligent eye, when the rude speech of some +untaught boor assailed a sense finely-wrought to appreciate the proper +boundaries to the always adventurous footstep of unbridled +licentiousness. The youth felt assured, from these occasional glimpses, +that her education had been derived from a different influence, and that +her spirit deeply felt and deplored the humiliation of her present +condition and abode.</p> + +<p>The dinner-table, to which we now come, and which two or three negroes +have been busily employed in cumbering with well-filled plates and +dishes, was most plentifully furnished; though but few of its contents +could properly be classed under the head of delicacies. There were eggs +and ham, hot biscuits, hommony, milk, marmalade, venison, <i>Johnny</i>, +or journey cakes, and dried fruits stewed. These, with the preparatory +soup, formed the chief components of the repast. Everything was served +up in a style of neatness and cleanliness, that, after all, was perhaps +the best of all possible recommendations to the feast; and Ralph soon +found himself quite as busily employed as was consistent with prudence, +in the destruction and overthrow of the tower of biscuits, the pile of +eggs, and such other of the edibles around him as were least likely to +prove injurious to his debilitated system.</p> + +<p>The table was not large, and the seats were soon occupied. Villager +after villager had made his appearance and taken his +<span class="pagenum">[111]<a name="page111" id="page111"></a></span> place +without calling for observation; and, indeed, so busily were all +employed, that he who should have made his <i>entrée</i> at such a time +with an emphasis commanding notice, might, not without reason, have been +set down as truly and indefensibly impertinent. So might one have +thought, not employed in like manner, and simply surveying the prospect.</p> + +<p>Forrester alone contrived to be less selfish than those about him, and +our hero found his attentions at times rather troublesome. Whatever in +the estimation of the woodman seemed attractive, he studiously thrust +into the youth's plate, pressing him to eat. Chancing, at one of these +periods of polite provision on the part of his friend, to direct his +glance to the opposite extreme of the table, he was struck with the +appearance of a man whose eyes were fixed upon himself with an +expression which he could not comprehend and did not relish. The look of +this man was naturally of a sinister kind, but now his eyes wore a +malignant aspect, which not only aroused the youth's indignant retort +through the same medium, but struck him as indicating a feeling of +hatred to himself of a most singular character. Meeting the look of the +youth, the stranger rose hurriedly and left the table, but still +lingered in the apartment. Ralph was struck with his features, which it +appeared to him he had seen before, but as the person wore around his +cheeks, encompassing his head, a thick handkerchief, it was impossible +for him to decide well upon them. He turned to Forrester, who was busily +intent upon the dissection of a chicken, and in a low tone inquired the +name of the stranger. The woodman looked up and replied—</p> + +<p>"Who that?—that's Guy Rivers; though what he's got his head tied up +for, I can't say. I'll ask him;" and with the word, he did so.</p> + +<p>In answer to the question, Rivers explained his bandaging by charging +his jaws to have caught cold rather against his will, and to have +swelled somewhat in consequence. While making this reply, Ralph again +caught his glance, still curiously fixed upon himself, with an +expression which again provoked his surprise, and occasioned a gathering +sternness in the look of fiery indignation which he sent back in return.</p> + +<p>Rivers, immediately after this by-play, left the apartment. +<span class="pagenum">[112]<a name="page112" id="page112"></a></span> The +eye of Ralph changing its direction, beheld that of the young maiden +observing him closely, with an expression of countenance so anxious, +that he felt persuaded she must have beheld the mute intercourse, if so +we may call it, between himself and the person whose conduct had so +ruffled him. The color had fled from her cheek, and there was something +of warning in her gaze. The polish and propriety which had distinguished +her manners so far as he had seen, were so different from anything that +he had been led to expect, and reminded him so strongly of another +region, that, rising from the table, he approached the place where she +sat, took a chair beside her, and with a gentleness and ease, the due +result of his own education and of the world he had lived in, commenced +a conversation with her, and was pleased to find himself encountered by +a modest freedom of opinion, a grace of thought, and a general +intelligence, which promised him better company than he had looked for. +The villagers had now left the apartment, all but Forrester; who, +following Ralph's example, took up a seat beside him, and sat a pleased +listener to a dialogue, in which the intellectual charm was strong +enough, except at very occasional periods, to prevent him from +contributing much. The old lady sat silently by. She was a trembling, +timid body, thin, pale, and emaciated, who appeared to have suffered +much, and certainly stood in as much awe of the man whose name she bore +as it was well fitting in such a relationship to permit. She said as +little as Forrester, but seemed equally well pleased with the attentions +and the conversation of the youth.</p> + +<p>"Find you not this place lonesome, Miss Munro? You have been used, or I +mistake much, to a more cheering, a more civilized region."</p> + +<p>"I have, sir; and sometimes I repine—not so much at the world I live +in, as for the world I have lost. Had I those about me with whom my +earlier years were passed, the lonely situation would trouble me +slightly."</p> + +<p>She uttered these words with a sorrowful voice, and the moisture +gathering in her eyes, gave them additional brightness. The youth, after +some commonplace remark upon the vast difference between moral and +physical privations, went on—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[113]<a name="page113" id="page113"></a></span> +"Perhaps, Miss Munro, with a true knowledge of all the +conditions of life, there may be thought little philosophy in the tears +we shed at such privations. The fortune that is unavoidable, however, I +have always found the more deplorable for that very reason. I shall have +to watch well, that I too be not surprised with regrets of a like nature +with your own, since I find myself constantly recurring, in thought, to +a world which perhaps I shall have little more to do with."</p> + +<p>Rising from her seat, and leaving the room as she spoke, with a smile of +studied gayety upon her countenance, full also of earnestness and a +significance of manner that awakened surprise in the person addressed, +the maiden replied—</p> + +<p>"Let me suggest, sir, that you observe well the world you are in; and do +not forget, in recurring to that which you leave, that, while deploring +the loss of friends in the one, you may be unconscious of the enemies +which surround you in the other. Perhaps, sir, you will find my +philosophy in this particular the most useful, if not the most +agreeable."</p> + +<p>Wondering at her language, which, though of general remark, and fairly +deducible from the conversation, he could not avoid referring to some +peculiar origin, the youth rose, and bowed with respectful courtesy as +she retired. His eye followed her form for an instant, while his +meditations momentarily wrapped themselves up more and more in +inextricable mysteries, from which his utmost ingenuity of thought +failed entirely to disentangle him. In a maze of conjecture he passed +from the room into the passage adjoining, and, taking advantage of its +long range promenaded with steps, and in a spirit, equally moody and +uncertain. In a little time he was joined by Forrester, who seemed +solicitous to divert his mind and relieve his melancholy, by describing +the country round, the pursuits, characters, and conditions of the +people—the habits of the miners, and the productiveness of their +employ, in a manner inartificial and modest, and sometimes highly +entertaining.</p> + +<p>While engaged in this way, the eye of Ralph caught the look of Rivers, +again fixed upon him from the doorway leading into the great hall; and +without a moment's hesitation, with impetuous step, he advanced towards +him, determined on some explanation of that curious interest which had +become offensive; but when<span class="pagenum">[114]<a name="page114" +id="page114"></a></span> he approached him with this object +the latter hastily left the passage.</p> + +<p>Taking Forrester's arm, Ralph also left the house, in the hope to +encounter this troublesome person again. But failing in this, they +proceeded to examine the village, or such portions of it as might be +surveyed without too much fatigue to the wounded man—whose hurts, +though superficial, might by imprudence become troublesome. They rambled +till the sun went down, and at length returned to the tavern.</p> + +<p>This building, as we have elsewhere said, was of the very humblest +description, calculated, it would seem, rather for a temporary and +occasional than a lasting shelter. Its architecture, compared with that +even of the surrounding log-houses of the country generally, was +excessively rude; its parts were out of all proportion, fitted seemingly +by an eye the most indifferent, and certainly without any, the most +distant regard, to square and compass. It consisted of two stories, the +upper being assigned to the sleeping apartments. Each floor contained +four rooms, accessible all, independently of one another, by entrances +from a great passage, running both above and below, through the centre +of the structure. In addition to the main building, a shed in the rear +of the main work afforded four other apartments, rather more closely +constructed, and in somewhat better finish than the rest of the +structure: these were in the occupation of the family exclusively. The +logs, in this work, were barbarously uneven, and hewn only to a degree +barely sufficient to permit of a tolerable level when placed one upon +the other. Morticed together at the ends, so very loosely had the work +been done, that a timid observer, and one not accustomed to the survey +of such fabrics, might entertain many misgivings of its security during +one of those severe hurricanes which, in some seasons of the year, so +dreadfully desolate the southern and southwestern country. Chimneys of +clay and stone intermixed, of the rudest fashion, projected from the two +ends of the building, threatening, with the toppling aspect which they +wore, the careless wayfarer, and leaving it something more than doubtful +whether the oblique and outward direction which they took, was not the +result of a wise precaution against a degree of contiguity with the +fabric they were<span class="pagenum">[115]<a name="page115" id="page115"></a></span> +meant to warm, which, from the liberal fires of +the pine woods, might have proved unfavorable to the protracted +existence of either.</p> + +<p>The interior of the building aptly accorded with its outline. It was +uncoiled, and the winds were only excluded from access through the +interstices between the remotely-allied logs, by the free use of the +soft clay easily attainable in all that range of country. The light on +each side of the building was received through a few small windows, one +of which only was allotted to each apartment, and this was generally +found to possess as many modes of fastening as the jail opposite—a +precaution referable to the great dread of the Indian outrages, and +which their near neighborhood and irresponsible and vicious habits were +well calculated to inspire. The furniture of the hotel amply accorded +with all its other features. A single large and two small tables; a few +old oaken chairs, of domestic manufacture, with bottoms made of ox or +deer skin, tightly drawn over the seat, and either tied below with small +cords or tacked upon the sides; a broken mirror, that stood +ostentatiously over the mantel, surmounted in turn by a well-smoked +picture of the Washington family in a tarnished gilt frame—asserting +the Americanism of the proprietor and place—completed the contents of +the great hall, and were a fair specimen of what might be found in all +the other apartments. The tavern itself, in reference to the obvious +pursuit of many of those who made it their home, was entitled "The +Golden Egg"—a title made sufficiently notorious to the spectator, from +a huge signboard, elevated some eight or ten feet above the building +itself, bearing upon a light-blue ground a monstrous egg of the deepest +yellow, the effect of which was duly heightened by a strong and thick +shading of sable all round it—the artist, in this way, calculating no +doubt to afford the object so encircled its legitimate relief. Lest, +however, his design in the painting itself should be at all +questionable, he had taken the wise precaution of showing what was meant +by printing the words "Golden Egg" in huge Roman letters, beneath it; +these, in turn, being placed above another inscription, promising +"Entertainment for man and horse."</p> + +<p>But the night had now closed in, and coffee was in progress. Ralph took +his seat with the rest of the lodgers, though without +<span class="pagenum">[116]<a name="page116" id="page116"></a></span> partaking +of the feast. Rivers did not make his appearance, much to the chagrin of +the youth, who was excessively desirous to account for the curious +observance of this man. He had some notion, besides, that the former was +not utterly unknown to him; for, though unable to identify him with any +one recollection, his features (what could be seen of them) were +certainly not unfamiliar. After supper, requesting Forrester's company +in his chamber, he left the company—not, however, without a few +moments' chat with Lucy Munro and her aunt, conducted with some spirit +by the former, and seemingly to the satisfaction of all. As they left +the room, Ralph spoke:—</p> + +<p>"I am not now disposed for sleep, Forrester, and, if you please, I +should be glad to hear further about your village and the country at +large. Something, too, I would like to know of this man Rivers, whose +face strikes me as one that I should know, and whose eyes have been +haunting me to-day rather more frequently than I altogether like, or +shall be willing to submit to. Give me an hour, then, if not fatigued, +in my chamber, and we will talk over these matters together."</p> + +<p>"Well, 'squire, that's just what pleases me now. I like good company, +and 'twill be more satisfaction to me, I reckon, than to you. As for +fatigue, that's out of the question. Somehow or other, I never feel +fatigued when I've got somebody to talk to."</p> + +<p>"With such a disposition, I wonder, Forrester, you have not been more +intimate with the young lady of the house. Miss Lucy seems quite an +intelligent girl, well-behaved, and virtuous."</p> + +<p>"Why, 'squire, she is all that; but, though modest and not proud, as you +may see, yet she's a little above my mark. She is book-learned, and I am +not; and she paints, and is a musician too and has all the +accomplishments. She was an only child, and her father was quite another +sort of person from his brother who now has her in management."</p> + +<p>"She is an orphan, then?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, poor girl, and she feels pretty clearly that this isn't the sort +of country in which she has a right to live. I like her very well, but, +as I say, she's a little above me; and, besides, you must know, 'squire, +I'm rather fixed in another quarter."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[117]<a name="page117" id="page117"></a></span> +They had now reached the chamber of our hero, and the servant +having placed the light and retired, the parties took seats, and the +conversation recommenced.</p> + +<p>"I know not how it is, Forrester," said the youth, "but there are few +men whose looks I so little like, and whom I would more willingly avoid, +than that man Rivers. What he is I know not—but I suspect him of +mischief. I may be doing wrong to the man, and injustice to his +character; but, really, his eye strikes me as singularly malicious, +almost murderous; and though not apt to shrink from men at any time, it +provoked something of a shudder to-day when it met my own. He may be, +and perhaps you may be able to say, whether he is a worthy person or +not; for my part, I should only regard him as one to be watched +jealously and carefully avoided. There is something creepingly malignant +in the look which shoots out from his glance, like that of the +rattlesnake, when coiled and partially concealed in the brake. When I +looked upon his eye, as it somewhat impertinently singled me out for +observation, I almost felt disposed to lift my heel as if the venomous +reptile were crawling under it."</p> + +<p>"You are not the only one, 'squire, that's afraid of Guy Rivers."</p> + +<p>"Afraid of him! you mistake me, Forrester; I fear no man," replied the +youth, somewhat hastily interrupting the woodman. "I am not apt to fear, +and certainly have no such feeling in regard to this person. I distrust, +and would avoid him, merely as one who, while possessing none of the +beauty, may yet have many of the propensities and some of the poison of +the snake to which I likened him."</p> + +<p>"Well, 'squire, I didn't use the right word, that's certain, when I said +afraid, you see; because 'tan't in Carolina and Georgia, and hereabouts, +that men are apt to get frightened at trifles. But, as you say, Guy +Rivers is not the right kind of man, and everybody here knows it, and +keeps clear of him. None cares to say much to him, except when it's a +matter of necessity, and then they say as little as may be. Nobody knows +much about him—he is here to-day and gone to-morrow—and we never see +much of him except when there's some mischief afoot. He is thick with +Munro, and they keep <span class="pagenum">[118]<a name="page118" +id="page118"></a></span>together at all times, I believe. He has +money, and knows how to spend it. Where he gets it is quite another +thing."</p> + +<p>"What can be the source of the intimacy between himself and Munro? Is he +interested in the hotel?"</p> + +<p>"Why, I can't say for that, but I think not. The fact is, the tavern is +nothing to Munro; he don't care a straw about it, and some among us do +whisper that he only keeps it a-going as a kind of cover for other +practices. There's no doubt that they drive some trade together, though +what it is I can't say, and never gave myself much trouble to inquire. I +can tell you what, though, there's no doubt on my mind that he's trying +to get Miss Lucy—they say he's fond of her—but I know for myself she +hates and despises him, and don't stop to let him see it."</p> + +<p>"She will not have him, then, you think?"</p> + +<p>"I know she won't if she can help it. But, poor girl, what can she do? +She's at the mercy, as you may see, of Munro, who is her father's +brother; and he don't care a straw for her likes or dislikes. If he says +the word, I reckon she can have nothing to say which will help her out +of the difficulty. I'm sure he won't regard prayers, or tears, or any of +her objections."</p> + +<p>"It's a sad misfortune to be forced into connection with one in whom we +may not confide—whom we can have no sympathy with—whom we can not +love!"</p> + +<p>"'Tis so,'squire; and that's just her case, and she hates to see the +very face of him, and avoids him whenever she can do so without giving +offence to her uncle, who, they say, has threatened her bitterly about +the scornful treatment which she shows him. It's a wonder to me how any +person, man or woman, can do otherwise than despise the fellow; for, +look you, 'squire, over and above his sulky, sour looks, and his haughty +conduct, would you believe it, he won't drink himself, yet he's always +for getting other people drunk. But that's not all: he's a quarrelsome, +spiteful, sore-headed chap, that won't do as other people. He never +laughs heartily like a man, but always in a half-sniffling sort of +manner that actually makes me sick at my stomach. Then, he never plays +and makes merry along with us, and, if he does, harm is always sure, +somehow or other, to come<span class="pagenum">[119]<a name="page119" +id="page119"></a></span> of it. When other people dance and +frolic, he stands apart, with scorn in his face, and his black brows +gathering clouds in such a way, that he would put a stop to all sport if +people were only fools enough to mind him. For my part, I take care to +have just as little to say to him as possible, and he to me, indeed; for +he knows me just as well as I know him: and he knows, too, that if he +only dared to crook his finger, I'm just the man that would mount him on +the spot."</p> + +<p>Ralph could not exactly comprehend the force of some of the objections +urged by his companion to the character of Rivers: those, in particular, +which described his aversion to the sports common to the people, only +indicated a severer temper of mind and habit, and, though rather in bad +taste, were certainly not criminal. Still there was enough to confirm +his own hastily-formed suspicions of this person, and to determine him +more fully upon a circumspect habit while in his neighborhood. He saw +that his dislike and doubt were fully partaken of by those who, from +circumstance and not choice, were his associates; and felt +satisfied—though, as we have seen, without the knowledge of any one +particular which might afford a reasonable warranty for his +antipathy—that a feeling so general as Forrester described it could not +be altogether without foundation. He felt assured, by an innate +prediction of his own spirit, unuttered to his companion, that, at some +period, he should find his anticipations of this man's guilt fully +realized; though, at that moment, he did not dream that he himself, in +becoming his victim, should furnish to his own mind an almost +irrefutable argument in support of that incoherent notion of relative +sympathies and antipathies to which he had already, seemingly, given +himself up.</p> + +<p>The dialogue, now diverted to other topics, was not much longer +protracted. The hour grew late, and the shutting up of the house, and +the retiring of the family below, warned Forrester of the propriety of +making his own retreat to the little cabin in which he lodged. He shook +Ralph's hand warmly, and, promising to see him at an early hour of the +morning, took his departure. A degree of intimacy, rather inconsistent +with our youth's wonted haughtiness of habit, had sprung up between +himself and the woodman—the result, doubtless, on the part of +<span class="pagenum">[120]<a name="page120" id="page120"></a></span> +the former, of the loneliness and to him novel character of his +situation. He was cheerless and melancholy, and the association of a +warm, well-meaning spirit had something consolatory in it. He thought +too, and correctly, that, in the mind and character of Forrester, he +discovered a large degree of sturdy, manly simplicity, and a genuine +honesty—colored deeply with prejudices and without much polish, it is +true, but highly susceptible of improvement, and by no means stubborn or +unreasonable in their retention. He could not but esteem the possessor +of such characteristics, particularly when shown in such broad contrast +with those of his associates; and, without any other assurance of their +possession by Forrester than the sympathies already referred to, he was +not unwilling to recognise their existence in his person. That he came +from the same part of the world with himself may also have had its +effect—the more particularly, indeed, as the pride of birthplace was +evidently a consideration with the woodman, and the praises of Carolina +were rung, along with his own, in every variety of change through almost +all his speeches.</p> + +<p>The youth sat musing for some time after the departure of Forrester. He +was evidently employed in chewing the cud of sweet and bitter thought, +and referring to memories deeply imbued with the closely-associated +taste of both these extremes. After a while, the weakness of heart got +seemingly the mastery, long battled with; and tearing open his vest, he +displayed the massive gold chain circling his bosom in repeated folds, +upon which hung the small locket containing Edith's and his own +miniature. Looking over his shoulder, as he gazed upon it, we are +enabled to see the fair features of that sweet young girl, just entering +her womanhood—her rich, brown, streaming hair, the cheek delicately +pale, yet enlivened with a southern fire, that seems not improperly +borrowed from the warm eyes that glisten above it. The ringlets gather +in amorous clusters upon her shoulder, and half obscure a neck and bosom +of the purest and most polished ivory. The artist had caught from his +subject something of inspiration, and the rounded bust seemed to heave +before the sight, as if impregnated with the subtlest and sweetest life. +The youth carried the semblance to his lips, and muttered words of love +and reproach so strangely intermingled<span class="pagenum">[121]<a name="page121" +id="page121"></a></span> and in unison, that, +could she have heard to whom they were seemingly addressed, it might +have been difficult to have determined the difference of signification +between them. Gazing upon it long, and in silence, a large but solitary +tear gathered in his eye, and finally finding its way through his +fingers, rested upon the lovely features that appeared never heretofore +to have been conscious of a cloud. As if there had been something of +impiety and pollution in this blot upon so fair an outline, he hastily +brushed the tear away; then pressing the features again to his lips, he +hurried the jewelled token again into his bosom, and prepared himself +for those slumbers upon which we forbear longer to intrude.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[122]<a name="page122" id="page122"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter10" id="chapter10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE BLACK DOG.</h3> + + +<p>While this brief scene was in progress in the chamber of Ralph, another, +not less full of interest to that person, was passing in the +neighborhood of the village-tavern; and, as this portion of our +narrative yields some light which must tend greatly to our own, and the +instruction of the reader, we propose briefly to record it. It will be +remembered, that, in the chapter preceding, we found the attention of +the youth forcibly attracted toward one Guy Rivers—an attention, the +result of various influences, which produced in the mind of the youth a +degree of antipathy toward that person for which he himself could not, +nor did we seek to account.</p> + +<p>It appears that Ralph was not less the subject of consideration with the +individual in question. We have seen the degree and kind of espionage +which the former had felt at one time disposed to resent; and how he was +defeated in his design by the sudden withdrawal of the obnoxious +presence. On his departure with Forrester from the gallery, Rivers +reappeared—his manner that of doubt and excitement; and, after hurrying +for a while with uncertain steps up and down the apartment, he passed +hastily into the adjoining hall, where the landlord sat smoking, +drinking, and expatiating at large with his guests. Whispering something +in his ear, the latter rose, and the two proceeded into the adjoining +copse, at a point as remote as possible from hearing, when the +explanation of this mysterious caution was opened by Rivers.</p> + +<p>"Well, Munro, we are like to have fine work with your accursed and +blundering good-nature. Why did you not refuse lodgings to this +youngster? Are you ignorant who he is? Do you not know him?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[123]<a name="page123" id="page123"></a></span> +"Know him?—no, I know nothing about him. He seems a clever, +good-looking lad, and I see no harm in him. What is it frightens you?" +was the reply and inquiry of the landlord.</p> + +<p>"Nothing frightens me, as you know by this time, or should know at +least. But, if you know not the young fellow himself you should +certainly not be at a loss to know the creature he rides; for it is not +long since your heart was greatly taken with him. He is the youth we set +upon at the Catcheta pass, where your backwardness and my forwardness +got me this badge—it has not yet ceased to bleed—the marks of which +promise fairly to last me to my grave."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he raised the handkerchief which bound his cheeks, and +exposed to view a deep gash, not of a serious character indeed, but +which, as the speaker asserted, would most probably result in a mark +which would last him his life. The exposure of the face confirms the +first and unfavorable impression which we have already received from his +appearance, and all that we have any occasion now to add in this respect +will be simply, that, though not beyond the prime of life, there were +ages of guilt, of vexed and vexatious strife, unregulated pride, without +aim or elevation, a lurking malignity, and hopeless discontent—all +embodied in the fiendish and fierce expression which that single glimpse +developed to the spectator. He went on—</p> + +<p>"Had it been your lot to be in my place, I should not now have to tell +you who he is; nor should we have had any apprehensions of his crossing +our path again. But so it is. You are always the last to your +place;—had you kept your appointment, we should have had no difficulty, +and I should have escaped the mortification of being foiled by a mere +stripling, and almost stricken to death by the heel of his horse."</p> + +<p>"And all your own fault and folly, Guy. What business had you to advance +upon the fellow, as you did, before everything was ready, and when we +could have brought him, without any risk whatever; into the snare, from +which nothing could have got him out? But no! You must be at your old +tricks of the law—you must make speeches before you cut purses, as was +your practice when I first knew you at Gwinnett county-court; a practice +which you seem not able to get over. You have got +<span class="pagenum">[124]<a name="page124" id="page124"></a></span> into such a +trick of making fun of people, that, for the life of me, I can't be +sorry that the lad has turned the tables so handsomely upon you."</p> + +<p>"You would no doubt have enjoyed the scene with far more satisfaction, +had the fellow's shot taken its full effect on my skull—since, besides +the failure of our object, you have such cause of merriment in what has +been done. If I did go something too much ahead in the matter, it is but +simple justice to say you were quite as much aback."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so, Guy; but the fact is, I was right and you wrong, and the +thing's beyond dispute. This lesson, though a rough one, will do you +service; and a few more such will perhaps cure you of that vile trick +you have of spoiling not only your own, but the sport of others, by +running your head into unnecessary danger; and since this youth, who got +out of the scrape so handsomely, has beat you at your own game, it may +cure you of that cursed itch for tongue-trifling, upon which you so much +pride yourself. 'Twould have done, and it did very well at the county +sessions, in getting men out of the wood; but as you have commenced a +new business entirely, it's but well to leave off the old, particularly +as it's now your policy to get them into it."</p> + +<p>"I shall talk as I please, Munro, and see not why, and care not whether, +my talk offends you or not. I parleyed with the youth only to keep him +in play until your plans could be put in operation."</p> + +<p>"Very good—that was all very well, Guy—and had you kept to your +intention, the thing would have done. But he replied smartly to your +speeches, and your pride and vanity got to work. You must answer smartly +and sarcastically in turn, and you see what's come of it. You forgot the +knave in the wit; and the mistake was incurable. Why tell him that you +wanted to pick his pocket, and perhaps cut his throat?"</p> + +<p>"That was a blunder, I grant; but the fact is, I entirely mistook the +man. Besides, I had a reason for so doing, which it is not necessary to +speak about now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ay—it wouldn't be lawyer-like, if you hadn't a reason for +everything, however unreasonable," was the retort.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, Munro; but this is not the matter now. Our +<span class="pagenum">[125]<a name="page125" id="page125"></a></span> present +object must be to put this youth out of the way. We must silence +suspicion, for, though we are pretty much beyond the operation of law in +this region, yet now and then a sheriff's officer takes off some of the +club; and, as I think it is always more pleasant to be out of the halter +than in it, I am clear for making the thing certain in the only +practicable way."</p> + +<p>"But, are you sure that he is the man? I should know his horse, and +shall look to him, for he's a fine creature, and I should like to secure +him; which I think will be the case, if you are not dreaming as usual."</p> + +<p>"I am sure—I do not mistake."</p> + +<p>"Well, I'm not; and I should like to hear what it is you know him by?"</p> + +<p>A deeper and more malignant expression overspread the face of Rivers, +as, with a voice in which his thought vainly struggled for mastery with +a vexed spirit, he replied:—</p> + +<p>"What have I to know him by? you ask. I know him by many things—and +when I told you I had my reason for talking with him as I did, I might +have added that he was known to me, and fixed in my lasting memory, by +wrongs and injuries before. But there is enough in this for +recollection," pointing again to his cheek—"this carries with it answer +sufficient. You may value a clear face slightly, having known none other +than a blotted one since you have known your own, but I have a different +feeling in this. He has written himself here, and the damned writing is +perpetually and legibly before my eyes. He has put a brand, a Cain-like, +accursed brand upon my face, the language of which can not be hidden +from men; and yet you ask me if I know the executioner? Can I forget +him? If you think so, Munro, you know little of Guy Rivers."</p> + +<p>The violence of his manner as he spoke well accorded with the spirit of +what he said. The landlord, with much coolness and precision, replied:—</p> + +<p>"I confess I do know but little of him, and have yet much to learn. If +you have so little temper in your speech, I have chosen you badly as a +confederate in employments which require so much of that quality. This +gash, which, when healed, will be scarcely perceptible, you speak of +with all the mortification of a young girl, to whom, indeed, such would +be an awful injury.<span class="pagenum">[126]<a name="page126" id="page126"></a></span> +How long is it, Guy, since you have become +so particularly solicitous of beauty, so proud of your face and +features?"</p> + +<p>"You will spare your sarcasm for another season, Munro, if you would not +have strife. I am not now in the mood to listen to much, even from you, +in the way of sneer or censure. Perhaps, I am a child in this, but I can +not be otherwise. Besides, I discover in this youth the person of one to +whom I owe much in the growth of this very hell-heart, which embitters +everything about and within me. Of this, at another time, you shall hear +more. Enough that I know this boy—that it is more than probable he +knows me, and may bring us into difficulty—that I hate him, and will +not rest satisfied until we are secure, and I have my revenge."</p> + +<p>"Well, well, be not impatient, nor angry. Although I still doubt that +the youth in the house is your late opponent, you may have suffered +wrong at his hands, and you may be right in your conjecture."</p> + +<p>"I am right—I do not conjecture. I do not so readily mistake my man, +and I was quite too near him on that occasion not to see every feature +of that face, which, at another and an earlier day, could come between +me and my dearest joys—but why speak I of this? I know him: not to +remember would be to forget that I am here; and that he was a part of +that very influence which made me league, Munro, with such as you, and +become a creature of, and a companion with, men whom even now I despise. +I shall not soon forget his stern and haughty smile of scorn—his proud +bearing—his lofty sentiment—all that I most admire—all that I do not +possess—and when to-day he descended to dinner, guided by that meddling +booby, Forrester, I knew him at a glance. I should know him among ten +thousand."</p> + +<p>"It's to be hoped that he will have no such memory. I can't see, indeed, +how he should recognise either of us. Our disguises were complete. Your +whiskers taken off, leave you as far from any resemblance to what you +were in that affair, as any two men can well be from one another; and I +am perfectly satisfied he has little knowledge of me."</p> + +<p>"How should he?" retorted the other. "The better part of valor saved you +from all risk of danger or discovery alike; but +<span class="pagenum">[127]<a name="page127" id="page127"></a></span> the case is +different with me. It may be that, enjoying the happiness which I have +lost, he has forgotten the now miserable object that once dared to +aspire—but no matter—it may be that I am forgotten by him—he can +never be by me."</p> + +<p>This speech, which had something in it vague and purposeless to the mind +of Munro, was uttered with gloomy emphasis, more as a soliloquy than a +reply, by the speaker. His hands were passed over his eyes as if in +agony, and his frame seemed to shudder at some remote recollection which +had still the dark influence upon him. Munro was a dull man in all +matters that belong to the heart, and those impulses which characterize +souls of intelligence and ambition. He observed the manner of his +companion, but said nothing in relation to it; and the latter, unable to +conceal altogether, or to suppress even partially his emotions, did not +deign to enter into any explanation in regard to them.</p> + +<p>"Does he suspect anything yet, Guy, think you?—have you seen anything +which might sanction a thought that he knew or conjectured more than he +should?" inquired Munro, anxiously.</p> + +<p>"I will not say that he does, but he has the perception of a lynx—he is +an apt man, and his eyes have been more frequently upon me to-day than I +altogether relish or admire. It is true, mine were upon him—as how, +indeed, if death were in the look, could I have kept them off! I caught +his glance frequently; turning upon me with that stern, still +expression, indifferent and insolent—as if he cared not even while he +surveyed. I remember that glance three years ago, when he was indeed a +boy—I remembered it when, but a few days since, he struck me to the +earth, and would have ridden me to death with the hoofs of his horse, +but for your timely appearance."</p> + +<p>"It may be as you believe, Guy; but, as I saw nothing in his manner or +countenance affording ground for such a belief, I can not but conceive +it to have been because of the activity of your suspicions that you +discovered his. I did not perceive that he looked upon you with more +curiosity than upon any other at table; though, if he had done so, I +should by no means have been disposed to wonder; for at this time, and +since your face has been so tightly bandaged, you have a most +villanously attractive visage. It carries with it, though you do regard +it with<span class="pagenum">[128]<a name="page128" id="page128"></a></span> +so much favor, a full and satisfactory reason for +observance, without rendering necessary any reference to any more +serious matter than itself. On the road, I take it, he saw quite too +little of either of us to be able well to determine what was what, or +who was who, either then or now. The passage was dark, our disguises +good, and the long hair and monstrous whiskers which you wore did the +rest. I have no apprehensions, and see not that you need have any."</p> + +<p>"I would not rest in this confidence—let us make sure that if he knows +anything he shall say nothing," was the significant reply of Rivers.</p> + +<p>"Guy, you are too fierce and furious. When there's a necessity, do you +see, for using teeth, you know me to be always ready; but I will not be +for ever at this sort of work. If I were to let you have your way you'd +bring the whole country down upon us. There will be time enough when we +see a reason for it to tie up this young man's tongue."</p> + +<p>"I see—I see!—you are ever thus—ever risking our chance upon +contingencies when you might build strongly upon certainties. You are +perpetually trying the strength of the rope, when a like trouble would +render it a sure hold-fast. Rather than have the possibility of this +thing being blabbed, I would—"</p> + +<p>"Hush—hark!" said Munro, placing his hand upon the arm of his +companion, and drawing him deeper into the copse, at the moment that +Forrester, who had just left the chamber of Ralph, emerged from the +tavern into the open air. The outlaw had not placed himself within the +shadow of the trees in time sufficient to escape the searching gaze of +the woodman, who, seeing the movement and only seeing one person, leaped +nimbly forward with a light footstep, speaking thus as he approached:</p> + +<p>"Hello! there—who's that—the pedler, sure. Have at you, Bunce!" +seizing as he spoke the arm of the retreating figure, who briefly and +sternly addressed him as follows:—</p> + +<p>"It is well, Mr. Forrester, that he you have taken in hand is almost as +quiet in temper as the pedler you mistake him for else your position +might prove uncomfortable. Take your fingers from my arm, if you +please."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's you, Guy Rivers—and you here too, Munro, +<span class="pagenum">[129]<a name="page129" id="page129"></a></span>making love +to one another, I reckon, for want of better stuff. Well, who'd have +thought to find you two squatting here in the bushes! Would you believe +it now, I took you for the Yankee—not meaning any offence though."</p> + +<p>"As I am not the Yankee, however, Mr. Forrester, you will I suppose, +withdraw your hand," said the other, with a manner sufficiently haughty +for the stomach of the person addressed.</p> + +<p>"Oh, to be sure, since you wish it, and are not the pedler," returned +the other, with a manner rather looking, in the country phrase, to "a +squaring off for a fight"—"but you needn't be so gruff about it. You +are on business, I suppose, and so I leave you."</p> + +<p>"A troublesome fool, who is disposed to be insolent," said Rivers, after +Forrester's departure.</p> + +<p>"Damn him!" was the exclamation of the latter, on leaving the copse—"I +feel very much like putting my fingers on his throat; and shall do it, +too, before he gets better manners!"</p> + +<p>The dialogue between the original parties was resumed.</p> + +<p>"I tell you again, Munro—it is not by any means the wisest policy to +reckon and guess and calculate that matters will go on smoothly, when we +have it in our own power to make them certainly go on so. We must leave +nothing to guess-work, and a single blow will readily teach this youth +the proper way to be quiet."</p> + +<p>"Why, what do you drive at, Guy. What would you do—what should be +done?"</p> + +<p>"Beef—beef—beef! mere beef! How dull you are to-night! were you in yon +gloomy and thick edifice (pointing to the prison which frowned in +perspective before them), with irons on your hands, and with the +prospect through its narrow-grated loopholes, of the gallows-tree, at +every turning before you, it might be matter of wonder even to yourself +that you should have needed any advice by which to avoid such a risk and +prospect."</p> + +<p>"Look you, Guy—I stand in no greater danger than yourself of the +prospect of which you speak. The subject is, at best, an ugly one, and I +do not care to hear it spoken of by you, above all other people. If you +want me to talk civilly with you, you must learn yourself to keep a +civil tongue in your<span class="pagenum">[130]<a name="page130" id="page130"></a></span> +head. I don't seek to quarrel with anybody, +but I will not submit to be threatened with the penalties of the rogue +by one who is a damned sight greater rogue than myself."</p> + +<p>"You call things by their plainest names, Wat, at least," said the +other, with a tone moderated duly for the purpose of soothing down the +bristles he had made to rise—"but you mistake me quite. I meant no +threat; I only sought to show you how much we were at the mercy of a +single word from a wanton and head-strong youth. I will not say +confidently that he remembers me, but he had some opportunities for +seeing my face, and looked into it closely enough. I can meet any fate +with fearlessness, but should rather avoid it, at all risks, when it's +in my power to do so."</p> + +<p>"You are too suspicious, quite, Guy, even for our business. I am older +than you, and have seen something more of the world: suspicion and +caution are not the habit with young men like this. They are free +enough, and confiding enough, and in this lies our success. It is only +the old man—the experienced in human affairs, that looks out for traps +and pitfalls. It is for the outlaw—for you and me—to suspect all; to +look with fear even upon one another, when a common interest, and +perhaps a common fate, ought to bind us together. This being our habit, +arising as it must from our profession, it is natural but not reasonable +to refer a like spirit to all other persons. We are wrong in this, and +you are wrong in regard to this youth—not that I care to save him, for +if he but looks or winks awry, I shall silence him myself, without +speech or stroke from you being necessary. But I do not think he made +out your features, and do not think he looked for them. He had no time +for it, after the onset, and you were well enough disguised before. If +he had made out anything, he would have shown it to-night; but, saving a +little stiffness, which belongs to all these young men from Carolina, I +saw nothing in his manner that looked at all out of the way."</p> + +<p>"Well, Munro, you are bent on having the thing as you please. You will +find, when too late, that your counsel will end in having us all in a +hobble."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! you are growing old and timid since this adventure. You begin to +doubt your own powers of defence. You find<span class="pagenum">[131]<a name="page131" +id="page131"></a></span> your arguments +failing; and you fear that, when the time comes, you will not plead with +your old spirit, though for the extrication of your own instead of the +neck of your neighbor."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so—but, if there be no reason for apprehension, there is +something due to me in the way of revenge. Is the fellow to hurl me +down, and trench my cheek in this manner, and escape without hurt?"</p> + +<p>The eyes of the speaker glared with a deadly fury, as he indicated in +this sentence another motive for his persevering hostility to +Colleton—an hostility for which, as subsequent passages will show, he +had even a better reason than the unpleasing wound in his face; which, +nevertheless, was in itself, strange as it may appear, a considerable +eyesore to its proprietor. Munro evidently understood this only in part; +and, unaccustomed to attribute a desire to shed blood to any other than +a motive of gain or safety, and without any idea of mortified pride or +passion being productive of a thirst unaccountable to his mind, except +in this manner, he proceeded thus, in a sentence, the dull simplicity of +which only the more provoked the ire of his companion—</p> + +<p>"What do you think to do, Guy—what recompense would you seek to +have—what would satisfy you?"</p> + +<p>The hand of Rivers grasped convulsively that of the questioner as he +spoke, his eyes were protruded closely into his face, his voice was +thick, choking and husky, and his words tremulous, as he replied,</p> + +<p>"His blood—his blood!"</p> + +<p>The landlord started back with undisguised horror from his glance. +Though familiar with scenes of violence and crime, and callous in their +performance, there was more of the Mammon than the Moloch in his spirit, +and he shuddered at the fiendlike look that met his own. The other +proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"The trench in my cheek is nothing to that within my soul. I tell you. +Munro, I hate the boy—I hate him with a hatred that must have a +tiger-draught from his veins, and even then I will not be satisfied. But +why talk I to you thus, when he is almost in my grasp; and there is +neither let nor hinderance? Sleeps he not in yon room to the northeast?"</p> + +<p>"He does, Guy—but it must not be! I must not risk all for +<span class="pagenum">[132]<a name="page132" id="page132"></a></span> your +passion, which seems to me, as weak as it is without adequate +provocation. I care nothing for the youth, and you know it; but I will +not run the thousand risks which your temper is for ever bringing upon +me. There is nothing to be gained, and a great deal to be lost by it, at +this time. As for the scar—that, I think, is fairly a part of the +business, and is not properly a subject of personal revenge. It belongs +to the adventure, and you should not have engaged in it, without a due +reference to its possible consequences."</p> + +<p>"You shall not keep me back by such objections as these. Do I not know +how little you care for the risk—how little you can lose by it?"</p> + +<p>"True, I can lose little, but I have other reasons; and, however it may +surprise you, those reasons spring from a desire for your good rather +than my own."</p> + +<p>"For my good?" replied the other, with an inquiring sneer.</p> + +<p>"Yes, for your good, or rather for Lucy's. You wish to marry her. She is +a sweet child, and an orphan. She merits a far better man than you; and, +bound as I am to give her to you, I am deeply bound to myself and to +her, to make you as worthy of her as possible, and to give her as many +chances for happiness as I can."</p> + +<p>An incredulous smile played for a second upon the lips of the outlaw, +succeeded quickly, however, by the savage expression, which, from being +that most congenial to his feelings, had become that most habitual to +his face.</p> + +<p>"I can not be deceived by words like these," was his reply, as he +stepped quickly from under the boughs which had sheltered them and made +toward the house.</p> + +<p>"Think not to pursue this matter, Guy, on your life. I will not permit +it; not now, at least, if I have to strike for the youth myself."</p> + +<p>Thus spoke the landlord, as he advanced in the same direction. Both were +deeply roused, and, though not reckless alike, Munro was a man quite as +decisive in character as his companion was ferocious and vindictive. +What might have been the result of their present position, had it not +undergone a new interruption, might not well be foreseen. The sash of +one of the apartments of the building devoted to the family was +suddenly<span class="pagenum">[133]<a name="page133" id="page133"></a></span> +thrown up, and a soft and plaintive voice, accompanying +the wandering and broken strains of a guitar, rose sweetly into song +upon the ear.</p> + +<p>"'Tis Lucy—the poor girl! Stay, Guy, and hear her music. She does not +often sing now-a-days. She is quite melancholy, and it's a long time +since I've heard her guitar. She sings and plays sweetly; her poor +father had her taught everything before he failed, for he was very proud +of her, as well he might be."</p> + +<p>They sunk again into the covert, the outlaw muttering sullenly at the +interruption which had come between him and his purposes. The music +touched him not, for he betrayed no consciousness; when, after a few +brief preliminary notes on the instrument, the musician breathed forth +the little ballad which follows:—</p> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="title">LUCY'S SONG.</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="in5">I.</div> + <div class="quote">"I met thy glance of scorn,</div> + <div class="in1">And then my anguish slept,</div> + <div>But, when the crowd was gone,</div> + <div class="in1">I turned away and wept.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="in5">II.</div> + <div class="quote">"I could not bear the frown</div> + <div class="in1">Of one who thus could move,</div> + <div>And feel that all my fault,</div> + <div class="in1">Was only too much love.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="in5">III.</div> + <div class="quote">"I ask not if thy heart</div> + <div class="in1">Hath aught for mine in store,</div> + <div>Yet, let me love thee still,</div> + <div class="in1">If thou canst yield no more.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="in5">IV.</div> + <div class="quote">"Let me unchidden gaze,</div> + <div class="in1">Still, on the heaven I see,</div> + <div>Though all its happy rays</div> + <div class="in1">Be still denied to me."</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>A broken line of the lay, murmured at intervals for a few minutes after +the entire piece was concluded, as it were in soliloquy, indicated the +sad spirit of the minstrel. She did not +<span class="pagenum">[134]<a name="page134" id="page134"></a></span>remain long at the +window; in a little while the song ceased, and the light was withdrawn +from the apartment. The musician had retired.</p> + +<p>"They say, Guy, that music can quiet the most violent spirit, and it +seems to have had its influence upon you. Does she not sing like a +mocking-bird?—is she not a sweet, a true creature? Why, man! so forward +and furious but now, and now so lifeless! bestir ye! The night wanes."</p> + +<p>The person addressed started from his stupor, and, as if utterly +unconscious of what had been going on, <i>ad interim</i>, actually +replied to the speech of his companion made a little while prior to the +appearance and music of the young girl, whose presence at that moment +had most probably prevented strife and, possibly, bloodshed. He spoke as +if the interruption had made only a momentary break in the sentence +which he now concluded:—</p> + +<p>"He lies at the point of my knife, under my hands, within my power, +without chance of escape, and I am to be held back—kept from +striking—kept from my revenge—and for what? There may be little gain +in the matter—it may not bring money, and there may be some risk! If it +be with you, Munro, to have neither love nor hate, but what you do, to +do only for the profit and spoil that come of it, it is not so with me. +I can both love and hate; though it be, as it has been, that I entertain +the one feeling in vain, and am restrained from the enjoyment of the +other."</p> + +<p>"You were born in a perverse time, and are querulous, for the sake of +the noise it makes," rejoined his cool companion. "I do not desire to +restrain your hands from this young man, but take your time for it. Let +nothing be done to him while in this house. I will run, if I can help +it, no more risk for your passions; and I must confess myself anxious, +if the devil will let me, of stopping right short in the old life and +beginning a new one. I have been bad enough, and done enough, to keep me +at my prayers all the rest of my days, were I to live on to eternity."</p> + +<p>"This new spirit, I suppose, we owe to your visit to the last +camp-meeting. You will exhort, doubtless, yourself, before long, if you +keep this track. Why, what a prophet you will +<span class="pagenum">[135]<a name="page135" id="page135"></a></span> make among the +crop-haired, Munro! what a brand from the burning!"</p> + +<p>"Look you, Guy, your sarcasm pleases me quite as little as it did the +young fellow, who paid it back so much better than I can. Be wise, if +you can, while you are wary; if your words continue to come from the +same nest, they will beget something more than words, my good fellow."</p> + +<p>"True, and like enough, Munro; and why do you provoke me to say them?" +replied Rivers, something more sedately. "You see me in a passion—you +know that I have cause—for is not this cause enough—this vile scar on +features, now hideous, that were once surely not unpleasing."</p> + +<p>As he spoke he dashed his fingers into the wound, which he still seemed +pleased to refer to, though the reference evidently brought with it +bitterness and mortification. He proceeded—his passion again rising +predominant—</p> + +<p>"Shall I spare the wretch whose ministry defaced me—shall I not have +revenge on him who first wrote villain here—who branded me as an +accursed thing, and among things bright and beautiful gave me the badge, +the blot, the heel-stamp, due the serpent? Shall I not have my +atonement—my sacrifice—and shall you deny me—you, Walter Munro, who +owe it to me in justice?"</p> + +<p>"I owe it to you, Guy—how?"</p> + +<p>"You taught me first to be the villain you now find me. You first took +me to the haunts of your own accursed and hell-educated crew. You taught +me all their arts, their contrivances, their lawlessness, and crime. You +encouraged my own deformities of soul till they became monsters, and my +own spirit such a monster that I no longer knew myself. You thrust the +weapon into my hand, and taught me its use. You put me on the scent of +blood, and bade me lap it. I will not pretend that I was not ready and +pliable enough to your hands. There was, I feel, little difficulty in +moulding me to your own measure. I was an apt scholar, and soon ceased +to be the subordinate villain. I was your companion, and too valuable to +you to be lost or left. When I acquired new views of man, and began, in +another sphere, that new life to which you would now turn your own +eyes—when I grew strong among men, and famous, and +<span class="pagenum">[136]<a name="page136" id="page136"></a></span> public +opinion grow enamored with the name, which your destiny compelled me to +exchange for another, you sought me out—you thrust your enticements +upon me; and, in an hour of gloom, and defeat, and despondency, you +seized upon me with those claws of temptation which are even now upon my +shoulders, and I gave up all! I made the sacrifice—name, fame, honor, +troops of friends—for what? Answer <i>you</i>! You are rich—you own +slaves in abundance—secure from your own fortunes, you have wealth +hourly increasing. What have I? This scar, this brand, that sends me +among men no longer the doubtful villain—the words are written there in +full!"</p> + +<p>The speaker paused, exhausted. His face was pale and livid—his form +trembled with convulsion—and his lips grew white and chalky, while +quivering like a troubled water. The landlord, after a gloomy pause, +replied:—</p> + +<p>"You have spoken but the truth, Guy, and anything that I can do—"</p> + +<p>"You will not do!" responded the other, passionately, and interrupting +the speaker in his speech. "You will do nothing! You ruin me in the love +and esteem of those whom I love and esteem—you drive me into exile—you +lead me into crime, and put me upon a pursuit which teaches me practices +that brand me with man's hate and fear, and—if the churchmen speak +truth, which I believe not—with heaven's eternal punishment! What have +I left to desire but hate—blood—the blood of man—who, in driving me +away from his dwelling, has made me an unrelenting enemy—his hand +everywhere against me, and mine against him! While I had this pursuit, I +did not complain; but you now interpose to deny me even this. The boy +whom I hate, not merely because of his species, but, in addition, with a +hate incurred by himself, you protect from my vengeance, though +affecting to be utterly careless of his fate—and all this you conclude +with a profession of willingness to do for me whatever you can! What +miserable mockery is this?"</p> + +<p>"And have I done nothing—and am I seeking to do nothing for you, Guy, +by way of atonement? Have I not pledged to you the person of my niece, +the sweet young innocent, who is not unworthy to be the wife of the +purest and proudest gentleman of the southern country? Is this +nothing—is it nothing<span class="pagenum">[137]<a name="page137" +id="page137"></a></span> to sacrifice such a creature to such a +creature? For well I know what must be her fate when she becomes your +wife. Well I know you! Vindictive, jealous, merciless, wicked, and +fearless in wickedness—God help me, for it will be the very worst crime +I have ever yet committed! These are all your attributes, and I know the +sweet child will have to suffer from the perpetual exercise of all of +them."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps so! and as she will then be mine, she must suffer them, if I so +decree; but what avails your promise, so long as you—in this matter a +child yourself—suffer her to protract and put off at her pleasure. Me +she receives with scorn and contempt, you with tears and entreaties; and +you allow their influence; in the hope, doubtless, that some lucky +chance—the pistol-shot or the hangman's collar—will rid you of my +importunities. Is it not so, Munro?" said the ruffian, with a sneer of +contemptuous bitterness.</p> + +<p>"It would be, indeed, a lucky event for both of us, Guy, were you safely +in the arms of your mother; though I have not delayed in this affair +with any such hope. God knows I should be glad, on almost any terms, to +be fairly free from your eternal croakings—never at rest, never +satisfied, unless at some new deviltry and ill deed. If I did give you +the first lessons in your education, Guy, you have long since gone +beyond your master; and I'm something disposed to think that Old Nick +himself must have taken up your tuition, where, from want of +corresponding capacity, I was compelled to leave it off."</p> + +<p>And the landlord laughed at his own humor, in despite of the hyena-glare +shot forth from the eye of the savage he addressed. He continued:—</p> + +<p>"But, Guy, I'm not for letting the youth off—that's as you please. You +have a grudge against him, and may settle it to your own liking and in +your own way. I have nothing to say to that. But I am determined to do +as little henceforth toward hanging myself as possible; and, therefore, +the thing must not take place <i>here</i>. Nor do I like that it should +be done at all without some reason. When he blabs, there's a necessity +for the thing, and self-preservation, you know, is the first law of +nature. The case will then be as much mine as yours, and I'll lend a +helping hand willingly."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[138]<a name="page138" id="page138"></a></span> +"My object, Munro, is scarcely the same with yours. It goes +beyond it; and, whether he knows much or little, or speaks nothing or +everything, it is still the same thing to me. I must have my revenge. +But, for your own safety—are you bent on running the risk?"</p> + +<p>"I am, Guy, rather than spill any more blood unnecessarily. I have +already shed too much, and my dreams begin to trouble me as I get +older," was the grave response of the landlord.</p> + +<p>"And how, if he speaks out, and you have no chance either to stop his +mouth or to run for it?"</p> + +<p>"Who'll believe him, think you?—where's the proof? Do you mean to +confess for both of us at the first question?"</p> + +<p>"True—," said Rivers, "there would be a difficulty in conviction, but +his oath would put us into some trouble."</p> + +<p>"I think not; our people know nothing about him, and would scarcely lend +much aid to have either of us turned upon our backs," replied Munro, +without hesitation.</p> + +<p>"Well, be it then as you say. There is yet another subject, Munro, on +which I have just as little reason to be satisfied as this. How long +will you permit this girl to trifle with us both? Why should you care +for her prayers and pleadings—her tears and entreaties? If you are +determined upon the matter, as I have your pledge, these are childish +and unavailing; and the delay can have no good end, unless it be that +you do in fact look, as I have said, and as I sometimes think, for some +chance to take me off, and relieve you of my importunities and from your +pledges."</p> + +<p>"Look you, Guy, the child is my own twin-brother's only one, and a sweet +creature it is. I must not be too hard with her; she begs time, and I +must give it."</p> + +<p>"Why, how much time would she have? Heaven knows what she considers +reasonable, or what you or I should call so; but to my mind she has had +time enough, and more by far than I was willing for. You must bring her +to her senses, or let me do so. To my thought, she is making fools of us +both."</p> + +<p>"It is, enough, Guy, that you have my promise. She shall consent, and I +will hasten the matter as fast as I can; but I will not drive her, nor +will I be driven myself. Your love is not such a desperate affair as to +burn itself out for the want of<span class="pagenum">[139]<a name="page139" +id="page139"></a></span> better fuel; and you can wait +for the proper season. If I thought for a moment that you did or could +have any regard for the child, and she could be happy or even +comfortable with you, I might push the thing something harder than I do; +but, as it stands, you must be patient. The fruit drops when it is +ripe."</p> + +<p>"Rather when the frost is on it, and the worm is in the core, and decay +has progressed to rottenness! Speak you in this way to the hungry boy, +whose eyes have long anticipated his appetite, and he may listen to you +and be patient—I neither can nor will. Look to it, Munro: I will not +much longer submit to be imposed upon."</p> + +<p>"Nor I, Guy Rivers. You forget yourself greatly, and entirely mistake +me, when you take these airs upon you. You are feverish now, and I will +not suffer myself to grow angry; but be prudent in your speech. We shall +see to all this to-morrow and the next day—there is quite time +enough—when we are both cooler and calmer than at present. The night is +something too warm for deliberation; and it is well we say no more on +the one subject till we learn the course of the other. The hour is late, +and we had best retire. In the morning I shall ride to hear old Parson +Witter, in company with the old woman and Lucy. Ride along with us, and +we shall be able better to understand one another."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, Munro emerged from the cover of the tree under which their +dialogue had chiefly been carried on, and reapproached the dwelling, +from which they had considerably receded. His companion lingered in the +recess.</p> + +<p>"I will be there," said Rivers, as they parted, "though I still propose +a ride of a few miles to-night. My blood is hot, and I must quiet it +with a gallop."</p> + +<p>The landlord looked incredulous as he replied—"Some more deviltry: I +will take a bet that the cross-roads see you in an hour."</p> + +<p>"Not impossible," was the response, and the parties were both lost to +sight—the one in the shelter of his dwelling, the other in the dim +shadow of the trees which girdled it.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[140]<a name="page140" id="page140"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter11" id="chapter11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> + +<h3>FOREST PREACHING.</h3> + + +<p>At an early hour of the ensuing morning, Ralph was aroused from his +slumbers, which had been more than grateful from the extra degree of +fatigue he had the day before undergone, by the appearance of Forrester, +who apologized for the somewhat unseasonable nature of his visit, by +bringing tidings of a preacher and of a preaching in the neighborhood on +that day. It was the sabbath—and though, generally speaking, very far +from being kept holy in that region, yet, as a day of repose from +labor—a holyday, in fact—it was observed, at all times, with more than +religious scrupulosity. Such an event among the people of this quarter +was always productive of a congregation. The occurrence being +unfrequent, its importance was duly and necessarily increased in the +estimation of those, the remote and insulated position of whom rendered +society, whenever it could be found, a leading and general attraction. +No matter what the character of the auspices under which it was +attained, they yearned for its associations, and gathered where they +were to be enjoyed. A field-preaching, too, is a legitimate amusement; +and, though not intended as such, formed a genuine excuse and apology +for those who desired it less for its teaching than its talk—who sought +it less for the word which it brought of God than that which it +furnished from the world of man. It was a happy cover for those who, +cultivating a human appetite, and conscious of a human weakness, were +solicitous, in respecting and providing for these, not to offend the +Creator in the presence of his creatures.</p> + +<p>The woodman, as one of this class, was full of glee, and promised Ralph +an intellectual treat; for Parson Witter, the preacher +<span class="pagenum">[141]<a name="page141" id="page141"></a></span> in +reference, had more than once, as he was pleased to acknowledge and +phrase it, won his ears, and softened and delighted his heart. He was +popular in the village and its neighborhood, and where regular pastor +was none, he might be considered to have made the strongest impression +upon his almost primitive and certainly only in part civilized hearers. +His merits of mind were held of rather an elevated order, and in +standard far over topping the current run of his fellow-laborers in the +same vineyard; while his own example was admitted, on all hands, to keep +pace evenly with the precepts which he taught, and to be not unworthy of +the faith which he professed. He was of the methodist persuasion—a sect +which, among those who have sojourned in our southern and western +forests, may confidently claim to have done more, and with motives as +little questionable as any, toward the spread of civilization, good +habits, and a proper morality, with the great mass, than all other known +sects put together. In a word, where men are remotely situated from one +another, and can not well afford to provide for an established place of +worship and a regular pastor, their labors, valued at the lowest +standard of human want, are inappreciable. We may add that never did +laborers more deserve, yet less frequently receive, their hire, than the +preachers of this particular faith. Humble in habit, moderate in desire, +indefatigable in well-doing, pure in practice and intention, without +pretence or ostentation of any kind, they have gone freely and +fearlessly into places the most remote and perilous, with an empty +scrip, but with hearts filled to overflowing with love of God and +good-will to men—preaching their doctrines with a simple and an +unstudied eloquence, meetly characteristic of, and well adapted to, the +old groves, deep primitive forests, and rudely-barren wilds, in which it +is their wont most commonly to give it utterance: day after day, week +after week, and month after month, finding them wayfarers still—never +slumbering, never reposing from the toil they have engaged in, until +they have fallen, almost literally, into the narrow grave by the +wayside; their resting-places unprotected by any other mausoleum or +shelter than those trees which have witnessed their devotions; their +names and worth unmarked by any inscription; their memories, however, +closely treasured up and carefully noted among human affections, and +<span class="pagenum">[142]<a name="page142" id="page142"></a></span> +within the bosoms of those for whom their labors have been taken; +while their reward, with a high ambition cherished well in their lives, +is found only in that better abode where they are promised a cessation +from their labors, but where their good works still follow them. This, +without exaggeration, applicable to the profession at large, was +particularly due to the individual member in question; and among the +somewhat savage and always wild people whom he exhorted, Parson Witter +was in many cases an object of sincere affection, and in all commanded +their respect.</p> + +<p>As might readily be expected, the whole village and as much of the +surrounding country as could well be apprized of the affair were for the +gathering; and Colleton, now scarcely feeling his late injuries, an +early breakfast having been discussed, mounted his horse, and, under the +guidance of his quondam friend Forrester, took the meandering path, or, +as they phrase it in those parts, the old <i>trace</i>, to the place of +meeting and prayer.</p> + +<p>The sight is something goodly, as well to the man of the world as to the +man of God, to behold the fairly-decked array of people, drawn from a +circuit of some ten or even fifteen miles in extent, on the sabbath, +neatly dressed in their choicest apparel, men and women alike well +mounted, and forming numerous processions and parties, from three to +five or ten in each, bending from every direction to a given point, and +assembling for the purposes of devotion. No chiming and chattering bells +warn them of the day or of the duty—no regularly-constituted and +well-salaried priest—no time-honored fabric, round which the old +forefathers of the hamlet rest—reminding them regularly of the +recurring sabbath, and the sweet assemblage of their fellows. We are to +assume that the teacher is from their own impulses, and that the heart +calls them with due solemnity to the festival of prayer. The preacher +comes when the spirit prompts, or as circumstances may impel or permit. +The news of his arrival passes from farm to farm, from house to house; +placards announce it from the trees on the roadside, parallel, it may +be, with an advertisement for strayed oxen, as we have seen it +numberless times; and a day does not well elapse before it is in +possession of everybody who might well avail +<span class="pagenum">[143]<a name="page143" id="page143"></a></span>themselves of its +promise for the ensuing Sunday. The parson comes to the house of one of +his auditory a night or two before; messages and messengers are +despatched to this and that neighbor, who despatch in turn to other +neighbors. The negroes, delighting in a service and occasion of the +kind—in which, by-the-way, they generally make the most conspicuous +figures—though somewhat sluggish as couriers usually, are now not +merely ready, but actually swift of foot. The place of worship and the +preacher are duly designated, and, by the time appointed, as if the bell +had tolled for their enlightenment, the country assembles at the stated +place; and though the preacher may sometimes fail of attendance, the +people never do.</p> + +<p>The spot appointed for the service of the day was an old grove of +gigantic oaks, at a distance of some five or six miles from the village +of Chestatee. The village itself had not been chosen, though having the +convenience of a building, because of the liberal desire entertained by +those acting on the occasion to afford to others living at an equal +distance the same opportunities without additional fatigue. The morning +was a fine one, all gayety and sunshine—the road dry, elevated, and +shaded luxuriantly with the overhanging foliage—the woods having the +air of luxury and bloom which belonged to them at such a season, and the +prospect, varied throughout by the wholesome undulations of valley and +hill, which strongly marked the face of the country, greatly enlivened +the ride to the eye of our young traveller. Everything contributed to +impart a cheering influence to his senses; and with spirits and a frame +newly braced and invigorated, he felt the bounding motion of the steed +beneath him with an animal exultation, which took from his countenance +that look of melancholy which had hitherto clouded it.</p> + +<p>As our two friends proceeded on their way, successive and frequent +groups crossed their route, or fell into it from other roads—some +capriciously taking the by-paths and Indian tracks through the woods, +but all having the same object in view, and bending to the same point of +assemblage. Here gayly pranced on a small cluster of the young of both +sexes, laughing with unqualified glee at the jest of some of their +companions—while in the rear, the more staid, the antiques and those +rapidly <span class="pagenum">[144]<a name="page144" id="page144"></a></span> +becoming so, with more measured gait, paced on in suite. +On the road-side, striding on foot with step almost as rapid as that of +the riders, came at intervals, and one after the other, the now +trimly-dressed slaves of this or that plantation—all devoutly bent on +the place of meeting. Some of the whites carried their double-barrelled +guns, some their rifles—it being deemed politic, at that time, to +prepare for all contingencies, for the Indian or for the buck, as well +as for the more direct object of the journey.</p> + +<p>At length, in a rapidly approaching group, a bright but timid glance met +that of Colleton, and curbing in the impetuous animal which he rode, in +a few moments he found himself side by side with Miss Munro, who +answered his prettiest introductory compliment with a smile and speech, +uttered with a natural grace, and with the spirit of a dame of chivalry.</p> + +<p>"We have a like object to-day, I presume," was, after a few +complimentary sentences, the language of Ralph—"yet," he continued, "I +fear me, that our several impulses at this time scarcely so far resemble +each other as to make it not discreditable to yours to permit of the +comparison."</p> + +<p>"I know not what may be the motive which impels you, sir to the course +you take; but I will not pretend to urge that, even in my own thoughts, +my route is any more the result of a settled conviction of its high +necessity than it may be in yours, and the confession which I shame to +make, is perhaps of itself, a beginning of that very kind of +self-examination which we seek the church to awaken."</p> + +<p>"Alas, Miss Lucy, even this was not in my thought, so much are we men +ignorant of or indifferent to those things which are thought of so much +real importance. We seldom regard matters which are not of present +enjoyment. The case is otherwise with you. There is far more truth, my +own experience tells me, in the profession of your sex, whether in love +or in religion, than in ours—and believe me, I mean this as no idle +compliment—I feel it to be true. The fact is, society itself puts you +into a sphere and condition, which, taking from you much of your +individuality, makes you less exclusive in your affections, and more +single in their exercise. Your existence being merged in that of the +stronger sex, you lose all that general <span class="pagenum">[145]<a name="page145" +id="page145"></a></span>selfishness which is the +strict result of our pursuits. Your impulses are narrowed to a single +point or two, and there all your hopes, fears and desires, become +concentrated. You acquire an intense susceptibility on a few subjects, +by the loss of those manifold influences which belong to the out-door +habit of mankind. With us, we have so many resources to fly to for +relief, so many attractions to invite and seduce, so many resorts of +luxury and life, that the affections become broken up in small, the +heart is divided among the thousand; and, if one fragment suffers defeat +or denial, why, the pang scarcely touches, and is perhaps unfelt by all +the rest. You have but few aims, few hopes. With these your very +existence is bound up, and if you lose these you are yourselves lost. +Thus I find that your sex, to a certain age, are creatures of +love—disappointment invariably begets devotion—and either of these +passions, for so they should be called, once brought into exercise, +forbids and excludes every other."</p> + +<p>"Really, Mr. Colleton, you seem to have looked somewhat into the +philosophy of this subject, and you may be right in the inferences to +which you have come. On this point I may say nothing; but, do you +conceive it altogether fair in you thus to compliment us at our own +expense? You give us the credit of truth, a high eulogium, I grant, in +matters which relate to the the affections and the heart; but this is +done by robbing us entirely of mental independence. You are a kind of +generous outlaw, a moral Robin Hood, you compel us to give up everything +we possess, in order that you may have the somewhat equivocal merit of +restoring back a small portion of what you take."</p> + +<p>"True, and this, I am afraid, Miss Lucy, however by the admission I +forfeit for my sex all reputation for chivalry, is after all the precise +relationship between us. The very fact that the requisitions made by our +sex produce immediate concession from yours, establishes the dependence +of which you complain."</p> + +<p>"You mistake me, sir. I complain not of the robbery—-far from it; for, +if we do lose the possession of a commodity so valuable, we are at least +freed from the responsibility of keeping it. The gentlemen, nowadays, +seldom look to us for intellectual gladiatorship; they are content that +our weakness<span class="pagenum">[146]<a name="page146" id="page146"></a></span> +should shield us from the war. But, I conceive the +reproach of our poverty to come unkindly from those who make us poor. It +is of this, sir, that I complain."</p> + +<p>"You are just, and justly severe, Miss Munro; but what else have you to +expect? Amazon-like, your sex, according to the quaint old story, sought +the combat, and were not unwilling to abide the conditions of the +warfare. The taunt is coupled with the triumph—the spoil follows the +victory—and the captive is chained to the chariot-wheel of his +conqueror, and must adorn the march of his superior by his own shame and +sorrows. But, to be just to myself, permit me to say, that what you have +considered a reproach was in truth designed as a compliment. I must +regret that my modes of expression are so clumsy, that, in the utterance +of my thought, the sentiment so changed its original shape as entirely +to lose its identity. It certainly deserved the graceful swordsmanship +which foiled it so completely."</p> + +<p>"Nay, sir," said the animated girl, "you are bloodily-minded toward +yourself, and it is matter of wonder to me how you survive your own +rebuke. So far from erring in clumsy phrase, I am constrained to admit +that I thought, and think you, excessively adroit and happy in its +management. It was only with a degree of perversity, intended solely to +establish our independence of opinion, at least for the moment, that I +chose to mistake and misapprehend you. Your remark, clothed in any other +language, could scarcely put on a form more consistent with your +meaning."</p> + +<p>Ralph bowed at a compliment which had something equivocal in it, and +this branch of the conversation having reached its legitimate close, a +pause of some few moments succeeded, when they found themselves joined +by other parties, until the cortege was swollen in number to the goodly +dimensions of a cavalcade or caravan designed for a pilgrimage.</p> + +<p>"Report speaks favorably of the preacher we are to hear to-day, Miss +Munro—have you ever heard him?" was the inquiry of the youth.</p> + +<p>"I have, sir, frequently, and have at all times been much pleased and +sometimes affected by his preaching. There are few persons I would more +desire to hear than himself—he does not offend your ears, nor assail +your understanding by <span class="pagenum">[147]<a name="page147" id="page147"></a></span> +unmeaning thunders. His matter and manner, +alike, are distinguished by modest good sense, a gentle and dignified +ease and spirit, and a pleasing earnestness in his object that is never +offensive. I think, sir, you will like him."</p> + +<p>"Your opinion of him will certainly not diminish my attention, I assure +you, to what he says," was the reply.</p> + +<p>At this moment the cavalcade was overtaken and joined by Rivers and +Munro, together with several other villagers. Ralph now taking advantage +of a suggestion of Forrester's, previously made—who proposed, as there +would be time enough, a circuitous and pleasant ride through a +neighboring valley—avoided the necessity of being in the company of one +with respect to whom he had determined upon a course of the most jealous +precaution. Turning their horses' heads, therefore, in the proposed +direction, the two left the procession, and saw no more of the party +until their common arrival at the secluded grove—druidically conceived +for the present purpose—in which the teacher of a faith as simple as it +was pleasant was already preparing to address them.</p> + +<p>The venerable oaks—a goodly and thickly clustering assemblage—forming +a circle around, and midway upon a hill of gradual ascent, had left an +opening in the centre, concealed from the eye except when fairly +penetrated by the spectator. Their branches, in most part meeting above, +afforded a roof less regular and gaudy, indeed, but far more grand, +majestic, and we may add, becoming, for purposes like the present, than +the dim and decorated cathedral, the workmanship of human hands. Its +application to this use, at this time, recalled forcibly to the mind of +the youth the forms and features of that primitive worship, when the +trees bent with gentle murmurs above the heads of the rapt worshippers, +and a visible Deity dwelt in the shadowed valleys, and whispered an +auspicious acceptance of their devotions in every breeze. He could not +help acknowledging, as, indeed, must all who have ever been under the +influence of such a scene, that in this, more properly and perfectly +than in any other temple, may the spirit of man recognise and hold +familiar and free converse with the spirit of his Creator. Here, indeed, +without much effort of the imagination; might be beheld the present +God—the trees, hills and vales,<span class="pagenum">[148]<a name="page148" +id="page148"></a></span> the wild flower and the +murmuring water, all the work of his hands, attesting his power, keeping +their purpose, and obeying, without scruple, the order of those seasons, +for the sphere and operation of which he originally designed them. They +were mute lessoners, and the example which, in the progress of their +existence, year after year, they regularly exhibited, might well +persuade the more responsible representative of the same power the +propriety of a like obedience.</p> + +<p>A few fallen trees, trimmed of their branches and touched with the adze, +ranging at convenient distances under the boughs of those along with +which they had lately stood up in proud equality, furnished seats for +the now rapidly-gathering assemblage. A rough stage, composed of logs, +rudely hewn and crossing each other at right angles, covered, when at a +height of sufficient elevation, formed the pulpit from which the +preacher was to exhort. A chair, brought from some cottage in the +neighborhood, surmounted the stage. This was all that art had done to +accommodate nature to the purposes of man.</p> + +<p>In the body of the wood immediately adjacent, fastened to the +overhanging branches, were the goodly steeds of the company; forming, in +themselves, to the unaccustomed and inexperienced eye, a grouping the +most curious. Some, more docile than the rest; were permitted to rove at +large, cropping the young herbage and tender grass; occasionally, it is +true, during the service, overleaping their limits in a literal sense; +neighing, whinnying and kicking up their heels to the manifest confusion +of the pious and the discomfiture of the preacher.</p> + +<p>The hour at length arrived. The audience was numerous if not select. All +persuasions—for even in that remote region sectarianism had done much +toward banishing religion—assembled promiscuously together and without +show of discord, excepting that here and there a high stickler for +church aristocracy, in a better coat than his neighbor, thrust him +aside; or, in another and not less offensive form of pride, in the +externals of humility and rotten with innate malignity, groaned audibly +through his clenched teeth; and with shut eyes and crossed hands, as in +prayer, sought to pass a practical rebuke upon the less devout +exhibitions of those around him. The cant and the clatter, as it +prevails in the crowded mart, were<span class="pagenum">[149]<a name="page149" +id="page149"></a></span> here in miniature; and +Charity would have needed something more than a Kamschatka covering to +have shut out from her eyes the enormous hypocrisy of many among the +clamorous professors of that faith of which they felt little and knew +less. If she shut her eyes to the sight, their groans were in her ears; +and if she turned away, they took her by the elbow, and called her a +backslider herself. Forrester whispered in the ears of Ralph, as his eye +encountered the form of Miss Munro, who sat primly amid a flock of +venerables—</p> + +<p>"Doesn't she talk like a book? Ah, she's a smart, sweet girl; it's a +pity there's no better chance for her than Guy Rivers. But where's +he—the rascal? Do you know I nearly got my fingers on his throat last +night. I felt deusedly like it, I tell you."</p> + +<p>"Why, what did he to you?"</p> + +<p>"Answered me with such impudence! I took him for the pedler in the dark, +and thought I had got a prize; it wasn't the pedler, but something +worse—for in my eyes he's no better than a polecat."</p> + +<p>But, the preacher had risen in his place, and all was silence and +attention. We need scarcely seek to describe him. His appearance was +that of a very common man; and the anticipations of Colleton, as he was +one of those persons apt to be taken by appearances, suffered something +like rebuke. His figure was diminutive and insignificant; his shoulders +were round, and his movements excessively awkward; his face was thin and +sallow, his eyes dull and inexpressive, and too small seemingly for +command. A too-frequent habit of closing them in prayer contributed, no +doubt, greatly to this appearance. A redeeming expression in the high +forehead, conically rising, and the strong character exhibited in his +nose, neutralized in some sort the generally-unattractive outline. His +hair, which was of a deep black, was extremely coarse, and closely +cropped: it gave to his look that general expression which associated +him at once in the mind of Ralph, whose reading in those matters was +fresh, with the commonwealth history of England—with the puritans, and +those diseased fanatics of the Cromwell dynasty, not omitting that +profound hypocrite himself. What, then, was the surprise of the youth, +having such impressions, to hear a discourse +<span class="pagenum">[150]<a name="page150" id="page150"></a></span> unassuming in its +dictates, mild in its requisitions, and of a style and temper the most +soothing and persuasive!</p> + +<p>The devotions commenced with a hymn, two lines of which, at a time, +having been read and repeated by the preacher, furnished a guide to the +congregation; the female portion of which generally united to sing, and +in a style the sweetness of which was doubly effective from the utter +absence of all ornament in the music. The strains were just such as the +old shepherds, out among the hills, tending their charges, might have +been heard to pour forth, almost unconsciously, to that God who +sometimes condescended to walk along with them. After this was over, the +preacher rose, and read, with a voice as clear as unaffected, the +twenty-third psalm of David, the images of which are borrowed chiefly +from the life in the wilderness, and were therefore not unsuited to the +ears of those to whom it was now addressed. Without proposing any one +portion of this performance as a text or subject of commentary, and +without seeking, as is quite too frequently the case with small +teachers, to explain doubtful passages of little meaning and no +importance, he delivered a discourse, in which he simply dilated upon +and carried out, for the benefit of those about him, and with a direct +reference to the case of all of them, those beautiful portraits of a +good shepherd and guardian God which the production which he read +furnished to his hands. He spoke of the dependence of the +creature—instanced, as it is daily, by a thousand wants and exigencies, +for which, unless by the care and under the countenance of Providence, +he could never of himself provide. He narrated the dangers of the +forest—imaging by this figure the mazes and mysteries of life—the +difficulty, nay, the almost utter impossibility, unless by His sanction, +of procuring sustenance, and of counteracting those innumerable +incidents by fell and flood, which, in a single moment, defeat the cares +of the hunter and the husbandman—setting at naught his industry, +destroying his fields and cattle, blighting his crops, and tearing up +with the wing of the hurricane even the cottage which gives shelter to +his little ones. He dwelt largely and long upon those numberless and +sudden events in the progress of life and human circumstance, over +which, as they could neither be foreseen nor combated with by man, he +had no control; and appealed for<span class="pagenum">[151]<a name="page151" +id="page151"></a></span> him to the Great Shepherd, who +alone could do both. Having shown the necessity of such an appeal and +reference, he next proceeded to describe the gracious willingness which +had at all times been manifested by the Creator to extend the required +protection. He adverted to the fortunes of all the patriarchs in support +of this position; and, singling out innumerable instances of this +description, confidently assured them, in turn, from these examples, +that the same Shepherd was not unwilling to provide for them in like +manner. Under his protection, he assured them, "they should not want." +He dilated at length, and with a graceful dexterity, upon the +truths—the simple and mere truths of God's providence, and the history +of his people—which David had embodied in the beautiful psalm which he +had read them. It was poetry, indeed—sweet poetry—but it was the +poetry of truth and not of fiction. Did not history sustain its every +particular? Had not the Shepherd made them to lie down in green +pastures—had he not led them beside the still waters—restored he not +their souls—did he not lead them, for his name's sake, in the paths of +righteousness—and though at length they walked through the valley where +Death had cast his never-departing shadow, was he not with them still, +keeping them even from the fear of evil? He furnished them with the rod +and staff; he prepared the repast for them, even in the presence of +their enemies; he anointed their heads with oil, and blessed them with +quiet and abundance, until the cup of their prosperity was running +over—until they even ceased to doubt that goodness and mercy should +follow them all the days of their life; and, with a proper consciousness +of the source whence this great good had arisen, they determined, with +the spirit not less of wise than of worthy men, to follow his guidance, +and thus dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Such did the old man +describe the fortunes of the old patriarchs to have been; and such, +having first entered into like obligations, pursuing them with the same +fond fixedness of purpose, did he promise should be the fortunes of all +who then listened to his voice.</p> + +<p>As he proceeded to his peroration, he grew warmed with the broad and +boundless subject before him, and his declamation became alike bold and +beautiful. All eyes were fixed upon<span class="pagenum">[152]<a name="page152" +id="page152"></a></span> him, and not a whisper from +the still-murmuring woods which girded them in was perceptible to the +senses of that pleased and listening assembly. The services of the +morning were closed by a paraphrase, in part, of the psalm from which +his discourse had been drawn; and as this performance, in its present +shape, is not to be found, we believe, in any of the books devoted to +such purposes, it is but fair to conclude that the old man—not +unwilling, in his profession, to employ every engine for the removal of +all stubbornness from the hearts of those he addressed—sometimes +invoked Poetry to smile upon his devotions, and wing his aspirations for +the desired flight. It was sung by the congregation, in like manner with +the former—the preacher reading two lines at a time, after having first +gone through the perusal aloud of the piece entire. With the recognised +privilege of the romancer, who is supposed to have a wizard control over +men, events, and things alike, we are enabled to preserve the paraphrase +here:—</p> + +<div class="poemwide"> +<div class="title">"SHEPHERD'S HYMN"</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"Oh, when I rove the desert waste, and 'neath the hot sun pant,</div> + <div>The Lord shall be my shepherd then—he will not let me want—</div> + <div>He'll lead me where the pastures are of soft and shady green,</div> + <div>And where the gentle waters rove the quiet hills between.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"And when the savage shall pursue, and in his grasp I sink,</div> + <div>He will prepare the feast for me, and bring the cooling drink—</div> + <div>And save me harmless from his hands, and strengthen me in toil,</div> + <div>And bless my home and cottage-lands, and crown my head with oil.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"With such a Shepherd to protect—to guide and guard me still,</div> + <div>And bless my heart with every good, and keep from every ill—</div> + <div>Surely I shall not turn aside, and scorn his kindly care,</div> + <div>But keep the path he points me out, and dwell for ever there."</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The service had not yet been concluded—the last parting offices of +prayer and benediction had yet to be performed—when a boy, about +fourteen years of age, rushed precipitately into the assembly. His +clothes were torn and bloody, and he was smeared with dirt from head to +foot. He spoke, but his words were half intelligible only, and +comprehended by but one or two of the persons around him. Munro +immediately<span class="pagenum">[153]<a name="page153" id="page153"></a></span> +rose and carried him out. He was followed by Rivers, +who had been sitting beside him.</p> + +<p>The interruption silenced everything like prayer; there was no further +attention for the preacher; and accordingly a most admired disorder +overspread the audience. One after another rose and left the area, and +those not the first to withdraw followed in rapid succession; until, +under the influence of that wild stimulant, curiosity, the preacher +soon found himself utterly unattended, except by the female portion of +his auditory. These, too, or rather the main body of them at least, +were now only present in a purely physical sense; for, with the true +characteristic of the sex, their minds were busily employed in the +wilderness of reflection which this movement among the men had +necessarily inspired.</p> + +<p>Ralph Colleton, however, with praiseworthy decorum, lingered to the +last—his companion Forrester, under the influence of a whisper from +one over his shoulder, having been among the first to retire. He, too, +could not in the end avoid the general disposition, and at length took +his way to the animated and earnest knot which he saw assembled in the +shade of the adjoining thicket, busied in the discussion of some +concern of more than common interest. In his departure from the one +gathering to the other, he caught a glance from the eye of Lucy Munro, +which had in it so much of warning, mingled at the same time with an +expression of so much interest, that he half stopped in his progress, +and, but for the seeming indecision and awkwardness of such a +proceeding, would have returned—the more particularly, indeed, when, +encountering her gaze with a corresponding fixedness—though her cheek +grew to crimson with the blush that overspread it—her glance was not +yet withdrawn. He felt that her look was full of caution, and inwardly +determined upon due circumspection. The cause of interruption may as +well be reserved for the next chapter.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[154]<a name="page154" id="page154"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter12" id="chapter12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> + +<h3>TROUBLE AMONG THE TRESPASSERS.</h3> + + +<p>Ralph now made his way into the thick of the crowd, curious to ascertain +the source of so much disquiet and tumult as now began to manifest +itself among them. The words of peace which they had just heard seemed +to have availed them but little, for every brow was blackened, and every +tongue tipped with oaths and execrations. His appearance attracted no +attention, if, indeed, it were not entirely unobserved. The topic in +hand was of an interest quite too fresh and absorbing to permit of a +single glance toward any other of more doubtful importance, and it was +only after much delay that he was enabled at length to get the least +insight into the mystery. All were speakers, counsellors, orators—old +and young, big and little, illustrious and obscure—all but the +legitimate and legal counsellor Pippin, who, to the surprise of the +youth, was to be seen galloping at the uttermost stretch of his horse's +legs toward the quiet of his own abode. The lawyer was known to have a +particular care of number one, and such a movement excited no remark in +any of the assembly. There was danger at hand, and he knew his +value—besides, there might be business for the sessions, and he valued +too highly the advantages, in a jury-case, of a clean conscience, not to +be solicitous to keep his honor clear of any art or part in criminal +matters, saving only such connection as might come professionally.</p> + +<p>That the lawyer was not without reason for his precaution, Ralph had +soon abundant testimony himself. Arms and the munitions of war, as if by +magic, had been rapidly collected. Some of the party, it is true, had +made their appearance at the place of prayer with rifles and fowling +pieces, a practice<span class="pagenum">[155]<a name="page155" id="page155"></a></span> +which occasioned no surprise. But the +managers of the present movement had seemingly furnished all hands with +weapons, offensive and defensive, of one kind or another. Some were +caparisoned with pistols, cutlasses, and knives; and, not to speak of +pickaxes and clubs, the array was sufficiently formidable. The attitude +of all parties was warlike in the extreme, and the speeches of those +who, from time to time, condescended to please themselves by haranguing +their neighbors, teemed with nothing but strife and wounds, fight and +furious performance.</p> + +<p>The matter, as we have already remarked, was not made out by the youth +without considerable difficulty. He obtained, however, some particulars +from the various speakers, which, taken in connection with the broken +and incoherent sentences of Forrester, who dashed into speech at +intervals with something of the fury of a wounded panther in a +cane-brake, contributed at length to his full enlightenment.</p> + +<p>"Matter enough—matter enough! and you will think so too—to he robbed +of our findings by a parcel of blasted 'coons, that haven't soul enough +to keep them freezing. Why, this is the matter, you must know: only last +week, we miners of Tracy's diggings struck upon a fine heap of the good +stuff, and have been gathering gold pretty freely ever since. All the +boys have been doing well at it; better than they ever did before—and +even Munro there, and Rivers, who have never been very fond of work, +neither of them, have been pretty busy ever since; for, as I tell you, +we were making a sight of money, all of us. Well now, somehow or other, +our good luck got to the ears of George Dexter and his men, who have +been at work for some time past upon old Johnson's diggings about +fourteen miles up on the Sokee river. They could never make much out of +the place, I know; for what it had good in it was pretty much cleaned +out of it when I was there, and I know it can't get better, seeing that +gold is not like trees, to grow out every year. Well, as I say, George +Dexter, who would just as lief do wrong as right, and a great deal +rather, got tired, as well as all his boys, of working for the fun of +the thing only; and so, hearing as I say of our good luck, what did they +do but last night come quietly down upon our trace, and when Jones, the +old man we kept there as a kind of safeguard, tried to stop 'em, they +shot<span class="pagenum">[156]<a name="page156" id="page156"></a></span> +him through the body as if he had been a pig. His son got +away when his father was shot, though they did try to shoot him too, and +come post haste to tell us of the transaction. There stands the lad, his +clothes all bloody and ragged. He's had a good run of it through the +bushes, I reckon."</p> + +<p>"And they are now in possession of your lands?"</p> + +<p>"Every fellow of 'em, holding on with gun in hand, and swearing to be +the death of us, if we try for our own. But we'll show them what's what, +or I can't fling a hatchet or aim a rifle. This, now, Master Colleton, +is the long and the short of the matter."</p> + +<p>"And what do you propose to do?" asked Ralph, of his informant.</p> + +<p>"Why, what should we do, do you think, but find out who the best men +are, and put them in possession. There's not a two-legged creature among +us that won't be willing to try that question, any how, and at any time, +but more particularly now, when everything depends upon it."</p> + +<p>"And when do you move, Forrester?"</p> + +<p>"Now, directly—this very minute. The boys have just sent for some more +powder, and are putting things in readiness for a brush."</p> + +<p>The resolution of Ralph was at once adopted. He had nothing, it is true, +to do with the matter—no interest at stake, and certainly no sympathy +with the lawless men who went forth to fight for a property, to which +they had not a jot more of right than had those who usurped it from +them. But here was a scene—here was incident, excitement—and with all +the enthusiasm of the southern temper, and with that uncalculating +warmth which so much distinguishes it, he determined, without much +regard to the merits of the question, to go along with the party.</p> + +<p>"I'll ride with you, Forrester, and see what's going on."</p> + +<p>"And stand up with us, 'squire, and join in the scuffle?" inquired his +companion.</p> + +<p>"I say not that, Forrester. I have no concern in this matter, and so +long as I am let alone myself, I see no reason for taking part in an +affair, of the merits of which I am almost entirely ignorant."</p> + +<p>"You will take your arms with you, I suppose. You can +<span class="pagenum">[157]<a name="page157" id="page157"></a></span> lend them +to those who fight, though you make no use of them yourself."</p> + +<p>"Yes—I never go without arms in travelling, but I shall not lend them. +A man should no more lend his arms than he should lend his coat. Every +man should have his own weapons."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but, 'squire, if you go along with us, you may be brought into the +scrape. The other party may choose to consider you one of us."</p> + +<p>"It is for this reason, not less than others, that I would carry and not +lend my arms."</p> + +<p>"Well, 'squire, you might lend them to some of us, and I would answer +for them. It's true, as you say, that every man should have his own +weapons; but some among us, you see, ha'n't got 'em, and it's for that +we've been waiting. But come, it's time to start; the boys are beginning +to be in motion; and here come Munro and that skunk Rivers. I reckon +Munro will have the command, for he's thought to be the most cunning +among us."</p> + +<p>The party was now ready for departure, when a new interruption was +experienced. The duties of the pastor were yet to begin, and, +accordingly, sallying forth at the head of his remaining congregation, +Parson Witter placed himself in front of the seceders. It is unnecessary +that we should state his purpose; it is as little necessary that we +should say that it was unavailing. Men of the kind of whom we speak, +though perhaps not insensible to some of the bolder virtues, have no +sympathy or love for a faith which teaches forbearance under wrong and +insult, and meekness under blows. If they did not utterly laugh in his +face, therefore, at his exhortations, it was because, at the very first, +they had to a man turned their backs upon him, and were now generally +mounted. Following the common lead, Ralph approached the group where +stood his fair friend of the morning; and acknowledged, in an +under-tone, to herself, the correctness of her opinion in regard to the +merits of the sermon. She did not reply to the observation, but seeing +his hand upon the bridle, asked hurriedly—</p> + +<p>"Do you, sir—does Mr. Colleton go with this party?"</p> + +<p>"I do; the circumstance are all so novel, and I am curious +<span class="pagenum">[158]<a name="page158" id="page158"></a></span> to +see as much of manners and events foreign to those to which I have been +accustomed, as may be practicable."</p> + +<p>"I fear, sir, that those which you may behold on occasions such as +these, and in this country, though they may enlighten you, will do +little toward your gratification. You have friends, sir, who might not +be willing that you should indulge in unnecessary exposure, for the +satisfaction of a curiosity so unpromising."</p> + +<p>Her manner was dignified, and though as she spoke a something of rebuke +came mingled with the caution which her language conveyed, yet there was +evidently such an interest in his fortunes embodied in what she said, +that the listener whom she addressed could not feel hurt at the words +themselves, or the accompanying expression.</p> + +<p>"I shall be a mere looker-on, Miss Munro, and dare to disregard the +caution which you bestow, though duly sensible of the kindness which +gives it utterance. Perhaps, too, I may be of service in the way of +peace-making. I have neither interest nor wish which could prompt me to +any other course."</p> + +<p>"There is every need for caution among young travellers, sir; and though +no astrologer, it seems to me your planet is full of unfavorable +auguries. If you will be headstrong, see that you have your eyes about +you. You have need of them both."