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diff --git a/16303.txt b/16303.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c2ce8a --- /dev/null +++ b/16303.txt @@ -0,0 +1,18986 @@ +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: ASCII + +*** 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 + + + + + + +[Illustration: Frontispiece.] + + + + +GUY RIVERS: + +A TALE OF GEORGIA. + + +BY W. GILMORE SIMMS, + +AUTHOR OF "THE YEMASSEE," "THE PARTISAN," "MELLICHAMPE," +"KATHARINE WALTON," "THE SCOUT," "WOODCRAFT," ETC. + + + + "Who wants + A sequel may read on. Th' unvarnished tale + That follows will supply the place of one." + + ROGERS' _Italy_. + + + +New and Revised Edition. + + +CHICAGO: +DONOHUE, HENNEBERRY & CO. +407-425 DEARBORN STREET + +1890 + + + + +PRINTED AND BOUND BY +DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY +CHICAGO. + + + + +GUY RIVERS + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE STERILE PROSPECT AND THE LONELY TRAVELLER. + + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 clambering up the lofty summit as if in full possession of +the winged vigor and impulse of twenty-five. + +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 _heft_. 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 _tout ensemble_ constituted a fine specimen of +masculine beauty, significant at once of character and intelligence. + +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 +_impedimenta_; and to those accustomed only to the modes of travel in a +more settled and civilized country--with bag and baggage--the traveller +might 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. + +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. + +It may be well, in order to the omission of nothing hereafter important, +to add that he seems well bred to the _manege_--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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"Old Blucher," he said, addressing his horse, and speaking in clear +silvery tones--"what have you done, old fellow? Whither have you brought +us?" + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ENCOUNTER--THE CHEVALIER D'INDUSTRIE. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Curious and anxious, our traveller patted the neck of the beast +affectionately, and, in low tones, endeavored to soothe his +apprehensions: + +"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." + +Blucher pricked up his ears at the tones, however subdued, 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. + +"Quiet, beast! what do you see?" + +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. + +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-- + +"You scare my horse, sir. Will it please you to give us the road?" + +"Give you the road?--Oh! yes! when you have paid the toll, young +master!" + +The manner of the man was full of insolence, and the blood, in a moment, +rushed to the cheeks of the youth. He divined, 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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Toll! You ask toll of me! By what right, sir, and for whom do you +require it?" + +"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." + +The reply betrayed some intelligence as well as insolence. Our traveller +could not withhold the retort. + +"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." + +"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." + +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, with his growing consciousness of +annoyance and danger. He answered the stranger in a vein not unlike his +own. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"By what right do you ask the question?" was the hurried and +unhesitating response. "You are impertinent!" + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"Your question is quickly answered. You have heard of the Pony +Club--have you not?" + +"I must confess my utter ignorance of such an institution. I have never +heard even the name before." + +"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 _pas-time_." + +And the ruffian chuckled in a half-covert manner at his own pun. + +"Truly, a well-conceived sort of sovereignty, and doubtless sufficiently +well served, if I may infer from the representative before me. You must +do a large business in this way, most worthy sir." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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 to conform quietly to all my requisitions, and yield the +toll-keeper his dues." + +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. + +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 _romanticist_, 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:-- + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"I am less willing to separate than yourself from good company, gentle +youth, as you may perceive; since I so carefully 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." + +"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." + +"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 _me_, 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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +YOUNG LOVE--THE RETROSPECT. + + +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. + +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 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. + +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, 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 _hauteur_ 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +The separation of the son from the father, however beneficial it might +be to the former in certain respects of education, 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! + +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 passionate. The +bruises of his heart had brought the energies of his mind to their more +active uses. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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! + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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-- + +"Edith, my sweet Edith, how unhappy that book has made me!" + +"How so, Ralph--why should it make you unhappy?" + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"I know what you would say, and my heart thanks you for it, as if its +very life depended upon the utterance. You would 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--_my_ Edith, if you will so let me call you." + +Her hand rested on his assuringly, with a gentle pressure. He +continued-- + +"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?" + +The blush of a first consciousness came over the cheek of the maiden, as +she withdrew her hand from his passionate clasp. + +"Ah! I see already," he exclaimed: "you too have learned the lesson. And +is it thus--and we are to be happy no longer!" + +"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. + +"Hear me, Edith--but a word--a single word. I love you, believe me, dear +Edith, I love you." + +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-- + +"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!" + +"_Cousin_ Ralph--_Cousin_ Ralph!" exclaimed the youth with something of +his former impetuosity, emphasizing ironically as he spoke the +unfortunate family epithet--"Ah, Edith, you _will not_ 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 _will not_ call you +again--but as--as--" + +"As what?" + +"As my _wife_, Edith--as my own, own wife!" + +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. + +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:-- + +"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?" + +"Never, oh never, Ralph! Speak no more, I beseech you, in such language. +You do me wrong in this--I have no such 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." + +"If I wish! Ah! dear Edith, you are mine, and I am yours! The world +shall not pass between us." + +She murmured-- + +"Yours, Ralph, yours only!" + +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. + +Here was a catastrophe! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A RUPTURE--THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE. + + +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. + +Poor Edith had a keener sense of the nature of the case. 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. + +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. + +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. + +"Oh, father!"--the exclamation was barely murmured. + +"Go!" was the sole answer, with the finger still uplift. + +In silence, she glided away; not, however, without stealing a fond and +assuring glance at her lover. + +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 was still a +lurking desire in his mind, to demand an explanation of those +supercilious glances which had so offended him. + +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. + +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. + +"What am I to understand from this, young man?" + +"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!" + +"Indeed! And how long is it, I pray, since you have made this +discovery?" + +This was said with a dry tone, and hard, contemptuous manner. The youth +strove honestly to keep down his blood. + +"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." + +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. + +"And with what reason, Ralph Colleton, do you suppose that I will +sanction an alliance between you and my daughter? Upon what, I pray you, +do you ground your pretensions to the hand of Edith Colleton?" + +Such was the haughty interrogation. Ralph was confounded. + +"My pretensions, sir?--The hand of Edith!--Do I hear you right, uncle? +Do you really mean what you say?" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"You are bold, Ralph, and seem to have forgotten that you are yet but a +mere boy. You forget your years and mine." + +"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. + +"Ralph, you have forgotten much, or have yet to be taught many things. +You may not have violated confidence, but--" + +"I _have not_ 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." + +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. + +"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 of those pretensions which should prompt +your claim to the hand of Edith." + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"If you mean, Ralph, by this sarcasm, that my considerations are those +of wealth, you mistake me much. The man 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." + +"And when I have obtained admission to the practice of the law, do you +say that Edith shall be mine?" + +"Nay, Ralph, you again mistake me. I only say, it will be then time +enough to consider the matter." + +"Uncle, this will not do for me. Either you sanction, or you do not. You +mean something by that word _pretensions_ which I am yet to understand; +my name is Colleton, like your own, and--" + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +Colonel Colleton proceeded as if the last speech had not been uttered. + +"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." + +"What means all this, sir? Speak, relieve me at once, Colonel Colleton. +What know you of my mother?" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. Caesar was a favorite with +the youth, and he had no difficulty in making himself understood. The +worthy black was thunderstruck with his determination. + +"Ky! Mass Ralph, how you talk! what for you go dis time o'night? What +for you go 'tall?" + +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. + +"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." + +"No, Caesar, you are not mine; you belong to your young mistress. You +must stay and wait upon her." + +"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!" + +The eye of the youth danced with a playful light, as if a new thought, +and not a disagreeable one, had suddenly broken in 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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MARK FORRESTER--THE GOLD VILLAGE. + + +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. + +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 ingenuity and in stanzas smartly +epigrammatic, did not hesitate to assign the preference to the former. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 _tout ensemble_ 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 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 _outre_, 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. + +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 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. + +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 _olla-podrida_ 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-_seeking_, 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 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 _dernier_ resort. + +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. + +But, of whatever stuff the _morale_ 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. + +The issue of these conflicts, as may be imagined, was 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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"They're poking fun at some poor devil, that don't quite see what +they're after." + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CODE AND PRACTICE OF THE REGULATORS. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Well, squire, did you ever see a live Yankee?" + +The youth smiled, answering affirmatively. + +"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 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 +_cutting dirt_ [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 _scores_ ag'in old scores, laid on +with the smartest hickories in natur'." + +"And who are the regulators?" asked the youth, languidly. + +"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." + +"Sharp justice! and which of these punishments will they be likely to +bestow upon the Yankee?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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 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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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 _ad libitum_ 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. + +"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 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." + +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 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 _ab +ovo_, 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:-- + +"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 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?" + +"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." + +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:-- + +"Jared Bunce--is that your name?" + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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. 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." + +"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!" + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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 wrath, he waited +impatiently the signal for the wild mischief which he knew would come. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"Well, lawyer, I guess you must have travelled pretty considerable down +east in your time and among my people, for you do seem to know all about +the matter jest as well and something better than myself." + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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:-- + +"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." + +"But why not trade now, Bunce?--what's to hinder us now? I sha'n't be in +the village after Monday." + +"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." + +"Yes, and live on the best for a week, under some pretence 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!" + +"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." + +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. + +"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 _rether_ 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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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--" + +"No, thank ye. I want none of your company--and, look 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." + +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 _ad captandum_ 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. + +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. 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. + +"The key, Bunce, the key!" was the demand of a dozen. + +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. + +"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, 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 _regilators_, +who have been on the look-out for his tracks for the last half year? +Now, if these things an't _desarving_ 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?" + +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. + +"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 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." + +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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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 _regulators_. 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. + +"Hurrah!" + +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. + +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, +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 _regulators_ 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 + + "Did you ever, ever, ever!"