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diff --git a/35195.txt b/35195.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fff537b --- /dev/null +++ b/35195.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8664 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fatal Cord, by Mayne Reid + +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: The Fatal Cord + And The Falcon Rover + +Author: Mayne Reid + +Release Date: February 7, 2011 [EBook #35195] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FATAL CORD *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Fatal Cord +and The Falcon Rover +By Captain Mayne Reid +Published by Charles H. Clarke, 13 Paternoster Row, London. +This edition dated 1872. + +The Fatal Cord, by Mayne Reid. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +________________________________________________________________________ +THE FATAL CORD, BY MAYNE REID. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER ONE. + +A BIVOUAC OF BOY HUNTERS. + +A Hunters' bivouac under the shadows of a Mississippian forest, in a +spot where the trees stand unthinned by the axe of the woodman. + +It is upon the Arkansas side of the great river, not far from the town +of Helena, and in the direction of Little Rock, the capital of that +State. + +The scene is a small glade, surrounded by tall cottonwood trees, one of +which on each side, conspicuously "blazed," indicates a "trace" of +travel. It is that leading from Helena to a settlement on the forks of +the White River and Cache. + +The time is a quarter of a century ago, when this district of country +contained a heterogeneous population, comprising some of the wildest and +wickedest spirits to be found in all the length and breadth of the +backwoods border. It was then the chosen home for men of fallen +fortunes, lawyers and land speculators, slave-traders and swindlers, +hunters, who lived by the pursuit of game, and sportsmen, whose game was +cards, and whose quarry consisted of such dissolute cotton planters as, +forsaking their homes in Mississippi and Tennessee, had re-established +themselves on the fertile bottoms of the Saint Francis, the White and +the Arkansas. + +A glance at the individuals comprising the bivouac in question forbids +the supposition that they belong to any of the above. There are six of +them; all are boys, the oldest not over twenty, while the youngest may +be under sixteen. And though at the same glance you are satisfied that +they are but amateur hunters, the game they have succeeded in bringing +down shows them gifted not only with skill but courage in the chase. + +The carcase of a large bear lies beside them on the sward, his skin +hanging from a tree, while several steaks cut from his fat rump, and +impaled upon sapling spits, sing pleasantly over the camp fire, sending +a savoury odour far into the forest around. + +About a dozen huge bear-hounds, several showing scars of recent +conflict, lie panting upon the grass, while just half this number of +saddled horses stand "hitched" to the trees. + +The young hunters are in high glee. They have made a creditable day's +work of it, and as most of them have to go a good way before reaching +home, they have halted in the glade to refresh themselves, their hounds, +and their horses. + +The chase has provided them with meat of which all are fond; most of +them carry a "pine" of corn bread in their saddle-bags, and not a few a +flask of corn-whiskey. They would not be the youth of Arkansas if found +unprovided with tobacco. Thus furnished with all the requisites of a +backwoods bivouac they are sucking it in gleesome style. + +Scanning these young fellows from a social point of view you can see +they are not all of equal rank. A difference in dress and equipments +bespeaks a distinct standing, even in backwoods society, and this +inequality is evident among the six individuals seated around the camp +fire. He whom we have taken for the oldest, and whose name is Brandon, +is the son of a cotton planter of some position in the neighbourhood. +And there is wealth too, as indicated by the coat of fine white linen, +the white Panama hat, and the diamond pin sparkling among the ruffles in +his shirt-bosom. + +It is not this, however, that gives him a tone of authority among his +hunting companions, but rather an assumption of superior age, combined +with perhaps superior strength, and certainly a dash of _bullyism_ that +exhibits itself, and somewhat offensively, in both word and action. +Most of the dogs are his, as also the fine sorrel horse that stands +proudly pawing the ground not far from the fire. + +Next to Master Brandon in degree of social standing is a youth, who is +also two years his junior, by name Randall. He is the son of a certain +lawyer, lately promoted to be judge of the district--an office that +cannot be called a sinecure, supposing its duties to be faithfully +performed. + +After Randall may be ranked young Spence, the hopeful scion of an +Episcopal clergyman, whose cure lies in one of the river-side towns, +several miles from the scene of the bivouac. + +Of lower grade is Ned Slaughter, son of the Helena hotel-keeper, and +Jeff Grubbs, the heir apparent to Jeff Grubbs, senior, the principal dry +goods merchant of the same respectable city. + +At the bottom of the scale may be placed Bill Buck, whose father, half +horse