</p> + +<p>This was all in by-play. The group had passed on, and a single nod of +the head and a doubtful smile, on her part, concluded the brief dialogue +we have just narrated. The youth was puzzled to understand the +significant warnings, which, from time to time, she had given him. He +felt unconscious of any foe in particular, and though at that time +sojourning with a people in whom he could repose but little confidence, +he yet saw no reason to apprehend any danger. If her manner and words +had reference simply to the general lawlessness of the settlement, the +precaution evidently conveyed no compliment to his own capacities for +observation. Whatever might have been her motive, the youth felt its +kindness; and she rose not a little in his esteem, when he reflected +with how much dignity and ladylike propriety she had given, to a +comparative stranger, the counsel which she evidently thought necessary +to his well-being. With a free rein he soon overtook Forrester, and with +him<span class="pagenum">[159]<a name="page159" id="page159"></a></span> +took his place in the rear of the now rapidly advancing +cavalcade.</p> + +<p>As Forrester had conjectured, the command of the party, such as it was, +was assigned to the landlord. There might have been something like forty +or fifty men in all, the better portion of them mounted and well +armed—some few on foot struggling to keep pace with the riders—all in +high spirits, and indignant at the invasion of what they considered +their own. These, however, were not all hunters of the precious metal, +and many of them, indeed, as the reader has by this time readily +conjectured, carried on a business of very mixed complexion. The whole +village—blacksmith, grocer, baker, and clothier included, turned out +<i>en masse</i>, upon the occasion; for, with an indisputable position +in political economy, deriving their gains directly or indirectly from +this pursuit, the cause was, in fact, a cause in common.</p> + +<p>The scene of operations, in view of which they had now come, had to the +eye all the appearance of a moderate encampment. The intruding force had +done the business completely. They had made a full transfer, from their +old to their new quarters, of bag and baggage; and had possessed +themselves of all the log-houses in and about the disputed region. Their +fires were in full heat, to use the frontier phrase, and the water was +hissing in their kettles, and the dry thorns crackling under the pot. +Never had usurpers made themselves more perfectly at home; and the rage +of the old incumbents was, of course, duly heightened at a prospect of +so much ease and felicity enjoyed at their expense.</p> + +<p>The enemy were about equal in point of number with those whom they had +so rudely dispossessed. They had, however, in addition to their +disposable force, their entire assemblage of wives, children, slaves, +and dependants, cattle and horses, enough, as Forrester bitterly +remarked, "to breed a famine in the land." They had evidently settled +themselves <i>for life</i>, and the ousted party, conscious of the fact, +prepared for the <i>dernier</i> resort. Everything on the part of the +usurpers indicated a perfect state of preparedness for an issue which +they never doubted would be made; and all the useless baggage, +interspersed freely with rocks and fallen trees, had been +<span class="pagenum">[160]<a name="page160" id="page160"></a></span> +well-employed in increasing the strength of a position for which, +such an object considered, nature had already done much. The defences, +as they now stood, precluded all chance of success from an attack by +mounted men, unless the force so employed were overwhelming. The +defenders stood ready at their posts, partly under cover, and so arrayed +as easily to put themselves so, and were armed in very nearly the same +manner with the assailing party. In this guise of formidable defence, +they waited patiently the onset.</p> + +<p>There was a brief pause after their arrival, on the part of the invading +force, which was employed principally in consultation as to the proper +mode of procedure, and in examination of the ground. Their plan of +attack, depending altogether upon the nature of circumstances yet to be +seen, had not been deliberated upon before. The consultation lasted not +long, however, and no man's patience was too severely tried. Having +deputed the command to the landlord, they left the matter pretty much to +that person; nor was their choice unhappy.</p> + +<p>Munro had been a partisan well-taught in Indian warfare, and it was said +of him, that he knew quite as well how to practise all their subtleties +as themselves. The first object with him, therefore, in accordance with +his reputation, was to devise some plot, by which not only to destroy +the inequality of chances between the party assailing and that defending +a post now almost impregnable, but to draw the latter entirely out of +their defences. Still, it was deemed but courteous, or prudent at least, +to see what could be done in the way of negotiation; and their leader, +with a white handkerchief attached to a young sapling, hewn down for the +purpose, by way of apology for a flag, approached the besieged, and in +front of his men demanded a conference with the usurping chief.</p> + +<p>The demand was readily and at once answered by the appearance of the +already named George Dexter; a man who, with little sagacity and but +moderate cunning, had yet acquired a lead and notoriety among his +fellows, even in that wild region, simply from the reckless boldness and +fierce impetuosity of his character. It is useless to describe such a +person. He was a ruffian—in look and manner, ruffianly—huge of frame, +strong and agile of limb, and steeled against all fear, simply from a +<span class="pagenum">[161]<a name="page161" id="page161"></a></span> +brute unconsciousness of all danger. There was little of +preliminary matter in this conference. Each knew his man, and the +business in hand. All was direct, therefore, and to the point. Words +were not to be wasted without corresponding fruits, though the colloquy +began, on the part of Munro, in terms of the most accredited courtesy.</p> + +<p>"Well, George Dexter, a pleasant morning to you in your new +accommodations. I see you have learned to make yourself perfectly at +home when you visit your neighbors."</p> + +<p>"Why, thank you, Wat—I generally do, I reckon, as you know of old. It's +not now, I'm inclined to think, that you're to learn the ways of George +Dexter. He's a man, you see, Wat, that never has two ways about him."</p> + +<p>"That's true, friend George, I must say that for you, were I to have to +put it on your tombstone."</p> + +<p>"It's a long ride to the Atlantic, Wat; and the time is something off +yet, I reckon, when my friends will be after measuring me for a six-foot +accommodation. But, look you, Wat, why are all your family here?—I did +think, when I first saw them on the trail, some with their twisted and +some with smooth bores, tomahawks, and scalping-knives, that they took +us for Indians. If you hadn't come forward now, civilly, I should have +been for giving your boys some mutton-chops, by way of a cold cut."</p> + +<p>"Well, George, you may do that yet, old fellow, for here we have all +come to take our Sunday dinner. You are not in the notion that we shall +let you take possession here so easily, without even sending us word, +and paying us no rent—no compensation?"</p> + +<p>"Why, no, Wat—I knew you and your boys too well for that. I did look, +you see, to have a bit of a brush, and have made some few preparations +to receive you with warmth and open arms," was the response of Dexter, +pointing as he spoke to the well-guarded condition of his intrenchments, +and to his armed men, who were now thickly clustering about him.</p> + +<p>Munro saw plainly that this was no idle boast, and that the disposition +of his enemy's force, without some stratagem, set at defiance any attack +under present circumstances. Still he did not despair, and taught in +Indian warfare, such a position was<span class="pagenum">[162]<a name="page162" +id="page162"></a></span> the very one to bring out +his energies and abilities. Falling back for a moment, he uttered a few +words in the ear of one of his party, who withdrew unobserved from his +companions, while he returned to the parley.</p> + +<p>"Well, George, I see, as you have said, that you have made some +preparations to receive us, but they are not the preparations that I +like exactly, nor such as I think we altogether deserve."</p> + +<p>"That may be, Wat—and I can't help it. If you will invite yourselves to +dinner, you must be content with what I put before you."</p> + +<p>"It is not a smart speech, Dexter, that will give you free walk on the +high road; and something is to be said about this proceeding of yours, +which, you must allow, is clearly in the teeth of all the practices +prevailing among the people of the frontier. At the beginning, and +before any of us knew the value of this or that spot, you chose your +ground, and we chose ours. If you leave yours or we ours, then either of +us may take possession—not without. Is not this the custom?"</p> + +<p>"I tell you what, Munro, I have not lived so long in the woods to listen +to wind-guns, and if such is the kind of argument you bring us, your +dumpy lawyer—what do you call him?—little Pippin, ought to have been +head of your party. He will do it all day long—I've heard him myself, +at the sessions, from mid-day till clean dark, and after all he said +nothing."</p> + +<p>"If you mean to persuade yourself, George, that we shall do no more than +<i>talk</i> for our lands and improvements, you are likely to suffer +something for your mistake."</p> + +<p>"Your 'lands and improvements!' Well, now, I like that—that's very +good, and just like you. Now, Wat, not to put you to too much trouble, +I'd like to look a little into your title to the lands; as to the +improvements, they're at your service whenever you think proper to send +for them. There's the old lumber-house—there's the squatter's +house—there's where the cow keeps, and there's the hogsty, and half a +dozen more, all of which you're quite welcome to. I'm sure none of you +want 'em, boys—do you?"</p> + +<p>A hearty laugh, and cries in the negative, followed this somewhat +technical retort and reply of the speaker—since, in +<span class="pagenum">[163]<a name="page163" id="page163"></a></span>trespass, +according to the received forms of law, the first duty of the plaintiff +is to establish his own title.</p> + +<p>"Then, George, you are absolutely bent on having us show our title? You +won't deliver up peaceably, and do justice?"</p> + +<p>"Can't think of such a thing—we find the quarters here quite too +comfortable, and have come too far to be in a hurry to return. We are +tired, too, Wat; and it's not civil in you to make such a request. When +you can say 'must' to us, we shall hear you, but not till then; so, my +old fellow, if you be not satisfied, why, the sooner we come to short +sixes the better," was the response of the desperado.</p> + +<p>The indifferent composure with which he uttered a response which was in +fact the signal for bloodshed, not less than the savage ferocity of his +preparations generally, amply sustained his pretension to this +appellative. Munro knew his man too well not to perceive that to this +"fashion must they come at last;" and simply assuring Dexter that he +would submit his decision to his followers, he retired back upon the +anxious and indignant party, who had heard a portion, and now eagerly +and angrily listened to the rest of the detail.</p> + +<p>Having gone over the matter, he proceeded to his arrangements for the +attack with all the coolness, and certainly much of the conduct of a +veteran. In many respects he truly deserved the character of one; his +courage was unquestionable, and aroused; though he still preserved his +coolness, even when coupled with the vindictive ferocity of the savage. +His experience in all the modes of warfare, commonly known to the white +man and Indian alike, in the woods, was complete; everything, indeed, +eminently fitted and prepared him for the duties which, by common +consent, had been devolved upon him. He now called them around him, +under a clump of trees and brushwood which concealed them from sight, +and thus addressed them, in a style and language graduated to their +pursuits and understandings:—</p> + +<p>"And now, my fine fellows, you see it is just as I told you all along. +You will have to fight for it, and with no half spirit. You must just +use all your strength and skill in it, and a little cunning besides. We +have to deal with a man who would just as lief fight as eat; indeed, he +prefers it. As he says himself,<span class="pagenum">[164]<a name="page164" +id="page164"></a></span> there's no two ways about him. +He will come to the scratch himself, and make everybody else do so. So, +then, you see what's before you. It's no child's play. They count more +men than we—not to speak of their entrenchments and shelter. We must +dislodge them if we can; and to begin, I have a small contrivance in my +head which may do some good. I want two from among you to go upon a nice +business. I must have men quick of foot, keen of sight, and cunning as a +black-snake; and they mustn't be afraid of a knock on the head either. +Shall I have my men?"</p> + +<p>There was no difficulty in this, and the leader was soon provided. He +selected two from among the applicants for this distinction, upon whose +capacities he thought he could best rely, and led them away from the +party into the recess of the wood, where he gave them their directions, +and then returned to the main body. He now proceeded to the division, +into small parties, of his whole force—placing them under guides rather +than leaders, and reserving to himself the instruction and command of +the whole. There was still something to be done, and conceiving this to +be a good opportunity for employing a test, already determined upon, he +approached Ralph Colleton, who surveyed the whole affair with intense +curiosity.</p> + +<p>"And now, young 'squire, you see what we're driving at, and as our +present business wo'nt permit of neutrality, let us hear on which side +you stand. Are you for us or against us?"</p> + +<p>The question was one rather of command than solicitation, but the manner +of the speaker was sufficiently deferential.</p> + +<p>"I see not why you should ask the question, sir. I have no concern in +your controversy—I know not its merits, and propose simply to content +myself with the position of a spectator. I presume there is nothing +offensive in such a station."</p> + +<p>"There may be, sir; and you know that when people's blood's up, they +don't stand on trifles. They are not quick to discriminate between foes +and neutrals; and, to speak the truth, we are apt, in this part of the +country, to look upon the two, at such moments, as the same. You will +judge, therefore, for yourself, of the risk you run."</p> + +<p>"I always do, Mr. Munro," said the youth. "I can not see that the risk +is very considerable at this moment, for I am at a +<span class="pagenum">[165]<a name="page165" id="page165"></a></span> loss to +perceive the policy of your making an enemy of me, when you have already +a sufficient number to contend with in yonder barricade. Should your +men, in their folly, determine to do so, I am not unprepared, and I +think not unwilling, to defend myself."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay—I forgot, sir, you are from Carolina, where they make nothing +of swallowing Uncle Sam for a lunch. It is very well, sir; you take your +risk, and will abide the consequences though I look not to find you when +the fray begins."</p> + +<p>"You shall not provoke me, sir, by your sneer; and may assure yourself, +if it will satisfy you, that though I will not fight for you, I shall +have no scruple of putting a bullet through the scull of the first +ruffian who gives me the least occasion to do so."</p> + +<p>The youth spoke indignantly, but the landlord appeared not to regard the +retort. Turning to the troop, which had been decorously attentive, he +bade them follow, saying</p> + +<p>"Come on, boys—we shall have to do without the stranger; he does not +fight, it seems, for the fun of the thing. If Pippin was here, +doubtless, we should have arguments enough from the pair to keep +<i>them</i> in whole bones, at least, if nobody else."</p> + +<p>A laugh of bitter scorn followed the remark of Munro, as the party went +on its way.</p> + +<p>Though inwardly assured of the propriety of his course, Ralph could not +help biting his lip with the mortification he felt from this +circumstance, and which he was compelled to suppress; and we hazard +nothing in the assertion when we say, that, had his sympathies been at +all enlisted with the assailing party, the sarcasm of its leader would +have hurried him into the very first rank of attack. As it was, such was +its influence upon him, that, giving spur to his steed, he advanced to a +position which, while it afforded him a clear survey of the whole field, +exposed his person not a little to the shot of either party, as well +from without as from within the beleaguered district.</p> + +<p>The invading force soon commenced the affair. They came to the attack +after the manner of the Indians. The nature of forest-life, and its +necessities, of itself teaches this mode of warfare. Each man took his +tree, his bush, or stump, approaching from cover to cover until within +rifle-reach, then patiently waiting until an exposed head, a side or +shoulder, leg or arm, gave<span class="pagenum">[166]<a name="page166" +id="page166"></a></span> an opportunity for the exercise of +his skill in marksmanship. To the keen-sighted and quick, rather than to +the strong, is the victory; and it will not be wondered at, if, educated +thus in daily adventure, the hunter is enabled to detect the slightest +and most transient exhibition, and by a shot, which in most cases is +fatal, to avail himself of the indiscretion of his enemy. If, however, +this habit of life begets skill in attack and destruction, it has not +the less beneficial effect in creating a like skill and ingenuity in the +matter of defence. In this way we shall account for the limited amount +of injury done in the Indian wars, in proportion to the noise and +excitement which they make, and the many terrors they occasion.</p> + +<p>The fight had now begun in this manner, and, both parties being at the +outset studiously well sheltered, with little or no injury—the shot +doing no more harm to the enemy on either side than barking the branch +of the tree or splintering the rock behind which they happened +individually to be sheltered. In this fruitless manner the affray had +for a little time been carried on, without satisfaction to any +concerned, when Munro was beheld advancing, with the apology for a flag +which he had used before, toward the beleaguered fortress. The parley he +called for was acceded to, and Dexter again made his appearance.</p> + +<p>"What, tired already, Wat? The game is, to be sure, a shy one; but have +patience, old fellow—we shall be at close quarters directly."</p> + +<p>It was now the time for Munro to practise the subtlety which he had +designed, and a reasonable prospect of success he promised himself from +the bull-headed stupidity of his opponent. He had planned a stratagem, +upon which parties, as we have seen, were despatched; and he now +calculated his own movement in concert with theirs. It was his object to +protract the parley which he had begun, by making propositions for an +arrangement which, from a perfect knowledge of the men he had to deal +with, he felt assured would not be listened to. In the meantime, pending +the negotiation, each party left its cover, and, while they severally +preserved their original relationships, and were so situated as, at a +given signal, to regain their positions, they drew nearer to one +another, and in some instances began a conversation. Munro was cautious +yet quick in the<span class="pagenum">[167]<a name="page167" id="page167"></a></span> +discussion, and, while his opponent with rough +sarcasms taunted him upon the strength of his own position, and the +utter inadequacy of his strength to force it, he contented himself with +sundry exhortations to a peaceable arrangement—to a giving up of the +possessions they had usurped, and many other suggestions of a like +nature, which he well knew would be laughed at and rejected. Still, the +object was in part attained. The invaders, becoming more confident of +their strength from this almost virtual abandonment of their first +resort by their opponents, grew momently less and less cautious. The +rifle was rested against the rock, the sentinel took out his tobacco, +and the two parties were almost intermingled.</p> + +<p>At length the hour had come. A wild and sudden shriek from that part of +the beleaguered district in which the women and children were +congregated, drew all eyes in that direction where the whole line of +tents and dwellings were in a bright conflagration. The emissaries had +done their work ably and well, and the devastation was complete; while +the women and children, driven from their various sheltering-places, ran +shrieking in every direction. Nor did Munro, at this time, forget his +division of the labor: the opportunity was in his grasp, and it was not +suffered to escape him. As the glance of Dexter was turned in the +direction of the flames, he forgot his precaution, and the moment was +not lost. Availing himself of the occasion, Munro dashed his flag of +truce into the face of the man with whom he had parleyed, and, in the +confusion which followed, seizing him around the body with a strength +equal to his own, he dragged him, along with himself, over the low table +of rock on which they had both stood, upon the soft earth below. Here +they grappled with each other, neither having arms, and relying solely +upon skill and muscle.</p> + +<p>The movement was too sudden, the surprise too complete, not to give an +ascendency to the invaders, of which they readily availed themselves. +The possession of the fortress was now in fact divided between them; and +a mutual consciousness of their relative equality determined the two +parties, as if by common consent, quietly to behold the result of the +affair between the leaders. They had once recovered their feet, but were +both of them again down, Munro being uppermost. Every artifice +<span class="pagenum">[168]<a name="page168" id="page168"></a></span> +known to the lusty wrestlers of this region was put in exercise, and the +struggle was variously contested. At one time the ascendency was clearly +with the one, at another moment it was transferred to his opponent; +victory, like some shy arbiter, seeming unwilling to fix the palm, from +an equal regard for both the claimants. Munro still had the advantage; +but a momentary pause of action, and a sudden evolution of his +antagonist, now materially altered their position, and Dexter, with the +sinuous agility of the snake, winding himself completely around his +opponent, now whirled him suddenly over and brought himself upon him. +Extricating his arms with admirable skill, he was enabled to regain his +knee, which was now closely pressed upon the bosom of the prostrate man, +who struggled, but in vain, to free himself from the position.</p> + +<p>The face of the ruffian, if we may so call the one in contradistinction +to the other, was black with fury; and Munro felt that his violation of +the flag of truce was not likely to have any good effect upon his +destiny. Hitherto, beyond the weapons of nature's furnishing, they had +been unarmed. The case was no longer so; for Dexter, having a momentary +use of his hand, provided himself with a huge dirk-knife, guarded by a +string which hung around his neck, and was usually worn in his bosom: a +sudden jerk threw it wide, and fixed the blade with a spring.</p> + +<p>It was a perilous moment for the fallen man, for the glance of the +victor, apart from the action, indicated well the vindictive spirit +within him; and the landlord averted his eyes, though he did not speak, +and upraised his hands as if to ward off the blow. The friends of Munro +now hurried to his relief, but the stroke was already descending—when, +on a sudden, to the surprise of all, the look of Dexter was turned from +the foe beneath him, and fixed upon the hills in the distance—his blow +was arrested—his grasp relaxed—he released his enemy, and rose +sullenly to his feet, leaving his antagonist unharmed.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[169]<a name="page169" id="page169"></a></span> +<p class="center"><span class="small"><a name="chapter13" id="chapter13">[TRANSCRIBER'S +NOTE:</a> This chapter was misnumbered in the original book. It is actually Chapter XIII.]</span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>NEW PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT.</h3> + + +<p>This sudden and unlooked-for escape of Munro, from a fate held so +inevitable as well by himself as all around him, was not more a matter +of satisfaction than surprise with that experienced personage. He did +not deliberate long upon his release, however, before recovering his +feet, and resuming his former belligerent attitude.</p> + +<p>The circumstance to which he owed the unlooked-for and most unwonted +forbearance of his enemy was quickly revealed. Following the now common +direction of all eyes, he discerned a body of mounted and armed men, +winding on their way to the encampment, in whose well-known uniform he +recognised a detachment of the "Georgia Guard," a troop kept, as they +all well knew, in the service of the state, for the purpose not merely +of breaking up the illegal and unadvised settlements of the squatters +upon the frontiers, upon lands now known to be valuable, but also of +repressing and punishing their frequent outlawries. Such a course had +become essential to the repose and protection of the more quiet and more +honest adventurer whose possessions they not only entered upon and +despoiled, but whose lives, in numerous instances, had been made to pay +the penalty of their enterprise. Such a force could alone meet the +exigency, in a country where the sheriff dared not often show himself; +and, thus accoutred, and with full authority, the guard, either <i>en +masse</i>, or in small divisions like the present, was employed, at all +times, in scouring, though without any great success, the infested +districts.</p> + +<p>The body now approaching was readily distinguishable, though yet at a +considerable distance—the road over which it +<span class="pagenum">[170]<a name="page170" id="page170"></a></span> came lying upon a +long ridge of bald and elevated rocks. Its number was not large, +comprising not more than forty persons; but, as the squatters were most +commonly distrustful of one another, not living together or in much +harmony, and having but seldom, as in the present instance, a community +of interest or unity of purpose, such a force was considered adequate to +all the duties assigned it. There was but little of the pomp or +circumstance of military array in their appearance or approach. Though +dressed uniformly the gray and plain stuffs which they wore were more in +unison with the habit of the hunter than the warrior; and, as in that +country, the rifle is familiar as a household thing, the encounter with +an individual of the troop would perhaps call for no remark. The +plaintive note of a single bugle, at intervals reverberating wildly +among the hills over which the party wound its way, more than anything +beside, indicated its character; and even this accompaniment is so +familiar as an appendage with the southron—so common, particularly to +the negroes, who acquire a singular and sweet mastery over it, while +driving their wagons through the woods, or poling their boats down the +streams, that one might fairly doubt, with all these symbols, whether +the advancing array were in fact more military than civil in its +character. They rode on briskly in the direction of our contending +parties—the sound of the bugle seeming not only to enliven, but to +shape their course, since the stout negro who gave it breath rode +considerably ahead of the troop.</p> + +<p>Among the squatters there was but little time for deliberation, yet +never were their leaders more seriously in doubt as to the course most +proper for their adoption in the common danger. They well knew the +assigned duties of the guard, and felt their peril. It was necessary for +the common safety—or, rather, the common spoil—that something should +be determined upon immediately. They were now actually in arms, and +could no longer, appearing individually and at privileged occupations, +claim to be unobnoxious to the laws; and it need occasion no surprise in +the reader, if, among a people of the class we have described, the +measures chosen in the present exigency were of a character the most +desperate and reckless. Dexter, whose recent +<span class="pagenum">[171]<a name="page171" id="page171"></a></span> triumph gave him +something in the way of a title to speak first, thus delivered +himself:—</p> + +<p>"Well, Munro—you may thank the devil and the Georgia guard for getting +you out of that scrape. You owe both of them more now than you ever +calculated to owe them. Had they not come in sight just at the lucky +moment, my knife would have made mighty small work with your windpipe, I +tell you—it did lie so tempting beneath it."</p> + +<p>"Yes—I thought myself a gone chick under that spur, George, and so I +believe thought all about us; and when you put off the finishing stroke +so suddenly, I took it for granted that you had seen the devil, or some +other matter equally frightful," was the reply of Munro, in a spirit and +style equally unique and philosophical with that which preceded it.</p> + +<p>"Why, it was something, though not the devil, bad enough for us in all +conscience, as you know just as well as I. The Georgia guard won't give +much time for a move."</p> + +<p>"Bad enough, indeed, though I certainly ought not to complain of their +appearance," was the reply of Munro, whose recent escape seemed to run +more in his mind than any other subject. He proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"But this isn't the first time I've had a chance so narrow for my neck; +and more than once it has been said to me, that the man born for one +fate can't be killed by another; but when you had me down and your knife +over me, I began to despair of my charm."</p> + +<p>"You should have double security for it now, Wat, and so keep your +prayers till you see the cross timbers, and the twisted trouble. There's +something more like business in hand now, and seeing that we shan't be +able to fight one another, as we intended, all that we can do now is to +make friends as fast as possible, and prepare to fight somebody else."</p> + +<p>"You think just as I should in this matter, and that certainly is the +wisest policy left us. It's a common cause we have to take care of, for +I happen to know that Captain Fullam—and this I take to be his +troop—has orders from the governor to see to us all, and clear the +lands in no time. The state, it appears, thinks the land quite too good +for such as we, and takes this mode of telling us so. Now, as I care +very little about the<span class="pagenum">[172]<a name="page172" +id="page172"></a></span> state—it has never done me any good, and +I have always been able to take care of myself without it—I feel just +in the humor, if all parties are willing, to have a tug in the matter +before I draw stakes."</p> + +<p>"That's just my notion, Wat; and d—n 'em, if the boys are only true to +the hub, we can row this guard up salt river in no time and less. Look +you now—let's put the thing on a good footing, and have no further +disturbance. Put all the boys on shares—equal shares—in the diggings, +and we'll club strength, and can easily manage these chaps. There's no +reason, indeed, why we shouldn't; for if we don't fix them, we are done +up, every man of us. We have, as you see and have tried, a pretty strong +fence round us, and, if our men stand to it, and I see not why they +shouldn't, Fullam can't touch us with his squad of fifty, ay, and a +hundred to the back of 'em."</p> + +<p>The plan was feasible enough in the eyes of men to whom ulterior +consequences were as nothing in comparison with the excitement of the +strife; and even the most scrupulous among them were satisfied, in a +little time, and with few arguments, that they had nothing to gain and +everything to lose by retiring from the possessions in which they had +toiled so long. There was nothing popular in the idea of a state +expelling them from a soil of which it made no use itself; and few among +the persons composing the array had ever given themselves much if any +trouble, in ascertaining the nice, and with them entirely metaphysical +distinction, between the <i>mine</i> and <i>thine</i> of the matter. The +proposition, therefore, startled none, and prudence having long since +withdrawn from their counsels, not a dissenting voice was heard to the +suggestion of a union between the two parties for the purpose of common +defence. The terms, recognising all of both sides, as upon an equal +footing in the profits of the soil, were soon arranged and completed; +and in the space of a few moments, and before the arrival of the +new-comers, the hostile forces, side by side, stood up for the new +contest as if there had never been any other than a community of +interest and feeling between them. A few words of encouragement and +cheer, given to their several commands by Munro and Dexter, were +scarcely necessary, for what risk had their adherents to run—what to +fear—what to lose? The<span class="pagenum">[173]<a name="page173" +id="page173"></a></span> courage of the desperado invariably +increases in proportion to his irresponsibility. In fortune, as utterly +destitute as in character, they had, in most respects, already forfeited +the shelter, as in numberless instances they had not merely gone beyond +the sanction, but had violated and defied the express interdict, of the +laws; and now, looking, as such men are apt most usually to do, only to +the immediate issue, and to nothing beyond it, the banditti—for such +they were—with due deliberation and such a calm of disposition as might +well comport with a life of continued excitement, proceeded again, most +desperately, to set them at defiance.</p> + +<p>The military came on in handsome style. They were all fine-looking men; +natives generally of a state, the great body of whose population are +well-formed, and distinguished by features of clear, open intelligence. +They were well-mounted, and each man carried a short rifle, a sword, and +pair of pistols. They rode in single file, following their commander; a +gentleman, in person, of great manliness of frame, possessed of much +grace and ease of action. They formed at command, readily, in front of +the post, which may be now said to have assumed the guise of a regular +military station; and Fullam, the captain, advancing with much seeming +surprise in his countenance and manner, addressed the squatters +generally, without reference to the two leaders, who stood forth as +representatives of their several divisions.</p> + +<p>"How is this, my good fellows? what is meant by your present military +attitude? Why are you, on the sabbath, mustering in this +guise—surrounded by barricades, arms in your hands, and placing +sentinels on duty. What does all this mean?"</p> + +<p>"We carry arms," replied Dexter, without pause, "because it suits us to +do so; we fix barricades to keep out intruders; our sentinels have a +like object; and if by attitude you mean our standing here and standing +there—why, I don't see in what the thing concerns anybody but +ourselves!"</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said the Georgian; "you bear it bravely, sir. But it is not to +you only that I speak. Am I to understand you, good people, as assembled +here for the purpose of resisting the laws of the land?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[174]<a name="page174" id="page174"></a></span> +"We don't know, captain, what you mean exactly by the laws of +the land," was the reply of Munro; "but, I must say, we are here, as you +see us now, to defend our property, which the laws have no right to take +from us—none that I can see."</p> + +<p>"So! and is that your way of thinking, sir; and pray who are you that +answer so freely for your neighbors?"</p> + +<p>"One, sir, whom my neighbors, it seems, have appointed to answer for +them."</p> + +<p>"I am then to understand, sir, that you have expressed their +determination on this subject, and that your purpose is resistance to +any process of the state compelling you to leave these possessions!"</p> + +<p>"You have stated their resolution precisely," was the reply. "They had +notice that unauthorized persons, hearing of our prosperity, were making +preparations to take them from us by force; and they prepared for +resistance. When we know the proper authorities, we shall answer +fairly—but not till then."</p> + +<p>"Truly, a very manful determination; and, as you have so expressed +yourself, permit me to exhibit my authority, which I doubt not you will +readily recognise. This instrument requires you, at once, to remove from +these lands—entirely to forego their use and possession, and within +forty-eight hours to yield them up to the authority which now claims +them at your hands." Here the officer proceeded to read all those +portions of his commission to which he referred, with considerable show +of patience.</p> + +<p>"All that's very well in your hands, and from your mouth, good sir; but +how know we that the document you bear is not forged and false—and that +you, with your people there, have not got up this fetch to trick us out +of those possessions which you have not the heart to fight for? We're up +to trap, you see."</p> + +<p>With this insolent speech, Dexter contrived to show his impatience of +the parley, and that brutal thirst which invariably prompted him to +provoke and seek for extremities. The eye of the Georgian flashed out +indignant fires, and his fingers instinctively grasped the pistol at his +holster, while the strongly-aroused expression of his features indicated +the wrath within. With a strong and successful effort, however, though +inwardly<span class="pagenum">[175]<a name="page175" id="page175"></a></span> +chafed at the necessity of forbearance, he contrived, +for a while longer, to suppress any more decided evidence of emotion, +while he replied:—</p> + +<p>"Your language, sirrah, whatever you may be, is ruffianly and insolent; +yet, as I represent the country and not myself in this business, and as +I would perform my duties without harshness, I pass it by. I am not +bound to satisfy you, or any of your company, of the truth of the +commission under which I act. It is quite enough if I myself am +satisfied. Still, however, for the same reason which keeps me from +punishing your insolence, and to keep you from any treasonable +opposition to the laws, you too shall be satisfied. Look here, for +yourselves, good people—you all know the great seal of the state!"</p> + +<p>He now held up the document from which he had read, and which contained +his authority; the broad seal of the state dangling from the parchment, +distinctly in the sight of the whole gang. Dexter approached somewhat +nearer, as if to obtain a more perfect view; and, while the Georgian, +without suspicion, seeing his advance, and supposing that to be his +object, held it more toward him, the ruffian, with an active and sudden +bound, tore it from his hands, and leaping, followed by all his group, +over his defences, was in a moment close under cover, and out of all +danger. Rising from his concealment, however, in the presence of the +officer, he tore the instrument into atoms, and dashing them toward +their proprietor, exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Now, captain, what's the worth of your authority? Be off now in a +hurry, or I shall fire upon you in short order!"</p> + +<p>We may not describe the furious anger of the Georgian. Irritated beyond +the control of a proper caution, he precipitately—and without that due +degree of deliberation which must have taught him the madness and +inefficacy of any assault by his present force upon an enemy so +admirably disposed of—gave the command to fire; and after the +ineffectual discharge, which had no other result than to call forth a +shout of derision from the besieged, he proceeded to charge the barrier, +himself fearlessly leading the way. The first effort to break through +the barricades was sufficient to teach him the folly of the design and a +discharge from the defences bringing down two of his men warned him of +the necessity of duly retrieving his error. +<span class="pagenum">[176]<a name="page176" id="page176"></a></span> He saw the odds, and +retreated with order and in good conduct, until he sheltered the whole +troop under a long hill, within rifle-shot of the enemy, whence, suddenly +filing a detachment obliquely to the left, he made his arrangements for +the passage of a narrow gorge, having something of the character of a +road, and, though excessively broken and uneven, having been frequently +used as such. It wound its way to the summit of a large hill, which +stood parallel with the defences, and fully commanded them; and the +descent of the gorge, on the opposite side, afforded him as good an +opportunity, in a charge, of riding the squatters down, as the summit +for picking them off singly with his riflemen.</p> + +<p>He found the necessity of great circumspection, however, in the brief +sample of controversy already given him; and with a movement in front, +therefore, of a number of his force—sufficient, by employing the +attention of the enemy in that quarter, to cover and disguise his +present endeavor—he marshalled fifteen of his force apart from the +rest, leading them himself, as the most difficult enterprise, boldly up +the narrow pass. The skirmishing was still suffered, therefore, to +continue on the ground where it had begun, whenever a momentary exposure +of the person of besieged or besieger afforded any chance for a +successful shot. Nor was this game very hazardous to either party. The +beleaguered force, as we have seen, was well protected. The assailants, +having generally dismounted, their horses being placed out of reach of +danger, had, in the manner of their opponents, taken the cover of the +rising ground, or the fallen tree, and in this way, awaiting the +progress of events, were shielded from unnecessary exposure. It was only +when a position became awkward or irksome, that the shoulder or the leg +of the unquiet man thrust itself too pertinaciously above its shelter, +and got barked or battered by a bullet; and as all parties knew too well +the skill of their adversaries, it was not often that a shoulder or leg +became so indiscreetly prominent.</p> + +<p>As it was, however, the squatters, from a choice of ground, and a +perfect knowledge of it, together with the additional guards and +defences which they had been enabled to place upon it, had evidently the +advantage. Still, no event, calculated to impress either party with any +decisive notion of the result, had<span class="pagenum">[177]<a name="page177" +id="page177"></a></span> yet taken place; and beyond +the injury done to the assailants in their first ill-advised assault, +they had suffered no serious harm. They were confident in themselves and +their leader—despised the squatters heartily—and, indeed, did not +suffer themselves for a moment to think of the possibility of their +defeat.</p> + +<p>Thus the play proceeded in front of the defences, while Fullam silently +and industriously plied his way up the narrow gorge, covered entirely +from sight by the elevated ridges of rock, which, rising up boldly on +either side of the pass, had indeed been the cause of its formation. But +his enemy was on the alert; and the cunning of Munro—whom his +companions, with an Indian taste, had entitled the "Black Snake"—had +already prepared for the reception of the gallant Georgian. With a quick +eye he had observed the diminished numbers of the force in front, and +readily concluded, from the sluggishness of the affair in that quarter, +that a finesse was in course of preparation. Conscious, too, from a +knowledge of the post, that there was but a single mode of enfilading +his defences, he had made his provision for the guardianship of the +all-important point. Nothing was more easy than the defence of this +pass, the ascent being considerable, rising into a narrow gorge, and as +suddenly and in like manner descending on the point opposite that on +which Fullam was toiling up his way. In addition to this, the gulley was +winding and brokenly circuitous—now making a broad sweep of the +circle—then terminating in a zigzag and cross direction, which, until +the road was actually gained, seemed to have no outlet; and at no time +was the advancing force enabled to survey the pass for any distance +ahead.</p> + +<p>Everything in the approach of the Georgian was conducted with the +profoundest silence: not the slightest whisper indicated to the +assailants the presence or prospect of any interruption; and, from the +field of strife below, nothing but an occasional shot or shout gave +token of the business in which at that moment all parties were engaged. +This quiet was not destined to continue long. The forlorn hope had now +reached midway of the summit—but not, as their leader had fondly +anticipated, without observation from the foe—when the sound of a +human<span class="pagenum">[178]<a name="page178" id="page178"></a></span> +voice directly above warned him of his error; and, looking +up, he beheld, perched upon a fragment of the cliff, which hung directly +over the gorge, the figure of a single man. For the first time led to +anticipate resistance in this quarter, he bade the men prepare for the +event as well as they might; and calling out imperatively to the +individual, who still maintained his place on the projection of the rock +as if in defiance, he bade him throw down his arms and submit.</p> + +<p>"Throw down my arms! and for what?" was the reply. "I'd like to know by +what right you require us to throw down our arms. It may do in England, +or any other barbarous country where the people don't know their rights +yet, to make them throw down their arms; but I reckon there's no law for +it in these parts, that you can show us, captain."</p> + +<p>"Pick that insolent fellow off, one of you," was the order; and in an +instant a dozen rifles were lifted, but the man was gone. A hat +appearing above the cliff, was bored with several bullets; and the +speaker, who laughed heartily at the success of his trick, now resumed +his position on the cliff, with the luckless hat perched upon the staff +on which it had given them the provocation to fire. He laughed and +shouted heartily at the contrivance, and hurled the victim of their +wasted powder down among them. Much chagrined, and burning with +indignation, Fullam briefly cried out to his men to advance quickly. The +person who had hitherto addressed him was our old acquaintance +Forrester, to whom, in the division of the duties, this post had been +assigned. He spoke again:—</p> + +<p>"You'd better not, captain, I advise you. It will be dangerous if you +come farther. Don't trouble us, now; and be off, as soon as you can, out +of harm's way. Your bones will be all the better for it; and I declare I +don't like to hurt such a fine-looking chap if I can possibly avoid it. +Now take a friend's advice; 'twill be all the better for you, I tell +you."</p> + +<p>The speaker evidently meant well, so far as it was possible for one to +mean well who was commissioned to do, and was, in fact, doing ill. The +Georgian, however, only the more indignant at the impertinence of the +address, took the following notice of it, uttered in the same breath +with an imperative command to his own men to hasten their advance:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[179]<a name="page179" id="page179"></a></span> +"Disperse yourselves, scoundrels, and throw down your arms!—on +the instant disperse! Lift a hand, or pull a trigger upon us, and every +man shall dangle upon the branches of the first tree!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke, leading the way, he drove his rowels into the sides of his +animal; and, followed by his troop, bounded fearlessly up the gorge.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[180]<a name="page180" id="page180"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter14" id="chapter14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> + +<h3>CATASTROPHE—COLLETON'S DISCOVERY.</h3> + + +<p>It is time to return to Ralph Colleton, who has quite too long escaped +our consideration. The reader will doubtless remember, with little +difficulty, where and under what circumstances we left him. Provoked by +the sneer and sarcasm of the man whom at the same moment he most +cordially despised, we have seen him taking a position in the +controversy, in which his person, though not actually within the +immediate sphere of action, was nevertheless not a little exposed to +some of its risks. This position, with fearless indifference, he +continued to maintain, unshrinkingly and without interruption, +throughout the whole period and amid all the circumstances of the +conflict. There was something of a boyish determination in this way to +assert his courage, which his own sense inwardly rebuked; yet such is +the nature of those peculiarities in southern habits and opinions, to +which we have already referred, on all matters which relate to personal +prowess and a masculine defiance of danger, that, even while +entertaining the most profound contempt for those in whose eye the +exhibition was made, he was not sufficiently independent of popular +opinion to brave its current when he himself was its subject. He may +have had an additional motive for this proceeding, which most probably +enforced its necessity. He well knew that fearless courage, among this +people, was that quality which most certainly won and secured their +respect; and the policy was not unwise, perhaps which represented this +as a good opportunity for a display which might have the effect of +protecting him from wanton insult or aggression hereafter. To a certain +extent he was at their mercy; and conscious, from what he had seen, of +the unscrupulous<span class="pagenum">[181]<a name="page181" id="page181"></a></span> +character of their minds, every exhibition of +the kind had some weight in his favor.</p> + +<p>It was with a lively and excited spirit that he surveyed, from the +moderate eminence on which he stood, the events going on around him. +Though not sufficiently near the parties (and scrupulous not to expose +himself to the chance of being for a moment supposed to be connected +with either of them) to ascertain their various arrangements, from what +had met his observation, he had been enabled to form a very correct +inference as to the general progress of affairs. He had beheld the +proceedings of each array while under cover, and contending with one +another, to much the same advantage as the spectator who surveys the +game in which two persons are at play. He could have pointed out the +mistakes of both in the encounter he had witnessed, and felt assured +that he could have ably and easily amended them. His frame quivered with +the "rapture of the strife," as Attila is said to have called the +excitation of battle; and his blood, with a genuine southern fervor, +rushed to and from his heart with a bounding impulse, as some new +achievement of one side or the other added a fresh interest to, and in +some measure altered the face of, the affair. But when he beheld the new +array, so unexpectedly, yet auspiciously for Munro, make its appearance +upon the field, the excitement of his spirit underwent proportionate +increase; and with deep anxiety, and a sympathy now legitimate with the +assailants, he surveyed the progress of an affray for which his judgment +prepared him to anticipate a most unhappy termination. As the strife +proceeded, he half forgot his precaution, and unconsciously continued, +at every moment, to approach more nearly to the scene of strife. His +heart was now all impulse, his spirit all enthusiasm; and with an +unquiet eye and restless frame, he beheld the silent passage of the +little detachment under the gallant Georgian, up the narrow gorge. At +some distance from the hill, and on an eminence, his position enabled +him to perceive, when the party had made good their advance nearly to +the summit, the impending danger. He saw the threatening cliff, hanging +as it were in mid air above them; and all his sympathies, warmly excited +at length by the fearfulness of the peril into a degree of active +partisanship which, at the beginning, a proper prudence +<span class="pagenum">[182]<a name="page182" id="page182"></a></span> had well +counselled him to avoid, he put spurs to his steed, and rushing forward +to the foot of the hill, shouted out to the advancing party the nature +of the danger which awaited them. He shouted strenuously, but in +vain—and with a feeling almost amounting to agony, he beheld the little +troop resolutely advance beneath the ponderous rock, which, held in its +place by the slightest purchase, needed but the most moderate effort to +upheave and unfix it for ever.</p> + +<p>It was fortunate for the youth that the situation in which he stood was +concealed entirely from the view of those in the encampment. It had been +no object with him to place himself in safety, for the consideration of +his own chance of exposure had never been looked to in his mind, when, +under the noble impulse of humanity, he had rushed forward, if possible, +to recall the little party, who either did not or were unwilling to hear +his voice of warning and prevention. Had he been beheld, there would +have been few of the squatters unable, and still fewer unwilling, to +pick him off with their rifles; and, as the event will show, the good +Providence alone which had hitherto kept with him, rather than the +forbearance of his quondam acquaintance, continued to preserve his life.</p> + +<p>Apprized of the ascent of the pass, and not disposed to permit of the +escape of those whom the defenders of it above might spare, unobserved +by his assailants in front, Dexter, with a small detachment, sallying +through a loophole of his fortress, took an oblique course toward the +foot of the gorge, by which to arrest the flight of the fugitives. This +course brought him directly upon, and in contact with, Ralph, who stood +immediately at its entrance, with uplifted eye, and busily engaged in +shouting, at intervals, to the yet advancing assailants. The squatters +approached cautiously and unperceived; for so deeply was the youth +interested in the fate of those for whom his voice and hands were alike +uplifted, that he was conscious of nothing else at that moment of +despair and doubt. The very silence which at that time hung over all +things, seemed of itself to cloud and obstruct, while they lulled the +senses into a corresponding slumber.</p> + +<p>It was well for the youth, and unlucky for the assassin, that, as +Dexter, with his uplifted hatchet—for fire-arms at that +<span class="pagenum">[183]<a name="page183" id="page183"></a></span>period +he dared not use, for fear of attracting the attention of his +foes—struck at his head, his advanced foot became entangled in the root +of a tree which ran above the surface, and the impetus of his action +occurring at the very instant in which he encountered the obstruction, +the stroke fell short of his victim, and grazed the side of his horse; +while the ruffian himself, stumbling forward and at length, fell +headlong upon the ground.</p> + +<p>The youth was awakened to consciousness. His mind was one of that cast +with which to know, to think, and to act, are simultaneous. Of ready +decision, he was never at a loss, and seldom surprised into even +momentary incertitude. With the first intimation of the attack upon +himself, his pistol had been drawn, and while the prostrate ruffian was +endeavoring to rise, and before he had well regained his feet, the +unerring ball was driven through his head, and without word or effort he +fell back among his fellows, the blood gushing from his mouth and +nostrils in unrestrained torrents.</p> + +<p>The whole transaction was the work of a single instant; and before the +squatters, who came with their slain leader, could sufficiently recover +from the panic produced by the event to revenge his death, the youth was +beyond their reach; and the assailing party of the guard, in front of +the post, apprized of the sally by the discharge of the pistol, made +fearful work among them by a general fire, while obliquing to the +entrance of the pass just in time to behold the catastrophe, now +somewhat precipitated by the event which had occurred below. Ralph, +greatly excited, regained his original stand of survey, and with +feelings of unrepressed horror beheld the catastrophe. The Georgian had +almost reached the top of the hill—another turn of the road gave him a +glimpse of the table upon which rested the hanging and disjointed cliff +of which we have spoken, when a voice was heard—a single voice—in +inquiry:—</p> + +<p>"All ready?"</p> + +<p>The reply was immediate—</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay; now prize away, boys, and let go."</p> + +<p>The advancing troop looked up, and were permitted a momentary glance of +the terrible fate which awaited them before it fell. That moment was +enough for horror. A general cry burst from the lips of those in front, +the only notice which those in the<span class="pagenum">[184]<a name="page184" +id="page184"></a></span> rear ever received of the +danger before it was upon them. An effort, half paralyzed by the awful +emotion which came over them, was made to avoid the down-coming ruin; +but with only partial success; for, in an instant after, the ponderous +mass, which hung for a moment like a cloud above them, upheaved from its +bed of ages, and now freed from all stays, with a sudden, hurricane-like +and whirling impetus, making the solid rock tremble over which it +rushed, came thundering down, swinging over one half of the narrow +trace, bounding from one side to the other along the gorge, and with the +headlong fury of a cataract sweeping everything from before its path +until it reached the dead level of the plain below. The involuntary +shriek from those who beheld the mass, when, for an instant impending +above them, it seemed to hesitate in its progress down, was more full of +human terror than any utterance which followed the event. With the +exception of a groan, wrung forth here and there from the half-crushed +victim, in nature's agony, the deep silence which ensued was painful and +appalling; and even when the dust had dissipated, and the eye was +enabled to take in the entire amount of the evil deed, the prospect +failed in impressing the senses of the survivors with so distinct a +sentiment of horror, as when the doubt and death, suspended in air, were +yet only threatened.</p> + +<p>Though prepared for the event, in one sense of the word, the great body +of the squatters were not prepared for the unusual emotions which +succeeded it in their bosoms. The arms dropped from the hands of many of +them—a speechless horror was the prevailing feature of all, and all +fight was over, while the scene of bloody execution was now one of +indiscriminate examination and remark with friend and foe. Ralph was the +first to rush up the fatal pass, and to survey the horrible prospect.</p> + +<p>One half of the brave little corps had been swept to instant death by +the unpitying rock, without having afforded the slightest obstacle to +its fearful progress. In one place lay a disembowelled steed panting its +last; mangled in a confused and unintelligible mass lay beside him +another, the limbs of his rider in many places undistinguishable from +his own. One poor wretch, whom he assisted to extricate from beneath +the<span class="pagenum">[185]<a name="page185" id="page185"></a></span> +body of his struggling horse, cried to him for water, and +died in the prayer. Fortunately for the few who survived the +catastrophe—among whom was their gallant but unfortunate young +leader—they had, at the first glimpse of the danger, urged on their +horses with redoubled effort, and by a close approach to the surface or +the rock, taking an oblique direction wide of its probable course, had, +at the time of its precipitation, reached a line almost parallel with +the place upon which it stood, and in this way achieved their escape +without injury. Their number was few, however; and not one half of the +fifteen, who commenced the ascent, ever reached or survived its +attainment.</p> + +<p>Ralph gained the summit just in time to prevent the completion of the +foul tragedy by its most appropriate climax. As if enough had not yet +been done in the way of crime, the malignant and merciless Rivers, of +whom we have seen little in this affair, but by whose black and devilish +spirit the means of destruction had been hit upon, which had so well +succeeded, now stood over the body of the Georgian, with uplifted hand, +about to complete the deed already begun. There was not a moment for +delay, and the youth sprung forward in time to seize and wrest the +weapon from his grasp. With a feeling of undisguised indignation, he +exclaimed, as the outlaw turned furiously upon him—</p> + +<p>"Wretch—what would you? Have you not done enough? would you strike the +unresisting man?"</p> + +<p>Rivers, with undisguised effort, now turned his rage upon the intruder. +His words, choked by passion, could scarce find utterance; but he spoke +with furious effort at length, as he directed a wild blow with a +battle-axe at the head of the youth.</p> + +<p>"You come for your death, and you shall have it!".</p> + +<p>"Not yet," replied Ralph, adroitly avoiding the stroke and closing with +the ruffian—"you will find that I an not unequal to the struggle, +though it be with such a monster as yourself."</p> + +<p>What might have been the event of this combat may not be said. The +parties were separated in a moment by the interposition of Forrester, +but not till our hero, tearing off in the scuffle the handkerchief which +had hitherto encircled the cheeks of his opponent, discovered the +friendly outlaw who collected toll for the Pony Club, and upon whose +face the hoof of his<span class="pagenum">[186]<a name="page186" id="page186"></a></span> +horse was most visibly engraven—who had so +boldly avowed his design upon his life and purse, and whom he had so +fortunately and successfully foiled on his first approach to the +village.</p> + +<p>The fight was over after this catastrophe; the survivors of the guard, +who were unhurt, had fled; and the parties with little stir were all now +assembled around the scene of it. There was little said upon the +occasion. The wounded were taken such care of as circumstances would +permit; and wagons having been provided, were all removed to the +village. Begun with too much impulse, and conducted with too little +consideration, the struggle between the military and the outlaws had now +terminated in a manner that left perhaps but little satisfaction in the +minds of either party. The latter, though generally an unlicensed +tribe—an Ishmaelitish race—whose hands were against all men, were not +so sure that they had not been guilty of a crime, not merely against the +laws of man and human society, but against the self-evident decrees and +dictates of God; and with this doubt, at least, if not its conviction, +in their thoughts, their victory, such as it was, afforded a source of +very qualified rejoicing.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[187]<a name="page187" id="page187"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter15" id="chapter15">CHAPTER XV.</a></h2> + +<h3>CLOSE QUARTERS.</h3> + + +<p>Colleton was by no means slow in the recognition of the ruffian, and +only wondered at his own dullness of vision in not having made the +discovery before. Nor did Rivers, with all his habitual villany, seem so +well satisfied with his detection. Perceiving himself fully known, a +momentary feeling of inquietude came over him; and though he did not +fear, he began to entertain in his mind that kind of agitation and doubt +which made him, for the first time, apprehensive of the consequences. He +was not the cool villain like Munro—never to be taken by surprise, or +at disadvantage; and his eye was now withdrawn, though but for a moment, +beneath the stern and searching glance which read him through.</p> + +<p>That tacit animal confession and acknowledgment were alone sufficient to +madden a temper such as that of Rivers. Easily aroused, his ferocity was +fearless and atrocious, but not measured or methodical. His mind was not +marked—we had almost said tempered—by that wholesome indifference of +mood which, in all matters of prime villany, is probably the most +desirable constituent. He was, as we have seen, a creature of strong +passions, morbid ambition, quick and even habitual excitement; though, +at times, endeavoring to put on that air of sarcastic superiority to all +emotion which marked the character of the ascetic philosopher—a +character to which he had not the slightest claim of resemblance, and +the very affectation of which, whenever he became aroused or irritated, +was completely forgotten. Without referring—as Munro would have done, +and, indeed, as he subsequently did—to the precise events which had +already just taken place and were still in progress about him, and which +made all parties equally obnoxious with himself to +<span class="pagenum">[188]<a name="page188" id="page188"></a></span> human +punishment, and for an offence far more criminal in its dye than that +which the youth laid to his charge—he could not avoid the momentary +apprehension, which—succeeding with the quickness of thought the +intelligent and conscious glance of Colleton—immediately came over him. +His eye, seldom distinguished by such a habit, quailed before it; and +the deep malignity and festering hatred of his soul toward the youth, +which it so unaccountably entertained before, underwent, by this +mortification of his pride, a due degree of exaggeration.</p> + +<p>Ralph, though wise beyond his years, and one who, in a thought borrowed +in part from Ovid, we may say, could rather compute them by events than +ordinary time, wanted yet considerably in that wholesome, though rather +dowdyish virtue, which men call prudence. He acted on the present +occasion precisely as he might have done in the college campus, with all +the benefits of a fair field and a plentiful crowd of backers. Without +duly reflecting whether an accusation of the kind he preferred, at such +a time, to such men, and against one of their own accomplices, would +avail much, if anything, toward the punishment of the criminal—not to +speak of his own risk, necessarily an almost certain consequence from +such an implied determination not to be <i>particeps criminis</i> with +any of them, he approached, and boldly denounced Rivers as a murderous +villain; and urgently called upon those around him to aid in his arrest.</p> + +<p>But he was unheard—he had no auditors; nor did this fact result from +any unwillingness on their part to hear and listen to the charge against +one so detested as the accused. They could see and hear but of one +subject—they could comprehend no other. The events of such fresh and +recent occurrence were in all minds and before all eyes; and few, +besides Forrester, either heard to understand, or listened for a moment +to the recital.</p> + +<p>Nor did the latter and now unhappy personage appear to give it much more +consideration than the rest. Hurried on by the force of associating +circumstances, and by promptings not of himself or his, he had been an +active performer in the terrible drama we have already witnessed, and +the catastrophe of which he could now only, and in vain, deplore. +Leaning with vacant<span class="pagenum">[189]<a name="page189" id="page189"></a></span> +stare and lacklustre vision against the +neighboring rock, he seemed indifferent to, and perhaps ignorant of, the +occurrences taking place around him. He had interfered when the youth +and Rivers were in contact, but so soon after the event narrated, that +time for reflection had not then been allowed. The dreadful process of +thinking himself into an examination of his own deeds was going on; and +remorse, with its severe but salutary stings, was doing, without +restraint, her rigorous duties.</p> + +<p>Though either actually congregated or congregating around him, and +within free and easy hearing of his voice, now stretched to its utmost, +the party were quite too busily employed in the discussion of the +events—too much immersed in the sudden stupor which followed, in nearly +all minds, their termination—to know or care much what were the hard +words which our young traveller bestowed upon the detected outlaw. They +had all of them (their immediate leaders excepted) been hurried on, as +is perfectly natural and not unfrequently the case, by the rapid +succession of incidents (which in their progress of excitement gave them +no time for reflection), from one act to another; without perceiving, in +a single pause, the several gradations by which they insensibly passed +on from crime to crime;—and it was only now, and in a survey of the +several foot-prints in their progress, that they were enabled to +perceive the vast and perilous leaps which they had taken. As in the +ascent of the elevation, step by step, we can judge imperfectly of its +height, until from the very summit we look down upon our place of +starting, so with the wretched outcasts of society of whom we speak. +Flushed with varying excitements, they had deputed the task of +reflection to another and a calmer time; and with the reins of sober +reason relaxed, whirled on by their passions, they lost all control over +their own impetuous progress, until brought up and checked, as we have +seen, by a catastrophe the most ruinous—the return of reason being the +signal for the rousing up of those lurking furies—terror, remorse, and +many and maddening regrets. From little to large events, we experience +or behold this every day. It is a history and all read it. It belongs to +human nature and to society: and until some process shall be discovered +by which men shall be compelled to think by rule and under regulation, +as in a penitentiary their bodies are<span class="pagenum">[190]<a name="page190" +id="page190"></a></span> required to work, we +despair of having much improvement in the general condition of human +affairs. The ignorant and uneducated man is quite too willing to depute +to others the task of thinking for him and furnishing his opinions. The +great mass are gregarious, and whether a lion or a log is chosen for +their guidance, it is still the same—they will follow the leader, if +regularly recognised as such, even though he be an ass. As if conscious +of their own incapacities, whether these arise from deficiencies of +education or denials of birth, they forego the only habit—that of +self-examination—which alone can supply the deficiency; and with a +blind determination, are willing, on any terms, to divest themselves of +the difficulties and responsibilities of their own government. They +crown others with all command, and binding their hands with cords, place +themselves at the disposal of those, who, in many cases, not satisfied +with thus much, must have them hookwinked also. To this they also +consent, taking care, in their great desire to be slaves, to be foremost +themselves in tying on the bandage which keeps them in darkness and in +chains for ever. Thus will they be content to live, however wronged, if +not absolutely bruised and beaten; happy to escape from the cares of an +independent mastery of their own conduct, if, in this way, they can also +escape from the noble responsibilities of independence.</p> + +<p>The unhappy men, thus led on, as we have seen, from the commission of +misdemeanor to that of crime, in reality, never for a moment thought +upon the matter. The landlord, Dexter, and Rivers, had, time out of +mind, been their oracles; and, without referring to the distinct +condition of those persons, they reasoned in a manner not uncommon with +the ignorant. Like children at play, they did not perceive the narrow +boundaries which separate indulgence from licentiousness; and in the +hurried excitement of the mood, inspired by the one habit, they had +passed at once, unthinkingly and unconsciously, into the excesses of the +other. They now beheld the event in its true colors, and there were but +few among the squatters not sadly doubtful upon the course taken, and +suffering corresponding dismay from its probable consequences. To a few, +such as Munro and Rivers, the aspect of the thing was unchanged—they +had beheld its true features from the outset, and knew the +<span class="pagenum">[191]<a name="page191" id="page191"></a></span> +course, and defied the consequences. They had already made up their +minds upon it—had regarded the matter in all its phases, and suffered +no surprise accordingly. Not so with the rest—with Forrester in +particular, whose mental distress, though borne with manliness, was yet +most distressing. He stood apart, saying nothing, yet lamenting +inwardly, with the self-upbraidings of an agonized spirit, the easy +facility with which he had been won, by the cunning of others, into the +perpetration of a crime so foul. He either for a time heard not or +understood not the charges made by Ralph against his late coadjutor, +until brought to his consciousness by the increased stir among the +confederates, who now rapidly crowded about the spot, in time to hear +the denial of the latter to the accusation, in language and a manner +alike fierce and unqualified.</p> + +<p>"Hear me!" was the exclamation of the youth—his voice rising in due +effect, and illustrating well the words he uttered, and the purpose of +his speech:—"I charge this born and branded villain with an attempt +upon my life. He sought to rob and murder me at the Catcheta pass but a +few days ago. Thrown between my horse's feet in the struggle, he +received the brand of his hoof, which he now wears upon his cheek. There +he stands, with the well-deserved mark upon him, and which, but for the +appearance of his accomplices, I should have made of a yet deeper +character. Let him deny it if he can or dare."</p> + +<p>The face of Rivers grew alternately pale and purple with passion, and he +struggled in vain, for several minutes, to speak. The words came from +him hoarsely and gratingly. Fortunately for him, Munro, whose cool +villany nothing might well discompose, perceiving the necessity of +speech for him who had none, interfered with the following inquiry, +uttered in something like a tone of surprise.</p> + +<p>"And what say you to this accusation, Guy Rivers? Can you not find an +answer?"</p> + +<p>"It is false—false as hell! and you know it, Munro, as well as myself. +I never saw the boy until at your house."</p> + +<p>"That I know, and why you should take so long to say it I can't +understand. It appears to me, young gentleman," said Munro, with most +cool and delightful effrontery, "that I can +<span class="pagenum">[192]<a name="page192" id="page192"></a></span> set all these +matters right. I can show you to be under a mistake; for I happen to +know that, at the very time of which you speak, we were both of us up in +the Chestatee fork, looking for a runaway slave—you know the fellow, +boys—Black Tom—who has been <i>out</i> for six months and more, and of +whom I got information a few weeks ago. Well, as everybody knows, the +Chestatee fork is at least twenty miles from the Catcheta pass; and if +we were in one place, we could not, I am disposed to think, very well be +in another."</p> + +<p>"An <i>alibi</i>, clearly established," was the remark of Counsellor +Pippin, who now, peering over the shoulders of the youth, exhibited his +face for the first time during the controversies of the day. Pippin was +universally known to be possessed of an admirable scent for finding out +a danger when it is well over, and when the spoils, and not the toils, +of the field are to be reaped. His appearance at this moment had the +effect of arousing, in some sort, the depressed spirits of those around +him, by recalling to memory and into exercise the jests upon his +infirmities, which long use had made legitimate and habitual. +Calculating the probable effect of such a joke, Munro, without seeming +to observe the interruption, looking significantly round among the +assembly, went on to say—</p> + +<p>"If you have been thus assaulted, young man, and I am not disposed to +say it is not as you assert, it can not have been by any of our village, +unless it be that Counsellor Pippin and his fellow Hob were the persons: +they were down, now I recollect, at the Catcheta pass, somewhere about +the time; and I've long suspected Pippin to be more dangerous than +people think him."</p> + +<p>"I deny it all—I deny it. It's not true, young man. It's not true, my +friends; don't believe a word of it. Now, Munro, how can you speak so? +Hob—Hob—Hob—I say—where the devil are you? Hob—say, you rascal, was +I within five miles of the Catcheta pass to-day?" The negro, a black of +the sootiest complexion, now advanced:—</p> + +<p>"No, maussa."</p> + +<p>"Was I yesterday?"</p> + +<p>The negro put his finger to his forehead, and the lawyer began to fret +at this indication of thought, and, as it promised to continue, +exclaimed—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[193]<a name="page193" id="page193"></a></span> +"Speak, you rascal, speak out; you know well enough without +reflecting." The slave cautiously responded—</p> + +<p>"If maussa want to be dere, maussa dere—no 'casion for ax Hob."</p> + +<p>"You black rascal, you know well enough I was not there—that I was not +within five miles of the spot, either to-day, yesterday, or for ten days +back!"</p> + +<p>"Berry true, maussa; if you no dere, you no dere. Hob nebber say one +ting when maussa say 'noder."</p> + +<p>The unfortunate counsellor, desperate with the deference of his +body-servant, now absolutely perspired with rage; while, to the infinite +amusement of all, in an endeavor to strike the pliable witness, who +adroitly dodged the blow, the lawyer, not over-active of frame, plunged +incontinently forward, and paused not in his headlong determination +until he measured himself at length upon the ground. The laugh which +succeeded was one of effectual discomfiture, and the helpless barrister +made good his retreat from a field so unpromising by a pursuit of the +swift-footed negro, taking care not to return from the chase.</p> + +<p>Colleton, who had regarded this interlude with stern brow and wrathful +spirit, now spoke, addressing Munro:—</p> + +<p>"You affirm most strongly for this villain, but your speech is vain if +its object be to satisfy my doubts. What effect it may have upon our +hearers is quite another matter. You can not swear me out of my +conviction and the integrity of my senses. I am resolute in the one +belief, and do not hesitate here, and in the presence of himself and all +of you, to pronounce him again all the scoundrel I declared him to be at +first—in the teeth of all your denials not less than of his! But, +perhaps—as you answer for him so readily and so well—let us know, for +doubtless you can, by what chance he came by that brand, that fine +impress which he wears so happily upon his cheek. Can you not inform him +where he got it—on what road he met with it, and whether the devil's or +my horse's heel gave it him!"</p> + +<p>"If your object be merely to insult me, young man, I forgive it. You are +quite too young for me to punish, and I have only pity for the +indiscretion that moves you to unprofitable violence at this time and in +this place, where you see but little respect is shown to those who +invade us with harsh words or actions.<span class="pagenum">[194]<a name="page194" +id="page194"></a></span> As for your charge +against Rivers, I happen to know that it is unfounded, and my evidence +alone would be sufficient for the purpose of his defence. If, however, +he were guilty of the attempt, as you allege, of what avail is it for +you to make it? Look around you, young man!"—taking the youth aside as +he spoke in moderated terms—"you have eyes and understanding, and can +answer the question for yourself. Who is here to arrest him? Who would +desire, who would dare to make the endeavor? We are all here equally +interested in his escape, were he a criminal in this respect, because we +are all here"—and his voice fell in such a manner as to be accommodated +to the senses of the youth alone—"equally guilty of violating the same +laws, and by an offence in comparison with which that against you would +be entirely lost sight of. There is the courthouse, it is true—and +there the jail; but we seldom see sheriff, judge, or jailer. When they +do make their appearance, which is not often, they are glad enough to +get away again. If we here suffer injury from one another, we take +justice into our own hands—as you allege yourself partly to have done +in this case—and there the matter generally ends. Rivers, you think, +assaulted you, and had the worst of it. You got off with but little harm +yourself, and a reasonable man ought to be satisfied. Nothing more need +be said of it. This is the wisest course, let me advise you. Be quiet +about the matter, go on your way, and leave us to ourselves. Better +suffer a little wrong, and seem to know nothing of it, than risk a +quarrel with those who, having once put themselves out of the shelter of +the laws, take every opportunity of putting them at defiance. And what +if you were to push the matter, where will the sheriff or the military +find us? In a week and the judge will arrive, and the court will be in +session. For that week we shall be out of the way. Nobody shall +know—nobody can find us. This day's work will most probably give us all +a great itch for travel."</p> + +<p>Munro had, in truth, made out a very plain case; and his +representations, in the main, were all correct. The youth felt their +force, and his reason readily assented to the plain-sense course which +they pointed out. Contenting himself, therefore, with reiterating the +charge, he concluded with saying that, for the present, he would let the +affair rest. "Until the <span class="pagenum">[195]<a name="page195" +id="page195"></a></span>ruffian"—thus he phrased it—"had +answered the penalties of the laws for his subsequent and more heinous +offence against them, he should be silent."</p> + +<p>"But I have not done with <i>you</i>, young sir," was the immediate +speech of Rivers—his self-confidence and much of his composure +returned, as, with a fierce and malignant look, and a quick stride, he +approached the youth. "You have thought proper to make a foul charge +against me, which I have denied. It has been shown that your assertion +is unfounded, yet you persist in it, and offer no atonement. I now +demand redress—the redress of a gentleman. You know the custom of the +country, and regard your own character, I should think, too highly to +refuse me satisfaction. You have pistols, and here are rifles and dirks. +Take your choice."</p> + +<p>The youth looked upon him with ineffable scorn as he replied—</p> + +<p>"You mistake me, sirrah, if you think I can notice your call with +anything but contempt."</p> + +<p>"What! will you not fight—not fight? not back your words?"</p> + +<p>"Not with you!" was the calm reply.</p> + +<p>"You refuse me satisfaction, after insulting me!"</p> + +<p>"I always took him for a poor chicken, from the first time I set eyes on +him," said one of the spectators.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I didn't think much of him, when he refused to join us," was the +remark of another.</p> + +<p>"This comes of so much crowing; Brag is a good dog, but Holdfast is +better," went on a third, and each man had his remark upon Colleton's +seeming timidity. Scorn and indignation were in all faces around him; +and Forrester, at length awakened from his stupor by the tide of fierce +comment setting in upon his friend from all quarters, now thought it +time to interfere.</p> + +<p>"Come, 'squire, how's this? Don't give way—give him satisfaction, as he +calls it, and send the lead into his gizzard. It will be no harm done, +in putting it to such a creature as that. Don't let him crow over old +Carolina—don't, now, squire! You can hit him as easy as a barndoor, for +I saw your shot to-day; don't be afraid, now—stand up, and I'll back +you against the whole of them."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[196]<a name="page196" id="page196"></a></span> +"Ay, bring him forward, Forrester. Let him be a man, if he can," +was the speech of one of the party.</p> + +<p>"Come,'squire, let me say that you are ready. I'll mark off the ground, +and you shall have fair play," was the earnest speech of the woodman in +terms of entreaty.</p> + +<p>"You mistake me greatly, Forrester, if you suppose for a moment that I +will contend on equal terms with such a wretch. He is a common robber +and an outlaw, whom I have denounced as such, and whom I can not +therefore fight with. Were he a gentleman, or had he any pretensions to +the character, you should have no need to urge me on, I assure you."</p> + +<p>"I know that, 'squire, and therefore it provokes me to think that the +skunk should get off. Can't you, now, lay aside the gentleman just long +enough to wing him? Now, do try!"</p> + +<p>The youth smiled as he shook his head negatively. Forrester, with great +anxiety, proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"But, 'squire, they won't know your reason for refusing, and they will +set you down as afear'd. They will call you a coward!"</p> + +<p>"And what if they do, Forrester? They are not exactly the people about +whose opinions I give myself any concern. I am not solicitous to gain +credit for courage among them. If any of them doubt it, let him try me. +Let one of them raise a hand or lift a finger upon me, and make the +experiment. They will then find me ready and willing enough to defend +myself from any outrage, come from what quarter it may."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid, 'squire, they can't be made to understand the difference +between a gentleman and a squatter. Indeed, it isn't reasonable that +they should, seeing that such a difference puts them out of any chance +of dressing a proud fellow who carries his head too high. If you don't +fight, 'squire, I must, if it's only for the honor of old Carolina. So +here goes."</p> + +<p>The woodman threw off his coat, and taking up his rifle, substituted a +new for the old flint, and furnishing the pan with fresh priming, before +our hero could well understand the proposed and novel arrangement so as +to interpose in its arrest, he advanced to the spot where Rivers stood, +apparently awaiting the youth's decision, and, slapping him upon the +shoulder, thus addressed him:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[197]<a name="page197" id="page197"></a></span> +"I say, Guy Rivers, the 'squire thinks you too great a black +guard for him to handle, and leaves all the matter to me. Now, you see, +as I've done <i>that</i> to-day which makes me just as great a +blackguard as yourself, I stand up in his place. So here's for you. You +needn't make any excuse, and say you have no quarrel with me, for, as I +am to handle you in his place, you will consider me to say everything +that he has said—every word of it; and, in addition to that, if more be +necessary, you must know I think you a mere skunk, and I've been wanting +to have a fair lick at you for a monstrous long season."</p> + +<p>"You shall not interfere, Forrester, and in this manner, on any +pretence, for the shelter of the coward, who, having insulted me, now +refuses to give me satisfaction. If you have anything to ask at my +hands, when I have done with him, I shall be ready for you," was the +reply of Rivers.</p> + +<p>"You hear that 'squire? I told you so. He has called you a coward, and +you will have to fight him at last."</p> + +<p>"I do not see the necessity for that, Forrester, and beg that you will +undertake no fighting on my account. When my honor is in danger, I am +man enough to take care of it myself; and, when I am not, my friend can +do me no service by taking my place. As for this felon, the hangman for +him—nobody else."</p> + +<p>Maddened, not less by the cool determination of Colleton than by the +contemptuous conclusion of his speech, Rivers, without a word, sprang +fiercely upon him with a dirk, drawn from his bosom with concerted +motion as he made the leap—striking, as he approached, a blow at the +unguarded breast of the youth, which, from the fell and fiendish aim and +effort, must have resulted fatally had he not been properly prepared for +some such attempt. Ralph was in his prime, however, of vigorous make and +muscle, and well practised in the agile sports and athletic exercises of +woodland life. He saw the intent in the mischievous glance of his +enemy's eye, in time to guard himself against it; and, suddenly changing +his position, as the body of his antagonist was nearly upon him, he +eluded the blow, and the force and impetus employed in the effort bore +the assassin forward. Before he could arrest his own progress, the youth +had closed in upon him, and by a dexterous use of his foot, in a manner +well known to the American woodman,<span class="pagenum">[198]<a name="page198" +id="page198"></a></span> Rivers, without being able +to interpose the slightest obstacle to the new direction thus given him, +was forcibly hurled to the ground.</p> + +<p>Before he could recover, the youth was upon him. His blood was now at +fever-heat, for he had not heard the taunts upon his courage, from all +around him, with indifference, though he had borne them with a laudable +show of patience throughout. His eye shot forth fires almost as +malignant as those of his opponent. One of his hands was wreathed in the +neckcloth of his prostrate foe, while the other was employed in freeing +his own dirk from the encumbrances of his vest. This took little time, +and he would not have hesitated in the blow, when the interposition of +those present bore him off, and permitted the fallen and stunned man to +recover his feet. It was at this moment that the honest friendship of +Forrester was to be tried and tested. The sympathies of those around +were most generally with the ruffian; and the aspect of affairs was +something unlucky, when the latter was not only permitted to recommence +the attack, but when the youth was pinioned to the ground by others of +the gang, and disarmed of all defence. The moment was perilous; and, +whooping like a savage, Forrester leaped in between, dealing at the same +time his powerful blows from one to the other, right and left, and +making a clear field around the youth.</p> + +<p>"Fair play is all I ask, boys—fair play, and we can lick the whole of +you. Hurra for old Carolina. Who's he says a word against her? Let him +stand up, and be knocked down. How's it, 'squire—you an't hurt, I +reckon? I hope not; if you are, I'll have a shot with Rivers myself on +the spot."</p> + +<p>But Munro interposed: "We have had enough outcry, Forrester. Let us have +no more. Take this young man along with you, or it will be worse for +him."</p> + +<p>"Well, Wat Munro, all the 'squire wants is fair play—fair play for both +of us, and we'll take the field, man after man. I tell you what, Munro, +in our parts the chickens are always hatched with spurs, and the +children born with their eye-teeth. We know something, too, about +whipping our weight in wild-cats; and until the last governor of our +state had all the bears killed, because they were getting civilized, we +could wrestle with 'em man for man, and throw seven out of ten."</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[199]<a name="page199" id="page199"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter16" id="chapter16">CHAPTER XVI.</a></h2> + +<h3>CONSPIRACY—WARNING.</h3> + + +<p>Ralph was not permitted to return to the village that night—his sturdy +friend Forrester insisting upon his occupying with him the little lodge +of his own, resting on the borders of the settlement, and almost buried +in the forest. Here they conversed until a late hour, previous to +retiring; the woodman entering more largely into his own history than he +had done before. He suffered painfully from the occurrences of the day: +detailed the manner in which he had been worked upon by Munro to take +part in the more fearful transaction with the guard—how the excitement +of the approaching conflict had defeated his capacities of thought, and +led him on to the commission of so great a part of the general offence. +Touching the initial affair with the squatters, he had no compunctious +scruples. That was all fair game in his mode of thinking, and even had +blood been spilled more freely than it was, he seemed to think he should +have had no remorse. But on the subject of the murder of the guard, for +so he himself called his crime, his feeling was so intensely agonizing +that Ralph, though as much shocked as himself at the events, found it +necessary to employ sedative language, and to forbear all manner of +rebuke.</p> + +<p>At an early hour of the morning, they proceeding in company to the +village—Forrester having to complete certain arrangements prior to his +flight; which, by the advice of Colleton, he had at once determined +upon. Such, no doubt, was the determination of many among them not +having those resources, in a familiarity with crime and criminal +associations, which were common to Munro and Rivers.</p> + +<p>The aspect of the village was somewhat varied from its wont. +<span class="pagenum">[200]<a name="page200" id="page200"></a></span> Its +people were not so far gone in familiarity with occurrences like those +of the preceding day, as to be utterly insensible to their consequences; +and a chill inertness pervaded all faces, and set at defiance every +endeavor on the part of the few who had led, to put the greater number +in better spirits, either with themselves or those around them. They +were men habituated, it may be, to villanies; but of a petty +description, and far beneath that which we have just recorded. It is +not, therefore, to be wondered at, if, when the momentary impulse had +passed away, they felt numerous misgivings. They were all assembled, as +on the day before—their new allies with them—arms in their hands, but +seemingly without much disposition for their use. They sauntered +unconsciously about the village, in little groups or individually, +without concert or combination, and with suspicious or hesitating eye. +Occasionally, the accents of a single voice broke the general silence, +though but for a moment; and then, with a startling and painful +influence, which imparted a still deeper sense of gloom to the spirits +of all. It appeared to come laden with a mysterious and strange terror, +and the speaker, aptly personifying the Fear in Collins's fine "Ode on +the Passions," "shrunk from the sound himself had made."</p> + +<p>Ralph, in company with Forrester, made his appearance among the +squatters while thus situated. Seeing them armed as on the previous day, +he was apprehensive of some new evil; and as he approached the several +stray groups, made known his apprehensions to his companion in strong +language. He was not altogether assured of Forrester's own compunction, +and the appearance of those around almost persuaded him to doubt his +sincerity.</p> + +<p>"Why are these people assembled, Forrester—is there anything new—is +there more to be done—more bloodletting—more crime and violence—are +they still unsatisfied?"</p> + +<p>The earnestness of the inquirer was coupled with a sternness of eye and +warmth of accent which had in them much, that, under other circumstances +and at other times, would have been sorely offensive to the sturdy +woodman; whose spirit, anything in the guise of rebuke would have been +calculated to vex. But he was burdened with thoughts at the moment, +which, in a <span class="pagenum">[201]<a name="page201" id="page201"></a></span> +sufficiently meritorial character, humbled him with +a scourge that lacerated at every stroke.</p> + +<p>"God forbid, 'squire, that more harm should be done. There has been more +done already than any of us shall well get rid of. I wish to heaven I +had taken caution from you. But I was mad, 'squire, mad to the heart, +and became the willing tool of men not so mad, but more evil than I! God +forbid, sir, that there should be more harm done."</p> + +<p>"Then why this assembly? Why do the villagers, and these ragged and +savage fellows whom you have incorporated among you—why do they lounge +about idly, with arms in their hands, and faces that still seem bent on +mischief?"</p> + +<p>"Because, 'squire, it's impossible to do otherwise. We can't go to work, +for the life of us, if we wished to; we all feel that we have gone too +far, and those, whose own consciences do not trouble them, are yet too +much troubled by fear of the consequences to be in any hurry to take up +handspike or hammer again in this quarter of the world."</p> + +<p>The too guilty man had indeed spoken his own and the condition of the +people among whom he lived. They could now see and feel the fruits of +that rash error which had led them on; but their consciousness came too +late for retrieval, and they now wondered, with a simplicity truly +surprising to those who know with what facility an uneducated and warm +people may be led to their own ruin, that this consciousness had not +come to them before. Ralph, attended by Forrester, advanced among the +crowd. As he did so, all eyes were turned upon him, and a sullen +conference took place, having reference to himself, between Munro and a +few of the ringleaders. This conference was brief, and as soon as it was +concluded, the landlord turned to the youth, and spoke as follows:—</p> + +<p>"You were a witness, Mr. Colleton, of this whole transaction, and can +say whether the soldiers were not guilty of the most unprovoked assault +upon us, without reason or right."</p> + +<p>"I can say no such thing, sir," was his reply. "On the contrary, I am +compelled to say, that a more horrible and unjustifiable transaction I +never witnessed. I must say that they were not the aggressors."</p> + +<p>"How unjustifiable young sir?" quickly and sternly retorted +<span class="pagenum">[202]<a name="page202" id="page202"></a></span> the +landlord "Did you not behold us ridden down by the soldiery? did they +not attack us in our trenches—in our castle as it were? and have we not +a right to defend our castle from assailants? They took the adventure at +their peril, and suffered accordingly."</p> + +<p>"I know not what your title may be to the grounds you have defended so +successfully, and which you have styled your castle, nor shall I stop to +inquire. I do not believe that your right either gave you possession or +authorized your defence in this cruel manner. The matter, however, is +between you and your country. My own impressions are decidedly against +you; and were I called upon for an opinion as to your mode of asserting +your pretended right, I should describe it as brutal and barbarous, and +wholly without excuse or justification, whether examined by divine or +human laws."</p> + +<p>"A sermon, a sermon from the young preacher, come, boys, give him Old +Hundred. Really, sir, you promise almost as well as the parson you heard +yesterday; and will take lessons from him, if advised by me. But go +on—come to a finish—mount upon the stump, where you can be better seen +and heard."</p> + +<p>The cheek of the youth glowed with indignation at the speech of the +ruffian, but he replied with a concentrated calmness that was full of +significance:—</p> + +<p>"You mistake me greatly, sir, if you imagine I am to be provoked into +contest with you by any taunt which you can utter. I pride myself +somewhat in the tact with which I discover a ruffian, and having, at an +early period of your acquaintance, seen what you were, I can not regard +you in any other than a single point of view. Were you not what I know +you to be, whatever might have been the difference of force between us, +I should ere this have driven my dirk into your throat."</p> + +<p>"Why, that's something like, now—that's what I call manly. You do seem +to have some pluck in you, young sir, though you might make more use of +it. I like a fellow that can feel when he's touched; and don't think a +bit the worse of you that you think ill of me, and tell me so. But +that's not the thing now. We must talk of other matters. You must answer +a civil question or two for the satisfaction of the company. We want to +know, sir, if we may apprehend any interference on your part +<span class="pagenum">[203]<a name="page203" id="page203"></a></span> +between us and the state. Will you tell the authorities what you saw?"</p> + +<p>The youth made no answer to this question, but turning contemptuously +upon his heel, was about to leave the circle, around which the assembly, +in visible anxiety for his reply, was now beginning to crowd.</p> + +<p>"Stay, young master, not so fast. You must give us some answer before +you are off. Let us know what we are to expect. Whether, if called upon +by any authority, you would reveal what you know of this business?" was +the further inquiry of Munro.</p> + +<p>"I certainly should—every word of it. I should at once say that you +were all criminal, and describe you as the chief actor and instigator in +this unhappy affair."</p> + +<p>The response of Colleton had been unhesitating and immediate; and having +given it, he passed through the throng and left the crowd, which, +sullenly parting, made way for him in front. Guy Rivers, in an under +tone, muttered in the ear of Munro as he left the circle:—</p> + +<p>"That, by the eternal God, he shall never do. Are you satisfied now of +the necessity of silencing him?"</p> + +<p>Munro simply made a sign of silence, and took no seeming note of his +departure; but his determination was made, and there was now no obstacle +in that quarter to the long-contemplated vengeance of his confederate.</p> + +<p>While this matter was in progress among the villagers, Counsellor Pippin +vexed himself and his man Hob not a little with inquiries as to the +manner in which he should contrive to make some professional business +grow out of it. He could not well expect any of the persons concerned, +voluntarily to convict themselves; and his thoughts turned necessarily +upon Ralph as the only one on whom he could rest his desire in this +particular. We have seen with what indifferent success his own adventure +on the field of action, and when the danger was all well over, was +attended; but he had heard and seen enough to persuade himself that but +little was wanting, without appearing in the matter himself, to induce +Ralph to prosecute Rivers for the attempt upon his life, a charge which, +in his presence, he had heard him make. He calculated in this way to +secure himself<span class="pagenum">[204]<a name="page204" id="page204"></a></span> +in two jobs—as magistrate, to institute the +initial proceedings by which Rivers was to be brought to trial, and the +expense of which Ralph was required to pay—and, as an attorney-at-law, +and the only one of which the village might boast, to have the +satisfaction of defending and clearing the criminal.</p> + +<p>Such being the result of his deliberations, he despatched Hob with a +note to Ralph, requesting to see him at the earliest possible moment, +upon business of the last importance. Hob arrived at the inn just at the +time when, in the court in front, Ralph, in company with the woodman, +had joined the villagers there assembled. Hob, who from long familiarity +with the habits of his master, had acquired something of a like +disposition, felt exceedingly anxious to hear what was going on; but +knowing his situation, and duly valuing his own importance as the +servant of so great a man as the village-lawyer, he conceived it +necessary to proceed with proper caution.</p> + +<p>It is more than probable that his presence would have been unregarded +had he made his approaches freely and with confidence; but Hob was +outrageously ambitious, and mystery was delightful. He went to work in +the Indian manner, and what with occasionally taking the cover, now of a +bush, now of a pine tree, and now of a convenient hillock, Hob had got +himself very comfortably lodged in the recess of an old ditch, +originally cut to carry off a body of water which rested on what was now +in part the public mall. Becoming interested in the proceedings, and +hearing of the departure of Ralph, to whom he had been despatched, his +head gradually assumed a more elevated position—he soon forgot his +precaution, and the shoulders of the spy, neither the most diminutive +nor graceful, becoming rather too protuberant, were saluted with a smart +assault, vigorously kept up by the assailant, to whom the use of the +hickory appeared a familiar matter. Hob roared lustily, and was dragged +from his cover. The note was found upon him, and still further tended to +exaggerate the hostile feeling which the party now entertained for the +youth. Under the terrors of the lash, Hob confessed a great deal more +than was true, and roused into a part forgetfulness of their offence by +the increased prospect of its punishment, which the negro had +<span class="pagenum">[205]<a name="page205" id="page205"></a></span> +unhesitatingly represented as near at hand, they proceeded to the +office of the lawyer.</p> + +<p>It was in vain that Pippin denied all the statements of his negro—his +note was thrust into his face; and without scruple, seizing upon his +papers, they consigned to the flames, deed, process, and document—all +the fair and unfair proceedings alike, of the lawyer, collected +carefully through a busy period of twenty years' litigation. They would +have proceeded in like manner to the treatment of Ralph, but that Guy +Rivers himself interposed to allay, and otherwise direct their fury. The +cunning ruffian well knew that Forrester would stand by the youth, and +unwilling to incur any risk, where the game in another way seemed so +secure, he succeeded in quieting the party, by claiming to himself the +privilege, on the part of his wounded honor, of a fair field with one +who had so grievously assailed it. Taking the landlord aside, therefore, +they discussed various propositions for taking the life of one hateful +to the one person and dangerous to them all. Munro was now not unwilling +to recognise the necessity of taking him off; and without entering into +the feelings of Rivers, which were almost entirely personal, he gave his +assent to the deed, the mode of performing which was somewhat to depend +upon circumstances. These will find their due development as we proceed.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile, Ralph had returned to the village-inn, encountering, +at the first step, upon entering the threshold, the person of the very +interesting girl, almost the only redeeming spirit of that +establishment. She had heard of the occurrence—as who, indeed, had +not—and the first expression of her face as her eyes met those of +Ralph, though with a smile, had in it something of rebuke for not having +taken the counsel which she had given him on his departure from the +place of prayer. With a gentleness strictly in character, he conversed +with her for some time on indifferent topics—surprised at every uttered +word from her lips—so musical, so true to the modest weaknesses of her +own, yet so full of the wisdom and energy which are the more legitimate +characteristics of the other sex. At length she brought him back to the +subject of the recent strife.</p> + +<p>"You must go from this place, Mr. Colleton—you are not +<span class="pagenum">[206]<a name="page206" id="page206"></a></span> safe in +this house—in this country. You can now travel without inconvenience +from your late injuries, which do not appear to affect you; and the +sooner you are gone the better for your safety. There are those +here"—and she looked around with a studious caution as she spoke, while +her voice sunk into a whisper—"who only wait the hour and the +opportunity to"—and here her voice faltered as if she felt the imagined +prospect—"to put you to a merciless death. Believe me, and in your +confident strength do not despise my warnings. Nothing but prudence and +flight can save you."</p> + +<p>"Why," said the youth, smiling, and taking her hand in reply, "why +should I fear to linger in a region, where one so much more alive to its +sternnesses than myself may yet dare to abide? Think you, sweet Lucy, +that I am less hardy, less fearless of the dangers and the difficulties +of this region than yourself? You little know how much at this moment my +spirit is willing to encounter," and as he spoke, though his lips wore a +smile, there was a stern sadness in his look, and a gloomy contraction +of his brow, which made the expression one of the fullest melancholy.</p> + +<p>The girl looked upon him with an eye full of a deep, though unconscious +interest. She seemed desirous of searching into that spirit which he had +described as so reckless. Withdrawing her hand suddenly, however, as if +now for the first time aware of its position, she replied hastily:—</p> + +<p>"Yet, I pray you, Mr. Colleton, let nothing make you indifferent to the +warning I have given you. There is danger—more danger here to you than +to me—though, to me"—the tears filled in her eyes as she spoke, and +her head sunk down on her breast with an air of the saddest +self-abandonment—"there is more than death."</p> + +<p>The youth again took her hand. He understood too well the signification +of her speech, and the sad sacrifice which it referred to; and an +interest in her fate was awakened in his bosom, which made him for a +moment forget himself and the gentle Edith of his own dreams.</p> + +<p>"Command me, Miss Munro, though I peril my life in your behalf; say that +I can serve you in anything, and trust me to obey."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[207]<a name="page207" id="page207"></a></span> +She shook her head mournfully, but without reply. Again he +pressed his services, which were still refused. A little more firmly, +however, she again urged his departure.</p> + +<p>"My solicitations have no idle origin. Believe me, you are in danger, +and have but little time for delay. I would not thus hurry you, but that +I would not have you perish. No, no! you have been gentle and kind, as +few others have been, to the poor orphan; and, though I would still see +and hear you, I would not that you should suffer. I would rather suffer +myself."</p> + +<p>Much of this was evidently uttered with the most childish +unconsciousness. Her mind was obviously deeply excited with her fears, +and when the youth assured her, in answer to her inquiries, that he +should proceed in the morning on his journey, she interrupted him +quickly—</p> + +<p>"To-day—to-day—now—do not delay, I pray you. You know not the perils +which a night may bring forth."