-- + +and there was a brief pause, at the end of which the crowd joined in +with unanimous burst and tremendous force of lungs:-- + + "Did you ever, ever, ever, in your life ride a rail? + Such a deal of pleasure's in it, that you never can refuse! + You are mounted on strong shoulders, that'll never, never fail, + Though you pray'd with tongue of sinner, just to plant you + where they choose. + Though the brier patch is nigh you, looking up with thorny faces, + They never wait to see how you like the situation, + But down you go a rolling, through the penetrating places, + Nor scramble out until you give the cry of approbation. + Oh! pleasant is the riding, highly-seated on the rail, + And worthy of the wooden horse, the rascal that we ride; + Let us see the mighty shoulders that will never, never fail. + To lift him high, and plant him, on the crooked rail astride. + The seven-sided pine rail, the pleasant bed of briar, + The little touch of hickory law, with a dipping in the mire. + + "Did you ever, ever, ever," &c., + +from the troupe in full blast! + +The lawyer Pippin suddenly stood beside the despairing pedler, as this +ominous ditty was poured upon the night-winds. + +"Do you hear that song, Bunce?" he asked. "How do you like the music?" + +The pedler looked in his face with a mixed expression of grief, anger, +and stupidity, but he said nothing. + +"Hark ye, Bunce," continued the lawyer. "Do you know what that means? +Does your brain take in its meaning, my friend?" + +"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." + +"Ruined by me! Pshaw, Bunce, you are a fool. I was your friend all the +time." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Save me!" + +"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." + +"You, lawyer? well, I should like to know how you calkilate to do that?" + +"I'll tell you. You know my profession." + +"I guess I do, pretty much." + +"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?" + +"Well, I guess they might be worth something over three hundred and +twenty dollars and six shillings, York money." + +"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?" + +"On t'other side of the house--what they've left on it." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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!" + +"No matter, till I see you. Put your nag in gears quickly--you have +little time to spare!" + +The pedler proceeded to the work, and was in a little while ready for a +start. But he lingered at the porch. + +"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." + +"Bunce, you have been rather sly in your dealings, and they 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." + +"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." + +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. + +"Why, man, I thought you were off. You burn daylight; though they do +say, those whom water won't drown, rope must hang." + +"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. + +"Begone, fool!" exclaimed the lawyer, impatiently. "They are upon +you--they come--fly for your life, you dog--I hear their voices." + +"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. + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE YANKEE OUTWITS THE LAWYER. + + +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. + +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 little iron-hooped keg, perched upon a shelf conveniently in the +corner. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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." + +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 "_in vino veritas_" of the proverb. + +Things were in this condition when the company found 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 _bon-vivant_, 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. + +"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?" + +The terrified urchin retreated a few paces while answering the inquiry. + +"No, mass lawyer--de pedler--da him gib um to me so. I bring um straight +as he gib um." + +"The pedler! why, where is he?--what the devil can he have to write +about?" was the universal exclamation. + +"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-- + +"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." + +Cuffee was gone on his mission--and the whole assembly 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:-- + + "DEAR LAWYER: I guess I am pretty safe now from the _regilators_, + 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 a sore chance for me in the hands of them savages + and beasts of prey. + + "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. + + "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 + + "Your very humble sarvant + "to command, &c." + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +NEW FRIENDS IN STRANGE PLACES. + + +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. + +"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 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 +'_man_' 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." + +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. + +"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 a +little bet that old Ralph Colleton is some kin of your'n. You're both of +the same stock, I reckon." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +The youth seemed studiously desirous of changing the direction of the +dialogue. + +"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 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." + +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. + +"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." + +"You are now then about thirty-two?" + +"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." + +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 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. + +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 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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Left Carolina for good and all, heh?" + +"Yes--perhaps for ever. But we will not talk of it." + +"Well, you're in a wild world now, 'squire." + +"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 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." + +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 +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. + +"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." + +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; 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. + +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:-- + +"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." + +Ralph Colleton good humoredly assured him that could not the case, and +with friendly gripe of the hand, they parted. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MORE OF THE DRAMATIS PERSONAE. + + +In a few days, so much for the proper nursing of Mark Forrester, and of +the _soi-disant medico_ of the village, Ralph Colleton was able to make +his appearance below, and take his place among the _habitues_ 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 _impatient_, +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, _Johnny_, 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. + +The table was not large, and the seats were soon occupied. Villager +after villager had made his appearance and taken his place without +calling for observation; and, indeed, so busily were all employed, that +he who should have made his _entree_ 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. + +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-- + +"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. + +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. + +Rivers, immediately after this by-play, left the apartment. 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. + +"Find you not this place lonesome, Miss Munro? You have been used, or I +mistake much, to a more cheering, a more civilized region." + +"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." + +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-- + +"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." + +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-- + +"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." + +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. + +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 he approached him with this object the latter +hastily left the passage. + +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. + +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 meant to warm, which, from the liberal fires of the +pine woods, might have proved unfavorable to the protracted existence of +either. + +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." + +But the night had now closed in, and coffee was in progress. Ralph took +his seat with the rest of the lodgers, though without 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:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"She is an orphan, then?" + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"You are not the only one, 'squire, that's afraid of Guy Rivers." + +"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." + +"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 together at all times, I believe. He has money, and +knows how to spend it. Where he gets it is quite another thing." + +"What can be the source of the intimacy between himself and Munro? Is he +interested in the hotel?" + +"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." + +"She will not have him, then, you think?" + +"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." + +"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!" + +"'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 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." + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE BLACK DOG. + + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"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. + +"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." + +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-- + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Oh, ay--it wouldn't be lawyer-like, if you hadn't a reason for +everything, however unreasonable," was the retort. + +"Perhaps not, Munro; but this is not the matter now. Our 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." + +"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." + +"I am sure--I do not mistake." + +"Well, I'm not; and I should like to hear what it is you know him by?" + +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:-- + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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. How long is it, Guy, since you have become so +particularly solicitous of beauty, so proud of your face and features?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"How should he?" retorted the other. "The better part of valor saved you +from all risk of danger or discovery alike; but 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." + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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--" + +"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: + +"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:-- + +"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." + +"Oh, it's you, Guy Rivers--and you here too, Munro, 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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"A troublesome fool, who is disposed to be insolent," said Rivers, after +Forrester's departure. + +"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!" + +The dialogue between the original parties was resumed. + +"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." + +"Why, what do you drive at, Guy. What would you do--what should be +done?" + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Pshaw! you are growing old and timid since this adventure. You begin to +doubt your own powers of defence. You find 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." + +"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?" + +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-- + +"What do you think to do, Guy--what recompense would you seek to +have--what would satisfy you?" + +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, + +"His blood--his blood!" + +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:-- + +"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?" + +"He does, Guy--but it must not be! I must not risk all for 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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"For my good?" replied the other, with an inquiring sneer. + +"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." + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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 +thrown up, and a soft and plaintive voice, accompanying the wandering +and broken strains of a guitar, rose sweetly into song upon the ear. + +"'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." + +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:-- + + LUCY'S SONG. + + I. + + "I met thy glance of scorn, + And then my anguish slept, + But, when the crowd was gone, + I turned away and wept. + + II. + + "I could not bear the frown + Of one who thus could move, + And feel that all my fault, + Was only too much love. + + III. + + "I ask not if thy heart + Hath aught for mine in store, + Yet, let me love thee still, + If thou canst yield no more. + + IV. + + "Let me unchidden gaze, + Still, on the heaven I see, + Though all its happy rays + Be still denied to me." + +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 remain long at the window; in a +little while the song ceased, and the light was withdrawn from the +apartment. The musician had retired. + +"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." + +The person addressed started from his stupor, and, as if utterly +unconscious of what had been going on, _ad interim_, 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:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 make among the +crop-haired, Munro! what a brand from the burning!" + +"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." + +"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." + +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-- + +"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?" + +"I owe it to you, Guy--how?" + +"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 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 _you_! 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!" + +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:-- + +"You have spoken but the truth, Guy, and anything that I can do--" + +"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?" + +"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 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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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 _here_. 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." + +"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?" + +"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. + +"And how, if he speaks out, and you have no chance either to stop his +mouth or to run for it?" + +"Who'll believe him, think you?--where's the proof? Do you mean to +confess for both of us at the first question?" + +"True--," said Rivers, "there would be a difficulty in conviction, but +his oath would put us into some trouble." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +The landlord looked incredulous as he replied--"Some more deviltry: I +will take a bet that the cross-roads see you in an hour." + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FOREST PREACHING. + + +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. + +The woodman, as one of this class, was full of glee, and promised Ralph +an intellectual treat; for Parson Witter, the preacher 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 +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. + +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 _trace_, to the place of +meeting and prayer. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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. + +"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 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." + +"Your opinion of him will certainly not diminish my attention, I assure +you, to what he says," was the reply. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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-- + +"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." + +"Why, what did he to you?" + +"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." + +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 unassuming in its dictates, +mild in its requisitions, and of a style and temper the most soothing +and persuasive! + +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 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. + +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 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:-- + + "SHEPHERD'S HYMN" + + "Oh, when I rove the desert waste, and 'neath the hot sun pant, + The Lord shall be my shepherd then--he will not let me want-- + He'll lead me where the pastures are of soft and shady green, + And where the gentle waters rove the quiet hills between. + + "And when the savage shall pursue, and in his grasp I sink, + He will prepare the feast for me, and bring the cooling drink-- + And save me harmless from his hands, and strengthen me in toil, + And bless my home and cottage-lands, and crown my head with oil. + + "With such a Shepherd to protect--to guide and guard me still, + And bless my heart with every good, and keep from every ill-- + Surely I shall not turn aside, and scorn his kindly care, + But keep the path he points me out, and dwell for ever there." + +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 rose and carried him out. He was followed by Rivers, who had +been sitting beside him. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +TROUBLE AMONG THE TRESPASSERS. + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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 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." + +"And they are now in possession of your lands?" + +"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." + +"And what do you propose to do?" asked Ralph, of his informant. + +"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." + +"And when do you move, Forrester?" + +"Now, directly--this very minute. The boys have just sent for some more +powder, and are putting things in readiness for a brush." + +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. + +"I'll ride with you, Forrester, and see what's going on." + +"And stand up with us, 'squire, and join in the scuffle?" inquired his +companion. + +"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." + +"You will take your arms with you, I suppose. You can lend them to those +who fight, though you make no use of them yourself." + +"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." + +"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." + +"It is for this reason, not less than others, that I would carry and not +lend my arms." + +"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." + +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-- + +"Do you, sir--does Mr. Colleton go with this party?" + +"I do; the circumstance are all so novel, and I am curious to see as +much of manners and events foreign to those to which I have been +accustomed, as may be practicable." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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 took his place in the rear of the now rapidly advancing cavalcade. + +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 +_en masse_, 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. + +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. + +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 _for life_, and the ousted party, conscious of the fact, +prepared for the _dernier_ 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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"That's true, friend George, I must say that for you, were I to have to +put it on your tombstone." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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. + +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 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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"If you mean to persuade yourself, George, that we shall do no more than +_talk_ for our lands and improvements, you are likely to suffer +something for your mistake." + +"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?" + +A hearty laugh, and cries in the negative, followed this somewhat +technical retort and reply of the speaker--since, in trespass, according +to the received forms of law, the first duty of the plaintiff is to +establish his own title. + +"Then, George, you are absolutely bent on having us show our title? You +won't deliver up peaceably, and do justice?" + +"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. + +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. + +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:-- + +"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, 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?" + +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. + +"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?" + +The question was one rather of command than solicitation, but the manner +of the speaker was sufficiently deferential. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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 + +"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 _them_ +in whole bones, at least, if nobody else." + +A laugh of bitter scorn followed the remark of Munro, as the party went +on its way. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +[Transcriber's note: The following chapter was misnumbered in the +original book. It is actually Chapter XIII.] + +CHAPTER IX. + +NEW PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT. + + +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. + +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 _en +masse_, or in small divisions like the present, was employed, at all +times, in scouring, though without any great success, the infested +districts. + +The body now approaching was readily distinguishable, though yet at a +considerable distance--the road over which it 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. + +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 triumph gave him something +in the way of a title to speak first, thus delivered himself:-- + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +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 _mine_ and _thine_ 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 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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"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!" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"So! and is that your way of thinking, sir; and pray who are you that +answer so freely for your neighbors?" + +"One, sir, whom my neighbors, it seems, have appointed to answer for +them." + +"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!" + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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 chafed at the necessity of forbearance, he contrived, for a +while longer, to suppress any more decided evidence of emotion, while he +replied:-- + +"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!" + +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-- + +"Now, captain, what's the worth of your authority? Be off now in a +hurry, or I shall fire upon you in short order!" + +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. 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +"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." + +"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:-- + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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!" + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +CATASTROPHE--COLLETON'S DISCOVERY. + + +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 character of their minds, every exhibition of the kind +had some weight in his favor. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +It was well for the youth, and unlucky for the assassin, that, as +Dexter, with his uplifted hatchet--for fire-arms at that 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. + +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. + +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:-- + +"All ready?" + +The reply was immediate-- + +"Ay, ay; now prize away, boys, and let go." + +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 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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-- + +"Wretch--what would you? Have you not done enough? would you strike the +unresisting man?" + +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. + +"You come for your death, and you shall have it!". + +"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." + +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 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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +CLOSE QUARTERS. + + +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. + +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 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. + +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 _particeps criminis_ 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +"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." + +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. + +"And what say you to this accusation, Guy Rivers? Can you not find an +answer?" + +"It is false--false as hell! and you know it, Munro, as well as myself. +I never saw the boy until at your house." + +"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 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 _out_ 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." + +"An _alibi_, 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-- + +"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." + +"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:-- + +"No, maussa." + +"Was I yesterday?" + +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-- + +"Speak, you rascal, speak out; you know well enough without reflecting." +The slave cautiously responded-- + +"If maussa want to be dere, maussa dere--no 'casion for ax Hob." + +"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!" + +"Berry true, maussa; if you no dere, you no dere. Hob nebber say one +ting when maussa say 'noder." + +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. + +Colleton, who had regarded this interlude with stern brow and wrathful +spirit, now spoke, addressing Munro:-- + +"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!" + +"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. 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." + +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 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." + +"But I have not done with _you_, 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." + +The youth looked upon him with ineffable scorn as he replied-- + +"You mistake me, sirrah, if you think I can notice your call with +anything but contempt." + +"What! will you not fight--not fight? not back your words?" + +"Not with you!" was the calm reply. + +"You refuse me satisfaction, after insulting me!" + +"I always took him for a poor chicken, from the first time I set eyes on +him," said one of the spectators. + +"Yes, I didn't think much of him, when he refused to join us," was the +remark of another. + +"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. + +"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." + +"Ay, bring him forward, Forrester. Let him be a man, if he can," was the +speech of one of the party. + +"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. + +"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." + +"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!" + +The youth smiled as he shook his head negatively. Forrester, with great +anxiety, proceeded:-- + +"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!" + +"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." + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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 _that_ 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." + +"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. + +"You hear that 'squire? I told you so. He has called you a coward, and +you will have to fight him at last." + +"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." + +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, Rivers, without being able to +interpose the slightest obstacle to the new direction thus given him, +was forcibly hurled to the ground. + +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. + +"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." + +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." + +"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." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CONSPIRACY--WARNING. + + +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. + +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. + +The aspect of the village was somewhat varied from its wont. 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." + +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. + +"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?" + +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 sufficiently meritorial character, humbled him with a +scourge that lacerated at every stroke. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"How unjustifiable young sir?" quickly and sternly retorted 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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." + +"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 between us +and the state. Will you tell the authorities what you saw?" + +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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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:-- + +"That, by the eternal God, he shall never do. Are you satisfied now of +the necessity of silencing him?" + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 +unhesitatingly represented as near at hand, they proceeded to the office +of the lawyer. + +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. + +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. + +"You must go from this place, Mr. Colleton--you are not 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." + +"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. + +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:-- + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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-- + +"To-day--to-day--now--do not delay, I pray you. You know not the perils +which a night may bring forth." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +REMORSE. + + +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. + +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. + +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, too, the many +good qualities apparent in his character--did not withhold his counsel. + +"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." + +"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." + +"How,--by what means?" + +"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-- + +"Are not, you would say, at all times to be relied on." + +"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." + +"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, 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. + +"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. + +"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." + +"My story isn't much, Master Colleton, and is easily told. I 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 narrative; and, in providing for the future, +you will be able to forget not a little of the past." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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-- + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +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. + +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. + +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 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-- + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"Will you not speak to me, Mark? Can you not, will you not answer?" + +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 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:-- + +"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!" + +The old lady now sought to interpose, and to apologize for her daughter. + +"Why, Kate, Katharine--forgive her, sir; Kate--Katharine, my dear--you +forget. You ask questions of the stranger without any consideration." + +But she spoke to an unconscious auditor; and Forrester, though still +almost speechless, now interposed:-- + +"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?" + +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. + +"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:-- + +"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?" + +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 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. + +"And how came it, Mark?" was the inquiry of the maiden; "and why did you +this thing?" + +"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." + +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. + +"And what is to be the end of all this, Mark? What is it your purpose to +do--where will you fly?" + +"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. + +"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. + +"Forgive me, Katharine--dear Katharine--but you little know the madness +and the misery at my heart." + +"And have you no thought of mine, Mark? this deed of yours has brought +misery, if not madness, to it too; and speech like this might well be +spared us now!" + +"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." + +"And why part, Mark? I see not this necessity!" + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +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 authority there was suffered no +appeal. Without pausing for a reply, he proceeded:-- + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +PARTING AND FLIGHT. + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +Forrester, in the meanwhile, had proceeded with all the impatience of a +lover to the designated place of _tryst_, 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 bold, now shrank downcast before the +tearful emphasis of hers. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +He spoke with deep energy, and she looked inquiringly into his face. The +expression was satisfactory, and she replied without hesitation:-- + +"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." + +"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 ground--enjoying life as a vegetable, and dead before life itself +is extinct." + +"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." + +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-- + +"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." + +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. + +"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, ask nothing that I should not grant. +Speak--what is the pledge?" + +"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." + +He paused a moment for a reply, but she spoke not; and with something +like impetuosity he proceeded:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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, with an awkward consciousness, +started up at the speech, taken by surprise, and neither uttering a word +in reply to this sudden address. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Are you, dear father?--Oh, I am so happy!" + +"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 _Massassippi_, 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." + +"Oh, dear father--this is so good of you!" + +"Pshaw, get away, minx! I don't like kisses _jest_ after supper; it +takes the taste all out of my mouth of what I've been eating." + +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:-- + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +MIDNIGHT SURPRISE. + + +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. + +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 the occurrence, that evil was afoot, and solicitous for +its prevention, she was persuaded to the measure solely with the view to +good. + +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. + +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. + +"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 +understood that but one mode offers for his silence. We are perfectly +agreed as to this, and no more scruples." + +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. + +"Why, yes--it must be done, I suppose, though somehow or other I would +it could be got rid of in any other way." + +"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." + +"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--" + +"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-- + +"You will bear the lantern; this is all you need perform. I am resolute +for the rest." + +"What will you use--dirk?" + +"Yes--it is silent in its office, and not less sure. Are all asleep, +think you--your wife?" + +"Quite so--sound when I entered the chamber." + +"Well, the sooner to business the better. Is there water in that +pitcher? I am strangely thirsty to-night; brandy were not amiss at such +a time." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 the house--speaking of nameless +dangers--of murderous intrigue and conspiracy, and warning against even +the delay of a single instant. + +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. + +"Spare me, Mr. Colleton--spare me"--she exclaimed, in undisguised +terror. + +"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. + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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 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:-- + +"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." + +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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"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-- + +"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." + +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-- + +"If I am determined--do you say!--But is not that the chamber where he +sleeps?" + +"No; old Barton sleeps there--_he_ sleeps at the end of the gallery. Be +calm--why do you work your fingers in that manner?" + +"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." + +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. _He_ 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 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: + +"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?" + +"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 _he_ 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!" + +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 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. + +"Hark!--heard you nothing, Munro--no sound? Hear you no breathing?--It +seems at hand--in that closet." + +"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." + +"It came from the opposite quarter, Munro, and was not unlike the +suppressed respiration of one who listens." + +"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." + +"Where does Lucy sleep?" + +"In the off shed-room below. What of her?" + +"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:-- + +"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." + +"You would have made a prime counsellor and subtle 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?" + +"Are you sure that when he ceases to sleep the case will be any better?" + +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. + +"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." + +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; 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. + +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. + +"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." + +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!" + +The youth, surprised by the question, met the inquiry with another. + +"How know you?--wherefore do you ask?" + +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:-- + +"No matter--no matter, sir. I know not well why I put the +question--certainly with no object, and am now more than answered." + +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:-- + +"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." + +"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!" + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE OUTLAW AND HIS VICTIM. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _new purchase_, 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. + +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. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, +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. + +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. + +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. + +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-- + +"Unhand me, sir--unhand me, on the instant. What mean you by this +violence?" + +"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." + +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?" + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Come, mistress--pray answer to this. Where have you been to-night--what +doing--why abroad? Have you been eavesdropping--telling tales--hatching +plots?" + +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:-- + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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. + +"Hear me, then! your life is in my hands, and at my mercy. There are +none present who could interfere and arrest the blow. 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." + +"Speak--say--how!" was the eager exclamation of the maiden when this +last suggestion met her ears. + +"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." + +"Never, never, as I hope to live. I would rather you should strike me +dead on the spot." + +"Why, so I will," he exclaimed furiously, and his arm rose and the +weapon descended, but he arrested the stroke as it approached her. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"He is safe, and by this time, I hope, beyond your reach. I tell you +thus much, because I feel that it can not yield you more satisfaction +than it yields to me." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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 proceeded with much of the fervor +and manner of one roused into all the inspiration of a holy defiance of +danger:-- + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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. + +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:-- + +"Ay--it is she," he exclaimed--"true to the life--bright, beautiful, +young, innocent--and I--But let me not think!"-- + +Then turning to the maid-- + +"Fond fool--see you the object of adoration with him whom you so +unprofitably adore. He loves _her_, 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." + +"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." + +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 forbearance; but ere long his original +temper returned, and he exclaimed, with all the air of the demon:-- + +"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." + +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. + +"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--" + +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. + +"Do you not hear!" he said. "Do you comprehend me." + +"Do your worst!" she cried. "Kill me! I defy your power and your +malice!" + +"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--" + +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:-- + +"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!" + +"Save you! It is he that dooms you! He has given you up to any fate that +I shall decree!" + +"Liar! away! I defy you. You dare not, ruffian! Your foul threat is but +meant to frighten me." + +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. + +"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!--" + +Her shrieks answered him. He clapped his handkerchief upon her mouth. + +"Uncle! uncle! save me!" + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +"THOU SHALT DO NO MURDER!" + + +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 _had_ 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 _wife_ 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. + +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. + +"What have you been doing, Guy?" + +His keen and suspicious glance of eye conveyed the question more +significantly. + +"Nothing! she is a fool only!" + +"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." + +"Pshaw! I only threatened her to make her confess where she had sent +Colleton or hidden him." + +"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 _marry_ Lucy, I'll not stand by and see you harm her; and, with +my permission you lay no hands on her, until you are married." + +"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." + +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. + +"Why not carry her to her chamber--put her in bed, and let us be off?" +said Rivers. + +"Wait awhile!" was the answer. + +The girl had evidently received a severe shock. Munro shook his head, +and looked at Rivers angrily. + +"See to it, Guy, if any harm comes to her." + +"Pshaw!" said the other, "she is recovering now." + +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. + +"She recovers--see!" + +The teeth opened and shut together again with a sudden spasmodic energy. +The eyes began to receive light. Her breathing increased. + +"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." + +"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!" + +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. + +"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." + +"Ha! but the rock may be split, and the woman's will must be made to +yield to a superior. I could soon--" + +He took her hand once more in his iron grasp. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"What!" + +"Yes! indeed! and she avows it boldly." + +"Ah! if she avows it, there's no harm!" + +"What! no harm?" + +"I mean to _her_. She's had no bad purpose in going to his chamber. I +see it all!" + +"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." + +"And you _would_ be talking," retorted the landlord. The other glared at +him ferociously, but proceeded:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"'Tis his!" said Rivers, seizing and examining it. "It is the weapon he +drew on me at the diggings." + +"He has the start of us--" + +"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 _some_ chamber. It seems that she has no +scruples in going to any." + +"Stop that, Guy! Don't slander the girl." + +"Pooh! are you going to set up for a sentimentalist?" + +"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." + +"Are you ready?" + +"Ay, ready!--She's opening her eyes. We can leave her now.--What's the +course?" + +"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 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." + +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. + +"What means the girl?" exclaimed Munro, now apprehensive of some mental +derangement. She spoke, with a deep emphasis, but a single sentence:-- + +"It is written--thou shalt do no murder!" + +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-- + +"Who speaks of murder, girl? Why this wild, this uncalled-for +exhortation?" + +"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 her with the, view to an answer. To her +uncle she again addressed herself, with an energy which gave additional +emphasis to her language:-- + +"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!" + +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-- + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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." + +"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. + +"She has told you no foolish story of me?" was the somewhat anxious +speech of Rivers upon the reappearance of the landlord. + +"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_ am what I am: my hope is that _she_ may always be the pure creature +which she now is, if it were only that she might pray for me." + +"She has mistaken me, Munro--" + +"Say no more, Guy. She has not _much_ 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--" + +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. + +"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?" + +"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 should be well paid for. +The performance is by no means so agreeable that one should seek to do +it for nothing." + +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. + +They were mounted, the horses being ready for them in the rear of the +building. + +"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." + +"As you will. Go ahead!" + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +THE BLOODY DEED. + + +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. + +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. + +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 children smiling around his board. Such were +the natural dreams of the young and sanguine exile. + +"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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"Stay--hear you nothing now, as the wind sets up from below? Was not +that the tramping of a horse?" + +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. + +"You hear nothing?" + +"Not a sound but that which we make ourselves. Your ears 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +Rivers smiled grimly at the inquiry, and replied at once, though with +evident insincerity,-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"I have heard of the things of which you speak, and have known some of +them myself; but I never could believe that the _nature_ 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." + +"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." + +"This is all very true; and from infancy up we do this thing, 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." + +"_Non sequitur_," said Rivers. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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 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." + +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:-- + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 you ever gave up there, to undertake a business, the very +first job in which put your neck in danger." + +"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 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, giving no quarter; and with an +Ishmaelitish spirit, lifting my hand against all the tribes that were +buzzing around me." + +"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." + +"There is as little mystery in the one as in the other. You may judge +that my sphere of action--speaking of _action_ 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_, 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." + +"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." + +"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, _sui generis_, of the +place--" + +"Damn your law-phrases! stop with that, if you please." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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 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." + +"A very consoling argument, if you could only prove it!" + +"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 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. + +"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." + +"Well, push on as you please; but do you know anything of this route, +and what course will you pursue in doing him up?" + +"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." + +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. + +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 +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. + +"Stay--away, Guy!--we are mistaken--this is not our man!" + +The victim heard the words, and, with something like an effort at a +laugh, though seemingly in great agony, exclaimed-- + +"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!