trader, half corn planter, squats on a tract of poor land near the +Cache, of which no one cares to dispute his proprietorship. + +Notwithstanding these social distinctions, there is none apparent around +the camp fire. In a hunter's bivouac--especially in the South-Western +States, still more notably within the limits of Arkansas--superiority +does not belong either to fine clothes or far stretching lineage. The +scion of the "poor white hack" is as proud of his position as the +descendant of the aristocratic cotton planter; and over the camp fire in +question Bill Buck talked as loudly, ate as choice steaks, and drank as +much corn whisky as Alf Brandon, the owner of the hounds and the +splendid sorrel horse. + +In their smoking there might be noted a difference, Bill indulging in a +council pipe, while the son of the planter puffs his principe that has +come through the custom-house from Havanna. Luncheon over, it still +seems too early to separate for return home, and too late to set the +dogs on a fresh bear trail. The corn juice inspires to rouse a kind of +diversion, suggesting trials of death or skill. Among these sons of +Arkansas cards would have come in; but to their chagrin no one is +provided with a pack. Bill Buck regrets this, and also Alf Brandon, and +so, too, the son of the Episcopal preacher. They are too far from any +settlement to send for such things. Pitch and toss is not sufficiently +scientific; "hokey in the hole" is too childish, and it ends in a trial +of strength and activity. There is wrestling, jumping over a string, +and the leap horizontal. In all of these Alf Brandon proves superior, +though closely tackled by the son of the squatter. Their superiority is +actually owing to age, for these two are the oldest of the party. + +The ordinary sports exhausted, something else is sought for. A new kind +of gymnastics suggest itself or is suggested, by the stout branch of a +cottonwood, stretching horizontally into the glade. It is nearly nine +feet from the ground. Who can spring up, seize hold of it, and hang on +longest? + +Alf Brandon pulls out his gold repeater, formed with a moment hand, and +the trial is attempted. + +All six succeeded in reaching the limb, and clutching it. All can hang +for a time; but in this Bill Buck beats his companions, Brandon showing +chagrin. Who can hang longest with one hand? The trial is made, and +the planter's son is triumphant. + +"Bah!" cries the defeated Buck. "Who can hang longest by the neck? +Dare any of you try that?" + +A yell of laughter responds to this _jeu d'esprit_ of the young +jean-clad squatter. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWO. + +TWO TRAVELLERS. + +The silence succeeding is so profound that the slightest sound may be +heard to a considerable distance. Though not professional hunters, +these young Nimrods of the backwoods are accustomed to keep open ears. +It is a rustling among the reeds that now hinders them from resuming +conversation--the canes that hang over the trace of travel. There are +footsteps upon it, coming from the direction of Helena. They are soft +as the fall of moccasined or female foot. For all this, they are heard +distinctly in the glade--hunters, horses, and hounds having pricked up +their ears to listen. + +Who comes from Helena? + +The question has scarce shaped itself when the answer also assumes +shape. There are two upon the trace--the foremost, a youth of about +eighteen, the other, a girl, at least two years younger. + +They are not like enough to be brother and sister. They may be of the +same mother, but not father. If their father be the same, they must +have come from two mothers. + +Both are of interesting personal appearance, strikingly so. The youth +is tall, tersely and elegantly formed, with features cast in a mould +that reminds one of the Romagna; the same facial outline, the prominent +nose and chin, the eagle eye, that in childhood has glanced across the +Teverino, or the Tiber, and a complexion equally suggestive of Italian +origin, a tinge of olive in the skin, slightly damasked upon the cheeks, +with, above all, a thick _chevelure_, black as the plumage of a buzzard. +While different in mien, this youth is dressed altogether unlike any of +the young hunters who regard him from the glade. He is in true hunter +costume, slightly partaking of the garb more especially affected by the +Indian. His feet are in mocassins, his limbs encased in leggings of +green-baize cloth, a calico hunting shirt covers his shoulders; while, +instead of cap or hat, he wears the "toque," or turban, long since +adopted by the semi-civilised tribes of the frontier. He is equipped +with powder-horn and bullet-pouch, slung crossways under his arm, armed +with a long pea-rifle resting negligently over his left shoulder. + +His companion has been spoken off as a girl. The designation stands +good; but to describe her will require less minuteness of detail. +Sixteen in countenance; older to judge by the budding promise of her +beauty; clad in a gown of common homespun, copperas-dyed, ill stitched, +and loosely adjusted; a skin soft as velvet, and ruddy as rude health +can make it; hair to all appearance unacquainted with combs; yet +spreading as the sun through a southern window; eyes like stars clipped +from the blue canopy of the sky. Such was she who followed, or rather +accompanied, the