</p> + +<p>When assured that he himself could perceive no cause of peril, and when, +with a manner sufficiently lofty, he gave her to understand that a +feeling of pride alone, if there were no other cause, would prevent a +procedure savoring so much of flight, she shook her head mournfully, +though saying nothing. In reply to his offer of service, she returned +him her thanks, but assuring him he could do her none, she retired from +the apartment.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[208]<a name="page208" id="page208"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter17" id="chapter17">CHAPTER XVII.</a></h2> + +<h3>REMORSE.</h3> + + +<p>During the progress of the dialogue narrated in the conclusion of our +last chapter, Forrester had absented himself, as much probably with a +delicate sense of courtesy, which anticipated some further results than +came from it, as with the view to the consummation of some private +matters of his own. He now returned, and signifying his readiness to +Ralph, they mounted their horses and proceeded on a proposed ride out of +the village, in which Forrester had promised to show the youth a +pleasanter region and neighborhood.</p> + +<p>This ride, however, was rather of a gloomy tendency, as its influences +were lost in the utterance and free exhibition to Ralph of the mental +sufferings of his companion. Naturally of a good spirit and temper, his +heart, though strong of endurance and fearless of trial, had not been +greatly hardened by the world's circumstance. The cold droppings of the +bitter waters, however they might have worn into, had not altogether +petrified it; and his feelings, coupled with and at all times acted upon +by a southern fancy, did not fail to depict to his own sense, and in the +most lively colors, the offence of which he had been guilty.</p> + +<p>It was with a reproachful and troublesome consciousness, therefore, that +he now addressed his more youthful companion on the subject so fearfully +presented to his thought He had already, in their brief acquaintance, +found in Ralph a firm and friendly adviser, and acknowledging in his +person all the understood superiorities of polished manners and correct +education, he did not scruple to come to him for advice in his present +difficulties. Ralph, fully comprehending his distress, and conscious how +little of his fault had been premeditated,—estimating, +<span class="pagenum">[209]<a name="page209" id="page209"></a></span>too, the +many good qualities apparent in his character—did not withhold his +counsel.</p> + +<p>"I can say little to you now, Forrester, in the way of advice, so long +as you continue to herd with the men who have already led you into so +much mischief. You appear to me, and must appear to all men, while +coupled with such associates, as voluntarily choosing your ground, and +taking all the consequences of its position. As there would seem no +necessity for your dwelling longer among them, you certainly do make +your choice in thus continuing their associate."</p> + +<p>"Not so much a matter of choice, now, 'squire, as you imagine. It was, +to be sure, choice at first, but then I did not know the people I had to +deal with; and when I did, you see, the circumstances were altered."</p> + +<p>"How,—by what means?"</p> + +<p>"Why, then,'squire, you must know, and I see no reason to keep the thing +from you, I took a liking, a short time after I came here, to a young +woman, the daughter of one of our people, and she to me—at least so she +says, and I must confess I'm not unwilling to believe her; though it is +difficult to say—these women you know—" and as he left the unfinished +sentence, he glanced significantly to the youth's face, with an +expression which the latter thus interpreted—</p> + +<p>"Are not, you would say, at all times to be relied on."</p> + +<p>"Why, no,'squire—I would not exactly say that—that might be something +too much of a speech. I did mean to say, from what we see daily, that it +isn't always they know their own minds."</p> + +<p>"There is some truth, Forrester, in the distinction, and I have thought +so before. I am persuaded that the gentler sex is far less given to +deceit than our own; but their opinions and feelings, on the other hand, +are formed with infinitely more frequency and facility, and are more +readily acted upon by passing and occasional influences. Their very +susceptibility to the most light and casual impressions, is, of itself, +calculated to render vacillating their estimate of things and +characters. They are creatures of such delicate construction, and their +affections are of such like character, that, like all fine machinery +they are perpetually operated on by the atmosphere, +<span class="pagenum">[210]<a name="page210" id="page210"></a></span> the winds, +the dew, and the night. The frost blights and the sun blisters; and a +kind or stern accent elevates or depresses, where, with us, it might +pass unheeded or unheard.</p> + +<p>"We are more cunning—more shy and cautious; and seldom, after a certain +age, let our affections out of our own custody. We learn very soon in +life—indeed, we are compelled to learn, in our own defence, at a very +early period—to go into the world as if we were going into battle. We +send out spies, keep sentinels on duty, man our defences, carry arms in +our bosoms, which we cover with a buckler, though, with the policy of a +court, we conceal that in turn with a silken and embroidered vestment. +We watch every erring thought—we learn to be equivocal of speech; and +our very hearts, as the Indians phrase it, are taught to speak their +desires with a double tongue. We are perpetually on the lookout for +enemies and attack; we dread pitfalls and circumventions, and we feel +that every face which we encounter is a smiling deceit—every honeyed +word a blandishment meant to betray us. These are lessons which society, +as at present constituted, teaches of itself.</p> + +<p>"With women the case is essentially different. They have few of these +influences to pervert and mislead. They have nothing to do in the +market-place—they are not candidates for place or power—they have not +the ambition which is always struggling for state and for self; but, +with a wisdom in this, that might avail us wonderfully in all other +respects, they are kept apart, as things for love and worship—domestic +divinities, whose true altar-place is the fireside; whose true sway is +over fond hearts, generous sensibilities, and immaculate honor. Where +should they learn to contend with guile—to acquire cunning and +circumspection—to guard the heart—to keep sweet affections locked up +coldly, like mountain waters? Shall we wonder that they sometimes +deceive themselves rather than their neighbors—that they sometimes +misapprehend their own feelings, and mistake for love some less +absorbing intruder, who but lights upon the heart for a single instant, +as a bird upon his spray, to rest or to plume his pinions, and be off +with the very next zephyr. But all this is wide of the mark, Forrester, +and keeps you from your story."</p> + +<p>"My story isn't much, Master Colleton, and is easily told. I +<span class="pagenum">[211]<a name="page211" id="page211"></a></span> +love Kate Allen, and as I said before, I believe Kate loves me; and +though it be scarcely a sign of manliness to confess so much, yet I must +say to you, 'squire, that I love her so very much that I can not do +without her."</p> + +<p>"I honor your avowal, Forrester, and see nothing unmanly or unbecoming +in the sentiment you profess. On the contrary, such a feeling, in my +mind, more truly than any other, indicates the presence and possession +of those very qualities out of which true manhood is made. The creature +who prides himself chiefly upon his insensibilities, has no more claim +to be considered a human being than the trees that gather round us, or +the rocks over which we travel."</p> + +<p>"Well, 'squire, I believe you are right, and I am glad that such is your +opinion, for now I shall be able to speak to you more freely upon this +subject. Indeed, you talk about the thing so knowingly, that I should +not be surprised, 'squire, to find out that you too had something of the +same sort troubling your heart, though here you are travelling far from +home and among strangers."</p> + +<p>The remark of Forrester was put with an air of arch inquiry. A slight +shadow passed over and clouded the face of the youth, and for a moment +his brow was wrinkled into sternness; but hastily suppressing the +awakened emotion, whatever its origin might have been, he simply +replied, in an indirect rebuke, which his companion very readily +comprehended:—</p> + +<p>"You were speaking of your heart, I believe, Forrester, and not of mine. +If you please, we will confine ourselves to the one territory, +particularly as it promises to find us sufficient employment of itself, +without rendering it necessary that we should cross over to any other."</p> + +<p>"It's a true word, 'squire—the business of the one territory is +sufficient for me, at this time, and more than I shall well get through +with: but, though I know this, somehow or other I want to forget it all, +if possible; and sometimes I close my eyes in the hope to shut out ugly +thoughts."</p> + +<p>"The feeling is melancholy enough, but it is just the one which should +test your manhood. It is not for one who has been all his life buffeting +with the world and ill-fortune, to despond at every mischance or +misdeed. Proceed with your <span class="pagenum">[212]<a name="page212" id="page212"></a></span> +narrative; and, in providing for the +future, you will be able to forget not a little of the past."</p> + +<p>"You are right, 'squire; I will be a man, and stand my chance, whether +good or ill, like a man, as I have always been. Well, as I was saying, +Kate is neither unkind nor unwilling, and the only difficulty is with +her father. He is now mighty fond of the needful, and won't hear to our +marriage until I have a good foundation, and something to go upon. It is +this, you see, which keeps me here, shoulder to shoulder with these men +whom I like just as little perhaps as yourself; and it was because the +soldiers came upon us just as I was beginning to lay up a little from my +earnings, that made me desperate. I dreaded to lose what I had been so +long working for; and whenever the thought of Kate came through my +brain, I grew rash and ready for any mischief—and this is just the way +in which I ran headlong into this difficulty."</p> + +<p>"It is melancholy, Forrester, to think that, with such a feeling as that +you profess for this young woman, you should be so little regardful of +her peace or your own; that you should plunge so madly into strife and +crime, and proceed to the commission of acts which not only embitter +your life, but must defeat the very hopes and expectations for which you +live."</p> + +<p>"It's the nature of the beast," replied the woodman, with a melancholy +shake of the head, in a phrase which has become a proverb of familiar +use in the South. "It's the nature of the beast, 'squire: I never seem +to think about a thing until it's all over, and too late to mend it. +It's a sad misfortune to have such a temper, and so yesterday's work +tells me much more forcibly than I can ever tell myself. But what am I +to do, 'squire? that's what I want to know. Can you say nothing to me +which will put me in better humor—can you give me no advice, no +consolation? Say anything—anything which will make me think less about +this matter."</p> + +<p>The conscience of the unhappy criminal was indeed busy, and he spoke in +tones of deep, though suppressed emotion and energy. The youth did not +pretend to console—he well knew that the mental nature would have its +course, and to withstand or arrest it would only have the effect of +further provoking its morbidity. He replied calmly, but feelingly—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[213]<a name="page213" id="page213"></a></span> +"Your situation is unhappy, Forrester, and calls for serious +reflection. It is not for me to offer advice to one so much more +experienced than myself. Yet my thoughts are at your service for what +they are worth. You can not, of course, hope to remain in the country +after this; yet, in flying from that justice to which you will have made +no atonement, you will not necessarily escape the consequences of your +crime, which, I feel satisfied, will, for a long season, rest heavily +upon a spirit such as yours. Your confederates have greatly the +advantage of you in this particular. The fear of human penalties is with +them the only fear. Your severest judge will be your own heart, and from +that you may not fly. With regard to your affections, I can say little. +I know not what may be your resources—your means of life, and the +nature of those enterprises which, in another region, you might pursue. +In the West you would be secure from punishment; the wants of life in +the wilderness are few, and of easy attainment: why not marry the young +woman, and let her fly with you to happiness and safety?"</p> + +<p>"And wouldn't I do so, 'squire?—I would be a happy fellow if I could. +But her father will never consent. He had no hand in yesterday's +business, and I wonder at that too, for he's mighty apt at all such +scrapes; and he will not therefore be so very ready to perceive the +necessity of my flight—certainly not of hers, she being his only child; +and, though a tough old sort of chap, he's main fond of her."</p> + +<p>"See him about it at once, then; and, if he does not consent, the only +difficulty is in the delay and further protraction of your union. It +would be very easy, when you are once well settled, to claim her as your +wife."</p> + +<p>"That's all very true and very reasonable, 'squire; but it's rather +hard, this waiting. Here, for five years, have I been playing this sort +of game, and it goes greatly against the grain to have to begin anew and +in a new place. But here's where the old buck lives. It's quite a snug +farm, as you may see. He's pretty well off, and, by one little end or +the other, contrives to make it look smarter and smarter every year; but +then he's just as close as a corkscrew, and quite mean in his ways. +And—there's Kate, 'squire, looking from the window. Now, ain't she a +sweet creature? Come, 'light—you shall see +<span class="pagenum">[214]<a name="page214" id="page214"></a></span> her close. Make +yourself quite at home, as I do. I make free, for you see the old people +have all along looked upon me as a son, seeing that I am to be one at +some time or other."</p> + +<p>They were now at the entrance of as smiling a cottage as the lover of +romance might well desire to look upon. Everything had a cheery, +sunshiny aspect, looking life, comfort, and the "all in all content;" +and, with a feeling of pleasure kindled anew in his bosom by the +prospect, Ralph complied readily with the frank and somewhat informal +invitation of his companion, and was soon made perfectly at home by the +freedom and ease which characterized the manners of the young girl who +descended to receive them. A slight suffusion of the cheek and a +downcast eye, upon the entrance of her lover, indicated a gratified +consciousness on the part of the maiden which did not look amiss. She +was seemingly a gentle, playful creature, extremely young, apparently +without a thought of guile, and altogether untouched with a solitary +presentiment of the unhappy fortunes in store for her.</p> + +<p>Her mother, having made her appearance, soon employed the youth in +occasional discourse, which furnished sufficient opportunity to the +betrothed to pursue their own conversation, in a quiet corner of the +same room, in that under-tone which, where lovers are concerned, is of +all others the most delightful and emphatic. True love is always timid: +he, too, as well as fear, is apt to "shrink back at the sound himself +has made." His words are few and the tones feeble. He throws his +thoughts into his eyes, and they speak enough for all his purposes. On +the present occasion, however, he was dumb from other influences, and +the hesitating voice, the guilty look, the unquiet manner, sufficiently +spoke, on the part of her lover, what his own tongue refused to whisper +in the ears of the maiden. He strove, but vainly, to relate the +melancholy event to which we have already sufficiently alluded. His +words were broken and confused, but she gathered enough, in part, to +comprehend the affair, though still ignorant of the precise actors and +sufferers.</p> + +<p>The heart of Katharine was one of deep-seated tenderness, and it may not +be easy to describe the shock which the intelligence gave her. She did +not hear him through without ejaculations of horror, sufficiently +fervent and loud to provoke the<span class="pagenum">[215]<a name="page215" +id="page215"></a></span> glance of her mother, who did +not, however, though turning her looks frequently upon the two, venture +upon any inquiry, or offer any remark. The girl heard her lover +patiently; but when he narrated the catastrophe, and told of the murder +of the guard, she no longer struggled to restrain the feeling, now too +strong for suppression. Her words broke through her lips quickly, as she +exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"But you, Mark—you had no part in this matter—you lent no aid—you +gave no hand. You interfered, I am sure you did, to prevent the murder +of the innocent men. Speak out, Mark, and tell me the truth, and relieve +me from these horrible apprehensions."</p> + +<p>As she spoke, her small hand rested upon his wrist with a passionate +energy, in full accordance with the spirit of her language. The head of +the unhappy man sank upon his breast; his eyes, dewily suffused, were +cast upon the floor, and he spoke nothing, or inarticulately, in reply.</p> + +<p>"What means this silence—what am I to believe—what am I to think, Mark +Forrester? You can not have given aid to those bad men, whom you +yourself despise. You have not so far forgotten yourself and me as to go +on with that wicked man Rivers, following his direction, to take away +life—to spill blood as if it were water! You have not done this, Mark. +Tell me at once that I am foolish to fear it for an instant—that it is +not so."</p> + +<p>He strove, but in vain, to reply. The inarticulate sounds came forth +chokingly from his lips without force or meaning. He strode impatiently +up and down the apartment, followed by the young and excited maiden, who +unconsciously pursued him with repeated inquiries; while her mother, +awakened to the necessity of interference, vainly strove to find a +solution of the mystery, and to quiet both of the parties.</p> + +<p>"Will you not speak to me, Mark? Can you not, will you not answer?"</p> + +<p>The unhappy man shook his head, in a perplexed and irritated manner, +indicating his inability to reply—but concluding with pointing his +finger impatiently to Ralph, who stood up, a surprised and anxious +spectator of the scene. The maiden seemed to comprehend the intimation, +and with an energy and<span class="pagenum">[216]<a name="page216" id="page216"></a></span> +boldness that would not well describe her +accustomed habit—with a hurried step, crossed the apartment to where +stood the youth. Her eye was quick and searching—her words broken, but +with an impetuous flow, indicating the anxiety which, while it accounted +for, sufficiently excused the abruptness of her address, she spoke:—</p> + +<p>"Do, sir, say that he had no hand in it—that he is free from the stain +of blood! Speak for him, sir, I pray you; tell me—he will not tell +himself!"</p> + +<p>The old lady now sought to interpose, and to apologize for her daughter.</p> + +<p>"Why, Kate, Katharine—forgive her, sir; Kate—Katharine, my dear—you +forget. You ask questions of the stranger without any consideration."</p> + +<p>But she spoke to an unconscious auditor; and Forrester, though still +almost speechless, now interposed:—</p> + +<p>"Let her ask, mother—let her ask—let her know it all. He can say what +I can not. He can tell all. Speak out, 'squire—speak out; don't fear +for me. It must come, and who can better tell of it than you, who know +it all?"</p> + +<p>Thus urged, Ralph, in a few words, related the occurrence. Though +carefully avoiding the use of epithet or phrase which might color with +an increased odium the connection and conduct of Forrester with the +affair, the offence admitted of so little apology or extenuation, that +the delicacy with which the details were narrated availed but little in +its mitigation; and an involuntary cry burst from mother and daughter +alike, to which the hollow groan that came from the lips of Forrester +furnished a fitting echo.</p> + +<p>"And this is all true, Mark—must I believe all this?" was the inquiry +of the young girl, after a brief interval. There was a desperate +precipitance in the reply of Forrester:—</p> + +<p>"True—Katharine—true; every word of it is true. Do you not see it +written in my face? Am I not choked—do not my knees tremble? and my +hands—look for yourself—are they not covered with blood?"</p> + +<p>The youth interposed, and for a moment doubted the sanity of his +companion. He had spoken in figure—a mode of speech, which it is a +mistake in rhetoricians to ascribe only to an +<span class="pagenum">[217]<a name="page217" id="page217"></a></span>artificial origin, +during a state of mental quiet. Deep passion and strong excitements, we +are bold to say, employ metaphor largely; and, upon an inspection of the +criminal records of any country, it will be found that the most common +narrations from persons deeply wrought upon by strong circumstances are +abundantly stored with the evidence of what we assert.</p> + +<p>"And how came it, Mark?" was the inquiry of the maiden; "and why did you +this thing?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, you may well ask, and wonder. I can not tell you. I was a fool—I +was mad! I knew not what I did. From one thing I went on to another, and +I knew nothing of what had been done until all was done. Some devil was +at my elbow—some devil at my heart. I feel it there still; I am not yet +free. I could do more—I could go yet farther. I could finish the damned +work by another crime; and no crime either, since I should be the only +victim, and well deserving a worse punishment."</p> + +<p>The offender was deeply excited, and felt poignantly. For some time it +tasked all the powers of Ralph's mind, and the seductive blandishments +of the maiden herself, to allay the fever of his spirit; when, at +length, he was something restored, the dialogue was renewed by an +inquiry of the old lady as to the future destination of her anticipated +son-in-law, for whom, indeed, she entertained a genuine affection.</p> + +<p>"And what is to be the end of all this, Mark? What is it your purpose to +do—where will you fly?"</p> + +<p>"To the nation, mother—where else? I must fly somewhere—give myself up +to justice, or—" and he paused in the sentence so unpromisingly begun, +while his eyes rolled with unaccustomed terrors, and his voice grew +thick in his throat.</p> + +<p>"Or what—what mean you by that word, that look, Mark? I do not +understand you; why speak you in this way, and to me?" exclaimed the +maiden, passionately interrupting him in a speech, which, though +strictly the creature of his morbid spirit and present excitement, was +perhaps unnecessarily and something too wantonly indulged in.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, Katharine—dear Katharine—but you little know the madness +and the misery at my heart."</p> + +<p>"And have you no thought of mine, Mark? this deed of yours +<span class="pagenum">[218]<a name="page218" id="page218"></a></span> has +brought misery, if not madness, to it too; and speech like this might +well be spared us now!"</p> + +<p>"It is this very thought, Kate, that I have made you miserable, when I +should have striven only to make you happy. The thought, too, that I +must leave you, to see you perhaps never again—these unman—these +madden me, Katharine; and I feel desperate like the man striving with +his brother upon the plank in the broad ocean."</p> + +<p>"And why part, Mark? I see not this necessity!"</p> + +<p>"Would you have me stay and perish? would you behold me, dragged perhaps +from your own arms before the stern judge, and to a dreadful death? It +will be so if I stay much longer. The state will not suffer this thing +to pass over. The crime is too large—too fearful. Besides this, the +Pony Club have lately committed several desperate offences, which have +already attracted the notice of the legislature. This very guard had +been ordered to disperse them; and this affair will bring down a +sufficient force to overrun all our settlements, and they may even +penetrate the nation itself, where we might otherwise find shelter. +There will be no safety for me."</p> + +<p>The despondence of the woodman increased as he spoke; and the young +girl, as if unconscious of all spectators, in the confiding innocence of +her heart, exclaimed, while her head sunk up in his shoulder:—</p> + +<p>"And why, Mark, may we not all fly together? There will be no reason now +to remain here, since the miners are all to be dispersed."</p> + +<p>"Well said, Kate—well said—" responded a voice at the entrance of the +apartment, at the sound of which the person addressed started with a +visible trepidation, which destroyed all her previous energy of manner; +"it is well thought on Kate; there will, sure enough, be very little +reason now for any of us to remain, since this ugly business; and the +only question is as to what quarter we shall go. There is, however just +as little reason for our flight in company with Mark Forrester."</p> + +<p>It was the father of the maiden who spoke—one who was the arbiter of +her destinies, and so much the dictator in his household and over his +family, that from his decision and <span class="pagenum">[219]<a name="page219" +id="page219"></a></span>authority there was suffered +no appeal. Without pausing for a reply, he proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"Our course, Mark must now lie separate. You will take your route, and I +mine; we can not take them together. As for my daughter, she can not +take up with you, seeing your present condition. Your affairs are not as +they were when I consented to your engagement; therefore, the least said +and thought about past matters, the better."</p> + +<p>"But—" was the beginning of a reply from the sad and discarded lover, +in which he was not suffered to proceed. The old man was firm, and +settled further controversy in short order.</p> + +<p>"No talk, Mark—seeing that it's no use, and there's no occasion for it. +It must be as I say. I cannot permit of Kate's connection with a man in +your situation, who the very next moment may be brought to the halter +and bring shame upon her. Take your parting, and try to forget old +times, my good fellow. I think well of, and am sorry for you, Mark, but +I can do nothing. The girl is my only child, and I must keep her from +harm if I can."</p> + +<p>Mark battled the point with considerable warmth and vigor, and the scene +was something further protracted, but need not here be prolonged. The +father was obdurate, and too much dreaded by the members of his family +to admit of much prayer or pleading on their part. Apart from this, his +reason, though a stern, was a wise and strong one. The intercession of +Colleton, warmly made, proved equally unavailing; and after a brief but +painful parting with the maiden, Forrester remounted his horse, and, in +company with the youth, departed for the village. But the adieus of the +lovers, in this instance, were not destined to be the last. In the +narrow passage, in which, removed from all sight and scrutiny, she hung +droopingly, like a storm-beaten flower, upon his bosom, he solicited, +and not unsuccessfully, a private and a parting interview.</p> + +<p>"To-night, then, at the old sycamore, as the moon rises," he whispered +in her ear, as sadly and silently she withdrew from his embrace.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[220]<a name="page220" id="page220"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter18" id="chapter18">CHAPTER XVIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>PARTING AND FLIGHT.</h3> + + +<p>With Ralph, the unhappy woodman, thus even denied to hope, returned, +more miserable than before, to the village of Chestatee. The crowd there +had been largely diminished. The more obnoxious among the +offenders—those who, having taken the most prominent part in the late +affair, apprehended the severest treatment—had taken themselves as much +out of sight as possible. Even Munro and Rivers, with all their +hardihood, were no longer to be seen, and those still lingering in the +village were such as under no circumstances might well provoke suspicion +of "subtle deed and counter enterprise." They were the fat men, the beef +of society—loving long speeches and goodly cheer. The two friends, for +so we may call them, were left almost in the exclusive possession of the +hotel, and without observation discussed their several plans of +departure. Forrester had determined to commence his journey that very +night; while Ralph, with what might seem headstrong rashness, chose the +ensuing day for a like purpose.</p> + +<p>But the youth was not without his reasons for this determination. He +knew perfectly well that he was in peril, but felt also that this peril +would be met with much more difficulty by night than by day. Deeming +himself secure, comparatively speaking, while actually in the village, +he felt that it would be safer to remain there another night, than by +setting off at mid-day, encounter the unavoidable risk of either +pursuing his course through the night in that dangerous neighborhood, +where every step which he took might be watched, or be compelled to stop +at some more insulated position, in which there must be far less safety. +He concluded, therefore, to set off at early dawn on the +<span class="pagenum">[221]<a name="page221" id="page221"></a></span> ensuing +morning, and calculated, with the advantage of daylight all the way, +through brisk riding, to put himself by evening beyond the reach of his +enemies. That he was not altogether permitted to pursue this course, was +certainly not through any neglect of preparatory arrangement.</p> + +<p>The public table at the inn on that day was thinly attended; and the +repast was partaken by all parties in comparative silence. A few words +were addressed by Colleton to Lucy Munro, but they were answered, not +coldly, but sparingly, and her replies were entirely wanting in their +usual spirit. Still, her looks signified for him the deepest interest, +and a significant motion of the finger, which might have been held to +convey a warning, was all that he noted of that earnest manner which had +gratified his self-esteem in her habit heretofore. The day was got +through with difficulty by all parties; and as evening approached, +Forrester, having effected all his arrangements without provoking +observation, in the quiet and privacy of the youth's chamber, bade him +farewell, cautioning him at the same time against all voluntary risk, +and reminding him of the necessity, while in that neighborhood, of +keeping a good lookout. Their courses lay not so far asunder but that +they might, for a time, have proceeded together, and with more mutual +advantage; but the suggestions and solicitations of Forrester on this +subject were alike disregarded by Ralph, with what reason we may not +positively say, but it is possible that it arose from a prudential +reference to the fact that the association of one flying from justice +was not exactly such as the innocent should desire. And this was reason +enough.</p> + +<p>They separated; and the youth proceeded to the preparation for his own +contemplated departure. His pistols were in readiness, with his dirk, on +the small table by the side of his bed; his portmanteau lay alike +contiguous; and before seeking his couch, which he did at an early hour, +he himself had seen that his good steed had been well provided with corn +and fodder. The sable groom, too, whose attentions to the noble animal +from the first, stimulated by an occasional bit of silver, had been +unremitted, was now further rewarded, and promised faithfully to be in +readiness at any hour. Thus, all things arranged, Ralph returned to his +chamber, and without removing<span class="pagenum">[222]<a name="page222" +id="page222"></a></span> his dress, wrapping his cloak +around him, he threw himself upon his couch, and addressed himself to +those slumbers which were destined to be of no very long continuance.</p> + +<p>Forrester, in the meanwhile, had proceeded with all the impatience of a +lover to the designated place of <i>tryst</i>, under the giant sycamore, +the sheltering limbs and leaves of which, on sundry previous occasions, +had ministered to a like purpose. The place was not remote, or at least +would not be so considered in country estimation, from the dwelling of +the maiden; and was to be reached from the latter spot by a circuitous +passage through a thick wood, which covered the distance between +entirely. The spot chosen for the meeting was well known to both +parties, and we shall not pretend, at this time of day, to limit the +knowledge of its sweet fitness for the purposes of love, to them alone. +They had tasted of its sweets a thousand times, and could well +understand and appreciate that air of romantic and fairy-like seclusion +which so much distinguished it, and which served admirably in concert +with the uses to which it was now appropriated. The tree grew within and +surmounted a little hollow, formed by the even and combined natural +descents, to that common centre, of four hills, beautifully grouped, +which surrounded and completely fenced it in. Their descents were smooth +and even, without a single abruptness, to the bottom, in the centre of +which rose the sycamore, which, from its own situation, conferred the +name of Sycamore Hollow on the sweet spot upon which it stood. A spring, +trickling from beneath its roots, shaded by its folding branches from +the thirsty heats of the summer sun, kept up a low and continuous +prattle with the pebbles over which it made its way, that consorted +sweetly with the secluded harmonies that overmantled, as with a mighty +wing, the sheltered place.</p> + +<p>Scenes like these are abundant enough in the southern country; and by +their quiet, unobtrusive, and softer beauties, would seem, and not +inefficiently or feebly, to supply in most respects the wants of those +bolder characteristics, in which nature in those regions is confessedly +deficient. Whatever may be the want of southern scenery in +stupendousness or sublimity, it is, we are inclined to believe, more +than made up in those thousand quiet and wooing charms of location, +which seem designed <span class="pagenum">[223]<a name="page223" id="page223"></a></span> +expressly for the hamlet and the +cottage—the evening dance—the mid-day repose and rural banquet—and +all those numberless practices of a small and well-intentioned society, +which win the affections into limpid and living currents, touched for +ever, here and there, by the sunshine, and sheltered in their repose by +overhanging leaves and flowers, for ever fertile and for ever fresh. +They may not occasion a feeling of solemn awe, but they enkindle one of +admiring affection; and where the mountain and the bald rock would be +productive of emotions only of strength and sternness, their softer +featurings of brawling brook, bending and variegated shrubbery, wild +flower, gadding vine, and undulating hillock, mould the contemplative +spirit into gentleness and love. The scenery of the South below the +mountain regions, seldom impresses at first, but it grows upon +acquaintance; and in a little while, where once all things looked +monotonous and unattractive, we learn to discover sweet influences that +ravish us from ourselves at every step we take, into worlds and wilds, +where all is fairy-like, wooing, and unchangingly sweet.</p> + +<p>The night, though yet without a moon, was beautifully clear and +cloudless. The stars had come out with all their brightness—a soft +zephyr played drowsily and fitfully among the tops of the shrubbery, +that lay, as it were, asleep on the circling hilltops around; while the +odors of complicated charm from a thousand floral knots, which had +caught blooms from the rainbows, and dyed themselves in their stolon +splendors, thickly studding the wild and matted grass which sustained +them, brought along with them even a stronger influence than the rest of +the scene, and might have taught a ready lesson of love to much sterner +spirits than the two, now so unhappy, who were there to take their +parting in a last embrace.</p> + +<p>The swift motion of a galloping steed was heard, and Forrester was at +the place and hour of appointment. In mournful mood, he threw himself at +the foot of one of the hills, upon one of the tufted roots of the huge +tree which sheltered the little hollow, and resigned himself to a +somewhat bitter survey of his own condition, and of the privations and +probable straits into which his rash thoughtlessness had so unhappily +involved him. His horse, docile and well-trained, stood unfastened in +the<span class="pagenum">[224]<a name="page224" id="page224"></a></span> +thicket, cropping the young and tender herbage at some +little distance; but so habituated to rule that no other security than +his own will was considered by his master necessary for his continued +presence. The lover waited not long. Descending the hill, through a +narrow pathway one side of the wood, well known and frequently trodden +by both, he beheld the approach of the maiden, and hurried forward to +receive her.</p> + +<p>The terms upon which they had so long stood forbade constraint, and put +at defiance all those formalities which, under other circumstances, +might have grown out of the meeting. She advanced without hesitancy, and +the hand of her lover grasped that which she extended, his arm passed +about her, his lip was fastened to her own without hinderance, and, in +that one sweet embrace, in that one moment of blissful forgetfulness, +all other of life's circumstances had ceased to afflict.</p> + +<p>But they were not happy even at that moment of delight and illusion. The +gentler spirit of the maiden's sex was uppermost, and the sad story of +his crime, which at their last meeting had been told her, lay with heavy +influence at her heart. She was a gentle creature, and though dwelling +in a wilderness, such is the prevailing influence upon female character, +of the kind of education acquirable in the southern,—or, we may add, +and thus perhaps furnish the reason for any peculiarity in this respect, +the slave-holding states—that she partook in a large degree of that +excessive delicacy, as well of spirit as of person, which, while a +marked characteristic of that entire region, is apt to become of itself +a disease, exhibiting itself too frequently in a nervousness and +timidity that unfit its owner for the ruder necessities of life, and +permit it to abide only under its more serene and summer aspects. The +tale of blood, and its awful consequences, were perpetually recurring to +her imagination. Her fancy described and dwelt upon its details, her +thoughts wove it into a thousand startling tissues, until, though +believing his crime unpremeditated, she almost shrank from the embrace +of her lover, because of the blood so recently upon his hands. Placing +her beside him upon the seat he had occupied, he tenderly rebuked her +gloomy manner, while an inward and painful consciousness of its cause +gave to his voice a hesitating tremor, and his eye, heretofore +unquailing at any glance, no longer<span class="pagenum">[225]<a name="page225" +id="page225"></a></span> bold, now shrank downcast +before the tearful emphasis of hers.</p> + +<p>"You have come, Kate—come, according to your promise, yet you wear not +loving looks. Your eye is vacant—your heart, it beats sadly and +hurriedly beneath my hand, as if there were gloomy and vexatious +thoughts within."</p> + +<p>"And should I not be sad, Mark, and should you not be sad? Gloom and +sorrow befit our situations alike; though for you I feel more than for +myself. I think not so much of our parting, as of your misfortune in +having partaken of this crime. There is to me but little occasion for +grief in the temporary separation which I am sure will precede our final +union. But this dreadful deed, Mark—it is this that makes me sad. The +knowledge that you, whom I thought too gentle wantonly to crush the +crawling insect, should have become the slayer of men—of innocent men, +too—makes my heart bleed within, and my eyes fill; and when I think of +it, as indeed I now think of little else, and feel that its remorse and +all its consequences must haunt you for many years, I almost think, with +my father, that it would be better we should see each other no more. I +think I could see you depart, knowing that it was for ever, without a +tear, were this sin not upon your head."</p> + +<p>"Your words are cruel, Kate; but you can not speak to my spirit in +language more severe than it speaks momentarily to itself. I never knew +anything of punishment before; and the first lesson is a bitter one. +Your words touch me but little now, as the tree, when the axe has once +girdled it, has no feeling for any further stroke. Forbear then, dear +Kate, as you love yourself. Brood not upon a subject that brings pain +with it to your own spirit, and has almost ceased, except in its +consequences, to operate upon mine. Let us now speak of those things +which concern you nearly, and me not a little—of the only thing, which, +besides this deed of death, troubles my thought at this moment. Let us +speak of our future hope—if hope there may be for me, after the stern +sentence which your lips uttered in part even now."</p> + +<p>"It was for you—for your safety, believe me, Mark, that I spoke; my own +heart was wrung with the language of my lips—the language of my cooler +thought. I spoke only for your<span class="pagenum">[226]<a name="page226" +id="page226"></a></span> safety and not for myself. +Could—I again repeat—could this deed be undone—could you be free from +the reproach and the punishment, I would be content, though the strings +of my heart cracked with its own doom, to forego all claim upon you—to +give you up—to give up my own hope of happiness for ever."</p> + +<p>Her words were passionate, and at their close her head sunk upon his +shoulder, while her tears gushed forth without restraint, and in +defiance of all her efforts. The heart of the woodman was deeply and +painfully affected, and the words refused to leave his lips, while a +kindred anguish shook his manly frame, and rendered it almost a +difficulty with him to sustain the slight fabric of hers. With a stern +effort, however, he recovered himself, and reseating her upon the bank +from which, in the agitation of the moment, they had both arisen, he +endeavored to soothe her spirit, by unfolding his plan of future life.</p> + +<p>"My present aim is the nation—I shall cross the Chestatee river +to-morrow, and shall push at once for the forest of Etowee, and beyond +the Etowee river. I know the place well, and have been through it +before. There I shall linger until I hear all the particulars of this +affair in its progress, and determine upon my route accordingly. If the +stir is great, as I reckon it will be, I shall push into Tennessee, and +perhaps go for the Mississippi. Could I hope that your father would +consent to remove, I should at once do this and make a settlement, +where, secure from interruption and all together, we might live happily +and honorably for the future."</p> + +<p>"And why not do so now—why stop at all among the Cherokees? Why not go +at once into Mississippi, and begin the world, as you propose in the end +to do?"</p> + +<p>"What! and leave you for ever—now Kate, you are indeed cruel. I had not +thought to have listened to such a recommendation from one who loved me +as you profess."</p> + +<p>"As I do, Mark—I say nothing which I do not feel. It does not follow +that you will be any nigher your object, if my father continue firm in +his refusal, though nigher to me, by lingering about in the nation. On +the contrary, will he not, hearing of you in the neighborhood, be more +close in his restraints upon me? Will not your chance of exposure, too, +be<span class="pagenum">[227]<a name="page227" id="page227"></a></span> +so much the greater, as to make it incumbent upon him to +pursue his determination with rigor? while, on the other hand, if you +remove yourself out of all reach of Georgia, in the Mississippi, and +there begin a settlement, I am sure that he will look upon the affair +with different notions."</p> + +<p>"It can not be, Kate—it can not be. You know I have had but a single +motive for living so long among this people and in these parts. I +disliked both, and only lingered with a single hope, that I might be +blessed with your presence always, and in the event of my sufficient +success, that I might win you altogether for myself. I have not done +much for this object and this unhappy affair forbids me for the present +to do more. Is not this enough, Katharine, and must I bury myself from +you a thousand miles in the forest, ignorant of what may be going on, +and without any hope, such as I have lived for before? Is the labor I +have undergone—the life I have led—to have no fruits? Will you too be +the first to recommend forgetfulness; to overthrow my chance of +happiness? No—it must not be. Hear me, Kate—hear me, and say I have +not worked altogether in vain. I have acquired some little by my toils, +and can acquire more. There is one thing now, one blessing which you may +afford, and the possession of which will enable me to go with a light +heart and a strong hand into any forests, winning comforts for both of +us—happiness, if the world have it—and nothing to make us afraid."</p> + +<p>He spoke with deep energy, and she looked inquiringly into his face. The +expression was satisfactory, and she replied without hesitation:—</p> + +<p>"I understand you, Mark Forrester—I understand you, but it must not be. +I must regard and live for affections besides my own. Would you have me +fly for ever from those who have been all to me—from those to whom I am +all—from my father—from my dear, my old mother! Fy, Mark."</p> + +<p>"And are you not all to me, Katharine—the one thing for which I would +live, and wanting which I care not to live? Ay, Katharine, fly with me +from all—and yet not for ever. They will follow you, and our end will +then be answered. Unless you do this, they would linger on in this place +without an object, even if permitted, which is very doubtful, to hold +their<span class="pagenum">[228]<a name="page228" id="page228"></a></span> +ground—enjoying life as a vegetable, and dead before life +itself is extinct."</p> + +<p>"Spare your speech, Mark—on this point you urge me in vain," was the +firm response of the maiden. "Though I feel for you as as I feel for none +other, I also feel that I have other ties and other obligations, all +inconsistent with the step which you would have me take. I will not have +you speak of it further—on this particular I am immoveable."</p> + +<p>A shade of mortification clouded the face of Forrester as she uttered +these words, and for a moment he was silent. Resuming, at length, with +something of resignation in his manner, he continued—</p> + +<p>"Well, Kate, since you will have it so, I forbear; though, what course +is left for you, and what hope for me, if your father continues in his +present humor, I am at a loss to see. There is one thing, however—there +is one pledge that I would exact from you before we part."</p> + +<p>He took her hand tenderly as he spoke, and his eyes, glistening with +tearful expectation, were fixed upon her own; but she did not +immediately reply. She seemed rather to await the naming of the pledge +of which he spoke. There was a struggle going on between her mind and +her affections; and though, in the end, the latter seemed to obtain the +mastery, the sense of propriety, the moral guardianship of her own +spirit battled sternly and fearlessly against their suggestions. She +would make no promise which might, by any possibility, bind her to an +engagement inconsistent with other and primary obligations.</p> + +<p>"I know not, Mark, what may be the pledge which you would have from me, +to which I could consent with propriety. When I hear your desires, +plainly expressed to my understanding, I shall better know how to reply. +You heard the language of my father: I must obey his wishes as far as I +know them. Though sometimes rough, and irregular in his habits, to me he +has been at all times tender and kind: I would not now disobey his +commands. Still, in this matter, my heart inclines too much in your +favor not to make me less scrupulous than I should otherwise desire to +be. Besides, I have so long held myself yours, and with his sanction, +that I can the more easily listen to your entreaties. If, then you truly +love me, you will, I am sure,<span class="pagenum">[229]<a name="page229" +id="page229"></a></span> ask nothing that I should not +grant. Speak—what is the pledge?"</p> + +<p>"It shall come with no risk, Kate, believe me, none. Heaven forbid that +I should bring a solitary grief to your bosom; yet it may adventure in +some respects both mind and person, if you be not wary. Knowing your +father, as you know him too, I would have from you a pledge—a promise, +here, solemnly uttered in the eye of Heaven, and in the holy stillness +of this place, which has witnessed other of our vows no less sacred and +solemn, that, should he sanction the prayer of another who seeks your +love, and command your obedience, that you will not obey—that you will +not go quietly a victim to the altar—that you will not pledge to +another the same vow which has been long since pledged to me."</p> + +<p>He paused a moment for a reply, but she spoke not; and with something +like impetuosity he proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"You make no reply, Katharine? You hear my entreaty—my prayer. It +involves no impropriety; it stands in the way of no other duty, since, I +trust, the relationship between us is as binding as any other which may +call for your regard. All that I ask is, that you will not dispose of +yourself to another, your heart not going with your hand, whatever may +be the authority which may require it; at least, not until you are fully +assured that it is beyond my power to claim you, or I become unworthy to +press the claim."</p> + +<p>"It is strange, Mark, that you should speak in a manner of which there +is so little need. The pledge long since uttered as solemnly as you now +require, under these very boughs, should satisfy you."</p> + +<p>"So it should, Kate—and so it would, perhaps, could I now reason on any +subject. But my doubts are not now of your love, but of your firmness in +resisting a control at variance with your duty to yourself. Your words +reassure me, however; and now, though with no glad heart, I shall pass +over the border, and hope for the better days which are to make us +happy."</p> + +<p>"Not so fast, Master Forrester," exclaimed the voice of old Allen, +emerging from the cover of the sycamore, to the shelter of which he had +advanced unobserved, and had been the unsuspected auditor of the +dialogue from first to last. The couple,<span class="pagenum">[230]<a name="page230" +id="page230"></a></span> with an awkward +consciousness, started up at the speech, taken by surprise, and neither +uttering a word in reply to this sudden address.</p> + +<p>"You must first answer, young man, to the charge of advising my daughter +to disobedience, as I have heard you for the last half hour; and to +elopement, which she had the good sense to refuse. I thought, Master +Forrester, that you were better bred than to be guilty of such +offences."</p> + +<p>"I know them not as such, Mr. Allen. I had your own sanction to my +engagement with Katharine, and do not see that after that you had any +right to break it off."</p> + +<p>"You do not—eh? Well, perhaps, you are right, and I have thought better +of the matter myself; and, between us, Kate has behaved so well, and +spoken so prettily to you, and obeyed my orders, as she should have +done, that I'm thinking to look more kindly on the whole affair."</p> + +<p>"Are you, dear father?—Oh, I am so happy!"</p> + +<p>"Hush, minx! the business is mine, and none of yours.—Hark you, Mark. +You must fly—there's no two ways about that; and, between us, there +will be a devil of a stir in this matter. I have it from good authority +that the governor will riddle the whole nation but he'll have every man, +woman, and child, concerned in this difficulty: so that'll be no place +for you. You must go right on to the <i>Massassippi</i>, and enter lands +enough for us all. Enter them in Kate's name, and they'll be secure. As +soon as you've fixed that business, write on, say where you are, and +we'll be down upon you, bag and baggage, in no time and less."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear father—this is so good of you!"</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, get away, minx! I don't like kisses <i>jest</i> after supper; it +takes the taste all out of my mouth of what I've been eating."</p> + +<p>Forrester was loud in his acknowledgments, and sought by eulogistic +professions to do away the ill effect of all that he might have uttered +in the previous conversation; but the old man cut him short with his +wonted querulousness:—</p> + +<p>"Oh, done with your blarney, boy! 'It's all my eye and Betty Martin!' +Won't you go in and take supper? There's something left, I reckon."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[231]<a name="page231" id="page231"></a></span> +But Forrester had now no idea of eating, and declined +accordingly, alleging his determination to set off immediately upon his +route—a determination which the old man highly approved of.</p> + +<p>"You are right, Mark—move's the word, and the sooner you go about it +the better. Here's my hand on your bargain, and good-by—I reckon you'll +have something more to say to Kate, and I suppose you don't want me to +help you in saying it—so I leave you. She's used to the way; and, if +she's at all afraid, you can easily see her home."</p> + +<p>With a few more words the old man took his departure, leaving the young +people as happy now as he had before found them sad and sorrowful. They +did not doubt that the reason of this change was as he alleged it, and +gave themselves no thought as to causes, satisfied as they were with +effects. But old Allen had not proceeded without his host: he had been +advised of the contemplated turn-out of all the squatters from the +gold-region; and, having no better tenure than any of his neighbors, he +very prudently made a merit of necessity, and took his measures as we +have seen. The lovers were satisfied, and their interview now wore, +though at parting, a more sunshiny complexion.</p> + +<p>But why prolong a scene admitting of so little variety as that which +describes the sweets, and the strifes, and the sorrows, of mortal love? +We take it there is no reader of novels so little conversant with +matters of this nature as not to know how they begin and how they end; +and, contenting ourselves with separating the parties—an act +hardhearted enough, in all conscience—we shall not with idle and +questionable sympathy dwell upon the sorrows of their separation. We may +utter a remark, however, which the particular instance before us +occasions, in relation to the singular influence of love upon the mental +and moral character of the man. There is no influence in the world's +circumstance so truly purifying, elevating, and refining. It instils +high and generous sentiments; it ennobles human endeavor; it sanctifies +defeat and denial; it polishes manners; it gives to morals a tincture of +devotion; and, as with the spell of magic, such as Milton describes in +"Comus," it dissipates with a glance the wild rout of low desires and +insane<span class="pagenum">[232]<a name="page232" id="page232"></a></span> +follies which so much blur and blot up the otherwise fair +face of human society. It permits of no meanness in its train; it expels +vulgarity, and, with a high stretch toward perfected humanity, it +unearths the grovelling nature, and gives it aspirations of sand and +sunshine.</p> + +<p>Its effect upon Forrester had been of this description. It had been his +only tutor, and had taught him nobly in numberless respects. In every +association with the maiden of his affections, his tone, his language, +his temper, and his thoughts, seemed to undergo improvement and +purification. He seemed quite another man whenever he came into her +presence, and whenever the thought of her was in his heart. Indeed, such +was the effect of this passion upon both of them; though this may have +been partially the result of other circumstances, arising from their +particular situation. For a long time they had known few enjoyments that +were not intimately connected with the image of one another; and thus, +from having few objects besides of contemplation or concern, they +refined upon each other. As the minute survey in the forest of the +single leaf, which, for years, may not have attracted the eye, unfolds +the fine veins, the fanciful outline, the clear, green, and transparent +texture, and the delicate shadowings of innumerable hues won from the +skies and the sunshine—so, day by day, surveying the single object, +they had become familiar with attractions in one another which the +passing world would never have supposed either of them to possess. In +such a region, where there are few competitors for human love and +regard, the heart clings with hungering tenacity to the few stray +affections that spring up, here and there, like flowers dropped by some +kindly, careless hand, making a bloom and a blessing for the untrodden +wilderness. Nor do they blossom there in vain, since, as the sage has +told us, there is no breeze that wafts not life, no sun that brings not +smiles, no water that bears not refreshment, no flower that has not +charms and a solace, for some heart that could not well hope to be happy +without them.</p> + +<p>They separated on the verge of the copse to which he had attended her, +their hands having all the way been passionately linked, and a seal +having been set upon their mutual vows by the long, loving embrace which +concluded their interview. The<span class="pagenum">[233]<a name="page233" +id="page233"></a></span> cottage was in sight, and, from +the deep shade which surrounded him, he beheld her enter its precincts +in safety; then, returning to the place of tryst, he led forth his +steed, and, with a single bound, was once more in his saddle, and once +more a wanderer. The cheerlessness of such a fate as that before him, +even under the changed aspect of his affairs, to those unaccustomed to +the rather too migratory habits of our southern and western people, +would seem somewhat severe; but the only hardship in his present +fortune, to the mind of Forrester, was the privation and protraction of +his love-arrangements. The wild, woodland adventure common to the habits +of the people of this class, had a stimulating effect upon his spirit at +all other times; and, even now—though perfectly legitimate for a lover +to move slowly from his mistress—the moon just rising above the trees, +and his horse in full gallop through their winding intricacies, a warm +and bracing energy came to his aid, and his heart grew cheery under its +inspiriting influences. He was full of the future, rich in anticipation, +and happy in the contemplation of a thousand projects. With a free rein +he plunged forward into the recesses of the forest, dreaming of a +cottage in the Mississippi, a heart at ease, and Katharine Allen, with +all her beauties, for ever at hand to keep it so.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[234]<a name="page234" id="page234"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter19" id="chapter19">CHAPTER XIX.</a></h2> + +<h3>MIDNIGHT SURPRISE.</h3> + + +<p>The night began to wane, and still did Lucy Munro keep lonely vigil in +her chamber. How could she sleep? Threatened with a connection so +dreadful as to her mind was that proposed with Guy Rivers—deeply +interested as she now felt herself in the fortunes of the young +stranger, for whose fate and safety, knowing the unfavorable position in +which he stood with the outlaws, she had everything to apprehend—it can +cause no wonder when we say sleep grew a stranger to her eyes, and +without retiring to her couch, though extinguishing her light, she sat +musing by the window of her chamber upon the thousand conflicting and +sad thoughts that were at strife in her spirit. She had not been long in +this position when the sound of approaching horsemen reached her ears, +and after a brief interval, during which she could perceive that they +had alighted, she heard the door of the hall gently unclosed, and +footsteps, set down with nice caution, moving through the passage. A +light danced for a moment fitfully along the chamber, as if borne from +the sleeping apartment of Munro to that adjoining the hall in which the +family were accustomed to pursue their domestic avocations. Then came an +occasional murmur of speech to her ears, and then silence.</p> + +<p>Perplexed with these circumstances, and wondering at the return of Munro +at an hour something unusual—prompted too by a presentiment of +something wrong, and apprehensive on the score of Ralph's safety—a +curiosity not, surely, under these circumstances, discreditable, to know +what was going on, determined her to ascertain something more of the +character of the nocturnal visitation. She felt secured from the +strangeness of<span class="pagenum">[235]<a name="page235" id="page235"></a></span> +the occurrence, that evil was afoot, and +solicitous for its prevention, she was persuaded to the measure solely +with the view to good.</p> + +<p>Hastily, but with trembling hands, undoing the door of her apartment, +she made her way into the long, dark gallery, with which she was +perfectly familiar, and soon gained the apartment already referred to. +The door fortunately stood nearly closed, and she successfully passed it +by and gained the hall, which immediately adjoined, and lay in perfect +darkness. Without herself being seen, she was enabled, through a crevice +in the partition dividing the two rooms, to survey its inmates, and to +hear distinctly everything that was uttered.</p> + +<p>As she expected, there were the two conspirators, Rivers and Munro, +earnestly engaged in discourse; to which, as it concerns materially our +progress, we may well be permitted to lend our attention. They spoke on +a variety of topics entirely foreign to the understanding of the +half-affrighted and nervously-susceptible, but still resolute young girl +who heard them; and nothing but her deep anxieties for one, whose own +importance in her eyes at that moment she did not conjecture, could have +sustained her while listening to a dialogue full of atrocious intention, +and larded throughout with a familiar and sometimes foul phraseology +that certainly was not altogether unseemly in such association.</p> + +<p>"Well, Blundell's gone too, they say. He's heartily frightened. A few +more will follow, and we must both be out of the way. The rest could not +well be identified, and whether they are or not does not concern us, +except that they may blab of their confederates. Such as seem likely to +suffer detection must be frightened off; and this, by the way, is not so +difficult a matter. Pippin knows nothing of himself. Forrester is too +much involved to be forward. It was for this that I aroused and set him +on. His hot blood took fire at some little hints that I threw out, and +the fool became a leader in the mischief. There's no danger from him; +besides, they say, he's off too. Old Allen has broken off the match +between him and his daughter, and the fellow's almost mad on the +strength of it. There's but one left who might trouble us, and it is now +<span class="pagenum">[236]<a name="page236" id="page236"></a></span> +understood that but one mode offers for his silence. We are +perfectly agreed as to this, and no more scruples."</p> + +<p>The quick sense of the maiden readily taught her who was meant; and her +heart trembled convulsively within her, as, with a word, Munro, replying +to Rivers, gave his assent.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes—it must be done, I suppose, though somehow or other I would +it could be got rid of in any other way."</p> + +<p>"You see for yourself, Wat, there can be no other way; for as long as he +lives, there is no security. The few surviving guard will be seen to, +and they saw too little to be dangerous. They were like stunned and +stupified men. This boy alone was cool and collected, and is so +obstinate in what he knows and thinks, that he troubles neither himself +nor his neighbors with doubt or difficulty. I knew him a few years ago, +when something more of a boy than now; and even then he was the same +character."</p> + +<p>"But why not let him start, and take the woods for it? How easy to +settle the matter on the roadside, in a thousand different ways. The +accumulation of these occurrences in the village, as much as anything +else, will break us up. I don't care for myself, for I expect to be off +for a time; but I want to see the old woman and Lucy keep quiet +possession here—"</p> + +<p>"You are becoming an old woman yourself, Wat, and should be under +guardianship. All these scruples are late; and, indeed, even were they +not, they would be still useless. We have determined on the thing, and +the sooner we set about it the better. The night wanes, and I have much +to see to before daylight. To-morrow I must sleep—sleep—" and for a +moment Rivers seemed to muse upon the word sleep, which he thrice +repeated; then suddenly proceeding, as if no pause had taken place, he +abruptly placed his hand upon the shoulder of Munro, and asked—</p> + +<p>"You will bear the lantern; this is all you need perform. I am resolute +for the rest."</p> + +<p>"What will you use—dirk?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—it is silent in its office, and not less sure. Are all asleep, +think you—your wife?"</p> + +<p>"Quite so—sound when I entered the chamber."</p> + +<p>"Well, the sooner to business the better. Is there water in +<span class="pagenum">[237]<a name="page237" id="page237"></a></span>that +pitcher? I am strangely thirsty to-night; brandy were not amiss at such +a time."</p> + +<p>And speaking this to himself, as it were, Rivers approached the +side-table, where stood the commodities he sought. In this approach the +maiden had a more perfect view of the malignities of his savage face; +and as he left the table, and again commenced a brief conversation in an +under-tone with Munro, no longer doubting the dreadful object which they +had in view, she seized the opportunity with as much speed as was +consistent with caution and her trembling nerves, to leave the place of +espionage, and seek her chamber.</p> + +<p>But to what purpose had she heard all this, if she suffered the fearful +deed to proceed to execution? The thought was momentary, but carried to +her heart, in that moment, the fullest conviction of her duty.</p> + +<p>She rushed hurriedly again into the passage—and, though apprehending +momentarily that her knees would sink from under her, took her way up +the narrow flight of steps leading into the second story, and to the +youth's chamber. As she reached the door, a feminine scruple came over +her. A young girl seeking the apartment of a man at midnight—she shrunk +back with a new feeling. But the dread necessity drove her on, and with +cautious hand undoing the latch securing the door by thrusting her hand +through an interstice between the logs—wondering at the same time at +the incautious manner in which, at such a period and place, the youth +had provided for his sleeping hours—she stood tremblingly within the +chamber.</p> + +<p>Wrapped in unconscious slumbers, Ralph Colleton lay dreaming upon his +rude couch of a thousand strange influences and associations. His roving +fancies had gone to and fro, between his uncle and his bewitching +cousin, until his heart grew softened and satisfied, not less with the +native pleasures which they revived in his memory, than of the sweet +oblivion which they brought of the many painful and perilous prospects +with which he had more recently become familiar. He had no thought of +the present, and the pictures of the past were all rich and ravishing. +To his wandering sense at that moment there came a sweet vision of +beauty and love—of an affection warmly cherished—green as the summer +leaves—fresh as its<span class="pagenum">[238]<a name="page238" id="page238"></a></span> +flowers—flinging odors about his spirit, +and re-awakening in its fullest extent the partially slumbering +passion—reviving many a hope, and provoking with many a delicious +anticipation. The form of the one, lovely beyond comparison, flitted +before him, while her name, murmured with words of passion by his parted +lips, carried with its utterance a sweet promise of a pure faith, and an +unforgetting affection. Never once, since the hour of his departure from +home, had he, in his waking moments, permitted that name to find a place +upon his lips, and now syllabled into sound by them in his unconscious +dreams, it fell with a stunning influence upon an auditor, whose heart +grew colder in due proportion with the unconscious but warm tenderness +of epithet with which his tongue coupled its utterance.</p> + +<p>The now completely unhappy Lucy stood sad and statue-like. She heard +enough to teach her the true character of her own feelings for one, +whose articulated dreams had revealed the secret of his passion for +another; and almost forgetting for a while the office upon which she had +come, she continued to give ear to those sounds which brought to her +heart only additional misery.</p> + +<p>How long Ralph, in his mental wanderings, would have gone on, as we have +seen, incoherently developing his heart's history, may not be said. +Gathering courage at last, with a noble energy, the maiden proceeded to +her proposed duty, and his slumbers were broken. With a half-awakened +consciousness he raised himself partially up in his couch, and sought to +listen. He was not deceived; a whispered sentence came to his ears, +addressed to himself, and succeeded by a pause of several moments' +continuance. Again his name was uttered. Half doubting his senses, he +passed his hand repeatedly over his eyes, and again listened for the +repetition of that voice, the identity of which he had as yet failed +utterly to distinguish. The sounds were repeated, and the words grew +more and more distinct. He now caught in part the tenor of the sentence, +though imperfectly heard. It seemed to convey some warning of danger, +and the person who spoke appeared, from the tremulous accents, to labor +under many apprehensions. The voice proceeded with increased emphasis, +advising his instant departure from<span class="pagenum">[239]<a name="page239" +id="page239"></a></span> the house—speaking of +nameless dangers—of murderous intrigue and conspiracy, and warning +against even the delay of a single instant.</p> + +<p>The character of Ralph was finely marked, and firmness of purpose and a +ready decision were among its most prominent attributes. Hastily leaping +from his couch, therefore, with a single bound he reached the door of +his chamber, which, to his astonishment, he found entirely unfastened. +The movement was so sudden and so entirely unlooked-for, that the +intruder was taken by surprise; and beheld, while the youth closed +securely the entrance, the hope of escape entirely cut off. Ralph +advanced toward his visiter, the dim outline of whose person was visible +upon the wall. Lifting his arm as he approached, what was his +astonishment to perceive the object of his assault sink before him upon +the floor, while the pleading voice of a woman called upon him for +mercy.</p> + +<p>"Spare me, Mr. Colleton—spare me"—she exclaimed, in undisguised +terror.</p> + +<p>"You here, Miss Munro, and at this hour of the night!" was the wondering +inquiry, as he lifted her from the floor, her limbs, trembling with +agitation, scarcely able to support even her slender form.</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, sir, forgive me. Think not ill of me, I pray you. I come to +save you,—indeed, Mr. Colleton, I do—and nothing, believe me, would +have brought me here but the knowledge of your immediate danger."</p> + +<p>She felt the delicacy of her situation, and recognising her motive +readily, we will do him the justice to say, Ralph felt it too in the +assurance of her lips. A respectful delicacy pervaded his manner as he +inquired earnestly:—</p> + +<p>"What is this danger, Miss Munro? I believe you fear for me, but may you +not have exaggerated the cause of alarm to yourself? What have I to +fear—from what would you save me?"</p> + +<p>"Nay, ask me not, sir, but fly. There is but little time for +explanation, believe me. I know and do not imagine the danger. I can not +tell you all, nor can you with safety bestow the time to hear. Your +murderers are awake—they are in this very house, and nothing but +instant flight can save you from their hands."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[240]<a name="page240" id="page240"></a></span> +"But from whom, Miss Munro, am I to fear all this? What has +given you this alarm, which, until you can give me some clue to this +mystery, I must regard as unadvised and without foundation. I feel the +kindness and interest of your solicitude—deeply feel, and greatly +respect it; but, unless you can give me some reasonable ground for your +fears, I must be stubborn in resisting a connection which would have me +fly like a midnight felon, without having seen the face of my foe."</p> + +<p>"Oh, heed not these false scruples. There is no shame in such a flight, +and believe me, sir, I speak not unadvisedly. Nothing, but the most +urgent and immediate danger would have prompted me, at this hour, to +come here. If you would survive this night, take advantage of the +warning and fly. This moment you must determine—I know not, indeed, if +it be not too late even now for your extrication. The murderers, by this +time, may be on the way to your chamber, and they will not heed your +prayers, and they will scorn any defence which you might offer."</p> + +<p>"But who are they of whom you speak, Miss Munro? If I must fly, let me +at least know from what and whom. What are my offences, and whom have I +offended?"</p> + +<p>"That is soon told, though I fear, sir, we waste the time in doing so. +You have offended Rivers, and you know but little of him if you think it +possible for him to forget or forgive where once injured, however +slightly. The miners generally have been taught to regard you as one +whose destruction alone can insure their safety from punishment for +their late aggressions. My uncle too, I grieve to say it, is too much +under the influence of Rivers, and does indeed just what his suggestions +prescribe. They have plotted your death, and will not scruple at its +performance. They are even now below meditating its execution. By the +merest good fortune I overheard their design, from which I feel +persuaded nothing now can make them recede. Rely not on their fear of +human punishment. They care perhaps just as little for the laws of man +as of God, both of which they violate hourly with impunity, and from +both of which they have always hitherto contrived to secure themselves. +Let me entreat, therefore, that you will take no heed of that manful +courage which would be honorable and proper with a +<span class="pagenum">[241]<a name="page241" id="page241"></a></span> +fair enemy. +Do not think that I am a victim to unmeasured and womanly fears. I have +seen too much of the doings of these men, not to feel that no fancies of +mine can do them injustice. They would murder you in your bed, and walk +from the scene of their crime with confidence into the very courts of +justice."</p> + +<p>"I believe you, Miss Munro, and nothing doubt the correctness of your +opinion with regard to the character of these men. Indeed, I have reason +to know that what you say of Rivers, I have already realized in my own +person. This attempt, if he makes it, will be the second in which he has +put my life in hazard, and I believe him, therefore, not too good for +any attempt of this evil nature. But why may I not defend myself from +the assassins? I can make these logs tenable till daylight from all +their assaults, and then I should receive succor from the villagers +without question. You see, too, I have arms which may prove troublesome +to an enemy."</p> + +<p>"Trust not these chances; let me entreat that you rely not upon them. +Were you able, as you say, to sustain yourself for the rest of the night +in this apartment, there would be no relief in the morning, for how +would you make your situation understood? Many of the villagers will +have flown before to-morrow into the nation, until the pursuit is well +over, which will most certainly be commenced before long. Some of them +have already gone, having heard of the approach of the residue of the +Georgia guard, to which the survivors at the late affair bore the +particulars. Those who venture to remain will not come nigh this house, +dreading to be involved in the difficulties which now threaten its +occupants. Their caution would only be the more increased on hearing of +any commotion. Wait not, therefore, I implore you, for the dawning of +the day: it could never dawn to you. Rivers I know too well; he would +overreach you by some subtlety or other; and how easy, even while we +speak, to shoot you down through these uneven logs. Trust not, trust +not, I entreat you; there is a sure way of escape, and you still have +time, if at once you avail yourself of it."</p> + +<p>The maid spoke with earnestness and warmth, for the terrors of her mind +had given animation to her anxiety, while she sought to persuade the +somewhat stubborn youth into the <span class="pagenum">[242]<a name="page242" +id="page242"></a></span>proposed and certainly +judicious flight she contemplated for him. Her trepidation had made her +part with much of that retreating timidity which had usually +distinguished her manner; and perfectly assured herself of the causes of +her present apprehension, she did not scruple to exhibit—indeed she did +not seem altogether conscious of—the deep interest which she took in +the fate and fortunes of him who stood beside her.</p> + +<p>Flattered as he must have been by the marked feeling, which she could +neither disguise nor he mistake, the youth did not, how ever, for a +moment seek to abuse it; but with a habit at once gentle and respectful, +combated the various arguments and suggestions which, with a single eye +to his safety, she urged for his departure. In so doing, he obtained +from her all the particulars of her discovery, and was at length +convinced that her apprehensions were by no means groundless. She had +accidentally come upon the conspirators at an interesting moment in +their deliberations, which at once revealed their object and its aim; +and he at length saw that, except in flight, according to her +proposition, the chances were against his escape at all. While they thus +deliberated, the distant sound of a chair falling below, occurring at an +hour so unusual, gave an added force to her suggestions, and while it +prompted anew her entreaties, greatly diminished his reluctance to the +flight.</p> + +<p>"I will do just as you advise. I know not, Miss Munro, why my fate and +fortune should have provoked in you such an interest, unless it be that +yours being a less selfish sex than ours, you are not apt to enter into +calculations as to the loss of quiet or of personal risk, which, in so +doing, you may incur. Whatever be the motive, however, I am grateful for +its effects, and shall not readily forget the gentleness of that spirit +which has done so much for the solace and the safety of one so sad in +its aspect and so much a stranger in all respects."</p> + +<p>The youth spoke with a tone and manner the most tender yet respectful, +which necessarily relieved from all perplexity that feeling of propriety +and maiden delicacy which otherwise must have made her situation an +awkward one. Ralph was not so dull, however, as not to perceive that to +a livelier emotion he might in justice attribute the conduct of his +companion; but, with a highly-honorable fastidiousness, he himself +suggested<span class="pagenum">[243]<a name="page243" id="page243"></a></span> +a motive for her proceeding which her own delicacy +rendered improper for her utterance. Still the youth was not marble +exactly: and, as he spoke, his arm gently encircled her waist; and her +form, as if incapable of its own support, hung for a moment, with +apathetic lifelessness, upon his bosom; while her head, with an impulse +not difficult to define, drooped like a bending and dewy lily upon his +arm. But the passive emotion, if we may so style it, was soon over; and, +with an effort, in which firmness and feebleness strongly encountered, +she freed herself from his hold with an erect pride of manner, which +gave a sweet finish to the momentary display which she had made of +womanly weakness. Her voice, as she called upon him to follow her into +the passage, was again firm in a moment, and pervaded by a cold ease +which seemed to him artificial:—</p> + +<p>"There is but little time left you now, sir, for escape: it were +criminal not to use it. Follow me boldly, but cautiously—I will lead +the way—the house is familiar to me, in night and day, and there must +be no waste of time."</p> + +<p>He would have resisted this conduct, and himself taken the lead in the +advance; but, placing her small and trembling hand upon his arm, she +insisted upon the course she had prescribed, and in a manner which he +did not venture to resist. Their steps were slow into the open space +which, seeming as an introduction to, at the same time separated the +various chambers of the dwelling, and terminated in the large and +cumbrous stairway which conducted to the lower story, and to which their +course was now directed. The passage was of some length, but with +cautious tread they proceeded in safety and without noise to the head of +the stairway, when the maiden, who still preserved the lead, motioned +him back, retreating herself, as she did so, into the cover of a small +recess, formed by the stairs, which it partially overhung, and +presenting a doubtful apology for a closet. Its door hung upon a broken +and single hinge, unclosed—leaving, however, so small an aperture, that +it might be difficult to account for their entrance.</p> + +<p>There, amid the dust and mystery of time-worn household trumpery, old +saddles, broken bridles, and more than one dismembered harness, they +came to a pause, and were enabled now to perceive the realization in +part of her apprehensions.<span class="pagenum">[244]<a name="page244" +id="page244"></a></span> A small lantern, the rays of light +from which feebly made their way through a single square in front, +disclosed to the sight the dim forms of the two assassins, moving upward +to the contemplated deed of blood.</p> + +<p>The terrors of Lucy, as she surveyed their approach, were great; but, +with a mind and spirit beyond those commonly in the possession of her +sex, she was enabled to conquer and rise above them; and, though her +heart beat with a thick and hurried apprehension, her soul grew calmer +the more closely approached the danger. Her alarm, to the mind of Ralph, +was now sufficiently justified, as, looking through a crevice in the +narrow apartment in which he stood, he beheld the malignant and +hell-branded visage of Rivers, peering like a dim and baleful light in +advance of his companion, in whose face a partial glimmer of the lamp +revealed a something of reluctance, which rendered it doubtful how far +Munro had in reality gone willingly on the task.</p> + +<p>It was, under all the circumstances, a curious survey for the youth. He +was a man of high passions, sudden of action, impetuous and +unhesitating. In a fair field, he would not have been at a loss for a +single moment; but here, the situation was so new, that he was more and +more undetermined in his spirit. He saw them commissioned with his +murder—treading, one by one, the several steps below him—approaching +momently higher and higher—and his heart beat audibly with conflicting +emotions; while with one hand he grasped convulsively and desperately +the handle of his dirk, the other being fully employed in sustaining the +almost fainting form of his high-souled but delicate companion. He felt +that, if discovered, he could do little in his defence and against +assault; and though without a thought but that of fierce struggle to the +last, his reason taught him to perceive with how little hope of success.</p> + +<p>As the assassins continued to advance, he could distinctly trace every +change of expression in their several countenances. In that of Rivers, +linked with the hideousness that his wound conferred upon it, he noted +the more wicked workings of a spirit, the fell character of whose +features received no moderate exaggeration from the dim and flickering +glare of the lamp which his hand unsteadily carried. The whole face had +in it<span class="pagenum">[245]<a name="page245" id="page245"></a></span> +something awfully fearful. He seemed, in its expression, +already striking the blow at the breast of his victim, or rioting with a +fiendish revenge in his groaned agonies. A brief dialogue between his +companion and himself more fully describes the character of the monster.</p> + +<p>"Stay—you hurry too much in this matter," said Munro, putting his hand +on that of Rivers, and restraining his steps for a moment as he paused, +seemingly to listen. He continued—</p> + +<p>"Your hand trembles, Rivers, and you let your lamp dance about too much +to find it useful. Your footstep is unsteady, and but now the stairs +creaked heavily beneath you. You must proceed with more caution, or we +shall be overheard. These are sleepless times, and this youth, who +appears to trouble you more than man ever troubled you before, may be +just as much awake as ourselves. If you are determined in this thing, be +not imprudent."</p> + +<p>Rivers, who, on reaching the head of the flight, had been about to move +forward precipitately, now paused, though with much reluctance; and to +the speech of his companion, with a fearful expression of the lips, +which, as they parted, disclosed the teeth white and closely clinched +beneath them, replied, though without directly referring to its import—</p> + +<p>"If I am determined—do you say!—But is not that the chamber where he +sleeps?"</p> + +<p>"No; old Barton sleeps there—<i>he</i> sleeps at the end of the +gallery. Be calm—why do you work your fingers in that manner?"</p> + +<p>"See you not my knife is in them? I thought at that moment that it was +between his ribs, and working about in his heart. It was a sweet fancy, +and, though I could not hear his groans as I stooped over him to listen, +I almost thought I felt them."</p> + +<p>The hand of the maiden grasped that of Ralph convulsively as these +muttered words came to their ears, and her respiration grew more +difficult and painful. <i>He</i> shuddered at the vindictive spirit +which the wretch exhibited, while his own, putting on a feller and a +fiercer temper, could scarcely resist the impulse which would have +prompted him at once to rush forth and stab him where he stood. But the +counsels of prudence had their<span class="pagenum">[246]<a name="page246" +id="page246"></a></span> influence, and he remained quiet +and firm. The companion of the ruffian felt no less than his other +hearers the savage nature of his mood, as thus, in his own way, he +partially rebuked it:</p> + +<p>"These are horrid fancies, Rivers—more like those which we should look +to find in a panther than in a man; and you delight in them quite too +much. Can you not kill your enemy without drinking his blood?"</p> + +<p>"And where then would be the pleasure of revenge?"—he muttered, between +his closed teeth. "The soldier who in battle slays his opponent, hates +him not—he has no personal animosity to indulge. The man has never +crossed his path in love or in ambition—yet he shoots him down, +ruthlessly and relentlessly. Shall <i>he</i> do no more who hates, who +fears, who sickens at the sight of the man who has crossed his path in +love and in ambition? I tell you, Munro, I hate this boy—this +beardless, this overweening and insolent boy. He has overthrown, he has +mortified me, where I alone should have stood supreme and supereminent. +He has wronged me—it may be without intention; but, what care I for +that qualification. Shall it be less an evil because he by whom it is +perpetrated has neither the soul nor the sense to be conscious of his +error. The child who trifles with the powder-match is lessoned by the +explosion which destroys him. It must be so with him. I never yet +forgave a wrong, however slight and unimportant—I never will. It is not +in my nature to do so; and as long as this boy can sleep at night, I can +not. I will not seek to sleep until he is laid to rest for ever!"</p> + +<p>The whole of this brief dialogue, which had passed directly beside the +recess in which the maiden and youth had taken shelter, was distinctly +audible to them both. The blood of Ralph boiled within him at this +latter speech of the ruffian, in which he avowed a spirit of such dire +malignity, as, in its utter disproportionateness to the supposed offence +of the youth, could only have been sanctioned by the nature which he had +declared to have always been his prompter; and, at its close, the arm of +the youth, grasping his weapon, was involuntarily stretched forth, and +an instant more would have found it buried in the bosom of the +wretch—but the action did not escape the quick eye of his companion, +who, though trembling with undiminished terror, was yet mistress of all +her senses, and perceived the <span class="pagenum">[247]<a name="page247" +id="page247"></a></span>ill-advised nature of his design. +With a motion equally involuntary and sudden with his own, her taper +fingers grasped his wrist, and her eyes bright with dewy lustres, were +directed upward, sweetly and appealingly to those which now bent +themselves down upon her. In that moment of excitement and impending +terror, a consciousness of her situation and a sense of shame which more +than ever agitated her, rushed through her mind, and she leaned against +the side of the closet for that support for which her now revived and +awakened scruples forbade any reference to him from whom she had so +recently received it. Still, there was nothing abrupt or unkind in her +manner, and the youth did not hesitate again to place his arm around and +in support of the form which, in reality, needed his strength. In doing +so, however, a slight noise was the consequence, which the quick sense +of Rivers readily discerned.</p> + +<p>"Hark!—heard you nothing, Munro—no sound? Hear you no breathing?—It +seems at hand—in that closet."</p> + +<p>"Thou hast a quick ear to-night, Guy, as well as a quick step. I heard, +and hear nothing, save the snorings of old Barton, whose chamber is just +beside you to the left. He has always had a reputation for the wild +music which his nose contrives, during his sleep, to keep up in his +neighborhood."</p> + +<p>"It came from the opposite quarter, Munro, and was not unlike the +suppressed respiration of one who listens."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! that can not be. There is no chamber there. That is but the old +closet in which we store away lumber. You are quite too regardful of +your senses. They will keep us here all night, and the fact is, I wish +the business well over."</p> + +<p>"Where does Lucy sleep?"</p> + +<p>"In the off shed-room below. What of her?"</p> + +<p>"Of her—oh nothing!" and Rivers paused musingly in the utterance of +this reply, which fell syllable by syllable from his lips. The landlord +proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"Pass on, Rivers; pass on: or have you determined better about this +matter? Shall the youngster live? Indeed, I see not that his evidence, +even if he gives it, which I very much doubt, can do us much harm, +seeing that a few days more will put us out of the reach of judge and +jury alike."</p> + +<p>"You would have made a prime counsellor and subtle +<span class="pagenum">[248]<a name="page248" id="page248"></a></span>disputant, +Munro, worthy of the Philadelphia lawyers," returned the other, in a +sneer. "You think only of one part of this subject, and have no +passions, no emotions: you can talk all day long on matters of feeling, +without showing any. Did I not say but now, that while that boy slept I +could not?"</p> + +<p>"Are you sure that when he ceases to sleep the case will be any better?"</p> + +<p>The answer to this inquiry was unheard, as the pair passed on to the +tenantless chamber. Watching their progress, and under the guidance of +the young maiden, who seemed endued with a courage and conduct worthy of +more experience and a stronger sex, the youth emerged from his place of +precarious and uncomfortable concealment, and descended to the lower +floor. A few moments sufficed to throw the saddle upon his steed, +without arousing the sable groom; and having brought him under the +shadow of a tree at some little distance from the house, he found no +further obstruction in the way of his safe and sudden flight. He had +fastened the door of his chamber on leaving it, with much more caution +than upon retiring for the night; and having withdrawn the key, which he +now hurled into the woods, he felt assured that, unless the assassins +had other than the common modes of entry, he should gain a little time +from the delay they would experience from this interruption; and this +interval, returning to the doorway, he employed in acknowledgments which +were well due to the young and trembling woman who stood beside him.</p> + +<p>"Take this little token, sweet Lucy," said he, throwing about her neck +the chain and casket which he had unbound from his own—"take this +little token of Ralph Colleton's gratitude for this night's good +service. I shall redeem it, if I live, at a more pleasant season, but +you must keep it for me now. I will not soon forget the devotedness with +which, on this occasion, you have perilled so much for a stranger. +Should we never again meet, I pray you to remember me in your prayers, +and I shall always remember you in mine."</p> + +<p>He little knew, while he thus spoke in a manner so humbly of himself, of +the deep interest which his uniform gentleness of manner and respectful +deference, so different from what she had been accustomed to encounter, +had inspired in her bosom;<span class="pagenum">[249]<a name="page249" +id="page249"></a></span> and so small at this period was his +vanity, that he did not trust himself for a moment to regard the +conjecture—which ever and anon thrust itself upon him—that the +fearless devotion of the maiden in his behalf and for his safety, had in +reality a far more selfish origin than the mere general humanity of her +sex and spirit. We will not say that she would not have done the same by +any other member of the human family in like circumstances; but it is +not uncharitable to believe that she would have been less anxiously +interested, less warm in her interest, and less pained in the event of +an unfortunate result.</p> + +<p>Clasping the gorgeous chain about her neck, his arm again gently +encircled her waist, her head drooped upon her bosom—she did not +speak—she appeared scarcely to feel. For a moment, life and all its +pulses seemed resolutely at a stand; and with some apprehensions, the +youth drew her to his bosom, and spoke with words full of tenderness. +She made no answer to his immediate speech; but her hands, as if +unconsciously, struck the spring which locked the casket that hung upon +the chain, and the miniature lay open before her, the dim light of the +moon shining down upon it. She reclosed it suddenly, and undoing it from +the chain, placed it with a trembling hand in his own; and with an +effort of calm and quiet playfulness, reminded him of the unintended +gift. He received it, but only to place it again in her hand, reuniting +it to the chain.</p> + +<p>"Keep it," said he, "Miss Munro—keep it until I return to reclaim it. +It will be as safe in your hands—much safer, indeed, than in mine. She +whose features it describes will not chide, that, at a moment of peril, +I place it in the care of one as gentle as herself."</p> + +<p>Her eyes were downcast, as, again receiving it, she inquired with a +girlish curiosity, "Is her name Edith, Mr. Colleton, of whom these +features are the likeness!"</p> + +<p>The youth, surprised by the question, met the inquiry with another.</p> + +<p>"How know you?—wherefore do you ask?"</p> + +<p>She saw his astonishment, and with a calm which had not, during the +whole scene between them, marked her voice or demeanor, she replied +instantly:—</p> + +<p>"No matter—no matter, sir. I know not well why I put +<span class="pagenum">[250]<a name="page250" id="page250"></a></span> the +question—certainly with no object, and am now more than answered."</p> + +<p>The youth pondered over the affair in silence for a few moments, +but desirous of satisfying the curiosity of the maiden, though on +a subject and in relation to one of whom he had sworn himself to +silence—wondering, at the same time, not less at the inquiry than the +knowledge which it conveyed, of that which he had locked up, as he +thought, in the recesses of his own bosom—was about to reply, when a +hurried step, and sudden noise from the upper apartment of the house, +warned them of the dangers of further delay. The maiden interrupted with +rapid tones the speech he was about to commence:—</p> + +<p>"Fly, sir—fly. There is no time to be lost. You have lingered too long +already. Do not hesitate longer—you have heard the determination of +Rivers—this disappointment will only make him more furious. Fly, then, +and speak not. Take the left road at the fork: it leads to the river. It +is the dullest, and if they pursue, they will be most likely to fall +into the other."</p> + +<p>"Farewell, then, my good, my protecting angel—I shall not forget +you—have no apprehensions for me—I have now but few for myself. Yet, +ere I go—" and he bent down, and before she was conscious of his +design, his lips were pressed warmly to her pale and beautiful forehead. +"Be not vexed—chide me not," he murmured—"regard me as a brother—if I +live I shall certainly become one. Farewell!"</p> + +<p>Leaping with a single bound to his saddle, he stood erect for a moment, +then vigorously applying his spurs, he had vanished in an instant from +the sight. She paused in the doorway until the sounds of his hurrying +progress had ceased to fall upon her ears; then, with a mournful spirit +and heavy step, slowly re-entered the apartment.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[251]<a name="page251" id="page251"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter20" id="chapter20">CHAPTER XX.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE OUTLAW AND HIS VICTIM.</h3> + + +<p>Lucy Munro re-entered the dwelling at a moment most inopportune. It was +not less her obvious policy than desire—prompted as well by the +necessity of escaping the notice and consequent suspicions of those whom +she had defrauded of their prey, as by a due sense of that delicate +propriety which belonged to her sex, and which her education, as the +reader will have conjectured, had taught her properly to estimate—that +made her now seek to avoid scrutiny or observation at the moment of her +return. Though the niece, and now under the sole direction and authority +of Munro, she was the child of one as little like that personage in +spirit and pursuit as may well be imagined. It is not necessary that we +should dwell more particularly upon this difference. It happened with +the two brothers, as many of us have discovered in other cases, that +their mental and moral make, though seemingly under the same tutorship, +was widely dissimilar. The elder Munro, at an early period in life, +broke through all restraints—defied all responsibilities—scorned all +human consequences—took no pride or pleasure in any of its domestic +associations—and was only known as a vicious profligate, with whom +nothing might be done in the way of restraint or reformation. When grown +to manhood, he suddenly left his parental home, and went, for a time, no +one could say whither. When heard of, it appeared from all accounts that +his licentiousness of habit had not deserted him: still, however, it had +not, as had been anticipated, led to any fearful or very pernicious +results. Years passed on, the parents died, and the brothers grew more +than ever separate; when, in different and remote communities, they each +took wives to themselves.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[252]<a name="page252" id="page252"></a></span> +The younger, Edgar Munro, the father of Lucy, grew prosperous in +business—for a season at least—and, until borne down by a rush of +unfavorable circumstances, he spared neither pains nor expense in the +culture of the young mind of that daughter whose fortunes are now +somewhat before us. Nothing which might tend in the slightest to her +personal improvement had been withheld; and the due feminine grace and +accomplishment which followed these cares fitted the maiden for the most +refined intellectual converse, and for every gentle association. She was +familiar with books; had acquired a large taste for letters; and a vein +of romantic enthusiasm, not uncommon to the southern temperament, and +which she possessed in a considerable degree, was not a little sharpened +and exaggerated by the works which fell into her hands.</p> + +<p>Tenderly loved and gently nurtured by her parents, it was at that period +in her life in which their presence and guardianship were most seriously +needed, that she became an orphan; and her future charge necessarily +devolved upon an uncle, between whom and her father, since their early +manhood, but little association of any kind had taken place. The one +looked upon the other as too licentious, if not criminally so, in his +habits and pursuits; he did not know their extent, or dream of their +character, or he had never doubted for an instant; while he, in turn, so +estimated, did not fail to consider and to style his more sedate brother +an inveterate and tedious proser; a dull sermonizer on feelings which he +knew nothing about, and could never understand—one who prosed on to the +end of the chapter, without charm or change, worrying all about him with +exhortations to which they yielded no regard.</p> + +<p>The parties were fairly quits, and there was no love lost between them. +They saw each other but seldom, and, when the surviving brother took up +his abode in the <i>new purchase</i>, as the Indian acquisitions of +modern times have been usually styled, he was lost sight of, for a time, +entirely, by his more staid and worthy kinsman.</p> + +<p>Still, Edgar Munro did not look upon his brother as utterly bad. A wild +indifference to social forms, and those staid customs which in the +estimation of society become virtues, was, in his idea, the most serious +error of which Walter had been guilty.<span class="pagenum">[253]<a name="page253" +id="page253"></a></span> In this thought he +persisted to the last, and did not so much feel the privations to which +his death must subject his child, in the belief and hope that his +brother would not only be able but willing to supply the loss.</p> + +<p>In one respect he was not mistaken. The afflictions which threw the +niece of Walter a dependant upon his bounty, and a charge upon his +attention, revived in some measure his almost smothered and in part +forgotten regards of kindred; and with a tolerably good grace he came +forward to the duty, and took the orphan to the asylum, such as it was, +to which his brother's death-bed prayer had recommended her. At first, +there was something to her young mind savoring of the romance to which +she had rather given herself up, in the notion of a woodland cottage, +and rural sports, and wild vines gadding fantastically around secluded +bowers; but the reality—the sad reality of such a home and its +associations—pressed too soon and heavily upon her to permit her much +longer to entertain or encourage the dream of that glad fancy in which +she originally set out.</p> + +<p>The sphere to which she was transferred, it was soon evident, was +neither grateful to the heart nor suited to the mind whose education had +been such as hers; and the spirit of the young maiden, at all times +given rather to a dreamy melancholy than to any very animated impulses, +put on, in its new abiding-place, a garb of increased severity, which at +certain moments indicated more of deep and settled misanthropy than any +mere constitutionality of habit.</p> + +<p>Munro was not at all times rude of speech and manner; and, when he +pleased, knew well how so to direct himself as to sooth such a +disposition. He saw, and in a little while well understood, the temper +of his niece; and, with a consideration under all circumstances rather +creditable, he would most usually defer, with a ready accommodation of +his own, to her peculiarities. He was pleased and proud of her +accomplishments; and from being thus proud, so far as such an emotion +could consistently comport with a life and a licentiousness such as his, +he had learned, in reality, to love the object who could thus awaken a +sentiment so much beyond those inculcated by all his other habits. To +her he exhibited none of the harsh manner which marked his intercourse +with all other persons; and in his heart<span class="pagenum">[254]<a name="page254" +id="page254"></a></span> sincerely regretted, +and sought to avoid the necessity which, as we have elsewhere seen, had +made him pledge her hand to Rivers—a disposition of it which he knew +was no less galling and painful to her than it was irksome yet +unavoidable to himself.</p> + +<p>Unhappily, however, for these sentiments, he was too much under the +control and at the mercy of his colleague to resist or refuse his +application for her person; and though for a long time baffling, under +various pretences, the pursuit of that ferocious ruffian, he felt that +the time was at hand, unless some providential interference willed it +otherwise, when the sacrifice would be insisted on and must be made; or +probably her safety, as well as his own, might necessarily be +compromised. He knew too well the character of Rivers, and was too much +in his power, to risk much in opposition to his will and desires: and, +as we have already heard him declare, from having been at one time, and +in some respects, the tutor, he had now become, from the operation of +circumstances, the mere creature and instrument of that unprincipled +wretch.</p> + +<p>Whatever may have been the crimes of Munro beyond those already +developed—known to and in the possession of Rivers—and whatever the +nature of those ties, as well of league as of mutual risk, which bound +the parties together in such close affinity, it is not necessary that we +should state, nor, indeed, might it be altogether within our compass or +capacity to do so. Their connection had, we doubt not, many +ramifications; and was strengthened, there is little question, by a +thousand mutual necessities, resulting from their joint and +frequently-repeated violations of the laws of the land. They were both +members of an irregular club, known by its constituents in Georgia as +the most atrocious criminal that ever offended society or defied its +punishments; and the almost masonic mysteries and bond which +distinguished the members provided them with a pledge of security which +gave an added impetus to their already reckless vindictiveness against +man and humanity. In a country, the population of which, few and far +between, is spread over a wide, wild, and little-cultivated territory, +the chances of punishment for crime, rarely realized, scarcely +occasioned a thought among offenders; and invited, by the impunity which +marked their atrocities, their reiterated commission. We have +digressed,<span class="pagenum">[255]<a name="page255" id="page255"></a></span> +however, somewhat from our narrative, but thus much +was necessary to the proper understanding of the portions immediately +before us, and to the consideration of which we now return.</p> + +<p>The moment was inopportune, as we have already remarked, at which Lucy +Munro endeavored to effect her return to her own apartment. She was +compelled, for the attainment of this object, to cross directly over the +great hall, from the room adjoining and back of which the little +shed-room projected in which she lodged. This hall was immediately +entered upon from the passage-way, leading into the court in front, and +but a few steps were necessary for its attainment. The hall had but a +single outlet besides that through which she now entered, and this led +at once into the adjoining apartment, through which only could she make +her way to her own. Unhappily, this passage also contained the stairway +flight which led into the upper story of the building; and, in her haste +to accomplish her return, she had penetrated too far to effect her +retreat, when a sudden change of direction in the light which Rivers +carried sufficed to develop the form of that person, at the foot of the +stairs, followed by Munro, just returning from the attempt which she had +rendered fruitless, and now approaching directly toward her.</p> + +<p>Conscious of the awkwardness of her situation, and with a degree of +apprehension which now for the first time seemed to paralyze her +faculties, she endeavored, but with some uncertainty and hesitation of +manner, to gain the shelter of the wall which stretched dimly beside +her; a hope not entirely vain, had she pursued it decisively, since the +lamp which Rivers carried gave forth but a feeble ray, barely adequate +to the task of guiding the footsteps of those who employed it. But the +glance of the outlaw, rendered, it would seem, more malignantly +penetrating from his recent disappointment, detected the movement; and +though, from the imperfectness of the light, uncertain of the object, +with a ready activity, the result of a conviction that the +long-sought-for victim was now before him, he sprang forward, flinging +aside the lamp as he did so, and grasping with one hand and with rigid +gripe the almost-fainting girl: the other, brandishing a bared knife, +was uplifted to strike, when her shrieks arrested the blow.