--" + +The tones of the voice--the person of the suffering man--were now +readily distinguishable. + +"Good God! Rivers, what is to be the end of all this blundering?" + +"Who would have thought to find _him_ 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!" + +"I am afraid you've done for him." + +"We must be sure of it." + +"Great God! would you kill him?" + +"Why not? It must be done now." + +The wounded man beheld the action of the speaker, and heard the +discussion. He gasped out a prayer for life:-- + +"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!" + +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. + +"Kate!--ah!--O God, have mercy!" + +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! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +WHAT FOLLOWED THE MURDER. + + +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. + +"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." + +The landlord only groaned. + +The murderer laughed. + +"It is your luck," he said, "always to groan with devout feeling, when +you have _done_ the work of the devil! You may spare your groans, if +they are designed for repentance. They are always too late!" + +"It is a sad truth, though the devil said it." + +"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." + +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. + +"It will be no wonder, Guy, if the whole country turn out upon us. You +are too wanton in your doings. Wherefore when I told you of your error, +did you strike the poor wretch again." + +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. + +"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." + +"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" + +"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 wrong game? Did you not make certain of the +fresh track at the fork, so that there was no doubting you?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"What shall we do with the body? we can not leave it here." + +"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." + +"What would you do?" + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +Rivers turned away, and the feeling which his countenance exhibited +might have been that of disdainful contempt as he replied, + +"Take it, if you please--I am in no want of his money. _My_ object was +not his robbery." + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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" + +"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." + +"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." + +"Pshaw--you are growing Puritan because of the dark. I tell you I have +done with _her_. 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!" + +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-- + +"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! I will have a settlement that'll go near +draining his heart of all the blood in it." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE FATES FAVOR THE FUGITIVE. + + +Let us now return to our young traveller, whose escape we have already +narrated. + +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 _blind_ 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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Curse him!" he muttered. "Shall there be always something in the way of +my revenge?" + +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 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. + +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. + +And so thought Rivers, who heard the approaching footsteps, and now +caught a glimpse of his approaching shadow. + +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. + +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. + +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 sounds, and those so near, and so startling--for once the +outlaw ceased to be the master of his own powers! + +The noise of the bird scared the steed. He dashed headlong forward, and +saved the life of his rider! + +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! + +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. + +"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?" + +He paused in stupor and vexation. He could hear the distant tramp of the +horse, sinking faintly out of hearing. + +"That I, who have lived in the woods all my life, should have been +startled by an owl, and at such a moment!" + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +SUBDUED AGONIES. + + +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. + +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 +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. + +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:-- + +"Well, Ellen, you have had an alarm, but I am glad to see you have +suffered no injury. How happened the fire?" + +The young woman explained the cause of the conflagration, and narrated +in brief the assistance which had been received from the stranger. + +"But I was so terrified, Guy," she added, "that I had not presence of +mind enough to thank him." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Well, well--let us not talk further of this. When was the doctor here +last?" + +"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?" + +"I have, and some drops which are said to stimulate and strengthen." + +"I fear they are now of little use, and may only serve to keep up life +in misery. But they may enable her to speak, and I should like to hear +what she seems so desirous to impart." + +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. + +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. + +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. 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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"You have indeed thought like a child, Ellen, if you suppose that, +situated as I am, I could ever marry simply because I loved." + +"And will you not love her whom you are now about to wed?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"There are motives, Ellen, governing my actions into which you must not +inquire--" + +"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." + +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. + +"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 this kindness, Guy? Nay, now be not harsh, but say that you will do +it." + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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?" + +"You have," was the reply, while the manner of Rivers was tinctured with +something like curiosity. + +"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." + +"Foolish girl, would you trifle with me--would you have me spurn and +hate you? Beware!" + +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 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. + +"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." + +"You speak more wisely, Ellen; and you will think more calmly upon it +when the present grief of your grandmother's death passes off." + +"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." + +"Think not of it,--speak no more in this strain, Ellen, lest you anger +me." + +"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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +"What," she asked, "will you not stay with me through the night, and +situated as I am?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"You were ever thus foolish, Ellen, and you have as little 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." + +"And where am I to go?" + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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 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." + +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. + +"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." + +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 _coup de grace_, and days, and months, and years, before +the body expires, shows nothing of the fire which is consuming it. + +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 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE CAMP. + + +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 +_trace_ (as public roads are called in that region) had been rudely cut +out by some of the earlier travellers through the Indian country, merely +_traced_ out--and hence, perhaps, the term--by a _blaze_, 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 +_blind-path_. + +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 +the various interruptions which the future, as if to rival the past, +seemed to have treasured up in store for him. + +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. + +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. + +The _force_ of the traveller--for such is the term by which the number +of his slaves are understood--was small, consisting of some six +_workers_, and three or four little negro children asleep under the +wagon. The workers were occupied at a little 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. + +"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?" + +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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Why, no, I can't--let's hear," was the response of the wagoner, +somewhat astounded by the volubility of his new acquaintance. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Well, now, that's wonderful, strannger, and I should like to see how +you would do it." + +"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?" + +"Yes--to be sure; but then I couldn't have done it in a day. I an't +handy at these things." + +"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." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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. + +"A-hem--" repeated the Yankee, the _argumentum ad hominem_ 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 these parts. They don't seem +to smell at all pleasant in this country." + +"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!" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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-- + +"Why, you ain't a Yankee, air you?" + +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:-- + +"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?" + +"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." + +The old man found a parallel in his father's nativity, which satisfied +himself of the legitimacy of the ground taken by the pedler, and helped +the latter out of his difficulty. + +"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." + +It was in his progress to the branch that Ralph Colleton came upon this +member of the family. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +He had scarcely made this disposition of his forces, which 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-- + +"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." + +"What, are there rogues in these parts, then, old gentleman?" asked the +new-comer. + +"Why do you ask me?" was the sturdy reply. "You ought to be able to say, +without going farther than your own pockets." + +"Why, you are tough to-night, my old buck," was the somewhat crabbed +speech of the visiter. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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-- + +"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!" + +The robber rejoined his companions, and a sort of council for +deliberation was determined upon among them. + +"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." + +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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"But why may we not set upon them now?" inquired one of the youngest of +the party. + +"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." + +This being the determination, the robbers, thus disappointed 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." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +THE OUTLAWS. + + +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. + +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 _stands_ (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. + +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 +_thrip_ (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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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 _outre_, a decanter of brandy and tumblers were +contiguous. + +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.-- + +"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 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. + +"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. + +"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!" + +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. + +"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." + +"It is pressing," responded the outlaw, seemingly well 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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +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:-- + +"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?" + +"Nine or ten miles, perhaps, or more." + +"And you know his route for to-day?" + +"There is now but one which he can take, pursuing the route which he +does." + +"And upon that he will not go more than fifteen or twenty miles in the +day. But not so with _him_--not so with _him_. He will scarcely be +content to move at that pace, and there will be no hope in that way to +overtake him." + +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. + +"Of whom does the captain speak?" was his inquiry. + +"Of _whom?_--of _him_--of _him_!" 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. + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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 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." + +"But where is he? if within reach, you know there is no difficulty." + +"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." + +"Should it not rather be a source of satisfaction than otherwise--will +it not put him more completely at our disposal?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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 lately, and, when a man begins +to appear over-honest, I think it high time he should be looked after by +all parties." + +"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." + +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. + +"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--" + +"No reason, sir! why, did you not say he had killed Forrester?" inquired +his companion. + +"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!" + +It was in this way that, in the progress of the dialogue which took +place between the chief and his subordinate, the rambling 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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-- + + "As rocks that had been rent asunder." + +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. + +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. + +She heard the refusal of her liege to do the required duty, therefore, +with an astonishment, not unmingled with a degree 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 _courts_ and +_camps_, 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. + +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. + + + + +[Transcriber's note: A chapter number was skipped in the original book.] + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +ARREST. + + +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. + +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 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. + +"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." + +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 newly-awakened morality of his late coadjutor, he had utterly begun +to despair. He proceeded to reply to the suggestion as follows:-- + +"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." + +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:-- + +"Who was the witness of the murder--who could swear for the magistrate? +You must get somebody to do that." + +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. + +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 +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +Nor, in this particular alone, had the guilty parties made due provision +for their future safety. The affair of the guard had 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +CHUB WILLIAMS. + + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 exordium of his speech--and sat up all night committing it to +memory. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The lawyer was the more timid man of the two, and found it necessary to +pare down his potency. He soon found it 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +But what was the horror of all parties when it was known 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _patois_ 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 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?"--"_whar_ from?"--"_whar_ 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. + +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." + +"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." + +"Oh, no! don't say so, now, my friend, I beg you. What makes you think +so?" said the anxious pedler. + +"Why, only from what I _heer'd_ you say. You said so yourself, and I +believed it as if I had seed it," was the reply of the simple +countryman. + +"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--" + +"No, I don't see." + +"To be sure you don't, but that's my say. Everybody has a say, you +know." + +"No, I don't know." + +"To be sure, of course you don't know, but that's what I tell you. Now +you must know--" + +"Don't say _must_ to me, strannger, if you want that we shall keep hands +off. I don't let any man say _must_ to me." + +"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:-- + +"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?" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Oh, now, Mr. Williams--" + +"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." + +"Well, Chub,"--said the other, quite paternally--"I assure you I don't +love Miss Munro--and--" + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"Can't think of it, strannger. Guy is a dark man, and mother said I must +keep away when he rode in the woods. Guy don't talk--he shoots." + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE ROCK CASTLE OF THE ROBBERS. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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!" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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!" + +"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?" + +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. + +"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." + +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 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." + +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-- + +"Chub's mother was good to Chub, and Mr. Guy mustn't say nothing agin +her." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Well, as you please. But come in and look at my house and see where I +live." + +"And shall I see the strannger agin? I can lick _him_, and I told him +so. But he called me Chub, and I made friends with him." + +"Yes, you shall see him, and--" + +"And Miss Lucy, too--I want to see Miss Lucy--Chub saw her, and she +spoke to Chub yesterday." + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +ESCAPE. + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 with _you_ 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--" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"What was that?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"Am I a child, Walter Munro, that you ask me such a question? Must I +again tell over the accursed story of my defeat 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." + +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:-- + +"Ask me no questions, Munro, so idle, so perfectly unnecessary as this. +Fortune has done handsomely here. He falls through _me_, 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." + +"And would you return, if you could do so?" + +"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 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!" + +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. + +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. + +The watchman, in the meantime, holding his duty as merely nominal, gave +himself as little trouble as possible; and 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. + +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. + +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. + +"Why, what is this, Briggs; what see you?" was the hasty inquiry of +Rivers. + +"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. + +"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 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. + +"Shall I shoot, sir?" was the inquiry of Briggs, as the urchin stood +off, laughing wildly at his good fortune. + +"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. + +"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. + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _his_ peril, for +whose safety--though herself hopeless of all besides--she would +willingly peril all, restored her, and invigorated her to renewed +effort. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +DOOM. + + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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! + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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 _not_ 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 _not_ guilty of this +killing, whether with or without justification. The blood of the +unfortunate man Forrester is _not_ upon my hands; and, whatever may be +your decree this day, of this sweet consciousness nothing can deprive +me." + +"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--" + +But Pippin, who had been dreadfully impatient heretofore, started +forward with evident alarm. + +"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." + +The youth, with a singular degree of composure, replied:-- + +"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 _my_ 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 _to be true_, all of which I declare to be _false_--when he admits +me to be guilty of a crime of which I am _not_ 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_ 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 _his_ 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 be +_sworn_ 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." + +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. + +"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 want it +on record_, 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." + +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. + +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 by her trusty squire, Bunce, made her +appearance in the courthouse. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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-- + +"He is _not_ 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 _that_--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." + +"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 _the truth_--the _whole truth_." + +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--" + +"Him?--Of whom do you speak, lady? Who is _he_?" inquired the attorney +of the state. + +"He--who?--Oh, no, I can say nothing. I can tell you nothing. I know +nothing but that Mr. Colleton is _not_ 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?" + +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, 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. + +"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 _capable_ of such an act or not. You are to +say whether you _know_ 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." + +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:-- + +"You know the prisoner?" + +"I do." + +"You knew the murdered man?" + +"Perfectly." + +"Were they frequently together since the appearance of the prisoner in +these regions?" + +"Frequently." + +"At the house in which you dwell?" + +"Yes." + +"Were they together on the day preceding the night of the murder?" + +"They were--throughout the better portion of it." + +"Did they separate at your place of residence, and what was the +employment of the prisoner subsequently on the same day?" + +"They did separate while at our house, Mr. Colleton retiring at an early +hour of the evening to his chamber." + +"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?" + +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. + +"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." + +"But you must _not_ die--they will not--they _can not_ find you guilty! +How know they you are guilty? Who dares say you are guilty, when _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 dagger--I heard +that!--that is not true--oh, no, the dagger,--you dropt it--" + +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. + +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." + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"Guilty." + +"Guilty," responded the prisoner, and for a moment his head dropped upon +his clasped hands, and his frame shivered as with an ague. + +"Guilty--guilty--Oh, my father--Edith--Edith--have I lived for this?" + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +PRAYERS AND PROMISES. + + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"And was Munro there?" + +"Where--in the rocks?" + +"No--in the tavern?--You say his wife had come back--did he trust +himself there?" + +"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." + +"And who did you see at the rocks, and what men were they that made you +prisoners?" + +"Men--if I said men, I was 'nation out, I guess. Did I say men?" + +"I understood you so." + +"'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." + +"What is he?" + +"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." + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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, a thick haze overspread her senses, and she raved at +last in the most wild delirium. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"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?" + +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. + +"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." + +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. + +"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 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." + +"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. + +"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 _you_. 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. + +"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?" + +"On Friday next, at noon." + +"And this--?" + +"Is Monday." + +"He must not die--no, not die, then, my uncle! _You_ must save him--you +_must_ 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!" + +"Why, you forget, Lucy, my dear child--you forget that I too am in +danger. This is midnight: it is only at this hour that I can steal into +the village; and how, and in what manner, shall I be able to do as you +require?" + +"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!" + +"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." + +"Speak not of _him_--_say to him nothing_--you must do it _yourself_ 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." + +"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--" + +"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 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!" + +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:-- + +"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!" + +"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." + +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." + +"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 then +require it, I am willing then to become _his_ slave too--him whom you +have served so faithfully and so unhappily for so long a season." + +"Of whom speak you?" + +"Guy Rivers! yes--I shall then obey you, though the funeral come with +the bridal." + +"Lucy!" + +"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." + +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-- + +"Hear me, Lucy, and believe what I assure you. I _will_ 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." + +"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." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +NEW PARTIES ON THE STAGE. + + +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. + +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. + +"Had you not been so precipitate, Ralph--" he said, "had you not been so +proud--had you thought at all, or given me 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." + +"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. + +"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." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"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 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." + +"Good heavens! and why did you not bring these facts forward? They +surely could not have condemned him under these circumstances." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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--" + +"Witnesses!--what witnesses?" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"And there is, then, no evidence for what you have said?" + +"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 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, _must_ 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--" + +"Ralph Colleton never swears, Mr. Pippin," said the colonel, grimly. + +"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 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." + +"And is none of this truth?" + +"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." + +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. + +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 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. + +"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!" + +Night came; and in a small apartment of one of the lowliest dwellings of +Chestatee, Edith and her father sat in the deepest 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. + +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 _tout +ensemble_ 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. + +Though startling at first to both father and daughter, the manner of the +intruder was such as to forbid any further alarm than 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. + +"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." + +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-- + +"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. + +"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." + +"Is your purpose insult, sir, that you tell us this?" was the rather +fierce inquiry of the colonel. + +"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." + +"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:-- + +"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." + +"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." + +But the stranger interposed, with a manner not to be questioned:-- + +"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." + +"But, sir, this is so strange--so unusual--so improper." + +"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 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." + +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: + +"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." + +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. + +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:-- + +"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 _her_." + +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-- + +"You are certainly unremembered, if ever known, by me, sir. I am truly +sorry to have forgotten one who styles himself my friend." + +"Who was--who is--or, rather, who is now willing again to be your +friend, Miss Colleton," was the immediate reply. + +"Yes, and so I will gladly call you, sir, if you succeed in what you +have promised." + +"I have yet promised nothing, Miss Colleton." + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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 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!" + +"And are you then Creighton--Mr. Edward Creighton--and so changed!" And +she looked upon him with an expression of simple wonder. + +"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." + +"Keep me no longer in suspense--speak out, Mr. Creighton"--she cried, +gaspingly. + +"Rivers--Rivers--I would not hear the other--it was by that name I was +driven from my fellows." + +"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." + +"And who would speak thus for me? What fair pleader, fearless of man's +opinion--that blights or blesses, without reference to right or +merit--would so far speak for me!" + +"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." + +"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." + +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. + +"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." + +"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--" + +"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, therefore, your demand--spare no word--delay +me, I pray, no longer." + +"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!" + +"Speak! speak!" + +"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!" + +"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." + +"And he will die too. Be not hasty, Miss Colleton--remember--it is not +merely your death but his--his death upon the gallows--" + +"Spare me! spare me!" + +"The halter--the crowd--the distorted limb--the racked frame--" + +"Horrible--horrible!" + +"Would you see this--know this, and reflect upon the shame, the mental +agony, far greater than all, of such a death to him?" + +With a strong effort, she recovered her composure, though but an instant +before almost convulsed-- + +"Have you no other terms, Mr. Rivers?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"Yet pause--to relent even to-morrow may be too late. To-night you must +determine, or never." + +"I have already determined. It is impossible that I can determine +otherwise. No more, sir!" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"You have doomed him!" + +"Be it so, sir. Be it so. Let me now call my father." + +"Yet think, ere it be too late--once gone, not even your words shall +call me back." + +"Believe me, I shall not desire it." + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +PROPOSED RESCUE. + + +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 _calculate_. 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. + +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 period--the _one_ virtue, +contrasting with, if it could not lessen or relieve, the long tissue of +his offences. + +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. + +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 the next moment bestows his ill-gotten gains without reservation upon +the starving beggar by the wayside. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 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. + +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 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." + +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. + +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 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. + +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 "_pro bono publico_," 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 +_kink_, 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. + +Such was the somewhat novel position of Bunce, in the 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. + +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? + +"Colleton!--save Master Colleton!--do tell--is that what you mean?" + +"It is. Are you the man to help your friend--will you make one along +with others who are going to try for it?" + +"Well, now, don't be rash; give a body time to consider. 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. + +"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?" + +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:-- + +"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." + +"Can you fight, Bunce? Are you willing to knock down and drag out, when +there's need for it?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"No, to be sure not. 'Twould be foolish to stop and think about what's +law, and what's not law, and be knocked down yourself." + +"Certainly, you're right, Bunce; that's only reason." + +"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--" + +"To the business: what matters it whether I have a name or not? I have a +fist, you see, and--" + +"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-- + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"None other than yourself, Bunce. You are the man, and I can bring a +dozen to prove it on you." + +"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." + +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. + +"Well, well," said the landlord "we burn daylight in such 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"Guess you're right. Late acquaintance, though; they aint neither on 'em +to my liking." + +"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." + +"Yes, I know; but you don't count young Brooks?" + +"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--" + +"Knock 'em down?" + +"Ay, quickly as you say it!" + +"Well, but how if they do not bring the boy, and they leave him in the +jail?" + +"What then! Can't we knock him down too?" + +"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'?" + +"They dare not. They won't confess themselves drunk--it's 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." + +"But--" + +"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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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?" + +"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." + +"What mixture? No pizen, I hope! I don't go that, not I--no pizening for +me." + +"Pshaw! fool--nonsense! If I wanted their lives, could I 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +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 _morale_ 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +SACK AND SUGAR. + + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +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. + +"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 _for'ad_. Why don't men go _for'ad_ 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-_rack_-ter, +Mr. Bunce; and it's all owing 'cause he won't drink!" + +"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." + +"No," said Brooks, with the utmost simplicity; "only when they take too +much." + +"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:-- + +"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." + +"Sometimes--sometimes, Tongs, you know you ain't altogether right under +it--now and then you take a leetle too much 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. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"Hah! that's a true word--there's no mistake in this stuff. It is jest +now what I calls ginywine." + +"True Monongahely, Master Bunce. Whoever reckoned to find a Yankee +pedler with a _raal_ 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 _old range_." + +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 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 _Monongahely_, he should give them a song. + +"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." + +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:-- + + THE HOW-D'YE-DO BOY. + + "For a how-d'ye-do boy, 'tis pleasure enough + To have a sup of such goodly stuff-- + To float away in a sky of fog, + And swim the while in a sea of grog; + So, high or low, + Let the world go, + The how-d'ye-do boy don't care for it--no--no--no--no." + +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 +_finale_ with prodigious compass of voice. The song proceeded:-- + + "For a how-d'ye-do boy, who smokes and drinks, + He does not care who cares or thinks; + Would Grief deny him to laugh and sing, + He knocks her down with a single sling-- + So, high or low, + Let the world go, + The how-d'ye-do boy don't care for it--no--no--no--no. + + "The how-d'ye-do boy is a boy of the night-- + It brings no cold, and it does not fright; + He buttons his coat and laughs at the shower, + And he has a song for the darkest hour-- + So, high or low, + Let the world go, + The how-d'ye-do boy don't care for it--no--no--no--no." + +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. + +Tongs, who had lost nearly all the powers of action, though 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. + +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 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. + +"Hello! now--who are you, I say? Hands off!--Tongs! Tongs!--Hands +off!--Tongs, I say--" + +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:-- + +"Why, Bunce, it's but half done!--you've bungled. See, he's too sober by +half!" + +"Sober? no, no--guess he's drunk--drunk as a gentleman. I say, now--what +must I do?" + +"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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +FREEDOM--FLIGHT. + + +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. + +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. + +"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 the truth, I should not have risked myself, +as I have done to-night, but for my promise to her." + +"Who?--of whom do you speak? To whom do I owe all this, if it comes not +of your own head?" + +"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?" + +"And to Miss Munro again do I owe my life? Noble girl! how shall I +requite--how acknowledge my deep responsibility to her?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +The landlord paused for a moment, and looked hesitatingly in Ralph's +countenance. The youth saw and understood the expression, and replied +readily:-- + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"Who is he? whom do you mean?" + +"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?" + +"And how is she at the mercy of this wretch?" + +The landlord continued as if he had not heard the inquiry: + +"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, _while I live_, 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 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!" + +"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." + +"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. _If I live_, 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 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_ am at his mercy. If I perish +before the marriage take place, it will not take place; and she will +then need a protector--" + +"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." + +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-- + +"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." + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +Rivers, in the meanwhile, though excessively anxious about 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. + +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. + +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. + +"Why, how now, Chub--do you not see me?" was the first inquiry of +Rivers. + +"Can the owl see?--Chub is an owl--he can't see in the moonlight." + +"Well, but, Chub--why do you call yourself an owl? You don't want to see +me, boy, do you?" + +"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." + +"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?" + +"Yes, so Chub's mother said--but you can't whip Chub. Chub laughs--he +laughs at all your whips. _That_ 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. + +"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." + +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-- + +"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." + +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. + +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 _true_, +however it may be insufficient to restrain it in its wanderings after +the _false_. + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +PURSUIT--DEATH. + + +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. + +"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 _that_. 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?" + +"I am--but I trust it has not come to that. How much have we yet to the +river?" + +"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!" + +And at every incoherent and unconnected syllable, the landlord struck +his spurs into his animal, and incited the youth to do the same. + +"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. + +"Push on, by all means--let us stop nowhere--we shall be safe if we make +the nation," was the reply. + +"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." + +"But I hear them not--I hear no sounds but our own--" replied the youth. + +"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?" + +"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." + +"Well, it's the right spirit you have, and we may beat 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." + +"How do we cross?" inquired the youth, hurriedly, though with a +confidence something increased by the manner of his companion. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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-- + +"Is the moon gone down--lights--bring lights!" + +"No, Munro; the moon is still shining without a cloud, and as brightly +as if it were day" was the reply of Ralph. + +"Who speaks--speak again, that I may know how to believe him." + +"It is I, Munro--I, Ralph Colleton." + +"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 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. + +"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--" + +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:-- + +"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?" + +"No, it is I--Colleton." + +"I know--I know," impatiently--"who else?" + +"Mr. Brooks, the jailer, is here--Ensign Martin and Brincle, of the +Georgia guard," was the reply of the jailer. + +"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?" + +"We are here, beside you--we hear all that you say. Go on!" + +"Guy Rivers is not his name--he is not Guy Rivers--hear 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!" + +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. + +"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. + +"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?" + +Colleton replied quickly in the affirmative, and the dying man went +on:-- + +"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--" + +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. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +WOLF'S NECK--CAPTURE. + + +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. + +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. + +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, 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. + +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. + +"We can't stay here any longer," said he; "the troops are gathering all +round us. The country's alive with them, and in 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." + +"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-- + +"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.'" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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--" + +"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. + +"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." + +"Your mother?" was the response of Dillon, in unaffected astonishment. + +"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!" + +"Is this possible? Can it be true? It is strange--very strange!" + +"It is not strange; we see it every day--in almost every family. She, +did not _tell_ 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 _taught_ me +to perform them all. She roused my passions, and not my _principles_, +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! + +"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. It is all her work. The greatest enemy my life has +ever known has been my mother!" + +"This is a horrible thought, captain; yet I can not but think it true." + +"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!" + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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 _must_ 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!" + +"Do you really speak in earnest, captain?" inquired the lieutenant, +doubtingly, and with a look of much concern. + +"Am I so fond of trifling, that my officer asks me such a question?" was +the stern response. + +"Then I am your officer still--you will go with me, or I shall remain." + +"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." + +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. + +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:-- + +"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 seek to obtain, I am the least provided. These are the fruits which +I have sown, however; should I shrink to gather them? + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +At this time, fortunately for their object, they were encountered +suddenly by--our old acquaintance, Chub Williams, whom, 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:-- + + "Her frock it was a _yaller_, + And she was _mighty sprigh_ + And she bounced at many a _feller_ + Who came _a-fighting shy_. + + "Her eye was like a _sarpent's eye_. + Her cheek was like a flower, + But her tongue was like a pedler's clock, + 'Twas a-striking every hour. + + "And wasn't she the gal for me, + And wasn't she, I pray, sir, + And I'll be _drot_, if you say not, + We'll fight this very day, sir. + We'll fight this very day, sir." + +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. + +"'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." + +"Why, where's your house, Chub?" asked one of the party. + +"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." + +"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-- + +"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--mother always said so--and he lives a +long way under the ground." + +"And can't you show us where, Chub? We will give you money for your +service." + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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 _is_ 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"You'll fight Guy! You! Guy kin fight to kill!" + +"Yes, but we'll kill _him;_ only you show us where he is, so that we can +catch him and tie him, and he'll never trouble Chub any more." + +"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." + +"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 potatoes and corn than +you can shake a stick at, and we'll give you a great jug of whiskey into +the bargain." + +"Now will you! And a jug of whiskey too, and build a new house for +Chub's mother--and the corn, and the 'tatoes." + +"All! you shall have all we promise." + +"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!" + +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. + +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. + +"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. + +His processes did not argue any doubts of his course; only 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. + +"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." + +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. + +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 _where_ 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. + +His policy made each of the party hide himself out of sight, though in a +position whence each might see. + +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 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. + +The _ruse_ 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. + +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! + +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! + +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. + +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 compel the wolf to turn at bay. Alone, his confidence in his own +stealth and secresy, would encourage him to penetrate; but, _now!