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[256]<a name="page256" id="page256"></a></span> +Disappointed in not finding the object he sought, the fury of +the outlaw was rather heightened than diminished when he discovered that +his arm only encircled a young and terrified female; and his teeth were +gnashed in token of the bitter wrath in his bosom, and angry curses came +from his lips in the undisguised vexation of his spirit. In the +meantime, Munro advanced, and the lamp having been dashed out in the +onset of Rivers, they were still ignorant of the character of their +prisoner, until, having somewhat recovered from her first alarm, and +struggling for deliverance from the painful gripe which secured her arm, +she exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Unhand me, sir—unhand me, on the instant. What mean you by this +violence?"</p> + +<p>"Ha! it is you then, fair mistress, that have done this work. It is you +that have meddled in the concerns of men, prying into their plans, and +arresting their execution. By my soul, I had not thought you so ready or +so apt; but how do you reconcile it to your notions of propriety to be +abroad at an hour which is something late for a coy damsel? Munro, you +must look to these rare doings, or they will work you some difficulty in +time to come."</p> + +<p>Munro advanced and addressed her with some sternness—"Why are you +abroad, Lucy, and at this hour? why this disquietude, and what has +alarmed you?—why have you left your chamber?"</p> + +<p>The uncle did not obtain, nor indeed did he appear to expect, any answer +to his inquiries. In the meanwhile, Rivers held possession of her arm, +and she continued fruitlessly struggling for some moments in his grasp, +referring at length to the speaker for that interference which he now +appeared slow to manifest.</p> + +<p>"Oh, sir! will you suffer me to be treated thus—will you not make this +man undo his hold, and let me retire to my chamber?"</p> + +<p>"You should have been there long before this, Lucy," was the reply, in a +grave, stern accent. "You must not complain, if, found thus, at +midnight, in a part of the building remote from your chamber, you should +be liable to suspicions of meddling with things which should not concern +you."</p> + +<p>"Come, mistress—pray answer to this. Where have you +<span class="pagenum">[257]<a name="page257" id="page257"></a></span> been +to-night—what doing—why abroad? Have you been eavesdropping—telling +tales—hatching plots?"</p> + +<p>The natural ferocity of Rivers's manner was rather heightened by the +tone which he assumed. The maiden, struggling still for the release for +which her spirit would not suffer her to implore, exclaimed:—</p> + +<p>"Insolent! By what right do you ask me these or any questions? Unhand +me, coward—unhand me. You are strong and brave only where the feeble +are your opponents."</p> + +<p>But he maintained his grasp with even more rigidity than before; and she +turned towards the spot at which stood her uncle, but he had left the +apartment for a light.</p> + +<p>"Your speech is bold, fair mistress, and ill suits my temper. You must +be more chary of your language, or you will provoke me beyond my own +strength of restraint. You are my property—my slave, if I so please it, +and all your appeals to your uncle will be of no effect. Hark you! you +have done that to-night for which I am almost tempted to put this dagger +into your heart, woman as you are! You have come between me and my +victim—between me and my enemy. I had summed up all my wrongs, +intending their settlement to-night. You have thwarted all my hopes—you +have defrauded me of all my anticipations. What is it prevents me from +putting you to death on the spot? Nothing. I have no fears, no loves, to +hold and keep me back. I live but for revenge, and that which stays and +would prevent me from its enjoyment, must also become its victim."</p> + +<p>At this moment, Munro returned with a lamp. The affrighted girl again +appealed to him, but he heeded her not. He soon left the passage, and +the outlaw proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"You love this youth—nay, shrink not back; let not your head droop in +shame; he is worthy of your love, and for this, among other things, I +hate him. He is worthy of the love of others, and for this, too, I hate +him. Fool that you are, he cares not for you. 'Spite of all your aid +to-night, he will not remember you to-morrow—he has no thought of +you—his hope is built upon—he is wedded to another.</p> + +<p>"Hear me, then! your life is in my hands, and at my mercy. There are +none present who could interfere and arrest the blow. +<span class="pagenum">[258]<a name="page258" id="page258"></a></span> My dagger +is even now upon your bosom—do you not feel it? At a word—a single +suggestion of my thought—it performs its office, and for this night's +defeat I am half revenged. You may arrest my arm—you may procure your +release—even more—you may escape from the bondage of that union with +me for which your uncle stands pledged, if you please."</p> + +<p>"Speak—say—how!" was the eager exclamation of the maiden when this +last suggestion met her ears.</p> + +<p>"Put me on the scent—say on what route have you sent this boy, that I +may realize the revenge I so often dream of."</p> + +<p>"Never, never, as I hope to live. I would rather you should strike me +dead on the spot."</p> + +<p>"Why, so I will," he exclaimed furiously, and his arm rose and the +weapon descended, but he arrested the stroke as it approached her.</p> + +<p>"No! not yet. There will be time enough for this, and you will perhaps +be more ready and resigned when I have got rid of this youth in whom you +are so much interested. I need not disguise my purpose to you—you must +have known it, when conspiring for its defeat; and now, Lucy, be +assured, I shall not slumber in pursuit of him. I may be delayed, my +revenge may be protracted, but I shall close with him at last. With +holding the clue which you may unfold, can not serve him very greatly; +and having it in your hands, you may serve yourself and me. Take my +offer—put me on his route, so that he shall not escape me, and be free +henceforward from pursuit, or, as you phrase it, from persecution of +mine."</p> + +<p>"You offer highly, very highly, Guy Rivers, and I should be tempted to +anything, save this. But I have not taken this step to undo it. I shall +give you no clue, no assistance which may lead to crime and to the +murder of the innocent. Release my hand, sir, and suffer me to retire."</p> + +<p>"You have the means of safety and release in your own hands—a single +condition complied with, and, so far as I am concerned, they are yours. +Where is he gone—where secreted! What is the route which you have +advised him to take? Speak, and to the point, Lucy Munro, for I may not +longer be trifled with."</p> + +<p>"He is safe, and by this time, I hope, beyond your reach. I +<span class="pagenum">[259]<a name="page259" id="page259"></a></span> tell +you thus much, because I feel that it can not yield you more +satisfaction than it yields to me."</p> + +<p>"It is in vain, woman, that you would trifle with and delay me; he can +not escape me in the end. All these woods are familiar to me, in night +as in day, as the apartment in which we stand; and towards this boy I +entertain a feeling which will endue me with an activity and energy as +unshrinking in the pursuit as the appetite for revenge is keen which +gives them birth and impulse. I hate him with a sleepless, an +unforgiving hate, that can not be quieted. He has dishonored me in the +presence of these men—he has been the instrument through which I bear +this badge, this brand-stamp on my cheek—he has come between my passion +and its object—nay, droop not—I have no reference now to you, though +you, too, have been won by his insidious attractions, while he gives you +no thought in return—he has done more than this, occasioned more than +this, and wonder not that I had it in my heart at one moment to-night to +put my dagger into your bosom, since through you it had been defrauded +of its object. But why tremble—do you not tell me he is safe?"</p> + +<p>"I do! and for this reason I tremble. I tremble with joy, not fear. I +rejoice that through my poor help he is safe. I did it all. I sought +him—hear me, Guy Rivers, for in his safety I feel strong to speak—I +sought him even in his chamber, and felt no shame—I led the way—I +guided him through all the avenues of the house—when you ascended the +stairs we stood over it in the closet which is at its head. We beheld +your progress—saw, and counted every step you took; heard every word +you uttered; and more than once, when your fiend soul spoke through your +lips, in horrible threatenings, my hand arrested the weapon with which +the youth whom you now seek would have sent you to your long account, +with all your sins upon your head. I saved you from his blow; not +because you deserved to live, but because, at that moment, you were too +little prepared to die."</p> + +<p>It would be difficult to imagine—certainly impossible to describe, the +rage of Rivers, as, with an excited spirit, the young girl, still +trembling, as she expressed it, from joy, not fear, avowed all the +particulars of Colleton's escape. She <span class="pagenum">[260]<a name="page260" +id="page260"></a></span>proceeded with much of the +fervor and manner of one roused into all the inspiration of a holy +defiance of danger:—</p> + +<p>"Wonder not, therefore, that I tremble—my soul is full of joy at his +escape. I heed not the sneer and the sarcasm which is upon your lips and +in your eyes. I went boldly and confidently even into the chamber of the +youth—I aroused him from his slumbers—I defied, at that moment of +peril, what were far worse to me than your suspicions—I defied such as +might have been his. I was conscious of no sin—no improper thought—and +I called upon God to protect and to sanction me in what I had +undertaken. He has done so, and I bless him for the sanction."</p> + +<p>She sunk upon her knees as she spoke, and her lips murmured and parted +as if in prayer, while the tears—tears of gladness—streamed warmly and +abundantly from her eyes. The rage of the outlaw grew momently darker +and less governable. The white foam collected about his mouth—while his +hands, though still retaining their gripe upon hers, trembled almost as +much as her own. He spoke in broken and bitter words.</p> + +<p>"And may God curse you for it! You have dared much, Lucy Munro, this +hour. You have bearded a worse fury than the tiger thirsting after +blood. What madness prompts you to this folly? You have heard me avow my +utter, uncontrollable hatred of this man—my determination, if possible, +to destroy him, and yet you interpose. You dare to save him in my +defiance. You teach him our designs, and labor to thwart them yourself. +Hear me, girl! you know me well—you know I never threaten without +execution. I can understand how it is that a spirit, feeling at this +moment as does your own, should defy death. But, bethink you—is there +nothing in your thought which is worse than death, from the terrors of +which, the pure mind, however fortified by heroic resolution, must still +shrink and tremble? Beware, then, how you chafe me. Say where the youth +has gone, and in this way retrieve, if you can, the error which taught +you to connive at his escape."</p> + +<p>"I know not what you mean, and have no fears of anything you can do. On +this point I feel secure, and bid you defiance. To think now, that, +having chiefly effected the escape of the<span class="pagenum">[261]<a name="page261" +id="page261"></a></span> youth, I would place +him again within your power, argues a degree of stupidity in me that is +wantonly insulting. I tell you he has fled, by this time, beyond your +reach. I say no more. It is enough that he is in safety; before a word +of mine puts him in danger, I'll perish by your hands, or any hands."</p> + +<p>"Then shall you perish, fool!" cried the ruffian; and his hand, hurried +by the ferocious impulse of his rage, was again uplifted, when, in her +struggles at freedom, a new object met his sight in the chain and +portrait which Ralph had flung about her neck, and which, now falling +from her bosom, arrested his attention, and seemed to awaken some +recognition in his mind. His hold relaxed upon her arm, and with eager +haste he seized the portrait, tearing it away with a single wrench from +the rich chain to which it was appended, and which now in broken +fragments was strewed upon the floor.</p> + +<p>Lucy sprang towards him convulsively, and vainly endeavored at its +recovery. Rivers broke the spring, and his eyes gazed with serpent-like +fixedness upon the exquisitely beautiful features which it developed. +His whole appearance underwent a change. The sternness had departed from +his face which now put on an air of abstraction and wandering, not +usually a habit with it. He gazed long and fixedly upon the portrait, +unheeding the efforts of the girl to obtain it, and muttering at +frequent intervals detached sentences, having little dependence upon one +another:—</p> + +<p>"Ay—it is she," he exclaimed—"true to the life—bright, beautiful, +young, innocent—and I—But let me not think!"—</p> + +<p>Then turning to the maid—</p> + +<p>"Fond fool—see you the object of adoration with him whom you so +unprofitably adore. He loves <i>her</i>, girl—she, whom I—but why +should I tell it you? is it not enough that we have both loved and loved +in vain; and, in my revenge, you too shall enjoy yours."</p> + +<p>"I have nothing to revenge, Guy Rivers—nothing for you, above all +others, to revenge. Give me the miniature; I have it in trust, and it +must not go out of my possession."</p> + +<p>She clung to him as she spoke, fruitlessly endeavoring at the recovery +of that which he studiously kept from her reach. He parried her efforts +for a while with something of <span class="pagenum">[262]<a name="page262" +id="page262"></a></span>forbearance; but ere long his +original temper returned, and he exclaimed, with all the air of the +demon:—</p> + +<p>"Why will you tempt me, and why longer should I trifle? You cannot have +the picture—it belongs, or should belong, as well as its original, to +me. My concern is now with the robber from whom you obtained it. Will +you not say upon what route he went? Will you not guide me—and, +remember well—there are some terrors greater to your mind than any +threat of death. Declare, for the last time—what road he took."</p> + +<p>The maiden was still, and showed no sign of reply. Her eye wandered—her +spirit was in prayer. She was alone with a ruffian, irresponsible and +reckless, and she had many fears.</p> + +<p>"Will you not speak?" he cried—"then you must hear. Disclose the fact, +Lucy—say, what is the road, or what the course you have directed for +this youth's escape, or—mark me! I have you in my power—my fullest +power—with nothing to restrain my passion or my power, and—"</p> + +<p>She struggled desperately to release herself from his grasp, but he +renewed it with all his sinewy strength, enforcing, with a vicelike +gripe, the consciousness, in her mind, of the futility of all her +physical efforts.</p> + +<p>"Do you not hear!" he said. "Do you comprehend me."</p> + +<p>"Do your worst!" she cried. "Kill me! I defy your power and your +malice!"</p> + +<p>"Ha! but do you defy my passions. Hark ye, if ye fear not death, there +is something worse than death to so romantic a damsel, which shall teach +ye fear. Obey me, girl—report the route taken by this fugitive, or by +all that is black in hell or bright in heaven, I—"</p> + +<p>And with a whisper, he hissed the concluding and cruel threat in the +ears of the shuddering and shrinking girl. With a husky horror in her +voice, she cried out:—</p> + +<p>"You dare not! monster as you are, you dare not!" then shrieking, at the +full height of her voice—"Save me, uncle! save me! save me!"</p> + +<p>"Save you! It is he that dooms you! He has given you up to any fate that +I shall decree!"</p> + +<p>"Liar! away! I defy you. You dare not, ruffian! Your foul threat is but +meant to frighten me."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[263]<a name="page263" id="page263"></a></span> +The creeping terrors of her voice, as she spoke, contradicted +the tenor of her speech. Her fears—quite as extreme as he sought to +make them—were fully evinced in her trembling accents.</p> + +<p>"Frighten you!" answered the ruffian. "Frighten you! why, not so +difficult a matter either! But it is as easy to do, as to threaten—to +make you feel as to make you fear—and why not? why should you not +become the thing at once for which you have been long destined? Once +certainly mine, Lucy Munro, you will abandon the silly notion that you +can be anything to Ralph Colleton! Come!—"</p> + +<p>Her shrieks answered him. He clapped his handkerchief upon her mouth.</p> + +<p>"Uncle! uncle! save me!"</p> + +<p>She was half stifled—she felt breath and strength failing. Her brutal +assailant was hauling her away, with a force to which she could no +longer oppose resistance; and with a single half-ejaculated prayer—"Oh, +God! be merciful!" she sunk senselessly at his feet, even as a falling +corse.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[264]<a name="page264" id="page264"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter21" id="chapter21">CHAPTER XXI.</a></h2> + +<h3>"THOU SHALT DO NO MURDER!"</h3> + + +<p>Even at this moment, Munro entered the apartment. He came not a moment +too soon. Rivers had abused his opportunity thus far; and it is not to +be doubted that he would have forborne none of the advantages which his +brute strength afforded him over the feeble innocent, were it not for +the interposition of the uncle. He <i>had</i> lied, when he had asserted +to the girl the sanction of the uncle for his threatened crime. Munro +was willing that his niece should become the <i>wife</i> of the outlaw, +and barely willing to consent even to this; but for anything less than +this—base as he was—he would sooner have braved every issue with the +ruffian, and perished himself in defence of the girl's virtue. He had +his pride of family, strange to say, though nursed and nestled in a +bosom which could boast no other virtue.</p> + +<p>The moment he saw the condition of Lucy, with the grasp of Rivers still +upon her, he tore her away with the strength of a giant.</p> + +<p>"What have you been doing, Guy?"</p> + +<p>His keen and suspicious glance of eye conveyed the question more +significantly.</p> + +<p>"Nothing! she is a fool only!"</p> + +<p>"And you have been a brute! Beware! I tell you, Guy Rivers, if you but +ruffle the hair of this child in violence, I will knife you, as soon as +I would my worst enemy."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! I only threatened her to make her confess where she had sent +Colleton or hidden him."</p> + +<p>"Ay, but there are some threats, Guy, that call for throat-cutting. Look +to it. We know each other; and you know that, though I'm willing you +should <i>marry</i> Lucy, I'll not stand<span class="pagenum">[265]<a name="page265" +id="page265"></a></span> by and see you harm +her; and, with my permission you lay no hands on her, until you are +married."</p> + +<p>"Very well!" answered the ruffian sullenly, and turning away, "see that +you get the priest soon ready. I'll wait upon neither man nor woman over +long! You sha'n't trifle with me much longer."</p> + +<p>To this speech Munro made no answer. He devoted himself to his still +insensible niece, whom he raised carefully from the floor, and laid her +upon a rude settee that stood in the apartment. She meanwhile remained +unconscious of his care, which was limited to fanning her face and +sprinkling water upon it.</p> + +<p>"Why not carry her to her chamber—put her in bed, and let us be off?" +said Rivers.</p> + +<p>"Wait awhile!" was the answer.</p> + +<p>The girl had evidently received a severe shock. Munro shook his head, +and looked at Rivers angrily.</p> + +<p>"See to it, Guy, if any harm comes to her."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw!" said the other, "she is recovering now."</p> + +<p>He was right. The eyes of the sufferer unclosed, but they were +vacant—they lacked all intelligence. Munro pulled a flask of spirits +from his pocket, and poured some into her lips. They were livid, and her +cheeks of ashy paleness.</p> + +<p>"She recovers—see!"</p> + +<p>The teeth opened and shut together again with a sudden spasmodic energy. +The eyes began to receive light. Her breathing increased.</p> + +<p>"She will do now," muttered Munro. "She will recover directly. Get +yourself ready, Guy, and prepare to mount, while I see that she is put +to bed. It's now a necessity that we should push this stranger to the +wall, and silence him altogether. I don't oppose you now, seeing that +we've got to do it."</p> + +<p>"Ay," quoth Rivers, somewhat abstractedly—for he was a person of +changing and capricious moods—"ay! ay! it has to be done! Well! we will +do it!—as for her!"</p> + +<p>Here he drew nigh and grasped the hand of the only half-conscious +damsel, and stared earnestly in her face. Her eyes opened largely and +wildly upon him, then closed again; a shudder passed over her form, and +her hand was convulsively withdrawn from his grasp.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[266]<a name="page266" id="page266"></a></span> +"Come, come, let her alone, and be off," said Munro. "As long as +you are here, she'll be in a fit! See to the horses. There's no use to +wait. You little know Lucy Munro if you reckon to get anything out of +her. You may strike till doomsday at her bosom, but, where she's fixed +in principle, she'll perish before she yields. Nothing can move her when +she's resolved. In that she's the very likeness of her father, who was +like a rock when he had sworn a thing."</p> + +<p>"Ha! but the rock may be split, and the woman's will must be made to +yield to a superior. I could soon—"</p> + +<p>He took her hand once more in his iron grasp.</p> + +<p>"Let her go, Guy!" said Munro sternly. "She shall have no rough usage +while I'm standing by. Remember that! It's true, she's meddled in +matters that didn't concern her, but there is an excuse. It was +womanlike to do so, and I can't blame her. She's a true woman, Guy—all +heart and soul—as noble a young thing as ever broke the world's +bread—too noble to live with such as we, Guy; and I only wish I had so +much man's strength as to be worthy of living with such as she."</p> + +<p>"A plague on her nobility! It will cut all our throats, or halter us; +and your methodistical jargon only encourages her. Noble or not, she has +been cunning enough to listen to our private conversation; has found out +all our designs; has blabbed everything to this young fellow, and made +him master of our lives. Yes! would you believe it of her nobleness and +delicacy, that she has this night visited him in his very chamber?"</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"Yes! indeed! and she avows it boldly."</p> + +<p>"Ah! if she avows it, there's no harm!"</p> + +<p>"What! no harm?"</p> + +<p>"I mean to <i>her</i>. She's had no bad purpose in going to his chamber. +I see it all!"</p> + +<p>"Well, and is it not quite enough to drive a man mad, to think that the +best designs of a man are to be thwarted, and his neck put in danger, by +the meddling of a thing like this? She has blabbed all our secrets—nay, +made him listen to them—for, even while we ascended the stairs to his +chamber, they were concealed in the closet above the stairway, watched +all our movements, and heard every word we had to say."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[267]<a name="page267" id="page267"></a></span> +"And you <i>would</i> be talking," retorted the landlord. The +other glared at him ferociously, but proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"I heard the sound—their breathing—I told you at the time that I heard +something stirring in the closet. But you had your answer. For an +experienced man, Munro, you are duller than an owl by daylight."</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid so," answered the other coolly. "But it's too late now for +talk. We must be off and active, if we would be doing anything. I've +been out to the stable, and find that the young fellow has taken off his +horse. He has been cool enough about it, for saddle and bridle are both +gone. He's had time enough to gear up in proper style, while you were so +eloquent along the stairs. I reckon there was something to scare him off +at last, however, for here's his dirk—I suppose it's his—which I found +at the stable-door. He must have dropped it when about to mount."</p> + +<p>"'Tis his!" said Rivers, seizing and examining it. "It is the weapon he +drew on me at the diggings."</p> + +<p>"He has the start of us—"</p> + +<p>"But knows nothing of the woods. It is not too late. Let us be off. Lucy +is recovering, and you can now leave her in safety. She will find the +way to her chamber—or to <i>some</i> chamber. It seems that she has no +scruples in going to any."</p> + +<p>"Stop that, Guy! Don't slander the girl."</p> + +<p>"Pooh! are you going to set up for a sentimentalist?"</p> + +<p>"No: but if you can't learn to stop talking, I shall set you down as a +fool! For a man of action, you use more of an unnecessary tongue than +any living man I ever met. For God's sake, sink the lawyer when you're +out of court! It will be high time to brush up for a speech when you are +in the dock, and pleading with the halter dangling in your eyes. Oh, +don't glare upon me! He who flings about his arrows by the handful +mustn't be angry if some of them are flung back."</p> + +<p>"Are you ready?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, ready!—She's opening her eyes. We can leave her now.—What's the +course?"</p> + +<p>"We can determine in the open air. He will probably go west, and will +take one or other of the two traces at the fork, and his hoofs will soon +tell us which. Our horses are refreshed<span class="pagenum">[268]<a name="page268" +id="page268"></a></span> by this, and are in +readiness. You have pistols: see to the flints and priming. There must +be no scruples now. The matter has gone quite too far for quiet, and +though the affair was all mine at first, it is now as perfectly yours."</p> + +<p>As Rivers spoke, Munro drew forth his pistols and looked carefully at +the priming. The sharp click of the springing steel, as the pan was +thrown open, now fully aroused Lucy to that consciousness which had been +only partial in the greater part of this dialogue. Springing to her feet +with an eagerness and energy that was quite astonishing after her late +prostration, she rushed forward to her uncle, and looked appealingly +into his face, though she did not speak, while her hand grasped +tenaciously his arm.</p> + +<p>"What means the girl?" exclaimed Munro, now apprehensive of some mental +derangement. She spoke, with a deep emphasis, but a single sentence:—</p> + +<p>"It is written—thou shalt do no murder!"</p> + +<p>The solemn tone—the sudden, the almost fierce action—the peculiar +abruptness of the apostrophe—the whitely-robed, the almost spiritual +elevation of figure—all so dramatic—combined necessarily to startle +and surprise; and, for a few moments, no answer was returned to the +unlooked-for speech. But the effect could not be permanent upon minds +made familiar with the thousand forms of human and strong energies. +Munro, after a brief pause, replied—</p> + +<p>"Who speaks of murder, girl? Why this wild, this uncalled-for +exhortation?"</p> + +<p>"Not wild, not uncalled-for, uncle, but most necessary. Wherefore would +you pursue the youth, arms in your hands, hatred in your heart, and +horrible threatenings upon your lips? Why put yourself into the hands of +this fierce monster, as the sharp instrument to do his vengeance and +gratify his savage malignity against the young and the gentle? If you +would do no murder, not so he. He will do it—he will make you do it, +but he will have it done. Approach me not—approach me not—let me +perish, rather! O God—my uncle, let him come not near me, if you would +not see me die upon the spot!" she exclaimed, in the most terrified +manner, and with a shuddering horror, as Rivers, toward the conclusion +of her speech, had approached<span class="pagenum">[269]<a name="page269" +id="page269"></a></span> her with the, view to an answer. +To her uncle she again addressed herself, with an energy which gave +additional emphasis to her language:—</p> + +<p>"Uncle—you are my father now—you will not forget the dying prayer of a +brother! My prayer is his. Keep that man from me—let me not see +him—let him come not near me with his polluted and polluting breath! +You know not what he is—you know him but as a stabber—as a hater—as a +thief! But were my knowledge yours—could I utter in your ears the foul +language, the fiend-threatenings which his accursed lips uttered in +mine!—but no—save me from him is all I ask—protect the poor +orphan—the feeble, the trampled child of your brother! Keep me from the +presence of that bad man!"</p> + +<p>As she spoke, she sank at the feet of the person she addressed, her +hands were clasped about his knees, and she lay there shuddering and +shrinking, until he lifted her up in his arms. Somewhat softened by his +kindness of manner, the pressure upon her brain of that agony was +immediately relieved, and a succession of tears and sobs marked the +diminished influence of her terrors. But, as Rivers attempted something +in reply, she started—</p> + +<p>"Let me go—let me not hear him speak! His breath is pollution—his +words are full of foul threats and dreadful thoughts. If you knew all +that I know—if you feared what I fear, uncle—you would nigh slay him +on the spot."</p> + +<p>This mental suffering of his niece was not without its influence upon +her uncle, who, as we have said before, had a certain kind and degree of +pride—pride of character we may almost call it—not inconsistent with +pursuits and a condition of life wild and wicked even as his. His eye +sternly settled upon that of his companion, as, without a word, he bore +the almost lifeless girl into the chamber of his wife, who, aroused by +the clamor, had now and then looked forth upon the scene, but was too +much the creature of timidity to venture entirely amid the disputants. +Placing her under the charge of the old lady, Munro uttered a few +consolatory words in Lucy's ear, but she heard him not. Her thoughts +evidently wandered to other than selfish considerations at that moment, +and, as he left the chamber, she raised her finger impressively:—</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[270]<a name="page270" id="page270"></a></span> +"Do no murder, uncle! let him not persuade you into crime; break +off from a league which compels you to brook a foul insult to those you +are bound in duty to protect."</p> + +<p>"Would I could!" was his muttered sentence as he left the chamber. He +felt the justice of the counsel, but wore the bewildered expression of +countenance of one conscious of what is right, but wanting courage for +its adoption.</p> + +<p>"She has told you no foolish story of me?" was the somewhat anxious +speech of Rivers upon the reappearance of the landlord.</p> + +<p>"She has said nothing in plain words, Guy Rivers—but yet quite enough +to make me doubt whether you, and not this boy we pursue, should not +have my weapon in your throat. But beware! The honor of that child of +Edgar Munro is to me what would have been my own; and let me find that +you have gone a tittle beyond the permitted point, in speech or action, +and we cut asunder. I shall then make as little bones of putting a +bullet through your ribs as into those of the wild bullock of the hills. +<i>I</i> am what I am: my hope is that <i>she</i> may always be the pure +creature which she now is, if it were only that she might pray for me."</p> + +<p>"She has mistaken me, Munro—"</p> + +<p>"Say no more, Guy. She has not <i>much</i> mistaken you, or I have. Let +us speak no more on this subject; you know my mind, and will be +advised.—Let us now be off. The horses are in readiness, and waiting, +and a good spur will bring us up with the game. The youth, you say, has +money about him, a gold watch, and—"</p> + +<p>The more savage ruffian grinned as he listened to these words. They +betrayed the meaner motives of action in the case of the companion, who +could acknowledge the argument of cupidity, while insensible to that of +revenge.</p> + +<p>"Ay! enough to pay you for your share in the performance Do your part +well, and you shall have all that he carries—gold, watch, trinkets, +horse, everything. I shall be quite content to take—his life! Are you +satisfied? Are there any scruples now?"</p> + +<p>"No! none! I have no scruples! But to cut a throat, or blow out a man's +liver with a brace of bullets, is a work that<span class="pagenum">[271]<a name="page271" +id="page271"></a></span> should be well +paid for. The performance is by no means so agreeable that one should +seek to do it for nothing."</p> + +<p>Guy Rivers fancied himself a nobler animal than his companion, as he +felt that he needed not the mercenary motive for the performance of the +murderous action.</p> + +<p>They were mounted, the horses being ready for them in the rear of the +building.</p> + +<p>"Round the hollow. We'll skirt the village, and not go through it," said +Munro. "We may gain something on the route to the fork of the roads by +taking the blind track by the red hill."</p> + +<p>"As you will. Go ahead!"</p> + +<p>A few more words sufficed to arrange the route, and regulate their +pursuit, and a few moments sufficed to send them off in full speed over +the stony road, both with a common and desperate purpose, but each moved +by arguments and a passion of his own.</p> + +<p>In her lonely chamber, Lucy Munro, now recovered to acutest +consciousness, heard the tread of their departing hoofs; and, clasping +her hands, she sank upon her knees, yielding up her whole soul to silent +prayer. The poor girl never slept that night.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[272]<a name="page272" id="page272"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter22" id="chapter22">CHAPTER XXII.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE BLOODY DEED.</h3> + + +<p>Let us leave the outlaws to their progress for a brief space, while we +gather up and pursue for awhile some other clues of our story.</p> + +<p>We have witnessed the separation of Mark Forrester from his sweetheart, +at the place of trysting. The poor fellow had recovered some of his +confidence in himself and fortune, and was now prepared to go forth with +a new sentiment of hope within his bosom. The sting was in a degree +taken from his conscience—his elastic and sanguine temperament +contributed to this—and with renewed impulses to adventure, and with +new anticipations of the happiness that we all dream to find in life; +the erring, but really honest fellow, rode fearlessly through the dim +forests, without needing more auspicious lights than those of the +kindling moon and stars. The favor of old Allen, the continued love of +Kate, the encouragements of young Colleton, his own feeling of the +absence of any malice in his heart, even while committing his crime, and +the farther fact that he was well-mounted, and speeding from the region +where punishment threatened—all these were influences which conspired +to lessen, in his mind, the griefs of his present privation, and the +lonely emotions which naturally promised to accompany him in his +solitary progress.</p> + +<p>His course lay for the great Southwest—the unopened forests, and mighty +waters of the Mississippi valley. Here, he was to begin a new life. +Unknown, he would shake off the fears which his crime necessarily +inspired. Respited from death and danger, he would atone for it by +penitence and honest works. Kate Allen should be his solace, and there +would be young and lovely<span class="pagenum">[273]<a name="page273" +id="page273"></a></span> children smiling around his board. +Such were the natural dreams of the young and sanguine exile.</p> + +<p>"But who shall ride from his destiny?" saith the proverb. The wing of +the bird is no security against the shaft of the fowler, and the helmet +and the shield keep not away the draught that is poisoned. He who wears +the greaves, the gorget, and the coat-of-mail, holds defiance to the +storm of battle; but he drinks and dies in the hall of banqueting. What +matters it, too, though the eagle soars and screams among the clouds, +halfway up to heaven—flaunting his proud pinions, and glaring with +audacious glance in the very eye of the sun—death waits for him in the +quiet of his own eyry, nestling with his brood. These are the goodly +texts of the Arabian sage, in whose garden-tree, so much was he the +beloved of heaven, the birds came and nightly sang for him those solemn +truths—those lessons of a perfect wisdom—which none but the favored of +the Deity are ever permitted to hear. They will find a sufficient +commentary in the fortune of the rider whom we have just beheld setting +out from his parting with his mistress, on his way of new adventure—his +heart comparatively light, and his spirit made buoyant with the throng +of pleasant fancies which continually gathered in his thought.</p> + +<p>The interview between Forrester and his mistress had been somewhat +protracted, and his route from her residence to the road in which we +find him, being somewhat circuitous, the night had waned considerably +ere he had made much progress. He now rode carelessly, as one who +mused—his horse, not urged by its rider, became somewhat careful of his +vigor, and his gait was moderated much from that which had marked his +outset. He had entered upon the trace through a thick wood, when the +sound of other hoofs came down upon the wind; not to his ears, for, +swallowed up in his own meditations, his senses had lost much of their +wonted acuteness. He had not been long gone from the point of the road +in which we found him, when his place upon the same route was supplied +by the pursuing party, Rivers and Munro. They were both admirably +mounted, and seemed little to regard, in their manner of using them, the +value of the good beasts which they bestrode—driving them as they did, +resolutely over fallen trees and <span class="pagenum">[274]<a name="page274" +id="page274"></a></span>jutting rocks, their sides +already dashed with foam, and the flanks bloody with the repeated +application of the rowel. It was soon evident that farther pursuit at +such a rate would be impossible: and Munro, as well for the protection +of the horses, as with a knowledge of this necessity, insisted upon a +more moderated and measured pace.</p> + +<p>Much against his own will, Rivers assented, though his impatience +frequent found utterance in words querulously sarcastic. The love of +gain was a besetting sin of the landlord, and it was by this passion +that his accomplice found it easy, on most occasions, to defeat the +suggestions of his better judgment. The tauntings of the former, +therefore, were particularly bestowed upon this feature in his +character, as he found himself compelled to yield to the requisition of +the latter, with whom the value of the horses was no small +consideration.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said Rivers, "if you say so, it must be so; though I am +sure, if we push briskly ahead, we shall find our bargain in it. You too +will find the horse of the youth, upon which you had long since set your +eyes and heart, a full equivalent, even if we entirely ruin the +miserable beasts we ride."</p> + +<p>"The horse you ride is no miserable beast," retorted the landlord, who +had some of the pride of a southron in this particular, and seemed +solicitous for the honor of his stud—"you have jaded him by your +furious gait, and seem entirely insensible to the fact that our progress +for the last half hour, continued much longer, would knock up any +animal. I'm not so sure, too, Guy, that we shall find the youngster, or +that we shall be able to get our own bargain out of him when found. He's +a tough colt, I take it, and will show fight unless you surprise him."</p> + +<p>"Stay—hear you nothing now, as the wind sets up from below? Was not +that the tramping of a horse?"</p> + +<p>They drew up cautiously as the inquiry was put by Rivers, and pausing +for a few minutes, listened attentively. Munro dismounted, and laying +his ear to the ground, endeavored to detect and distinguish the distant +sounds, which, in that way, may be heard with far greater readiness; but +he arose without being satisfied.</p> + +<p>"You hear nothing?"</p> + +<p>"Not a sound but that which we make ourselves. Your ears +<span class="pagenum">[275]<a name="page275" id="page275"></a></span> +to-night are marvellous quick, but they catch nothing. This is the third +time to-night you have fancied sounds, and heard what I could not; and I +claim to have senses in quite as high perfection as your own."</p> + +<p>"And without doubt you have; but, know you not, Munro, that wherever the +passions are concerned, the senses become so much more acute; and, +indeed, are so many sentinels and spies—scouring about perpetually, and +with this advantage over all other sentinels, that they then never +slumber. So, whether one hate or love, the ear and the eye take heed of +all that is going on—they minister to the prevailing passion, and seem, +in their own exercise, to acquire some of the motive and impulse which +belong to it."</p> + +<p>"I believe this in most respects to be the case. I have observed it on +more than one occasion myself, and in my own person. But, Guy, in all +that you have said, and all that I have seen, I do not yet understand +why it is that you entertain such a mortal antipathy to this young man, +more than to many others who have at times crossed your path. I now +understand the necessity for putting him out of the way; but this is +another matter. Before we thought it possible that he could injure us, +you had the same violent hatred, and would have destroyed him at the +first glance. There is more in this, Guy, than you have been willing to +let out; and I look upon it as strange, to say nothing more, that I +should be kept so much in the dark upon the subject."</p> + +<p>Rivers smiled grimly at the inquiry, and replied at once, though with +evident insincerity,—</p> + +<p>"Perhaps my desire to get rid of him, then, arose from a presentiment +that we should have to do it in the end. You know I have a gift of +foreseeing and foretelling."</p> + +<p>"This won't do for me, Guy; I know you too well to regard you as one +likely to be influenced by notions of this nature—you must put me on +some other scent."</p> + +<p>"Why, so I would, Wat, if I were assured that I myself knew the precise +impulse which sets me on this work. But the fact is, my hate to the boy +springs from certain influences which may not be defined by name—which +grow out of those moral mysteries of our nature, for which we can +scarcely account to<span class="pagenum">[276]<a name="page276" id="page276"></a></span> +ourselves; and, by the operation of which, +we are led to the performance of things seemingly without any adequate +cause or necessity. A few reflections might give you the full force of +this. Why do some men shrink from a cat? There is an instance now in +John Bremer; a fellow, you know, who would make no more ado about +exchanging rifle-shots with his enemy at twenty paces, than at taking +dinner; yet a black cat throws him into fits, from which for two days he +never perfectly recovers. Again—there are some persons to whom the +perfume of flowers brings sickness, and the song of a bird sadness. How +are we to account for all these things, unless we do so by a reference +to the peculiar make of the man? In this way you may understand why it +is that I hate this boy, and would destroy him. He is my black cat, and +his presence for ever throws me into fits."</p> + +<p>"I have heard of the things of which you speak, and have known some of +them myself; but I never could believe that the <i>nature</i> of the +person had been the occasion. I was always inclined to think that +circumstances in childhood, of which the recollection is forgotten—such +as great and sudden fright to the infant, or a blow which affected the +brain, were the operating influences. All these things, however, only +affect the fancies—they beget fears and notions—never deep and abiding +hatred—unquiet passion, and long-treasured malignity, such as I find in +you on this occasion."</p> + +<p>"Upon this point, Munro, you may be correct. I do not mean to say that +hatred and a desire to destroy are consequent to antipathies such as you +describe; but still, something may be said in favor of such a notion. It +appears to me but natural to seek the destruction of that which is +odious or irksome to any of our senses. Why do you crush the crawling +spider with your heel? You fear not its venom; inspect it, and the +mechanism of its make, the architecture of its own fabrication, are, to +the full, as wonderful as anything within your comprehension; but yet, +without knowing why, with an impulse given you, as it would seem, from +infancy, you seek its destruction with a persevering industry, which +might lead one to suppose you had in view your direst enemy."</p> + +<p>"This is all very true; and from infancy up we do this thing, +<span class="pagenum">[277]<a name="page277" id="page277"></a></span> +but the cause can not be in any loathsomeness which its presence +occasions in the mind, for we perceive the same boy destroying with +measured torture the gaudiest butterfly which his hat can encompass."</p> + +<p>"<i>Non sequitur</i>," said Rivers.</p> + +<p>"What's that? some of your d——d law gibberish, I suppose. If you want me +to talk with you at all, Guy, you must speak in a language I +understand."</p> + +<p>"Why, so I will, Wat. I only meant to say, in a phrase common to the +law, and which your friend Pippin makes use of a dozen times a day, that +it did not follow from what you said, that the causes which led to the +death of the spider and the butterfly were the same. This we may know by +the manner in which they are respectively destroyed. The boy, with much +precaution and an aversion he does not seek to disguise in his attempts +on the spider, employs his shoe or a stick for the purpose of slaughter. +But, with the butterfly, the case is altogether different. He first +catches, and does not fear to hold it in his hand. He inspects it +closely, and proceeds to analyze that which his young thought has +already taught him is a beautiful creation of the insect world. He +strips it, wing by wing of its gaudy covering; and then, with a feeling +of ineffable scorn, that so wealthy a noble should go unarmed and +unprotected, he dashes him to the ground, and terminates his sufferings +without further scruple. The spider, having a sting, he is compelled to +fear, and consequently taught to respect. The feelings are all perfectly +natural, however, which prompt his proceedings. The curiosity is common +and innate which impels him to the inspection of the insect; and that +feeling is equally a natural impulse which prompts him to the death of +the spider without hesitation. So with me—it is enough that I hate this +boy, though possessed of numberless attractions of mind and person. +Shall I do him the kindness to inquire whether there be reason for the +mood which prompts me to destroy him?"</p> + +<p>"You were always too much for me, Guy, at this sort of argument, and you +talk the matter over ingeniously enough, I grant; but still I am not +satisfied, that a mere antipathy, without show of reason, originally +induced your dislike to this<span class="pagenum">[278]<a name="page278" +id="page278"></a></span> young man. When you first sought to +do him up, you were conscious of this, and gave, as a reason for the +desire, the cut upon your face, which so much disfigured your +loveliness."</p> + +<p>Rivers did not appear very much to relish or regard this speech, which +had something of satire in it; but he was wise enough to restrain his +feelings, as, reverting back to their original topic, he spoke in the +following manner:—</p> + +<p>"You are unusually earnest after reasons and motives for action, +to-night: is it not strange, Munro, that it has never occasioned +surprise in your mind, that one like myself, so far superior in numerous +respects to the men I have consented to lead and herd with, should have +made such my profession?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all," was the immediate and ready response of his companion. +"Not at all. This was no mystery to me, for I very well knew that you +had no choice, no alternative. What else could you have done? Outlawed +and under sentence, I knew that you could never return, in any safety or +security, whatever might be your disguise, to the society which had +driven you out—and I'm sure that your chance would be but a bad one +were you to seek a return to the old practice at Gwinnett courthouse. +Any attempt there to argue a fellow out of the halter would be only to +argue yourself into it."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, Munro, that is the case now—that is the necessity and +difficulty of to-day. But where, and what was the necessity, think you, +when, in the midst of good practice at Gwinnett bar, where I ruled +without competitor, riding roughshod over bench, bar, and jury, dreaded +alike by all, I threw myself into the ranks of these men, and put on +their habits? I speak not now in praise of myself, more than the facts, +as you yourself know them, will sufficiently warrant. I am now above +those idle vanities which would make me deceive myself as to my own +mental merits; but, that such was my standing there and then, I hold +indisputable."</p> + +<p>"It is true. I sometimes look back and laugh at the manner in which you +used to bully the old judge, and the gaping jury, and your own brother +lawyers, while the foam would run through your clenched teeth and from +your lips in very passion; and then I wondered, when you were doing so +well, that<span class="pagenum">[279]<a name="page279" id="page279"></a></span> +you ever gave up there, to undertake a business, the +very first job in which put your neck in danger."</p> + +<p>"You may well wonder, Munro. I could not well explain the mystery to +myself, were I to try; and it is this which made the question and doubt +which we set out to explain. To those who knew me well from the first, +it is not matter of surprise that I should be for ever in excitements of +one kind or another. From my childhood up, my temper was of a restless +and unquiet character—I was always a peevish, a fretful and +discontented person. I looked with scorn and contempt upon the humdrum +ways of those about me, and longed for perpetual change, and wild and +stirring incidents. My passions, always fretful and excitable, were +never satisfied except when I was employed in some way which enabled me +to feed and keep alive the irritation which was their and my very breath +of life. With such a spirit, how could I be what men style and consider +a good man? What folly to expect it. Virtue is but a sleepy, in-door, +domestic quality—inconsistent with enterprise or great activity. There +are no drones so perfect in the world as the truly orthodox. Hence the +usual superiority of a dissenting, over an established church. It is for +this reason, too, and from this cause, that a great man is seldom, if +ever, a good one. It is inconsistent with the very nature of things to +expect it, unless it be from a co-operation of singular circumstances, +whose return is with the comets. Vice, on the contrary, is endowed with +strong passions—a feverish thirst after forbidden fruits and waters—a +bird-nesting propensity, that carries it away from the haunts of the +crowded city, into strange wilds and interminable forests. It lives upon +adventure—it counts its years by incidents, and has no other mode of +computing time or of enjoying life. This fact—and it is undeniable with +respect to both the parties—will furnish a sufficient reason why the +best heroes of the best poets are always great criminals. Were this not +the case, from what would the interest be drawn?—where would be the +incident, if all men, pursuing the quiet paths of non-interference with +the rights, the lives, or the liberties of one another, spilt no blood, +invaded no territory, robbed no lord of his lady, enslaved and made no +captives in war? A virtuous hero would be a useless personage both in +play and<span class="pagenum">[280]<a name="page280" id="page280"></a></span> +poem—and the spectator or reader would fall asleep +over the utterance of stale apothegms. What writer of sense, for +instance, would dream of bringing up George Washington to figure in +either of these forms before the world—and how, if he did so, would he +prevent reader or auditor from getting excessively tired, and perhaps +disgusted, with one, whom all men are now agreed to regard as the hero +of civilization? Nor do I utter sentiments which are subjects either of +doubt or disputation. I could put the question in such a form as would +bring the million to agree with me. Look, for instance, at the execution +of a criminal. See the thousands that will assemble, day after day, +after travelling miles for that single object, to gape and gaze upon the +last agonizing pangs and paroxsyms of a fellow-creature—not regarding +for an instant the fatigue of their position, the press of the crowd, or +the loss of a dinner—totally insusceptible, it would seem, of the +several influences of heat and cold, wind and rain, which at any other +time would drive them to their beds or firesides. The same motive which +provokes this desire in the spectator, is the parent, to a certain +extent, of the very crime which has led to the exhibition. It is the +morbid appetite, which sometimes grows to madness—the creature of +unregulated passions, ill-judged direction, and sometimes, even of the +laws and usages of society itself, which is so much interested in the +promotion of characteristics the very reverse. It may be that I have +more of this perilous stuff about me than the generality of mankind; but +I am satisfied there are few of them, taught as I have been, and the +prey of like influences, whose temper had been very different from mine. +The early and operating circumstances under which I grew up, all tended +to the rank growth and encouragement of the more violent and vexing +passions. I was the victim of a tyranny, which, in the end, made me too +a tyrant. To feel, myself, and exercise the temper thus taught me, I had +to acquire power in order to secure victims; and all my aims in life, +all my desires, tended to this one pursuit. Indifferent to me, alike, +the spider who could sting, or the harmless butterfly whose only +offensiveness is in the folly of his wearing a glitter which he can not +take care of. I was a merciless enemy, <span class="pagenum">[281]<a name="page281" +id="page281"></a></span>giving no quarter; and +with an Ishmaelitish spirit, lifting my hand against all the tribes that +were buzzing around me."</p> + +<p>"I believe you have spoken the truth, Guy, so far as your particular +qualities of temper are concerned; for, had I undertaken to have spoken +for you in relation to this subject, I should probably have said, though +not to the same degree, the same thing; but the wonder with me is, how, +with such feelings, you should have so long remained in quiet, and in +some respects, perfectly harmless."</p> + +<p>"There is as little mystery in the one as in the other. You may judge +that my sphere of action—speaking of <i>action</i> in a literal +sense—was rather circumscribed at Gwinnett courthouse: but, the fact +is, I was then but acquiring my education. I was, for the first time, +studying rogues, and the study of rogues is not unaptly fitted to make +one take up the business. <i>I</i>, at least, found it to have that +effect. But, even at Gwinnett courthouse, learning as I did, and what I +did, there was one passion, or perhaps a modified form of the ruling +passion, which might have swallowed up all the rest had time been +allowed it. I was young, and not free from vanity; particularly as, for +the first time, my ears had been won with praise and gentle flatteries. +The possession of early, and afterward undisputed talents, acquired for +me deference and respect; and I was soon tempted to desire the applauses +of the swinish multitude, and to feel a thirsting after public +distinction. In short, I grew ambitious. I soon became sick and tired of +the applauses, the fame, of my own ten-mile horizon; its origin seemed +equivocal, its worth and quality questionable, at the best. My spirit +grew troubled with a wholesale discontent, and roved in search of a +wider field, a more elevated and extensive empire. But how could I, the +petty lawyer of a county court, in the midst of a wilderness, +appropriate time, find means and opportunities even for travel? I was +poor, and profits are few to a small lawyer, whose best cases are paid +for by a bale of cotton or a negro, when both of them are down in the +market. In vain, and repeatedly, did I struggle with circumstances that +for ever foiled me in my desires; until, in a rash and accursed hour, +when chance, and you, and the devil, threw the opportunity for crime in +my path! It did not escape me, and—but you know the rest."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[282]<a name="page282" id="page282"></a></span> +"I do, but would rather hear you tell it. When you speak thus, +you put me in mind of some of the stump-speeches you used to make when +you ran for the legislature."</p> + +<p>"Ay, that was another, and not the least of the many reverses which my +ambition was doomed to meet with. You knew the man who opposed me; you +know that a more shallow and insignificant fop and fool never yet dared +to thrust his head into a deliberative assembly. But, he was rich, and I +poor. He a potato, the growth of the soil; I, though generally admitted +a plant of more promise and pretension—I was an exotic! He was a +patrician—one of the small nobility—a growth, <i>sui generis</i>, of +the place—"</p> + +<p>"Damn your law-phrases! stop with that, if you please."</p> + +<p>"Well, well! he was one of the great men; I was a poor plebeian, whose +chief misfortune, at that time, consisted in my not having a father or a +great-grandfather a better man than myself! His money did the work, and +I was bought and beat out of my election, which I considered certain. I +then acquired knowledge of two things. I learned duly to estimate the +value of the democratic principle, when I beheld the vile slaves, whose +votes his money had commanded, laughing in scorn at the miserable +creature they had themselves put over them. They felt not—not they—the +double shame of their doings. They felt that he was King Log, but never +felt how despicable they were as his subjects. This taught me, too, the +value of money—its wonderful magic and mystery. In the mood occasioned +by all these things, you found me, for the first time, and in a ready +temper for any villany. You attempted to console me for my defeats, but +I heard you not until you spoke of revenge. I was not then to learn how +to be vindictive: I had always been so. I knew, by instinct, how to lap +blood; you only taught me how to scent it! My first great crime proved +my nature. Performed under your direction, though without your aid, it +was wantonly cruel in its execution, since the prize desired might +readily have been obtained without the life of its possessor. You, more +merciful than myself, would have held me back, and arrested my stroke; +but that would have been taking from the repast its finish: the +pleasure, for it was such to me in my condition of mind, would have been +lost entirely. It may sound<span class="pagenum">[283]<a name="page283" +id="page283"></a></span> strangely even in your ears when I +say so, but I could no more have kept my knife from that man's throat +than I could have taken wing for the heavens. He was a poor coward; made +no struggle, and begged most piteously for his life; had the audacity to +talk of his great possessions, his rank in society, his wife and +children. These were enjoyments all withheld from me; these were the +very things the want of which had made me what I was—what I am—and +furiously I struck my weapon into his mouth, silencing his insulting +speech. Should such a mean spirit as his have joys which were denied to +me? I spurned his quivering carcass with my foot. At that moment I felt +myself; I had something to live for. I knew my appetite, and felt that +it was native. I had acquired a knowledge of a new luxury, and ceased to +wonder at the crimes of a Nero and a Caligula. Think you, Munro, that +the thousands who assemble at the execution of a criminal trouble +themselves to inquire into the merits of his case—into the justice of +his death and punishment? Ask they whether he is the victim of justice +or of tyranny? No! they go to see a show—they love blood, and in this +way have the enjoyment furnished to their hands, without the risk which +must follow the shedding of it for themselves."</p> + +<p>"There is one thing, Guy, upon which I never thought to ask you. What +became of that beautiful young girl from Carolina, on a visit to the +village, when you lost your election? You were then cavorting about her +in great style, and I could see that you were well nigh as much mad +after her as upon the loss of the seat."</p> + +<p>Rivers started at the inquiry in astonishment. He had never fancied +that, in such matters, Munro had been so observant, and for a few +moments gave no reply. He evidently winced beneath the inquiry; but he +soon recovered himself, however—for, though at times exhibiting the +passions of a demoniac, he was too much of a proficient not to be able, +in the end, to command the coolness of the villain.</p> + +<p>"I had thought to have said nothing on this subject, Munro, but there +are few things which escape your observation. In replying to you on this +point, you will now have all the mystery explained of my rancorous +pursuit of this boy. That<span class="pagenum">[284]<a name="page284" +id="page284"></a></span> girl—then a mere girl—refused me, as +perhaps you know; and when, heated with wine and irritated with +rejection, I pressed the point rather too warmly, she treated me with +contempt and withdrew from the apartment. This youth is the favored, the +successful rival. Look upon this picture, Walter—now, while the moon +streams through the branches upon it—and wonder not that it maddened, +and still maddens me, to think that, for his smooth face and +aristocratic airs of superiority, I was to be sacrificed and despised. +She was probably a year younger than himself; but I saw at the time, +though both of them appeared unconscious of the fact, that she loved him +then. What with her rejection and scorn, coming at the same time with my +election defeat, I am what I am. These defeats were wormwood to my soul; +and, if I am criminal, the parties concerned in them have been the cause +of the crime."</p> + +<p>"A very consoling argument, if you could only prove it!"</p> + +<p>"Very likely—you are not alone. The million would say with yourself. +But hear the case as I put it, and not as it is put by the majority. +Providence endowed me with a certain superiority of mind over my +fellows. I had capacities which they had not—talents to which they did +not aspire, and the possession of which they readily conceded to me. +These talents fitted me for certain stations in society, to which, as I +had the talents pre-eminently for such stations, the inference is fair +that Providence intended me for some such stations. But I was denied my +place. Society, guilty of favoritism and prejudice, gave to others, not +so well fitted as myself for its purposes or necessities, the station in +all particulars designed for me. I was denied my birthright, and +rebelled. Can society complain, when prostituting herself and depriving +me of my rights, that I resisted her usurpation and denied her +authority? Shall she, doing wrong herself in the first instance, +undertake to punish? Surely not. My rights were admitted—my superior +capacity: but the people were rotten to the core; they had not even the +virtue of truth to themselves. They made their own governors of the +vilest and the worst. They willingly became slaves, and are punished in +more ways than one. They first create the tyrants—for tyrants are the +creatures of the people they sway, and never make themselves; they next +drive into<span class="pagenum">[285]<a name="page285" id="page285"></a></span> +banishment their more legitimate rulers; and the +consequence, in the third place, is, that they make enemies of those +whom they exile. Such is the case with me, and such—but hark! That +surely is the tread of a horse. Do you hear it? there is no mistake +now—" and as he spoke, the measured trampings were heard resounding at +some distance, seemingly in advance of them.</p> + +<p>"We must now use the spur, Munro; your horses have had indulgence enough +for the last hour, and we may tax them a little now."</p> + +<p>"Well, push on as you please; but do you know anything of this route, +and what course will you pursue in doing him up?"</p> + +<p>"Leave all that to me. As for the route, it is an old acquaintance; and +the blaze on this tree reminds me that we can here have a short cut +which will carry us at a good sweep round this hill, bringing us upon +the main trace about two miles farther down. We must take this course, +and spur on, that we may get ahead of him, and be quietly stationed when +he comes. We shall gain it, I am confident, before our man, who seems to +be taking it easily. He will have three miles at the least to go, and +over a road that will keep him in a walk half the way. We shall be there +in time."</p> + +<p>They reached the point proposed in due season. Their victim had not yet +made his appearance, and they had sufficient time for all their +arrangements. The place was one well calculated for the successful +accomplishment of a deed of darkness. The road at the foot of the hill +narrowed into a path scarcely wide enough for the passage of a single +horseman. The shrubbery and copse on either side overhung it, and in +many places were so thickly interwoven, that when, as at intervals of +the night, the moon shone out among the thick and broken clouds which +hung upon and mostly obscured her course, her scattered rays scarcely +penetrated the dense enclosure.</p> + +<p>At length the horseman approached, and in silence. Descending the hill, +his motion was slow and tedious. He entered the fatal avenue; and, when +in the midst of it, Rivers started from the side of his comrade, and, +advancing under the shelter of a tree, awaited his progress. He came—no +word was spoken—a single stroke was given, and the horseman, +throwing<span class="pagenum">[286]<a name="page286" id="page286"></a></span> +up his hands, grasped the limb which projected over, +while his horse passed from under him. He held on for a moment to the +branch, while a groan of deepest agony broke from his lips, when he fell +supine to the ground. At that moment, the moon shone forth unimpeded and +unobscured by a single cloud. The person of the wounded man was fully +apparent to the sight. He struggled, but spoke not; and the hand of +Rivers was again uplifted, when Munro rushed forward.</p> + +<p>"Stay—away, Guy!—we are mistaken—this is not our man!"</p> + +<p>The victim heard the words, and, with something like an effort at a +laugh, though seemingly in great agony, exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Ah, Munro, is that you?—I am so glad! but I'm afraid you come too +late. This is a cruel blow; and—for what? What have I done to you, +that—oh!—"</p> + +<p>The tones of the voice—the person of the suffering man—were now +readily distinguishable.</p> + +<p>"Good God! Rivers, what is to be the end of all this blundering?"</p> + +<p>"Who would have thought to find <i>him</i> here?" was the ferocious +answer; the disappointed malice of the speaker prompting him to the +bitterest feelings against the unintended victim—"why was he in the +way? he is always in the way!"</p> + +<p>"I am afraid you've done for him."</p> + +<p>"We must be sure of it."</p> + +<p>"Great God! would you kill him?"</p> + +<p>"Why not? It must be done now."</p> + +<p>The wounded man beheld the action of the speaker, and heard the +discussion. He gasped out a prayer for life:—</p> + +<p>"Spare me, Guy! Save me, Wat, if you have a man's heart in your bosom. +Save me! spare me! I would live! I—oh, spare me!"</p> + +<p>And the dying man threw up his hands feebly, in order to avert the blow; +but it was in vain. Munro would have interposed, but, this time, the +murderer was too quick for him, if not too strong. With a sudden rush he +flung his associate aside, stooped down, and smote—smote fatally.</p> + +<p>"Kate!—ah!—O God, have mercy!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[287]<a name="page287" id="page287"></a></span> +The wretched and unsuspecting victim fell back upon the earth +with these last words—dead—sent to his dread account, with all his +sins upon his head! And what a dream of simple happiness in two fond, +feeble hearts, was thus cruelly and terribly dispersed for ever!</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[288]<a name="page288" id="page288"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter23" id="chapter23">CHAPTER XXIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>WHAT FOLLOWED THE MURDER.</h3> + + +<p>There was a dreadful pause, after the commission of the deed, in which +no word was spoken by either of the parties. The murderer, meanwhile, +with the utmost composure wiped his bloody knife in the coat of the man +whom he had slain. Boldly and coolly then, he broke the silence which +was certainly a painful one to Munro if not to himself.</p> + +<p>"We shall hear no more of his insolence. I owed him a debt. It is paid. +If fools will be in the way of danger, they must take the consequences."</p> + +<p>The landlord only groaned.</p> + +<p>The murderer laughed.</p> + +<p>"It is your luck," he said, "always to groan with devout feeling, when +you have <i>done</i> the work of the devil! You may spare your groans, +if they are designed for repentance. They are always too late!"</p> + +<p>"It is a sad truth, though the devil said it."</p> + +<p>"Well, rouse up, and let's be moving. So far, our ride has been for +nothing. We must leave this carrion to the vultures. What next? Will it +be of any use to pursue this boy again to-night? What say you? We must +pursue and silence him of course; but we have pushed the brutes already +sufficiently to-night. They would be of little service to-night, in a +longer chase."</p> + +<p>The person addressed did not immediately reply, and when he spoke, did +not answer to the speech of his companion. His reply, at length, was +framed in obedience to the gloomy and remorseful course of his thought.</p> + +<p>"It will be no wonder, Guy, if the whole country turn out upon us. You +are too wanton in your doings. Wherefore<span class="pagenum">[289]<a name="page289" +id="page289"></a></span> when I told you of your +error, did you strike the poor wretch again."</p> + +<p>The landlord, it will be seen, spoke simply with reference to policy and +expediency, and deserved as little credit for humanity as the individual +he rebuked. In this particular lay the difference between them. Both +were equally ruffianly, but the one had less of passion, less of +feeling, and more of profession in the matter. With the other, the trade +of crime was adopted strictly in subservience to the dictates of +ill-regulated desires and emotions, suffering defeat in their hope of +indulgence, and stimulating to a morbid action which became a disease. +The references of Munro were always addressed to the petty gains; and +the miserly nature, thus perpetually exhibiting itself, at the expense +of all other emotions, was, in fact, the true influence which subjected +him almost to the sole dictation of his accomplice, in whom a somewhat +lofty distaste for such a peculiarity had occasioned a manner and habit +of mind, the superiority of which was readily felt by the other. Still, +we must do the landlord the justice to say that he had no such passion +for bloodshed as characterized his companion.</p> + +<p>"Why strike again!" was the response of Rivers. "You talk like a child. +Would you have had him live to blab? Saw you not that he knew us both? +Are you so green as to think, if suffered to escape, his tongue or hands +would have been idle? You should know better. But the fact is, he could +not have lived. The first blow was fatal; and, if I had deliberated for +an instant, I should have followed the suggestions of your humanity—I +should have withheld the second, which merely terminated his agony."</p> + +<p>"It was a rash and bloody deed, and I would we had made sure of your man +before blindly rushing into these unnecessary risks. It is owing to your +insane love of blood, that you so frequently blunder in your object"</p> + +<p>"Your scruples and complainings, Wat, remind me of that farmyard +philosopher, who always locked the door of his stable after the steed +had been stolen. You have your sermon ready in time for the funeral, but +not during the life for whose benefit you make it. But whose fault was +it that we followed the<span class="pagenum">[290]<a name="page290" +id="page290"></a></span> wrong game? Did you not make certain of +the fresh track at the fork, so that there was no doubting you?"</p> + +<p>"I did—there was a fresh track, and our coming upon Forrester proves +it. There may have been another on the other prong of the fork, and +doubtless the youth we pursue has taken that; but you were in such an +infernal hurry that I had scarce time to find out what I did."</p> + +<p>"Well, you will preach no more on the subject. We have failed, and +accounting for won't mend the failure. As for this bull-headed fellow, +he deserves his fate for his old insolence. He was for ever putting +himself in my way, and may not complain that I have at last put him out +of it. But come, we have no further need to remain here, though just as +little to pursue further in the present condition of our horses."</p> + +<p>"What shall we do with the body? we can not leave it here."</p> + +<p>"Why not?—What should we do with it, I pray? The wolves may want a +dinner to-morrow, and I would be charitable. Yet stay—where is the dirk +which you found at the stable? Give it me."</p> + +<p>"What would you do?"</p> + +<p>"You shall see. Forrester's horse is off—fairly frightened, and will +take the route back to the old range. He will doubtless go to old +Allen's clearing, and carry the first news. There will be a search, and +when they find the body, they will not overlook the weapon, which I +shall place beside it. There will then be other pursuers than me; and if +it bring the boy to the gallows, I shall not regret our mistake to +night."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, he took the dagger, the sheath of which he threw at some +distance in advance upon the road, then smeared the blade with the blood +of the murdered man, and thrust the weapon into his garments, near the +wound.</p> + +<p>"You are well taught in the profession, Guy, and, if you would let me, I +would leave it off, if for no other reason than the very shame of being +so much outdone in it. But we may as well strip him. If his gold is in +his pouch, it will be a spoil worth the taking, for he has been melting +and running for several days past at Murkey's furnace."</p> + +<p>Rivers turned away, and the feeling which his countenance exhibited +might have been that of disdainful contempt as he replied,</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[291]<a name="page291" id="page291"></a></span> +"Take it, if you please—I am in no want of his money. <i>My</i> +object was not his robbery."</p> + +<p>The scorn was seemingly understood; for, without proceeding to do as he +proposed, Munro retained his position for a few moments, appearing to +busy himself with the bridle of his horse, having adjusted which he +returned to his companion.</p> + +<p>"Well, are you ready for a start? We have a good piece to ride, and +should be in motion. We have both of us much to do in the next three +days, or rather nights; and need not hesitate what to take hold of +first. The court will sit on Monday, and if you are determined to stand +and see it out—a plan which I don't altogether like—why, we must +prepare to get rid of such witnesses as we may think likely to become +troublesome."</p> + +<p>"That matter will be seen to. I have ordered Dillon to have ten men in +readiness, if need be for so many, to carry off Pippin, and a few +others, till the adjournment. It will be a dear jest to the lawyer, and +one not less novel than terrifying to him, to miss a court under such +circumstances. I take it, he has never been absent from a session for +twenty years; for, if sick before, he is certain to get well in time for +business, spite of his physician."</p> + +<p>The grim smile which disfigured still more the visage of Rivers at the +ludicrous association which the proposed abduction of the lawyer +awakened in his mind, was reflected fully back from that of his +companion, whose habit of face, however, in this respect, was more +notorious for gravity than any other less stable expression. He carried +out, in words, the fancied occurrence; described the lawyer as raving +over his undocketed and unargued cases, and the numberless embryos lying +composedly in his pigeonholes, awaiting, with praiseworthy patience, the +moment when they should take upon them a local habitation and a name; +while he, upon whom they so much depended, was fretting with unassuaged +fury in the constraints of his prison, and the absence from that scene +of his repeated triumphs which before had never been at a loss for his +presence.</p> + +<p>"But come—let us mount," said the landlord, who did not feel disposed +to lose much time for a jest. "There is more than this to be done yet in +the village; and, I take it, you feel in no disposition to waste more +time to-night. Let us be off"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[292]<a name="page292" id="page292"></a></span> +"So say I, but I go not back with you, Wat. I strike across the +woods into the other road, where I have much to see to; besides going +down the branch to Dixon's Ford, and Wolf's Neck, where I must look up +our men and have them ready. I shall not be in the village, therefore, +until late to-morrow night—if then."</p> + +<p>"What—you are for the crossroads, again," said Munro. "I tell you what, +Guy, you must have done with that girl before Lucy shall be yours. It's +bad enough—bad enough that she should be compelled to look to you for +love. It were a sad thing if the little she might expect to find were to +be divided between two or more."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw—you are growing Puritan because of the dark. I tell you I have +done with <i>her</i>. I can not altogether forget what she was, nor what +I have made her; and just at this time she is in need of my assistance. +Good-night! I shall see Dillon and the rest of them by morning, and +prepare for the difficulty. My disguise shall be complete, and if you +are wise you will see to your own. I would not think of flight, for much +may be made out of the country, and I know of none better for our +purposes. Good-night!"</p> + +<p>Thus saying, the outlaw struck into the forest, and Munro, lingering +until he was fairly out of sight, proceeded to rifle the person of +Forrester—an act which the disdainful manner and language of his +companion had made him hitherto forbear. The speech of Rivers on this +subject had been felt; and, taken in connection with the air of +authority which the mental superiority of the latter had necessarily +imparted to his address, there was much in it highly offensive to the +less adventurous ruffian. A few moments sufficed to effect the +lightening of the woodman's purse of the earnings which had been so +essential a feature in his dreams of cottage happiness; and while +engaged in this transfer, the discontent of the landlord with his +colleague in crime, occasionally broke out into words—</p> + +<p>"He carries himself highly, indeed; and I must stand reproved whenever +it pleases his humor. Well, I am in for it now, and there is no chance +of my getting safely out of the scrape just at this moment; but the day +will come, and, by G-d!<span class="pagenum">[293]<a name="page293" id="page293"></a></span> +I will have a settlement that'll go near +draining his heart of all the blood in it."</p> + +<p>As he spoke in bitterness he approached his horse, and flinging the +bridle over his neck, was in a little while a good distance on his way +from the scene of blood; over which Silence now folded her wings, +brooding undisturbed, as if nothing had taken place below; so little is +the sympathy which the transient and inanimate nature appears, at any +time, to exhibit, with that to the enjoyment of which it yields the +bloom and odor of leaf and flower, soft zephyrs and refreshing waters.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[294]<a name="page294" id="page294"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter24" id="chapter24">CHAPTER XXIV.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE FATES FAVOR THE FUGITIVE.</h3> + + +<p>Let us now return to our young traveller, whose escape we have already +narrated.</p> + +<p>Utterly unconscious of the melancholy circumstance which had diverted +his enemies from the pursuit of himself, he had followed studiously the +parting directions of the young maiden, to whose noble feeling and +fearless courage he was indebted for his present safety; and taken the +almost <i>blind</i> path which she had hastily described to him. On this +route he had for some time gone, with a motion not extravagantly free, +but sufficiently so, having the start, and with the several delays to +which his pursuers had been subjected, to have escaped the danger—while +the vigor of his steed lasted—even had they fallen on the proper route. +He had proceeded in this way for several miles, when, at length, he came +upon a place whence several roads diverged into opposite sections of the +country. Ignorant of the localities, he reined in his horse, and +deliberated with himself for a few moments as to the path he should +pursue. While thus engaged, a broad glare of flame suddenly illumined +the woods on his left hand, followed with the shrieks, equally sudden, +seemingly of a woman.</p> + +<p>There was no hesitation in the action of the youth. With unscrupulous +and fearless precipitation, he gave his horse the necessary direction, +and with a smart application of the rowel, plunged down the narrow path +toward the spot from whence the alarm had arisen. As he approached, the +light grew more intense, and he at length discovered a little +cottage-like dwelling, completely embowered in thick foliage, through +the crevices of which the flame proceeded, revealing the cause of +terror, and illuminating for some distance the dense woods around. +The<span class="pagenum">[295]<a name="page295" id="page295"></a></span> +shrieks still continued; and throwing himself from his +horse, Ralph darted forward, and with a single and sudden application of +his foot, struck the door from its hinges, and entered the dwelling just +in time to save its inmates from the worst of all kinds of death.</p> + +<p>The apartment was in a light blaze—the drapery of a couch which stood +in one corner partially consumed, and, at the first glance, the whole +prospect afforded but little hope of a successful struggle with the +conflagration. There was no time to be lost, yet the scene was enough to +have paralyzed the nerves of the most heroic action.</p> + +<p>On the couch thus circumstanced lay an elderly lady, seemingly in the +very last stages of disease. She seemed only at intervals conscious of +the fire. At her side, in a situation almost as helpless as her own, was +the young female whose screams had first awakened the attention of the +traveller. She lay moaning beside the couch, shrieking at intervals, and +though in momentary danger from the flames, which continued to increase, +taking no steps for their arrest. Her only efforts were taken to raise +the old woman from the couch, and to this, the strength of the young one +was wholly unequal. Ralph went manfully to work, and had the +satisfaction of finding success in his efforts. With a fearless hand he +tore down the burning drapery which curtained the windows and couch; and +which, made of light cotton stuffs, presented a ready auxiliar to the +progress of the destructive element. Striking down the burning shutter +with a single blow, he admitted the fresh air, without which suffocation +must soon have followed, and throwing from the apartment such of the +furniture as had been seized upon by the flames, he succeeded in +arresting their farther advance.</p> + +<p>All this was the work of a few moments. There had been no word of +intercourse between the parties, and the youth now surveyed them with +looks of curious inquiry, for the first time. The invalid, as we have +said, was apparently struggling with the last stages of natural decay. +Her companion was evidently youthful, in spite of those marks which even +the unstudied eye might have discerned in her features, of a temper and +a spirit subdued and put to rest by the world's strife and trial, and by +afflictions which are not often found to crowd and to make up +<span class="pagenum">[296]<a name="page296" id="page296"></a></span> +the history and being of the young. Their position was peculiarly +insulated, and Ralph wondered much at the singularity of a scene to +which his own experience could furnish no parallel. Here were two lone +women—living on the borders of a savage nation, and forming the +frontier of a class of whites little less savage, without any +protection, and, to his mind, without any motive for making such their +abiding-place. His wonder might possibly have taken the shape of +inquiry, but that there was something of oppressive reserve and +shrinking timidity in the air of the young woman, who alone could have +replied to his inquiries. At this time an old female negro entered, now +for the first time alarmed by the outcry, who assisted in removing such +traces of the fire as still remained about the room. She seemed to +occupy a neighboring outhouse; to which, having done what seemed +absolutely necessary, she immediately retired.</p> + +<p>Colleton, with a sentiment of the deepest commiseration, proceeded to +reinstate things as they might have been before the conflagration, and +having done so, and having soothed, as far as he well might, the excited +apprehensions of the young girl, who made her acknowledgments in a not +unbecoming style, he ventured to ask a few questions as to the condition +of the old lady and of herself; but, finding from the answers that the +subject was not an agreeable one, and having no pretence for further +delay, he prepared to depart. He inquired, however, his proper route to +the Chestatee river, and thus obtained a solution of the difficulty +which beset him in the choice of roads at the fork.</p> + +<p>While thus employed, however, and just at the conclusion of his labors, +there came another personage upon the scene, to whom it is necessary +that we should direct our attention.</p> + +<p>It will be remembered that Rivers and Munro, after the murder of +Forrester, had separated—the latter on his return to the village—the +other in a direction which seemed to occasion some little +dissatisfaction in the mind of his companion. After thus separating, +Rivers, to whom the whole country was familiar, taking a shorter route +across the forest, by which the sinuosities of the main road were +generally avoided, entered, after the progress of a few miles, into the +very path pursued by Colleton, and which, had it been chosen by his +pursuers in the first instance, might have entirely changed the result +of the <span class="pagenum">[297]<a name="page297" id="page297"></a></span> +pursuit. In taking this course it was not the thought of +the outlaw to overtake the individual whose blood he so much desired; +but, with an object which will have its development as we continue, he +came to the cottage at the very time when, having succeeded in +overcoming the flames, Ralph was employed in a task almost as +difficult—that of reassuring the affrighted inmates, and soothing them +against the apprehension of farther danger.</p> + +<p>With a caution which old custom had made almost natural in such cases, +Rivers, as he approached the cross-roads, concealed his horse in the +cover of the woods, advanced noiselessly, and with not a little +surprise, to the cottage, whose externals had undergone no little +alteration from the loss of the shutter, the blackened marks, visible +enough in the moonlight, around the window-frame, and the general look +of confusion which hung about it. A second glance made out the steed of +our traveller, which he approached and examined. The survey awakened all +those emotions which operated upon his spirit when referring to his +successful rival; and, approaching the cottage with extreme caution, he +took post for a while at one of the windows, the shutter of which, +partially unclosed, enabled him to take in at a glance the entire +apartment.</p> + +<p>He saw, at once, the occasion which had induced the presence, in this +situation, of his most hateful enemy; and the thoughts were strangely +discordant which thronged and possessed his bosom. At one moment he had +drawn his pistol to his eye—his finger rested upon the trigger, and the +doubt which interposed between the youth and eternity, though it +sufficed for his safety then, was of the most slight and shadowy +description. A second time did the mood of murder savagely possess his +soul, and the weapon's muzzle fell pointblank upon the devoted bosom of +Ralph; when the slight figure of the young woman passing between, again +arrested the design of the outlaw, who, with muttered curses, uncocking, +returned the weapon to his belt.</p> + +<p>Whatever might have been the relationship between himself and these +females, there was an evident reluctance on the part of Rivers to +exhibit his ferocious hatred of the youth before those to whom he had +just rendered a great and unquestioned service; and, though untroubled +by any feeling of gratitude on<span class="pagenum">[298]<a name="page298" +id="page298"></a></span> their behalf, or on his own, he +was yet unwilling, believing, as he did, that his victim was now +perfectly secure, that they should undergo any further shock, at a +moment too of such severe suffering and trial as must follow in the case +of the younger, from those fatal pangs which were destroying the other.</p> + +<p>Ralph now prepared to depart; and taking leave of the young woman, who +alone seemed conscious of his services, and warmly acknowledged them, he +proceeded to the door. Rivers, who had watched his motions attentively, +and heard the directions given him by the girl for his progress, at the +same moment left the window, and placed himself under the shelter of a +huge tree, at a little distance on the path which his enemy was directed +to pursue. Here he waited like the tiger, ready to take the fatal leap, +and plunge his fangs into the bosom of his victim. Nor did he wait long.</p> + +<p>Ralph was soon upon his steed, and on the road; but the Providence that +watches over and protects the innocent was with him, and it happened, +most fortunately, that just before he reached the point at which his +enemy stood in watch, the badness of the road had compelled those who +travelled it to diverge aside for a few paces into a little by-path, +which, at a little distance beyond, and when the bad places had been +rounded, brought the traveller again into the proper path. Into this +by-path, the horse of Colleton took his way; the rider neither saw the +embarrassments of the common path, nor that his steed had turned aside +from them. It was simply providential that the instincts of the horse +were more heedful than the eyes of the horseman.</p> + +<p>It was just a few paces ahead, and on the edge of a boggy hollow that +Guy Rivers had planted himself in waiting. The tread of the young +traveller's steed, diverging from the route which he watched, taught the +outlaw the change which it was required that he should also make in his +position.</p> + +<p>"Curse him!" he muttered. "Shall there be always something in the way of +my revenge?"</p> + +<p>Such was his temper, that everything which baffled him in his object +heightened his ferocity to a sort of madness. But this did not prevent +his prompt exertion to retrieve the lost ground. The "turn-out" did not +continue fifty yards, before it again wound into the common road, and +remembering this, the<span class="pagenum">[299]<a name="page299" id="page299"></a></span> +outlaw hurried across the little copse +which separated the two routes for a space. The slow gait at which +Colleton now rode, unsuspicious of danger, enabled his enemy to gain the +position which he sought, close crouching on the edge of the thicket, +just where the roads again united. Here he waited—not many seconds.</p> + +<p>The pace of our traveller, we have said, was slow. We may add that his +mood was also inattentive. He was not only unapprehensive of present +danger, but his thoughts were naturally yielded to the condition of the +two poor women, in that lonely abode of forest, whom he had just +rescued, in all probability, from a fearful death. Happy with the +pleasant consciousness of a good action well performed, and with spirits +naturally rising into animation, freed as they were from a late heavy +sense of danger—he was as completely at the mercy of the outlaw who +awaited him, pistol in hand, as if he lay, as his poor friend, +Forrester, so recently had done, directly beneath his knife.</p> + +<p>And so thought Rivers, who heard the approaching footsteps, and now +caught a glimpse of his approaching shadow.</p> + +<p>The outlaw deliberately lifted his pistol. It was already cocked. His +form was sheltered by a huge tree, and as man and horse gradually drew +nigh, the breathing of the assassin seemed almost suspended in his +ferocious anxiety for blood.</p> + +<p>The dark shadow moved slowly along the path. The head of the horse is +beside the outlaw. In a moment the rider will occupy the same spot—and +then! The finger of the outlaw is upon the trigger—the deadly aim is +taken!—what arrests the deed? Ah! surely there is a Providence—a +special arm to save—to interpose between the criminal and his +victim—to stay the wilful hands of the murderer, when the deed seems +already done, as it has been already determined upon.</p> + +<p>Even in that moment, when but a touch is necessary to destroy the +unconscious traveller—a sudden rush is heard above the robber. Great +wings sweep away, with sudden clatter, and the dismal hootings of an +owl, scared from his perch on a low shrub-tree, startles the +cold-blooded murderer from his propriety. With the nervous excitement of +his mind, and his whole nature keenly interested in the deed, to break +suddenly the awful silence, the brooding hush of the forest, with +unexpected<span class="pagenum">[300]<a name="page300" id="page300"></a></span> +sounds, and those so near, and so startling—for once +the outlaw ceased to be the master of his own powers!</p> + +<p>The noise of the bird scared the steed. He dashed headlong forward, and +saved the life of his rider!</p> + +<p>Yet Ralph Colleton never dreamed of his danger—never once conjectured +how special was his obligations to the interposing hand of Providence! +And so, daily, with the best of us—and the least fortunate. How few of +us ever dream of the narrow escapes we make, at moments when a breath +might kill us, when the pressure of a "bare bodkin" is all that is +necessary to send us to sudden judgment!</p> + +<p>And the outlaw was again defeated. He had not, perhaps, been scared. He +had only been surprised—been confounded. In the first cry of the bird, +the first rush of his wings, flapping through the trees, it seemed as if +they had swept across his eyes. He lowered the pistol involuntarily—he +forgot to pull the trigger, and when he recovered himself, steed and +rider had gone beyond his reach.</p> + +<p>"Is there a devil," he involuntarily murmured, "that stands between me +and my victim? am I to be baffled always? Is there, indeed, a God?"</p> + +<p>He paused in stupor and vexation. He could hear the distant tramp of the +horse, sinking faintly out of hearing.</p> + +<p>"That I, who have lived in the woods all my life, should have been +startled by an owl, and at such a moment!"</p> + +<p>Cursing the youth's good fortune, not less than his own weakness, the +fierce disappointment of Guy Rivers was such that he fairly gnashed his +teeth with vexation. At first, he thought to dash after his victim, but +his own steed had been fastened near the cottage, several hundred yards +distant, and he was winded too much for a further pursuit that night.</p> + +<p>Colleton was, meanwhile, a mile ahead, going forward swimmingly, never +once dreaming of danger. He was thus far safe. So frequently and +completely had his enemy been baffled in the brief progress of a single +night, that he was almost led to believe—for, like most criminals, he +was not without his superstition—that his foe was under some special +guardianship. With ill-concealed anger, and a stern impatience, he +turned.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[301]<a name="page301" id="page301"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter25" id="chapter25">CHAPTER XXV.</a></h2> + +<h3>SUBDUED AGONIES.</h3> + + +<p>The entrance of Guy Rivers awakened no emotion among the inmates of the +dwelling; indeed, at the moment, it was almost unperceived. The young +woman happened to be in close attendance upon her parent, for such the +invalid was, and did not observe his approach, while he stood at some +little distance from the couch, surveying the scene. The old lady was +endeavoring, though with a feebleness that grew more apparent with every +breath, to articulate something, to which she seemed to attach much +importance, in the ears of the kneeling girl, who, with breathless +attention, seemed desirous of making it out, but in vain; and, +signifying by her countenance the disappointment which she felt, the +speaker, with something like anger, shook her skinny finger feebly in +her face, and the broken and incoherent words, with rapid effort but +like success, endeavored to find their way through the half-closed +aperture between her teeth. The tears fell fast and full from the eyes +of the kneeling girl, who neither sobbed nor spoke, but, with continued +and yet despairing attention, endeavored earnestly to catch the few +words of one who was on the eve of departure, and the words of whom, at +such a moment, almost invariably acquire a value never attached to them +before: as the sounds of a harp, when the chords are breaking, are said +to articulate a sweet sorrow, as if in mourning for their own fate.</p> + +<p>The outlaw, all this while, stood apart and in silence. Although perhaps +but little impressed with the native solemnity of the scene before him, +he was not so ignorant of what was due to humanity, and not so unfeeling +in reference to the parties here interested, as to seek to disturb its +progress or propriety with tone, look, or gesture, which might make +either of them regret his presence. Becoming impatient, however, of a +<span class="pagenum">[302]<a name="page302" id="page302"></a></span> +colloquy which, as he saw that it had not its use, and was only +productive of mortification to one of the parties, he thought only +prudent to terminate, he advanced toward them; and his tread, for the +first time, warned them of his presence.</p> + +<p>With an effort which seemed supernatural, the dying woman raised herself +with a sudden start in the bed, and her eyes glared upon him with a +threatening horror, and her lips parting, disclosed the broken and +decayed teeth beneath, ineffectually gnashing, while her long, skinny +fingers warned him away. All this time she appeared to speak, but the +words were unarticulated, though, from the expression of every feature, +it was evident that indignation and reproach made up the entire amount +of everything she had to express. The outlaw was not easily influenced +by anger so impotent as this; and, from his manner of receiving it, it +appeared that he had been for some time accustomed to a reception of a +like kind from the same person. He approached the young girl, who had +now risen from her knees, and spoke to her in words of comparative +kindness:—</p> + +<p>"Well, Ellen, you have had an alarm, but I am glad to see you have +suffered no injury. How happened the fire?"</p> + +<p>The young woman explained the cause of the conflagration, and narrated +in brief the assistance which had been received from the stranger.</p> + +<p>"But I was so terrified, Guy," she added, "that I had not presence of +mind enough to thank him."</p> + +<p>"And what should be the value of your spoken thanks, Ellen? The +stranger, if he have sense, must feel that he has them, and the +utterance of such things had better be let alone. But, how is the old +lady now? I see she loves me no better than formerly."</p> + +<p>"She is sinking fast, Guy, and is now incapable of speech. Before you +came, she seemed desirous of saying something to me, but she tried in +vain to speak, and now I scarcely think her conscious."</p> + +<p>"Believe it not, Ellen: she is conscious of all that is going on, though +her voice may fail her. Her eye is even now fixed upon me, and with the +old expression. She would tear me if she could."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[303]<a name="page303" id="page303"></a></span> +"Oh, think not thus of the dying, Guy—of her who has never +harmed, and would never harm you, if she had the power. And yet, Heaven +knows, and we both know, she has had reason enough to hate, and, if she +could, to destroy you. But she has no such feeling now."</p> + +<p>"You mistake, Ellen, or would keep the truth from me. You know she has +always hated me; and, indeed, as you say, she has had cause enough to +hate and destroy me. Had another done to me as I have done to her, I +should not have slept till my hand was in his heart."</p> + +<p>"She forgives you all, Guy, I know she does, and God knows I forgive +you—I, who, above all others, have most reason to curse you for ever. +Think not that she can hate upon the brink of the grave. Her mind +wanders, and no wonder that the wrongs of earth press upon her memory, +her reason being gone. She knows not herself of the mood which her +features express. Look not upon her, Guy, I pray you, or let me turn +away my eyes."</p> + +<p>"Your spirit, Ellen, is more gentle and shrinking than hers. Had you +felt like her, I verily believe that many a night, when I have been at +rest within your arms, you would have driven a knife into my heart."</p> + +<p>"Horrible, Guy! how can you imagine such a thing? Base and worthless as +you have made me, I am too much in your power, I fear—I love you still +too much; and, though like a poison or a firebrand you have clung to my +bosom, I could not have felt for you a single thought of resentment. You +say well when you call me shrinking. I am a creature of a thousand +fears; I am all weakness and worthlessness."</p> + +<p>"Well, well—let us not talk further of this. When was the doctor here +last?"</p> + +<p>"In the evening he came, and left some directions, but told us plainly +what we had to expect. He said she could not survive longer than the +night; and she looks like it, for within the last few hours she has sunk +surprisingly. But have you brought the medicine?"</p> + +<p>"I have, and some drops which are said to stimulate and strengthen."</p> + +<p>"I fear they are now of little use, and may only serve to keep +<span class="pagenum">[304]<a name="page304" id="page304"></a></span> +up life in misery. But they may enable her to speak, and I should like +to hear what she seems so desirous to impart."</p> + +<p>Ellen took the cordial, and hastily preparing a portion in a wine-glass, +according to the directions, proceeded to administer it to the gasping +patient; but, while the glass was at her lips, the last paroxysm of +death came on, and with it something more of that consciousness now +fleeting for ever. Dashing aside the nostrum with one hand, with the +other she drew the shrinking and half-fainting girl to her side, and, +pressing her down beside her, appeared to give utterance to that which, +from the action, and the few and audible words she made out to +articulate, would seem to have been a benediction.</p> + +<p>Rivers, seeing the motion, and remarking the almost supernatural +strength with which the last spasms had endued her, would have taken the +girl from her embrace; but his design was anticipated by the dying +woman, whose eyes glared upon him with an expression rather demoniac +than human, while her paralytic hand, shaking with ineffectual effort, +waved him off. A broken word escaped her lips here and there, +and—"sin"—"forgiveness"—was all that reached the ears of her +grandchild, when her head sank back upon the pillow, and she expired +without a groan.</p> + +<p>A dead silence followed this event. The girl had no uttered anguish—she +spoke not her sorrows aloud; yet there was that in the wobegone +countenance, and the dumb grief, that left no doubt of the deep though +suppressed and half-subdued agony of soul within. She seemed one to whom +the worst of life had been long since familiar, and who would not find +it difficult herself to die. She had certainly outlived pride and hope, +if not love; and if the latter feeling had its place in her bosom, as +without doubt it had, then was it a hopeless lingerer, long after the +sunshine and zephyr had gone which first awakened it into bloom and +flower. She knelt beside the inanimate form of her old parent, shedding +no tear, and uttering no sigh. Tears would have poorly expressed the wo +which at that moment she felt; and the outlaw, growing impatient of the +dumb spectacle, now ventured to approach and interrupt her. She rose, +meekly and without reluctance, as he spoke; with a manner which said as +plainly as words could have, said—'Command, and I obey. +<span class="pagenum">[305]<a name="page305" id="page305"></a></span> Bid me +go even now, at midnight, on a perilous journey, over and into foreign +lands, and I go without murmur or repining.' She was a heart-stricken, a +heart-broken, and abused woman—and yet she loved still, and loved her +destroyer.</p> + +<p>"Ellen," said he, taking her hand, "your mother was a Christian—a +strict worshipper—one who, for the last few years of her life, seldom +put the Bible out of her hands; and yet she cursed me in her very soul +as she went out of the world."</p> + +<p>"Guy, Guy, speak not so, I pray you. Spare me this cruelty, and say not +for the departed spirit what it surely never would have said of itself."</p> + +<p>"But it did so say, Ellen, and of this I am satisfied. Hear me, girl. I +know something of mankind, and womankind too, and I am not often +mistaken in the expression of human faces, and certainly was not +mistaken in hers. When, in the last paroxysm, you knelt beside her with +your head down upon her hand and in her grasp, and as I approached her, +her eyes, which feebly threw up the film then rapidly closing over them, +shot out a most angry glare of hatred and reproof; while her lips +parted—I could see, though she could articulate no word—with +involutions which indicated the curse that she could not speak."</p> + +<p>"Think not so, I pray you. She had much cause to curse, and often would +she have done so, but for my sake she did not. She would call me a poor +fool, that so loved the one who had brought misery and shame to all of +us; but her malediction was arrested, and she said it not. Oh, no! she +forgave you—I know she did—heard you not the words which she uttered +at the last?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes—but no matter. We must now talk of other things, Ellen; and +first of all, you must know, then, I am about to be married."</p> + +<p>Had a bolt from the crossbow at that moment penetrated into her heart, +the person he addressed could not have been more transfixed than at this +speech. She started—an inquiring and tearful doubt rose into her eyes, +as they settled piercingly upon his own; but the information they met +with there needed no further word of assurance from his lips. He was a +stern tyrant—one, however, who did not trifle.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[306]<a name="page306" id="page306"></a></span> +"I feared as much, Guy—I have had thoughts which as good as +told me this long before. The silent form before me has said to me, over +and over again, you would never wed her whom you have dishonored. Oh, +fool that I was!—spite of her forebodings and my own, I thought—I +still think, and oh, Guy, let me not think in vain—that there would be +a time when you would take away the reproach from my name and the sin +from my soul, by making me your wife, as you have so often promised."</p> + +<p>"You have indeed thought like a child, Ellen, if you suppose that, +situated as I am, I could ever marry simply because I loved."</p> + +<p>"And will you not love her whom you are now about to wed?"</p> + +<p>"Not as much as I have loved you—not half so much as I love you now—if +it be that I have such a feeling at this moment in my bosom."</p> + +<p>"And wherefore then would you wed, Guy, with one whom you do not, whom +you can not love? In what have I offended—have I ever reproached or +looked unkindly on you, Guy, even when you came to me, stern and full of +reproaches, chafed with all things and with everybody?"</p> + +<p>"There are motives, Ellen, governing my actions into which you must not +inquire—"</p> + +<p>"What, not inquire, when on these actions depend all my hope—all my +life! Now indeed you are the tyrant which my old mother said, and all +people say, you are."</p> + +<p>The girl for a moment forgot her submissiveness, and her words were +tremulous, less with sorrow than the somewhat strange spirit which her +wrongs had impressed upon her. But sue soon felt the sinking of the +momentary inspiration, and quickly sought to remove the angry scowl +which she perceived coming over the brow of her companion.</p> + +<p>"Nay, nay—forgive me, Guy—let me not reproach—let me not accuse you. +I have not done so before: I would not do so now. Do with me as you +please; and yet, if you are bent to wed with another, and forget and +overlook your wrongs to me, there is one kindness which would become +your hands, and which I would joy to receive from them. Will you do for +me<span class="pagenum">[307]<a name="page307" id="page307"></a></span> +this kindness, Guy? Nay, now be not harsh, but say that you +will do it."</p> + +<p>She seized his hand appealingly as she spoke, and her moist but +untearful eyes were fixed pleadingly upon his own. The outlaw hesitated +for a moment before he replied.</p> + +<p>"I propose, Ellen, to do for you all that may be necessary—to provide +you with additional comforts, and carry you to a place of additional +security, where you shall live to yourself, and have good attendance."</p> + +<p>"This is kind—this is much, Guy; but not much more than you have been +accustomed to do for me. That which I seek from you now is something +more than this; promise me that it shall be as I say."</p> + +<p>"If it breaks not into my arrangements—if it makes me not go aside from +my path, I will certainly do it, Ellen. Speak, therefore; what is it I +can do for you?"</p> + +<p>"It will interfere with none of your arrangements, Guy, I am sure; it +can not take you from your path, for you could not have provided for +that of which you knew not. I have your pledge, therefore—have I not?"</p> + +<p>"You have," was the reply, while the manner of Rivers was tinctured with +something like curiosity.</p> + +<p>"That is kind—that is as you ought to be. Hear me now, then," and her +voice sunk into a whisper, as if she feared the utterance of her own +words; "take your knife, Guy—pause not, do it quickly, lest I fear and +tremble—strike it deep into the bosom of the poor Ellen, and lay her +beside the cold parent, whose counsels she despised, and all of whose +predictions are now come true. Strike—strike quickly, Guy Rivers; I +have your promise—you can not recede; if you have honor, if you have +truth, you must do as I ask. Give me death—give me peace."</p> + +<p>"Foolish girl, would you trifle with me—would you have me spurn and +hate you? Beware!"</p> + +<p>The outlaw well knew the yielding and sensitive material out of which +his victim had been made. His stern rebuke was well calculated to effect +in her bosom that revulsion of feeling which he knew would follow any +threat of a withdrawal, even of the lingering and frail fibres of that +affection, few and feeble<span class="pagenum">[308]<a name="page308" id="page308"></a></span> +as they were, which he might have once +persuaded her to believe had bound him to her. The consequence was +immediate, and her subdued tone and resigned action evinced the now +entire supremacy of her natural temperament.</p> + +<p>"Oh, forgive me, Guy, I know not what I ask or what I do. I am so worn +and weary, and my head is so heavy, that I think it were far better if I +were in my grave with the cold frame whom we shall soon put there. Heed +not what I say—I am sad and sick, and have not the spirit of reason, or +a healthy will to direct me. Do with me as you will—I will obey you—go +anywhere, and, worst of all, behold you wed another; ay, stand by, if +you desire it, and look on the ceremony, and try to forget that you once +promised me that I should be yours, and yours only."</p> + +<p>"You speak more wisely, Ellen; and you will think more calmly upon it +when the present grief of your grandmother's death passes off."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is no grief, now, Guy," was the rather hasty reply. "That is +no grief now: should I regret that she has escaped these tidings—should +I regret that she has ceased to feel trouble, and to see and shed +tears—should I mourn, Guy, that she who loved me to the last, in spite +of my follies and vices, has ceased now to mourn over them? Oh, no! this +is no grief, now; it was grief but a little while ago, but now you have +made it matter of rejoicing."</p> + +<p>"Think not of it,—speak no more in this strain, Ellen, lest you anger +me."</p> + +<p>"I will not—chide me not—I have no farther reproaches. Yet, Guy, is +she, the lady you are about to wed—is she beautiful, is she young—has +she long raven tresses, as I had once, when your fingers used to play in +them?" and with a sickly smile, which had in it something of an old +vanity, she unbound the string which confined her own hair, and let it +roll down upon her back in thick and beautiful volumes, still black, +glossy and delicately soft as silk.</p> + +<p>The outlaw was moved. For a moment his iron muscles relaxed—a gentler +expression overspread his countenance, and he took her in his arms. That +single, half-reluctant embrace was a boon not much bestowed in the +latter days of his victim,<span class="pagenum">[309]<a name="page309" +id="page309"></a></span> and it awakened a thousand tender +recollections in her heart, and unsealed a warm spring of gushing +waters. An infantile smile was in her eyes, while the tears were flowing +down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>But, shrinking or yielding, at least to any great extent, made up very +little of the character of the dark man on whom she depended; and the +more than feminine weakness of the young girl who hung upon his bosom +like a dying flower, received its rebuke, after a few moments of +unwonted tenderness, when, coldly resuming his stern habit, he put her +from his arms, and announced to her his intention of immediately taking +his departure.</p> + +<p>"What," she asked, "will you not stay with me through the night, and +situated as I am?"</p> + +<p>"It is impossible; even now I am waited for, and should have been some +hours on my way to an appointment which I must not break. It is not with +me as with you; I have obligations to others who depend on me, and who +might suffer injury were I to deceive them."</p> + +<p>"But this night, Guy—there is little of it left, and I am sure you will +not be expected before the daylight. I feel a new terror when I think I +shall be left by all, and here, too, alone with the dead."</p> + +<p>"You will not be alone, and if you were, Ellen, you have been thus +lonely for many months past, and should be now accustomed to it."</p> + +<p>"Why, so I should, for it has been a fearful and a weary time, and I +went not to my bed one night without dreading that I should never behold +another day."</p> + +<p>"Why, what had you to alarm you? you suffered no affright—no injury? I +had taken care that throughout the forest your cottage should be +respected."</p> + +<p>"So I had your assurance, and when I thought, I believed it. I knew you +had the power to do as you assured me you would, but still there were +moments when our own desolation came across my mind; and what with my +sorrows and my fears, I was sometimes persuaded, in my madness, to pray +that I might be relieved of them, were it even by the hands of death."</p> + +<p>"You were ever thus foolish, Ellen, and you have as little +<span class="pagenum">[310]<a name="page310" id="page310"></a></span> +reason now to apprehend as then. Besides, it is only for the one night, +and in the morning I shall send those to you who will attend to your own +removal to another spot, and to the interment of the body."</p> + +<p>"And where am I to go?"</p> + +<p>"What matters it where, Ellen? You have my assurance that it shall be a +place of security and good attendance to which I shall send you."</p> + +<p>"True, what matters it where I go—whether among the savage or the +civilized? They are to me all alike, since I may not look them in the +face, or take them by the hand, or hold communion with them, either at +the house of God or at the family fireside."</p> + +<p>The gloomy despondence of her spirit was uppermost; and she went on, in +a series of bitter musings, denouncing herself as an outcast, a +worthless something, and, in the language of the sacred text, calling on +the rocks and mountains to cover her. The outlaw, who had none of those +fine feelings which permitted of even momentary sympathy with that +desolation of heart, the sublime agonies of which are so well calculated +to enlist and awaken it, cut short the strain of sorrow and complaint by +a fierce exclamation, which seemed to stun every sense of her spirit.</p> + +<p>"Will you never have done?" he demanded. "Am I for ever to listen to +this weakness—this unavailing reproach of yourself and everything +around you? Do I not know that all your complaints and reproaches, +though you address them in so many words to yourself, are intended only +for my use and ear? Can I not see through the poor hypocrisy of such a +lamentation? Know I not that when you curse and deplore the sin you only +withhold the malediction from him who tempted and partook of it, in the +hope that his own spirit will apply it all to himself? Away, girl; I +thought you had a nobler spirit—I thought you felt the love that I now +find existed only in expression."</p> + +<p>"I do feel that love; I would, Guy that I felt it not—that it did exist +only in my words. I were then far happier than I am now, since stern +look or language from you would then utterly fail to vex and wound as it +does now. I can not<span class="pagenum">[311]<a name="page311" id="page311"></a></span> +bear your reproaches; look not thus upon me, +and speak not in those harsh sentences—not now—not now, at least, and +in this melancholy presence."</p> + +<p>Her looks turned upon the dead body of her parent as she spoke, and with +convulsive effort she rushed toward and clasped it round. She threw +herself beside the corpse and remained inanimate, while the outlaw, +leaving the house for an instant, called the negro servant and commanded +her attendance. He now approached the girl, and taking up her hand, +which lay supine upon the bosom of the dead body, would have soothed her +grief; but though she did not repulse, she yet did not regard him.</p> + +<p>"Be calm, Ellen," he said, "recover and be firm. In the morning you +shall have early and good attention, and with this object, in part, am I +disposed to hurry now. Think not, girl, that I forget you. Whatever may +be my fortune, I shall always have an eye to yours. I leave you now, but +shall see you before long, when I shall settle you permanently and +comfortably. Farewell."</p> + +<p>He left her in seeming unconsciousness of the words whispered in her +ears, yet she heard them all, and duly estimated their value. To her, to +whom he had once pledged himself entirely, the cold boon of his +attention and sometime care was painfully mortifying. She exhibited +nothing, however, beyond what we have already seen, of the effect of +this consolation upon her heart. There is a period in human emotions, +when feeling itself becomes imperceptible—when the heart (as it were) +receives the <i>coup de grace</i>, and days, and months, and years, +before the body expires, shows nothing of the fire which is consuming +it.</p> + +<p>We would not have it understood to be altogether the case with the young +destitute before us; but, at least, if she still continued to feel these +still-occurring influences, there was little or no outward indication of +their power upon the hidden spirit. She said nothing to him on his +departure, but with a half-wandering sense, that may perhaps have +described something of the ruling passion of an earlier day, she rose +shortly after he had left the house, and placing herself before the +small mirror which surmounted the toilet in the apartment, rearranged +with <span class="pagenum">[312]<a name="page312" id="page312"></a></span> +studious care, and with an eye to its most attractive +appearance, the long and flowing tresses of that hair, which, as we have +already remarked, was of the most silky and raven-like description. +Every ringlet was adjusted to its place, as if nothing of sorrow was +about her—none of the badges and evidences of death and decay in her +thought. She next proceeded to the readjustment of the dress she wore, +taking care that a string of pearl, probably the gift of her now +indifferent lover, should leave its place in the little cabinet, where, +with other trinkets of the kind, it had been locked up carefully for a +long season, and once more adorned with it the neck which it failed +utterly to surpass in delicacy or in whiteness. Having done this, she +again took her place on the couch, along with the corpse; and with a +manner which did not appear to indicate a doubt of the still lingering +spirit, she raised the lifeless head, with the gentlest effort placing +her arm beneath, then laid her own quietly on the pillow beside it.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[313]<a name="page313" id="page313"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter26" id="chapter26">CHAPTER XXVI.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE CAMP.</h3> + + +<p>Ignorant, as we have already said, of his late most providential escape +from the weapon of his implacable enemy, Ralph Colleton was borne +forward by his affrighted steed with a degree of rapidity which entirely +prevented his rider from remarking any of the objects around him, or, +indeed, as the moon began to wane amid a clustering body of clouds, of +determining positively whether he were still in the road or not. The +<i>trace</i> (as public roads are called in that region) had been rudely +cut out by some of the earlier travellers through the Indian country, +merely <i>traced</i> out—and hence, perhaps, the term—by a +<i>blaze</i>, or white spot, made upon the trees by hewing from them +the bark; which badge, repeated in succession upon those growing +immediately upon the line chosen for the destined road, indicated its +route to the wayfarer. It had never been much travelled, and from the +free use at the present time of other and more direct courses, it was +left almost totally unemployed, save by those living immediately in its +neighborhood. It had, therefore, become, at the time of which we speak, +what, in backwood phrase, is known as a <i>blind-path</i>.</p> + +<p>Such being the case, it is not difficult to imagine that, when able to +restrain his horse, Ralph, as he feared, found himself entirely out of +its guidance—wandering without direction among the old trees of the +forest. Still, as for the night, now nearly over, he could have no +distinct point in view, and saw just as little reason to go back as +forward, he gave himself but little time for scruple or hesitation. +Resolutely, though with a cautious motion, he pricked his steed forward +through the woods, accommodating his philosophy, as well as he could, +to<span class="pagenum">[314]<a name="page314" id="page314"></a></span> +the various interruptions which the future, as if to rival +the past, seemed to have treasured up in store for him.</p> + +<p>He had not proceeded far in this manner when he caught the dim rays of a +distant fire, flickering and ascending among the trees to the left of +the direction he was taking. The blaze had something in it excessively +cheering, and, changing his course, he went forward under its guidance. +In this effort, he stumbled upon something like a path, which, pursuing, +brought him at length to a small and turbid creek, into which he plunged +fearlessly, and soon found himself in swimming water. The ford had been +little used, and the banks were steep, so that he got out with +difficulty upon the opposite side. Having done so, his eye was enabled +to take a full view of the friendly fire which had just attracted his +regard, and which he soon made out to proceed from the encampment of a +wagoner, such as may be seen every day, or every night, in the wild +woods of the southern country.</p> + +<p>He was emigrating, with all his goods and gods, to that wonderfully +winning region, in the estimation of this people, the valley of the +Mississippi. The emigrant was a stout, burly, bluff old fellow, with +full round cheeks, a quick, twinkling eye, and limbs rather Herculean +than human. He might have been fifty-five years or so; and his two sons, +one of them a man grown, the other a tall and goodly youth of eighteen, +promised well to be just such vigorous and healthy-looking personages as +their father. The old woman, by whom we mean—in the manner of speech +common to the same class and region—to indicate the spouse of the +wayfarer, and mother of the two youths, was busied about the fire, +boiling a pot of coffee, and preparing the family repast for the night. +A somewhat late hour for supper and such employment, thought our +wanderer; but the difficulty soon explained itself in the condition of +their wagon, and the conversation which ensued among the travellers. +There was yet another personage in the assembly, who must be left to +introduce himself to the reader.</p> + +<p>The <i>force</i> of the traveller—for such is the term by which the +number of his slaves are understood—was small, consisting of some six +<i>workers</i>, and three or four little negro children asleep under the +wagon. The workers were occupied at a little <span class="pagenum">[315]<a name="page315" +id="page315"></a></span>distance, in +replacing boxes, beds, and some household trumpery, which had been taken +out of the wagon, to enable them to effect its release from the slough +in which it had cast one of its wheels, and broken its axle, and the +restoration of which had made their supper so late in the night. The +heavier difficulties of their labor had been got over, and with limbs +warmed and chafed by the extra exercise they had undergone, the whites +had thrown themselves under a tree, at a little distance from the fire +at which the supper was in preparation, while a few pine torches, thrown +together, gave them sufficient light to read and remark the several +countenances of their group.</p> + +<p>"Well, by dogs, we've had a tough 'bout of it, boys; and, hark'ye, +strannger, gi' us your hand. I don't know what we should have done +without you, for I never seed man handle a little poleaxe as you did +that same affair of your'n. You must have spent, I reckon, a pretty +smart time at the use of it, now, didn't ye?"</p> + +<p>To this speech of the farmer, a ready reply was given by the stranger, +in the identical voice and language of our old acquaintance, the pedler, +Jared Bunce, of whom, and of whose stock in trade, the reader will +probably have some recollection.</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I guess, friend, you an't far wide of your reckoning. I've +been a matter of some fifteen or twenty years knocking about, off and +on, in one way or another, with this same instrument, and pretty's the +service now, I tell ye, that it's done me in that bit of time."</p> + +<p>"No doubt, no doubt; but what's your trade, if I may be so bold, that +made you larn the use of it so nicely?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, what—my trade? Why, to say the truth, I never was brought up to +any trade in particular, but I am a pretty slick hand, now, I tell you, +at all of them. I've been in my time a little of a farmer, a little of a +merchant, a little of a sailor, and, somehow or other, a little of +everything, and all sort of things. My father was jest like myself, and +swore, before I was born, that I should be born jest like him—and so I +was. Never were two black peas more alike. He was a 'cute old fellow, +and swore he'd make me so too—and so he did. You know how he did +that?—now, I'll go a York shilling against a Louisiana bit, that you +can't tell to save you."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[316]<a name="page316" id="page316"></a></span> +"Why, no, I can't—let's hear," was the response of the wagoner, +somewhat astounded by the volubility of his new acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, I'll tell you. He sent me away, to make my fortin, and git +my edication, 'mongst them who was 'cute themselves, and maybe that an't +the best school for larning a simple boy ever went to. It was sharp edge +agin sharp edge. It was the very making of me, so far as I was made."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, that is a smart way, I should reckon, to get one's +edication. And in this way I suppose you larned how to chop with your +little poleaxe. Dogs! but you've made me as smart a looking axle as I +ever tacked to my team."</p> + +<p>"I tell you, friend, there's nothing like sich an edication. It does +everything for a man, and he larns to make everything out of nothing. I +could make my bread where these same Indians wouldn't find the skin of a +hoe-cake; and in these woods, or in the middle of the sea, t'ant +anything for me to say I can always fish up some notion that will sell +in the market."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, that's wonderful, strannger, and I should like to see how +you would do it."</p> + +<p>"You can't do nothing, no how, friend, unless you begin at the +beginning. You'll have to begin when you're jest a mere boy, and set +about getting your edication as I got mine. There's no two ways about +it. It won't come to you; you must go to it. When you're put out into +the wide world, and have no company and no acquaintance, why, what are +you to do? Suppose, now, when your wagon mired down, I had not come to +your help, and cut out your wood, and put in the spoke, wouldn't you +have had to do it yourself?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—to be sure; but then I couldn't have done it in a day. I an't +handy at these things."</p> + +<p>"Well, that was jest the way with me when I was a boy. I had nobody to +help me out of the mud—nobody to splice my spokes, or assist me any +how, and so I larned to do it myself. And now, would you think it, I'm +sometimes glad of a little turn-over, or an accident, jest that I may +keep my hand in and not forget to be able to help myself or my +neighbors."</p> + +<p>"Well, you're a cur'ous person, and I'd like to hear something more +about you. But it's high time we should wet our<span class="pagenum">[317]<a name="page317" +id="page317"></a></span> whistles, and +it's but dry talking without something to wash a clear way for the +slack. So, boys, be up, and fish up the jemmi-john—I hope it hain't +been thumped to bits in the rut. If it has, I shall be in a tearing +passion."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, that won't be reasonable, seeing that it's no use, and jest +wasting good breath that might bring a fair price in the market."</p> + +<p>"What, not get in a passion if all the whiskey's gone? That won't do, +strannger, and though you have helped me out of the ditch, by, dogs, no +man shall prevent me from getting in a passion if I choose it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, to be sure, friend—you an't up to my idee. I didn't know that it +was for the good it did you that you got in a passion. I am clear that +when a man feels himself better from a passion, he oughtn't to be shy in +getting into it. Though that wasn't a part of my edication, yet I guess, +if such a thing would make me feel more comfortable, I'd get in a +passion fifty times a day."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, strannger, you talk like a man of sense. 'Drot the man, says +I, who hain't the courage to get in a passion! None but a miserable, +shadow-skinning Yankee would refuse to get in a passion when his jug of +whiskey was left in the road!"</p> + +<p>"A-hem—" coughed the dealer in small wares—the speech of the old +wagoner grating harshly upon his senses; for if the Yankee be proud of +anything, it is of his country—its enterprise, its institutions; and of +these, perhaps, he has more true and unqualified reason to be pleased +and proud than any other one people on the face of the globe. He did not +relish well the sitting quietly under the harsh censure of his +companion, who seemed to regard the existence of a genuine emotion among +the people down east as a manifest absurdity; and was thinking to come +out with a defence, in detail, of the pretensions of New England, when, +prudence having first taken a survey of the huge limbs of the wagoner, +and calling to mind the fierce prejudices of the uneducated southrons +generally against all his tribe, suggested the convenient propriety of +an evasive reply.</p> + +<p>"A-hem—" repeated the Yankee, the <i>argumentum ad hominem</i> still +prominent in his eyes—"well, now, I take it, friend, there's no love to +spare for the people you speak of down in<span class="pagenum">[318]<a name="page318" +id="page318"></a></span> these parts. They +don't seem to smell at all pleasant in this country."</p> + +<p>"No, I guess not, strannger, as how should they—a mean, tricky, +catchpenny, skulking set—that makes money out of everybody, and hain't +the spirit to spend it! I do hate them, now, worse than a polecat!"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, friend, that's strange. If you were to travel for a spell, +down about Boston or Salem in Massachusetts, or at Meriden in +Connecticut, you'd hear tell of the Yankees quite different. If you +believe what the people say thereabouts, you'd think there was no sich +people on the face of the airth."</p> + +<p>"That's jist because they don't know anything about them; and it's not +because they can't know them neither, for a Yankee is a varmint you can +nose anywhere. It must be that none ever travels in those parts—selling +their tin-kettles, and their wooden clocks, and all their notions."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, they do. They make 'em in those parts. I know it by this same +reason, that I bought a lot myself from a house in Connecticut, a town +called Meriden, where they make almost nothing else but clocks—where +they make 'em by steam, and horse-power, and machinery, and will turn +you out a hundred or two to a minute."</p> + +<p>The pedler had somewhat "overleaped his shoulders," as they phrase it in +the West, when his companion drew himself back over the blazing embers, +with a look of ill-concealed aversion, exclaiming, as he did so—</p> + +<p>"Why, you ain't a Yankee, air you?"</p> + +<p>The pedler was a special pleader in one sense of the word, and knew the +value of a technical distinction as well as his friend, Lawyer Pippin. +His reply was prompt and professional:—</p> + +<p>"Why, no, I ain't a Yankee according to your idee. It's true, I was born +among them; but that, you know, don't make a man one on them?"</p> + +<p>"No, to be sure not. Every man that's a freeman has a right to choose +what country he shall belong to. My dad was born in Ireland, yet he +always counted himself a full-blooded American."</p> + +<p>The old man found a parallel in his father's nativity, which +<span class="pagenum">[319]<a name="page319" id="page319"></a></span> +satisfied himself of the legitimacy of the ground taken by the pedler, +and helped the latter out of his difficulty.</p> + +<p>"But here's the whiskey standing by us all the time, waiting patiently +to be drunk. Here, Nick Snell, boy, take your hands out of your +breeches-pocket, and run down with the calabash to the branch. The water +is pretty good thar, I reckon; and, strannger, after we've taken a sup, +we'll eat a bite, and then lie down. It's high time, I reckon, that we +do so."</p> + +<p>It was in his progress to the branch that Ralph Colleton came upon this +member of the family.</p> + +<p>Nick Snell was no genius, and did not readily reply to the passing +inquiry which was put to him by the youth, who advanced upon the main +party while the dialogue between the pedler and the wagoner was in full +gust. They started, as if by common consent, to their feet, as his +horse's tread smote upon their ears; but, satisfied with the appearance +of a single man, and witnessing the jaded condition of his steed, they +were content to invite him to partake with them of the rude cheer which +the good-woman was now busied in setting before him.</p> + +<p>The hoe-cakes and bacon were smoking finely, and the fatigue of the +youth engaged his senses, with no unwillingness on their part, to detect +a most savory attraction in the assault which they made upon his sight +and nostrils alike. He waited not for a second invitation, but in a few +moments—having first stripped his horse, and put the saddle, by +direction of the emigrant, into his wagon—he threw himself beside them +upon the ground, and joined readily and heartily in the consumption of +the goodly edibles which were spread out before them.</p> + +<p>They had not been long at this game, when a couple of fine watch-dogs +which were in the camp, guarding the baggage, gave the alarm, and the +whole party was on the alert, with sharp eye and cocked rifle. They +commenced a survey, and at some distance could hear the tread of +horsemen, seemingly on the approach. The banditti, of which we have +already spoken, were well known to the emigrant, and he had already to +complain of divers injuries at their hands. It is not, therefore, matter +of surprise, that he should place his sentinels, and prepare even for +the most audacious attack.</p> + +<p>He had scarcely made this disposition of his forces, which +<span class="pagenum">[320]<a name="page320" id="page320"></a></span> +exhibited them to the best advantage, when the strangers made their +appearance. They rode cautiously around, without approaching the +defences sufficiently nigh to occasion strife, but evidently having for +their object originally an attack upon the wayfarer. At length, one of +the party, which consisted of six persons, now came forward, and, with a +friendly tone of voice, bade them good-evening in a manner which seemed +to indicate a desire to be upon a footing of the most amiable sort with +them. The old man answered dryly, with some show of sarcastic +indifference in his speech—</p> + +<p>"Ay, good evening enough, if the moon had not gone down, and if the +stars were out, that we might pick out the honest men from the rogues."</p> + +<p>"What, are there rogues in these parts, then, old gentleman?" asked the +new-comer.</p> + +<p>"Why do you ask me?" was the sturdy reply. "You ought to be able to say, +without going farther than your own pockets."</p> + +<p>"Why, you are tough to-night, my old buck," was the somewhat crabbed +speech of the visiter.</p> + +<p>"You'll find me troublesome, too, Mr. Nightwalker: so take good counsel, +and be off while you've whole bones, or I'll tumble you now in half a +minute from your crittur, and give you a sharp supper of pine-knots."</p> + +<p>"Well, that wouldn't be altogether kind on your part, old fellow, and I +mightn't be willing to let you; but, as you seem not disposed to be +civil, I suppose the best thing I can do is to be off."</p> + +<p>"Ay, ay, be off. You get nothing out of us; and we've no shot that we +want to throw away. Leave you alone, and Jack Ketch will save us shot."</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha!" exclaimed the outlier, in concert, and from the deeper +emphasis which he gave it, in chorus to the laughter which followed, +among the party, the dry expression of the old man's humor—</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha! old boy—you have the swing of it to-night," continued the +visiter, as he rode off to his companions; "but, if you don't mind, we +shall smoke you before you get into Alabam!"</p> + +<p>The robber rejoined his companions, and a sort of council for +deliberation was determined upon among them.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[321]<a name="page321" id="page321"></a></span> +"How now, Lambert! you have been at dead fault," was his sudden +address, as he returned, to one of the party. "You assured me that old +Snell and his two sons were the whole force that he carried, while I +find two stout, able-bodied men besides, all well armed, and ready for +the attack. The old woman, too, standing with the gridiron in her fists, +is equal of herself to any two men, hand to hand."</p> + +<p>Lambert, a short, sly, dogged little personage, endeavored to account +for the error, if such it was—"but he was sure, that at starting, there +were but three—they must have have had company join them since. Did the +lieutenant make out the appearance of the others?"</p> + +<p>"I did," said the officer in command, "and, to say truth, they do not +seem to be of the old fellow's party. They must have come upon him since +the night. But how came you, Lambert, to neglect sawing the axle? You +had time enough when it stood in the farmyard last night, and you were +about it a full hour. The wagon stands as stoutly on its all-fours as +the first day it was built."</p> + +<p>"I did that, sir, and did it, I thought, to the very mark. I calculated +to leave enough solid to bear them to the night, when in our circuit we +should come among them just in time to finish the business. The wood is +stronger, perhaps, than I took it to be, but it won't hold out longer +than to-morrow, I'm certain, when, if we watch, we can take our way with +them."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope so, and we must watch them, for it won't do to let the old +fellow escape. He has, I know, a matter of three or four hundred hard +dollars in his possession, to buy lands in Mississippi, and it's a pity +to let so much good money go out of the state."</p> + +<p>"But why may we not set upon them now?" inquired one of the youngest of +the party.</p> + +<p>"For a very good reason, Briggs—they are armed, ready, and nearly equal +in number to ourselves; and though I doubt not we should be able to ride +over them, yet I am not willing to leave one or more of us behind. +Besides, if we keep the look-out to-morrow, as we shall, we can settle +the business without any such risk."</p> + +<p>This being the determination, the robbers, thus disappointed +<span class="pagenum">[322]<a name="page322" id="page322"></a></span> of +their game, were nevertheless in better humor than might have been well +expected; but such men are philosophers, and their very recklessness of +human life is in some respects the result of a due estimate of its +vicissitudes. They rode on their way laughing at the sturdy bluntness of +the old wagoner, which their leader, of whom we have already heard under +the name of Dillon, related to them at large. With a whoop and halloo, +they cheered the travellers as they rode by, but at some distance from, +the encampment. The tenants of the encampment, thus strangely but +fortunately thrown together, having first seen that everything was +quiet, took their severally assigned places, and laid themselves down +for repose. The pedler contenting himself with guessing that "them 'ere +chaps did not make no great deal by that speculation."</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[323]<a name="page323" id="page323"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter27" id="chapter27">CHAPTER XXVII.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE OUTLAWS.</h3> + + +<p>It was in the wildest and least-trodden recesses of the rock and forest, +that the band of outlaws, of which Rivers was the great head and leader, +had fixed their place of abode and assemblage. A natural cavity, formed +by the juxtaposition of two huge rocks, overhung by a third, with some +few artificial additions, formed for them a cavern, in which—so +admirably was it overgrown by the surrounding forest, and so finely +situated among hills and abrupt ridges yielding few inducements for +travel—they found the most perfect security.</p> + +<p>It is true such a shelter could not long have availed them as such, were +the adjacent country in the possession of a civilized people; but the +near neighborhood of the Cherokees, by keeping back civilization, was, +perhaps, quite as much as the position they had chosen, its protection +from the scrutiny of many, who had already, prompted by their excesses, +endeavored, on more than one occasion, to find them out. The place was +distant from the village of Chestatee about ten miles, or perhaps more. +No highway—no thoroughfare or public road passed in its neighborhood, +and it had been the policy of the outlaws to avoid the use of any +vehicle, the traces of which might be followed. There was, besides, but +little necessity for its employment. The place of counsel and assemblage +was not necessarily their place of abode, and the several members of the +band found it more profitable to reside, or keep stations, in the +adjacent hamlets and <i>stands</i> (for by this latter name in those +regions, the nightly stopping-places of wayfarers are commonly +designated) where, in most cases, they put on the appearance, and in +many respects bore the reputation, of staid and sober working men.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[324]<a name="page324" id="page324"></a></span> +This arrangement was perhaps the very best for the predatory +life they led, as it afforded opportunities for information which +otherwise must have been lost to them. In this way they heard of this or +that traveler—his destination—the objects he had in view, and the +wealth he carried about with him. In one of these situations the +knowledge of old Snell's journey, and the amount of wealth in his +possession, had been acquired; and in the person of the worthy +stable-boy who brought corn to the old fellow's horses the night before, +and whom he rewarded with a <i>thrip</i> (the smallest silver coin known +in the southern currency, the five-cent issue excepted) we might, +without spectacles, recognise the active fugleman of the outlaws, who +sawed half through his axle, cleaned his wheels of all their grease, and +then attempted to rob him the very night after.</p> + +<p>Though thus scattered about, it was not a matter of difficulty to call +the outlaws together upon an emergency. One or more of the most +trustworthy among them had only to make a tour over the road, and +through the hamlets in which they were harbored within the circuit of +ten or twenty miles, and as they kept usually with rigid punctuality to +their several stations, they were soon apprized, and off at the first +signal. A whisper in the ear of the hostler who brought out your horse, +or the drover who put up the cattle, was enough; and the absence of a +colt from pasture, or the missing of a stray young heifer from the +flock, furnished a sufficient reason to the proprietor for the +occasional absence of Tom, Dick, or Harry: who, in the meanwhile, was, +most probably, crying "stand" to a true man, or cutting a trunk from a +sulkey, or, in mere wantonness, shooting down the traveller who had +perhaps given him a long chase, yet yielded nothing by way of +compensation for the labor.</p> + +<p>Dillon, or, to speak more to the card, Lieutenant Dillon, arrived at the +place of assemblage just as the day was breaking. He was a leader of +considerable influence among the outlaws, and, next to Rivers, was most +popular. Indeed, in certain respects, he was far more popular; for, +though perhaps not so adroit in his profession, nor so well fitted for +its command, he was possessed of many of those qualities which are apt +to be taking with "the fierce democratic!" He was a prince of hail +fellows—was thoroughly versed in low jest and scurvy +<span class="pagenum">[325]<a name="page325" id="page325"></a></span> +anecdote—could play at pushpins, and drink at every point in the +game; and, strange to say, though always drinking, was never drunk. Nor, +though thus accomplished, and thus prone to these accomplishments, did +he ever neglect those duties which he assumed to perform. No indulgence +led him away from his post, and, on the other hand, no post compelled or +constrained him into gravity. He was a careless, reckless blade, +indifferent alike, it would seem, to sun and storm—and making of life a +circle, that would not inaptly have illustrated the favorite text of +Sardanapalus.</p> + +<p>He arrived at the cave, as we have said just as the day was breaking. A +shrill whistle along the ridges of wood and rock as he passed them, +denoted the various stations of the sentinels, as studiously strewed +along the paths by which their place of refuge might be assailed, as if +they were already beleaguered by an assailing army. Without pausing to +listen to the various speeches and inquiries which assailed his ears +upon his arrival he advanced to the cavern, and was told that the +captain had been for some time anxiously awaiting his arrival—that he +had morosely kept the inner recess of the cave, and since his return, +which had not been until late in the night, had been seen but two or +three times, and then but for a moment, when he had come forth to make +inquiries for himself.</p> + +<p>Leaving his men differently disposed, Dillon at once penetrated into the +small apartment in which his leader was lodged, assured of the propriety +of the intrusion, from what had just been told him.</p> + +<p>The recess, which was separated from the outer hall by a curtain of +thick coarse stuff, falling to the floor from a beam, the apertures for +the reception of which had been chiselled in the rock, was dimly +illuminated by a single lamp, hanging from a chain, which was in turn +fastened to a pole that stretched directly across the apartment. A small +table in the centre of the room, covered with a piece of cotton cloth, a +few chairs, a broken mirror, and on a shelf that stood trimly in the +corner, a few glasses and decanters, completed the furniture of the +apartment.</p> + +<p>On the table at which the outlaw sat, lay his pistols—a huge and +unwieldy, but well-made pair. A short sword, a dirk and +<span class="pagenum">[326]<a name="page326" id="page326"></a></span> one or +two other weapons of similar description, contemplated only for +hand-to-hand purposes, lay along with them; and the better to complete +the picture, now already something <i>outre</i>, a decanter of brandy +and tumblers were contiguous.</p> + +<p>Rivers did not observe the slide of the curtain to the apartment, nor +the entrance of Dillon. He was deeply absorbed in contemplation; his +head rested heavily upon his two palms, while his eyes were deeply fixed +upon the now opened miniature which he had torn from the neck of Lucy +Munro, and which rested before him. He sighed not—he spoke not, but +ever and anon, as if perfectly unconscious all the while of what he did, +he drank from the tumbler of the compounded draught that stood before +him, hurriedly and desperately, as if to keep the strong emotion from +choking him. There was in his look a bitter agony of expression, +indicating a vexed spirit, now more strongly than ever at work in a way +which had, indeed, been one of the primest sources of his miserable +life. It was a spirit ill at rest with itself—vexed at its own +feebleness of execution—its incapacity to attain and acquire the +realization of its own wild and vague conceptions. His was the ambition +of one who discovers at every step that nothing can be known, yet will +not give up the unprofitable pursuit, because, even while making the +discovery, he still hopes vainly that he may yet, in his own person, +give the maxim the lie. For ever soaring to the sun, he was for ever +realizing the fine Grecian fable of Icarus; and the sea of +disappointment into which he perpetually fell, with its tumultuous tides +and ever-chafing billows, bearing him on from whirlpool to whirlpool, +for ever battling and for ever lost. He was unconscious, as we have +said, of the entrance and approach of his lieutenant, and words of +bitterness, in soliloquy, fell at brief periods from his lips.—</p> + +<p>"It is after all the best—" he mused. "Despair is the true philosophy, +since it begets indifference. Why should I hope? What prospect is there +now, that these eyes, that lip, these many graces, and the imperial +pride of that expression, which looks out like a high soul from the +heaven that men talk and dream of—what delusion is there now to bid me +hope they ever can be more to me than they are now? I care not for the +world's ways—nor feel I now the pang of its scorn and its +<span class="pagenum">[327]<a name="page327" id="page327"></a></span> +outlawry; yet I would it were not so, that I might, upon a field as fair +as that of the most successful, assert my claim, and woo and win +her—not with those childish notes of commonplace—that sickly cant of +sentimental stuff which I despise, and which I know she despises no less +than I.</p> + +<p>"Yet, when this field was mine, as I now desire it, what more did it +avail me? Where was the strong sense—the lofty reason that should then +have conquered with an unobstructed force, sweeping all before it, as +the flame that rushes through the long grass of the prairies? +Gone—prostrate—dumb. The fierce passion was upward, and my heart was +then more an outlaw than I myself am now.</p> + +<p>"Yet there is one hope—one chance—one path, if not to her affections, +at least to her. It shall be done, and then, most beautiful witch, cold, +stern, and to me heartless, as thou hast ever been—thou shalt not +always triumph. I would that I could sleep on this—I would that I could +sleep. There is but one time of happiness—but one time when the thorn +has no sting—when the scorn bites not—when the sneer chafes not—when +the pride and the spirit shrink not—when there is no wild passion to +make everything a storm and a conflagration among the senses—and that +is—when one forgets!—I would that I could sleep!"</p> + +<p>As he spoke, his head sunk upon the table with a heavy sound, as if +unconsciousness had really come with the articulated wish. He started +quickly, however, as now, for the first time, the presence of Dillon +became obvious, and hurriedly thrusting the portrait into his vest, he +turned quickly to the intruder, and sternly demanded the occasion of his +interruption. The lieutenant was prepared, and at once replied to the +interrogatory with the easy, blunt air of one who not only felt that he +might be confided in, but who was then in the strict performance of his +duties.</p> + +<p>"I came at your own call, captain. I have just returned from the river, +and skirting down in that quarter, and was kept something later than I +looked for; hearing, on my arrival, that you had been inquiring for me, +I did not hesitate to present myself at once, not knowing but the +business might be pressing."</p> + +<p>"It is pressing," responded the outlaw, seemingly well +<span class="pagenum">[328]<a name="page328" id="page328"></a></span>satisfied +with the tacit apology. "It is pressing, Dillon, and you will have +little time for rest before starting again. I myself have been riding +all night, and shall be off in another hour. But what have you to +report? What's in the wind now?"</p> + +<p>"I hear but little, sir. There is some talk about a detachment of the +Georgia guard, something like a hundred men, to be sent out expressly +for our benefit; but I look upon this as a mistake. Their eye is rather +upon the miners, and the Indian gold lands and those who dig it, and not +upon those who merely take it after it is gathered. I have heard, too, +of something like a brush betwixt Fullam's troop and the miners at +Tracy's diggings, but no particulars, except that the guard got the +worst of it."</p> + +<p>"On that point I am already advised. That is well for us, since it will +turn the eye of the authorities in a quarter in which we have little to +do. I had some hand in that scrape myself, and set the dogs on with this +object; and it is partly on this matter that I would confer with you, +since there are some few of our men in the village who had large part in +it, who must not be hazarded, and must yet stay there."</p> + +<p>"If the brush was serious, captain, that will be a matter of some +difficulty; for of late, there has been so much of our business done, +that government, I believe, has some thought of taking it up, and in +order to do so without competition, will think of putting us down. Uncle +Sam and the states, too, are quarrelling in the business, and, as I +hear, there is like to be warm work between them. The Georgians are +quite hot on the subject, and go where I will, they talk of nothing else +than hanging the president, the Indians, and all the judges. They are +brushing up their rifles, and they speak out plain."</p> + +<p>"The more sport for us—but this is all idle. It will all end in talk, +and whether it do or not, we, at least, have nothing to do with it. But, +there is drink—fill—and let us look to business before either of us +sleep."</p> + +<p>The lieutenant did as suggested by Rivers, who, rising from his seat, +continued for some time to pace the apartment, evidently in deep +meditation. He suddenly paused, at length, and resuming his seat, +inquired of Dillon as to the manner in which he had been employed +through the last few days.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[329]<a name="page329" id="page329"></a></span> +A narration, not necessary to repeat, followed from the officer +in which the numerous petty details of frontier irregularity made up the +chief material. Plots and counterplots were rife in his story, and more +than once the outlaw interrupted his officer in the hope of abridging +the petty particulars of some of their attenuated proportions—an aim +not always successful, since, among the numerous virtues of Lieutenant +Dillon, that of precision and niceness in his statements must not be +omitted. To this narration, however, though called for by himself, the +superior yielded but little attention, until he proceed to describe the +adventure of the night, resulting so unsuccessfully, with the emigrating +farmer. When he described the persons of the two strangers, so +unexpectedly lending their aid in defence of the traveller, a new +interest was awakened in the features and mariner of his auditor, who +here suddenly and with energy interrupted him, to make inquiries with +regard to their dress and appearance, which not a little surprised +Dillon, who had frequently experienced the aversion of his superior to +all seemingly unnecessary minutiae. Having been satisfied on these +points, the outlaw rose, and pacing the apartment with slow steps, +seemed to meditate some design which the narrative had suggested. +Suddenly pausing, at length, as if all the necessary lights had shone in +upon his deliberations at once, he turned to Dillon, who stood in silent +waiting, and thus proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"I have it," said he, half-musingly, "I have it, Dillon—it must be so. +How far, say you, is it from the place where the man—what's his +name—encamped last night?"</p> + +<p>"Nine or ten miles, perhaps, or more."</p> + +<p>"And you know his route for to-day?"</p> + +<p>"There is now but one which he can take, pursuing the route which he +does."</p> + +<p>"And upon that he will not go more than fifteen or twenty miles in the +day. But not so with <i>him</i>—not so with <i>him</i>. He will +scarcely be content to move at that pace, and there will be no hope in +that way to overtake him."</p> + +<p>Rivers spoke in soliloquy, and Dillon, though accustomed to many of the +mental irregularities of his superior, exhibited something like surprise +as he looked upon the lowering brows and unwonted indecision of the +outlaw.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[330]<a name="page330" id="page330"></a></span> +"Of whom does the captain speak?" was his inquiry.</p> + +<p>"Of <i>whom?</i>—of <i>him</i>—of <i>him</i>!" was the rather abrupt +response of the superior, who seemed to regard the ignorance of his +lieutenant as to the object in view, with almost as much wonder as that +worthy entertained at the moment for the hallucinations of his captain.</p> + +<p>"Of whom should I speak—of whom should I think but the one—accursed, +fatal and singular, who—" and he stopped short, while his mind, now +comprehending the true relationship between himself and the person +beside him, which, in his moody self-examination, he had momentarily +forgotten, proceeded to his designs with all his wonted coherence.</p> + +<p>"I wander, Dillon, and am half-asleep. The fact is, I am almost worn out +with this unslumbering motion. I have not been five hours out of the +saddle in the last twenty-four, and it requires something more of rest, +if I desire to do well what I have on hand—what, indeed, we both have +on hand."</p> + +<p>There was something apologetic in the manner, if not in the language, of +the speaker; and his words seemed to indicate, if possible, an excuse +for the incoherence of his address, in the physical fatigue which he had +undergone—in this way to divert suspicion from those mental causes of +excitement, of which, in the present situation, he felt somewhat +ashamed. Pouring out a glass of liquor, and quaffing it without pause, +he motioned to the lieutenant to do the same—a suggestion not possible +for that person to misunderstand—and then proceeded to narrate such +portions of the late occurrences in and about the village as it was +necessary he should know. He carefully suppressed his own agency in any +of these events, for, with the policy of the ancient, he had learned, at +an early period in his life, to treat his friend as if he might one day +become his enemy; and, so far as such a resolution might consistently be +maintained, while engaged in such an occupation as his, he rigidly +observed it.</p> + +<p>"The business, Dillon, which I want you to execute, and to which you +will give all your attention, is difficult and troublesome, and requires +ingenuity. Mark Forrester was killed last night, as is supposed, in a +fray with a youth named Colleton, like himself a Carolinian. If such is +not the opinion yet, I am<span class="pagenum">[331]<a name="page331" +id="page331"></a></span> determined such shall be the opinion; +and have made arrangements by which the object will be attained. Of +course the murderer should be taken, and I have reasons to desire that +this object too should be attained. It is on this business, then, that +you are to go. You must be the officer to take him."</p> + +<p>"But where is he? if within reach, you know there is no difficulty."</p> + +<p>"Hear me; there is difficulty though he is within reach. He is one of +the men whom you found with the old farmer you would otherwise have +attacked last night. There is difficulty, for he will fight like a wild +beast, and stick to his ground like a rattlesnake; and, supported by the +old fellow whom you found him with, he will be able to resist almost any +force which you could muster on the emergency. The only fear I have is, +that being well-mounted, he will not keep with the company, but as they +must needs travel slowly, he will go on and leave them."</p> + +<p>"Should it not rather be a source of satisfaction than otherwise—will +it not put him more completely at our disposal?"</p> + +<p>"No; for having so much the start of you, and a good animal, he will +soon leave all pursuit behind him. There is a plan which I have been +thinking of, and which will be the very thing, if at once acted upon. +You know the sheriff, Maxson, lives on the same road; you must take two +of the men with you, pick fresh and good horses, set off to Maxson's at +once with a letter which I shall give you, and he will make you special +deputies for the occasion of this young man's arrest. I have arranged it +so that the suspicion shall take the shape of a legal warrant, +sufficient to authorize his arrest and detention. The proof of his +offence will be matter of after consideration."</p> + +<p>"But will Maxson do this—may he not refuse? You know he has been once +before threatened with being brought up for his leaning toward us, in +that affair of the Indian chief, Enakamon."</p> + +<p>"He can not—he dare not refuse!" said the outlaw, rising impatiently. +"He holds his place and his life at my disposal, and he knows it. He +will not venture to refuse me!"</p> + +<p>"He has been very scrupulous of late in all his dealings with us, you +know, and has rather kept out of our way. Besides that, he has been +thorough-going at several camp-meetings<span class="pagenum">[332]<a name="page332" +id="page332"></a></span> lately, and, when a man +begins to appear over-honest, I think it high time he should be looked +after by all parties."</p> + +<p>"You are right, Dillon, you are right. I should not trust it to paper +either. I will go myself. But you shall along with me, and on the way I +will put you in a train for bringing out certain prisoners whom it is +necessary that we should secure before the sitting of the court, and +until it is over. They might be foolish enough to convict themselves of +being more honest than their neighbors, and it is but humane to keep +them from the commission of an impropriety. Give orders for the best two +of your troop, and have horses saddled for all four of us. We must be on +the road."</p> + +<p>Dillon did as directed, and returned to the conference, which was +conducted, on the part of his superior, with a degree of excitation, +mingled with a sharp asperity of manner, something unwonted for him in +the arranging of any mere matter of business.</p> + +<p>"Maxson will not refuse us; if he do, I will hang him by my +saddle-straps. The scoundrel owes his election to our votes, and shall +he refuse us what we ask? He knows his fate too well to hesitate. And +then, Dillon, when you have his commission for the arrest of this boy, +spare not the spur: secure him at all hazards of horseflesh or personal +inconvenience. He will not resist the laws, or anything having their +semblance; nor, indeed, has he any reason—"</p> + +<p>"No reason, sir! why, did you not say he had killed Forrester?" inquired +his companion.</p> + +<p>"Your memory is sharp, master lieutenant; I did say, and I say so still. +But he affects to think not, and I should not be at all surprised if he +not only deny it to you, but in reality disbelieve it himself. Have you +not heard of men who have learned in time to believe the lies of their +own invention? Why not men doubt the truth of their own doings? There +are such men, and he may he one of them. He may deny stoutly and +solemnly the charge, but let him not deceive you or baffle your pursuit. +We shall prove it upon him, and he shall hang, Dillon—ay, hang, hang, +hang—though it be under her very eyes!"</p> + +<p>It was in this way that, in the progress of the dialogue which took +place between the chief and his subordinate, the rambling +<span class="pagenum">[333]<a name="page333" id="page333"></a></span> +malignity would break through the cooler counsels of the villain, and +dark glimpses of the mystery of the transaction would burst upon the +senses of the latter. Rivers had the faculty, however, of never +exhibiting too much of himself; and when hurried on by a passion +seemingly too fierce and furious for restraint, he would suddenly curb +himself in, while a sharp and scornful smile would curl his lips, as if +he felt a consciousness, not only of his own powers of command, but of +his impenetrability to all analysis.</p> + +<p>The horses being now ready, the outlaw, buckling on his pistols, and +hiding his dirk in his bosom, threw a huge cloak over his shoulders, +which fully concealed his person; and, in company with his lieutenant, +and two stout men of his band, all admirably and freshly mounted, they +proceeded to the abode of the sheriff.</p> + +<p>This man, connected, though secretly, with Rivers and Munro, was +indebted to them and the votes which in that region they could throw +into the boxes, for his elevation to the office which he held, and was, +as might reasonably have been expected, a mere creature under their +management. Maxson, of late days, however, whether from a reasonable +apprehension, increasing duly with increasing years, that he might +become at last so involved in the meshes of those crimes of his +colleagues, from which, while he was compelled to share the risk, he was +denied in great part the profit, had grown scrupulous—had avoided as +much as possible their connexion; and, the better to strengthen himself +in the increasing favor of public opinion, had taken advantage of all +those externals of morality and virtue which, unhappily, too frequently +conceal qualities at deadly hostility with them. He had, in the popular +phrase of the country, "got religion;" and, like the worthy reformers of +the Cromwell era, everything which he did, and everything which he said, +had Scripture for its authority. Psalm-singing commenced and ended the +day in his house, and graces before meat and graces before sleep, +prayers and ablutions, thanksgivings and fastings, had so much thinned +the animal necessities of his household, that a domestic war was the +consequence, and the sheriff and the sheriff's lady held separate sway, +having equally divided the dwelling between them, and ruling each their +respective <span class="pagenum">[334]<a name="page334" id="page334"></a></span> +sovereignties with a most jealous watchfulness. All +rights, not expressly delegated in the distribution of powers +originally, were insisted on even to blood; and the arbitration of the +sword, or rather the poker, once appealed to, most emphatically, by the +sovereign of the gentler sex, had cut off the euphonious utterance of +one of the choicest paraphrases of Sternhold and Hopkins in the middle; +and by bruising the scull of the reformed and reforming sheriff, had +nearly rendered a new election necessary to the repose and well-being of +the county in which they lived.</p> + +<p>But the worthy convert recovered, to the sore discomfiture of his +spouse, and to the comfort and rejoicing of all true believers. The +breach in his head was healed, but that which separated his family +remained the same—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"As rocks that had been rent asunder."</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>They knew the fellowship of man and wife only in so much as was +absolutely essential to the keeping up of appearances to the public +eye—a matter necessary to maintaining her lord in the possession of his +dignity; which, as it conferred honor and profit, through him, upon her +also, it was of necessity a part of her policy to continue.</p> + +<p>There had been a brush—a small gust had passed over that fair region of +domestic harmony—on the very morning upon which the outlaw and his +party rode up the untrimmed and half-overgrown avenue, which led to the +house of the writ-server. There had been an amiable discussion between +the two, as to which of them, with propriety, belonged the duty of +putting on the breeches of their son Tommy, preparatory to his making +his appearance at the breakfast-table. Some extraneous influence had +that morning prompted the sheriff to resist the performance of a task +which had now for some time been imposed upon him, and for which, +therefore, there was the sanction of prescription and usage. It was an +unlucky moment for the assertion of his manhood: for, a series of +circumstances operating just about that time unfavorably upon the mind +of his wife, she was in the worst possible humor upon which to try +experiments.</p> + +<p>She heard the refusal of her liege to do the required duty, therefore, +with an astonishment, not unmingled with a degree +<span class="pagenum">[335]<a name="page335" id="page335"></a></span> of pleasure, +as it gave a full excuse for the venting forth upon him of those +splenetic humors, which, for some time, had been growing and gathering +in her system. The little sheriff, from long attendance on <i>courts</i> +and <i>camps</i>, had acquired something more, perhaps, of the desire +and disposition, than the capacity, to make long speeches and longer +sermons, in the performance of both of which labors, however, he was +admirably fortified by the technicals of the law, and the Bible +phraseology. The quarrel had been waged for some time, and poor Tommy, +the bone of contention, sitting all the while between the contending +parties in a state of utter nudity, kept up a fine running accompaniment +to the full tones of the wranglers, by crying bitterly for his breeches.</p> + +<p>For the first time for a long period of years, the lady found her powers +of tongue fail in the proposed effect upon the understanding of her +loving and legal lord; and knowing but of one other way to assail it, +her hand at length grappling with the stool, from which she tumbled the +breechless babe without scruple, seized upon an argument to which her +adversary could oppose neither text nor technical; when, fortunately for +him, the loud rapping of their early visiters at the outer door of the +dwelling interposed between her wrath and its object, and spared the +life of the devout sheriff for other occurrences. Bundling the naked +child out of sight, the mother rushed into an inner apartment, shaking +the stool in the pale countenance of her lord as she retreated, in a +manner and with a look which said, as plainly as words could say, that +this temporary delay would only sharpen her appetite for vengeance, and +exaggerate its terrors when the hour did arrive. It was with a +hesitating step and wobegone countenance, therefore, that the officer +proceeded to his parlor, where a no less troublesome, but less awkward +trial awaited him.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center"><span class="small">[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: A chapter number +was skipped in the original book.]</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<span class="pagenum">[336]<a name="page336" id="page336"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter29" id="chapter29">CHAPTER XXIX.</a></h2> + +<h3>ARREST.</h3> + + +<p>The high-sheriff made his appearance before his early and well-known +visiters with a desperate air of composure and unconcern, the effort to +attain which was readily perceptible to his companions. He could not, in +the first place, well get rid of those terrors of the domestic world +from which their interruption had timely shielded him; nor, on the other +hand, could he feel altogether assured that the visit now paid him would +not result in the exaction of some usurious interest. He had recently, +as we have said, as much through motives of worldly as spiritual policy, +become an active religionist, in a small way, in and about the section +of country in which he resided; and knowing that his professions were in +some sort regarded with no small degree of doubt and suspicion by some +of his brethren holding the same faith, he felt the necessity of playing +a close and cautious game in all his practices. He might well be +apprehensive, therefore, of the visits of those who never came but as so +many omens of evil, and whose claims upon, and perfect knowledge of, his +true character, were such, that he felt himself, in many respects, most +completely at their mercy.</p> + +<p>Rivers did not give much time to preliminaries, but, after a few phrases +of commonplace, coming directly to the point, he stated the business in +hand, and demanded the assistance of the officer of justice for the +arrest of one of its fugitives. There were some difficulties of form in +the matter, which saved the sheriff in part, and which the outlaw had in +great part over looked. A warrant of arrest was necessary from some +officer properly empowered to issue one, and a new difficulty was thus +presented in the way of Colleton's pursuit. The sheriff had not the +slightest objections to making deputies of the persons +<span class="pagenum">[337]<a name="page337" id="page337"></a></span> +recommended by the outlaw, provided they were fully empowered to +execute the commands of some judicial officer; beyond this, the +scrupulous executioner of justice was unwilling to go; and having stood +out so long in the previous controversy with his spouse, it was +wonderful what a vast stock of audacious courage he now felt himself +entitled, and ventured, to manifest.</p> + +<p>"I can not do it, Master Guy—it's impossible—seeing, in the first +place, that I ha'n't any right by the laws to issue any warrant, though +it's true, I has to serve them. Then, agin, in the next place, 'twont do +for another reason that's jist as good, you see. It's only the other +day, Master Guy, that the fear of the Lord come upon me, and I got +religion; and now I've set myself up as a worker in other courts, you +see, than those of man; and there be eyes around me that would see, and +hearts to rejoice at the backslidings of the poor laborer. Howbeit, +Master Guy, I am not the man to forget old sarvice; and if it be true +that this man has been put to death in this manner, though I myself can +do nothing at this time, I may put you in the way—for the sake of old +time, and for the sake of justice, which requires that the slayer of his +brother should also be slain—of having your wish."</p> + +<p>Though something irritated still at the reluctance of his former +creature to lend himself without scruple to his purposes, the outlaw did +not hesitate to accept the overture, and to press for its immediate +accomplishment. He had expostulated with the sheriff for some time on +the point, and, baffled and denied, he was very glad, at the conclusion +of the dialogue with that worthy, to find that there was even so much of +a prospect of concert, though falling far short of his original +anticipations, from that quarter. He was too well aware, also, of the +difficulty in the way of any proceeding without something savoring of +authority in the matter; for, from a previous and rather correct +estimate of Colleton's character, he well foresaw that, knowing his +enemy, he would fight to the last against an arrest; which, under the +forms of law and with the sanction of a known officer, he would +otherwise readily recognise and submit to. Seizing, therefore, upon the +speech of the sheriff, Rivers eagerly availed himself of its opening to +obtain those advantages in the affair, of which, from the canting spirit +and <span class="pagenum">[338]<a name="page338" id="page338"></a></span> +newly-awakened morality of his late coadjutor, he had +utterly begun to despair. He proceeded to reply to the suggestion as +follows:—</p> + +<p>"I suppose, I must content myself, Maxson, with doing in this thing as +you say, though really I see not why you should now be so particular, +for there are not ten men in the county who are able to determine upon +any of your powers, or who would venture to measure their extent. Let us +hear your plan, and I suppose it will be effectual in our object, and +this is all I want. All I desire is, that our people, you know, should +not be murdered by strangers without rhyme or reason."</p> + +<p>The sheriff knew well the hypocrisy of the sentiment with which Rivers +concluded, but made no remark. A single smile testified his knowledge of +the nature of his colleague, and indicated his suspicion of a deeper and +different motive for this new activity. Approaching the outlaw closely, +he asked, in a half whisper:—</p> + +<p>"Who was the witness of the murder—who could swear for the magistrate? +You must get somebody to do that."</p> + +<p>This was another point which Rivers, in his impatience, had not thought +to consider. But fruitful in expedient, his fertile mind suggested that +ground of suspicion was all that the law required for apprehension at +least, and having already arranged that the body of the murdered man +should be found under certain circumstances, he contented himself with +procuring commissions, as deputies, for his two officers, and posted +away to the village.</p> + +<p>Here, as he anticipated, the intelligence had already been received—the +body of Forrester had been found, and sufficient ground for suspicion to +authorize a warrant was recognised in the dirk of the youth, which, +smeared with blood as it had been left by Rivers, had been found upon +the body. Rivers had but little to do. He contrived, however, to do +nothing himself. The warrant of Pippin, as magistrate, was procured, and +the two officers commissioned by the sheriff went off in pursuit of the +supposed murderer, against whom the indignation of all the village was +sufficiently heightened by the recollection of the close intimacy +existing between Ralph and Forrester, and the nobly characteristic +manner in which the latter had volunteered to do his fighting with +<span class="pagenum">[339]<a name="page339" id="page339"></a></span> +Rivers. The murdered man had, independent of this, no small +popularity of his own, which brought out for him a warm and active +sympathy highly creditable to his memory. Old Allen, too, suffered +deeply, not less on his own than his daughter's account. She, poor girl, +had few words, and her sorrow, silent, if not tearless, was confined to +the solitude of her own chamber.</p> + +<p>In the prosecution of the affair against Ralph, there was but one person +whose testimony could have availed him, and that person was Lucy Munro. +As the chief particular in evidence, and that which established the +strong leading presumption against him, consisted in the discovery of +his dagger alongside the body of the murdered man, and covered with his +blood; it was evident that she who could prove the loss of the dagger by +the youth, and its finding by Munro, prior to the event, and +unaccompanied by any tokens of crime, would not only be able to free the +person suspected, at least from this point of suspicion, but would be +enabled to place its burden elsewhere, and with the most conclusive +distinctness.</p> + +<p>This was a dilemma which Rivers and Munro did not fail to consider. The +private deliberation, for an hour, of the two conspirators, determined +upon the course which for mutual safety they were required to pursue; +and Munro gave his niece due notice to prepare for an immediate +departure with her aunt and himself, on some plausible pretence, to +another portion of the country.</p> + +<p>To such a suggestion, as Lucy knew not the object, she offered no +objection; and a secret departure was effected of the three, who, after +a lonely ride of several hours through a route circuitously chosen to +mislead, were safely brought to the sheltered and rocky abiding-place of +the robbers, as we have already described it. Marks of its offensive +features, however, had been so modified as not to occasion much alarm. +The weapons of war had been studiously put out of sight, and apartments, +distinct from those we have seen, partly the work of nature, and partly +of man, were assigned for the accommodation of the new-comers. The +outlaws had their instructions, and did not appear, though lurking and +watching around in close and constant neighborhood.</p> + +<p>Nor, in this particular alone, had the guilty parties made due provision +for their future safety. The affair of the guard had +<span class="pagenum">[340]<a name="page340" id="page340"></a></span> made more +stir than had been anticipated in the rash moment which had seen its +consummation; and their advices warned them of the approach of a much +larger force of state troops, obedient to the direction of the +district-attorney, than they could well contend with. They determined, +therefore, prudently for themselves, to keep as much out of the way of +detection as they could; and to avoid those risks upon which a previous +conference had partially persuaded them to adventure. They were also +apprized of the greater excitement attending the fate of Forrester, than +could possibly have followed the death, in his place, of the +contemplated victim; and, adopting a habit of caution, heretofore but +little considered in that region, they prepared for all hazards, and, at +the same time, tacitly determined upon the suspension of their numerous +atrocities—at least, while a controlling force was in the neighborhood. +Previous impunity had led them so far, that at length the neighboring +country was aroused, and all the better classes, taking advantage of the +excitement, grew bolder in the expression of their anger against those +who had beset them so long. The sheriff, Maxson, had been something +tutored by these influences, or, it had been fair to surmise that his +scruples would have been less difficult to overcome.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the pursuit of Ralph Colleton, as the murderer of +Forrester, had been hotly urged by the officers. The pursuers knew the +route, and having the control of new horses as they proceeded, at +frequent intervals, gained of course at every step upon the unconscious +travellers. We have seen the latter retiring to repose at a late hour of +the night. Under the several fatigues which all parties had undergone, +it is not strange that the sun should have arisen some little time +before those who had not retired quite so early as himself. At a +moderately late hour they breakfasted together—the family of the +wagoner, and Ralph, and our old friend the pedler. Pursuing the same +route, the two latter, after the repast, separated, with many +acknowledgments on both sides, from the emigrating party, and pursued +their way together.</p> + +<p>On their road, Bunce gave the youth a long and particular account of all +those circumstances at the village-inn by which he had been deprived of +his chattels, and congratulated himself<span class="pagenum">[341]<a name="page341" +id="page341"></a></span> not a little on the +adroit thought which had determined him to retain the good steed of the +Lawyer Pippin in lieu of his losses. He spoke of it as quite a clever +and creditable performance, and one as fully deserving the golden honors +of the medal as many of those doings which are so rewarded.</p> + +<p>On this point his companion said little; and though he could not +altogether comprehend the propriety of the pedler's morals, he certainly +did not see but that the necessity and pressing danger of his situation +somewhat sanctioned the deceit. He suggested this idea to Bunce, but +when he came to talk of the propriety of returning the animal the moment +he was fairly in safety, the speculator failed entirely to perceive the +moral of his philosophy.</p> + +<p>The sheriff's officers came upon the wagoner a few hours after the two +had separated from him. The intelligence received from him quickened +their pace, and toward noon they descried our travellers ascending a +hill a few hundred yards in advance of them. A repeated application of +the spur brought them together, and, as had been anticipated by Rivers, +Ralph offered not the slightest objection, when once satisfied of the +legality of his arrest, to becoming their prisoner. But the +consternation of Bunce was inexpressible. He endeavored to shelter +himself in the adjoining woods, and was quietly edging his steed into +the covert for that purpose, on the first alarm, but was not permitted +by the sharp eyes and ready unscrupulosity of the robber representatives +of the law. They had no warrant, it is true, for the arrest of any other +person than "the said Ralph Colleton"—but the unlucky color of Pippin's +horse, and their perfect knowledge of the animal, readily identifying +him, did the business for the pedler.</p> + +<p>Under the custody of the laws, therefore, we behold the youth retracing +his ground, horror-stricken at the death of Forrester—indignant at +the suspicions entertained of himself as the murderer, but sanguine +of the result, and firm and fearless as ever. Not so Bunce: there +were cruel visions in his sight of seven-sided pine-rails—fierce +regulators—Lynch's law, and all that rude and terrible sort of +punishment, which is studiously put in force in those regions for the +enjoyment of evil-doers. The next day found them both securely locked up +in the common jail of Chestatee.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[342]<a name="page342" id="page342"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter30" id="chapter30">CHAPTER XXX.</a></h2> + +<h3>CHUB WILLIAMS.</h3> + + +<p>The young mind of Colleton, excursive as it was, could scarcely realize +to itself the strange and rapidly-succeeding changes of the last few +days. Self-exiled from the dwelling in which so much of his heart and +hope had been stored up—a wanderer among the wandering—assaulted by +ruffians—the witness of their crimes—pursued by the officers of +justice, and finally the tenant of a prison, as a criminal himself! +After the first emotions of astonishment and vexation had +subsided—ignorant of the result of this last adventure, and preparing +for the worst—he called for pen and paper, and briefly, to his uncle, +recounted his adventures, as we have already related them, partially +acknowledging his precipitance in departing from his house, but +substantially insisting upon the propriety of those grounds which had +made him do so.</p> + +<p>To Edith, what could he say? Nothing—everything. His letter to her, +enclosed in that to her uncle, was just such as might be expected from +one with a character such as we have endeavored to describe—that of the +genuine aristocrat of Carolina—gentle, but firm—soothing, but +manly—truly, but loftily affectionate—the rock touched, if not +softened by the sunbeam; warm and impetuous, but generally just in his +emotions—liberal in his usual estimate of mankind, and generous, to a +fault, in all his associations;—ignorant of any value in money, unless +for high purposes—as subservient to taste and civilization—a graceful +humanity and an honorable affection.</p> + +<p>With a tenderness the most respectful, Ralph reiterated his love—prayed +for her prayers—frankly admitted his error in his abrupt flight, and +freely promised atonement as soon as he should be freed from his +difficulties; an event which, in <span class="pagenum">[343]<a name="page343" +id="page343"></a></span>speaking to her, he doubted +not. This duty over, his mind grew somewhat relieved, and, despatching a +note by the jailer's deputy to the lawyer Pippin, he desired immediately +to see him.</p> + +<p>Pippin had looked for such an invitation, and was already in attendance. +His regrets were prodigious, but his gratification not less, as it would +give him an opportunity, for some time desired, for serving so excellent +a gentleman. But the lawyer shook his head with most professional +uncertainty at every step of his own narration of the case, and soon +convinced Ralph that he really stood in a very awkward predicament. He +described the situation of the body of Forrester when found; the bloody +dirk which lay beside it, having the initials of his name plainly carved +upon it; his midnight flight; his close companionship with Forrester on +the evening of the night in which he had been murdered—a fact proved by +old Allen and his family; the intimate freedom with which Forrester had +been known to confide his purposes to the youth, deducible from the +joint call which they had made upon the sweetheart of the former; and +many other smaller details, unimportant in themselves, but linked +together with the rest of the particulars, strengthening the chain of +circumstances against him to a degree which rendered it improbable that +he should escape conviction.</p> + +<p>Pippin sought, however, to console his client, and, after the first +development of particulars, the natural buoyancy of the youth returned. +He was not disposed readily to despair, and his courage and confidence +rose with the pressure of events. He entered into a plain story of all +the particulars of his flight—the instrumentality of Miss Munro in that +transaction, and which she could explain, in such a manner as to do away +with any unfavorable impression which that circumstance, of itself, +might create. Touching the dagger, he could say nothing. He had +discovered its loss, but knew not at what time he had lost it. The +manner in which it had been found was, of course, fatal, unless the fact +which he alleged of its loss could be established; and of this the +consulting parties saw no hope. Still, they did not despair, but +proceeded to the task of preparing the defence for the day of trial, +which was at hand. The technical portions of the case were managed by +the lawyer, who issued his subpoenas—made voluminous notes—wrote out +the<span class="pagenum">[344]<a name="page344" id="page344"></a></span> +exordium of his speech—and sat up all night committing it +to memory.</p> + +<p>Having done all that the occasion called for in his interview with +Ralph, the lawyer proceeded to visit, uncalled-for, one whom he +considered a far greater criminal than his client. The cell to which the +luckless pedler, Bunce, had been carried, was not far from that of the +former, and the rapid step of the lawyer soon overcame the distance +between.</p> + +<p>Never was man seemingly so glad to see his neighbor as was Bunce, on +this occasion, to look upon Pippin. His joy found words of the most +honeyed description for his visiter, and his delight was truly +infectious. The lawyer was delighted too, but his satisfaction was of a +far different origin. He had now some prospect of getting back his +favorite steed—that fine animal, described by him elsewhere to the +pedler, as docile as the dog, and fleet as the deer. He had heard of the +safety of his horse, and his anger with the pedler had undergone some +abatement; but, with the consciousness of power common to inferior +minds, came a strong desire for its use. He knew that the pedler had +been guilty in a legal sense of no crime, and could only be liable in a +civil action for his breach of trust. But he suspected that the dealer +in wares was ignorant of the advantageous distinctions in morals which +the law had made, and consequently amused himself with playing upon the +fears of the offender. He put on a countenance of much commiseration, +and, drawing a long sigh, regretted the necessity which had brought him +to prepare the mind of his old friend for the last terrors of justice.</p> + +<p>But Bunce was not a man easily frightened. As he phrased it himself, he +had been quite too long knocking about among men to be scared by +shadows, and replied stoutly—though really with some internal +misgivings—to the lachrymalities of the learned counsel. He gave him to +understand that, if he got into difficulty, he knew some other persons +whom his confessions would make uncomfortable; and hinted pretty +directly at certain practices of a certain professional gentleman, +which, though the pedler knew nothing of the technical significant might +yet come under the head of barratry, and so forth.</p> + +<p>The lawyer was the more timid man of the two, and found it necessary to +pare down his potency. He soon found it <span class="pagenum">[345]<a name="page345" +id="page345"></a></span>profitable to let the +matter rest, and having made arrangements with the pedler for bringing +suit for damages against two of the neighboring farmers concerned in the +demolition of his wares—who, happening to be less guilty than their +accessaries, had ventured to remain in the country—Bunce found no +difficulty in making his way out of the prison. There had been no right +originally to detain him; but the consciousness of guilt, and some other +ugly misgivings, had so relaxed the nerves of the tradesman, that he had +never thought to inquire if his name were included in the warrant of +arrest. It is probable that his courage and confidence would have been +far less than they appear at present, had not Pippin assured him that +the regulators were no longer to be feared; that the judge had arrived; +that the grand-jury had found bills against several of the offenders, +and were still engaged in their labors; that a detachment of the state +military had been ordered to the station; and that things looked as +civil as it was altogether possible for such warlike exhibition to +allow. It is surprising to think how fearlessly uncompromising was the +conduct of Bunce under this new condition of affairs.</p> + +<p>But the pedler, in his own release from custody, was not forgetful of +his less-fortunate companion. He was a frequent visiter in the dungeon +of Ralph Colleton; bore all messages between the prisoner and his +counsel; and contributed, by his shrewd knowledge of human kind, not a +little to the material out of which his defence was to be made.</p> + +<p>He suggested the suspicion, never before entertained by the youth, or +entertained for a moment only, that his present arrest was the result of +a scheme purposely laid with a reference to this end; and did not +scruple to charge upon Rivers the entire management of the matter.</p> + +<p>Ralph could only narrate what he knew of the malignant hatred of the +outlaw to himself—another fact which none but Lucy Munro could +establish. Her evidence, however, would only prove Rivers to have +meditated one crime; it would not free him from the imputation of having +committed another. Still, so much was important, and casualties were to +be relied upon for the rest.</p> + +<p>But what was the horror of all parties when it was known +<span class="pagenum">[346]<a name="page346" id="page346"></a></span> that +neither Lucy nor any of the landlord's family were to be found! The +process of subpoena was returned, and the general opinion was, that +alarmed at the approach of the military in such force, and confident +that his agency in the late transactions could not long remain concealed +in the possession of so many, though guilty like himself, Munro had fled +to the west.</p> + +<p>The mental agony of the youth, when thus informed, can not well he +conceived. He was, for a time, utterly prostrate, and gave himself up to +despair. The entreaties of the pedler, and the counsels and exhortings +of the lawyer, failed equally to enliven him; and they had almost come +to adopt his gloomy resignation, when, as he sat on his low bench, with +head drooping on his hand, a solitary glance of sunshine fell through +the barred window—the only one assigned to his cell.</p> + +<p>The smile of God himself that solitary ray appeared to the diseased +spirit of the youth, and he grew strong in an instant. Talk of the +lessons of the learned, and the reasonings of the sage!—a vagrant +breeze, a rippling water, a glance of the sweet sunlight, have more of +consolation in them for the sad heart than all the pleadings of +philosophy. They bring the missives of a higher teacher.</p> + +<p>Bunce was an active coadjutor with the lawyer in this melancholy case. +He made all inquiries—he went everywhere. He searched in all places, +and spared no labor; but at length despaired. Nothing could be elicited +by his inquiries, and he ceased to hope himself, and ceased to persuade +Ralph into hope. The lawyer shook his head in reply to all questions, +and put on a look of mystery which is the safety-valve to all swollen +pretenders.</p> + +<p>In this state of affairs, taking the horse of the youth, with a last +effort at discoveries, Bunce rode forth into the surrounding country. He +had heretofore taken all the common routes, to which, in his previous +intercourse with the people, he had been accustomed; he now determined +to strike into a path scarcely perceptible, and one which he never +remembered to have seen before. He followed, mile after mile, its +sinuosities. It was a wild, and, seemingly, an untrodden region. The +hills shot up jaggedly from the plain around him—the fissures were rude +and steep—more like embrasures, blown out by sudden power +<span class="pagenum">[347]<a name="page347" id="page347"></a></span> from +the solid rock. Where the forest appeared, it was dense and +intricate—abounding in brush and underwood; where it was deficient, the +blasted heath chosen by the witches in Macbeth would have been no unfit +similitude.</p> + +<p>Hopeless of human presence in this dreary region, the pedler yet rode +on, as if to dissipate the unpleasant thoughts, following upon his +frequent disappointment. Suddenly, however, a turn in the winding path +brought him in contact with a strange-looking figure, not more than five +feet in height, neither boy nor man, uncouthly habited, and seemingly +one to whom all converse but that of the trees and rocks, during his +whole life, had been unfamiliar.</p> + +<p>The reader has already heard something of the Cherokee pony—it was upon +one of these animals he rode. They are a small, but compactly made and +hardy creature—of great fortitude, stubborn endurance, and an activity, +which, in the travel of day after day, will seldom subside from the +gallop. It was the increasing demand for these animals that had +originally brought into existence and exercise a company, which, by a +transition far from uncommon, passed readily from the plundering of +horses to the cutting of throats and purses; scarcely discriminating in +their reckless rapacity between the several degrees of crime in which +such a practice involved them.</p> + +<p>Though somewhat uncouth in appearance, the new-comer seemed decidedly +harmless—nay, almost idiotic in appearance. His smile was pleasant, +though illuminating features of the ruggedest description, and the tones +of his voice were even musical in the ears of the pedler, to whom any +voice would probably have seemed so in that gloomy region. He very +sociably addressed Bunce in the <i>patois</i> of that section; and the +ceremonial of introduction, without delay or difficulty, was overcome +duly on both sides. In the southern wilderness, indeed, it does not call +for much formality, nor does a strict adherence to the received rules of +etiquette become at all necessary, to make the traveller "hail fellow, +well met." Anything in that quarter, savoring of reserve or stiffness, +is punished with decided hostility or openly-avowed contempt; and, in +the more rude regions, the refusal to partake in the very social +employments of wrestling or whiskey-drinking, has brought the +<span class="pagenum">[348]<a name="page348" id="page348"></a></span> +scrupulous personage to the more questionable enjoyments of a +regular gouging match and fight. A demure habit is the most unpopular +among all classes. Freedom of manner, on the other hand, obtains +confidence readily, and the heart is won, at once, by an off-handed +familiarity of demeanor, which fails to recognise any inequalities in +human condition. The society and the continued presence of Nature, as it +were, in her own peculiar abode, put aside all merely conventional +distinctions, and men meet upon a common footing. Thus, even when +perfect strangers to one another, after the usual preliminaries of "how +are you, friend," or "strannger?"—"<i>whar</i> from?"—"<i>whar</i> +going?"—"fair" or "foul weather"—as the case may be—the acquaintance +is established, and familiarity well begun. Such was the case in the +present instance. Bunce knew the people well, and exhibited his most +unreluctant manner. The horses of the two, in like manner with their +masters, made similar overtures; and in a little while, their necks were +drawn in parallel lines together.</p> + +<p>Bunce was less communicative, however, than the stranger. Still his head +and heart, alike, were full, and he talked more freely than was +altogether consistent with his Yankee character. He told of Ralph's +predicament, and the clown sympathized; he narrated the quest which had +brought him forth, and of his heretofore unrewarded labors; concluded +with naming the ensuing Monday as the day of the youth's trial, when, if +nothing in the meantime could be discovered of the true criminal—for +the pedler never for a moment doubted that Ralph was innocent—he +"mortally feared things would go agin him."</p> + +<p>"That will be hard, too—a mighty tough difficulty, now, strannger—to +be hanged for other folks' doings. But, I reckon, he'll have to make up +his mind to it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! don't say so, now, my friend, I beg you. What makes you think +so?" said the anxious pedler.</p> + +<p>"Why, only from what I <i>heer'd</i> you say. You said so yourself, and +I believed it as if I had seed it," was the reply of the simple +countryman.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes. It's but a poor chance with him now, I guess. I'd a notion +that I could find out some little particular, you see—"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[349]<a name="page349" id="page349"></a></span> +"No, I don't see."</p> + +<p>"To be sure you don't, but that's my say. Everybody has a say, you +know."</p> + +<p>"No, I don't know."</p> + +<p>"To be sure, of course you don't know, but that's what I tell you. Now +you must know—"</p> + +<p>"Don't say <i>must</i> to me, strannger, if you want that we shall keep +hands off. I don't let any man say <i>must</i> to me."</p> + +<p>"No harm, my friend—I didn't mean no harm," said the worried pedler, +not knowing what to make of his acquaintance, who spoke shrewdly at +times, but occasionally in a speech, which awakened the doubts of the +pedler as to the safety of his wits. Avoiding all circumlocution of +phrase, and dropping the "you sees," and "you knows" from his narration, +he proceeded to state his agency in procuring testimony for the youth, +and of the ill-success which had hitherto attended him. At length, in +the course of his story, which he contrived to tell with as much caution +as came within the scope of his education, he happened to speak of Lucy +Munro; but had scarcely mentioned her name when his queer companion +interrupted him:—</p> + +<p>"Look you, strannger, I'll lick you now, off-hand, if you don't put Miss +for a handle to the gal's name. She's Miss Lucy. Don't I know her, and +han't I seen her, and isn't it I, Chub Williams, as they calls me, that +loves the very airth she treads?"</p> + +<p>"You know Miss Lucy?" inquired the pedler, enraptured even at this +moderate discovery, though carefully coupling the prefix to her name +while giving it utterance—"now, do you know Miss Lucy, friend, and will +you tell me where I can find her?"</p> + +<p>"Do you think I will, and you may be looking arter her too? 'Drot my old +hat, strannger, but I do itch to git at you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, now, Mr. Williams—"</p> + +<p>"I won't answer to that name. Call me Chub Williams, if you wants to be +perlite. Mother always calls me Chub, and that's the reason I like it."</p> + +<p>"Well, Chub,"—said the other, quite paternally—"I assure you I don't +love Miss Munro—and—"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[350]<a name="page350" id="page350"></a></span> +"What! you don't love Miss Lucy. Why, everybody ought to love +her. Now, if you don't love her, I'll hammer you, strannger, off hand."</p> + +<p>The poor pedler professed a proper sort of love for the young lady—not +exactly such as would seek her for a wife, however, and succeeded in +satisfying, after a while, the scruples of one who, in addition to +deformity, he also discovered to labor under the more serious curse of +partial idiocy. Having done this, and flattered, in sundry other ways, +the peculiarities of his companion, he pursued his other point with +laudable pertinacity.</p> + +<p>He at length got from Chub his own history: how he had run into the +woods with his mother, who had suffered from the ill-treatment of her +husband: how, with his own industry, he had sustained her wants, and +supplied her with all the comforts which a long period had required; and +how, dying at length, she had left him—the forest boy—alone, to pursue +those toils which heretofore had an object, while she yielded him in +return for them society and sympathy. These particulars, got from him in +a manner the most desultory, were made to preface the more important +parts of the narrative.</p> + +<p>It appears that his harmlessness had kept him undisturbed, even by the +wild marauders of that region, and that he still continued to procure a +narrow livelihood by his woodland labors, and sought no association with +that humanity which, though among fellow-creatures, would still have +lacked of fellowship for him. In the transfer of Lucy from the village +to the shelter of the outlaws, he had obtained a glimpse of her person +and form, and had ever since been prying in the neighborhood for a +second and similar enjoyment. He now made known to the pedler her place +of concealment, which he had, some time before this event, himself +discovered; but which, through dread of Rivers, for whom he seemed to +entertain an habitual fear, he had never ventured to penetrate.</p> + +<p>"Well, I must see her," exclaimed Bunce. "I a'n't afraid, 'cause you +see, Mr. Williams—Chub, I mean, it's only justice, and to save the poor +young gentleman's life. I'm sure I oughtn't to be afraid, and no more I +a'n't. Won't you go there with me, Chub?"</p> + +<p>"Can't think of it, strannger. Guy is a dark man, and +<span class="pagenum">[351]<a name="page351" id="page351"></a></span> mother +said I must keep away when he rode in the woods. Guy don't talk—he +shoots."</p> + +<p>The pedler made sundry efforts to procure a companion for his adventure; +but finding it vain, and determined to do right, he grew more resolute +with the necessity, and, contenting himself with claiming the guidance +of Chub, he went boldly on the path. Having reached a certain point in +the woods, after a very circuitous departure from the main track, the +guide pointed out to the pedler a long and rude ledge of rocks, so rude, +so wild, that none could have ever conjectured to find them the abode of +anything but the serpent and the wolf. But there, according to the +idiot, was Lucy Munro concealed. Chub gave the pedler his directions, +then alighting from his nag, which he concealed in a clump of +neighboring brush, hastily and with the agility of a monkey ran up a +neighboring tree which overhung the prospect.</p> + +<p>Bunce, left alone, grew somewhat staggered with his fears. He now +half-repented of the self-imposed adventure; wondered at his own rash +humanity, and might perhaps have utterly forborne the trial, but for a +single consideration. His pride was concerned, that the deformed Chub +should not have occasion to laugh at his weakness. Descending, +therefore, from his horse, he fastened him to the hanging branch of a +neighboring tree, and with something of desperate defiance in his +manner, resolutely advanced to the silent and forbidding mass of rocks, +which rose up so sullenly around him. In another moment, and he was lost +to sight in the gloomy shadow of the entrance-passage pointed out to him +by the half-witted, but not altogether ignorant dwarf.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[352]<a name="page352" id="page352"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter31" id="chapter31">CHAPTER XXXI.</a></h2> + +<h3>THE ROCK CASTLE OF THE ROBBERS.</h3> + + +<p>But the preparations of Bunce had been foreseen and provided for by +those most deeply interested in his progress; and scarcely had the +worthy tradesman effected his entrance fairly into the forbidden +territory, when he felt himself grappled from behind. He struggled with +an energy, due as much to the sudden terror as to any exercise of the +free will; but he struggled in vain. The arms that were fastened about +his own bound them down with a grasp of steel; and after a few moments +of desperate effort, accompanied with one or two exclamations, +half-surprise, half-expostulation, of "Hello, friend, what do you mean?" +and "I say, now, friend, you'd better have done—" the struggle ceased, +and he lay supine in the hold of the unseen persons who had secured him.</p> + +<p>These persons he could not then discern; the passage was cavernously +dark, and had evidently been as much the work of nature as of art. A +handkerchief was fastened about his eyes, and he felt himself carried on +the shoulders of those who made nothing of the burden. After the +progress of several minutes, in which the anxiety natural to his +situation led Bunce into frequent exclamations and entreaties, he was +set down, the bandage was removed from his eyes, and he was once more +permitted their free exercise.</p> + +<p>To his great wonder, however, nothing but women, of all sizes and ages, +met his sight. In vain did he look around for the men who brought him. +They were no longer to be seen, and so silent had been their passage +out, that the unfortunate pedler was compelled to satisfy himself with +the belief that persons of the gentler sex had been in truth his +captors.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[353]<a name="page353" id="page353"></a></span> +Had he, indeed, given up the struggle so easily? The thought was +mortifying enough; and yet, when he looked around him, he grew more +satisfied with his own efforts at resistance. He had never seen such +strongly-built women in his life: scarcely one of them but could easily +have overthrown him, without stratagem, in single combat. The faces of +many of them were familiar to him; but where had he seen them before? +His memory failed him utterly, and he gave himself up to his +bewilderment.</p> + +<p>He looked around, and the scene was well calculated to affect a nervous +mind. It was a fit scene for the painter of the supernatural. The small +apartment in which they were, was formed in great part from the natural +rock; where a fissure presented itself, a huge pine-tree, overthrown so +as to fill the vacuity, completed what nature had left undone; and, +bating the one or two rude cavities left here and there in the +sides—themselves so covered as to lie hidden from all without—there +was all the compactness of a regularly-constructed dwelling. A single +and small lamp, pendent from a beam that hung over the room, gave a +feeble light, which, taken in connection with that borrowed from +without, served only to make visible the dark indistinct of the place. +With something dramatic in their taste, the old women had dressed +themselves in sombre habiliments, according to the general aspect of all +things around them; and, as the unfortunate pedler continued to gaze in +wonderment, his fear grew with every progressive step in his +observation. One by one, however, the old women commenced stirring, and, +as they moved, now before and now behind him—his eyes following them on +every side—he at length discovered, amid the group, the small and +delicate form of the very being for whom he sought.</p> + +<p>There, indeed, were Lucy Munro and her aunt, holding a passive character +in the strange assembly. This was encouraging; and Bunce, forgetting his +wonder in the satisfaction which such a prospect afforded him, +endeavored to force his way forward to them, when a salutary twitch of +the arm from one of the beldam troop, by tumbling him backward upon the +floor of the cavern, brought him again to a consideration of his +predicament. He could not be restrained from speech, +<span class="pagenum">[354]<a name="page354" id="page354"></a></span> +however—though, as he spoke, the old women saluted his face on all +hands with strokes from brushes of fern, which occasioned him no small +inconvenience. But he had gone too far now to recede; and, in a broken +manner—broken as much by his own hurry and vehemence as by the +interruptions to which he was subjected—he contrived to say enough to +Lucy of the situation of Colleton, to revive in her an interest of the +most painful character. She rushed forward, and was about to ask more +from the beleaguered pedler; but it was not the policy of those having +both of them in charge to permit such a proceeding. One of the stoutest +of the old women now came prominently upon the scene, and, with a rough +voice, which it is not difficult to recognise as that of Munro, +commanded the young girl away, and gave her in charge to two attendants. +But she struggled still to hear, and Bunce all the while speaking, she +was enabled to gather most of the particulars in his narration before +her removal was effected.</p> + +<p>The mummery now ceased, and Bunce having been carried elsewhere, the +maskers resumed their native apparel, having thrown aside that which had +been put on for a distinct purpose. The pedler, in another and more +secure department of the robbers' hiding-place, was solaced with the +prospect of a long and dark imprisonment.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, our little friend Chub Williams had been made to +undergo his own distinct punishment for his share in the adventure. No +sooner had Bunce been laid by the heels, than Rivers, who had directed +the whole, advanced from the shelter of the cave, in company with his +lieutenant, Dillon, both armed with rifles, and, without saying a word, +singling out the tree on which Chub had perched himself, took deliberate +aim at the head of the unfortunate urchin. He saw the danger in an +instant, and his first words were characteristic: "Now don't—don't, +now, I tell you, Mr. Guy—you may hit Chub!"</p> + +<p>"Come down, then, you rascal!" was the reply, as, with a laugh, lowering +the weapon, he awaited the descent of the spy. "And now, Bur, what have +you to say that I shouldn't wear out a hickory or two upon you?"</p> + +<p>"My name ain't Bur, Mr. Guy; my name is Chub, and I don't like to be +called out of my name. Mother always called me Chub."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[355]<a name="page355" id="page355"></a></span> +"Well, Chub—since you like it best, though at best a bur—what +were you doing in that tree? How dare you spy into my dwelling, and send +other people there? Speak, or I'll skin you alive!"</p> + +<p>"Now, don't, Mr. Guy! Don't, I beg you! 'Taint right to talk so, and I +don't like it!—But is that your dwelling, Mr. Guy, in truth?—you +really live in it, all the year round? Now, you don't, do you?"</p> + +<p>The outlaw had no fierceness when contemplating the object before him. +Strange nature! He seemed to regard the deformities of mind and body, in +the outcast under his eyes, as something kindred. Was there anything +like sympathy in such a feeling? or was it rather that perversity of +temper which sometimes seems to cast an ennobling feature over violence, +and to afford here and there, a touch of that moral sunshine which can +now and then give an almost redeeming expression to the countenance of +vice itself? He contemplated the idiot for a few moments with a close +eye, and a mind evidently busied in thought. Laying his hand, at length, +on his shoulder, he was about to speak, when the deformed started back +from the touch as if in horror—a feeling, indeed, fully visible in +every feature of his face.</p> + +<p>"Now, don't touch Chub, Mr. Guy! Mother said you were a dark man, and +told me to keep clear of you. Don't touch me agin, Mr. Guy; I don't like +it."</p> + +<p>The outlaw, musingly, spoke to his lieutenant: "And this is education. +Who shall doubt its importance? who shall say that it does not overthrow +and altogether destroy the original nature? The selfish mother of this +miserable outcast, fearing that he might be won away from his service to +her, taught him to avoid all other persons, and even those who had +treated her with kindness were thus described to this poor dependant. To +him the sympathies of others would have been the greatest blessing; yet +she so tutored him, that, at her death, he was left desolate. You hear +his account of me, gathered, as he says, and as I doubt not, from her +own lips. That account is true, so far as my other relationships with +mankind are concerned; but not true as regards my connection with her. I +furnished that old creature with food when she was starving, and when +this boy, sick and impotent, could do little for her service. I never +uttered a<span class="pagenum">[356]<a name="page356" id="page356"></a></span> +harsh word in her ears, or treated her unkindly; yet +this is the character she gives of me—and this, indeed, the character +which she has given of all others. A feeling of the narrowest +selfishness has led her deliberately to misrepresent all mankind, and +has been productive of a more ungracious result, in driving one from his +species, who, more than any other, stands in need of their sympathy and +association."</p> + +<p>While Rivers spoke thus, the idiot listened with an air of the most +stupid attention. His head fell on one shoulder, and one hand partially +sustained it. As the former concluded his remarks, Chub recovered a +posture as nearly erect as possible, and remarked, with as much +significance as could comport with his general expression—</p> + +<p>"Chub's mother was good to Chub, and Mr. Guy mustn't say nothing agin +her."</p> + +<p>"But, Chub, will you not come and live with me? I will give you a good +rifle—one like this, and you shall travel everywhere with me."