_--he +only grinned at the suggestion of the hunters saying shrewdly: "No! +thank you! I'll stay out here and keep Chub's company." + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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, 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! + +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. + +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. + +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. + +"Dying like a dog, in her sight! Ay, she shall see it! I will hiss in +her ears as she gazes--'It is _my_ work! this is _my_ revenge!' Ha! ha! +where her pride then?--her high birth and station?--wealth, family? +Dust, shame, agony, and death!" + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"Surrender, Guy! we're too much for you, old fellow!" + +There was a short struggle. Meanwhile, Brooks, the jailer, joined the +party. + +"We're _three_ on you, and there's more without." + +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. + +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:-- + +"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!" + +"Psho! Chub is to have his own bread, his own corn, and 'taters, too, +and a whole jug of whiskey." + +"Ah! you have sold yourself for these, then, to my enemies. You are a +bad fellow, Chub--a worse fellow than I thought you. As an idiot, I +fancied you might be honest and grateful." + +"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." + +"But I didn't shoot, Chub; and I kept the men from shooting you when you +ran away from the cave." + +"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." + +The outlaw looked steadily in the face of the wretched urchin, with a +curious interest, as he half murmured to himself:-- + +"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:-- + +"I am your prisoner, gentlemen. Do with me as you please." + +"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!" + +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. + +But no such prospect of escape was before him. He could command none of +the sympathies that had worked for his rival. 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. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +QUIET PASSAGES AND NEW RELATIONS. + + +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. + +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 left him free to urge it +further, would, of itself, have relieved her from the only difficulty in +the way of a resolute denial. + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +His manner, generally warm and eager, dilated something 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. + +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. + +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. + +"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 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--" + +"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. + +"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." + +"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." + +"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 you, +who are my sister)--who has my heart--who--but you are sick, Lucy. What +means this emotion?" + +"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!" + +"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?" + +"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. + +"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 _her_ 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." + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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. I can tell you nothing; I _will_ 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?" + +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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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." + +"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. + +"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, propriety, +and a lofty aim--no flippancy, no weak vanity--and a gentle beauty, that +woos while it warms." + +Her face became very grave, as she drew back from him. + +"Nay, my sweet Lucy! why do you repulse me? I speak nothing but the +truth." + +"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!" + +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:-- + +"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?" + +"Oh, no, Ralph! not that--anything but that!" + +"That I should sneer at _you_, Lucy--feel or utter scorn--_you_, 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!" + +"No! no! forgive me! I know not what I have said! I meant nothing so +unkind--so unjust!" + +"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." + +"You are, Ralph! I believe you." + +"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 _felt_ them, Lucy, and paint them only as they +are. Your beauties of mind and person--" + +"Oh, do not, I implore you!" + +"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!" + +"Ah! why will you, sir--why, Ralph?--" + +"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." + +The girl heard him, but with no strengthening of self-confidence. The +thought which occurred to her, which spoke of her claims, was that _he_ +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:-- + +"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 with my aunt, or where she goes. I must +not desert her. She is now even more destitute than myself." + +"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." + +"You forget, Ralph, that it was here I met with you," was the sudden +reply, with a faint smile upon her lips. + +"Yes; and I was driven here--by a fate, against my will--that we +_should_ 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." + +"You forget--my aunt." + +"Ay, but what security is there that she will not give you another +uncle?" + +"Oh, fie, Ralph!" + +"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." + +"She has been kind to me, Ralph." + +"Yet she would have seen you sacrificed to this outlaw!" + +Lucy shuddered. He continued:-- + +"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." + +"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 as +perfectly at home, and quite as happy, as I can be any where." + +"And where is it that you go, Lucy?" + +"Forgive me, Ralph, but I must not tell you." + +"Not tell me!" + +"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." + +"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." + +"What!--not happy, and she with you!" + +"Happy!--yes!--but far happier with both of you. You, my sister, and--" + +"Say no more--" + +"No more now, but I shall try other lips, perhaps more persuasive than +mine. Edith shall come--" + +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-- + +"Let her not come! Bring her not here, Ralph Colleton! I have no wish to +see her--_will not_ see her, I tell you--would not have her see _me_ for +the world!" + +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. + +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 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. + +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. + +"What is the matter, Mr. Colleton?" + +"She faints," answered the other hoarsely, as he hurried the widow into +the chamber. + +"Bless my soul, what _can_ be the matter!" + +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. + +Greatly excited, and painfully so, Ralph hastened at once to the +lodgings of Edith. She was luckily alone. She cried out, as he entered-- + +"Well, Ralph, she will come with us?" + +"No!" + +"No!--and why not, Ralph! I must go and see her." + +"She will not see you, Edith." + +"Not see me!" + +"No! She positively declines to see you." + +"Why, Ralph, that is very strange. What can it mean?" + +"Mean, Edith, it means that I am very unfortunate. I have been a blind +fool if nothing worse." + +"Why, what can _you_ mean, Ralph. What is this new mystery? This is, +surely, a place of more marvels than--" + +"Hear me, Edith, my love, and tell me what you think. I am bewildered, +mortified, confounded." + +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:-- + +"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." + +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-- + +"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." + +"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--" + +"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 from exhaustion, excitement, +terror--which you have undertaken to account for by supposing her +desperately in love." + +"Heaven grant it be so," answered Ralph. + +"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 +_lese majeste_, Ralph, so put off your doleful faces." + +"Don't speak so carelessly of the matter, Edith. We owe this dear girl a +heavy debt--I do, at least." + +"And we shall try and pay it, Ralph. But you must leave this matter to +me. I will go and see Lucy." + +"But she refuses to see you." + +"I will not be refused. I _will_ see her, and she _shall_ 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." + +"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." + +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 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. + +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. + +"Oh, why are you here--why did you come?" was the murmured inquiry of +the drooping maiden. + +"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." + +"No! no! not all--not all, or you never would be here." + +"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." + +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. + +"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 _me_ for _his_ 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 +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--" + +"You will have--have--your husband." + +"Yes, Lucy, and as a husband! But I am not content. I must have _you_, +also, Lucy." + +"Oh, no, no! I can not--can not!" + +"You _must_! 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." + +"To live with _him_--to see _him_ daily!" murmured the suffering girl. + +"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 _do_ 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." + +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. + +But she struggled long. She was unwilling to be won. She was vexed that +she was so weak: she was so weary of all struggle, and she needed +sympathy and love so much! + +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! + +Edith was a skilful physician for the heart--skilful beyond her years. + +Love was the great want of Lucy. + +Edith soon persuaded her that she knew how to supply it. She was so +solicitous, so watchful, so tender, so-- + +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. + +"Do with me as you will, Edith, my sister." + +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! + +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. + +Shall we call them _arts_--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-- + +"Do with me as you will, my sister." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +"LAST SCENE OF ALL." + + +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 +_notion_ 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:-- + +"Well, Bunce, are you ready? We shall be off now in a couple of hours or +so, and you must not keep us waiting. Pack up at once, man, and make +yourself ready." + +"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." + +"Well, you're ready, however, and we shall have no difficulty at the +last hour?" + +"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." + +"What's that? Be quick, now, for I've much to see to." + +"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." + +"Certainly not!" + +"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." + +"A choice faculty for a tradesman." + +"You've said it." + +"Just the man for business, I take it." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"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?" + +"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." + +"And what is it you require of me in this matter?" + +"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--" + +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. + +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 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. + +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 _Jersey_--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. + +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, 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. + +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 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. + +"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--" + +Bunce threw up the lid of his box, and began to display his wares. + +"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--" + +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, Caesar, 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. + +Caesar 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 Caesar was not slow to +express the indignation which he felt. + +"Ki! Misser Bunce, aint you shame for try for draw de money out ob the +boy pocket, wha' massa gee um?" + +"Why, Caesar, 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." + +"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." + +The pedler was rebuked. He looked first at Caesar, then at Chub, and +finally handed the boy the knife. + +"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." + +Chub grinned, took the knife, opened both blades, and nodding his head, +made off without a word. + +"The etarnal little heathen! Never to say so much as thank ye." + +"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." + +"But in the way of _trade_, Caesar," said the pedler, putting his horse +in motion. + +"Der's a time for _trade_, and a time for _gib_, and you must do de +genteel t'ing, and nebber consider wha's de 'spense of it, or de profit. +De nigger hab he _task_ 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 _pays_ 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 Caesar--somet'ing for you, boy!'" + +"Hem! that's the how, is it?" said the pedler with a leer 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, Caesar, is a cut for you from +one of my best goods." + +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. Caesar was +soon pacified, and the two rode on together in a pleasant companionship, +which suffered no interruptions on the road; Caesar all the way +continuing to give the pedler a proper idea of the processes through +which he might become a respectable person in Carolina. + +There are still other parties to our story which it is required that we +should dispose of according to the rules of the novel. + +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. + +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 eye of +all the glorious presence and golden promise which had become associated +with its survey. + +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 _morale_ 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? + +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 _him_ in _his_ 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!" + +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 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. + +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! + +The outlaw beheld the departing cavalcade of the Colletons 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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. + +"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--" + +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. + +"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." + +"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?" + +"My knees are stiff, Ellen. I have not been taught to kneel." + +"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 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." + +"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." + +"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." + +"And what should I pray for, and what should I say--and whom should I +curse?" + +"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." + +"Say what?" + +"Say--'the Lord's will be done,' if nothing more; but say it in the true +feeling--the feeling of humble reliance upon God." + +"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." + +"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." + +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:-- + +"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 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." + +"Oh, will you? then I shall be so happy!--" was her exclamation of +rejoicing. He replied gravely-- + +"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." + +"Oh, be not ashamed, Guy Rivers. Give over that false sentiment of pride +which is now a weakness. Be the man, the--" + +"Be content, Ellen, with my terms. Either as I please, or not at all. Go +to the window." + +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. + +"I have done something more than you required, Ellen, for which you will +also have to forgive me. Give me your hand, now." + +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. + +"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." + +"Oh, what is that, Guy?--let me--" + +"Death--which is at hand! Now, Ellen, do you forgive me? I ask no +forgiveness from others." + +"From my heart I do, believe me." + +"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?" + +"All, all!" + +"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. + +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. + + +THE END. + + + + + +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.txt or 16303.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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