</p> + +<p>"You will beat Chub when you are angry, and make him shoot people with +the rifle. I don't want it. If folks say harm to Chub, he can lick 'em +with his fists. Chub don't want to live with you."</p> + +<p>"Well, as you please. But come in and look at my house and see where I +live."</p> + +<p>"And shall I see the strannger agin? I can lick <i>him</i>, and I told +him so. But he called me Chub, and I made friends with him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, you shall see him, and—"</p> + +<p>"And Miss Lucy, too—I want to see Miss Lucy—Chub saw her, and she +spoke to Chub yesterday."</p> + +<p>The outlaw promised him all, and after this there was no further +difficulty. The unconscious idiot scrupled no longer, and followed his +conductors into—prison. It was necessary, for the further safety of the +outlaws in their present abode, that such should be the case. The secret +of their hiding-place was in the possession of quite too many; and the +subject of deliberation among the leaders was now as to the propriety of +its continued tenure. The country, they felt assured, would soon be +overrun with the state troops. They had no fears of discovery +<span class="pagenum">[357]<a name="page357" id="page357"></a></span> +from this source, prior to the affair of the massacre of the guard, +which rendered necessary the secretion of many in their retreat, who, +before that time, were perfectly unconscious of its existence. In +addition to this, it was now known to the pedler and the idiot, neither +of whom had any reason for secrecy on the subject in the event of their +being able to make it public. The difficulty, with regard to the two +latter, subjected them to no small risk of suffering from the ultimate +necessities of the rogues, and there was a sharp and secret consultation +as to the mode of disposing of the two captives; but so much blood had +been already spilled, that the sense of the majority revolted at the +further resort to that degree of violence—particularly, too, when it +was recollected that they could only hold their citadel for a certain +and short period of time. It was determined, therefore, that so long as +they themselves continued in their hiding-place, Bunce and Chub should, +perforce, continue prisoners. Having so determined, and made their +arrangements accordingly, the two last-made captives were assigned a +cell, chosen with reference to its greater security than the other +portions of their hold—one sufficiently tenacious of its trust, it +would seem, to answer well its purpose.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the sufferings of Lucy Munro were such as may well be +understood from the character of her feelings, as we have heretofore +beheld their expression. In her own apartment—her cell, we may style +it, for she was in a sort of honorable bondage—she brooded with deep +melancholy over the narrative given by the pedler. She had no reason to +doubt its correctness, and, the more she meditated upon it, the more +acute became her misery. But a day intervened, and the trial of Ralph +Colleton must take place; and, without her evidence, she was well aware +there could be no hope of his escape from the doom of felony—from the +death of shame and physical agony. The whole picture grew up before her +excited fancy. She beheld the assembled crowd—she saw him borne to +execution—and her senses reeled beneath the terrible conjurations of +her fancy. She threw herself prostrate upon her couch, and strove not to +think, but in vain. Her mind, growing hourly more and more intensely +excited, at length almost maddened, and she grew conscious herself—the +worst of all kinds of <span class="pagenum">[358]<a name="page358" id="page358"></a></span> +consciousness—that her reason was no +longer secure in its sovereignty. It was with a strong effort of the +still-firm will that she strove to meditate the best mode of rescuing +the victim from the death suspended above him; and she succeeded, while +deliberating on this object, in quieting the more subtle workings of her +imagination.</p> + +<p>Many were the thoughts which came into her brain in this examination. At +one time she thought it not impossible to convey a letter, in which her +testimony should be carefully set down; but the difficulty of procuring +a messenger, and the doubt that such a statement would prove of any +avail, decided her to seek for other means. An ordinary mind, and a +moderate degree of interest in the fate of the individual, would have +contented itself with some such step; but such a mind and such +affections were not those of the high-souled and spirited Lucy. She +dreaded not personal danger; and to rescue the youth, whom she so much +idolized, from the doom that threatened him, she would have willingly +dared to encounter that doom itself, in its darkest forms. She +determined, therefore, to rely chiefly upon herself in all efforts which +she should make for the purpose in view; and her object, therefore, was +to effect a return to the village in time to appear at the trial.</p> + +<p>Yet how should this be done? She felt herself to be a captive; she knew +the restraints upon her—and did not doubt that all her motions were +sedulously observed. How then should she proceed? An agent was +necessary; and, while deliberating with herself upon the difficulty thus +assailing her at the outset, her ears were drawn to the distinct +utterance of sounds, as of persons engaged in conversation, from the +adjoining section of the rock.</p> + +<p>One of the voices appeared familiar, and at length she distinctly made +out her own name in various parts of the dialogue. She soon +distinguished the nasal tones of the pedler, whose prison adjoined her +own, separated only by a huge wall of earth and rock, the rude and +jagged sides of which had been made complete, where naturally imperfect, +for the purposes of a wall, by the free use of clay, which, plastered in +huge masses into the crevices and every fissure, was no inconsiderable +apology for the more perfect structures of civilization.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[359]<a name="page359" id="page359"></a></span> +Satisfied, at length, from what she heard, that the two so +confined were friendly, she contrived to make them understand her +contiguity, by speaking in tones sufficiently low as to be unheard +beyond the apartment in which they were. In this way she was enabled to +converse with the pedler, to whom all her difficulties were suggested, +and to whom she did not hesitate to say that she knew that which would +not fail to save the life of Colleton.</p> + +<p>Bunce was not slow to devise various measures for the further promotion +of the scheme, none of which, however, served the purpose of showing to +either party how they should get out, and, but for the idiot, it is more +than probable, despairing of success, they would at length have thrown +aside the hope of doing anything for the youth as perfectly illusory.</p> + +<p>But Chub came in as a prime auxiliar. From the first moment in which he +heard the gentle tones of Lucy's voice, he had busied himself with his +long nails and fingers in removing the various masses of clay which had +been made to fill up sundry crevices of the intervening wall, and had so +far succeeded as to detach a large square of the rock itself, which, +with all possible pains and caution, he lifted from the embrasure. This +done, he could distinguish objects, though dimly, from one apartment in +the other, and thus introduced the parties to a somewhat nearer +acquaintance with one another. Having done so much, he reposed from his +labors, content with a sight of Lucy, on whom he continued to gaze with +a fixed and stupid admiration.</p> + +<p>He had pursued this work so noiselessly, and the maiden and Bunce had +been so busily employed in discussing their several plans, that they had +not observed the vast progress which Chub had made toward furnishing +them with a better solution of their difficulties than any of their own +previous cogitations. When Bunce saw how much had been done in one +quarter, he applied himself resolutely to similar experiments on the +opposite wall: and had the satisfaction of discovering that, as a +dungeon, the dwelling in which they were required to remain was sadly +deficient in some few of the requisites of security. With the aid of a +small pick of iron, which Lucy handed him from her cell, he pierced the +outer wall in several places, in which the clay had been required to do +the offices of the rock, and had the <span class="pagenum">[360]<a name="page360" +id="page360"></a></span>satisfaction of perceiving, +from the sudden influx of light in the apartment, succeeding his +application of the instrument, that, with a small labor and in little +time, they should be enabled to effect their escape, at least into the +free air, and under the more genial vault of heaven.</p> + +<p>Having made this discovery, it was determined that nothing more should +be done until night, and having filled up the apertures which they had +made, with one thing or another, they proceeded to consult, with more +deliberate composure, on the future progress. It was arranged that the +night should be permitted to set in fairly—that Lucy should retire +early, having first taken care that Munro and her aunt, with whom she +more exclusively consorted—Rivers having kept very much out of sight +since her removal—should see her at the evening meal, without any +departure from her usual habits. Bunce undertook to officiate as guide, +and as Chub expressed himself willing to do whatever Miss Lucy should +tell him, it was arranged that he should remain, occasionally making +himself heard in his cell, as if in conversation, for as long a period +after their departure as might be thought necessary to put them +sufficiently in advance of pursuit—a requisition to which Chub readily +gave his consent. He was the only one of the party who appeared to +regard the whole matter with comparative indifference. He knew that a +man was in danger of his life—he felt that he himself was in prison, +and he said he would rather be out among the pine-trees—but there was +no rush of feeling, such as troubled the heart of the young girl, whose +spirit, clothing itself in all the noblest habiliments of humanity, +lifted her up into the choicest superiority of character—nor had the +dwarf that anxiety to do a service to his fellow, which made the pedler +throw aside some of his more worldly characteristics—he did simply as +he was bid, and had no further care.</p> + +<p>Miss Lucy, he said, talked sweetly, like his mother, and Chub would do +for Miss Lucy anything that she asked him. The principle of his +government was simple, and having chosen a sovereign, he did not +withhold his obedience. Thus stood the preparations of the three +prisoners, when darkness—long-looked-for, and hailed with trembling +emotions—at length came down over the silent homestead of the outlaws.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[361]<a name="page361" id="page361"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter32" id="chapter32">CHAPTER XXXII.</a></h2> + +<h3>ESCAPE.</h3> + + +<p>The night gathered apace, and the usual hour of repose had come. Lucy +retired to her apartment with a trembling heart but a courageous spirit, +full of a noble determination to persevere in her project. Though full +of fear, she never for a moment thought of retreat from the decision +which she had made. Her character afforded an admirable model for the +not unfrequent union that we find in woman, of shrinking delicacy with +manly and efficient firmness.</p> + +<p>Munro and Rivers, having first been assured that all was quiet, by a +ramble which they took around their hiding-place, returned to the little +chamber of the latter, such as we have described it in a previous +portion of our narrative, and proceeded to the further discussion of +their plans. The mind of the landlord was very ill at ease. He had +arrived at that time of life when repose and a fixed habitation became +necessary; and when, whatever may have been the habits of earlier +manhood, the mind ceases to crave the excitements of adventure, and +foregoes, or would fain forego, all its roving characteristics. To this +state of feeling had he come, and the circumstances which now denied him +the fruition of that prospect of repose which he had been promising +himself so long, were regarded with no little restlessness and +impatience. At the moment, the colleagues could make no positive +arrangements for the future. Munro was both to give up the property +which, in one way or other, he had acquired in the neighborhood, and +which it was impossible for him to remove to any other region; and, +strange to say, a strong feeling of inhabitiveness—the love of home—if +home he could be thought to have anywhere—might almost be considered a +passion with his less scrupulous companion.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[362]<a name="page362" id="page362"></a></span> +Thus situated, they lingered on in the hope that the military +would soon be withdrawn from the neighborhood, as it could only be +maintained at great expense by the state; and then, as the country was +but nominally settled, and so sparsely as to scarcely merit any +consideration, they felt assured that they might readily return to their +old, or any practices, and without any further apprehension. The +necessity, however, which made them thus deliberate, had the effect, at +the same time, of impressing them with a gloomy spirit, not common to +either of them.</p> + +<p>"Let us see, Munro," said the more desperate ruffian; "there is, after +all, less to apprehend than we first thought. In a week, and the court +will be over; in another week, and the guard will be withdrawn; and for +this period only will it be necessary that we should keep dark. I think +we are now perfectly safe where we are. The only persons who know of our +retreat, and might be troublesome, are safe in our possession. They will +hardly escape until we let them, and before we do so we shall first see +that they can give us no further necessity for caution. Of our own +party, none are permitted to know the secrets of our hiding-place, but +those in whom we may trust confidently. I have taken care to provide for +the doubtful at some distance in the adjoining woods, exaggerating so +greatly the danger of exposure, that they will hardly venture to be seen +under any circumstances by anybody. Once let these two weeks go over, +and I have no fears; we shall have no difficulties then."</p> + +<p>"And what's to be done with the pedler and the fool? I say, Guy, there +must be no more blood—I will not agree to it. The fact is, I feel more +and more dismal every day since that poor fellow's death; and now that +the youngster's taken, the thought is like fire in my brain, which tells +me he may suffer for our crime."</p> + +<p>"Why, you are grown parson. Would you go and save him, by giving up the +true criminal? I shall look for it after this, and consider myself no +longer in safety. If you go on in this manner, I shall begin to meditate +an off-hand journey to the Mississippi."</p> + +<p>"Ay, and the sooner we all go the better—though, to be plain, Guy, let +this affair once blow over and I care not to go +<span class="pagenum">[363]<a name="page363" id="page363"></a></span> with <i>you</i> +any longer. We must then cut loose for ever. I am not a good man, I +know—anything but that; but you have carried me on, step by step, until +I am what I am afraid to name to myself. You found me a rogue—you have +made me a—"</p> + +<p>"Why do you hesitate? Speak it out, Munro; it is a large step gained +toward reform when we learn to name truly our offences to ourselves."</p> + +<p>"I dare not. The thought is sufficiently horrible without the thing. I +hear some devil whispering it too frequently in my ears, to venture upon +its utterance myself. But you—how you can live without feeling it, +after your experience, which has been so much more dreadful than mine, I +know not."</p> + +<p>"I do feel it, Munro, but have long since ceased to fear it. The +reiteration takes away the terror which is due rather to the novelty +than to the offence. But when I began, I felt it. The first sleep I had +after the affair of Jessup was full of tortures. The old man, I thought, +lay beside me in my bed; his blood ran under me, and clotted around me, +and fastened me there, while his gashed face kept peering into mine, and +his eyes danced over me with the fierce light of a threatening comet. +The dream nearly drove me mad, and mad I should have been had I gone to +my prayers. I knew that, and chose a different course for relief."</p> + +<p>"What was that?"</p> + +<p>"I sought for another victim as soon after as I conveniently could. The +one spectre superseded the other, until all vanished. They never trouble +me now, though sometimes, in my waking moments, I have met them on the +roadside, glaring at me from bush or tree, until I shouted at them +fiercely, and then they were gone. These are my terrors, and they do +sometimes unman me."</p> + +<p>"They would do more with me; they would destroy me on the spot. But, let +us have no more of this. Let us rather see if we can not do something +towards making our visions more agreeable. Do you persevere in the +sacrifice of this youngster? Must he die?"</p> + +<p>"Am I a child, Walter Munro, that you ask me such a question? Must I +again tell over the accursed story of my defeat<span class="pagenum">[364]<a +name="page364" id="page364"></a></span> and of his +success? Must I speak of my thousand defeats—of my overthrown +pretensions—my blasted hopes, where I had set my affections—upon which +every feeling of my heart had been placed? Must I go over a story so +full of pain and humiliation—must I describe my loss, in again placing +before your eyes a portraiture like this? Look, man, look—and read my +answer in the smile, which, denying me, teaches me, in this case, to arm +myself with a denial as immutable as hers."</p> + +<p>He placed before his companion the miniature of Edith, which he took +from his bosom, where he seemed carefully to treasure it. He was again +the envenomed and the excited savage which we have elsewhere seen him, +and in which mood Munro knew well that nothing could be done with him in +the shape of argument or entreaty. He went on:—</p> + +<p>"Ask me no questions, Munro, so idle, so perfectly unnecessary as this. +Fortune has done handsomely here. He falls through <i>me</i>, yet falls +by the common hangman. What a double blow is this to both of them. I +have been striving to imagine their feelings, and such a repast as that +effort has procured me—I would not exchange it—no—not for worlds—for +nothing less, Munro, than my restoration back to that society—to that +place in society, from which my fierce passions, and your cruel +promptings, and the wrongs of society itself, have for ever exiled me."</p> + +<p>"And would you return, if you could do so?"</p> + +<p>"To-morrow—to-night—this instant. I am sanguinary, +Munro—revengeful—fierce—all that is bad, because I am not permitted +to be better. My pride, my strong feelings and deeply absorbing +mood—these have no other field for exercise. The love of home, the high +ambition, which, had society done me common justice, and had not, in +enslaving itself, dishonored and defrauded me—would, under other +circumstances, have made me a patriot. My pride is even now to command +the admiration of men—I never sought their love. Their approbation +would have made me fearless and powerful in their defence and for their +rights—their injustice makes me their enemy. My passions, unprovoked +and unexaggerated by mortifying repulses, would have only been a warm +and stimulating influence, perpetually working in their service—but, +pressed<span class="pagenum">[365]<a name="page365" id="page365"></a></span> +upon and irritated as they have been they grew into so +many wild beasts, and preyed upon the cruel or the careless keepers, +whose gentle treatment and constant attention had tamed them into +obedient servants. Yet, would I could, even now, return to that +condition in which there might be hope. The true spectre of the +criminal—such as I am—the criminal chiefly from the crimes and +injustice of society, not forgetting the education of my boyhood, which +grew out of the same crimes, and whose most dreadful lesson is +selfishness—is despair! The black waters once past, the blacker hills +rise between, and there is no return to those regions of hope, which, +once lost, are lost for ever. This is the true punishment—the worst +punishment which man inflicts upon his fellow—the felony of public +opinion. The curse of society is no unfit illustration of that ban which +its faith holds forth as the penal doom of the future. There is no +return!"</p> + +<p>The dialogue, mixed up thus, throughout, with the utterance of opinions +on the part of the outlaw, many of which were true or founded in truth, +yet coupled with many false deductions—was devoted, for some little +while longer, to the discussion of their various necessities and plans +for the future. The night had considerably advanced in this way, when, +of a sudden, their ears were assailed with an eldritch screech, like +that of the owl, issuing from one of the several cells around them.</p> + +<p>The quick sense of Rivers immediately discerned the voice of the idiot, +and without hesitation he proceeded to that division of the rock which +contained the two prisoners. To each of these apartments had been +assigned a sentinel, or watch, whose own place of abode—while covered +completely and from sight, and in all respects furnishing a dwelling, +though rather a confined one for himself—enabled him to attend to the +duty assigned him without himself being seen. The night had been fairly +set in, when Bunce, with the aid of Chub Williams, with all due caution +proceeded to his task, and with so much success, that, in the course of +a couple of hours, they had succeeded, not only in making a fair outlet +for themselves, but for Lucy Munro too.</p> + +<p>The watchman, in the meantime, holding his duty as merely nominal, gave +himself as little trouble as possible; and <span class="pagenum">[366]<a name="page366" +id="page366"></a></span>believing all things +quiet, had, after a little while, insinuated himself into the good +graces of as attractive a slumber as may usually be won in the warm +summer season in the south, by one to whom a nightwatch is a peculiarly +ungracious exercise. Before this conclusion, however, he looked forth +every now and then, and deceived by the natural stillness of earth and +sky, he committed the further care of the hours, somewhat in +anticipation of the time, to the successor who was to relieve him on the +watch.</p> + +<p>Without being conscious of this decision in their favor, and ignorant +entirely of the sentinel himself, the pedler fortunately chose this +period for his own departure with the young lady whom he was to escort; +and who, with probably far less fear than her gallant, did not scruple, +for a single instant, to go forth under his guidance. Chub took his +instructions from the lips of Lucy, and promised the most implicit +obedience.</p> + +<p>They had scarcely been well gone when the sentinels were changed, and +one something more tenacious of discipline, or something less drowsy +than his predecessor, took his place. After muttering at intervals, as +directed, for the space of an hour, probably, from the time at which his +companion had departed, Chub thought it only prudent to sally forth too. +Accordingly, ascending to the break in the wall, through which his +companion had made his way, the urchin emerged from the cavern at the +unlucky moment, when, at some ten or fifteen paces in front of him, the +sentinel came forth from his niche to inspect the order of his watch. +Chub saw his adversary first, and his first impulse originated the +scream which drew the attention of Rivers, as already narrated. The +outlaw rushed quickly to the scene of difficulty, and before the +sentinel had well recovered from the astonishment occasioned by the +singularly sudden appearance and wild screech of the urchin.</p> + +<p>"Why, what is this, Briggs; what see you?" was the hasty inquiry of +Rivers.</p> + +<p>"There, sir, there," exclaimed the watch, still half bewildered, and +pointing to the edge of the hill, where, in a condition seemingly of +equal incertitude with himself, stood the imbecile.</p> + +<p>"Seize upon him—take him at once—let him not escape you!" were the +hasty orders of the outlaw. Briggs set forward, but his approach had the +effect of giving determination also to<span class="pagenum">[367]<a name="page367" +id="page367"></a></span> Chub; who, just as the +pursuer thought himself sure of his captive, and was indeed indirectly +upon him, doubled himself up, as it were into a complete ball, and +without effort rolled headlong down the hill; gathering upon his feet as +he attained the level, seemingly unhurt, and with all the agility of the +monkey.</p> + +<p>"Shall I shoot, sir?" was the inquiry of Briggs, as the urchin stood +off, laughing wildly at his good fortune.</p> + +<p>"Now, don't"—was the cry—"Now, don't"—was the exclamation of Chub +himself, who, however, trusting nothing to the effect of his entreaty, +ran vigorously on his way.</p> + +<p>"Yes, shoot him down," was the sudden exclamation of Munro; but Rivers +struck the poised weapon upward in the hands of the sentinel, to the +astonishment, not less of him than of the landlord.</p> + +<p>"No—let him live, Munro. Let him live. Such as he should be spared. Is +he not alone—without fellowship—scorned—an outcast—without +sympathy—like myself. Let him live, let him live!"</p> + +<p>The word of mercy from his lips utterly confounded his companion. But, +remembering that Rivers was a monster of contradictions, Munro turned +away, and gave directions to see after the other prisoners.</p> + +<p>A few moments sufficed for this, and the panic was universal among the +inmates of the rock. The secret was now lost, unless immediate pursuit +could avail in the recovery of the fugitives. This pursuit was +immediately undertaken, and both Rivers and Munro, taking different +directions, and dispersing their whole force about the forest, set off +on the search.</p> + +<p>Apprehensive of pursuit, the policy of Bunce, to whom Lucy gave up the +entire direction of their flight, was determined upon with not a little +judgment. Assured that his pursuers would search chiefly on the direct +route between their abode and the village, to which they would +necessarily surmise the flight was directed, he boldly determined upon a +course, picked sinuously out, obliquing largely from the true direction, +which, while it would materially lengthen the distance, would at least +secure them, he thought, from the danger of contact with the scouring +party.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[368]<a name="page368" id="page368"></a></span> +By no means ignorant of the country, in and about which he had +frequently travelled in the pursuit of trade, he contrived, in this way, +completely to mislead the pursuers; and the morning found them still +some distance from the village, but in a direction affording few chances +of interruption in their contemplated approach to it.</p> + +<p>Lucy was dreadfully fatigued, and a frequent sense of weariness almost +persuaded her to lay down life itself in utter exhaustion: but the +encouraging words of the pedler, and the thought of <i>his</i> peril, +for whose safety—though herself hopeless of all besides—she would +willingly peril all, restored her, and invigorated her to renewed +effort.</p> + +<p>At the dawn of day they approached a small farmhouse, some of the +inmates of which happened to know Lucy; and, though they looked somewhat +askant at her companion, and wondered not a little at the circumstance +of her travelling at such a time of night, yet, as she was generally +well respected, their surmises and scruples were permitted to sleep; +and, after a little difficulty, they were persuaded to lend her the +family pony and side-saddle, with the view to the completion of her +journey. After taking some slight refreshment, she hurried on; Bunce, +keeping the road afoot, alongside, with all the patient docility of a +squire of the middle ages; and to the great satisfaction of all parties, +they arrived in sight of the village just as Counsellor Pippin, learned +in the law, was disputing with the state attorney upon the +non-admissibility of certain points of testimony, which it was the +policy of the former to exclude.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[369]<a name="page369" id="page369"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter33" id="chapter33">CHAPTER XXXIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>DOOM.</h3> + + +<p>The village of Chestatee was crowded with visiters of all descriptions. +Judges and lawyers, soldiers and citizens and farmers—all classes were +duly represented, and a more wholesome and subordinate disposition in +that quarter, may be inferred as duly resulting from the crowd. +Curiosity brought many to the spot from portions of country twenty, +thirty, and even forty miles off—for, usually well provided with good +horses, the southron finds a difference of ten or twenty miles no great +matter.</p> + +<p>Such had been the reputation of the region here spoken of, not less for +its large mineral wealth than for the ferocious character of those in +its neighborhood, that numbers, who would not otherwise have adventured, +now gladly took advantage of the great excitement, and the presence of +so many, to examine a section of country of which they had heard so +much. There came the planter, of rather more wealth than his neighbors, +solicitous for some excitement and novelty to keep himself from utter +stagnation. There came the farmer, discontented with his present +abiding-place, and in search of a new spot of more promise, in which to +drive stakes and do better. The lawyer, from a neighboring county, in +search of a cause; the creditor in search of his runaway debtor—the +judge and the jury also adding something, not less to the number than +the respectability of the throng.</p> + +<p>The grand-jury had found several bills, and most of them for the more +aggravated offences in the estimation of the law. Rivers, Munro, +Blundell, Forrester, were all severally and collectively included in +their inquiries; but as none of the parties were to be found for the +present at least, as one of them<span class="pagenum">[370]<a name="page370" +id="page370"></a></span> had been removed to another and +higher jurisdiction, the case of most importance left for trial was that +which charged Colleton with Forrester's murder.</p> + +<p>There was no occasion for delay; and, in gloomy and half-desponding +mood, though still erect and unshrinking to the eye of the beholder, +Ralph refused the privilege of a traverse, and instructed Pippin to go +on with the case. The lawyer himself had not the slightest objection to +this procedure, for, not to be harsh in our estimate of his humanities, +there is no reason to believe that he regarded for a single instant the +value of his client's life, but as its preservation was to confer credit +upon his capacity as his legal friend and adviser. The issue was +consequently made up without delay—the indictment was read—the +prisoner put himself upon God and the country, according to the usual +forms, and the case proceeded.</p> + +<p>The general impression of the spectators was decidedly in favor of the +accused. His youth—the noble bearing—the ease, the unobtrusive +confidence—the gentle expression, pliant and, though sad, yet entirely +free from anything like desponding weakness—all told in his favor. He +was a fine specimen of the southern gentleman—the true nobleman of that +region, whose pride of character is never ostentatiously displayed and +is only to be felt in the influence which it invariably exercises over +all with whom it may have contact or connection. Though firm in every +expression, and manly in every movement, there was nothing in the habit +and appearance of Ralph, which, to the eye of those around, savored of +the murderer. There was nothing ruffianly or insincere. But, as the +testimony proceeded—when the degree of intimacy was shown which had +existed between himself and the murdered man—when they heard that +Forrester had brought him wounded and fainting to his home—had attended +him—had offered even to fight for him with Rivers; when all these facts +were developed, in connection with the sudden flight of the person so +befriended—on the same night with him who had befriended him—he having +a knowledge of the proposed departure of the latter-and with the finding +of the bloody dagger marked with the youth's initials—the feeling of +sympathy very perceptibly underwent a change. The people, proverbially +fickle, and, in the present<span class="pagenum">[371]<a name="page371" +id="page371"></a></span> instance justifiably so, veered +round to the opposite extreme of opinion, and a confused buzz around, +sometimes made sufficiently audible to all senses, indicated the +unfavorable character of the change. The witnesses were closely +examined, and the story was complete and admirably coherent. The +presumptions, as they were coupled together, were conclusive; and, when +it was found that not a solitary witness came forward even to say that +the accused was a man of character and good connections—a circumstance +which could not materially affect the testimony as it stood, but which, +wanting, gave it additional force—the unhappy youth, himself, felt that +all was over.</p> + +<p>A burning flush, succeeded by a deathlike paleness, came over his face +for a moment—construed by those around into a consciousness of guilt; +for, where the prejudices of men become active, all appearances of +change, which go not to affect the very foundation of the bias, are only +additional proofs of what they have before believed. He rested his head +upon his hands in deep but momentary agony. What were his feelings then? +With warm, pure emotions; with a pride only limited by a true sense of +propriety; with an ambition whose eye was sunward ever; with affections +which rendered life doubly desirable, and which made love a high and +holy aspiration: with these several and predominating feelings +struggling in his soul, to be told of such a doom; to be stricken from +the respect of his fellows; to forfeit life, and love, and reputation; +to undergo the punishment of the malefactor, and to live in memory only +as a felon—ungrateful, foolish, fiendish—a creature of dishonest +passions, and mad and merciless in their exercise!</p> + +<p>The tide of thought which bore to his consciousness all these harrowing +convictions, was sudden as the wing of the lightning, and nearly +shattered, in that single instant, the towering manhood whose high +reachings had attracted it. But the pride consequent to his education, +and the society in which he had lived, came to his relief; and, after +the first dreadful agony of soul, he again stood erect, and listened, +seemingly unmoved, to the defences set up by his counsel.</p> + +<p>But how idle, even to his mind, desirous as he must have been of every +species of defence, were all the vainglorious mouthings of the +pettifogger! He soon discovered that the +<span class="pagenum">[372]<a name="page372" id="page372"></a></span> ambition of Pippin +chiefly consisted in the utterance of his speech. He saw, too, in a +little while, that the nonsense of the lawyer had not even the solitary +merit—if such it be—of being extemporaneous; and in the slow and +monotonous delivery of a long string of stale truisms, not bearing any +analogy to the case in hand, he perceived the dull elaborations of the +closet.</p> + +<p>But such was not the estimate of the lawyer himself. He knew what he was +about; and having satisfied himself that the case was utterly hopeless, +he was only solicitous that the people should see that he could still +make a speech. He well knew that his auditory, perfectly assured with +himself of the hopelessness of the defence, would give him the credit of +having made the most of his materials, and this was all he wanted. In +the course of his exhortations, however, he was unfortunate enough to +make an admission for his client which was, of itself, fatal; and his +argument thence became unnecessary. He admitted that the circumstances +sufficiently established the charge of killing, but proceeded, however, +to certain liberal assumptions, without any ground whatever, of +provocation on the part of Forrester, which made his murder only matter +of self-defence on the side of the accused, whose crime therefore became +justifiable: but Ralph, who had for some time been listening with +manifest impatience to sundry other misrepresentations, not equally evil +with this, but almost equally annoying, now rose and interrupted him; +and, though the proceeding was something informal, proceeded to correct +the statement.</p> + +<p>"No one, may it please your honor, and you, gentlemen, now presiding +over my fate, can be more conscious than myself, from the nature of the +evidence given in this case, of the utter hopelessness of any defence +which may be offered on my behalf. But, while recognising, in their +fullest force, the strong circumstantial proofs of crime which you have +heard, I may be permitted to deny for myself what my counsel has been +pleased to admit for me. To say that I have <i>not</i> been guilty of +this crime, is only to repeat that which was said when I threw myself +upon the justice of the country. I denied any knowledge of it then—I +deny any knowledge of, or participation in it, now. I am <i>not</i> +guilty of this killing, whether with or without justification. The blood +of the unfortunate man Forrester is <i>not</i> upon my +<span class="pagenum">[373]<a name="page373" id="page373"></a></span> hands; +and, whatever may be your decree this day, of this sweet consciousness +nothing can deprive me."</p> + +<p>"I consider, may it please your honor, that my counsel, having virtually +abandoned my cause, I have the right to go on with it myself—"</p> + +<p>But Pippin, who had been dreadfully impatient heretofore, started +forward with evident alarm.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no—no, your honor—my client—Mr. Colleton—how can you think such +a thing? I have not, your honor, abandoned the case. On the contrary, +your honor will remember that it was while actually proceeding with the +case that I was interrupted."</p> + +<p>The youth, with a singular degree of composure, replied:—</p> + +<p>"Your honor will readily understand me, though the gentleman of the bar +does not. I conceive him not only to have abandoned the case, your +honor, but actually to have joined hand and hand with the prosecuting +counsel. It is true, sir, that he still calls himself <i>my</i> +counsel—and still, under that name, presumes to harangue, as he +alleges, in my behalf; but, when he violates the truth, not less than my +instructions—when he declares all that is alleged against me in that +paper <i>to be true</i>, all of which I declare to be <i>false</i>—when +he admits me to be guilty of a crime of which I am <i>not</i> guilty—I +say that he has not only abandoned my case, but that he has betrayed the +trust reposed in him. What, your honor, must the jury infer from the +confession which he has just made?—what, but that in my conference with +him <i>I</i> have made the same confession? It becomes necessary, +therefore, may it please your honor, not only that I take from him, thus +openly, the power which I confided to him, but that I call upon your +honor to demand from him, upon oath, whether such an admission was ever +made to him by me. I know that my own words will avail me nothing +here—I also know why they should not—but I am surely entitled to +require that he should speak out, as to the truth, when <i>his</i> +misrepresentations are to make weight against me in future. His oath, +that I made no such confession to him, will avail nothing for my +defence, but will avail greatly with those who, from present +appearances, are likely to condemn me. I call upon him, may it please +your honor, as matter of right, that he should +<span class="pagenum">[374]<a name="page374" id="page374"></a></span> be <i>sworn</i> +to this particular. This, your honor will perceive, if my assertion be +true, is the smallest justice which he can do me; beyond this I will ask +and suggest nothing—leaving it to your own mind how far the license of +his profession should be permitted to one who thus not only abandons, +but betrays and misrepresents his client."</p> + +<p>The youth was silent, and Pippin rose to speak in his defence. Without +being sworn, he admitted freely that such a confession had not been +made, but that he had inferred the killing from the nature of the +testimony, which he thought conclusive on the point; that his object had +been to suggest a probable difficulty between the parties, in which he +would have shown Forrester as the aggressor. He bungled on for some time +longer in this manner, but, as he digressed again into the defence of +the accused, Ralph again begged to interrupt him.</p> + +<p>"I think it important, may it please your honor, that the gentleman +should be sworn as to the simple fact which he has uttered. <i>I want it +on record</i>, that, at some future day, the few who have any interest +in my fate should feel no mortifying doubts of my innocence when +reminded of the occurrence—which this strange admission, improperly +circulated, might otherwise occasion. Let him swear, your honor, to the +fact: this, I think, I may require."</p> + +<p>After a few moments of deliberation, his honor decided that the demand +was one of right, strictly due, not merely to the prisoner and to the +abstract merits of the case, but also to the necessity which such an +event clearly occasioned, of establishing certain governing principles +for restraining those holding situations so responsible, who should so +far wilfully betray their trusts. The lawyer was made to go through the +humiliating process, and then subjected to a sharp reprimand from the +judge; who, indeed, might have well gone further, in actually striking +his name from the rolls of court.</p> + +<p>It was just after this interesting period in the history of the +trial—and when Pippin, who could not be made to give up the case, as +Ralph had required, was endeavoring to combat with the attorney of the +state some incidental points of doctrine, and to resist their +application to certain parts of the previously, recorded testimony—that +our heroine, Lucy Munro, attended<span class="pagenum">[375]<a name="page375" +id="page375"></a></span> by her trusty squire, Bunce, +made her appearance in the courthouse.</p> + +<p>She entered the hall more dead than alive. The fire was no longer in her +eye—a thick haze had overspread its usually rich and lustrous +expression; her form trembled with the emotion—the strong and +struggling emotion of her soul; and fatigue had done much toward the +general enervation of her person. The cheek was pale with the innate +consciousness; the lips were blanched, and slightly parted, as if +wanting in the muscular exercise which could bring them together. She +tottered forward to the stand upon which the witnesses were usually +assembled, and to which her course had been directed, and for a few +moments after her appearance in the courtroom her progress had been as +one stunned by a sudden and severe blow.</p> + +<p>But, when roused by the confused hum of human voices around her, she +ventured to look up, and her eye, as if by instinct, turned upon the +dark box assigned for the accused—she again saw the form, in her mind +and eye, of almost faultless mould and excellence—then there was no +more weakness, no more struggle. Her eye kindled, the color rushed into +her cheeks, a sudden spirit reinvigorated her frame; and, with clasped +hands, she boldly ascended the small steps which led to the stand from +which her evidence was to be given, and declared her ability, in low +tones, almost unheard but by the judge, to furnish matter of interest +and importance to the defence. Some little demur as to the formality of +such a proceeding, after the evidence had been fairly closed, took place +between the counsel; but, fortunately for justice, the judge was too +wise and too good a man to limit the course of truth to prescribed +rules, which could not be affected by a departure, in the present +instance, from their restraints. The objection was overruled, and the +bold but trembling girl was called upon for her testimony.</p> + +<p>A new hope had been breathed into the bosoms of the parties most +concerned, on the appearance of this interruption to the headlong and +impelling force of the circumstances so fatally arrayed against the +prisoner. The pedler was overjoyed, and concluded that the danger was +now safely over. The youth himself felt his spirit much lighter in his +bosom, although he himself knew not the extent of that testimony in his +favor which<span class="pagenum">[376]<a name="page376" id="page376"></a></span> +Lucy was enabled to give. He only knew that she +could account for his sudden flight on the night of the murder, leading +to a fair presumption that he had not premeditated such an act; and knew +not that it was in her power to overthrow the only fact, among the +circumstances arrayed against him, by which they had been so connected +as to make out his supposed guilt.</p> + +<p>Sanguine, herself, that the power was in her to effect the safety of the +accused, Lucy had not for a moment considered the effect upon others, +more nearly connected with her than the youth, of the development which +she was prepared to make. These considerations were yet to come.</p> + +<p>The oath was administered; she began her narration, but at the very +outset, the difficulties of her situation beset her. How was she to save +the man she loved? How, but by showing the guilt of her uncle? How was +she to prove that the dirk of the youth was not in his possession at the +time of the murder? By showing that, just before that time, it was in +the possession of Munro, who was setting forth for the express purpose +of murdering the very man, now accused and held guilty of the same +crime. The fearful gathering of thoughts and images, thus, without +preparation, working in her mind, again destroyed the equilibrium by +which her truer senses would have enforced her determination to proceed. +Her head swam, her words were confused and incoherent, and perpetually +contradictory. The hope which her presence had inspired as suddenly +departed; and pity and doubt were the prevailing sentiments of the +spectators.</p> + +<p>After several ineffectual efforts to proceed, she all at once seemed +informed of the opinions around her, and gathering new courage from the +dreadful thought now forcing itself upon her mind, that what she had +said had done nothing toward her object, she exclaimed impetuously, +advancing to the judge, and speaking alternately from him to the jury +and the counsel—</p> + +<p>"He is <i>not</i> guilty of this crime, believe me. I may not say what I +know—I can not—you would not expect me to reveal it. It would involve +others whom I dare not name. I must not say <i>that</i>—but, believe +me, Mr. Colleton is not guilty—he did not commit the murder—it was +somebody else—I know, I will swear, he had no hand in the matter."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[377]<a name="page377" id="page377"></a></span> +"Very well, my young lady, I have no doubt you think, and +honestly believe, all that you say; but what reasons have you for this +bold assertion in the teeth of all the testimony which has already been +given? You must not be surprised, if we are slow in believing what you +tell us, until you can show upon what grounds you make your statement. +How know you that the prisoner did not commit this crime? Do you know +who did? Can you reveal any facts for our knowledge? This is what you +must do. Do not be terrified—speak freely—officer! a chair for the +lady—tell us all that you know—keep nothing back—remember, you are +sworn to speak <i>the truth</i>—the <i>whole truth</i>."</p> + +<p>The judge spoke kindly and encouragingly, while, with considerable +emphasis, he insisted upon a full statement of all she knew. But the +distress of the poor girl increased with every moment of thought, which +warned her of the predicament in which such a statement must necessarily +involve her uncle. "Oh, how can I speak all this? How can I tell that +which must destroy him—"</p> + +<p>"Him?—Of whom do you speak, lady? Who is <i>he</i>?" inquired the +attorney of the state.</p> + +<p>"He—who?—Oh, no, I can say nothing. I can tell you nothing. I know +nothing but that Mr. Colleton is <i>not</i> guilty. He struck no blow at +Forrester. I am sure of it—some other hand—some other person. How can +you believe that he would do so?"</p> + +<p>There was no such charitable thought for him, however, in the minds of +those who heard—as how should there be? A whispering dialogue now took +place between the judge and the counsel, in which, while they evidently +looked upon her as little better than demented with her love for the +accused, they still appeared to hold it due to justice, not less than to +humanity, to obtain from her every particular of testimony bearing on +the case, which, by possibility, she might really have in her +possession. Not that they really believed that she knew anything which +might avail the prisoner. Regarding her as individually and warmly +interested in his life, they looked upon her appearance, and the +evidence which she tendered—if so it might be styled—as solely +intended to provoke sympathy, gain time,<span class="pagenum">[378]<a name="page378" +id="page378"></a></span> or, possibly, as the +mere ebullition of feelings so deeply excited as to have utterly passed +the bounds of all restraining reason. The judge, who was a good, not +less than a sensible man, undertook, in concluding this conference, to +pursue the examination himself, with the view to bringing out such +portions of her information as delicacy or some other more influential +motive might persuade her to conceal.</p> + +<p>"You are sure, Miss Munro, of the innocence of the prisoner so sure that +you are willing to swear to it. Such is your conviction, at least; for, +unless you saw the blow given by another hand, or could prove Mr. +Colleton to have been elsewhere at the time of the murder, of course you +could not, of a certainty, swear to any such fact. You are not now to +say whether you believe him <i>capable</i> of such an act or not. You +are to say whether you <i>know</i> of any circumstances which shall +acquit him of the charge, or furnish a plausible reason, why others, not +less than yourself, should have a like reason with yourself to believe +him innocent. Can you do this, Miss Munro? Can you show anything, in +this chain of circumstances, against him, which, of your own knowledge, +you can say to be untrue? Speak out, young lady, and rely upon every +indulgence from the court."</p> + +<p>Here the judge recapitulated all the evidence which had been furnished +against the prisoner. The maiden listened with close attention, and the +difficulties of her situation became more and more obvious. Finding her +slow to answer, though her looks were certainly full of meaning, the +presiding officer took another course for the object which he had in +view. He now proceeded to her examination in the following form:—</p> + +<p>"You know the prisoner?"</p> + +<p>"I do."</p> + +<p>"You knew the murdered man?"</p> + +<p>"Perfectly."</p> + +<p>"Were they frequently together since the appearance of the prisoner in +these regions?"</p> + +<p>"Frequently."</p> + +<p>"At the house in which you dwell?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"Were they together on the day preceding the night of the murder?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[379]<a name="page379" id="page379"></a></span> +"They were—throughout the better portion of it."</p> + +<p>"Did they separate at your place of residence, and what was the +employment of the prisoner subsequently on the same day?"</p> + +<p>"They did separate while at our house, Mr. Colleton retiring at an early +hour of the evening to his chamber."</p> + +<p>"So far, Miss Munro, your answers correspond directly with the evidence, +and now come the important portions. You will answer briefly and +distinctly. After that, did you see anything more of the prisoner, and +know you of his departure from the house—the hour of the night—the +occasion of his going—and the circumstances attending it?"</p> + +<p>These questions were, indeed, all important to the female delicacy of +the maiden, as well as to the prisoner, and as her eye sunk in +confusion, and as her cheek paled and kindled with the innate +consciousness, the youth, who had hitherto been silent, now rose, and +without the slightest hesitancy of manner, requested of the maiden that +she would say no more.</p> + +<p>"See you not, your honor, that her mind wavers—that she speaks and +thinks wildly? I am satisfied that though she might say something, your +honor, in accounting for my strange flight, yet, as that constitutes but +a small feature in the circumstances against me, what she can allege +will avail me little. Press her no farther, therefore, I entreat you. +Let her retire. Her word can do me no good, and I would not, that, for +my sake and life, she should feel, for a single instant an embarrassment +of spirit, which, though it be honorable in its character, must +necessarily be distressing in its exercise. Proceed with your judgment, +I pray you—whatever it may be; I am now ready for the worst, and though +innocent as the babe unborn of the crime urged against me, I am not +afraid to meet its consequences. I am not unwilling to die."</p> + +<p>"But you must <i>not</i> die—they will not—they <i>can not</i> find +you guilty! How know they you are guilty? Who dares say you are guilty, +when <i>I</i> know you are innocent? Did I not see you fly? Did I not +send you on your way—was it not to escape from murder yourself that you +flew, and how should you have been guilty of that crime of which you +were the destined victim yourself? Oh, no—no! you are not guilty—and +the<span class="pagenum">[380]<a name="page380" id="page380"></a></span> +dagger—I heard that!—that is not true—oh, no, the +dagger,—you dropt it—"</p> + +<p>The eye of the inspired girl was caught by a glance—a single +glance—from one at the opposite corner of the court-room, and that +glance brought her back to the full consciousness of the fearful +development she was about to make. A decrepit old woman, resting with +bent form upon a staff, which was planted firmly before her, seemed +wrapped in the general interest pervading the court. The woman was huge +of frame and rough of make; her face was large and swollen, and the +tattered cap and bonnet, the coarse and soiled materials which she wore, +indicated one of the humblest caste in the country. Her appearance +attracted no attention, and she was unmarked by all around; few having +eyes for anything but the exciting business under consideration.</p> + +<p>But the disguise did not conceal her uncle from the glance of his niece. +That one look had the desired effect—the speech was arrested before its +conclusion, and the spectators, now more than ever assured of the +partial sanity of the witness, gave up any doubts which had previously +began to grow in behalf of the accused. A second look of the landlord +was emphatic enough for the purpose of completely silencing her farther +evidence. She read in its fearful expression, as plainly as if spoken in +words—"The next syllable you utter is fatal to your uncle—your father. +Now speak, Lucy, if you can."</p> + +<p>For a single moment she was dumb and stationary—her eye turned from her +uncle to the prisoner. Horror, and the agonies natural to the strife in +her bosom, were in its wild expression, and, with a single cry of "I can +not—I must not save him!" from her pallid lips, she sunk down senseless +upon the floor, and was borne out by several of the more sympathizing +spectators.</p> + +<p>There was nothing now to delay the action of the court. The counsel had +closed with the argument, and the judge proceeded in his charge to the +jury. His remarks were rather favorable than otherwise to the prisoner. +He dwelt upon his youth—his manliness—the seeming excellence of his +education, and the propriety which had marked his whole behavior on +trial. These he spoke of as considerations which must, of course, make +the duty, which they had to perform, more severely +<span class="pagenum">[381]<a name="page381" id="page381"></a></span> painful to +all. But they could not do away with the strong and tenacious +combination of circumstances against him. These were all closely knit, +and all tended strongly to the conviction of the guilt of the accused. +Still they were circumstantial; and the doubts of the jury were, of +course, so many arguments on the side of mercy. He concluded.</p> + +<p>But the jury had no doubts. How should they doubt? They deliberated, +indeed, for form's sake, but not long. In a little while they returned +to their place, and the verdict was read by the clerk.</p> + +<p>"Guilty."</p> + +<p>"Guilty," responded the prisoner, and for a moment his head dropped upon +his clasped hands, and his frame shivered as with an ague.</p> + +<p>"Guilty—guilty—Oh, my father—Edith—Edith—have I lived for this?"</p> + +<p>There was no other sign of human weakness. He arose with composure, and +followed, with firm step, the officer to his dungeon. His only thought +was of the sorrows and the shame of others—of those of whom he had been +the passion and the pride—of that father's memory and name, of whom he +had been the cherished hope—of that maiden of whom he had been the +cherished love. His firm, manly bearing won the esteem of all those who, +nevertheless, at the same moment, had few if any doubts of the justice +of his doom.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[382]<a name="page382" id="page382"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter34" id="chapter34">CHAPTER XXXIV.</a></h2> + +<h3>PRAYERS AND PROMISES.</h3> + + +<p>Ralph Colleton was once more in his dungeon—alone and without hope. For +a moment during the progress of his trial, and at the appearance of +Lucy, he deemed it possible that some providential fortune might work a +change in the aspect of things, favorable to his escape from what, to +his mind, was far worse than any thought of death, in the manner of his +death. But when, after a moment of reflection, he perceived that the +feminine delicacy of the maiden must suffer from any further testimony +from her lips—when he saw that, most probably, in the minds of all who +heard her narration, the circumstance of her appearance in his chamber +and at such an hour of the night, and for any object, would be fatal to +her reputation—when he perceived this consciousness, too, weighing down +even to agony the soul of the still courageous witness—the high sense +of honor which had always prompted him, not less than that chivalrous +consideration of the sex taught in the south among the earliest lessons +of society to its youth—compelled him to interpose, and prevent, if +possible, all further utterance, which, though possibly all-important to +him, would be fatally destructive to her.</p> + +<p>He did so at his own self-sacrifice! We have seen how the poor girl was +silenced. The result was, that Ralph Colleton was again in his +dungeon—hope shut out from its walls, and a fearful death and ignominy +written upon them. When the officers attending him had retired—when he +heard the bolt shot, and saw that the eyes of curiosity were +excluded—the firm spirit fled which had supported him. There was a +passing weakness of heart which overcame its energies and resolve, and +he sunk down upon the single chair allotted to his prison. He +<span class="pagenum">[383]<a name="page383" id="page383"></a></span> +buried his face in his hands, and the warm tears gushed freely through +his fingers. While thus weeping, like a very child, he heard the +approach of footsteps without. In a moment he recovered all his +manliness and calm. The traces of his weakness were sedulously brushed +from his cheeks, and the handkerchief employed for the purpose +studiously put out of sight. He was not ashamed of the pang, but he was +not willing that other eyes should behold it. Such was the nature of his +pride—the pride of strength, moral strength, and superiority over those +weaknesses, which, however natural they may be, are nevertheless not +often held becoming in the man.</p> + +<p>It was the pedler, Bunce, who made his appearance—choosing, with a +feature of higher characteristic than would usually have been allotted +him, rather to cheer the prison hours of the unfortunate, than to pursue +his own individual advantages; which, at such a time, might not have +been inconsiderable. The worthy pedler was dreadfully disappointed in +the result of his late adventure. He had not given himself any trouble +to inquire into the nature of those proofs which Lucy Munro had assured +him were in her possession; but satisfied as much by his own hope as by +her assurance, that all would be as he wished it, he had been elevated +to a pitch of almost indecorous joy which strongly contrasted with his +present depression. He had little now to say in the way of consolation, +and that little was coupled with so much that was unjust to the maiden, +as to call forth, at length, the rebuke of Colleton.</p> + +<p>"Forbear on this subject, my good sir—she did what she could, and what +she might have said would not have served me much. It was well she said +no more. Her willingness—her adventuring so much in my behalf—should +alone be sufficient to protect her from everything like blame. But tell +me, Bunce, what has become of her—where is she gone, and who is now +attending her?"</p> + +<p>"Why, they took her back to the old tavern. A great big woman took her +there, and looked after her. I did go and had a sight on her, and there, +to be sure, was Munro's wife, though her I did see, I'll be sworn, in +among the rocks where they shut us up."</p> + +<p>"And was Munro there?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[384]<a name="page384" id="page384"></a></span> +"Where—in the rocks?"</p> + +<p>"No—in the tavern?—You say his wife had come back—did he trust +himself there?"</p> + +<p>"I rather guess not—seeing as how he'd stand a close chance of +'quaintance with the rope. No, neither him, nor Rivers, nor any of the +regulators—thank the powers—ain't to be seen nowhere. They're all +off—up into the nation, I guess, or off, down in Alabam by this time, +clear enough."</p> + +<p>"And who did you see at the rocks, and what men were they that made you +prisoners?"</p> + +<p>"Men—if I said men, I was 'nation out, I guess. Did I say men?"</p> + +<p>"I understood you so."</p> + +<p>"'Twan't men at all. Nothing better than women, and no small women +neither. Didn't see a man in the neighborhood, but Chub, and he ain't no +man neither."</p> + +<p>"What is he?"</p> + +<p>"Why, for that matter, he's neither one thing nor another—nothing, no +how. A pesky little creature! What they call a hobbe-de-hoy will suit +for his name sooner than any other that I know on. For he ain't a man +and he ain't a boy; but jest a short, half-grown up chunk of a fellow, +with bunchy shoulders, and a big head, with a mouth like an oven, and +long lap ears like saddle flaps."</p> + +<p>In this manner the pedler informed Ralph of all those previous +particulars with which he had not till then been made acquainted. This +having been done, and the dialogue having fairly reached its +termination—and the youth exhibiting some strong symptoms of +weariness—Bunce took his departure for the present, not, however, +without again proffering his services. These Ralph did not scruple to +accept—giving him, at the same time, sundry little commissions, and +among them a message of thanks and respectful consideration to Miss +Munro.</p> + +<p>She, in the meanwhile, had, upon fainting in the court-room, been borne +off in a state of utter insensibility, to the former residence of Munro, +to which place, as the pedler has already informed us, the wife of the +landlord had that very morning returned, resuming, precisely as before, +all the previous order of her domestic arrangements. The reason for this +return may<span class="pagenum">[385]<a name="page385" id="page385"></a></span> +be readily assigned. The escape of the pedler and of +Lucy from their place of temporary confinement had completely upset all +the prior arrangements of the outlaws. They now conceived it no longer +safe as a retreat; and failing as they did to overtake the fugitives, it +was determined that, in the disguises which had been originally +suggested for their adoption, they should now venture into the village, +as many of them as were willing, to obtain that degree of information +which would enable them to judge what further plans to adopt.</p> + +<p>As Rivers had conjectured, Chub Williams, so far from taking for the +village, had plunged deeper into the woods, flying to former and well +known haunts, and regarding the face of man as that of a natural enemy. +The pedler had seen none but women, or those so disguised as such as to +seem none other than what they claimed to be—while Lucy had been +permitted to see none but her uncle and aunt, and one or two persons she +had never met before.</p> + +<p>Under these circumstances, Rivers individually felt no apprehensions +that his wild refuge would be searched; but Munro, something older, less +sanguine, and somewhat more timid than his colleague, determined no +longer to risk it; and having, as we have seen, effectually checked the +utterance of that evidence which, in the unconscious excitation of his +niece, must have involved him more deeply in the meshes of the law, +besides indicating his immediate and near neighborhood, he made his way, +unobserved, from the village, having first provided for her safety, and +as he had determined to keep out of the way himself, having brought his +family back to their old place of abode.</p> + +<p>He had determined on this course from a variety of considerations. +Nothing, he well knew, could affect his family. He had always studiously +kept them from any participation in his offences. The laws had no terror +for them; and, untroubled by any process against him, they could still +remain and peaceably possess his property, of which he well knew, in the +existing state of society in the South, no legal outlawry of himself +would ever avail to deprive them. This could not have been his hope in +their common flight. Such a measure, too, would only have impeded his +progress, in the event of his pursuit, and have burdened him with +encumbrances which would perpetually involve +<span class="pagenum">[386]<a name="page386" id="page386"></a></span> him in difficulty. +He calculated differently his chances. His hope was to be able, when the +first excitements had overblown, to return to the village, and at least +quietly to effect such a disposition of his property, which was not +inconsiderable, as to avoid the heavy and almost entire loss which would +necessarily follow any other determination.</p> + +<p>In all this, however, it may be remarked that the reasonings of Rivers, +rather than his own, determined his conduct. That more adventurous +ruffian had, from his superior boldness and greater capacities in +general, acquired a singular and large influence over his companion: he +governed him, too, as much by his desire of gain as by any distinct +superiority which he himself possessed; he stimulated his avarice with +the promised results of their future enterprises in the same region +after the passing events were over; and thus held him still in that +fearful bondage of subordinate villany whose inevitable tendency is to +make the agent the creature, and finally the victim. The gripe which, in +a moral sense, and with a slight reference to character, Rivers had upon +the landlord, was as tenacious as that of death—but with this +difference, that it was death prolonged through a fearful, and, though +not a protracted, yet much too long a life.</p> + +<p>The determination of Munro was made accordingly; and, following hard +upon the flight of Lucy from the rocks, we find the landlady quietly +reinstated in her old home as if nothing had happened. Munro did not, +however, return to the place of refuge; he had no such confidence in +circumstances as Rivers; his fears had grown active in due proportion +with his increase of years; and, with the increased familiarity with +crime, had grown up in his mind a corresponding doubt of all persons, +and an active suspicion which trusted nothing. His abode in all this +time was uncertain: he now slept at one deserted lodge, and now at +another; now in the disguise of one and now of another character; now on +horseback, now on foot—but in no two situations taking the same feature +or disguise. In the night-time he sometimes adventured, though with +great caution, to the village, and made inquiries. On all hands, he +heard of nothing but the preparations making against the clan of which +he was certainly one of the prominent heads. The state was +<span class="pagenum">[387]<a name="page387" id="page387"></a></span> +roused into activity, and a proclamation of the governor, offering a +high reward for the discovery and detention of any persons having a hand +in the murder of the guard, was on one occasion put into his own hands. +All these things made caution necessary, and, though venturing still +very considerably at times, he was yet seldom entirely off his guard.</p> + +<p>Rivers kept close in the cover of his den. That den had numberless +ramifications, however, known only to himself; and his calm indifference +was the result of a conviction that it would require two hundred men, +properly instructed, and all at the same moment, to trace him through +its many sinuosities. He too, sometimes, carefully disguised, penetrated +into the village, but never much in the sight of those who were not +bound to him by a common danger. To Lucy he did not appear on such +occasions, though he did to the old lady, and even at the family +fireside.</p> + +<p>Lucy, indeed, had eyes for few objects, and thoughts but for one. She +sat as one stupified with danger, yet sufficiently conscious of it as to +be conscious of nothing besides. She was bewildered with the throng of +horrible circumstances which had been so crowded on her mind and memory +in so brief a space of time. At one moment she blamed her own weakness +in suffering the trial of Ralph to progress to a consummation which she +shuddered to reflect upon. Had she a right to withhold her +testimony—testimony so important to the life and the honor of one +person, because others might suffer in consequence—those others the +real criminals, and he the innocent victim? and loving him as she did, +and hating or fearing his enemies? Had she performed her duty in +suffering his case to go to judgment? and such a judgment—so horrible a +doom! Should she now suffer it to go to its dreadful execution, when a +word from her would stay the hand of the officer, and save the life of +the condemned? But would such be its effect? What credence would be +given now to one who, in the hall of justice, had sunk down like a +criminal herself—withholding the truth, and contradicting every word of +her utterance? To whom, then, could she apply? who would hear her plea, +even though she boldly narrated all the truth, in behalf of the +prisoner? She maddened as she thought on all these difficulties; her +blood grew fevered,<span class="pagenum">[388]<a name="page388" id="page388"></a></span> +a thick haze overspread her senses, and she +raved at last in the most wild delirium.</p> + +<p>Some days went by in her unconsciousness, and when she at length grew +calm—when the fever of her mind had somewhat subsided—she opened her +eyes and found, to her great surprise, her uncle sitting beside her +couch. It was midnight; and this was the hour he had usually chosen when +making his visits to his family. In these stolen moments, his attendance +was chiefly given to that hapless orphan, whose present sufferings he +well knew were in great part attributable to himself.</p> + +<p>The thought smote him, for, in reference to her, all feeling had not yet +departed from his soul. There was still a lurking sensibility—a +lingering weakness of humanity—one of those pledges which nature gives +of her old affiliation, and which she never entirely takes away from the +human heart. There are still some strings, feeble and wanting in energy +though they be, which bind even the most reckless outcast in some little +particular to humanity; and, however time, and the world's variety of +circumstance, may have worn them and impaired their firm hold, they +still sometimes, at unlooked-for hours, regrapple the long-rebellious +subject, and make themselves felt and understood as in the first moments +of their creation.</p> + +<p>Such now was their resumed sway with Munro. While his niece—the young, +the beautiful, the virtuous—so endowed by nature—so improved by +education—so full of those fine graces, beyond the reach of any +art—lay before him insensible—her fine mind spent in incoherent +ravings—her gentle form racked with convulsive shudderings—the still, +small, monitorial voice, unheard so long, spoke out to him in terrible +rebukings. He felt in those moments how deeply he had been a criminal; +how much, not of his own, he had appropriated to himself and sacrificed; +and how sacred a trust he had abused, in the person of the delicate +creature before him, by a determination the most cruel and perhaps +unnecessary.</p> + +<p>Days had elapsed in her delirium; and such were his newly-awakened +feelings, that each night brought him, though at considerable risk, an +attendant by her bed. His hand administered—his eyes watched over; and, +in the new duties of the parent, he acquired a new feeling of duty and +domestic love, the <span class="pagenum">[389]<a name="page389" id="page389"></a></span> +pleasures of which he had never felt before. +But she grew conscious at last, and her restoration relieved his mind of +one apprehension which had sorely troubled it. Her condition, during her +illness, was freely described to her. But she thought not of +herself—she had no thought for any other than the one for whom thoughts +and prayers promised now to avail but little.</p> + +<p>"Uncle—" she spoke at last—"you are here, and I rejoice to see you. I +have much to say, much to beg at your hands: oh, let me not beg in vain! +Let me not find you stubborn to that which may not make me happy—I say +not that, for happy I never look to be again—but make me as much so as +human power can make me. When—" and she spoke hurriedly, while a strong +and aguish shiver went through her whole frame—"when is it said that he +must die?"</p> + +<p>He knew perfectly of whom she spoke, but felt reluctant to indulge her +mind in a reference to the subject which had already exercised so large +an influence over it. But he knew little of the distempered heart, and +fell into an error by no means uncommon with society. She soon convinced +him of this, when his prolonged silence left it doubtful whether he +contemplated an answer.</p> + +<p>"Why are you silent? do you fear to speak? Have no fears now. We have no +time for fear. We must be active—ready—bold. Feel my hand: it trembles +no longer. I am no longer a weak-hearted woman."</p> + +<p>He again doubted her sanity, and spoke to her soothingly, seeking to +divert her mind to indifferent subjects; but she smiled on the endeavor, +which she readily understood, and putting aside her aunt, who began to +prattle in a like strain, and with a like object, she again addressed +her uncle.</p> + +<p>"Doubt me not, uncle: I rave no longer. I am now calm—calm as it is +possible for me to be, having such a sorrow as mine struggling at my +heart. Why should I hide it from you? It will not be hidden. I love +him—love him as woman never loved man before—with a soul and spirit +all unreservedly his, and with no thought in which he is not always the +principal. I know that he loves another; I know that the passion which I +feel I must feel and cherish alone; that it must burn itself away, +though it burn away its dwelling-place. I am resigned to such +<span class="pagenum">[390]<a name="page390" id="page390"></a></span> a +fate; but I am not prepared for more. I can not bear that he too should +die—and such a death! He must not die—he must not die, my uncle; +though we save him—ay, save him—for another."</p> + +<p>"Shame on you, my daughter!—how can you confess so much? Think on your +sex—you are a woman—think on your youth!" Such was the somewhat +strongly-worded rebuke of the old lady.</p> + +<p>"I have thought on all—on everything. I feel all that you have said, +and the thought and the feeling have been my madness. I must speak, or I +shall again go mad. I am not the tame and cold creature that the world +calls woman. I have been differently made. I can love in the world's +despite. I can feel through the world's freeze. I can dare all, when my +soul is in it, though the world sneer in scorn and contempt. But what I +have said, is said to <i>you</i>. I would not—no, not for worlds, that +he should know I said it—not for worlds!" and her cheeks were tinged +slightly, while her head rested for a single instant upon the pillow.</p> + +<p>"But all this is nothing!" she started up, and again addressed herself +to the landlord. "Speak, uncle! tell me, is there yet time—yet time to +save him I When is it they say he must die?"</p> + +<p>"On Friday next, at noon."</p> + +<p>"And this—?"</p> + +<p>"Is Monday."</p> + +<p>"He must not die—no, not die, then, my uncle! <i>You</i> must save +him—you <i>must</i> save him! You have been the cause of his doom: you +must preserve him from its execution. You owe it him as a debt—you owe +it me—you owe it to yourself. Believe not, my uncle, that there is no +other day than this—no other world—no other penalties than belong to +this. You read no bible, but you have a thought which must tell you that +there are worlds—there is a life yet to come. I know you can not +doubt—you must not doubt—you must believe. Have a fear of its +punishments, have a hope of its rewards, and listen to my prayer. You +must save Ralph Colleton; ask me not how—talk not of difficulties. You +must save him—you must—you must!"</p> + +<p>"Why, you forget, Lucy, my dear child—you forget that I too am in +danger. This is midnight: it is only at this hour +<span class="pagenum">[391]<a name="page391" id="page391"></a></span> that I can +steal into the village; and how, and in what manner, shall I be able to +do as you require?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, man!—man!—forgive me, dear uncle, I would not vex you! But if +there were gold in that dungeon—broad bars of gold, or shining silver, +or a prize that would make you rich, would you ask me the how and the +where? Would that clumsy block, and those slight bars, and that dull +jailer, be an obstacle that would keep you back? Would you need a poor +girl like me to tell you that the blocks might be pierced—that the bars +might be broken—that the jailer might be won to the mercy which would +save? You have strength—you have skill—you have the capacity, the +power—there is but one thing wanting to my prayer—the will, the +disposition!"</p> + +<p>"You do me wrong, Lucy—great wrong, believe me. I feel for this young +man, and the thought has been no less painful to me than to you, that my +agency has contributed in great measure to his danger. But what if I +were to have the will, as you say—what if I went forward to the jailer +and offered a bribe—would not the bribe which the state has offered for +my arrest be a greater attraction than any in my gift? To scale the +walls and break the bars, or in any forcible manner to effect the +purpose, I must have confederates, and in whom could I venture to +confide? The few to whom I could intrust such a design are like myself, +afraid to adventure or be seen, and such a design would be defeated by +Rivers himself, who so much hates the youth, and is bent on his +destruction."</p> + +<p>"Speak not of <i>him</i>—<i>say to him nothing</i>—you must do it +<i>yourself</i> if you do it all. You can effect much if you seriously +determine. You can design, and execute all, and find ready and able +assistance, if you once willingly set about it. I am not able to advise, +nor will you need my counsel. Assure me that you will make the +effort—that you will put your whole heart in it—and I have no fears—I +feel confident of his escape."</p> + +<p>"You think too highly of my ability in this respect. There was a time, +Lucy, when such a design had not been so desperate, but now—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, not so desperate now, uncle, uncle—I could not live—not a +moment—were he to perish in that dreadful manner. Have I no claim upon +your mercy—will you not do for me<span class="pagenum">[392]<a name="page392" +id="page392"></a></span> what you would do for +money—what you have done at the bidding of that dreadful wretch, +Rivers? Nay, look not away, I know it all—I know that you had the +dagger of Colleton—that you put it into the hands of the wretch who +struck the man—that you saw him strike—that you strove not to stop his +hand. Fear you not I shall reveal it? Fear you not?—but I will not—I +can not! Yet this should be enough to make you strive in this service. +Heard you not, too, when lie spoke and stopped my evidence, knowing that +my word would have saved him—rather than see me brought to the dreadful +trial of telling what I knew of that night—that awful night—when you +both sought his life? Oh, I could love him for this—for this one +thing—were there nothing else besides worthy of my love!"</p> + +<p>The incident to which she referred had not been unregarded by the +individual she addressed, and while she spoke, his looks assumed a +meditative expression, and he replied as in soliloquy, and in broken +sentences:—</p> + +<p>"Could I pass to the jail unperceived—gain admittance—then—but who +would grapple with the jailer—how manage that?—let me see—but +no—no—that is impossible!"</p> + +<p>"What is impossible?—nothing is impossible in this work, if you will +but try. Do not hesitate, dear uncle—it will look easier if you will +reflect upon it. You will see many ways of bringing it about. You can +get aid if you want it. There's the pedler, who is quite willing, and +Chub—Chub will do much, if you can only find him out."</p> + +<p>The landlord smiled as she named these two accessaries "Bunce—why, what +could the fellow do?—he's not the man for such service; now Chub might +be of value, if he'd only follow orders: but that he won't do. I don't +see how we're to work it, Lucy—it looks more difficult the more I think +on it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, if it's only difficult—if it's not impossible—it will be done. Do +not shrink back, uncle; do not scruple. The youth has done you no +wrong—you have done him much. You have brought him where he is, he +would have been safe otherwise You must save him. Save him, uncle—and +hear me as I promise. You may then do with me as you please. From that +moment I am your slave, and then, if it must be so—if you will +<span class="pagenum">[393]<a name="page393" id="page393"></a></span> +then require it, I am willing then to become <i>his</i> slave too—him +whom you have served so faithfully and so unhappily for so long a +season."</p> + +<p>"Of whom speak you?"</p> + +<p>"Guy Rivers! yes—I shall then obey you, though the funeral come with +the bridal."</p> + +<p>"Lucy!"</p> + +<p>"It is true. I hope not to survive it. It will be a worse destiny to me +than even the felon death to the youth whom I would save. Do with me as +you please then, but let him not perish. Rescue him from the doom you +have brought upon him—and oh, my uncle, in that other world—if there +we meet—the one good deed shall atone, in the thought of my poor +father, for the other most dreadful sacrifice to which his daughter now +resigns herself."</p> + +<p>The stern man was touched. He trembled, and his lips quivered +convulsively as he took her hand into his own. Recovering himself, in a +firm tone, as solemn as that which she had preserved throughout the +dialogue, he replied—</p> + +<p>"Hear me, Lucy, and believe what I assure you. I <i>will</i> try to save +this youth. I will do what I can, my poor child, to redeem the trust of +your father. I have been no father to you heretofore, not much of one, +at least, but it is not too late, and I will atone. I will do my best +for Colleton—the thing is full of difficulty and danger, but I will try +to save him. All this, however, must be unknown—not a word to anybody; +and Rivers must not see you happy, or he will suspect. Better not be +seen—still keep to your chamber, and rest assured that all will be +done, in my power, for the rescue of the youth."</p> + +<p>"Oh, now you are, indeed, my father—yet—uncle, shall I see you at the +time when it is to be done? Tell me at what moment you seek his +deliverance, that I may be upon my knees. Yet say not to him that I have +done anything or said anything which has led to your endeavors. He will +not think so well of me if you do; and, though he may not love, I would +have him think always of me as if—as if I were a woman."</p> + +<p>She was overcome with exertion, and in the very revival of her hope, her +strength was exhausted; but she had sunk into a sweet sleep ere her +uncle left the apartment.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[394]<a name="page394" id="page394"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter35" id="chapter35">CHAPTER XXXV.</a></h2> + +<h3>NEW PARTIES ON THE STAGE.</h3> + + +<p>A day more had elapsed, and the bustle in the little village was +increased by the arrival of other travellers. A new light came to the +dungeon of Ralph Colleton, in the persons of his uncle and cousin Edith, +whom his letters, at his first arrest, had apprized of his situation. +They knew that situation only in part, however; and the first intimation +of his doom was that which he himself gave them.</p> + +<p>The meeting was full of a painful pleasure. The youth himself was +firm—muscle and mind all over; but deeply did his uncle reproach +himself for his precipitation and sternness, and the grief of Edith, +like all deep grief, was dumb, and had no expression. There was but the +sign of wo—of wo inexpressible—in the ashy lip, the glazed, the +tearless and half-wandering eye, and the convulsive shiver, that at +intervals shook her whole frame, like strong and sudden gusts among the +foliage. The youth, if he had any at such an hour, spared his +reproaches. He narrated in plain and unexaggerated language, as if +engaged in the merest narration of commonplace, all the circumstances of +his trial. He pointed out the difficulties of his situation, to his mind +insuperable, and strove to prepare the minds of those who heard, for the +final and saddest trial of all, even as his own mind was prepared. In +that fearful work of preparation, the spirit of love could acknowledge +no restraining influence, and never was embrace more fond than that of +Ralph and the maiden. Much of his uncle's consolation was found in the +better disposition which he now entertained, though at too late a day, +in favor of their passion. He would now willingly consent to all.</p> + +<p>"Had you not been so precipitate, Ralph—" he said, "had you not been so +proud—had you thought at all, or given me<span class="pagenum">[395]<a name="page395" +id="page395"></a></span> time for thought, all +this trial had been spared us. Was I not irritated by other things when +I spoke to you unkindly? You knew not how much I had been chafed—you +should not have been so hasty."</p> + +<p>"No more of this, uncle, I pray you. I was wrong and rash, and I blame +you not. I have nobody but myself to reproach. Speak not of the matter; +but, as the best preparation for all that is to come, let your thought +banish me rather from contemplation. Why should the memory of so fair a +creature as this be haunted by a story such as mine? Why should she +behold, in her mind's eye, for ever, the picture of my dying +agonies—the accursed scaffold—the—" and the emotion of his soul, at +the subject of his own contemplation, choked him in his utterance, while +Edith, half-fainting in his arms, prayed his forbearance.</p> + +<p>"Speak not thus—not of this, Ralph, if you would not have me perish. I +am fearfully sick now, my head swims, and all is commotion at my heart. +Not water—not water—give me hope—consolation. Tell me that there is +still some chance—some little prospect—that some noble people are +striving in your cause—that somebody is gone in search of evidence—in +search of hope. Is there no circumstance which may avail? Said you not +something of—did you not tell me of a person who could say for you that +which would have done much towards your escape? A woman, was it +not—speak, who is she—let me go to her—she will not refuse to tell me +all, and do all, if she be a woman."</p> + +<p>Ralph assured her in the gentlest manner of the hopelessness of any such +application; and the momentary dream which her own desires had conjured +into a promise, as suddenly subsided, leaving her to a full +consciousness of her desolation. Her father at length found it necessary +to abridge the interview. Every moment of its protraction seemed still +more to unsettle the understanding of his daughter. She spoke wildly and +confusedly, and in that thought of separation which the doom of her +lover perpetually forced upon her, she contemplated, in all its fearful +extremities, her own. She was borne away half delirious—the feeling of +wo something blunted, however, by the mental unconsciousness following +its realization.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[396]<a name="page396" id="page396"></a></span> +Private apartments were readily found them in the village, and +having provided good attendance for his daughter, Colonel Colleton set +out, though almost entirely hopeless, to ascertain still farther the +particulars of the case, and to see what might be done in behalf of one +of whose innocence he felt perfectly assured. He knew Ralph too well to +suspect him of falsehood; and the clear narrative which he had given, +and the manly and unhesitating account of all particulars having any +bearing on the case which had fallen from his lips, he knew, from all +his previous high-mindedness of character, might safely be relied on. +Assured of this himself, he deemed it not improbable that something +might undergo development, in a course of active inquiry, which might +tend to the creation of a like conviction in the minds of those in whom +rested the control of life and judgment.</p> + +<p>His first visit was to the lawyer, from whom, however, he could procure +nothing, besides being compelled, without possibility of escape, to +listen to a long string of reproaches against his nephew.</p> + +<p>"I could, and would have saved him, Colonel Colleton, if the power were +in mortal," was the self-sufficient speech of the little man; "but he +would not—he broke in upon me when the very threshold was to be passed, +and just as I was upon it. Things were in a fair train, and all might +have gone well but for his boyish interruption. I would have come over +the jury with a settler. I would have made out a case, sir, for their +consideration, which every man of them would have believed he himself +saw. I would have shown your nephew, sir, riding down the narrow trace, +like a peaceable gentleman; anon, sir, you should have seen Forrester +coming along full tilt after him. Forrester should have cried out with a +whoop and a right royal oath; then Mr. Colleton would have heard him, +and turned round to receive him. But Forrester is drunk, you know, and +will not understand the young man's civilities. He blunders out a volley +of curses right and left, and bullies Master Colleton for a fight, which +he declines. But Forrester is too drunk to mind all that. Without more +ado, he mounts the young gentleman and is about to pluck out his eyes, +when he feels the dirk in his ribs, and then they cut loose. He gets the +dirk from Master<span class="pagenum">[397]<a name="page397" id="page397"></a></span> +Colleton, and makes at him; but he picks up a +hatchet that happens to be lying about, and drives at his head, and down +drops Forrester, as he ought to, dead as a door-nail."</p> + +<p>"Good heavens! and why did you not bring these facts forward? They +surely could not have condemned him under these circumstances."</p> + +<p>"Bring them forward! To be sure, I would have done so but, as I tell +you, just when on the threshold, at the very entrance into the +transaction, up pops this hasty young fellow—I'm sorry to call your +nephew so, Colonel Colleton—but the fact is, he owes his situation +entirely to himself. I would have saved him, but he was obstinately bent +on not being saved; and just as I commenced the affair, up he pops and +tells me, before all the people, that I know nothing about it. A pretty +joke, indeed. I know nothing about it, and it my business to know all +about it. Sir, it ruined him. I saw, from that moment, how the cat would +jump. I pitied the poor fellow, but what more could I do?"</p> + +<p>"But it is not too late—we can memorialize the governor, we can put +these facts in form, and by duly showing them with the accompanying +proofs, we can obtain a new trial—a respite."</p> + +<p>"Can't be done now—it's too late. Had I been let alone—had not the +youth come between me and my duty—I would have saved him, sir, as under +God, I have saved hundreds before. But it's too late now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, surely not too late! with the facts that you mention, if you will +give me the names of the witnesses furnishing them, so that I can obtain +their affidavits—"</p> + +<p>"Witnesses!—what witnesses?"</p> + +<p>"Why, did you not tell me of the manner in which Forrester assaulted my +nephew, and forced upon him what he did as matter of self-defense? Where +is the proof of this?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, proof! Why, you did not think that was the true state of the +case—that was only the case I was to present to the jury."</p> + +<p>"And there is, then, no evidence for what you have said?"</p> + +<p>"Not a tittle, sir. Evidence is scarcely necessary in a case like this, +sir, where the state proves more than you can possibly disprove. Your +only hope, sir is to present a plausible <span class="pagenum">[398]<a name="page398" +id="page398"></a></span>conjecture to the jury. +Just set their fancies to work, and they have a taste most perfectly +dramatic. What you leave undone, they will do. Where you exhibit a +blank, they will supply the words wanting. Only set them on trail, and +they'll tree the 'possum. They are noble hands at it, and, as I now live +and talk to you, sir, not one of them who heard the plausible story +which I would have made out, but would have discovered more common sense +and reason in it than in all the evidence you could possibly have given +them. Because, you see, I'd have given them a reason for everything. +Look, how I should have made out the story. Mr. Colleton and Forrester +are excellent friends, and both agree to travel together. Well, they're +to meet at the forks by midnight. In the meantime, Forrester goes to see +his sweetheart, Kate Allen—a smart girl, by the way, colonel, and well +to look on. Parting's a very uncomfortable thing, now, and they don't +altogether like it. Kate cries, and Forrester storms. Well, <i>must</i> +come comes at last. They kiss, and are off—different ways. Well, +grief's but a dry companion, and to get rid of him, Forrester takes a +drink; still grief holds on, and then he takes another and another, +until grief gets off at last, but not before taking with him full half, +and not the worst half either, of the poor fellow's senses. What then? +Why, then he swaggers and swears at everything, and particularly at your +nephew, who, you see, not knowing his condition, swears at him for +keeping him waiting—"</p> + +<p>"Ralph Colleton never swears, Mr. Pippin," said the colonel, grimly.</p> + +<p>"Well, well, if he didn't swear then, he might very well have sworn, and +I'll be sworn but he did on that occasion; and it was very pardonable +too. Well, he swears at the drunken man, not knowing his condition, and +the drunken man rolls and reels like a rowdy, and gives it to him back, +and then they get at it. Your nephew, who is a stout colt, buffets him +well for a time, but Forrester, who is a mighty, powerful built fellow, +he gets the better in the long run, and both come down together in the +road. Then Forrester, being uppermost, sticks his thumb into Master +Colleton's eye—the left eye, I think, it was—yes, the left eye it +was—and the next moment it would have been out, when your nephew, not +liking it, whipped out his dirk, and, 'fore<span class="pagenum">[399]<a name="page399" id="page399"></a></span> Forrester could say +Jack Robinson, it was playing about in his ribs; and, then comes the +hatchet part, just as I told it you before."</p> + +<p>"And is none of this truth?"</p> + +<p>"God bless your soul, no! Do you suppose, if it was the truth, it would +have taken so long a time in telling? I wouldn't have wasted the breath +on it. The witnesses would have done that, if it were true; but in this +was the beauty of my art, and had I been permitted to say to the jury +what I've said to you, the young man would have been clear. It wouldn't +have been gospel, but where's the merit of a lawyer, if he can't go +through a bog? This is one of the sweetest and most delightful features +of the profession. Sir, it is putting the wings of fiction to the +lifeless and otherwise immovable body of the fact."</p> + +<p>Colonel Colleton was absolutely stunned by the fertility and volubility +of the speaker, and after listening for some time longer, as long as it +was possible to procure from him anything which might be of service, he +took his departure, bending his way next to the wigwam, in which, for +the time being, the pedler had taken up his abode. It will not be +necessary that we should go with him there, as it is not probable that +anything materially serving his purpose or ours will be adduced from the +narrative of Bunce. In the meantime, we will turn our attention to a +personage, whose progress must correspond, in all respects, with that of +our narrative.</p> + +<p>Guy Rivers had not been unapprized of the presence of the late comers at +the village. He had his agents at work, who marked the progress of +things, and conveyed their intelligence to him with no qualified +fidelity. The arrival of Colonel Colleton and his daughter had been made +known to him within a few hours after its occurrence, and the feelings +of the outlaw were of a nature the most complex and contradictory. +Secure within his den, the intricacies of which were scarcely known to +any but himself, he did not study to restrain those emotions which had +prompted him to so much unjustifiable outrage. With no eye to mark his +actions or to note his speech, the guardian watchfulness which had +secreted so much, in his association with others, was taken off; and we +see much of that heart and those wild principles of its government, the +mysteries of which<span class="pagenum">[400]<a name="page400" id="page400"></a></span> +contain so much that it is terrible to see. +Slowly, and for a long time after the receipt of the above-mentioned +intelligence, he strode up and down the narrow cell of his retreat; all +passions at sway and contending for the mastery—sudden action and +incoherent utterance occasionally diversifying the otherwise monotonous +movements of his person. At one moment, he would clinch his hands with +violence together, while an angry malediction would escape through his +knitted teeth—at another, a demoniac smile of triumph, and a fierce +laugh of gratified malignity would ring through the apartment, coming +back upon him in an echo, which would again restore him to +consciousness, and bring back the silence so momentarily banished.</p> + +<p>"They are here; they have come to witness his degradation—to grace my +triumph—to feel it, and understand my revenge. We will see if the proud +beauty knows me now—if she yet continues to discard and to disdain me. +I have her now upon my own terms. She will not refuse; I am sure of her; +I shall conquer her proud heart; I will lead her in chains, the heaviest +chains of all—the chains of a dreadful necessity. He must die else! I +will howl it in her ears with the voice of the wolf; I will paint it +before her eyes with a finger dipped in blood and in darkness! She shall +see him carried to the gallows; I shall make her note the halter about +his neck—that neck, which, in her young thought, her arms were to have +encircled only; nor shall she shut her eyes upon the last scene, nor +close her ears to the last groan of my victim! She shall see and hear +all, or comply with all that I demand! It must be done: but how? How +shall I see her? how obtain her presence? how command her attention? +Pshaw! shall a few beardless soldiers keep me back, and baffle me in +this? Shall I dread the shadow now, and shrink back when the sun shines +out that makes it? I will not fear. I will see her. I will bid defiance +to them all! She shall know my power, and upon one condition only will I +use it to save him. She will not dare to refuse the condition; she will +consent; she will at last be mine: and for this I will do so much—go so +far—ay, save him whom I would yet be so delighted to destroy!"</p> + +<p>Night came; and in a small apartment of one of the lowliest dwellings of +Chestatee, Edith and her father sat in the deepest +<span class="pagenum">[401]<a name="page401" id="page401"></a></span> melancholy, +conjuring up perpetually in their minds those images of sorrow so +natural to their present situation. It was somewhat late, and they had +just returned from an evening visit to the dungeon of Ralph Colleton. +The mind of the youth was in far better condition than theirs, and his +chief employment had been in preparing them for a similar feeling of +resignation with himself. He had succeeded but indifferently. They +strove to appear firm, in order that he should not be less so than they +found him; but the effort was very perceptible, and the recoil of their +dammed-up emotions was only so much more fearful and overpowering. The +strength of Edith had been severely tried, and her head now rested upon +the bosom of her father, whose arms were required for her support, in a +state of feebleness and exhaustion, leaving it doubtful, at moments, +whether the vital principle had not itself utterly departed.</p> + +<p>At this period the door opened, and a stranger stood abruptly before +them. His manner was sufficiently imposing, though his dress was that of +the wandering countryman, savoring of the jockey, and not much unlike +that frequently worn by such wayfarers as the stagedriver and carrier of +the mails. He had on an overcoat made of buckskin, an article of the +Indian habit; a deep fringe of the same material hung suspended from two +heavy capes that depended from the shoulder. His pantaloons were made of +buckskin also; a foxskin cap rested slightly upon his head, rather more +upon one side than the other; while a whip of huge dimensions occupied +one of his hands. Whiskers, of a bushy form and most luxuriant growth, +half-obscured his cheek, and the mustaches were sufficiently small to +lead to the inference that the wearer had only recently decided to +suffer the region to grow wild. A black-silk handkerchief, wrapped +loosely about his neck, completed the general outline; and the <i>tout +ensemble</i> indicated one of those dashing blades, so frequently to be +encountered in the southern country, who, despising the humdrum monotony +of regular life, are ready for adventure—lads of the turf, the +muster-ground, the general affray—the men who can whip their weight in +wild-cats—whose general rule it is to knock down and drag out.</p> + +<p>Though startling at first to both father and daughter, the manner of the +intruder was such as to forbid any further alarm than +<span class="pagenum">[402]<a name="page402" id="page402"></a></span> was +incidental to his first abrupt appearance. His conduct was respectful +and distant—closely observant of the proprieties in his address, and so +studiously guarded as to satisfy them, at the very outset, that nothing +improper was intended. Still, his entrance without any intimation was +sufficiently objectionable to occasion a hasty demand from Colonel +Colleton as to the meaning of his intrusion.</p> + +<p>"None, sir, is intended, which may not be atoned for," was the reply. "I +had reason to believe, Colonel Colleton, that the present melancholy +circumstances of your family were such as might excuse an intrusion +which may have the effect of making them less so; which, indeed, may go +far toward the prevention of that painful event which you now +contemplate as certain."</p> + +<p>The words were electrical in their effect upon both father and daughter. +The former rose from his chair, and motioned the stranger to be seated; +while the daughter, rapidly rising also, with an emotion which gave new +life to her form, inquired breathlessly—</p> + +<p>"Speak, sir! say—how!"—and she lingered and listened with figure bent +sensibly forward, and hand uplifted and motionless, for reply. The +person addressed smiled with visible effort, while slight shades of +gloom, like the thin clouds fleeting over the sky at noonday, obscured +at intervals the otherwise subdued and even expression of his +countenance. He looked at the maiden while speaking, but his words were +addressed to her father.</p> + +<p>"I need not tell you, sir, that the hopes of your nephew are gone. There +is no single chance upon which he can rest a doubt whereby his safety +may be secured. The doom is pronounced, the day is assigned, and the +executioner is ready."</p> + +<p>"Is your purpose insult, sir, that you tell us this?" was the rather +fierce inquiry of the colonel.</p> + +<p>"Calmly, sir," was the response, in a manner corresponding well with the +nature of his words; "my purpose, I have already said, is to bring, or +at least to offer, relief; to indicate a course which may result in the +safety of the young man whose life is now at hazard; and to contribute, +myself, to the object which I propose."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[403]<a name="page403" id="page403"></a></span> +"Go on—go on, sir, if you please, but spare all unnecessary +reference to his situation," said the colonel, as a significant pressure +of his arm on the part of his daughter motioned him to patience. The +stranger proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"My object in dwelling upon the youth's situation was, if possible, by +showing its utter hopelessness in every other respect, to induce you the +more willingly to hear what I had to offer, and to comply with certain +conditions which must be preparatory to any development upon my part."</p> + +<p>"There is something strangely mysterious in this. I am willing to do +anything and everything, in reason and without dishonor, for the safety +of my nephew; the more particularly as I believe him altogether innocent +of the crime laid to his charge. More than this I dare not; and I shall +not be willing to yield to unknown conditions, prescribed by a stranger, +whatever be the object: but speak out at once, sir, and keep us no +longer in suspense. In the meantime, retire, Edith, my child; we shall +best transact this business in your absence. You will feel too acutely +the consideration of this subject to listen to it in discussion. Go, my +daughter."</p> + +<p>But the stranger interposed, with a manner not to be questioned:—</p> + +<p>"Let her remain, Colonel Colleton; it is, indeed, only to her that I can +reveal the mode and the conditions of the assistance which I am to +offer. This was the preliminary condition of which I spoke. To her alone +can my secret be revealed, and my conference must be entirely with her."</p> + +<p>"But, sir, this is so strange—so unusual—so improper."</p> + +<p>"True, Colonel Colleton; in the ordinary concerns, the everyday offices +of society, it would be strange, unusual, and improper; but these are +not times, and this is not a region of the world, in which the common +forms are to be insisted upon. You forget, sir, that you are in the wild +abiding-place of men scarcely less wild—with natures as stubborn as the +rocks, and with manners as uncouth and rugged as the woodland growth +which surrounds us. I know as well as yourself that my demand is +unusual; but such is my situation—such, indeed, the necessities of the +whole case, that there is no alternative. I am persuaded that your +nephew can be saved; I am willing to make<span class="pagenum">[404]<a name="page404" +id="page404"></a></span> an effort for that +purpose, and my conditions are to be complied with: one of them you have +heard—it is for your daughter to hear the rest."</p> + +<p>The colonel still hesitated. He was very tenacious of those forms of +society, and of intercourse between the sexes, which are rigidly +insisted upon in the South, and his reluctance was manifest. While he +yet hesitated, the stranger again spoke:</p> + +<p>"The condition which I have proposed, sir, is unavoidable, but I ask you +not to remove from hearing: the adjoining room is not so remote but that +you can hear any appeal which your daughter may be pleased to make. Her +call would reach your ears without effort. My own security depends, not +less than that of your nephew, upon your compliance with the condition +under which only will I undertake to save him."</p> + +<p>These suggestions prevailed. Suspecting the stranger to be one whose +evidence would point to the true criminal, himself an offender, he at +length assented to the arrangement, and, after a few minutes' further +dialogue, he left the room. As he retired, the stranger carefully locked +the door, a movement which somewhat alarmed the maiden; but the +respectful manner with which he approached her, and her own curiosity +not less than interest in the progress of the event, kept her from the +exhibition of any apprehensions.</p> + +<p>The stranger drew nigh her. His glances, though still respectful, were +fixed, long and searchingly, upon her face. He seemed to study all its +features, comparing them, as it would seem, with his own memories. At +length, as with a sense of maidenly propriety, she sternly turned away, +he addressed her:—</p> + +<p>"Miss Colleton has forgotten me, it appears, though I have some claim to +be an old acquaintance. I, at least, have a better memory for my +friends—I have not forgotten <i>her</i>."</p> + +<p>Edith looked up in astonishment, but there was no recognition in her +glance. A feeling of mortified pride might have been detected in the +expression of his countenance, as, with a tone of calm unconsciousness, +she replied—</p> + +<p>"You are certainly unremembered, if ever known, by me, sir. I am truly +sorry to have forgotten one who styles himself my friend."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[405]<a name="page405" id="page405"></a></span> +"Who was—who is—or, rather, who is now willing again to be +your friend, Miss Colleton," was the immediate reply.</p> + +<p>"Yes, and so I will gladly call you, sir, if you succeed in what you +have promised."</p> + +<p>"I have yet promised nothing, Miss Colleton."</p> + +<p>"True, true! but you say you have the power, and surely would not +withhold it at such a time. Oh, speak, sir! tell me how you can serve us +all, and receive my blessings and my thanks for ever."</p> + +<p>"The reward is great—very great—but not greater—perhaps not as great, +as I may demand for my services. But we should not be ignorant of one +another in such an affair, and at such a time as this. Is it true, then, +that Miss Colleton has no memory which, at this moment, may spare me +from the utterance of a name, which perhaps she herself would not be +altogether willing to hear, and which it is not my policy to have +uttered by any lips, and far less by my own? Think—remember—lady, and +let me be silent still on that one subject. Let no feeling of pride +influence the rejection of a remembrance which perhaps carries with it +but few pleasant reflections."</p> + +<p>Again were the maiden's eyes fixed searchingly upon the speaker, and +again, conflicting with the searching character of his own glance, were +they withdrawn, under the direction of a high sense of modest dignity. +She had made the effort at recognition—that was evident even to +him—and had made it in vain.</p> + +<p>"Entirely forgotten—well! better that than to have been remembered as +the thing I was. Would it were possible to be equally forgotten by the +rest—but this, too, is vain and childish. She must be taught to +remember me."</p> + +<p>Thus muttered the stranger to himself; assuming, however, an increased +decision of manner at the conclusion, he approached her, and tearing +from his cheeks the huge whiskers that had half-obscured them, he spoke +in hurried accents:—</p> + +<p>"Look on me now, Miss Colleton—look on me now, and while you gaze upon +features once sufficiently well known to your glance, let your memory +but retrace the few years when it was your fortune, and my fate, to +spend a few months in Gwinnett county. Do you remember the time—do you +remember<span class="pagenum">[406]<a name="page406" id="page406"></a></span> +that bold, ambitious man, who, at that time, was the +claimant for a public honor—who was distinguished by you in a dance, at +the ball given on that occasion—who, maddened by wine, and a fierce +passion which preyed upon him then, like a consuming fire, addressed +you, though a mere child, and sought you for his bride, who—but I see +you remember all!"</p> + +<p>"And are you then Creighton—Mr. Edward Creighton—and so changed!" And +she looked upon him with an expression of simple wonder.</p> + +<p>"Ay, that was the name once-but I have another now. Would you know me +better—I am Guy Rivers, where the name of Creighton must not again be +spoken. It is the name of a felon—of one under doom of outlawry—whom +all men are privileged to slay. I have been hunted from society—I can +no longer herd with my fellows—I am without kin, and am almost without +kind. Yet, base and black with crime—doomed by mankind—banished all +human abodes—the slave of fierce passions—the leagued with foul +associates, I dared, in your girlhood, to love you; and, more daring +still, I dare to love you now. Fear not, lady—you are Edith Colleton to +me; and worthless, and vile, and reckless, though I have become, for you +I can hold no thought which would behold you other than you are—a +creature for worship rather than for love. As such I would have you +still; and for this purpose do I seek you now. I know your feeling for +this young man—I saw it then, when you repulsed me. I saw that you +loved each other, though neither of you were conscious of the truth. You +love him now—you would not have him perish—I know well how you regard +him, and I come, knowing this, to make hard conditions with you for his +life."</p> + +<p>"Keep me no longer in suspense—speak out, Mr. Creighton"—she cried, +gaspingly.</p> + +<p>"Rivers—Rivers—I would not hear the other—it was by that name I was +driven from my fellows."</p> + +<p>"Mr. Rivers, say what can be done—what am I to do—money—thanks, all +that we can give shall be yours, so that you save him from this fate."</p> + +<p>"And who would speak thus for me? What fair pleader, +<span class="pagenum">[407]<a name="page407" id="page407"></a></span> fearless of +man's opinion—that blights or blesses, without reference to right or +merit—would so far speak for me!"</p> + +<p>"Many—many, Mr. Rivers—I hope there are many. Heaven knows, though I +may have rejected in my younger days, your attentions, I know not many +for whom I would more willingly plead and pray than yourself. I do +remember now your talents and high reputation, and deeply do I regret +the unhappy fortune which has denied them their fulfilment."</p> + +<p>"Ah, Edith Colleton, these words would have saved me once—now they are +nothing, in recompense for the hopes which are for ever gone. Your +thoughts are gentle, and may sooth all spirits but my own. But sounds +that lull others, lull me no longer. It is not the music of a rich +dream, or of a pleasant fancy, which may beguile me into pleasure. I am +dead—dead as the cold rock—to their influence. The storm which +blighted me has seared, and ate into the very core. I am like the tree +through which the worm has travelled—it still stands, and there is +foliage upon it, but the heart is eaten out and gone. Your words touch +me no longer as they did—I need something more than words and mere +flatteries—flatteries so sweet even as those which come from your +lips—are no longer powerful to bind me to your service. I can save the +youth—I will save him, though I hate him; but the conditions are fatal +to your love for him."</p> + +<p>There was much in this speech to offend and annoy the hearer; but she +steeled herself to listen, and it cost her some effort to reply.</p> + +<p>"I can listen—I can hear all that you may say having reference to him. +I know not what you may intend; I know not what you may demand for your +service. But name your condition. All in honor—all that a maiden may +grant and be true to herself, all—all, for his life and safety."</p> + +<p>"Still, I fear, Miss Colleton—your love for him is not sufficiently +lavish to enable your liberality to keep pace with the extravagance of +my demand—"</p> + +<p>"Hold, sir—on this particular there is no need of further speech. +Whatever may be the extent of my regard for Ralph, it is enough that I +am willing to do much, to sacrifice much—in return for his rescue from +this dreadful fate. Speak, <span class="pagenum">[408]<a name="page408" +id="page408"></a></span>therefore, your demand—spare no +word—delay me, I pray, no longer."</p> + +<p>"Hear me, then. As Creighton, I loved you years ago—as Guy Rivers I +love you still. The life of Ralph Colleton is forfeit—for ever +forfeit—and a few days only interpose between him and eternity. I alone +can save him—I can give him freedom; and, in doing so, I shall risk +much, and sacrifice not a little. I am ready for this risk—I am +prepared for every sacrifice—I will save him at all hazards from his +doom, upon one condition!"</p> + +<p>"Speak! speak!"</p> + +<p>"That you be mine—that you fly with me—that in the wild regions of the +west, where I will build you a cottage and worship you as my own forest +divinity, you take up your abode with me, and be my wife. My wife!—all +forms shall be complied with, and every ceremony which society may call +for. Nay, shrink not back thus—" seeing her recoil in horror and scorn +at the suggestion—"beware how you defy me—think, that I have his life +in my hands—think, that I can speak his doom or his safety—think, +before you reply!"</p> + +<p>"There is no time necessary for thought, sir—none—none. It can not be. +I can not comply with the conditions which you propose. I would die +first."</p> + +<p>"And he will die too. Be not hasty, Miss Colleton—remember—it is not +merely your death but his—his death upon the gallows—"</p> + +<p>"Spare me! spare me!"</p> + +<p>"The halter—the crowd—the distorted limb—the racked frame—"</p> + +<p>"Horrible—horrible!"</p> + +<p>"Would you see this—know this, and reflect upon the shame, the mental +agony, far greater than all, of such a death to him?"</p> + +<p>With a strong effort, she recovered her composure, though but an instant +before almost convulsed—</p> + +<p>"Have you no other terms, Mr. Rivers?"</p> + +<p>"None—none. Accept them, and he lives—I will free him, as I promise. +Refuse them—deny me, and he must die, and nothing may save him then."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[409]<a name="page409" id="page409"></a></span> +"Then he must die, sir!—we must both die—before we choose such +terms. Sir, let me call my father. Our conference must end here. You +have chosen a cruel office, but I can bear its infliction. You have +tantalized a weak heart with hope, only to make it despair the more. But +I am now strong, sir—stronger than ever—and we speak no more on this +subject."</p> + +<p>"Yet pause—to relent even to-morrow may be too late. To-night you must +determine, or never."</p> + +<p>"I have already determined. It is impossible that I can determine +otherwise. No more, sir!"</p> + +<p>"There is one, lady—one young form—scarcely less beautiful than +yourself, who would make the same—ay, and a far greater—sacrifice than +this, for the safety of Ralph Colleton. One far less happy in his love +than you, who would willingly die for him this hour. Would you be less +ready than she is for such a sacrifice?"</p> + +<p>"No, not less ready for death—as I live—not less willing to free him +with the loss of my own life. But not ready for a sacrifice like +this—not ready for this."</p> + +<p>"You have doomed him!"</p> + +<p>"Be it so, sir. Be it so. Let me now call my father."</p> + +<p>"Yet think, ere it be too late—once gone, not even your words shall +call me back."</p> + +<p>"Believe me, I shall not desire it."</p> + +<p>The firmness of the maiden was finely contrasted with the disappointment +of the outlaw. He was not less mortified with his own defeat than awed +by the calm and immoveable bearing, the sweet, even dignity, which the +discussion of a subject so trying to her heart, and the overthrow of all +hope which her own decision must have occasioned, had failed utterly to +affect. He would have renewed his suggestions, but while repeating them, +a sudden commotion in the village—the trampling of feet—the buzz of +many voices, and sounds of wide-spread confusion, contributed to abridge +an interview already quite too long. The outlaw rushed out of the +apartment, barely recognising, at his departure, the presence of Colonel +Colleton, whom his daughter had now called in. The cause of the uproar +we reserve for another chapter.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[410]<a name="page410" id="page410"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter36" id="chapter36">CHAPTER XXXVI.</a></h2> + +<h3>PROPOSED RESCUE.</h3> + + +<p>The pledge which Munro had given to his niece in behalf of Colleton was +productive of no small inconvenience to the former personage. Though +himself unwilling—we must do him the justice to believe—that the youth +should perish for a crime so completely his own, he had in him no great +deal of that magnanimous virtue, of itself sufficiently strong to have +persuaded him to such a risk, as that which he had undertaken at the +supplication of Lucy. The more he reflected upon the matter, the more +trifling seemed the consideration. With such a man, to reflect is simply +to <i>calculate</i>. Money, now—the spoil or the steed of the +traveller—would have been a far more decided stimulant to action. In +regarding such an object, he certainly would have overlooked much of the +danger, and have been less heedful of the consequences. The selfishness +of the motive would not merely have sanctioned, but have smoothed the +enterprise; and he thought too much with the majority—allowing for any +lurking ambition in his mind—not to perceive that where there is gain +there must be glory.</p> + +<p>None of these consolatory thoughts came to him in the contemplation of +his present purpose. To adventure his own life—perhaps to exchange +places with the condemned he proposed to save—though, in such a risk, +he only sought to rescue the innocent from the doom justly due to +himself—was a flight of generous impulse somewhat above the usual aim +of the landlord; and, but for the impelling influence of his niece—an +influence which, in spite of his own evil habits, swayed him beyond his +consciousness—we should not now have to record the almost redeeming +instance in the events of his life at this +<span class="pagenum">[411]<a name="page411" id="page411"></a></span> period—the +<i>one</i> virtue, contrasting with, if it could not lessen or relieve, +the long tissue of his offences.</p> + +<p>There were some few other influences, however—if this were not +enough—coupled with that of his niece's entreaty, which gave strength +and decision to his present determination. Munro was not insensible to +the force of superior character, and a large feeling of veneration led +him, from the first, to observe the lofty spirit and high sense of honor +which distinguished the bearing and deportment of Ralph Colleton. He +could not but admire the native superiority which characterized the +manner of the youth, particularly when brought into contrast with that +of Guy Rivers, for whom the same feeling had induced a like, though not +a parallel respect, on the part of the landlord.</p> + +<p>It may appear strange to those accustomed only to a passing and +superficial estimate of the thousand inconsistencies which make up that +contradictory creation, the human mind, that such should be a feature in +the character of a ruffian like Munro; but, to those who examine for +themselves, we shall utter nothing novel when we assert, that a respect +for superiority of mental and even mere moral attribute, enters largely +into the habit of the ruffian generally. The murderer is not +unfrequently found to possess benevolence as well as veneration in a +high degree; and the zealots of all countries and religions are almost +invariably creatures of strong and violent passions, to which the +extravagance of their zeal and devotion furnishes an outlet, which is +not always innocent in its direction or effects. Thus, in their +enthusiasm—which is only a minor madness—whether the Hindoo bramin or +the Spanish bigot, the English roundhead or the follower of the "only +true faith" at Mecca, be understood, it is but a word and a blow—though +the word be a hurried prayer to the God of their adoration, and the blow +be aimed with all the malevolence of hell at the bosom of a +fellow-creature. There is no greater inconsistency in the one character +than in the other. The temperament which, under false tuition, makes the +zealot, and drives him on to the perpetration of wholesale murder, while +uttering a prayer to the Deity, prompts the same individual who, as an +assassin or a highwayman, cuts your throat, and picks your pocket, and +at<span class="pagenum">[412]<a name="page412" id="page412"></a></span> +the next moment bestows his ill-gotten gains without +reservation upon the starving beggar by the wayside.</p> + +<p>There was yet another reason which swayed Munro not a little in his +determination, if possible, to save the youth—and this was a lurking +sentiment of hostility to Rivers. His pride, of late, on many occasions, +had taken alarm at the frequent encroachments of his comrade upon its +boundaries. The too much repeated display of that very mental +superiority in his companion, which had so much fettered him, had +aroused his own latent sense of independence; and the utterance of +sundry pungent rebukes on the part of Rivers had done much towards +provoking within him a new sentiment of dislike for that person, which +gladly availed itself of the first legitimate occasion for exercise and +development. The very superiority which commanded, and which he honored, +he hated for that very reason; and, in our analysis of moral dependence, +we may add, that, in Greece, and the mere Hob of the humble farmhouse, +Munro might have been the countryman to vote Aristides into banishment +because of his reputation for justice. The barrier is slight, the space +short, the transition easy, from one to the other extreme of injustice; +and the peasant who voted for the banishment of the just man, in another +sphere and under other circumstances, would have been a Borgia or a +Catiline. With this feeling in his bosom, Munro was yet unapprized of +its existence. It is not with the man, so long hurried forward by his +impulses as at last to become their creature, to analyze either their +character or his own. Vice, though itself a monster, is yet the slave of +a thousand influences, not absolutely vicious in themselves; and their +desires it not uncommonly performs when blindfolded. It carries the +knife, it strikes the blow, but is not always the chooser of its own +victim.</p> + +<p>But, fortunately for Ralph Colleton, whatever and how many or how few +were the impelling motives leading to this determination, Munro had +decided upon the preservation of his life; and, with that energy of +will, which, in a rash office, or one violative of the laws, he had +always heretofore displayed, he permitted no time to escape him +unemployed for the contemplated purpose. His mind immediately addressed +itself to its chosen duty, and, in one disguise or another, and those +<span class="pagenum">[413]<a name="page413" id="page413"></a></span> +perpetually changing, he perambulated the village, making his +arrangements for the desired object. The difficulties in his way were not +trifling in character nor few in number; and the greatest of these was +that of finding coadjutors willing to second him. He felt assured that +he could confide in none of his well-known associates, who were to a man +the creatures of Rivers; that outlaw, by a liberality which seemed to +disdain money, and yielding every form of indulgence, having acquired +over them an influence almost amounting to personal affection. +Fortunately for his purpose, Rivers dared not venture much into the +village or its neighborhood; therefore, though free from any fear of +obstruction from one in whose despite his whole design was undertaken, +Munro was yet not a little at a loss for his co-operation. To whom, at +that moment, could he turn, without putting himself in the power of an +enemy? Thought only raised up new difficulties in his way, and in utter +despair of any better alternative, though scarcely willing to trust to +one of whom he deemed so lightly, his eyes were compelled to rest, in +the last hope, upon the person of the pedler, Bunce.</p> + +<p>Bunce, if the reader will remember, had, upon his release from prison, +taken up his abode temporarily in the village. Under the protection now +afforded by the presence of the judge, and the other officers of +justice—not to speak of the many strangers from the adjacent parts, +whom one cause or another had brought to the place—he had presumed to +exhibit his person with much more audacity and a more perfect freedom +from apprehension than he had ever shown in the same region before. He +now—for ever on the go—thrust himself fearlessly into every cot and +corner. No place escaped the searching analysis of his glance; and, in a +scrutiny so nice, it was not long before he had made the acquaintance of +everybody and everything at all worthy, in that region, to be known. He +could now venture to jostle Pippin with impunity; for, since the trial +in which he had so much blundered, the lawyer had lost no small portion +of the confidence and esteem of his neighbors. Accused of the +abandonment of his client—an offence particularly monstrous in the +estimation of those who are sufficiently interested to acquire a +personal feeling in such matters—and +<span class="pagenum">[414]<a name="page414" id="page414"></a></span> compelled, as he had +been—a worse feature still in the estimation of the same class—to "eat +his own words"—he had lost caste prodigiously in the last few days, and +his fine sayings lacked their ancient flavor in the estimation of his +neighbors. His speeches sunk below par along with himself; and the +pedler, in his contumelious treatment of the disconsolate jurist, simply +obeyed and indicated the direction of the popular opinion. One or two +rude replies, and a nudge which the elbow of Bunce, effected in the ribs +of the lawyer, did provoke the latter so far as to repeat his threat on +the subject of the prosecution for the horse; but the pedler snapped his +fingers in his face as he did so, and bade him defiance. He also +reminded Pippin of the certain malfeasances to which he had referred +previously, and the consciousness of the truth was sufficiently strong +and awkward to prevent his proceeding to any further measure of disquiet +with the offender. Thus, without fear, and with an audacity of which he +was not a little proud, Bunce perambulated the village and its +neighborhood, in a mood and with a deportment he had never ventured upon +before in that quarter.</p> + +<p>He had a variety of reasons for lingering in the village seemingly in a +state of idleness. Bunce was a long-sighted fellow, and beheld the +promise which it held forth, at a distance, of a large and thriving +business in the neighborhood; and he had too much sagacity not to be +perfectly aware of the advantage, to a tradesman, resulting from a prior +occupation of the ground. He had not lost everything in the +conflagration which destroyed his cart-body and calicoes; for, apart +from sundry little debts due him in the surrounding country, he had +carefully preserved around his body, in a black silk handkerchief, a +small wallet, holding a moderate amount of the best bank paper. Bunce, +among other things, had soon learned to discriminate between good and +bad paper, and the result of his education in this respect assured him +of the perfect integrity of the three hundred and odd dollars which kept +themselves snugly about his waist—ready to be expended for clocks and +calicoes, horn buttons and wooden combs, knives, and +negro-handkerchiefs, whenever their proprietor should determine upon a +proper whereabout in which to fix himself. Bunce had grown tired of +peddling—the<span class="pagenum">[415]<a name="page415" id="page415"></a></span> +trade was not less uncertain than fatiguing. +Besides, travelling so much among the southrons, he had imbibed not a +few of their prejudices against his vocation, and, to speak the truth, +had grown somewhat ashamed of his present mode of life. He was becoming +rapidly aristocratic, as we may infer from a very paternal and somewhat +patronizing epistle, which he despatched about this time to his elder +brother and copartner, Ichabod Bunce, who carried on his portion of the +business at their native place in Meriden, Connecticut. He told him, in +a manner and vein not less lofty than surprising to his coadjutor, that +it "would not be the thing, no how, to keep along, lock and lock with +him, in the same gears." It was henceforward his "idee to drive on his +own hook. Times warn't as they used to be;" and the fact was—he did not +say it in so many words—the firm of Ichabod Bunce and Brother was +scarcely so creditable to the latter personage as he should altogether +desire among his southern friends and acquaintances. He "guessed, +therefore, best haul off," and each—here Bunce showed his respect for +his new friends by quoting their phraseology—"must paddle his own +canoe."</p> + +<p>We have minced this epistle, and have contented ourselves with providing +a scrap, here and there, to the reader—despairing, as we utterly do, to +gather from memory a full description of a performance so perfectly +unique in its singular compound of lofty vein, with the patois and +vulgar contractions of his native, and those common to his adopted +country.</p> + +<p>It proved to his more staid and veteran brother, that Jared was the only +one of his family likely to get above his bread and business; but, while +he lamented the wanderings and follies of his brother, he could not help +enjoying a sentiment of pride as he looked more closely into the matter. +"Who knows," thought the clockmaker to himself, "but that Jared, who is +a monstrous sly fellow, will pick up some southern heiress, with a +thousand blackies, and an hundred acres of prime cotton-land to each, +and thus ennoble the blood of the Bunces by a rapid ascent, through the +various grades of office in a sovereign state, until a seat in +Congress—in the cabinet itself—receives him;"—and Ichabod grew more +than ever pleased and satisfied with the idea, when he reflected that +Jared had all along been held to possess a goodly person, and a very +fair development of the parts of <span class="pagenum">[416]<a name="page416" +id="page416"></a></span>speech. He even ventured to +speculate upon the possibility of Jared passing into the White +House—the dawn of that era having already arrived, which left nobody +safe from the crowning honors of the republic.</p> + +<p>Whether the individual of whom so much was expected, himself entertained +any such anticipations or ideas, we do not pretend to say; but, certain +it is, that the southern candidate for the popular suffrage could never +have taken more pains to extend his acquaintance or to ingratiate +himself among the people, than did our worthy friend the pedler. In the +brief time which he had passed in the village after the arrest of +Colleton, he had contrived to have something to say or do with almost +everybody in it. He had found a word for his honor the judge; and having +once spoken with that dignitary, Bunce was not the man to fail at future +recognition. No distance of manner, no cheerless response, to the +modestly urged or moderate suggestion, could prompt him to forego an +acquaintance. With the jurors he had contrived to enjoy a sup of whiskey +at the tavern bar-room, and had actually, and with a manner the most +adroit, gone deeply into the distribution of an entire packet of +steel-pens, one of which he accommodated to a reed, and to the fingers +of each of the worthy twelve, who made the panel on that +occasion—taking care, however, to assure them of the value of the gift, +by saying, that if he were to sell the article, twenty-five cents each +would be his lowest price, and he could scarcely save himself at that. +But this was not all. Having seriously determined upon abiding at the +south, he ventured upon some few of the practices prevailing in that +region, and on more than one occasion, a gallon of whiskey had +circulated "free gratis," and "<i>pro bono publico</i>," he added, +somewhat maliciously, at the cost of our worthy tradesman. These things, +it may not be necessary to say, had elevated that worthy into no +moderate importance among those around him; and, that he himself was not +altogether unconscious of the change, it may be remarked that an ugly +<i>kink</i>, or double in his back—the consequence of his pack and past +humility—had gone down wonderfully, keeping due pace in its descent +with the progress of his upward manifestations.</p> + +<p>Such was the somewhat novel position of Bunce, in the +<span class="pagenum">[417]<a name="page417" id="page417"></a></span>village +and neighborhood of Chestatee, when the absolute necessity of the case +prompted Munro's application to him for assistance in the proposed +extrication of Ralph Colleton. The landlord had not been insensible to +the interest which the pedler had taken in the youth's fortune, and not +doubting his perfect sympathy with the design in view, he felt the fewer +scruples in approaching him for the purpose. Putting on, therefore, the +disguise, which, as an old woman, had effectually concealed his true +person from Bunce on a previous occasion, he waited until evening had +set in fairly, and then proceeded to the abode of him he sought.</p> + +<p>The pedler was alone in his cottage, discussing, most probably, his +future designs, and calculating to a nicety the various profits of each +premeditated branch of his future business. Munro's disguise was +intended rather to facilitate his progress without detection through the +village, than to impose upon the pedler merely; but it was not unwise +that he should be ignorant also of the person with whom he dealt. +Affecting a tone of voice, therefore, which, however masculine, was yet +totally unlike his own, the landlord demanded a private interview, which +was readily granted, though, as the circumstance was unusual, with some +few signs of trepidation. Bunce was no lover of old women, nor, indeed, +of young ones either. He was habitually and constitutionally cold and +impenetrable on the subject of all passions, save that of trade, and +would rather have sold a dress of calico, than have kissed the prettiest +damsel in creation. His manner, to the old woman who appeared before +him, seemed that of one who had an uncomfortable suspicion of having +pleased rather more than he intended; and it was no small relief, +therefore, the first salutation being over, when the masculine tones +reassured him. Munro, without much circumlocution, immediately proceeded +to ask whether he was willing to lend a hand for the help of Colleton, +and to save him from the gallows?</p> + +<p>"Colleton!—save Master Colleton!—do tell—is that what you mean?"</p> + +<p>"It is. Are you the man to help your friend—will you make one along +with others who are going to try for it?"</p> + +<p>"Well, now, don't be rash; give a body time to consider. +<span class="pagenum">[418]<a name="page418" id="page418"></a></span>It's +pesky full of trouble; dangerous, too. It's so strange!—" and the +pedler showed himself a little bewildered by the sudden manner in which +the subject had been broached.</p> + +<p>"There's little time to be lost, Bunce: if we don't set to work at once, +we needn't set to work at all. Speak out, man! will you join us, now or +never, to save the young fellow?"</p> + +<p>With something like desperation in his manner, as if he scrupled to +commit himself too far, yet had the will to contribute considerably to +the object, the pedler replied:—</p> + +<p>"Save the young fellow? well, I guess I will, if you'll jest say what's +to be done. I'll lend a hand, to be sure, if there's no trouble to come +of it. He's a likely chap, and not so stiff neither, though I did count +him rather high-headed at first; but after that, he sort a smoothed +down, and now I don't know nobody I'd sooner help jest now out of the +slush: but I can't see how we're to set about it."</p> + +<p>"Can you fight, Bunce? Are you willing to knock down and drag out, when +there's need for it?"</p> + +<p>"Why, if I was fairly listed, and if so be there's no law agin it. I +don't like to run agin the law, no how; and if you could get a body +clear on it, why, and there's no way to do the thing no other how, I +guess I shouldn't stand too long to consider when it's to help a +friend."</p> + +<p>"It may be no child's play, Bunce, and there must be stout heart and +free hand. One mustn't stop for trifles in such cases; and, as for the +law, when a man's friend's in danger, he must make his own law."</p> + +<p>"That wan't my edication, no how; my principles goes agin it. I must +think about it. I must have a little time to consider." But the landlord +saw no necessity for consideration, and, fearful that the scruples of +Bunce would be something too strong, he proceeded to smooth away the +difficulty.</p> + +<p>"After all, Bunce, the probability is, we shall be able to manage the +affair without violence: so we shall try, for I like blows just as +little as anybody else; but it's best, you know, to make ready for the +worst. Nobody knows how things will turn up; and if it comes to the +scratch, why, one mustn't mind knocking a fellow on the head if he +stands in the way."</p> + +<p>"No, to be sure not. 'Twould be foolish to stop and think +<span class="pagenum">[419]<a name="page419" id="page419"></a></span>about +what's law, and what's not law, and be knocked down yourself."</p> + +<p>"Certainly, you're right, Bunce; that's only reason."</p> + +<p>"And yet, mister, I guess you wouldn't want that I should know your raal +name, now, would you? or maybe you're going to tell it to me now? +Well—"</p> + +<p>"To the business: what matters it whether I have a name or not? I have a +fist, you see, and—"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, I see," exclaimed he of the notions, slightly retreating, as +Munro, suiting the action to the word, thrust, rather more closely to +the face of his companion than was altogether encouraging, the ponderous +mass which courtesy alone would consider a fist—</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't care, you see, to know the name, mister; but somehow it +raally aint the thing, no how, to be mistering nobody knows who. I see +you aint a woman plain enough from your face, and I pretty much conclude +you must be a man; though you have got on—what's that, now? It's a kind +of calico, I guess; but them's not fast colors, friend. I should say, +now, you had been taken in pretty much by that bit of goods. It aint the +kind of print, now, that's not afeard of washing."</p> + +<p>"And if I have been taken in, Bunce, in these calicoes, you're the man +that has done it," said the landlord, laughing. "This piece was sold by +you into my own hands, last March was a year, when you came back from +the Cherokees."</p> + +<p>"Now, don't! Well, I guess there must be some mistake; you aint sure, +now, friend: might be some other dealer that you bought from?"</p> + +<p>"None other than yourself, Bunce. You are the man, and I can bring a +dozen to prove it on you."</p> + +<p>"Well, I 'spose what you say's true, and that jest let's me know how to +mister you now, 'cause, you see, I do recollect now all about who I sold +that bit of goods to that season."</p> + +<p>The landlord had been overreached; and, amused with the ingenuity of the +trader, he contented himself with again lifting the huge fist in a +threatening manner, though the smile which accompanied the action fairly +deprived it of its terrors.</p> + +<p>"Well, well," said the landlord "we burn daylight in such +<span class="pagenum">[420]<a name="page420" id="page420"></a></span>talk +as this. I come to you as the only man who will or can help me in this +matter; and Lucy Munro tells me you will—you made her some such +promise."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I guess I must toe the chalk, after all; though, to say +truth, I don't altogether remember giving any such promise. It must be +right, though, if she says it; and sartain she's a sweet body—I'll go +my length for her any day."</p> + +<p>"You'll not lose by it; and now hear my plan. You know Brooks, the +jailer, and his bulldog brother-in-law, Tongs? I saw you talking with +both of them yesterday."</p> + +<p>"Guess you're right. Late acquaintance, though; they aint neither on 'em +to my liking."</p> + +<p>"Enough for our purpose. Tongs is a brute who will drink as long as he +can stand, and some time after it. Brooks is rather shy of it, but he +will drink enough to stagger him, for he is pretty weak-headed. We have +only to manage these fellows, and there's the end of it. They keep the +jail."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I know; but you don't count young Brooks?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's a mere boy. Don't matter about him. He's easily managed. Now +hear to my design. Provide your jug of whiskey, with plenty of eggs and +sugar, so that they shan't want anything, and get them here. Send for +Tongs at once, and let him only know what's in the wind; then ask +Brooks, and he will be sure to force him to come. Say nothing of the +boy; let him stay or come, as they think proper. To ask all might make +them suspicious. They'll both come. They never yet resisted a spiritual +temptation. When here, ply them well, and then we shall go on according +to circumstances. Brooks carries the keys along with him: get him once +in for it, and I'll take them from him. If he resists, or any of them—"</p> + +<p>"Knock 'em down?"</p> + +<p>"Ay, quickly as you say it!"</p> + +<p>"Well, but how if they do not bring the boy, and they leave him in the +jail?"</p> + +<p>"What then! Can't we knock him down too?"</p> + +<p>"But, then, they'll fix the whole business on my head. Won't Brooks and +Tongs say where they got drunk, and then shan't I be in a scant fixin'?"</p> + +<p>"They dare not. They won't confess themselves drunk—it's +<span class="pagenum">[421]<a name="page421" id="page421"></a></span>as +much as their place is worth. They will say nothing till they got sober, +and then they'll get up some story that will hurt nobody."</p> + +<p>"But—"</p> + +<p>"But what? will you never cease to but against obstacles? Are you a +man—are you ready—bent to do what you can? Speak out, and let me know +if I can depend on you," exclaimed the landlord, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"Now, don't be in a passion! You're as soon off as a fly-machine, and a +thought sooner. Why, didn't I say, now, I'd go my length for the young +gentleman? And I'm sure I'm ready, and aint at all afeared, no how. I +only did want to say that, if the thing takes wind, as how it raaly +stood, it spiles all my calkilations. I couldn't 'stablish a consarn +here, I guess, for a nation long spell of time after."</p> + +<p>"And what then? where's your calculations? Get the young fellow clear, +and what will his friends do for you? Think of that, Bunce. You go off +to Carolina with him, and open store in his parts, and he buys from you +all he wants—his negro-cloths, his calicoes, his domestics, and +stripes, and everything. Then his family, and friends and neighbors, +under his recommendation—they all buy from you; and then the presents +they will make you—the fine horses—and who knows but even a plantation +and negroes may all come out of this one transaction?"</p> + +<p>"To be sure—who knows? Well, things do look temptatious enough, and +there's a mighty deal of reason, now, in what you say. Large business +that, I guess, in the long run. Aint I ready? Let's see—a gallon of +whiskey—aint a gallon a heap too much for only three people?"</p> + +<p>"Better have ten than want. Then there must be pipes, tobacco, cigars; +and mind, when they get well on in drinking, I shall look to you through +that window. Be sure and come to me then. Make some pretence, for, as +Brooks may be slow and cautious, I shall get something to drop into his +liquor—a little mixture which I shall hand you."</p> + +<p>"What mixture? No pizen, I hope! I don't go that, not I—no pizening for +me."</p> + +<p>"Pshaw! fool—nonsense! If I wanted their lives, could I +<span class="pagenum">[422]<a name="page422" id="page422"></a></span> not +choose a shorter method, and a weapon which I could more truly rely upon +than I ever can upon you? It is to make them sleep that I shall give you +the mixture."</p> + +<p>"Oh, laudnum. Well, now why couldn't you say laudnum at first, without +frightening people so with your mixtures'?—There's no harm in laudnum, +for my old aunt Tabitha chaws laudnum-gum jest as other folks chaws +tobacco."</p> + +<p>"Well, that's all—it's only to get them asleep sooner. See now about +your men at once. We have no time to lose; and, if this contrivance +fails, I must look about for another. It must be done to-night, or it +can not be done at all. In an hour I shall return; and hope, by that +time, to find you busy with their brains. Ply them well—don't be slow +or stingy—and see that you have enough of whiskey. Here's money—have +everything ready."</p> + +<p>The pedler took the money—why not? it was only proper to spoil the +Egyptians—and, after detailing fully his plans, Munro left him. Bunce +gave himself but little time and less trouble for reflection. The +prospects of fortune which the landlord had magnified to his vision, +were quite too enticing to be easily resisted by one whose <i>morale</i> +was not of a sort to hold its ground against his habitual cupidity and +newly-awakened ambition; and having provided everything, as agreed upon, +necessary for the accommodation of the jailer and his assistant, Bunce +sallied forth for the more important purpose of getting his company.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[423]<a name="page423" id="page423"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter37" id="chapter37">CHAPTER XXXVII.</a></h2> + +<h3>SACK AND SUGAR.</h3> + + +<p>The task of getting the desired guests, as Munro had assured him, was by +no means difficult, and our pedler was not long in reporting progress. +Tongs, a confirmed toper, was easily persuaded to anything that +guarantied hard drinking. He luxuriated in the very idea of a debauch. +Brooks, his brother-in-law, was a somewhat better and less pregnable +person; but he was a widower, had been a good deal with Tongs, and, what +with the accustomed loneliness of the office which he held, and the +gloomy dwelling in which it required he should live, he found it not +such an easy matter to resist the temptation of social enjoyment, and +all the pleasant associations of that good-fellowship, which Bunce had +taken care to depict before the minds of both parties. The attractions +of Bunce himself, by-the-way, tended, not less than the whiskey and +cigars, to persuade the jailer, and to neutralize most of the existing +prejudices current among those around him against his tribe. He had +travelled much, and was no random observer. He had seen a great deal, as +well of human nature as of places; could tell a good story, in good +spirit; and was endowed with a dry, sneaking humor, that came out +unawares upon his hearers, and made them laugh frequently in spite of +themselves.</p> + +<p>Bunce had been now sufficiently long in the village to enable those +about him to come at a knowledge of his parts; and his accomplishments, +in the several respects referred to, were by this time generally well +understood. The inducement was sufficiently strong with the jailer; and, +at length, having secured the main entrance of the jail carefully, he +strapped the key to a leathern girdle, which he wore about him, lodging +it in the breast-pocket of his coat, where he conceived it perfectly +safe,<span class="pagenum">[424]<a name="page424" id="page424"></a></span> +he prepared to go along with his worthy brother-in-law. +Nor was the younger Brooks forgotten. Being a tall, good-looking lad of +sixteen, Tongs insisted it was high time he should appear among men; and +the invitation of the pedler was opportune, as affording a happy +occasion for his initiation into some of those practices, esteemed, by a +liberal courtesy, significant of manliness.</p> + +<p>With everything in proper trim, Bunce stood at the entrance of his +lodge, ready to receive them. The preliminaries were soon despatched, +and we behold them accordingly, all four, comfortably seated around a +huge oaken table in the centre of the apartment. There was the jug, and +there the glasses—the sugar, the peppermint, the nutmegs—the pipes and +tobacco—all convenient, and sufficiently tempting for the unscrupulous. +The pedler did the honors with no little skill, and Tongs plunged +headlong into the debauch. The whiskey was never better, and found, for +this reason, anything but security where it stood. Glass after glass, +emptied only to be replenished, attested the industrious hospitality of +the host, not less than its own excellence. Tongs, averaging three +draughts to one of his companion's, was soon fairly under way in his +progress to that state of mental self-glorification in which the world +ceases to have vicissitudes, and the animal realizes the abstractions of +an ancient philosophy, and denies all pain to life.</p> + +<p>Brooks, however, though not averse to the overcoming element, had more +of that vulgar quality of prudence than his brother-in-law, and far +more than was thought amiable in the opinion of the pedler. For some +time, therefore, he drank with measured scrupulousness; and it was +with no small degree of anxiety that Bunce plied him with the +bottle—complaining of his unsociableness, and watching, with the +intensity of any other experimentalist, the progress of his scheme upon +him. As for the lad—the younger Brooks—it was soon evident that, once +permitted, and even encouraged to drink, as he had been, by his +superiors, he would not, after a little while, give much if any +inconvenience to the conspirators. The design of the pedler was +considerably advanced by Tongs, who, once intoxicated himself, was not +slow in the endeavor to bring all around him under the same influence.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[425]<a name="page425" id="page425"></a></span> +"Drink, Brooks—drink, old fellow," he exclaimed; "as you are a +true man, drink, and don't fight shy of the critter! Whiskey, my +boy—old Monongahely like this, I say—whiskey is wife and +children—house and horse—lands and niggers—liberty and [hiccup] +plenty to live on! Don't you see how I drive ahead, and don't care for +the hind wheels? It's all owing to whiskey! Grog, I say—Hark ye, Mr. +Pedler—grog, I say, is the wheels of life: it carries a man +<i>for'ad</i>. Why don't men go <i>for'ad</i> in the world? What's the +reason now? I'll tell you. They're afeared. Well, now, who's afeared +when he's got a broadside of whiskey in him? Nobody—nobody's afeared +but you—you, Ben Brooks, you're a d——d crick—crick—you're always +afeared of something, or nothing; for, after all, whenever you're +afeared of something, it turns out to be nothing! All 'cause you don't +drink like a man. That's his cha-cha-<i>rack</i>-ter, Mr. Bunce; and +it's all owing 'cause he won't drink!"</p> + +<p>"Guess there's no sparing of reason in that bit of argument, now, I tell +you, Mr. Tongs. Bless my heart—it's no use talking, no how, but I'd a +been clean done up, dead as a door-nail, if it hadn't been for drink. +Strong drink makes strong. Many's the time, and the freezing cold, and +the hard travelling in bad roads, and other dreadful fixins I've seed, +would soon ha' settled me up, if it hadn't been for that same good stuff +there, that Master Brooks does look as if he was afeared on. Now, don't +be afeared, Master Brooks. There's no teeth in whiskey, and it never +bites nobody."</p> + +<p>"No," said Brooks, with the utmost simplicity; "only when they take too +much."</p> + +<p>"How?" said the pedler, looking as if the sentence contained some +mysterious meaning. Brooks might have explained, but for Tongs, who +dashed in after this fashion:—</p> + +<p>"And who takes too much? You don't mean to say I takes too much, Ben +Brooks. I'd like to hear the two-legged critter, now, who'd say I takes +more of the stuff than does me good. I drinks in reason, for the benefit +of my health; and jest, you see, as a sort of medicine, Mr. Bunce; and, +Brooks, you knows I never takes a drop more than is needful."</p> + +<p>"Sometimes—sometimes, Tongs, you know you ain't altogether right under +it—now and then you take a leetle too much <span class="pagenum">[426]<a name="page426" +id="page426"></a></span>for your good," was +the mild response of Brooks, to the almost fierce speech of his less +scrupulous brother-in-law. The latter, thus encountered, changed his +ground with singular rapidity.</p> + +<p>"Well, by dogs!—and what of that?—and who is it says I shan't, if it's +my notion? I'd like now to see the boy that'll stand up agin me and make +such a speech. Who says I shan't take what I likes—and that I takes +more than is good for me? Does you say so, Mr. Bunce?"</p> + +<p>"No, thank ye, no. How should I say what ain't true? You don't take half +enough, now, it's my idee, neither on you. It's all talk and no cider, +and that I call monstrous dry work. Come, pass round the bottle. Here's +to you, Master Tongs—Master Brooks, I drink your very good health. But +fill up, fill up—you ain't got nothing in your tumbler."</p> + +<p>"No, he's a sneak—you're a sneak, Brooks, if you don't fill up to the +hub. Go the whole hog, boy, and don't twist your mouth as if the stuff +was physic. It's what I call nation good, now; no mistake in it, I tell +you."</p> + +<p>"Hah! that's a true word—there's no mistake in this stuff. It is jest +now what I calls ginywine."</p> + +<p>"True Monongahely, Master Bunce. Whoever reckoned to find a Yankee +pedler with a <i>raal</i> good taste for Monongahely? Give us your fist, +Mr. Bunce; I see you know's what's what. You ain't been among us for +nothing. You've larned something by travelling; and, by dogs! you'll +come to be something yit, if you live long enough—if so be you can only +keep clear of the <i>old range</i>."</p> + +<p>The pedler winced under the equivocal compliments of his companion, but +did not suffer anything of this description to interfere with the +vigorous prosecution of his design. He had the satisfaction to perceive +that Brooks had gradually accommodated himself not a little to the +element in which his brother-in-law, Tongs, was already floating +happily; and the boy, his son, already wore the features of one over +whose senses the strong liquor was momentarily obtaining the mastery. +But these signs did not persuade him into any relaxation of his labors; +on the contrary, encouraged by success, he plied the draughts more +frequently and freely than before, and with additional evidence of the +influence of the potation upon those who drank, when he +<span class="pagenum">[427]<a name="page427" id="page427"></a></span>found +that he was enabled, unperceived, to deposit the contents of his own +tumbler, in most instances, under the table around which they gathered. +In the cloud of smoke encircling them, and sent up from their several +pipes, Bunce could perceive the face of his colleague in the conspiracy +peering in occasionally upon the assembly, and at length, on some slight +pretence, he approached the aperture agreeably to the given signal, and +received from the hands of the landlord a vial containing a strong +infusion of opium, which he placed cautiously in his bosom, and awaited +the moment of more increased stupefaction to employ it. So favorably had +the liquor operated by this time upon the faculties of all, that the +elder Brooks grew garrulous and full of jest at the expense of his +son—who now, completely overcome, had sunk down with his head upon the +table in a profound slumber. The pedler joined, as well as Tongs, in the +merriment—this latter personage, by the way, having now put himself +completely under the control of the ardent spirit, and exhibiting all +the appearance of a happy madness. He howled like the wolf, imitated +sundry animals, broke out into catches of song, which he invariably +failed to finish, and, at length, grappling his brother-in-law, Brooks, +around the neck, with both arms, as he sat beside him, he swore by all +that was strong in <i>Monongahely</i>, he should give them a song.</p> + +<p>"That's jest my idee, now, Master Tongs. A song is a main fine thing, +now, to fill up the chinks. First a glass, then a puff or two, and then +a song."</p> + +<p>Brooks, who, in backwood parlance, was "considerably up a stump"—that +is to say, half drunk—after a few shows of resistance, and the +utterance of some feeble scruples, which were all rapidly set aside by +his companions, proceeded to pour forth the rude melody which follows:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="title2">THE HOW-D'YE-DO BOY.</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="in1">"For a how-d'ye-do boy, 'tis pleasure enough</div> + <div class="in1">To have a sup of such goodly stuff—</div> + <div class="in1">To float away in a sky of fog,</div> + <div class="in1">And swim the while in a sea of grog;</div> + <div class="in5">So, high or low,</div> + <div class="in5">Let the world go,</div> + <div class="out">The how-d'ye-do boy don't care for it—no—no—no—no."</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[428]<a name="page428" id="page428"></a></span> +Tonga, who seemed to be familiar with the uncouth dithyrambic, +joined in the chorus, with a tumultuous discord, producing a most +admirable effect; the pedler dashing in at the conclusion, and shouting +the <i>finale</i> with prodigious compass of voice. The song +proceeded:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="in1">"For a how-d'ye-do boy, who smokes and drinks,</div> + <div class="in1">He does not care who cares or thinks;</div> + <div class="in1">Would Grief deny him to laugh and sing,</div> + <div class="in1">He knocks her down with a single sling—</div> + <div class="in5">So, high or low,</div> + <div class="in5">Let the world go,</div> + <div class="out">The how-d'ye-do boy don't care for it—no—no—no—no.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="in1">"The how-d'ye-do boy is a boy of the night—</div> + <div class="in1">It brings no cold, and it does not fright;</div> + <div class="in1">He buttons his coat and laughs at the shower,</div> + <div class="in1">And he has a song for the darkest hour—</div> + <div class="in5">So, high or low,</div> + <div class="in5">Let the world go,</div> + <div class="out">The how-d'ye-do boy don't care for it—no—no—no—no."</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The song gave no little delight to all parties. Tongs shouted, the +pedler roared applause, and such was the general satisfaction, that it +was no difficult thing to persuade Brooks to the demolition of a bumper, +which Bunce adroitly proposed to the singer's own health. It was while +the hilarity thus produced was at its loudest, that the pedler seized +the chance to pour a moderate portion of the narcotic into the several +glasses of his companions, while a second time filling them; but, +unfortunately for himself, not less than the design in view, just at +this moment Brooks grew awkwardly conscious of his own increasing +weakness, having just reason enough left to feel that he had already +drunk too much. With a considerable show of resolution, therefore, he +thrust away the glass so drugged for his benefit, and declared his +determination to do no more of that business. He withstood all the +suggestions of the pedler on the subject, and the affair began to look +something less than hopeless when he proceeded to the waking up of his +son, who, overcome by the liquor, was busily employed in a profound +sleep, with his head upon the table.</p> + +<p>Tongs, who had lost nearly all the powers of action, though +<span class="pagenum">[429]<a name="page429" id="page429"></a></span> +retaining not a few of his parts of speech, now came in fortunately +to the aid of the rather-discomfited pedler. Pouring forth a volley of +oaths, in which his more temperate brother-in-law was denounced as a +mean-spirited critter, who couldn't drink with his friend or fight with +his enemy, he made an ineffectual effort to grapple furiously with the +offender, while he more effectually arrested his endeavor to waken up +his son. It is well, perhaps, that his animal man lacked something of +its accustomed efficiency, and resolutely refused all co-operation with +his mood; or, it is more than probable, such was his wrath, that his +more staid brother-in-law would have been subjected to some few personal +tests of blow and buffet. The proceedings throughout suggested to the +mind of the pedler a mode of executing his design, by proposing a bumper +all round, with the view of healing the breach between the parties, and +as a final draught preparatory to breaking up.</p> + +<p>A suggestion so reasonable could not well be resisted; and, with the +best disposition in the world toward sobriety, Brooks was persuaded to +assent to the measure. Unhappily, however, for the pedler, the measure +was so grateful to Tongs, that, before the former could officiate, the +latter, with a desperate effort, reached forward, and, possessing +himself of his own glass, he thrust another, which happened to be the +only undrugged one, and which Bunce had filled for himself, into the +grasp of the jailer. The glass designed for Brooks was now in the +pedler's own hands, and no time was permitted him for reflection. With a +doubt as to whether he had not got hold of the posset meant for his +neighbor, Bunce was yet unable to avoid the difficulty; and, in a +moment, in good faith, the contents of the several glasses were fairly +emptied by their holders. There was a pause of considerable duration; +the several parties sank back quietly into their seats; and, supposing +from appearances that the effect of the drug had been complete, the +pedler, though feeling excessively stupid and strange, had yet +recollection enough to give the signal to his comrade. A moment only +elapsed, when Munro entered the apartment, seemingly unperceived by all +but the individual who had called him; and, as an air of considerable +vacancy and repose overspread all the company he naturally enough +concluded the potion had taken <span class="pagenum">[430]<a name="page430" +id="page430"></a></span>due hold of the senses of the one +whom it was his chief object to overcome. Without hesitation, therefore, +and certainly asking no leave, he thrust one hand into the bosom of the +worthy jailer, while the other was employed in taking a sure hold of his +collar. To his great surprise, however, he found that his man suffered +from no lethargy, though severely bitten by the drink. Brooks made +fierce resistance; though nothing at such a time, or indeed at any time, +in the hands of one so powerfully built as Munro.</p> + +<p>"Hello! now—who are you, I say? Hands off!—Tongs! Tongs!—Hands +off!—Tongs, I say—"</p> + +<p>But Tongs heard not, or heeded not, any of the rapid exclamations of the +jailer, who continued to struggle. Munro gave a single glance to the +pedler, whose countenance singularly contrasted with the expression +which, in the performance of such a duty, and at such a time, it might +have been supposed proper for it to have worn. There was a look from his +eyes of most vacant and elevated beatitude; a simper sat upon his lips, +which parted ineffectually with the speech that he endeavored to make. A +still lingering consciousness of something to be done, prompted him to +rise, however, and stumble toward the landlord, who, while scuffling +with the jailer, thus addressed him:—</p> + +<p>"Why, Bunce, it's but half done!—you've bungled. See, he's too sober by +half!"</p> + +<p>"Sober? no, no—guess he's drunk—drunk as a gentleman. I say, now—what +must I do?"</p> + +<p>"Do?" muttered the landlord, between his teeth, and pointing to Tongs, +who reeled and raved in his seat, "do as I do!" And, at the word, with a +single blow of his fist, he felled the still refractory jailer with as +much ease as if he had been an infant in his hands. The pedler, only +half conscious, turned nevertheless to the half-sleeping Tongs, and +resolutely drove his fist into his face.</p> + +<p>It was at that moment that the nostrum, having taken its full effect, +deprived him of the proper force which alone could have made the blow +available for the design which he had manfully enough undertaken. The +only result of the effort was to precipitate him, with an impetus not +his own, though deriving <span class="pagenum">[431]<a name="page431" +id="page431"></a></span>much of its effect from his own weight, +upon the person of the enfeebled Tongs: the toper clasped him round with +a corresponding spirit, and they both rolled upon the floor in utter +imbecility, carrying with them the table around which they had been +seated, and tumbling into the general mass of bottles, pipes, and +glasses, the slumbering youth, who, till that moment, lay altogether +ignorant of the catastrophe.</p> + +<p>Munro, in the meanwhile, had possessed himself of the desired keys; and +throwing a sack, with which he had taken care to provide himself, over +the head of the still struggling but rather stupified jailer, he bound +the mouth of it with cords closely around his body, and left him +rolling, with more elasticity and far less comfort than the rest of the +party, around the floor of the apartment.</p> + +<p>He now proceeded to look at the pedler; and seeing his condition, though +much wondering at his falling so readily into his own temptation—never +dreaming of the mistake which he had made—he did not waste time to +rouse him up, as he plainly saw he could get no further service out of +him. A moment's reflection taught him, that, as the condition of Bunce +himself would most probably free him from any suspicion of design, the +affair told as well for his purpose as if the original arrangement had +succeeded. Without more pause, therefore, he left the house, carefully +locking the doors on the outside, so as to delay egress, and hastened +immediately to the release of the prisoner.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[432]<a name="page432" id="page432"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter38" id="chapter38">CHAPTER XXXVIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>FREEDOM—FLIGHT.</h3> + + +<p>The landlord lost no time in freeing the captive. A few minutes sufficed +to find and fit the keys; and, penetrating at once to the cell of Ralph +Colleton, he soon made the youth acquainted with as much of the +circumstances of his escape as might be thought necessary for the +satisfaction of his immediate curiosity. He wondered at the part taken +by Munro in the affair, but hesitated not to accept his assistance. +Though scrupulous, and rigidly so, not to violate the laws, and having a +conscientious regard to all human and social obligations, he saw no +immorality in flying from a sentence, however agreeable to law, in all +respects so greatly at variance with justice. A second intimation was +not wanting to his decision; and, without waiting until the landlord +should unlock the chain which secured him, he was about to dart forward +into the passage, when the restraining check which it gave to his +forward movement warned him of the difficulty.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, the obstruction was small: the master-key, not only of the +cells, but of the several locks to the fetters of the prison, was among +the bunch of which the jailer had been dispossessed; and, when found, it +performed its office. The youth was again free; and a few moments only +had elapsed, after the departure of Munro from the house of the pedler, +when both Ralph and his deliverer were upon the high-road, and bending +their unrestrained course toward the Indian nation.</p> + +<p>"And now, young man," said the landlord, "you are free. I have performed +my promise to one whose desire in this matter jumps full with my own. I +should have been troubled enough had you perished for the death of +Forrester, though, to speak <span class="pagenum">[433]<a name="page433" +id="page433"></a></span>the truth, I should not have risked +myself, as I have done to-night, but for my promise to her."</p> + +<p>"Who?—of whom do you speak? To whom do I owe all this, if it comes not +of your own head?"</p> + +<p>"And you do not conjecture? Have you not a thought on the subject? Was +it likely, think you, that the young woman, who did not fear to go to a +stranger's chamber at midnight, in order to save him from his enemy, +would forget him altogether when a greater danger was before him?"</p> + +<p>"And to Miss Munro again do I owe my life? Noble girl! how shall I +requite—how acknowledge my deep responsibility to her?"</p> + +<p>"You can not! I have not looked on either of you for nothing; and my +observation has taught me all your feelings and hers. You can not reward +her as she deserves to be rewarded—as, indeed, she only can be rewarded +by you, Mr. Colleton. Better, therefore, that you seek to make no +acknowledgments."</p> + +<p>"What mean you? Your words have a signification beyond my comprehension. +I know that I am unable to requite services such as hers, and such an +endeavor I surely should not attempt; but that I feel gratitude for her +interposition may not well be questioned—the deepest gratitude; for in +this deed, with your aid, she relieves me, not merely from death, but +the worse agony of that dreadful form of death. My acknowledgments for +this service are nothing, I am well aware; but these she shall have: and +what else have I to offer, which she would be likely to accept?"</p> + +<p>"There is, indeed, one thing, Mr. Colleton—now that I reflect—which it +may be in your power to do, and which may relieve you of some of the +obligations which you owe to her interposition, here and elsewhere."</p> + +<p>The landlord paused for a moment, and looked hesitatingly in Ralph's +countenance. The youth saw and understood the expression, and replied +readily:—</p> + +<p>"Doubt not, Mr. Munro, that I shall do all things consistent with +propriety, in my power to do, that may take the shape and character of +requital for this service; anything for Miss Munro, for yourself or +others, not incompatible with the character of the gentleman. Speak, +sir: if you can suggest a labor of any <span class="pagenum">[434]<a name="page434" +id="page434"></a></span>description, not under +this head, which would be grateful to yourself or her, fear not to +speak, and rely upon my gratitude to serve you both."</p> + +<p>"I thank you, Mr. Colleton; your frankness relieves me of some heavy +thoughts, and I shall open my mind freely to you on the subject which +now troubles it. I need not tell you what my course of life has been. I +need not tell you what it is now. Bad enough, Mr. Colleton—bad enough, +as you must know by this time. Life, sir, is uncertain with all persons, +but far more uncertain with him whose life is such as mine. I know not +the hour, sir, when I may be knocked on the head. I have no confidence +in the people I go with; I have nothing to hope from the sympathies of +society, or the protection of the laws; and I have now arrived at that +time of life when my own experience is hourly repeating in my ears the +words of scripture: 'The wages of sin is death.' Mine has been a life of +sin, Mr. Colleton, and I must look for its wages. These thoughts have +been troubling me much of late, and I feel them particularly heavy now. +But, don't think, sir, that fear for myself makes up my suffering. I +fear for that poor girl, who has no protector, and may be doomed to the +control of one who would make a hell on earth for all under his +influence. He has made a hell of it for me."</p> + +<p>"Who is he? whom do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"You should know him well enough by this time, for he has sought your +life often enough already—who should I mean, if not Guy Rivers?"</p> + +<p>"And how is she at the mercy of this wretch?"</p> + +<p>The landlord continued as if he had not heard the inquiry:</p> + +<p>"Well, as I say, I know not how long I shall be able to take care of and +provide for that poor girl, whose wish has prompted me this night to +what I have undertaken. She was my brother's child, Mr. Colleton, and a +noble creature she is. If I live, sir, she will have to become the wife +of Rivers; and, though I love her as my own—as I have never loved my +own—yet she must abide the sacrifice from which, <i>while I live</i>, +there is no escape. But something tells me, sir, I have not long to +live. I have a notion which makes me gloomy, and which has troubled me +ever since you have been in prison. One dream comes to +<span class="pagenum">[435]<a name="page435" id="page435"></a></span>me every +night—whenever I sleep—and I wake, all over perspiration, and with a +terror I'm ashamed of. In this dream I see my brother always, and always +with the same expression. He looks at me long and mournfully, and his +finger is uplifted, as if in warning. I hear no word from his lips, but +they are in motion as if he spoke, and then he walks slowly away. Thus, +for several nights, has my mind been haunted, and I'm sure it is not for +nothing. It warns me that the time is not very far distant when I shall +receive the wages of a life like mine—the wages of sin—the death, +perhaps—who knows?—the death of the felon!"</p> + +<p>"These are fearful fancies, indeed, Mr. Munro; and, whether we think on +them or not, will have their influence over the strongest-minded of us +all: but the thoughts which they occasion to your mind, while they must +be painful enough, may be the most useful, if they awaken regret of the +past, and incite to amendment in the future. Without regarding them as +the presentiments of death, or of any fearful change, I look upon them +only as the result of your own calm reflections upon the unprofitable +nature of vice; its extreme unproductiveness in the end, however +enticing in the beginning; and the painful privations of human sympathy +and society, which are the inevitable consequences of its indulgence. +These fancies are the sleepless thoughts, the fruit of an active memory, +which, at such a time, unrestrained by the waking judgment, mingles up +the counsels and the warnings of your brother and the past, with all the +images and circumstances of the present time. But—go on with your +suggestion. Let me do what I can for the good of those in whom you are +interested."</p> + +<p>"You are right: whatever may be my apprehensions, life is uncertain +enough, and needs no dreams to make it more so. Still, I can not rid +myself of this impression, which sticks to me like a shadow. Night after +night I have seen him—just as I saw him a year before he died. But his +looks were full of meaning; and when his lips opened, though I heard not +a word, they seemed to me to say, 'The hour is at hand!' I am sure they +spoke the truth, and I must prepare for it. <i>If I live</i>, Mr. +Colleton, Lucy must marry Rivers: there's no hope for her escape. If I +die, there's no reason for the marriage, for she can +<span class="pagenum">[436]<a name="page436" id="page436"></a></span>then bid +him defiance. She is willing to marry him now merely on my account; for, +to say in words, what you no doubt understand, <i>I</i> am at his mercy. +If I perish before the marriage take place, it will not take place; and +she will then need a protector—"</p> + +<p>"Say no more," exclaimed the youth, as the landlord paused for an +instant—"say no more. It will be as little as I can say, when I assure +you, that all that my family can do for her happiness—all that I can +do—shall be done. Be at ease on this matter, and believe me that I +promise you nothing which my heart would not strenuously insist upon my +performing. She shall be a sister to me."</p> + +<p>As he spoke, the landlord warmly pressed his hand, leaning forward from +his saddle as he did so, but without a single accompanying word. The +dialogue was continued, at intervals, in a desultory form, and without +sustaining, for any length of time, any single topic. Munro seemed heavy +with gloomy thoughts; and the sky, now becoming lightened with the +glories of the ascending moon, seemed to have no manner of influence +over his sullen temperament. Not so with the youth. He grew elastic and +buoyant as they proceeded; and his spirit rose, bright and gentle, as if +in accordance with the pure lights which now disposed themselves, like +an atmosphere of silver, throughout the forest. The thin clouds, +floating away from the parent-orb, and no longer obscuring her progress, +became tributaries, and were clothed in their most dazzling +draperies—clustering around her pathway, and contributing not a little +to the loveliness of that serene star from which they received so much. +But the contemplations of the youth were not long permitted to run on in +the gladness of his newly-found liberty. On a sudden, the action of his +companion became animated: he drew up his steed for an instant, then +applying the rowel, exclaimed in a deep but suppressed tone—</p> + +<p>"We are pursued—ride, now—for your life, Mr. Colleton; it is three +miles to the river, and our horses will serve us well. They are +chosen—ply the spur, and follow close after me."</p> + +<p>Let us return to the village. The situation of the jailer, Brooks, and +of his companions, as the landlord left them, will be readily remembered +by the reader. It was not until the <span class="pagenum">[437]<a name="page437" +id="page437"></a></span>fugitives were fairly on the +road, that the former, who had been pretty well stunned by the severe +blow given him by Munro, recovered from his stupor; and he then laboured +under the difficulty of freeing himself from the bag about his head and +shoulders, and his incarceration in the dwelling of the pedler.</p> + +<p>The blow had come nigh to sobering him, and his efforts, accordingly, +were not without success. He looked round in astonishment upon the +condition of all things around him, ignorant of the individual who had +wrested from him his charge, besides subjecting his scull to the heavy +test which it had been so little able to resist or he to repel; and, +almost ready to believe, from the equally prostrate condition of the +pedler and his brother, that, in reality, the assailant by which he +himself was overthrown was no other than the potent bottle-god of his +brother's familiar worship.</p> + +<p>Such certainly would have been his impression but for the sack in which +he had been enveloped, and the absence of his keys. The blow, which he +had not ceased to feel, might have been got by a drunken man in a +thousand ways, and was no argument to show the presence of an enemy; but +the sack, and the missing keys—they brought instant conviction, and a +rapidly increasing sobriety, which, as it duly increased his capacity +for reflection, was only so much more unpleasant than his drunkenness.</p> + +<p>But no time was to be lost, and the first movement—having essayed, +though ineffectually, to kick his stupid host and snoring brother-in-law +into similar consciousness with himself—was to rush headlong to the +jail, where he soon realized all the apprehensions which assailed him +when discovering the loss of his keys. The prisoner was gone, and the +riotous search which he soon commenced about the village collected a +crowd whose clamors, not less than his own, had occasioned the uproar, +which concluded the conference between Miss Colleton and Guy Rivers, as +narrated in a previous chapter.</p> + +<p>The mob, approaching the residence of Colonel Colleton, as a place which +might probably have been resorted to by the fugitive, brought the noise +more imperiously to the ears of Rivers, and compelled his departure. He +sallied forth, and in a little while ascertained the cause of the +disorder. By this <span class="pagenum">[438]<a name="page438" id="page438"></a></span> +time the dwelling of Colonel Colleton had +undergone the closest scrutiny. It was evident to the crowd, that, so +far from harboring the youth, they were not conscious of the escape; but +of this Rivers was not so certain. He was satisfied in his own mind that +the stern refusal of Edith to accept his overtures for the rescue, arose +only from the belief that they could do without him. More than ever +irritated by this idea, the outlaw was bold enough, relying upon his +disguise, to come forward, and while all was indecisive in the +multitude, to lay plans for a pursuit. He did not scruple to instruct +the jailer as to what course should be taken for the recovery of the +fugitive; and by his cool, strong sense and confidence of expression, he +infused new hope into that much-bewildered person. Nobody knew who he +was, but as the village was full of strangers, who had never been seen +there before, this fact occasioned neither surprise nor inquiry.</p> + +<p>His advice was taken, and a couple of the Georgia guard, who were on +station in the village, now making their appearance, he suggested the +course which they should pursue, and in few words gave the reasons which +induced the choice. Familiar himself with all the various routes of the +surrounding country, he did not doubt that the fugitive, under whatever +guidance, for as yet he knew nothing of Munro's agency in the business, +would take the most direct course to the Indian nation.</p> + +<p>All this was done, on his part, with an excited spirit, the result of +that malignant mood which now began to apprehend the chance of being +deprived of all its victims. Had this not been the case—had he not been +present—the probability is, that, in the variety of counsel, there +would have been a far greater delay in the pursuit; but such must always +be the influence of a strong and leading mind in a time of trial and +popular excitement. Such a mind concentrates and makes effective the +power which otherwise would be wasted in air. His superiority of +character was immediately manifest—his suggestions were adopted without +dissent; and, in a few moments the two troopers, accompanied by the +jailer, were in pursuit upon the very road taken by the fugitives.</p> + +<p>Rivers, in the meanwhile, though excessively anxious about +<span class="pagenum">[439]<a name="page439" id="page439"></a></span>the +result of the pursuit, was yet too sensible of his own risk to remain +much longer in the village. Annoyed not a little by the apprehended loss +of that revenge which he had described as so delicious in contemplation +to his mind, he could not venture to linger where he was, at a time of +such general excitement and activity. With a prudent caution, therefore, +more the result of an obvious necessity than of any accustomed habit of +his life, he withdrew himself as soon as possible from the crowd, at the +moment when Pippin—who never lost a good opportunity—had mounted upon +a stump in order to address them. Breaking away just as the lawyer was +swelling with some old truism, and perhaps no truth, about the rights of +man and so forth, he mounted his horse, which he had concealed in the +neighborhood, and rode off to the solitude and the shelter of his den.</p> + +<p>There was one thing that troubled his mind along with its other +troubles, and that was to find out who were the active parties in the +escape of Colleton. In all this time, he had not for a moment suspected +Munro of connection with the affair—he had too much overrated his own +influence with the landlord to permit of a thought in his mind +detrimental to his conscious superiority. He had no clue, the guidance +of which might bring him to the trail; for the jailer, conscious of his +own irregularity, was cautious enough in suppressing everything like a +detail of the particular circumstances attending the escape; contenting +himself, simply, with representing himself as having been knocked down +by some persons unknown, and rifled of the keys while lying insensible.</p> + +<p>Rivers could only think of the pedler, and yet, such was his habitual +contempt for that person, that he dismissed the thought the moment it +came into his mind. Troubled thus in spirit, and filled with a thousand +conflicting notions, he had almost reached the rocks, when he was +surprised to perceive, on a sudden, close at his elbow, the dwarfish +figure of our old friend Chub Williams. Without exhibiting the slightest +show of apprehension, the urchin resolutely continued his course along +with the outlaw, unmoved by his presence, and with a degree of cavalier +indifference which he had never ventured to manifest to that dangerous +personage before.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[440]<a name="page440" id="page440"></a></span> +"Why, how now, Chub—do you not see me?" was the first inquiry +of Rivers.</p> + +<p>"Can the owl see?—Chub is an owl—he can't see in the moonlight."</p> + +<p>"Well, but, Chub—why do you call yourself an owl? You don't want to see +me, boy, do you?"</p> + +<p>"Chub wants to see nobody but his mother—there's Miss Lucy now—why +don't you let me see her? she talks jest like Chub's mother."</p> + +<p>"Why, you dog, didn't you help to steal her away? Have you forgotten how +you pulled away the stones? I should have you whipped for it, sir—do +you know that I can whip—don't the hickories grow here?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, so Chub's mother said—but you can't whip Chub. Chub laughs—he +laughs at all your whips. <i>That</i> for your hickories. Ha! ha! ha! +Chub don't mind the hickories—you can't catch Chub, to whip him with +your hickories. Try now, if you can. Try—" and as he spoke he darted +along with a rickety, waddling motion, half earnest in his flight, yet +seemingly, partly with the desire to provoke pursuit. Something +irritated with what was so unusual in the habit of the boy, and what he +conceived only so much impertinence, the outlaw turned the horse's head +down the hill after him, but, as he soon perceived, without any chance +of overtaking him in so broken a region. The urchin all the while, as if +encouraged by the evident hopelessness of the chase on the part of the +pursuer, screeched out volley after volley of defiance and +laughter—breaking out at intervals into speeches which he thought most +like to annoy and irritate.</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha, ha! Chub don't mind your hickories—Chub's fingers are long—he +will pull away all the stones of your house, and then you will have to +live in the tree-top."</p> + +<p>But on a sudden his tune was changed, as Rivers, half-irritated by the +pertinacity of the dwarf, pull out a pistol, and directed it at his +head. In a moment, the old influence was predominant, and in undisguised +terror he cried out—</p> + +<p>"Now don't—don't, Mr. Guy—don't you shoot Chub—Chub won't laugh +again—he won't pull away the stones—he won't."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[441]<a name="page441" id="page441"></a></span> +The outlaw now laughed himself at the terror which he had +inspired, and beckoning the boy near him, he proceeded, if possible, to +persuade him into a feeling of amity. There was a strange temper in him +with reference to this outcast. His deformity—his desolate +condition—his deficient intellect, inspired, in the breast of the +fierce man, a feeling of sympathy, which he had not entertained for the +whole world of humanity beside.</p> + +<p>Such is the contradictory character of the misled and the erring spirit. +Warped to enjoy crime—to love the deformities of all moral things—to +seek after and to surrender itself up to all manner of perversions, yet +now and then, in the long tissue, returning, for some moments, to the +original temper of that first nature not yet utterly departed; and few +and feeble though the fibres be which still bind the heart to her +worship, still strong enough at times to remind it of the <i>true</i>, +however it may be insufficient to restrain it in its wanderings after +the <i>false</i>.</p> + +<p>But the language and effort of the outlaw, though singularly kind, +failed to have any of the desired effect upon the dwarf. With an +unhesitating refusal to enter the outlaw's dwelling-place in the rocks, +he bounded away into a hollow of the hills, and in a moment was out of +sight of his companion. Fatigued with his recent exertions, and somewhat +more sullen than usual, Rivers entered the gloomy abode, into which it +is not our present design to follow him.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[442]<a name="page442" id="page442"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter39" id="chapter39">CHAPTER XXXIX.</a></h2> + +<h3>PURSUIT—DEATH.</h3> + + +<p>The fugitives, meanwhile, pursued their way with the speed of men +conscious that life and death hung upon their progress. There needed no +exhortations from his companion to Ralph Colleton. More than life, with +him, depended upon his speed. The shame of such a death as that to which +he had been destined was for ever before his eyes, and with a heart +nerved to its utmost by a reference to the awful alternative of flight, +he grew reckless in the audacity with which he drove his horse forward +in defiance of all obstacle and over every impediment. Nor were the +present apprehensions of Munro much less than those of his companion. To +be overtaken, as the participant of the flight of one whose life was +forfeit, would necessarily invite such an examination of himself as must +result in the development of his true character, and such a discovery +must only terminate in his conviction and sentence to the same doom. His +previously-uttered presentiment grew more than ever strong with the +growing consciousness of his danger; and with an animation, the fruit of +an anxiety little short of absolute fear, he stimulated the progress of +Colleton, while himself driving the rowel ruthlessly into the smoking +sides of the animal he bestrode.</p> + +<p>"On, sir—on, Mr. Colleton—this is no moment for graceful attitude. +Bend forward—free rein—rashing spur. We ride for life—for life. They +must not take us alive—remember <i>that</i>. Let them shoot—strike, if +they please—but they must put no hands on us as living men. If we must +die, why—any death but a dog's. Are you prepared for such a finish to +your ride?"</p> + +<p>"I am—but I trust it has not come to that. How much have we yet to the +river?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[443]<a name="page443" id="page443"></a></span> +"Two miles at the least, and a tough road. They gain upon us—do +you not hear them—we are slow—very slow. These horses—on, Syphax, +dull devil—on—on!"</p> + +<p>And at every incoherent and unconnected syllable, the landlord struck +his spurs into his animal, and incited the youth to do the same.</p> + +<p>"There is an old mill upon the branch to our left, where for a few hours +we might lie in secret, but daylight would find us out. Shall we try a +birth there, or push on for the river?" inquired Munro.</p> + +<p>"Push on, by all means—let us stop nowhere—we shall be safe if we make +the nation," was the reply.</p> + +<p>"Ay, safe enough but that's the rub. If we could stretch a mile or two +between us, so as to cross before they heave in sight, I could take you +to a place where the whole United States would never find us out—but +they gain on us—I hear them every moment more and more near. The sounds +are very clear to-night—a sign of rain, perhaps to-morrow. On, sir! +Push! The pursuers must hear us, as we hear them."</p> + +<p>"But I hear them not—I hear no sounds but our own—" replied the youth.</p> + +<p>"Ah, that's because you have not the ears of an outlaw. There's a +necessity for using our ears, one of the first that we acquire, and I +can hear sounds farther, I believe, than any man I ever met, unless it +be Guy Rivers. He has the ears of the devil, when his blood's up. Then +he hears further than I can, though I'm not much behind him even then. +Hark! they are now winding the hill not more than half a mile off, and +we hear nothing of them now until they get round—the hill throws the +echo to the rear, as it is more abrupt on that side than on this. At +this time, if they heard us before, they can not hear us. We could now +make the old mill with some hope of their losing our track, as we strike +into a blind path to do so. What say you, Master Colleton—shall we turn +aside or go forward?"</p> + +<p>"Forward, I say. If we are to suffer, I would suffer on the high road, in +full motion, and not be caught in a crevice like a lurking thief. Better +be shot down—far better—I think with you—than risk recapture."</p> + +<p>"Well, it's the right spirit you have, and we may beat +<span class="pagenum">[444]<a name="page444" id="page444"></a></span>them yet! +We cease again to hear them. They are driving through the close grove +where the trees hang so much over. God—it is but a few moments since we +went through it ourselves—they gain on us—but the river is not +far—speed on—bend forward, and use the spur—a few minutes more close +pushing, and the river is in sight. Kill the beasts—no matter—but make +the river."</p> + +<p>"How do we cross?" inquired the youth, hurriedly, though with a +confidence something increased by the manner of his companion.</p> + +<p>"Drive in—drive in—there are two fords, each within twenty yards of +the other, and the river is not high. You take the path and ford to the +right, as you come in sight of the water, and I'll keep the left. Your +horse swims well—so don't mind the risk; and if there's any difficulty, +leave him, and take to the water yourself. The side I give you is the +easiest; though it don't matter which side I take. I've gone through +worse chances than this, and, if we hold on for a few moments, we are +safe. The next turn, and we are on the banks."</p> + +<p>"The river—the river," exclaimed the youth, involuntarily, as the broad +and quiet stream wound before his eyes, glittering like a polished +mirror in the moonlight.</p> + +<p>"Ay, there it is—now to the right—to the right! Look not behind you. +Let them shoot—let them shoot! but lose not an instant to look. Plunge +forward and drive in. They are close upon us, and the flat is on the +other side. They can't pursue, unless they do as we, and they have no +such reason for so desperate a course. It is swimming and full of snags! +They will stop—they will not follow. In—in—not a moment is to be +lost—" and speaking, as they pursued their several ways, he to the +left, and Ralph Colleton to the right ford, the obedient steeds plunged +forward under the application of the rowel, and were fairly in the bosom +of the stream, as the pursuing party rode headlong up the bank.</p> + +<p>Struggling onward, in the very centre of the stream, with the steed, +which, to do him all manner of justice, swam nobly, Ralph Colleton could +not resist the temptation to look round upon his pursuers. Writhing his +body in the saddle, therefore, a single glance was sufficient and, in +the full glare of the moonlight <span class="pagenum">[445]<a name="page445" +id="page445"></a></span>unimpeded by any interposing +foliage, the prospect before his eyes was imposing and terrible enough. +The pursuers were four in number—the jailer, two of the Georgia guard, +and another person unknown to him.</p> + +<p>As Munro had predicted, they did not venture to plunge in as the +fugitives had done—they had no such fearful motive for the risk; and +the few moments which they consumed in deliberation as to what they +should do, contributed not a little to the successful experiment of the +swimmers.</p> + +<p>But the youth at length caught a fearful signal of preparation; his ear +noted the sharp click of the lock, as the rifle was referred to in the +final resort; and his ready sense conceived but of one, and the only +mode of evading the danger so immediately at hand. Too conspicuous in +his present situation to hope for escape, short of a miracle, so long as +he remained upon the back of the swimming horse, he relaxed his hold, +carefully drew his feet from the stirrups, resigned his seat, and only a +second before the discharge of the rifle, was deeply buried in the bosom +of the Chestatee.</p> + +<p>The steed received the bullet in his head, plunged forward madly, to the +no small danger of Ralph, who had now got a little before him, but in a +few moments lay supine upon the stream, and was borne down by its +current. The youth, practised in such exercises, pressed forward under +the surface for a sufficient time to enable him to avoid the present +glance of the enemy, and at length, in safety, rounding a jutting point +of the shore, which effectually concealed him from their eyes, he gained +the dry land, at the very moment in which Munro, with more success, was +clambering, still mounted, up the steep sides of a neighboring and +slippery bank.</p> + +<p>Familiar with such scenes, the landlord had duly estimated the doubtful +chances of his life in swimming the river directly in sight of the +pursuers. He had, therefore, taken the precaution to oblique +considerably to the left from the direct course, and did not, in +consequence, appear in sight, owing to the sinuous windings of the +stream, until he had actually gained the shore.</p> + +<p>The youth beheld him at this moment, and shouted aloud his own situation +and safety. In a voice indicative of restored confidence in himself, no +less than in his fate, the landlord, by a +<span class="pagenum">[446]<a name="page446" id="page446"></a></span>similar shout, +recognised him, and was bending forward to the spot where he stood, when +the sharp and joint report of three rifles from the opposite banks, +attested the discovery of his person; and, in the same instant, the +rider tottered forward in his saddle, his grasp was relaxed upon the +rein, and, without a word, he toppled from his seat, and was borne for a +few paces by his horse, dragged forward by one of his feet, which had +not been released from the stirrup.</p> + +<p>He fell, at length, and the youth came up with him. He heard the groans +of the wounded man, and, though exposing himself to the same chance, he +could not determine upon flight. He might possibly have saved himself by +taking the now freed animal which the, landlord had ridden, and at once +burying himself in the nation. But the noble weakness of pity determined +him otherwise; and, without scruple or fear, he resolutely advanced to +the spot whore Munro lay, though full in the sight of the pursuers, and +prepared to render him what assistance he could. One of the troopers, in +the meantime, had swum the river; and, freeing the flat from its chains, +had directed it across the stream for the passage of his companions. It +was not long before they had surrounded the fugitives, and Ralph +Colleton was again a prisoner, and once more made conscious of the +dreadful doom from which he had, at one moment, almost conceived himself +to have escaped.</p> + +<p>Munro had been shockingly wounded. One ball had pierced his thigh, +inflicting a severe, though probably not a fatal wound. Another, and +this had been enough, had penetrated directly behind the eyes, keeping +its course so truly across, as to tear and turn the bloody orbs +completely out upon the cheek beneath. The first words of the dying man +were—</p> + +<p>"Is the moon gone down—lights—bring lights!"</p> + +<p>"No, Munro; the moon is still shining without a cloud, and as brightly +as if it were day" was the reply of Ralph.</p> + +<p>"Who speaks—speak again, that I may know how to believe him."</p> + +<p>"It is I, Munro—I, Ralph Colleton."</p> + +<p>"Then it is true—and I am a dead man. It is all over, and he came not +to me for nothing. Yet, can I have no lights—no lights?—Ah!" and the +half-reluctant reason grew more<span class="pagenum">[447]<a name="page447" +id="page447"></a></span> terribly conscious of his +situation, as he thrust his fingers into the bleeding sockets from which +the fine and delicate conductor of light had been so suddenly driven. He +howled aloud for several moments in his agony—in the first agony which +came with that consciousness—but, recovering, at length, he spoke with +something of calm and coherence.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Colleton, what I said was true. I knew it would be so. I had +warning enough to prepare, and I did try, but it's come over soon and +nothing is done. I have my wages, and the text spoke nothing but the +truth. I can not stand this pain long—it is too much—and—"</p> + +<p>The pause in his speech, from extreme agony, was filled up by a shriek +that rung fearfully amid the silence of such a scene, but it lasted not +long. The mind of the landlord was not enfeebled by his weakness, even +at such a moment. He recovered and proceeded:—</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. Colleton, I am a dead man. I have my wages—but my death is +your life! Let me tell the story—and save you, and save Lucy—and +thus—(oh, could I believe it for an instant)—save myself! But, no +matter—we must talk of other things. Is that Brooks—is that Brooks +beside me?"</p> + +<p>"No, it is I—Colleton."</p> + +<p>"I know—I know," impatiently—"who else?"</p> + +<p>"Mr. Brooks, the jailer, is here—Ensign Martin and Brincle, of the +Georgia guard," was the reply of the jailer.</p> + +<p>"Enough, then, for your safety, Mr. Colleton. They can prove it all, and +then remember Lucy—poor Lucy! You will be in time—save her from Guy +Rivers—Guy Rivers—the wretch—not Guy Rivers—no—there's a +secret—there's a secret for you, my men, shall bring you a handsome +reward. Stoop—stoop, you three—where are you?—stoop, and hear what I +have to say! It is my dying word!-and I swear it by all things, all +powers, all terrors, that can make an oath solemn with a wretch whose +life is a long crime! Stoop—hear me—heed all—lose not a word—not a +word—not a word! Where are you?"</p> + +<p>"We are here, beside you—we hear all that you say. Go on!"</p> + +<p>"Guy Rivers is not his name—he is not Guy Rivers—hear +<span class="pagenum">[448]<a name="page448" id="page448"></a></span>now—Guy +Rivers is the outlaw for whom the governor's proclamation gives a high +reward—a thousand dollars—the man who murdered Judge Jessup. Edward +Creighton, of Gwinnett courthouse—he is the murderer of Jessup—he is +the murderer of Forrester, for whose death the life of Mr. Colleton here +is forfeit! I saw him kill them both!—I saw more than that, but that is +enough to save the innocent man and punish the guilty! Take down all +that I have said. I, too, am guilty! would make amends, but it is almost +too late—the night is very dark, and the earth swings about like a +cradle. Ah!—have you taken down on paper what I said? I will tell you +nothing more till all is written—write it down—on-paper—every +word—write that before I say any more!"</p> + +<p>They complied with his requisition. One of the troopers, on a sheet of +paper furnished by the jailer, and placed upon the saddle of his horse, +standing by in the pale light of the moon, recorded word after word, +with scrupulous exactness, of the dying man's confession. He proceeded +duly to the narration of every particular of all past occurrences, as we +ourselves have already detailed them to the reader, together with many +more, unnecessary to our narrative, of which we had heretofore no +cognizance. When this was done, the landlord required it to be read, +commenting, during its perusal, and dwelling, with more circumstantial +minuteness, upon many of its parts.</p> + +<p>"That will do—that will do! Now swear me, Brooks!—you are in the +commission—lift my hand and swear me, so that nothing be wanting to the +truth! What if there is no bible?" he exclaimed, suddenly, as some one +of the individuals present suggested a difficulty on this subject.</p> + +<p>"What!—because there is no bible, shall there be no truth? I +swear—though I have had no communion with God—I swear to the truth—by +him! Write down my oath—he is present—they say he is always present! I +believe it now—I only wish I had always believed it! I swear by him—he +will not falsify the truth!—write down my oath, while I lift my hand to +him! Would it were a prayer—but I can not pray—I am more used to oaths +than prayers, and I can not pray! Is it written—is it written? Look, +Mr. Colleton, look—you know the law. If you are satisfied, I am. Will +it do?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[449]<a name="page449" id="page449"></a></span> +Colleton replied quickly in the affirmative, and the dying man +went on:—</p> + +<p>"Remember Lucy—the poor Lucy! You will take care of her. Say no harsh +words in her ears—but, why should I ask this of you, whom—Ah!—it goes +round—round—round—swimming—swimming. Very dark—very dark night, and +the trees dance—Lucy—"</p> + +<p>The voice sunk into a faint whisper whose sounds were unsyllabled—an +occasional murmur escaped them once after, in which the name of his +niece was again heard; exhibiting, at the last, the affection, however +latent, which he entertained in reality for the orphan trust of his +brother. In a few moments, and the form stiffened before them in all the +rigid sullenness of death.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[450]<a name="page450" id="page450"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter40" id="chapter40">CHAPTER XL.</a></h2> + +<h3>WOLF'S NECK—CAPTURE.</h3> + + +<p>The cupidity of his captors had been considerably stimulated by the +dying words of Munro. They were all of them familiar with the atrocious +murder which, putting a price upon his head, had driven Creighton, +then a distinguished member of the bar in one of the more civilized +portions of the state, from the pale and consideration of society; +and their anxieties were now entirely addressed to the new object +which the recital they had just heard had suggested to them. They +had gathered from the narrative of the dying man some idea of the +place in which they would most probably find the outlaw; and, though +without a guide to the spot, and altogether ignorant of its localities, +they determined—without reference to others, who might only subtract +from their own share of the promised reward, without contributing much, +if any, aid, which they might not easily dispense with—at once to attempt +his capture. This was the joint understanding of the whole party, Ralph +Colleton excepted.</p> + +<p>In substance, the youth was now free. The evidence furnished by Munro +only needed the recognition of the proper authorities to make him so; +yet, until this had been effected, he remained in a sort of understood +restraint, but without any actual limitations. Pledging himself that +they should suffer nothing from the indulgence given him, he mounted the +horse of Munro, whose body was cared for, and took his course back to +the village; while, following the directions given them, the guard and +jailer pursued their way to the Wolf's Neck in their search after Guy +Rivers.</p> + +<p>The outlaw had been deserted by nearly all his followers. The note of +preparation and pursuit, sounded by the state authorities, had inspired +the depredators with a degree of terror, <span class="pagenum">[451]<a name="page451" +id="page451"></a></span>which the near +approximation of the guard, in strong numbers, to their most secluded +places, had not a little tended to increase; and accordingly, at the +period of which we now speak, the outlaw, deserted by all but one or two +of the most daring of his followers—who were, however, careful enough +of themselves to keep in no one place long, and cautiously to avoid +their accustomed haunts—remained in his rock, in a state of gloomy +despondency, not usually his characteristic. Had he been less stubborn, +less ready to defy all chances and all persons, it is not improbable +that Rivers would have taken counsel by their flight, and removed +himself, for a time at least, from the scene of danger. But his native +obstinacy, and that madness of heart which, as we are told, seizes first +upon him whom God seeks to destroy, determined him, against the judgment +of others, and in part against his own, to remain where he was; probably +in the fallacious hope that the storm would pass over, as on so many +previous occasions it had already done, and leave him again free to his +old practices in the same region. A feeling of pride, which made him +unwilling to take a suggestion of fear and flight from the course of +others, had some share in this decision; and, if we add the vague +hungering of his heart toward the lovely Edith, and possibly the +influence of other pledges, and the imposing consideration of other +duties, we shall not be greatly at a loss in understanding the +injudicious indifference to the threatening dangers which appears to +have distinguished the conduct of the otherwise politic and circumspect +ruffian.</p> + +<p>That night, after his return from the village, and the brief dialogue +with Chub Williams, as we have already narrated it he retired to the +deepest cell of his den, and, throwing himself into a seat, covering his +face with his hands, he gave himself up to a meditation as true in its +philosophy as it was humiliating throughout in its application to +himself. Dillon, his lieutenant—if such a title may be permitted in +such a place, and for such a person—came to him shortly after his +arrival, and in brief terms, with a blunt readiness—which, coming +directly to the point, did not offend the person to whom it was +addressed—demanded to know what he meant to do with himself.</p> + +<p>"We can't stay here any longer," said he; "the troops are gathering all +round us. The country's alive with them, and in <span class="pagenum">[452]<a +name="page452" id="page452"></a></span>a few days we +shouldn't be able to stir from the hollow of a tree without popping into +the gripe of some of our hunters. In the Wolf's Neck they will surely +seek us; for, though a very fine place for us while the country's thin, +yet even its old owners, the wolves, would fly from it when the horn of +the hunter rings through the wood. It won't be very long before they +pierce to the very 'nation,' and then we should have but small chance of +a long grace. Jack Ketch would make mighty small work of our necks, in +his hurry to go to dinner."</p> + +<p>"And what of all this—what is all this to me?" was the strange and +rather phlegmatic response of the outlaw, who did not seem to take in +the full meaning of his officer's speech, and whose mind, indeed, was at +that moment wandering to far other considerations. Dillon seemed not a +little surprised by this reply, and looked inquiringly into the face of +the speaker, doubting for a moment his accustomed sanity. The stern look +which his glance encountered directed its expression elsewhere, and, +after a moment's pause, he replied—</p> + +<p>"Why, captain, you can't have thought of what I've been saying, or you +wouldn't speak as you do. I think it's a great deal to both you and me, +what I've been telling you; and the sooner you come to think so too, the +better. It's only yesterday afternoon that I narrowly missed being seen +at the forks by two of the guard, well mounted, and with rifles. I had +but the crook of the fork in my favor, and the hollow of the creek at +the old ford where it's been washed away. They're all round us, and I +don't think we're safe here another day. Indeed, I only come to see if +you wouldn't be off with me, at once, into the 'nation.'"</p> + +<p>"You are considerate, but must go alone. I have no apprehensions where I +am, and shall not stir for the present. For yourself, you must determine +as you think proper. I have no further hold on your service. I release +you from the oath. Make the best of your way into the 'nation'—ay, go +yet farther; and, hear me, Dillon, go where you are unknown—go where +you can enter society; seek for the fireside, where you can have those +who, in the dark hour, will have no wish to desert you. I have no claim +now upon you, and the sooner you 'take the range' the better."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[453]<a name="page453" id="page453"></a></span> +"And why not go along with me, captain? I hate to go alone, and +hate to leave you where you are. I shan't think you out of danger while +you stay here, and don't see any reason for you to do so."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not, Dillon; but there is reason, or I should not stay. We may +not go together, even if I were to fly—our paths lie asunder. They may +never more be one. Go you, therefore, and heed me not; and think of me +no more. Make yourself a home in the Mississippi, or on the Red river, +and get yourself a fireside and family of your own. These are the things +that will keep your heart warm within you, cheering you in hours that +are dark, like this."</p> + +<p>"And why, captain," replied the lieutenant, much affected—"why should +you not take the course which you advise for me? Why not, in the +Arkansas, make yourself a home, and with a wife—"</p> + +<p>"Silence, sir!—not a word of that! Why come you to chafe me here in my +den? Am I to be haunted for ever with such as you, and with words like +these?" and the brow of the outlaw blackened as he spoke, and his white +teeth knit together, fiercely gnashing for an instant, while the foam +worked its way through the occasional aperture between them. The +ebullition of passion, however, lasted not long, and the outlaw himself, +a moment after, seemed conscious of its injustice.</p> + +<p>"I do you wrong, Dillon; but on this subject I will have no one speak. I +can not be the man you would have me; I have been schooled otherwise. My +mother has taught me a different lesson; her teachings have doomed me, +and these enjoyments are now all beyond my hope."</p> + +<p>"Your mother?" was the response of Dillon, in unaffected astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Ay, man—my mother! Is there anything wonderful in that? She taught me +the love of evil with her milk—she sang it in lullabies over my +cradle—she gave it me in the playthings of my boyhood; her schoolings +have made me the morbid, the fierce criminal, the wilful, vexing spirit, +from whose association all the gentler virtues must always desire to +fly. If, in the doom which may finish my life of doom, I have any one +person to accuse of all, that person is—my mother!"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[454]<a name="page454" id="page454"></a></span> +"Is this possible? Can it be true? It is strange—very strange!"</p> + +<p>"It is not strange; we see it every day—in almost every family. She, +did not <i>tell</i> me to lie, or to swindle, or to stab—no! oh, no! +she would have told me that all these things were bad; but she +<i>taught</i> me to perform them all. She roused my passions, and not my +<i>principles</i>, into activity. She provoked the one, and suppressed +the other. Did my father reprove my improprieties, she petted me, and +denounced him. She crossed his better purposes, and defeated all his +designs, until, at last, she made my passions too strong for my +government, not less than hers; and left me, knowing the true, yet the +victim of the false. Thus it was that, while my intellect, in its calmer +hours, taught me that virtue is the only source of true felicity, my +ungovernable passions set the otherwise sovereign reason at defiance, +and trampled it under foot. Yes, in that last hour of eternal +retribution, if called upon to denounce or to accuse, I can point but to +one as the author of all—the weakly-fond, misjudging, misguiding woman +who gave me birth!</p> + +<p>"Within the last hour I have been thinking over all these things. I have +been thinking how I had been cursed in childhood by one who surely loved +me beyond all other things besides. I can remember how sedulously she +encouraged and prompted my infant passions, uncontrolled by her +authority and reason, and since utterly unrestrainable by my own. How +she stimulated me to artifices, and set me the example herself, by +frequently deceiving my father, and teaching me to disobey and deceive +him! She told me not to lie; and she lied all day to him, on my account, +and to screen me from his anger. She taught me the catechism, to say on +Sunday, while during the week she schooled me in almost every possible +form of ingenuity to violate all its precepts. She bribed me to do my +duty, and hence my duty could only be done under the stimulating promise +of a reward; and, without the reward, I went counter to the duty. She +taught me that God was superior to all, and that he required obedience +to certain laws; yet, as she hourly violated those laws herself in my +behalf, I was taught to regard myself as far superior to him! Had she +not done all this, I had not been here and thus: I had been what now I +dare not think on. <span class="pagenum">[455]<a name="page455" id="page455"></a></span> +It is all her work. The greatest enemy my +life has ever known has been my mother!"</p> + +<p>"This is a horrible thought, captain; yet I can not but think it true."</p> + +<p>"It is true! I have analyzed my own history, and the causes of my +character and fortunes now, and I charge it all upon her. From one +influence I have traced another, and another, until I have the sweeping +amount of twenty years of crime and sorrow, and a life of hate, and +probably a death of ignominy—all owing to the first ten years of my +infant education, where the only teacher that I knew was the woman who +gave me birth!—But this concerns not you. In my calm mood, Dillon, you +have the fruit of my reason: to abide its dictate, I should fly with +you; but I suffer from my mother's teachings even in this. My passions, +my pride, my fierce hope—the creature of a maddening passion—will not +let me fly; and I stay, though I stay alone, with a throat bare for the +knife of the butcher, or the halter of the hangman. I will not fly!"</p> + +<p>"And I will stay with you. I can dare something, too, captain; and you +shall not say, when the worst comes to the worst, that Tom Dillon was +the man to back out. I will not go either, and, whatever is the chance, +you shall not be alone."</p> + +<p>Rivers, for a moment, seemed touched by the devotion, of his follower, +and was silent for a brief interval; but suddenly the expression of his +eye was changed, and he spoke briefly and sternly:—</p> + +<p>"You shall not stay with me, sir! What! am I so low as this, that I may +not be permitted to be alone when I will? Will my subordinates fly in my +face, and presume to disobey my commands? Go, Dillon—have I not said +that you <i>must</i> fly—that I no longer need your services? Why +linger, then, where you are no longer needed? I have that to perform +which requires me to be alone, and I have no further time to spare you. +Go—away!"</p> + +<p>"Do you really speak in earnest, captain?" inquired the lieutenant, +doubtingly, and with a look of much concern.</p> + +<p>"Am I so fond of trifling, that my officer asks me such a question?" was +the stern response.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[456]<a name="page456" id="page456"></a></span> +"Then I am your officer still—you will go with me, or I shall +remain."</p> + +<p>"Neither, Dillon. The time is past for such an arrangement. You are +discharged from my service, and from your oath. The club has no further +existence. Go—be a happy, a better man, in another part of the world. +You have some of the weaknesses of your better nature still in you. You +had no mother to change them into scorn, and strife, and bitterness. +Go—you may be a better man, and have something, therefore, for which to +live. I have not—my heart can know no change. It is no longer under the +guidance of reason. It is quite ungovernable now. There was a time +when—but why prate of this?—it is too late to think of, and only +maddens me the more. Besides, it makes not anything with you, and would +detain you without a purpose. Linger no longer, Dillon—speed to the +west, and, at some future day, perhaps you shall see me when you least +expect, and perhaps least desire it."</p> + +<p>The manner of the outlaw was firm and commanding, and Dillon no longer +had any reason to doubt his desires, and no motive to disobey his +wishes. The parting was brief, though the subordinate was truly +affected. He would have lingered still, but Rivers waved him off with a +farewell, whose emphasis was effectual, and, in a few moments, the +latter sat once more alone.</p> + +<p>His mood was that of one disappointed in all things, and, consequently, +displeased and discontented with all things—querulously so. In addition +to this temper, which was common to him, his spirit, at this time, +labored under a heavy feeling of despondency, and its gloomy sullenness +was perhaps something lighter to himself while Dillon remained with him. +We have seen the manner in which he had hurried that personage off. He +had scarcely been gone, however, when the inconsistent and variable +temper of the outlaw found utterance in the following soliloquy:—</p> + +<p>"Ay, thus it is—they all desert me; and this is human feeling. They all +fly the darkness, and this is human courage. They love themselves only, +or you only while you need no love; and this is human sympathy. I need +all of these, yet I get none; and when I most need, and most desire, and +most <span class="pagenum">[457]<a name="page457" id="page457"></a></span> +seek to obtain, I am the least provided. These are the +fruits which I have sown, however; should I shrink to gather them?</p> + +<p>"Yet, there is one—but one of all—whom no reproach of mine could drive +away, or make indifferent to my fate. But I will see her no more. +Strange madness! The creature, who, of all the world, most loves me, and +is most deserving of my love, I banish from my soul as from my sight. +And this is another fruit of my education—another curse that came with +a mother—this wilful love of the perilous and the passionate—this +scorn of the gentle and the soft—this fondness for the fierce +contradiction—this indifference to the thing easily won—this thirst +after the forbidden. Poor Ellen—so gentle, so resigned, and so fond of +her destroyer; but I will not see her again. I must not; she must not +stand in the way of my anxiety to conquer that pride which had ventured +to hate or to despise me. I shall see Munro, and he shall lose no time +in this matter. Yet, what can he be after—he should have been here +before this; it now wants but little to the morning, and—ah! I have not +slept. Shall I ever sleep again!"</p> + +<p>Thus, striding to and fro in his apartment, the outlaw soliloquized at +intervals. Throwing himself at length upon a rude couch that stood in +the corner, he had disposed himself as it were for slumber, when the +noise, as of a falling rock, attracted his attention, and without +pausing, he cautiously took his way to the entrance, with a view to +ascertain the cause. He was not easily surprised, and the knowledge of +surrounding danger made him doubly observant, and more than ever +watchful.</p> + +<p>Let us now return to the party which had pursued the fugitives, and +which, after the death of the landlord, had, as we have already +narrated, adopting the design suggested by his dying words, immediately +set forth in search of the notorious outlaw, eager for the reward put +upon his head. Having already some general idea of the whereabouts of +the fugitive, and the directions given by Munro having been of the most +specific character, they found little difficulty, after a moderate ride +of some four or five miles, in striking upon the path directly leading +to the Wolf's Neck.</p> + +<p>At this time, fortunately for their object, they were encountered +suddenly by—our old acquaintance, Chub Williams, whom, +<span class="pagenum">[458]<a name="page458" id="page458"></a></span>but +little before, we have seen separating from the individual in whose +pursuit they were now engaged. The deformed quietly rode along with the +party, but without seeming to recognise their existence—singing all the +while a strange woodland melody of the time and region—probably the +production of some village wit:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"Her frock it was a <i>yaller</i>,</div> + <div class="in1">And she was <i>mighty sprigh</i></div> + <div>And she bounced at many a <i>feller</i></div> + <div class="in1">Who came <i>a-fighting shy</i>.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"Her eye was like a <i>sarpent's eye</i>.</div> + <div class="in1">Her cheek was like a flower,</div> + <div>But her tongue was like a pedler's clock,</div> + <div class="in1">'Twas a-striking every hour.</div> +</div> +<br /> +<div class="stanza"> + <div class="quote">"And wasn't she the gal for me,</div> + <div class="in1">And wasn't she, I pray, sir,</div> + <div>And I'll be <i>drot</i>, if you say not,</div> + <div class="in1">We'll fight this very day, sir.</div> + <div class="in1">We'll fight this very day, sir."</div> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Having delivered himself of this choice morsel of song, the half-witted +fellow conceitedly challenged the attention of the group whom he had not +hitherto been disposed to see.</p> + +<p>"'Spose you reckon I don't see you, riding 'longside of me, and saying +nothing, but listening to my song. I'm singing for my own self, and you +oughtn't to listen—I didn't ax you, and I'd like to know what you're +doing so nigh Chub's house."</p> + +<p>"Why, where's your house, Chub?" asked one of the party.</p> + +<p>"You ain't looking for it, is you? 'cause you can't think to find it +a-looking down. I lives in the tree-top when weather's good like +to-night, and when it ain't, I go into the hollow. I've a better house +than Guy Rivers—he don't take the tree at all, no how."</p> + +<p>"And where is his house, Chub?" was the common inquiry of all the party. +The dwarf looked at them for a few moments without speech, then with a +whisper and a gesture significant of caution, replied—</p> + +<p>"If you're looking for Guy, 'tain't so easy to find him if he don't want +to be found, and you must speak softly if you hunt him, whether or no. +He's a dark man, that Guy Rivers—<span class="pagenum">[459]<a name="page459" +id="page459"></a></span>mother always said so—and he +lives a long way under the ground."</p> + +<p>"And can't you show us where, Chub? We will give you money for your +service."</p> + +<p>"Hain't you got 'tatoes? Chub's hungry—hain't eat nothing to-night. Guy +Rivers has plenty to eat, but he cursed Chub's mother."</p> + +<p>"Well, show us where he is, and we'll give you plenty to eat. Plenty of +potatoes and corn," was the promise of the party.</p> + +<p>"And build up Chub's house that the fire burnt? Chub lives in the tree +now. Guy Rivers' man burnt Chub's house, 'cause he said Chub was sassy."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my boy, we'll build up your house, and give you a plenty to go +upon for a year. You shall have potatoes enough for your lifetime, if +you will show us how to come upon Guy Rivers to-night. He <i>is</i> a +bad fellow, as you say; and we won't let him trouble you any more, if +you'll only show us where he is to be found."</p> + +<p>"Well—I reckon I can," was the response, uttered in a confidential +whisper, and much more readily given than was the wont of the speaker. +"Chub and Guy talked together to-night, and Guy wanted Chub to go with +him into his house in Wolf's Neck. But Chub don't love the wolf, and he +don't love the Wolf's Neck, now that Miss Lucy's gone away from it. It's +a mighty dark place, the Wolf's Neck, and Chub's afear'd in the dark +places, where the moon and stars won't shine down."</p> + +<p>"But you needn't be afraid now, little Chub. You're a good little +fellow, and we'll keep with you and follow close, and there shall be no +danger to you. We'll fight Guy Rivers for you, so that he can't hurt you +any more."</p> + +<p>"You'll fight Guy! You! Guy kin fight to kill!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, but we'll kill <i>him;</i> only you show us where he is, so that +we can catch him and tie him, and he'll never trouble Chub any more."</p> + +<p>"What! you'll tie Guy? How I'd like to see anybody tie Guy! You kain't +tie Guy. He'd break through the ropes, he would, if he on'y stretched +out his arms."</p> + +<p>"You'll see! only show us how to find him, and we'll tie him, and we'll +build you a new house, and you shall have more +<span class="pagenum">[460]<a name="page460" id="page460"></a></span>potatoes and corn +than you can shake a stick at, and we'll give you a great jug of whiskey +into the bargain."</p> + +<p>"Now will you! And a jug of whiskey too, and build a new house for +Chub's mother—and the corn, and the 'tatoes."</p> + +<p>"All! you shall have all we promise."</p> + +<p>"Come! come! saftly! put your feet down saftly, for Guy's got great +white owls that watch for him, and they hoot from the old tree when the +horses are coming. Saftly! saftly!"</p> + +<p>There is an idiocy that does not lack the vulgar faculty of mere +shrewdness—that can calculate selfishly, and plan coolly—in short, can +show itself cunning, whenever it has a motive. Find the motive for the +insane and the idiotic, always, if you would see them exercise the full +extent of their little remaining wits.</p> + +<p>Chub Williams had a sagacity of this sort. His selfishness was appealed +to, and all his faculties were on the alert. He gave directions for the +progress of the party—after his own manner, it is true—but with +sufficient promptness and intelligence to satisfy them that they might +rely upon him. Having reached a certain lonely spot among the hills, +contiguous to the crag, or series of crags, called the Wolf's Neck, Chub +made the party all dismount, and hide their horses in a thicket into +which they found it no easy matter to penetrate. This done, he led them +out again, cautiously moving along under cover, but near the margin of +the road. He stept as lightly himself as a squirrel, taking care, before +throwing his weight upon his foot, to feel that there was no rotting +branch or bough beneath, the breaking of which might occasion noise.</p> + +<p>"Saftly! saftly!" he would say in a whisper, turning back to the party, +when he found them treading hurriedly and heavily upon the brush. +Sometimes, again, he ran ahead of all of them, and for a few moments +would be lost to sight; but he usually returned, as quickly and quietly +as he went, and would either lead them forward on the same route with +confidence, or alter it according to his discoveries. He was literally +feeling his way; the instincts and experience of the practised scout +finding no sort of obstacle in the deficiency of his reasoning powers.</p> + +<p>His processes did not argue any doubts of his course; only +<span class="pagenum">[461]<a name="page461" id="page461"></a></span>a +choice of direction—such as would promise more ease and equal security. +Some of his changes of movement, he tried to explain, in his own +fashion, when he came back to guide them on other paths.</p> + +<p>"Saftly back—saftly now, this way. Guy's in his dark house in the rock, +but there's a many rooms, and 't mout be, we're a walking jest now, over +his head. Then he mout hear, you see, and Guy's got ears like the great +owl. He kin hear mighty far in the night, and see too; and you mustn't +step into his holes. There's heap of holes in Guy's dark house. Saftly, +now—and here away."</p> + +<p>Briefly, the rocky avenues were numerous in the Wolf's Neck, and some of +them ran near the surface. There were sinks upon the surface also, +covered with brush and clay, into which the unthinking wayfarer might +stumble, perhaps into the very cavern where the outlaw at that moment +housed himself. The group around the idiot did not fail to comprehend +the reasons for all his caution. They confided to his skill implicitly; +having, of themselves, but small knowledge of the wild precincts into +which they desired to penetrate.</p> + +<p>Having, at length, brought them to points and places, which afforded +them the command of the avenues to the rock, the next object of their +guide was to ascertain where the outlaw was at that moment secreted. It +was highly important to know <i>where</i> to enter—where to look—and +not waste time in fruitless search of places in which a single man might +have a dozen blind seekers at his mercy. The cunning of the idiot +conceived this necessity himself.</p> + +<p>His policy made each of the party hide himself out of sight, though in a +position whence each might see.</p> + +<p>All arranged as he desired, the urchin armed himself with a rock, not +quite as large as his own head, but making a most respectable approach +to it. This, with the aid of coat and kerchief he secured upon his back, +between his shoulders; and thus laden, he yet, with the agility of the +opossum, her young ones in her pouch, climbed up a tree which stood a +little above that inner chamber which Guy Rivers had appropriated for +himself, and where, on more occasions than one, our idiot had peeped in +upon him. Perched in his tree securely, and shrouded +<span class="pagenum">[462]<a name="page462" id="page462"></a></span>from sight +among its boughs, the urchin disengaged the rock from his shoulders, +took it in both his hands, and carefully selecting its route, he pitched +it, with all his might, out from the tree, and in such a direction, +that, after it had fairly struck the earth, it continued a rolling +course down the declivity of the rocks, making a heavy clatter all the +way it went.</p> + +<p>The <i>ruse</i> answered its purpose. The keen senses of the outlaw +caught the sound. His vigilance, now doubly keen, awakened to its watch. +We have seen, in previous pages, the effect that the rolling stone had +upon the musing and vexed spirit of Guy Rivers, after the departure of +Dillon. He came forth, as we have seen, to look about for the cause of +alarm; and, as if satisfied that the disturbance was purely accidental, +had retired once more to the recesses of his den.</p> + +<p>Here, throwing himself upon his couch, he seemed disposed to sleep. +Sleep, indeed! He himself denied that he ever slept. His followers were +all agreed that when he did sleep, it was only with half his faculties +shut up. One eye, they contended, was always open!</p> + +<p>Chub Williams, and one of the hunters had seen the figure of the outlaw +as he emerged from the cavern. The former instantly identified him. The +other was too remote to distinguish anything but a slight human outline, +which he could only determine to be such, as he beheld its movements. He +was too far to assault, the light was too imperfect to suffer him to +shoot with any reasonable certainty of success, and the half of the +reward sought by his pursuers, depended upon the outlaw being taken +alive!</p> + +<p>But, there was no disappointment among the hunters. Allowing the outlaw +sufficient time to return to his retreats, Chub Williams slipped down +his tree—the rest of the party slowly emerged from their several places +of watch, and drew together for consultation.</p> + +<p>In this matter, the idiot could give them little help. He could, and +did, describe, in some particulars, such of the interior as he had been +enabled to see on former occasions, but beyond this he could do nothing; +and he was resolute not to hazard himself entering the dominion of a +personage, so fearful as Guy Rivers, in such companionship as would +surely <span class="pagenum">[463]<a name="page463" id="page463"></a></span> +compel the wolf to turn at bay. Alone, his confidence in +his own stealth and secresy, would encourage him to penetrate; but, +<i>now!</i>—he only grinned at the suggestion of the hunters saying +shrewdly: "No! thank you! I'll stay out here and keep Chub's company."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, he remained without, closely gathered up into a lump, +behind a tree, while the more determined Georgians penetrated with +cautious pace into the dark avenue, known in the earlier days of the +settlement as a retreat for the wolves when they infested that portion +of the country, and hence distinguished by the appellation of the Wolf's +Neck.</p> + +<p>For some time they groped onward in great uncertainty as to their +course; but a crevice in the wall, at one point, gave them a glimmer of +the moonlight, which, falling obliquely upon the sides of the cavern, +enabled them to discern the mouth of another gorge diverging from that +in which they were. They entered, and followed this new route, until +their farther progress was arrested by a solid wall which seemed to +close them in, hollowly caved from all quarters, except the one narrow +point from which they had entered it.</p> + +<p>Here, then, they were at a stand; but, according to Chub's directions, +there must be a mode of ingress to still another chamber from this; and +they prepared to seek it in the only possible way; namely, by feeling +along the wall for the opening which their eye had failed to detect. +They had to do this on hands and knees, so low was the rock along the +edges of the cavern.</p> + +<p>The search was finally successful. One of the party found the wall to +give beneath his hands. There was an aperture, a mere passage-way for +wolf or bear, lying low in the wall, and only closed by a heavy curtain +of woollen.</p> + +<p>This was an important discovery. The opening led directly into the +chamber of the outlaw. How easily it could be defended, the hunters +perceived at a glance. The inmate of the cavern, if wakeful and +courageous, standing above the gorge with a single hatchet, could brain +every assailant on the first appearance of his head. How serious, then, +the necessity of being able to know that the occupant of the chamber +slept—that occupant being Guy Rivers. The pursuers well knew what they +might expect at his hands, driven to his last fastness, +<span class="pagenum">[464]<a name="page464" id="page464"></a></span>with the +spear of the hunter at his throat. Did he sleep, then—the man who never +slept, according to the notion of his followers, or with one eye always +open!</p> + +<p>He did sleep, and never more soundly than now, when safety required that +he should be most on the alert. But there is a limit to the endurance of +the most iron natures, and the outlaw had overpassed his bounds of +strength. He was exhausted by trying and prolonged excitements, and +completely broken down by physical efforts which would have destroyed +most other men outright. His subdued demeanor—his melancholy—were all +due to this condition of absolute exhaustion. He slept, not a refreshing +sleep, but one in which the excited spirit kept up its exercises, so as +totally to neutralize what nature designed as compensation in his +slumbers. His sleep was the drowse of incapacity, not the wholesome +respite of elastic faculties. It was actual physical imbecility, rather +than sleep; and, while the mere animal man, lay incapable, like a log, +the diseased imagination was at work, conjuring up its spectres as +wildly and as changingly, as the wizard of the magic-lanthorn evokes his +monsters against the wall.</p> + +<p>His limbs writhed while he slept. His tongue was busy in audible speech. +He had no secrets, in that mysterious hour, from night, and silence, and +his dreary rocks. His dreams told him of no other auditors.</p> + +<p>The hunter, who had found and raised the curtain that separated his +chamber from the gloomy gorges of the crag, paused, and motioned his +comrades back, while he listened. At first there was nothing but a deep +and painful breathing. The outlaw breathed with effort, and the sigh +became a groan, and he writhed upon the bed of moss which formed his +usual couch in the cavern. Had the spectator been able to see, the lamp +suspended from a ring in the roof of the cavern, though burning very +dimly, would have shown him the big-beaded drops of sweat that now +started from the brows of the sleeper. But he could hear; and now a +word, a name, falls from the outlaw's lips—it is followed by murmured +imprecations. The feverish frame, tortured by the restless and +guilt-goading spirit, writhed as he delivered the curses in broken +accents. These, finally, grew into perfect sentences.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[465]<a name="page465" id="page465"></a></span> +"Dying like a dog, in her sight! Ay, she shall see it! I will +hiss in her ears as she gazes—'It is <i>my</i> work! this is <i>my</i> +revenge!' Ha! ha! where her pride then?—her high birth and +station?—wealth, family? Dust, shame, agony, and death!"</p> + +<p>Such were the murmured accents of the sleeping man, when they were +distinguishable by the hunter, who, crouching, beneath the curtain, +listened to his sleeping speech. But all was not exultation. The change +from the voice of triumph to that of woe was instantaneous; and the +curse and the cry, as of one in mortal agony, pain or terror, followed +the exulting speech.</p> + +<p>The Georgian, now apprehensive that the outlaw would awaken, crept +forward, and, still upon his hands and knees, was now fairly within the +vaulted chamber. He was closely followed by one of his companions. +Hitherto, they had proceeded with great caution, and with a stealth and +silence that were almost perfect. But the third of the party to +enter—who was Brooks, the jailer—more eager, or more unfortunate, less +prudent certainly—not sufficiently stooping, as the other two had done, +or rising too soon—contrived to strike with his head the pole which +bore the curtain, and which, morticed in the sides of the cavern, ran +completely across the awkward entrance. A ringing noise was the +consequence, while Brooks himself was precipitated back into the +passage, with a smart cut over his brows.</p> + +<p>The noise was not great, but quite sufficient to dissipate the slumbers +of the outlaw, whose sleep was never sound. With that decision and +fierce courage which marked his character, he sprang to his feet in an +instant, grasped the dirk which he always carried in his bosom, and +leaped forward, like a tiger, in the direction of the narrow entrance. +Familiar with all the sinuosities of his den, as well in daylight as in +darkness, the chances might have favored him even with two powerful +enemies within it. Certainly, had there been but one, he could have +dealt with him, and kept out others. But the very precipitation of the +jailer, while it occasioned the alarm, had the effect, in one +particular, of neutralizing its evil consequences. The two who had +already penetrated the apartment, had net yet risen from their knees—in +the dim light of the lamp, they remained <span class="pagenum">[466]<a name="page466" +id="page466"></a></span>unseen—they were +crouching, indeed, directly under the lamp, the rays of which lighted +dimly the extremes, rather than the centre of the cell. They lay in the +way of the outlaw, as he sprang, and, as he dashed forward from his +couch toward the passage-way, his feet were caught by the Georgian who +had first entered, and so great was the impetus of his first awakening +effort, that he was precipitated with a severe fall over the second of +the party; and, half stunned, yet still striking furiously, the dirk of +Rivers found a bloodless sheath in the earthen floor of the cell. In a +moment, the two were upon him, and by the mere weight of their bodies +alone, they kept him down.</p> + +<p>"Surrender, Guy! we're too much for you, old fellow!"</p> + +<p>There was a short struggle. Meanwhile, Brooks, the jailer, joined the +party.</p> + +<p>"We're <i>three</i> on you, and there's more without."</p> + +<p>The outlaw was fixed to the ground, beneath their united weight, as +firmly as if the mountain itself was on him. As soon as he became +conscious of the inutility of further struggle—and he could now move +neither hand nor foot—he ceased all further effort; like a wise man +economizing his strength for future occasions. Without difficulty the +captors bound him fast, then dragged him through the narrow entrance, +the long rocky gorges which they had traversed, until they all emerged +into the serene light of heaven, at the entrance of the cavern.</p> + +<p>Here the idiot boy encountered them, now coming forward boldly, and +staring in the face of the captive with a confidence which he had never +known before. He felt that his fangs were drawn; and his survey of the +person his mother had taught him so to dread, was as curious as that +which he would have taken of some foreign monster. As he continued this +survey, Rivers, with a singular degree of calmness for such a time, and +such circumstances, addressed him thus:—</p> + +<p>"So, Chub, this is your work;—you have brought enemies to my home, boy! +Why have you done this? What have I done to you, but good? I gave bread +to your mother and yourself!"</p> + +<p>"Psho! Chub is to have his own bread, his own corn, and 'taters, too, +and a whole jug of whiskey."</p> + +<p>"Ah! you have sold yourself for these, then, to my enemies. +<span class="pagenum">[467]<a name="page467" id="page467"></a></span>You +are a bad fellow, Chub—a worse fellow than I thought you. As an idiot, +I fancied you might be honest and grateful."</p> + +<p>"You're bad yourself, Mr. Guy. You cursed Chub, and you cursed Chub's +mother; and your man burnt down Chub's house, and you wanted to shoot +Chub on the tree."</p> + +<p>"But I didn't shoot, Chub; and I kept the men from shooting you when you +ran away from the cave."</p> + +<p>"You can't shoot now," answered the idiot, with an exulting chuckle; +"and they'll keep you in the ropes, Mr. Guy; they've got you on your +back, Mr. Guy; and I'm going to laugh at you all the way as you go. Ho! +ho! ho! See if I don't laugh, till I scares away all your white owls +from the roost."</p> + +<p>The outlaw looked steadily in the face of the wretched urchin, with a +curious interest, as he half murmured to himself:—</p> + +<p>"And that I should fall a victim to such a thing as this! The only +creature, perhaps, whom I spared or pitied—so wretched, yet so +ungrateful. But there is an instinct in it. It is surely in consequence +of a law of nature. He hates in proportion as he fears. Yet he has had +nothing but protection from me, and kindness. Nothing! I spared him, +when—but—" as if suddenly recollecting himself, and speaking aloud and +with recovered dignity:—</p> + +<p>"I am your prisoner, gentlemen. Do with me as you please."</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" cried the urchin, as he beheld the troopers lifting and +securing the outlaw upon the horse, while one of the party leaped up +behind him—one of his hands managing the bridle, and the other grasping +firmly the rope which secured the captive; "hurrah! Guy's in the rope! +Guy's in the rope!"</p> + +<p>Thus cried the urchin, following close behind the party, upon his +mountain-tacky. That cry, from such a quarter, more sensibly than +anything besides, mocked the outlaw with the fullest sense of his +present impotence. With a bitter feeling of humiliation, his head +dropped upon his breast, and he seemed to lose all regard to his +progress. Daylight found him safely locked up in the jail of Chestatee, +the occupant of the very cell from which Colleton had escaped.</p> + +<p>But no such prospect of escape was before him. He could command none of +the sympathies that had worked for his rival. <span class="pagenum">[468]<a name="page468" +id="page468"></a></span>He had no friends +left. Munro was slain, Dillon gone, and even the miserable idiot had +turned his fangs upon the hand that fed him. Warned, too, by the easy +escape of Colleton, Brooks attended no more whiskey-parties, nor took +his brother-in-law Tongs again into his friendly counsels. More—he +doubly ironed his prisoner, whose wiles and resources he had more reason +to fear than those which his former captive could command. To cut off +more fully every hope which the outlaw might entertain of escape from +his bonds and durance, a detachment of the Georgia guard, marching into +the village that very day, was put in requisition, by the orders of the +judge, for the better security of the prisoner, and of public order.</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[469]<a name="page469" id="page469"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter41" id="chapter41">CHAPTER XLI.</a></h2> + +<h3>QUIET PASSAGES AND NEW RELATIONS.</h3> + + +<p>We have already reported the return of Lucy Munro to the village-inn of +Chestatee. Here, to her own and the surprise of all other parties, her +aunt was quietly reinstated in her old authority—a more perfect one +now—as housekeeper of that ample mansion. The reasons which determined +her liege upon her restoration to the household have been already +reported to the reader. His prescience as to his own approaching fate +was perhaps not the least urgent among them. He fortunately left her in +possession, and we know how the law estimates this advantage. Of her +trials and sorrows, when she was made aware of her widowhood, we will +say nothing. Sensitive natures will easily conjecture their extent and +intensity. It is enough for the relief of such natures, if we say that +the widow Munro was not wholly inconsolable. As a good economist, a +sensible woman, with an eye properly regardful of the future, we are +bound to suppose that she needed no lessons from Hamlet's mother to make +the cold baked funeral-meats answer a double purpose.</p> + +<p>But what of her niece? We are required to be something more full and +explicit in speaking to her case. The indisposition of Lucy was not +materially diminished by the circumstances following the successful +effort to persuade the landlord to the rescue of Ralph Colleton. The +feverish excitements natural to that event, and even the fruit of its +fortunate issue, in the death of Munro, for whom she really had a +grateful regard, were not greatly lessened, though certainly something +relieved, by the capture of Rivers, and his identification with the +outlawed Creighton. She was now secure from him: she had nothing further +to apprehend from the prosecution of his fearful suit; and the death of +her uncle, even if the situation of Rivers had <span class="pagenum">[470]<a name="page470" +id="page470"></a></span>left him free to +urge it further, would, of itself, have relieved her from the only +difficulty in the way of a resolute denial.</p> + +<p>So far, then, she was at peace. But a silent sorrow had made its way +into her bosom, gnawing there with the noiselessness and certainty of +the imperceptible worm, generated by the sunlight, in the richness of +the fresh leaf, and wound up within its folds. She had no word of sorrow +in her speech—she had no tear of sorrow in her eye—but there was a +vacant sadness in the vague and wan expression of her face, that needed +neither tears nor words for its perfect development. She was the victim +of a passion which—as hers was a warm and impatient spirit—was doubly +dangerous; and the greater pang of that passion came with the +consciousness, which now she could no longer doubt, that it was entirely +unrequited. She had beheld the return of Ralph Colleton; she had heard +from other lips than his of his release, and of the atoning particulars +of her uncle's death, in which he furnished all that was necessary in +the way of testimony to the youth's enlargement and security; and though +she rejoiced, fervently and deeply, at the knowledge that so much had +been done for him, and so much by herself, she yet found no relief from +the deep sadness of soul which necessarily came with her hopelessness. +Busy tongues dwelt upon the loveliness of the Carolina maiden who had +sought him in his prison—of her commanding stature, her elegance of +form, her dignity of manner and expression, coupled with the warmth of a +devoted love and a passionate admiration of the youth who had also so +undesiringly made the conquest of her own heart. She heard all this in +silence, but not without thought. She thought of nothing besides. The +forms and images of the two happy lovers were before her eyes at all +moments; and her active fancy pictured their mutual loves in colors so +rich and warm, that, in utter despondency at last, she would throw +herself listlessly upon her couch, with sometimes an unholy hope that +she might never again rise from it.</p> + +<p>But she was not forgotten. The youth she had so much served, and so +truly saved, was neither thoughtless nor ungrateful. Having just +satisfied those most near and dear to him of his safety, and of the +impunity which, after a few brief forms of law, the dying confession of +the landlord would give him <span class="pagenum">[471]<a name="page471" +id="page471"></a></span>and having taken, in the warm +embrace of a true love, the form of the no-longer-withheld Edith to his +arms, he felt that his next duty was to her for whom his sense of +gratitude soon discovered that every form of acknowledgment must +necessarily prove weak.</p> + +<p>At an early hour, therefore—these several duties having been +done—Ralph made his appearance at the village-inn, and the summons of +the youth soon brought Lucy from her chamber.</p> + +<p>She came freely and without hesitation, though her heart was tremulous +with doubt and sorrow. She had nothing now to learn of her utter +hopelessness, and her strength was gathered from her despair. Ralph was +shocked at the surprising ravages which a few days of indisposition had +made upon that fine and delicate richness of complexion and expression +which had marked her countenance before. He had no notion that she was +unhappy beyond the cure of time. On the contrary, with a modesty almost +akin to dullness—having had no idea of his own influence over the +maiden—he was disposed to regard the recent events—the death of Munro +and the capture of Rivers—as they relieved her from a persecution which +had been cruelly distressing, rather calculated to produce a degree of +relief, to which she had not for a long time been accustomed; and which, +though mingled up with events that prevented it from being considered +matter for rejoicing, was yet not a matter for one in her situation very +greatly to deplore.</p> + +<p>Her appearance, however, only made him more assiduously gentle and +affectionate in the duties he had undertaken to perform. He approached +her with the freedom of one warranted by circumstances in recognising in +her person a relation next to the sweetest and the dearest in life. With +the familiar regard of a brother, he took her hand, and, placing her +beside him on the rude sofa of the humble parlor, he proceeded to those +little inquiries after her health, and of those about her, which usually +form the opening topics of all conversation. He proceeded then to remind +her of that trying night, when, in defiance of female fears, and +laudably regardless of those staid checks and restraints by which her +sex would conceal or defend its weaknesses, she had dared to save his +life.</p> + +<p>His manner, generally warm and eager, dilated something +<span class="pagenum">[472]<a name="page472" id="page472"></a></span>beyond +its wont; and if ever gratitude had yet its expression from human lips +and in human language, it was poured forth at that moment from his into +the ears of Lucy Munro.</p> + +<p>And she felt its truth; she relied upon the uttered words of the +speaker; and her eyes grew bright with a momentary kindling, her check +flushed under his glance, while her heart, losing something of the +chillness which had so recently oppressed it, felt lighter and less +desolate in that abode of sadness and sweetness, the bosom in which it +dwelt.</p> + +<p>Yet, after all, when thought came again under the old aspect—when she +remembered his situation and her own, she felt the shadow once more come +over her with an icy influence. It was not gratitude which her heart +craved from that of Ralph Colleton. The praise and the approval and the +thanks of others might have given her pleasure, but these were not +enough from him; and she sighed that he from whom alone love would be +precious, had nothing less frigid than gratitude to offer. But even that +was much, and she felt it deeply. His approbation was not a little to a +spirit whose reference to him was perpetual; and when—her hand in +his—he recounted the adventures of that night—when he dwelt upon her +courage—upon her noble disregard of opinions which might have chilled +in many of her sex the fine natural currents of that godlike humanity +which conventional forms, it is well to think, can not always fetter or +abridge—when he expatiated upon all these things with all the fervor of +his temperament—she with a due modesty, shrinking from the recital of +her own performances—she felt every moment additional pleasure in his +speech of praise. When, at length, relating the particulars of the +escape and death of Munro, he proceeded, with all the tender caution of +a brother, softening the sorrow into sadness, and plucking from grief as +much of the sting as would else have caused the wound to rankle, she +felt that though another might sway his heart and its richer affections, +she was not altogether destitute of its consideration and its care.</p> + +<p>"And now, Lucy—my sweet sister—for my sister you are now—you will +accede to your uncle's prayer and mine—you will permit me to be your +brother, and to provide for you as such. In this wild region it fits not +that you should longer <span class="pagenum">[473]<a name="page473" id="page473"></a></span> +abide. This wilderness is uncongenial—it +is foreign to a nature like yours. You have been too long its +tenant—mingling with creatures not made for your association, none of +whom are capable of appreciating your worth. You must come with us, and +live with my uncle—with my cousin Edith—"</p> + +<p>"Edith!"—and she looked inquiringly, while a slight flush of the cheek +and kindling of the eye in him followed the utterance of the single word +by her, and accompanied his reply.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Edith—Edith Colleton, Lucy, is the name of my cousin, and the +relationship will soon be something closer between us. You will love +her, and she, I know, will love you as a sister, and as the preserver of +one so very humble as myself. It was a night of danger when you first +heard her name, and saw her features; and when you and she will converse +over that night and its events, I feel satisfied that it will bring you +both only the closer to one another."</p> + +<p>"We will not talk of it farther, Mr. Colleton—I would not willingly +hear of it again. It is enough that you are now free from all such +danger—enough that all things promise well for the future. Let not any +thought of past evil, or of risk successfully encountered, obscure the +prospect—let no thought of me produce an emotion, hostile, even for a +moment, to your peace."</p> + +<p>"And why should you think, my sweet girl, and with an air of such +profound sorrow, that such a thought must be productive of such an +emotion. Why should the circumstances so happily terminating, though +perilous at first, necessarily bring sorrow with remembrance. Surely you +are now but exhibiting the sometimes coy perversity which is ascribed to +your sex. You are now, in a moment of calm, but assuming those winning +playfulnesses of a sex, conscious of charm and power, which, in a time +of danger, your more masculine thought had rejected as unbecoming. You +forget, Lucy, that I have you in charge—that you are now my +sister—that my promise to your departed uncle, not less than my own +desire to that effect, makes me your guardian for the future—and that I +am now come, hopeful of success, to take you with me to my own country, +and to bring you acquainted with her—(I must keep no secret from +<span class="pagenum">[474]<a name="page474" id="page474"></a></span> +you, who are my sister)—who has my heart—who—but you are sick, +Lucy. What means this emotion?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, nothing, Mr. Colleton. A momentary weakness from my late +indisposition—it will soon be over. Indeed, I am already well. Go on, +sir—go on!"</p> + +<p>"Lucy, why these titles? Why such formality? Speak to me as if I were +the new friend, at least, if you will not behold in me an old one. I +have received too much good service from you to permit of this +constraint. Call me Ralph—or Colleton—or—or—nay, look not so +coldly—why not call me your brother?"</p> + +<p>"Brother—brother be it then, Ralph Colleton—brother—brother. God +knows, I need a brother now!" and the ice of her manner was thawed +quickly by his appeal, in which her accurate sense, sufficiently +unclouded usually by her feelings, though themselves at all times +strong, discovered only the honest earnestness of truth.</p> + +<p>"Ah, now, you look—and now you are indeed my sister. Hear me, then, +Lucy, and listen to all my plans. You have not seen Edith—my Edith +now—you must be <i>her</i> sister too. She is now, or will be soon, +something nearer to me than a sister—she is something dearer already. +We shall immediately return to Carolina, and you will go along with us."</p> + +<p>"It may not be, Ralph—I have determined otherwise. I will be your +sister—as truly so as sister possibly could be—but I can not go with +you. I have made other arrangements."</p> + +<p>The youth looked up in astonishment. The manner of the maiden was very +resolute, and he knew not what to understand. She proceeded, as she saw +his amazement:—</p> + +<p>"It may not be as you propose, Mr.—Ralph—my brother—circumstances +have decreed another arrangement—another, and perhaps a less grateful +destiny for me."</p> + +<p>"But why, Lucy, if a less pleasant, or at least a doubtful arrangement, +why yield to it—why reject my solicitation? What is the plan to which, +I am sad to see, you so unhesitatingly give the preference?"</p> + +<p>"Not unhesitatingly—not unhesitatingly, I assure you. I have thought +upon it deeply and long, and the decision is that of my cooler thought +and calmer judgment. It may be in a <span class="pagenum">[475]<a name="page475" +id="page475"></a></span>thousand respects a less +grateful arrangement than that which you offer me; but, at least, it +will want one circumstance which would couple itself with your plan, and +which would alone prompt me to deny myself all its other advantages."</p> + +<p>"And what is that one circumstance, dear Lucy, which affrights you so +much? Let me know. What peculiarity of mine—what thoughtless +impropriety—what association, which I may remove, thus prevents your +acceptance of my offer, and that of Edith? Speak—spare me not in what +you shall say—but let your thoughts have their due language, just as if +you were—as indeed you are—my sister."</p> + +<p>"Ask me not, Ralph. I may not utter it. It must not be whispered to +myself, though I perpetually hear it. It is no impropriety—no +peculiarity—no wrong thought or deed of yours, that occasions it. The +evil is in me; and hence you can do nothing which can possibly change my +determination."</p> + +<p>"Strange, strange girl! What mystery is this? Where is now that feeling +of confidence, which led you to comply with my prayer, and consider me +as your brother? Why keep this matter from me—why withhold any +particular, the knowledge of which might be productive of a remedy for +all the difficulty."</p> + +<p>"Never—never. The knowledge of it would be destructive of all beside. +It would be fatal—seek not, therefore, to know it—it would profit you +nothing, and me it would crush for ever to the earth. Hear me, Ralph—my +brother!—hear me. Hitherto you have known me—I am proud to think—as a +strong-minded woman, heedless of all things in her desire for the +good—for the right. In a moment of peril to you or to another, I would +be the same woman. But the strength which supports through the trial, +subsides when it is over. The ship that battles with the storms and the +seas, with something like a kindred buoyancy, goes down with the calm +that follows their violence. It is so with me. I could do much—much +more than woman generally—in the day of trial, but I am the weakest of +my sex when it is over. Would you have the secret of these weaknesses in +your possession, when you must know that the very consciousness, that it +is beyond my own control, must be fatal to that pride of sex which, +perhaps, only sustains me now? Ask me not further, Ralph, on this +subject. <span class="pagenum">[476]<a name="page476" id="page476"></a></span> +I can tell you nothing; I <i>will</i> tell you nothing; +and to press me farther must only be to estrange me the more. It is +sufficient that I call you brother—that I pledge myself to love you as +a sister—as sister never loved brother before. This is as much as I can +do, Ralph Colleton—is it not enough?"</p> + +<p>The youth tried numberless arguments and entreaties, but in vain to +shake her purpose; and the sorrowful expression of his voice and manner, +not less than of his language, sufficiently assured her of the deep +mortification which he felt upon her denial. She soothed his spirit with +a gentleness peculiarly her own, and, as if she had satisfied herself +that she had done enough for the delicacy of her scruples in one leading +consideration, she took care that her whole manner should be that of the +most confiding and sisterly regard. She even endeavored to be cheerful, +seeing that her companion, with her unlooked-for denial, had lost all +his elasticity; but without doing much to efface from his countenance +the traces of dissatisfaction.</p> + +<p>"And what are your plans, Lucy? Let me know them, at least. Let mo see +how far they are likely to be grateful to your character, and to make +you happy."</p> + +<p>"Happy! happy!" and she uttered but the two words, with a brief interval +between them, while her voice trembled, and the gathering suffusion in +her large and thickly-fringed blue eyes attested, more than anything +besides, the prevailing weakness of which she had spoken.</p> + +<p>"Ay, happy, Lucy! That is the word. You must not be permitted to choose +a lot in life, in which the chances are not in favor of your happiness."</p> + +<p>"I look not for that now, Ralph," was her reply, and with such hopeless +despondency visible in her face as she spoke, that, with a deeper +interest, taking her hand, he again urged the request she had already so +recently denied.</p> + +<p>"And why not, my sweet sister? Why should you not anticipate happiness +as well as the rest of us? Who has a better right to happiness than the +young, the gentle, the beautiful, the good?—and you are all of these, +Lucy! You have the charms—the richer and more lasting charms—which, in +the reflective mind, must always awaken admiration! You have animation, +talent, various and active—sentiment, the growth of truth, +<span class="pagenum">[477]<a name="page477" id="page477"></a></span> +propriety, and a lofty aim—no flippancy, no weak vanity—and a +gentle beauty, that woos while it warms."</p> + +<p>Her face became very grave, as she drew back from him.</p> + +<p>"Nay, my sweet Lucy! why do you repulse me? I speak nothing but the +truth."</p> + +<p>"You mock me!—I pray you, mock me not. I have suffered much, Mr. +Colleton—very much, in the few last years of my life, from the sneer, +and the scorn, and the control of others! But I have been taught to hope +for different treatment, and a far gentler estimate. It is ill in you to +take up the speech of smaller spirits, and when the sufferer is one so +weak, so poor, so very wretched as I am now! I had not looked for such +scorn from you!"</p> + +<p>Ralph was confounded. Was this caprice? He had never seen any proof of +the presence of such an infirmity in her. And yet, how could he account +for those strange words—that manner so full of offended pride? What had +he been saying? How had she misconceived him? He took her hand earnestly +in his own. She would have withdrawn it; but no!—he held it fast, and +looked pleadingly into her face, as he replied:—</p> + +<p>"Surely, Lucy, you do me wrong! How could you think that I would design +to give you pain? Do you really estimate me by so low a standard, that +my voice, when it speaks in praise and homage, is held to be the voice +of vulgar flattery, and designing falsehood?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, Ralph! not that—anything but that!"</p> + +<p>"That I should sneer at <i>you</i>, Lucy—feel or utter +scorn—<i>you</i>, to whom I owe so much! Have I then been usually so +flippant of speech—a trifler—when we have spoken together before?—the +self-assured fopling, with fancied superiority, seeking to impose upon +the vain spirit and the simple confidence? Surely, I have never given +you cause to think of me so meanly!"</p> + +<p>"No! no! forgive me! I know not what I have said! I meant nothing so +unkind—so unjust!"</p> + +<p>"Lucy, your esteem is one of my most precious desires. To secure it, I +would do much—strive earnestly—make many sacrifices of self. +Certainly, for this object, I should be always truthful."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[478]<a name="page478" id="page478"></a></span> +"You are, Ralph! I believe you."</p> + +<p>"When I praised you, I did not mean merely to praise. I sought rather to +awaken you to a just appreciation of your own claims upon a higher order +of society than that which you can possibly find in this frontier +region. I have spoken only the simple truth of your charms and +accomplishments. I have <i>felt</i> them, Lucy, and paint them only as +they are. Your beauties of mind and person—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, do not, I implore you!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I must, Lucy! though of these beauties I should not have +spoken—should not now speak—were it not that I feel sure that your +superior understanding would enable you to listen calmly to a voice, +speaking from my heart to yours, and speaking nothing but a truth which +it honestly believes! And it is your own despondency, and humility of +soul, that prompts me thus to speak in your praise. There is no good +reason, Lucy, why you should not be happy—why fond hearts should not be +rejoiced to win your sympathies—why fond eyes should not look gladly +and gratefully for the smiles of yours! You carry treasures into +society, Lucy, which society will everywhere value as beyond price!"</p> + +<p>"Ah! why will you, sir—why, Ralph?—"</p> + +<p>"You must not sacrifice yourself, Lucy. You must not defraud society of +its rights. In a more refined circle, whose chances of happiness will be +more likely to command than yours? You must go with me and Edith—go to +Carolina. There you will find the proper homage. You will see the +generous and the noble;—they will seek you—honorable gentlemen, proud +of your favor, happy in your smiles—glad to offer you homes and hearts, +such as shall be not unworthy of your own."</p> + +<p>The girl heard him, but with no strengthening of self-confidence. The +thought which occurred to her, which spoke of her claims, was that +<i>he</i> had not found them so coercive. But, of course, she did not +breathe the sentiment. She only sighed, and shook her head mournfully; +replying, after a brief pause:—</p> + +<p>"I must not hear you, Ralph. I thank you, I thank Miss Colleton, for the +kindness of this invitation, but I dare not accept it. I can not go with +you to Carolina. My lot is here <span class="pagenum">[479]<a name="page479" +id="page479"></a></span>with my aunt, or where she goes. +I must not desert her. She is now even more destitute than myself."</p> + +<p>"Impossible! Why, Lucy, your aunt tells me that she means to continue in +this establishment. How can you reconcile it to yourself to remain here, +with the peril of encountering the associations, such as we have already +known them, which seem naturally to belong to such a border region."</p> + +<p>"You forget, Ralph, that it was here I met with you," was the sudden +reply, with a faint smile upon her lips.</p> + +<p>"Yes; and I was driven here—by a fate, against my will—that we +<i>should</i> meet, Lucy. But though we are both here, now, the region +is unseemly to both, and neither need remain an hour longer than it is +agreeable. Why should you remain out of your sphere, and exposed to +every sort of humiliating peril."</p> + +<p>"You forget—my aunt."</p> + +<p>"Ay, but what security is there that she will not give you another +uncle?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, fie, Ralph!"</p> + +<p>"Ay, she is too feeble of will, too weak, to be independent. She will +marry again, Lucy, and is not the woman to choose wisely. Besides, she +is not your natural aunt. She is so by marriage only. The tie between +you is one which gives her no proper claim upon you."</p> + +<p>"She has been kind to me, Ralph."</p> + +<p>"Yet she would have seen you sacrificed to this outlaw!"</p> + +<p>Lucy shuddered. He continued:—</p> + +<p>"Her kindness, lacking strength and courage, would leave you still to be +sacrificed, whenever a will, stronger than her own, should choose to +assert a power over you. She can do nothing for you—not even for your +security. You must not remain here, Lucy."</p> + +<p>"Frankly, then, Ralph, I do not mean to do so long; nor does my aunt +mean it. She is feeble, as you say; and, knowing it, I shall succeed in +persuading her to sell out here, and we shall then remove to a more +civilized region, to a better society, where, indeed, if you knew it, +you would find nothing to regret, and see no reason to apprehend either +for my securities or tastes. We shall seek refuge among my +kindred—among the relatives of my mother—and I shall there be +<span class="pagenum">[480]<a name="page480" id="page480"></a></span> +as perfectly at home, and quite as happy, as I can be any where."</p> + +<p>"And where is it that you go, Lucy?"</p> + +<p>"Forgive me, Ralph, but I must not tell you."</p> + +<p>"Not tell me!"</p> + +<p>"Better that I should not—better, far better! The duties for which the +high Providence brought us together have been, I think, fairly +accomplished. I have done my part, and you, Mr. Colleton—Ralph, I +mean—you have done yours. There is nothing more that we may not do +apart. Here, then, let our conference end. It is enough that you have +complied with the dying wish of my uncle—that I have not, is not your +fault."</p> + +<p>"Not my fault, Lucy, but truly my misfortune. But I give not up my hope +so easily. I still trust that you will think better of your +determination, and conclude to go with us. We have a sweet home, and +should not be altogether so happy in it, with the thought of your +absence for ever in our minds."</p> + +<p>"What!—not happy, and she with you!"</p> + +<p>"Happy!—yes!—but far happier with both of you. You, my sister, and—"</p> + +<p>"Say no more—"</p> + +<p>"No more now, but I shall try other lips, perhaps more persuasive than +mine. Edith shall come—"</p> + +<p>His words were suddenly arrested by the energetic speech and action of +his companion. She put her hand on his wrist—grasped it—and +exclaimed—</p> + +<p>"Let her not come! Bring her not here, Ralph Colleton! I have no wish to +see her—<i>will not</i> see her, I tell you—would not have her see +<i>me</i> for the world!"</p> + +<p>Ralph was confounded, and recoiled from the fierce, spasmodic energy of +the speaker, so very much at variance with the subdued tone of her +previous conversation. He little knew what an effort was required +hitherto, on her part, to maintain that tone, and to speak coolly and +quietly of those fortunes, every thought of which brought only +disappointment and agony to her bosom.</p> + +<p>She dropped his hand as she concluded, and with eyes still fixed upon +him, she half turned round, as if about to leave the room. But the +crisis of her emotions was reached. She <span class="pagenum">[481]<a name="page481" +id="page481"></a></span>sickened with the +effort. Her limbs grew too weak to sustain her; a sudden faintness +overspread all her faculties—her eyes closed—she gasped hysterically, +and tottering forward, she sank unconscious into the arms of Ralph, +which were barely stretched out in time to save her from falling to the +floor. He bore her to the sofa, and laid her down silently upon it.</p> + +<p>He was struck suddenly with the truth to which he had hitherto shown +himself so blind. He would have been the blindest and most obtuse of +mortals, did he now fail to see. That last speech, that last look, and +the fearful paroxysm which followed it, had revealed the poor girl's +secret. Its discovery overwhelmed him, at once with the consciousness of +his previous and prolonged dullness—which was surely mortifying—as +with the more painful consciousness of the evil which he had unwittingly +occasioned. But the present situation of the gentle victim called for +immediate attention; and, hastily darting out to another apartment, he +summoned Mrs. Munro to the succor of her niece.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter, Mr. Colleton?"</p> + +<p>"She faints," answered the other hoarsely, as he hurried the widow into +the chamber.</p> + +<p>"Bless my soul, what <i>can</i> be the matter!"</p> + +<p>The wondering of the hostess was not permitted to consume her time and +make her neglectful; Colleton did not suffer this. He hurried her with +the restoratives, and saw them applied, and waiting only till he could +be sure of the recovery of the patient, he hurried away, without giving +the aunt any opportunity to examine him in respect to the cause of +Lucy's illness.</p> + +<p>Greatly excited, and painfully so, Ralph hastened at once to the +lodgings of Edith. She was luckily alone. She cried out, as he entered—</p> + +<p>"Well, Ralph, she will come with us?"</p> + +<p>"No!"</p> + +<p>"No!—and why not, Ralph! I must go and see her."</p> + +<p>"She will not see you, Edith."</p> + +<p>"Not see me!"</p> + +<p>"No! She positively declines to see you."</p> + +<p>"Why, Ralph, that is very strange. What can it mean?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[482]<a name="page482" id="page482"></a></span> +"Mean, Edith, it means that I am very unfortunate. I have been a +blind fool if nothing worse."</p> + +<p>"Why, what can <i>you</i> mean, Ralph. What is this new mystery? This +is, surely, a place of more marvels than—"</p> + +<p>"Hear me, Edith, my love, and tell me what you think. I am bewildered, +mortified, confounded."</p> + +<p>He proceeded, as well as he could, to relate what had occurred; to give, +not only the words, but to describe the manner of Lucy—so much of it +had been expressed in this way—and he concluded, with a warm suffusion +of his cheeks, to mention the self-flattering conclusion to which he had +come:—</p> + +<p>"Now, Edith, you who know me so well, tell me, can you think it possible +that I have done, or said anything which has been calculated to make her +suppose that I loved her—that I sought her. In short, do you think me +capable of playing the scoundrel. I feel that I have been +blind—something of a fool, Edith—but, on my soul, I can not recall a +moment in which I have said or shown anything to this poor girl which +was unbecoming in the gentleman."</p> + +<p>The maiden looked at him curiously. At first there was something like an +arch smile playing upon her lips and in her light lively eyes. But when +she noted how real was his anxiety—how deeply and keenly he felt his +own doubt—she felt that the little jest which occurred to her fancy, +would be unseemly and unreasonable. So, she answered promptly, but +quietly—</p> + +<p>"Pshaw, Ralph, how can you afflict yourself with, any such notions? I +have no doubt of the perfect propriety of your conduct; and I will +venture to say that Miss Munro entertains no reproaches."</p> + +<p>"Yet, feeling so grateful to her, Edith—and when I first came here, +lonely, wounded and suffering every way—feeling so much the want of +sympathy—I may have shown to her—almost the only being with whom I +could sympathize—I may have shown to her a greater degree of interest, +than—"</p> + +<p>"My dear Ralph, you are certainly one of the most modest young men of +the present generation; that is, if you do not deceive yourself now, in +your conjectures touching the state of Miss Munro's affections. After +all, it may be a sudden illness <span class="pagenum">[483]<a name="page483" +id="page483"></a></span>from exhaustion, excitement, +terror—which you have undertaken to account for by supposing her +desperately in love."</p> + +<p>"Heaven grant it be so," answered Ralph.</p> + +<p>"Well, whether so or not, do not distress yourself. I will answer for +it, you are not to blame. And here, let me whisper a little secret in +your ears. However forbidden by all the wise, solemn, staid regulations +of good society, there are young women—very few I grant you—who will, +without the slightest call for it, or provocation, suffer their little +hearts to go out of their own keeping—who will—I am ashamed to confess +it—positively suffer themselves to love even where the case is +hopeless—where no encouragement is given to them—where they can have +no rights at all, and where they can only sigh, and mourn, and envy the +better fortunes of other people. I have no doubt that Miss Munro is one +of these very unsophisticated persons; and that you have been all the +while, and only the innocent cause of all her troubles. I acquit you of +<i>lčse majesté</i>, Ralph, so put off your doleful faces."</p> + +<p>"Don't speak so carelessly of the matter, Edith. We owe this dear girl a +heavy debt—I do, at least."</p> + +<p>"And we shall try and pay it, Ralph. But you must leave this matter to +me. I will go and see Lucy."</p> + +<p>"But she refuses to see you."</p> + +<p>"I will not be refused. I <i>will</i> see her, and she <i>shall</i> see +me, and I trust we shall succeed in taking her home with us. It may be, +Ralph, that she will feel shy in thinking of you as a brother, but I +will do my best to make her adopt me as a sister."</p> + +<p>"My own, my generous Edith—it was ever thus—you are always the noble +and the true. Go, then—you are right—you must go alone. Relieve me +from this sorrow if you can. I need not say to you, persuade her, if in +your power; for much I doubt whether her prospects are altogether so +good as she has represented them to me. So fine a creature must not be +sacrificed."</p> + +<p>Edith lost no time in proceeding to the dwelling and into the chamber of +Lucy Munro. She regarded none of the objections of the old lady, the +aunt of her she sought, who would have denied her entrance. Edith's was +a spirit of the firmest mould—tenacious of its purpose, and influenced +by no consideration <span class="pagenum">[484]<a name="page484" id="page484"></a></span> +which would have jostled with the intended +good. She approached the sufferer, who lay half-conscious only on her +couch. Lucy could not be mistaken as to the person of her visiter. The +noble features, full of generous beauty and a warm spirit, breathing +affection for all human things, and doubly expanded with benevolent +sweetness when gazing down upon one needing and deserving of so +much—all told her that the beloved and the betrothed of Ralph Colleton +was before her. She looked but once; then, sighing deeply, turned her +head upon the pillow, so as to shut out a presence so dangerously +beautiful.</p> + +<p>But Edith was a woman whose thoughts—having deeply examined the minute +structure of her own heart—could now readily understand that of another +which so nearly resembled it. She perceived the true course for +adoption; and, bending gently over the despairing girl, she possessed +herself of one of her hands, while her lips, with the most playful +sweetness of manner, were fastened upon those of the sufferer. The +speech of such an action was instantaneous in its effect.</p> + +<p>"Oh, why are you here—why did you come?" was the murmured inquiry of +the drooping maiden.</p> + +<p>"To know you—to love you—to win you to love me, Lucy. I would be +worthy of your love, dear girl, if only to be grateful. I know how +worthy you are of all of mine. I have heard all."</p> + +<p>"No! no! not all—not all, or you never would be here."</p> + +<p>"It is for that very reason that I am here. I have discovered more than +Ralph Colleton could report, and love you all the better, Lucy, as you +can feel with me how worthy he is of the love of both."</p> + +<p>A deep sigh escaped the lips of the lovely sufferer, and her face was +again averted from the glance of her visiter. The latter passed her arm +under her neck, and, sitting on the bedside, drew Lucy's head to her +bosom.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Lucy, the woman has keener instincts than the man, and feels even +where he fails to see. Do not wonder, therefore, that Edith Colleton +knows more than her lover ever dreamed of. And now I come to entreat you +to love <i>me</i> for <i>his</i> sake. You shall be my sister, Lucy, and +in time you may come to love me for my own sake. My pleasant labor, +Lucy, shall <span class="pagenum">[485]<a name="page485" id="page485"></a></span> +be to win your love—to force you to love me, +whether you will or no. We can not alter things; can not change the +courses of the stars; can not force nature to our purposes in the +stubborn heart or the wilful fancy: and the wise method is to +accommodate ourselves to the inevitable, and see if we can not extract +an odor from the breeze no matter whence it blows. Now, I am an only +child, Lucy. I have neither brother nor sister, and want a friend, and +need a companion, one whom I can love—"</p> + +<p>"You will have—have—your husband."</p> + +<p>"Yes, Lucy, and as a husband! But I am not content. I must have +<i>you</i>, also, Lucy."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no! I can not—can not!"</p> + +<p>"You <i>must</i>! I can not and will not go without you. Hear me. You +have mortified poor Ralph very much. He swore to your uncle, in his +dying moments—an awful moment—that you should be his sister—that you +should enjoy his protection. His own desires—mine—my father's—all +concur to make us resolute that Ralph shall keep his oath! And he must! +and you must consent to an arrangement upon which we have set our +hearts."</p> + +<p>"To live with <i>him</i>—to see <i>him</i> daily!" murmured the +suffering girl.</p> + +<p>"Ay, Lucy," answered the other boldly; "and to love him, and honor him, +and sympathize with him in his needs, as a true, devoted woman and +sister, so long as he shall prove worthy in your eyes and mine. I know +that I am asking of you, Lucy, what I would ask of no ordinary woman. If +I held you to be an ordinary woman, to whom we simply owe a debt of +gratitude, I should never dream to offer such an argument. But it is +because you <i>do</i> love him, that I wish you to abide with us; your +love hallowed by its own fires, and purifying itself, as it will, by the +exercise of your mind upon it."</p> + +<p>The cheeks of Lucy flushed suddenly, but she said nothing. Edith stooped +to her, and kissed her fondly; Then she spoke again, so tenderly, so +gently, with such judicious pleading—appealing equally to the exquisite +instincts of the loving woman and the thoughtful mind—that the +suffering girl was touched.</p> + +<p>But she struggled long. She was unwilling to be won. She +<span class="pagenum">[486]<a name="page486" id="page486"></a></span>was +vexed that she was so weak: she was so weary of all struggle, and she +needed sympathy and love so much!</p> + +<p>How many various influences had Edith to combat! how many were there +working in her favor! What a conflict was it all in the poor heart of +the sorrowful and loving Lucy!</p> + +<p>Edith was a skilful physician for the heart—skilful beyond her years.</p> + +<p>Love was the great want of Lucy.</p> + +<p>Edith soon persuaded her that she knew how to supply it. She was so +solicitous, so watchful, so tender, so—</p> + +<p>Suddenly the eyes of Lucy gushed with a volume of tears, and she buried +her face in Edith's bosom; and she wept—how passionately!—the sobbings +of an infant succeeding to the more wild emotions of the soul, and +placing her, like a docile and exhausted child, at the entire control of +her companion, even as if she had been a mother.</p> + +<p>"Do with me as you will, Edith, my sister."</p> + +<p>There was really no argument, there were no reasons given, which could +persuade any mind, having first resolved on the one purpose, to abandon +it for the other. How many reasons had Lucy for being firm in the first +resolution she had made!</p> + +<p>But the ends of wisdom do not depend upon the reasons which enforce +conviction. Nay, conviction itself, where the heart is concerned, is +rarely to be moved by any efforts, however noble, of the simply +reasoning faculty.</p> + +<p>Shall we call them <i>arts</i>—the processes by which Edith Colleton +had persuaded Lucy Munro to her purposes? No! it was the sweet nature, +the gentle virtues, the loving tenderness, the warm sympathies, the +delicate tact—these, superior to art and reason, were made evident to +the suffering girl, in the long interview in which they were together; +and her soul melted under their influence, and the stubborn will was +subdued, and again she murmured lovingly—</p> + +<p>"Do with me as you will, my sister."</p> + +<hr /> + + +<span class="pagenum">[487]<a name="page487" id="page487"></a></span> +<h2><a name="chapter42" id="chapter42">CHAPTER XLII.</a></h2> + +<h3>"LAST SCENE OF ALL."</h3> + + +<p>There was no little stir in the village of Chestatee on the morning +following that on which the scene narrated in the preceding chapter had +taken place. It so happened that several of the worthy villagers had +determined to remove upon that day; and Colonel Colleton and his family, +consisting of his daughter, Lucy Munro, and his future son-in-law, +having now no further reason for delay, had also chosen it as their day +of departure for Carolina. Nor did the already named constitute the sum +total of the cavalcade setting out for that region. Carolina was about +to receive an accession in the person of the sagacious pedler, who, in a +previous conversation with both Colonel Colleton and Ralph, had made +arrangements for future and large adventures in the way of trade—having +determined, with the advice and assistance of his newly-acquired +friends, to establish one of those wonders of various combinations, +called a country store, among the good people of Sumter district. Under +their direction, and hopeful of the Colleton patronage and influence, +Bunce never troubled himself to dream of unprofitable speculations; but +immediately drawing up letters for his brother and some other of his +kinsmen engaged in the manufacture, in Connecticut, of one kind of +<i>notion</i> or other, he detailed his new designs, and furnished +liberal orders for the articles required and deemed necessary for the +wants of the free-handed backwoodsmen of the South. Lest our readers +should lack any information on the subject of these wants, we shall +narrate a brief dialogue between the younger Colleton and our worthy +merchant, which took place but a few hours before their departure:—</p> + +<p>"Well, Bunce, are you ready? We shall be off now in a +<span class="pagenum">[488]<a name="page488" id="page488"></a></span>couple of +hours or so, and you must not keep us waiting. Pack up at once, man, and +make yourself ready."</p> + +<p>"I guess you're in a little bit of a small hurry, Master Colleton, +'cause, you see, you've some reason to be so. You hain't had so easy a +spell on it, no how, and I don't wonder as how you're no little airnest +to get off. Well, you won't have to wait for me. I've jest got through +mending my little go-cart—though, to be sure, it don't look, no how, +like the thing it was. The rigilators made awful sad work of the box and +body, and, what with patching and piecing, there's no two eends on it +alike."</p> + +<p>"Well, you're ready, however, and we shall have no difficulty at the +last hour?"</p> + +<p>"None to speak on. Jared Bunce aint the chap for burning daylight; and +whenever you're ready to say, 'Go,' he's gone. But, I say, Master Ralph, +there's one little matter I'd like to look at."</p> + +<p>"What's that? Be quick, now, for I've much to see to."</p> + +<p>"Only a minute. Here, you see, is a letter I've jest writ to my brother, +Ichabod Bunce, down to Meriden. He's a 'cute chap, and quite a Yankee, +now, I tell you; and as I knows all his ways, I've got to keep a sharp +look-out to see he don't come over me. Ah, Master Ralph, it's a hard +thing to say one's own flesh and blood aint the thing, but the truth's +the truth to be sure, and, though it does hurt in the telling, that's no +reason it shouldn't be told."</p> + +<p>"Certainly not!"</p> + +<p>"Well, as I say, Ichabod Bunce is as close and 'cute in his dealings as +any man in all Connecticut, and that's no little to say, I'm sartin. +He's got the trick, if anybody's got it, of knowing how to make your +pocket his, and squaring all things coming in by double multiplication. +If he puts a shilling down, it's sure to stick to another; and if he +picks one up, it never comes by itself—there's always sure to be two on +'em."</p> + +<p>"A choice faculty for a tradesman."</p> + +<p>"You've said it."</p> + +<p>"Just the man for business, I take it."</p> + +<p>"Jest so; you're right there, Master Colleton—there's no mistake about +that. Well, as I tell'd you now, though he's my own brother, I have to +keep a raal sharp look out over him in <span class="pagenum">[489]<a name="page489" +id="page489"></a></span>all our dealings. If he +says two and two makes four, I sets to calkilate, for when he says so, +I'm sure there's something wrong in the calkilation; and tho' to be sure +I do know, when the thing stands by itself, that two and two does make +four; yet, somehow, whenever he says it, I begin to think it not +altogether so sartain. Ah, he's a main hand for trade, and there's no +knowing when he'll come over you."</p> + +<p>"But, Bunce, without making morals a party to this question, as you are +in copartnership with your brother, you should rather rejoice that he +possesses so happy a faculty; it certainly should not be a matter of +regret with you."</p> + +<p>"Why, how—you wouldn't have me to be a mean-spirited fellow, who would +live all for money, and not care how it comes. I can't, sir—'tain't my +way, I assure you. I do feel that I wasn't born to live nowhere except +in the South; and so I thought when I wrote Ichabod Bunce my last +letter. I told him every man on his own hook, now—for, you see, I +couldn't stand his close-fisted contrivances no longer. He wanted me to +work round the ring like himself, but I was quite too up-and-down for +that, and so I squared off from him soon as I could. We never did agree +when we were together, you see—'cause naterally, being brothers and +partners, he couldn't shave me as he shaved other folks, and so, 'cause +he couldn't by nature and partnership come 'cute over me, he was always +grumbling, and for every yard of prints, he'd make out to send two yards +of grunt and growls, and that was too much, you know, even for a pedler +to stand; so we cut loose, and now as the people say on the river—every +man paddle his own canoe."</p> + +<p>"And you are now alone in the way of trade, and this store which you are +about to establish is entirely on your own account?"</p> + +<p>"Guess it is; and so, you see, I must pull with single oar up stream, +and shan't quarrel with no friend that helps me now and then to send the +boat ahead."</p> + +<p>"Rely upon us, Bunce. You have done too much in my behalf to permit any +of our family to forget your services. We shall do all that we can +toward giving you a fair start in the stream, and it will not be often +that you shall require a helping-hand in paddling your canoe."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[490]<a name="page490" id="page490"></a></span> +"I know'd it, Master Colleton. 'Tain't in Carolina, nor in +Georgy, nor Virginny, no—nor down in Alabam, that a man will look long +for provisions, and see none come. That's the people for me. I guess I +must ha' been born by nature in the South, though I did see daylight in +Connecticut."</p> + +<p>"No blarney, Bunce. We know you—what you are and what you are +not!—good and bad in fair proportions. But what paper is that in your +hand?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that? That's jest what I was going now to ax you about. That's my +bill of particulars, you see, that I'm going to send on by the post, to +Ichabod Bunce. He'll trade with me, now we're off partnership, and be as +civil as a lawyer jest afore court-time. 'Cause, you see, he'll be +trying to come over me, and will throw as much dust in my eyes as he +can. But I guess he don't catch me with mouth ajar. I know his tricks, +and he'll find me up to them."</p> + +<p>"And what is it you require of me in this matter?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing, but jest to look over this list, and tell me how you +'spose the things will suit your part of the country. You see I must try +and larn how to please my customers, that is to be. Now, you see, +here's, in the first place—for they're a great article now in the +country, and turn out well in the way of sale—here's—"</p> + +<p>But we need not report the catalogue. Enough, that he proceeded to +unfold (dwelling with an emphatic and precise description of each +article in turn) the immense inventory of wares and merchandises with +which he was about to establish. The assortment was various enough. +There were pen-knives, and jack-knives, and clasp-knives, and +dirk-knives, horn and wooden combs, calicoes and clocks, and tin-ware +and garden seeds; everything, indeed, without regard to fitness of +association, which it was possible to sell in the region to which he was +going.</p> + +<p>Ralph heard him through his list with tolerable patience; but when the +pedler, having given it a first reading, proposed a second, with passing +comments on the prospects of sale of each separate article, by way of +recapitulation, the youth could stand it no longer. Apologizing to the +tradesman, therefore in good set terms, he hurried away to the +completion of those preparations <span class="pagenum">[491]<a name="page491" +id="page491"></a></span>called for by his approaching +departure. Bunce, having no auditor, was compelled to do the same; +accordingly a few hours after, the entire party made its appearance in +the court of the village-inn, where the carriages stood in waiting.</p> + +<p>About this time another party left the village, though in a different +direction. It consisted of old Allen, his wife, and daughter Kate. In +their company rode the lawyer Pippin, who, hopeless of elevation in his +present whereabouts, was solicitous of a fairer field for the exhibition +of his powers of law and logic than that which he now left had ever +afforded him. He made but a small item in the caravan. His goods and +chattels required little compression for the purposes of carriage, and a +small <i>Jersey</i>—a light wagon in free use in that section, +contained all his wardrobe, books, papers, &c.—the heirlooms of a long +and carefully economized practice. We may not follow his fortunes after +his removal to the valley of the Mississippi. It does not belong to the +narrative; but, we may surely say to those in whom his appearance may +have provoked some interest, that subsequently he got into fine +practice—was notorious for his stump-speeches; and a random sheet of +the "Republican Star and Banner of Independence" which we now have +before us, published in the town of "Modern Ilium," under the head of +the "Triumph of Liberty and Principle," records, in the most glowing +language, the elevation of Peter Pippin, Esq., to the state legislature, +by seven votes majority over Colonel Hannibal Hopkins, the military +candidate—Pippin 39, Hopkins 32. Such a fortunate result, if we have +rightly estimated the character of the man, will have easily salved over +all the hurts which, in his earlier history, his self-love may have +suffered.</p> + +<p>But the hour of departure was at hand, and assisting the fair Edith into +the carriage, Ralph had the satisfaction of placing her beside the +sweetly sad, the lovely, but still deeply suffering girl, to whom he +owed so much in the preservation of his life. She was silent when he +spoke, but she looked her replies, and he felt that they were +sufficiently expressive. The aunt had been easily persuaded to go with +her niece, and we find her seated accordingly along with Colonel +Colleton in the same carriage with the young ladies. Ralph rode, as his +humor prompted, <span class="pagenum">[492]<a name="page492" id="page492"></a></span> +sometimes on horseback, and sometimes in a light +gig—a practice adopted with little difficulty, where a sufficient +number of servants enabled him to transfer the trust of one or the other +conveyance to the liveried outriders. Then came the compact, boxy, +buggy, buttoned-up vehicle of our friend the pedler—a thing for which +the unfertile character of our language, as yet, has failed to provide a +fitting name—but which the backwoodsman of the west calls a go-cart; a +title which the proprietor does not always esteem significant of its +manifold virtues and accommodations. With a capacious stomach, it is +wisely estimated for all possible purposes; and when opened with a +mysterious but highly becoming solemnity, before the gaping and +wondering woodsman, how "awful fine" do the contents appear to Miss +Nancy and the little whiteheads about her. How grand are its treasures, +of tape and toys, cottons and calicoes, yarn and buttons, spotted silks +and hose—knives and thimbles—scissors and needles—wooden clocks, and +coffee-mills, &c.—not to specify a closely-packed and various +assortment of tin-ware and japan, from the tea-kettle and coffee-pot to +the drinking mug for the pet boy and the shotted rattle for the infant. +A judicious distribution of the two latter, in the way of presents to +the young, and the worthy pedler drives a fine bargain with the parents +in more costly commodities.</p> + +<p>The party was now fairly ready, but, just at the moment of departure, +who should appear in sight but our simple friend, Chub Williams. He had +never been a frequent visiter to the abodes of men, and of course all +things occasioned wonder. He seemed fallen upon some strange planet, and +was only won to attention by the travellers, on hearing the voice of +Lucy Munro calling to him from the carriage window. He could not be made +to understand the meaning of her words when she told him where she was +going, but contented himself with saying he would come for her, as soon +as they built up his house, and she should be his mother. It was for +this purpose he had come to the village, from which, though surprised at +all things he saw, he was anxious to get away. He had been promised, as +we remember, the rebuilding of his cabin, by the men who captured +Rivers; together with sundry other little acquisitions, which, as they +were associated with his animal wants, the <span class="pagenum">[493]<a name="page493" +id="page493"></a></span>memory of the urchin +did not suffer to escape him. Ralph placed in his hands a sum of money, +trifling in itself, but larger in amount than Chub had ever seen at any +one time before; and telling him it was his own, rejoined the party +which had already driven off. The pedler still lingered, until a bend in +the road put his company out of sight; when, driving up to the idiot, +who stood with open mouth wondering at his own wealth, he opened upon +him the preliminaries of trade, with a respectful address, duly +proportioned to the increased finances of the boy.</p> + +<p>"I say, now, Chub—seeing you have the raal grit, if it ain't axing too +much, what do you think to do with all that money? I guess you'd like to +lay out a little on't in the way of trade; and as I ain't particular +where I sell, why, the sooner I begin, I guess, the better. You ain't in +want of nothing, eh? No knife to cut the saplings, and pare the nails, +nor nothing of no kind? Now I has everything from—"</p> + +<p>Bunce threw up the lid of his box, and began to display his wares.</p> + +<p>"There's a knife for you, Chub Williams—only two bits. With that knife +you could open the stone walls of any house, even twice as strong as Guy +Rivers's. And there's a handkerchief for your neck, Chub—Guy'll have to +wear one of rope, my lad: and look at the suspenders, Chub—fit for the +king; and—"</p> + +<p>Where the pedler would have stopped, short of the display and +enumeration of all the wares in his wagon, it is not easy to say, but +for an unexpected interruption. One of the outsiders of the Colleton +party, galloped back at this moment, no other indeed, than our former +acquaintance, the blacky, Cęsar, the fellow whose friendship for Ralph +was such that he was reluctant to get him the steed upon which he left +his uncle's house in dudgeon. Ralph had sent him back to see what +detained the pedler, and to give him help in case of accident.</p> + +<p>Cęsar at once divined the cause of the pedler's delay, as he saw the box +opened, and its gaudy contents displayed before the eyes of the +wondering idiot. He was indignant. The negro of the South has as little +reverence for the Yankee pedler as his master, and Cęsar was not slow to +express the indignation which he felt.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[494]<a name="page494" id="page494"></a></span> +"Ki! Misser Bunce, aint you shame for try for draw de money out +ob the boy pocket, wha' massa gee um?"</p> + +<p>"Why, Cęsar, he kaint eat the money, old fellow, and he kaint wear it; +and he'll have to buy something with it, whenever he wants to use it."</p> + +<p>"But gee um time, Misser Bunce—gee um time! De money aint fair git warm +in de young man pocket. Gee um time! Le' um look 'bout um, and see wha' +he want; and ef you wants to be friendly wid um, gee um somet'ing +youse'f—dat knife burn bright in he eye! Gee um dat, and le's be +moving! Maussa da wait! Ef you's a coming for trade in we country, you +mus' drop de little bizness—'taint 'spectable in Car'lina."</p> + +<p>The pedler was rebuked. He looked first at Cęsar, then at Chub, and +finally handed the boy the knife.</p> + +<p>"You're right. There, Chub, there's a knife for you. You're a good +little fellow, as well as you knows how to be."</p> + +<p>Chub grinned, took the knife, opened both blades, and nodding his head, +made off without a word.</p> + +<p>"The etarnal little heathen! Never to say so much as thank ye."</p> + +<p>"Nebber mind, Misser Bunce; dat's de 'spectable t'ing wha' you do. Always +'member, ef you wants to be gempleman's, dat you kaint take no money +from nigger and poor buckrah. You kin gib um wha' you please, but you +mustn't 'speck dem to be gibbing you."</p> + +<p>"But in the way of <i>trade</i>, Cęsar," said the pedler, putting his +horse in motion.</p> + +<p>"Der's a time for <i>trade</i>, and a time for <i>gib</i>, and you must +do de genteel t'ing, and nebber consider wha's de 'spense of it, or de +profit. De nigger hab he <i>task</i> in de cornfiel', and he hab for do +um; but 'spose maussa wants he nigger to do somet'ing dat aint in he +task—dat's to say in de nigger own time—wha' den? He <i>pays</i> um +han'some for it. When you's a trading, trade and git you pay, but when +you's a trabelling with gemplemans and he family, da's no time for +trade. Ef you open you box at dem times, you must jest put in you hand, +and take out de t'ing wha' you hab for gib, and say, 'Yer +Cęsar—somet'ing for you, boy!'"</p> + +<p>"Hem! that's the how, is it?" said the pedler with a leer +<span class="pagenum">[495]<a name="page495" id="page495"></a></span>that +was good-humoredly knowing. "Well, old fellow, as you've given me quite +a lesson how to behave myself, I guess I must show you that I understand +how to prove that I'm thankful—so here, Cęsar, is a cut for you from +one of my best goods."</p> + +<p>He accompanied the words with a smart stroke of his whip, a totally +unexpected salutation, over the shoulders, which set the negro off in a +canter. Bunce, however, called him back; holding up a flaming +handkerchief of red and orange, as a means of reconciliation. Cęsar was +soon pacified, and the two rode on together in a pleasant companionship, +which suffered no interruptions on the road; Cęsar all the way +continuing to give the pedler a proper idea of the processes through +which he might become a respectable person in Carolina.</p> + +<p>There are still other parties to our story which it is required that we +should dispose of according to the rules of the novel.</p> + +<p>Let us return to the dungeon of the outlaw, where we behold him in a +situation as proper to his deserts as it is new to his experience. +Hitherto, he has gone free of all human bonds and penalties, save that +of exile from society, and a life of continued insecurity. He has never +prepared his mind with resignation to endure patiently such a condition. +What an intellect was here allowed to go to waste—what fine talents +have been perverted in this man. Endowments that might have done the +country honor, have been made to minister only in its mischiefs.</p> + +<p>How sad a subject for contemplation! The wreck of intellect, of genius, +of humanity. Fortunate for mankind, if, under the decree of a saving and +blessing Providence, there be no dark void on earth—when one bright +star falls from its sphere, if there is another soon lighted to fill its +place, and to shine more purely than that which has been lost. May we +not believe this—nay, we must, and exult, on behalf of humanity—that, +in the eternal progress of change, the nature which is its aliment no +less than its element, restores not less than its destiny removes. Yet, +the knowledge that we lose not, does not materially lessen the pang when +we behold the mighty fall—when we see the great mind, which, as a star, +we have almost worshipped, shooting with headlong precipitance through +the immense void from its place of eminence, and defrauding the +<span class="pagenum">[496]<a name="page496" id="page496"></a></span> +eye of all the glorious presence and golden promise which had become +associated with its survey.</p> + +<p>The intellect of Guy Rivers had been gigantic—the mistake—a mistake +quite too common to society—consisted in an education limited entirely +to the mind, and entirely neglectful of the <i>morale</i> of the boy. He +was taught, like thousands of others; and the standards set up for his +moral government, for his passions, for his emotions, were all false +from the first. The capacities of his mind were good as well as +great—but they had been restrained, while the passions had all been +brought into active, and at length ungovernable exercise. How was it +possible that reason, thus taught to be subordinate, could hold the +strife long, when passion—fierce passion—the passion of the querulous +infant, and the peevish boy, only to be bribed to its duty by the toy +and the sugarplum—is its uncompromising antagonist?</p> + +<p>But let us visit him in his dungeon—the dungeon so lately the abode of +his originally destined, but now happily safe victim. What philosophy is +there to support <i>him</i> in <i>his</i> reverse—what consolation of +faith, or of reflection, the natural result of the due performance of +human duties? none! Every thought was self-reproachful. Every feeling +was of self-rebuke and mortification. Every dream was a haunting one of +terror, merged for ever in the deep midnight cry of a fateful voice +which bade him despair. "Curse God and die!"</p> + +<p>In respect to his human fortunes, the voice was utterly without pity. He +had summed up for himself, as calmly as possible, all his chances of +escape. There was no hope left him. No sunlight, human or divine, +penetrated the crevices of his dungeon, as in the case of Ralph +Colleton, cheering him with promise, and lifting his soul with faith and +resignation. Strong and self-relying as was his mind by nature, he yet +lacked all that strength of soul which had sustained Ralph even when +there seemed no possible escape from the danger which threatened his +life. But Guy Rivers was not capable of receiving light or warmth from +the simple aspects of nature. His soul, indurated by crime, was as +insusceptible to the soothing influence of such aspects, as the cold +rocky cavern where he had harbored, was impenetrable to the noonday +blaze. The sun-glance <span class="pagenum">[497]<a name="page497" +id="page497"></a></span>through the barred lattice, suddenly +stealing, like a friendly messenger, with a sweet and mellow smile upon +his lips, was nailed as an angelic visiter, by the enthusiastic nature +of the one, without guile in his own heart. Rivers would have regarded +such a visiter as an intruder; the smile in his eyes would have been a +sneer, and he would have turned away from it in disgust. The mind of the +strong man is the medium through which the eyes see, and from which life +takes all its color. The heart is the prismatic conductor, through which +the affections show; and that which is seared, or steeled, or +ossified—perverted utterly from its original make—can exhibit no +rainbows—no arches of a sweet promise, linking the gloomy earth with +the bright and the beautiful and the eternal heavens.</p> + +<p>The mind of Guy Rivers had been one of the strongest make—one of large +and leading tendencies. He could not have been one of the mere ciphers +of society. He must be something, or he must perish. His spirit would +have fed upon his heart otherwise, and, wanting a field and due +employment, his frame must have worn away in the morbid repinings of its +governing principles. Unhappily, he had not been permitted a choice. The +education of his youth had given a fatal direction to his manhood; and +we find him, accordingly, not satisfied with his pursuit, yet resolutely +inflexible and undeviating in the pursuit of error. Such are the +contradictions of the strong mind, to which, wondering as we gaze, with +unreasonable and unthinking astonishment, we daily see it subject. Our +philosophers are content with declaiming upon effects—they will not +permit themselves or others to trace them up to their causes. To heal +the wound, the physician may probe and find out its depth and extent; +the same privilege is not often conceded to the physician of the mind or +of the morals, else numberless diseases, now seemingly incurable, had +been long since brought within the healing scope of philosophical +analysis. The popular cant would have us forbear even to look at the +history of the criminal. Hang the wretch, say they, but say nothing +about him. Why trace his progress?—what good can come out of the +knowledge of those influences and tendencies, which have made him a +criminal? Let them answer the question for themselves!</p> + +<p>The outlaw beheld the departing cavalcade of the Colletons +<span class="pagenum">[498]<a name="page498" id="page498"></a></span>from +the grated window. He saw the last of all those in whose fortunes he +might be supposed to have an interest. He turned from the sight with a +bitter pang at his heart, and, to his surprise, discovered that he was +not alone in the solitude of his prison. One ministering spirit sat +beside him upon the long bench, the only article of furniture afforded +to his dungeon.</p> + +<p>The reader has not forgotten the young woman to whose relief, from fire, +Ralph Colleton so opportunely came while making his escape from his +pursuers. We remember the resignation—the yielding weakness of her +broken spirit to the will of her destroyer. We have seen her left +desolate by the death of her only relative, and only not utterly +discarded by him, to whose fatal influence over her heart, at an earlier +period, we may ascribe all her desolation. She then yielded without a +struggle to his will, and, having prepared her a new abiding-place, he +had not seen her after, until, unannounced and utterly unlooked-for, +certainly uninvited, she appeared before him in the cell of his dungeon.</p> + +<p>Certainly, none are utterly forgotten! There are some who remember—some +who feel with the sufferer, however lowly in his suffering—some who can +not forget. No one perishes without a tearful memory becoming active +when informed of his fate; and, though the world scorns and despises, +some one heart keeps a warm sympathy, that gives a sigh over the ruin of +a soul, and perhaps plants a flower upon its grave.</p> + +<p>Rivers had not surely looked to see, in his dungeon, the forsaken and +the defrauded girl, for whom he had shown so little love. He knew not, +at first, how to receive her. What offices could she do for him—what +influence exercise—how lighten the burden of his doom—how release him +from his chains? Nothing of this could she perform—and what did she +there? For sympathy, at such a moment, he cared little for such +sympathy, at least, as he could command. His pride and ambition, +heretofore, had led him to despise and undervalue the easy of +attainment. He was always grasping after the impossible. The fame which +he had lost for ever, grew doubly attractive to his mind's eye from the +knowledge of this fact. The society, which had expelled him from its +circle and its privileges, was an Eden in his imagination, simply on +that account. The <span class="pagenum">[499]<a name="page499" id="page499"></a></span> +love of Edith Colleton grew more desirable +from her scorn;—and the defeat of hopes so daring, made his fierce +spirit writhe within him, in all the pangs of disappointment, only +neutralized by his hope of revenge. And that hope was now gone; the +dungeon and the doom were all that met his eyes;—and what had she, his +victim, to do in his prison-cell, and with his prison feelings—she whom +Providence, even in her own despite, was now about to avenge? No wonder +he turned away from her in the bitterness of the thought which her +appearance must necessarily have inspired.</p> + +<p>"Turn not away!—speak to me, Guy—speak to me, if you have pity in your +soul! You shall not drive me from you—you shall not dismiss me now. I +should have obeyed you at another time, though you had sent me to my +death—but I can not obey you now. I am strong now, strong—very strong +since I can say so much. I am come to be with you to the last, and, if +it be possible, to die with you; and you shall not refuse me. You shall +not—oh, you will not—you can not—"</p> + +<p>And, as she spoke, she clung to him as one pleading herself for life to +the unrelenting executioner. He replied, in a sarcasm, true to his +general course of life.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Ellen! your revenge for your wrongs would not be well complete, +unless your own eyes witnessed it; and you insist upon the privilege as +if you duly estimated the luxury. Well!—you may stay. It needed but +this, if anything had been needed, to show me my own impotence."</p> + +<p>"Cruel to the last, Guy—cruel to the last! Surely the few hours between +this and that of death, are too precious to be employed in bitterness. +Were not prayer better—if you will not pray, Guy, let me. My prayer +shall be for you; and, in the forgiveness which my heart shall truly +send to my lips for the wrongs you have done to me and mine, I shall not +altogether despair, so that you join with me, of winning a forgiveness +far more important and precious! Guy, will you join me in prayer?"</p> + +<p>"My knees are stiff, Ellen. I have not been taught to kneel."</p> + +<p>"But it is not too late to learn. Bend, bow with me, Guy—if you have +ever loved the poor Ellen, bow with her now. It is +<span class="pagenum">[500]<a name="page500" id="page500"></a></span>her prayer; +and, oh, think, how weak is the vanity of this pride in a situation like +yours. How idle the stern and stubborn spirit, when men can place you in +bonds—when men can take away life and name—when men can hoot and hiss +and defile your fettered and enfeebled person! It was for a season and a +trial like this, Guy, that humility was given us. It was in order to +such an example that the Savior died for us."</p> + +<p>"He died not for me. I have gained nothing by his death. Men are as bad +as ever, and wrong—the wrong which deprived me of my right in +society—has been as active and prevailing a principle of human action +as before he died. It is in his name now that they do the wrong, and in +his name, since his death, they have contrived to find a sanction for +all manner of crime. Speak no more of this, Ellen; you know nothing +about it. It is all folly."</p> + +<p>"To you, Guy, it may be. To the wise all things are foolish. But to the +humble heart there is a truth, even in what are thought follies, which +brings us the best of teachings. That is no folly which keeps down, in +the even posture of humility, the spirit which circumstances would only +bind and crush in every effort to rise. That is no folly which prepares +us for reverses, and fortifies us against change and vicissitude. That +is no folly which takes away the sting from affliction—which has kept +me, Guy, as once before you said, from driving a knife into your heart, +while it lay beating against the one to which yours had brought all +manner of affliction. Oh, believe me, the faith and the feeling and the +hope, not less than the fear, which has made me what I am now—which has +taught me to rely only on the one—which has made me independent of all +things and all loves—ay, even of yours, when I refer to it—is no idle +folly. It is the only medicine by which the soul may live. It is that +which I bring to you now. Hear me, then—Guy, hear the prayer of the +poor Ellen, who surely has some right to be heard by you. Kneel for me, +and with me, on this dungeon floor, and pray—only pray."</p> + +<p>"And what should I pray for, and what should I say—and whom should I +curse?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, curse none!—say anything you please, so that it have the form of a +prayer. Say, though but a single sentence, but say it in the spirit +which is right."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[501]<a name="page501" id="page501"></a></span>"Say what?"</p> + +<p>"Say—'the Lord's will be done,' if nothing more; but say it in the true +feeling—the feeling of humble reliance upon God."</p> + +<p>"And wherefore say this? His will must be done, and will be done, +whether I say it or not. This is all idle—very idle—and to my mind +excessively ridiculous, Ellen."</p> + +<p>"Not so, Guy, as your own sense will inform you. True, his will must be +done; but there is a vast difference between desiring that it be done, +and in endeavoring to resist its doing. It is one thing to pray that his +will have its way without stop, but quite another to have a vain wish in +one's heart to arrest its progress. But I am a poor scholar, and have no +words to prove this to your mind, if you are not willing to think upon +the subject. If the danger is not great enough in your thought—if the +happiness of that hope of immortality be not sufficiently impressive to +you—how can I make it seem different? The great misfortune of the +learned and the wise is, that they will not regard the necessity. If +they did—if they could be less self-confident—how much more readily +would all these lights from God shine out to them, than to us who want +the far sense so quickly to perceive and to trace them out in the thick +darkness. But it is my prayer, Guy, that you kneel with me in prayer; +that you implore the feeling of preparedness for all chances which can +only come from Heaven. Do this for me, Guy—Guy, my beloved—the +destroyer of my youth, of all my hope, and of all of mine, making me the +poor destitute and outcast that you find me now—do this one, one small +kindness for the poor Ellen you have so much wronged, and she forgives +you all. I have no other prayer than this—I have no other wish in +life."</p> + +<p>As she spoke, she threw herself before him, and clasped his knees firmly +with her hands. He lifted her gently from the floor, and for a few +moments maintained her in silence in his arms. At length, releasing her +from his grasp, and placing her upon the bench, on which, until that +moment, he had continued to sit, he replied:—</p> + +<p>"The prayer is small—very small, Ellen—which you make, and I know no +good reason why I should not grant it. I have been to you all that you +describe me. You have called me <span class="pagenum">[502]<a name="page502" +id="page502"></a></span>truly your destroyer, and the +forgiveness you promise in return for this prayer is desirable even to +one so callous as myself. I will do as you require."</p> + +<p>"Oh, will you? then I shall be so happy!—" was her exclamation of +rejoicing. He replied gravely—</p> + +<p>"We shall see. I will, Ellen, do as you require, but you must turn away +your eyes—go to the window and look out. I would not be seen in such a +position, nor while uttering such a prayer."</p> + +<p>"Oh, be not ashamed, Guy Rivers. Give over that false sentiment of pride +which is now a weakness. Be the man, the—"</p> + +<p>"Be content, Ellen, with my terms. Either as I please, or not at all. Go +to the window."</p> + +<p>She did as he directed, and a few moments had elapsed only when he +called her to him. He had resumed his seat upon the bench, and his +features were singularly composed and quiet.</p> + +<p>"I have done something more than you required, Ellen, for which you will +also have to forgive me. Give me your hand, now."</p> + +<p>She did so, and he placed it upon his bosom, which was now streaming +with his blood! He had taken the momentary opportunity afforded him by +her absence at the window to stab himself to the heart with a penknife +which he had contrived to conceal upon his person. Horror-struck, the +affrighted woman would have called out for assistance, but, seizing her +by the wrist, he sternly stayed her speech and action.</p> + +<p>"Not for your life, Ellen—not for your life! It is all useless. I first +carefully felt for the beatings of my heart, and then struck where they +were strongest. The stream flows now which will soon cease to flow, and +but one thing can stop it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, what is that, Guy?—let me—"</p> + +<p>"Death—which is at hand! Now, Ellen, do you forgive me? I ask no +forgiveness from others."</p> + +<p>"From my heart I do, believe me."</p> + +<p>"It is well. I am weak. Let me place my head upon your bosom. It is some +time, Ellen, since it has been there. How wildly does it struggle! Pray, +Ellen, that it beat not long. It has a sad office! Now—lips—give me +your lips, Ellen. You have forgiven me—all—everything?"</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[503]<a name="page503" id="page503"></a></span>"All, all!"</p> + +<p>"It grows dark—but I care not. Yet, throw open the window—I will not +rest—I will pursue! He shall not escape me!—Edith—Edith!" He was +silent, and sunk away from her embrace upon the floor. In the last +moment his mind had wandered to the scene in which, but an hour before, +he had witnessed the departure of Edith with his rival, Colleton.</p> + +<p>The jailer, alarmed by the first fearful cry of Ellen succeeding this +event, rushed with his assistants into the cell, but too late. The +spirit had departed; and they found but the now silent mourner, with +folded arms, and a countenance that had in it volumes of unutterable wo, +bending over the inanimate form of one whose life and misnamed love had +been the bane of hers.</p> + +<br /> + +<div class="center">THE END.</div> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia +by William Gilmore Simms + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GUY RIVERS: A TALE OF GEORGIA *** + +***** This file should be named 16303-h.htm or 16303-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/0/16303/ + +Produced by Charles Aldarondo, Keren Vergon, Lynn Bornath +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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