youth in the calico hunting shirt. + +A sudden fire flashes into the eyes of Alf Brandon. It is the +expression of a spirit not friendly to one of the new comers, which may +be easily guessed, for the girl is too young and too fair to have +excited hostility in the breast of any one. It is her companion against +whom the son of the planter feels some secret resentment. + +He shows it more conspicuously on a remark made by Bill Buck. + +"That skunk is always sneaking about with old Rook's gal. Wonder her +dad don't show more sense than let her keep company wi' a nigger. She +ain't a goslin any more--_she_ ain't." + +Buck's observation displays an animus ill concealed. He, too, has not +failed to note the hidden beauty of this forest maiden, who is the +daughter of an old hunter of rude habits, living in a cabin close by. + +But the sentiments of the horse-dealer's son, less refined, are also +less keenly felt. His remarks add fuel to the fire already kindled in +the breast of Brandon. + +"The nigger thinks entirely too much of himself. I propose, boys, we +take the shine out of him," said Brandon, who makes the malicious +challenge. + +"Do the nigger good," chimes in Slaughter. + +"But is he a nigger?" asks Spence, to whom the strange youth has been +hitherto unknown. "I should have taken him for a white." + +"Three-quarters white--the rest Indian. His mother was a half-bred +Choctaw. I've often seen the lot at our store." + +It is Grubbs who gives this information. + +"Injun or nigger, what's the difference?" proceeded the brutal Buck. +"He's got starch enough for either; and, as you say, Alf Brandon, let's +take it out of him. All agreed, boys?" + +"All! all!" + +"What do you say, Judge Randall! You've not spoken yet, and as you're a +judge we wait for your decision." + +"Oh, if there's fun to be had, _I'm_ with you. What do you propose +doing with him?" + +"Leave that to me," says Brandon, turning to the quarter-bred, who at +this moment has arrived opposite the camp fire. "Hilloa Choc! What's +the hurry? We've been having a trial of strength here--who can hang +longest by one arm to this branch? Suppose you put in too, and see what +you can do?" + +"I don't desire it; besides, I have no time to spare for sport." + +The young hunter, halted for only a moment, is about to move on. The +companionship thus offered is evidently uncongenial. He suspects that +some mischief is meant. He can read it in the eyes of all six; in their +faces flushed with corn-whiskey. Their tone, too, is insulting. + +"You're afraid you'll get beat," sneeringly rejoins Brandon. "Though +you have Indian blood in you, there ought to be enough white to keep you +from showing coward." + +"A coward! I'll thank you not to repeat that Mr Alfred Brandon." + +"Well, then, show yourself a man, and make the trial. I've heard that +you boast of having strong arms. I'll bet that I can hang longer to +that branch than you--that any of us can." + +"What will you bet you can?" asks the young hunter, stirred, perhaps, by +the hope of employing his strength to a profitable purpose. + +"My rifle against yours. Looking at the value of the guns, that is +quite two to one." + +"Three to one," says the son of the store-keeper. + +"I don't admit it," answers the hunter. "I prefer my piece to yours, +with all its silvering upon it. But I accept your challenge, and will +take the bet as you have proposed it." + +"Enough. Now, boys, stand by and see fair play. You, Slaughter, you +keep time. Here's my watch." + +The girl is going away; Brandon evidently wishes she should do so. He +has some design--some malice _prepense_, of which he does not desire her +to be a witness. Whatever it is he has communicated it to his fellows, +all of whom show a like willingness for Lena Rook--such is her name--to +take her departure. Their free glances and freer speech produce the +desired effect. Her father's shanty is not far off. She knows the road +without any guidance, and moves off along it, not, however, without +casting a glance towards her late travelling companion, in which might +be detected a slight shadow of apprehension. + +She has not failed to notice the bearing of the boy hunters, their +insulting tone and attitude towards him of Indian taint, who, for all +that, has been the companion of her girlhood's life--the sharer of her +father's roof, rude and humble as it is. Most of those left in the +glade she knows--all of them by name--Buck and Brandon with a slight +feeling of aversion. + +But she has confidence in Pierre--the only name by which she knows her +father's guest--the name given by the man who some six years before +entrusted him to her father's keeping; she knows that he is neither +child nor simpleton, and against any ordinary danger can well guard +himself. + +By this sweet reflection allaying her fears she flits forward along the +forest path like a young fawn, emboldened by the knowledge that the lair +of the protecting stag is safe and near. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER THREE. + +HANGING BY ONE HAND. + +"How is it to be?" asks Slaughter, holding the watch as if he were +weighing it. "By one hand or both?" + +"One hand, of course. That was the challenge." + +"I propose that the other be tied. That will be the best way, and fair +for both parties. There will then be no balancing, and it will be a +simple test of strength in the arm used for suspension. The right, of +course. Let the left be tied down. What say you, boys?" + +"There can be no objection to that. It's equal for both," remarks +Randall. + +"I make no objection," says Brandon. + +"Nor I," assents the young hunter; "tie as you please, so long as you +tie alike." + +"Good!" ejaculates Bill Buck, with a sly wink to his companions, unseen +by the last speaker. + +The competitors stand under the branch of the tree ready to be tied. A +minute or two sufficed for this. It is done by a piece of string cord +looped upon the left wrist, and then carried round the thigh. By this +means the left arm is secured against struggling or in anyway lessening +the strain upon the right. + +Thus pinioned, both stand ready for the trial. + +"Who goes first?" is the question asked by Slaughter. "The challenger, +or the challenged?" + +"The challenged has the choice," answers Randall. "Do you wish it, +Choc?" he adds, addressing himself to the quarter-bred Indian. + +"It makes no difference to me whether first or last," is the simple +reply. + +"All right, then; I'll go first," says Brandon, springing up, and +clutching hold of the limb. + +Slaughter, entrusted with the duty, appears to take note of the time. + +One--two--three--three minutes and thirty seconds--told off on the dial +of his watch, and Brandon drops to the ground. + +He does not appear to have made much of an effort. It is strange he +should be so indifferent to the losing of a splendid rifle, to say +nothing of the humiliation of defeat. + +Both seem in store for him, as the young hunter, bracing himself to the +effort, springs up to the branch. + +One--two--three--four--five. Five minutes are told off, and still does +he remain suspended. + +"How much longer can you stand it, Choc?" asks Bill Buck, with a +significant intonation of voice. "Most done, ain't ye?" + +"Done!" scornfully exclaimed the suspended hunter. "I could stand it +three times as long, if needed. I suppose you're satisfied I've won?" + +"A hundred dollars against my own rifle you don't hang five minutes +more." + +This comes from Brandon. + +"I'll take the bet," is the rejoinder. + +"Since you're so confident, then, you'll have to win or be hanged." + +"What do you mean by that? What are you doing behind me?" asked the +young hunter. + +These questions are put under a suspicion that some trick is being +played. He hears a whispering behind him, and a rustling of leaves +overhead. + +"Only taking the precaution that you don't hurt yourself by the fall," +is the answer given to the last. + +It is followed by a peal of loud laughter, in which all six take part. + +The young gymnast, still clinging to the branch, wonders what is making +them so merry. Heir speeches have suggested something sinister, and +glancing upward he discovers the trick played upon him. There is a rope +around his neck, with a running nose, its other end attached to a branch +above. It has been adjusted in such manner that were he to let go his +hold the noose would close around his throat, with his feet still +dangling in the air. + +"Hang on!" cried Slaughter, in a mocking tone. "Hang on, I advise you. +If you let go you'll find your neck in a noose." + +"You'll keep the time, Slaughter," directs Brandon, "Five minutes more. +If he drops within that time, let him do so. Well, then, see how long +the nigger can hang _by his neck_." + +Another loud laugh rings through the glade, echoed by all except him who +is the subject of it. + +The young hunter is furious--almost to frenzy. His cheek has turned +ashy pale--his lips too. Fire flashes in his coal-black eyes. Could he +but descend safely from the tree, at least one of his torturers would +have reason to repent the trick they have put upon him. + +He dare not let go his hold; he sees the set snare, and knows the danger +of falling into it. He can only await till they may please to release +him from his perilous position. + +But if patient, he is not silent. + +"Cowards!" he cries, "cowards every one of you; and I'll make every one +of you answer for it: you'll see if I don't." + +"Come, come, nigger," retorts Brandon, "don't talk that way, or we'll +not let you down at all. As good as you have been hanged in these woods +for too much talking. Ain't he a nice looking gallows bird just now? +Say, boys! Suppose we call back the girl, and let her have a look at +him? Perhaps she'd help him out of his fix. Ha! ha! ha!" + +"You'll repent these speeches, Alfred Brandon," gasps the young man, +beginning to feel his strength failing him. + +"You be hanged--yes, hanged, ha! ha! ha!" + +Simultaneous with the laugh a deer-hound, straying by the edge of the +glade, gave out a short, sharp growl, which is instantly taken up by +those lying around the camp fire. At the same instant is heard a snort, +perfectly intelligible to the ears of the amateur hunters. + +"A bear! a bear!" is the cry uttered by all, as the animal itself is +seen dashing back into the cane-brake, out of which it had come to +reconnoitre. + +In an instant the hounds are after it, some of them already hanging to +its hams, while the six hunters suddenly rush to their guns, and +flinging themselves into their saddles, oblivious of all else, spur +excitedly after. + +In less than twenty seconds from the first howl of the hound there is +not a soul in the glade, save that now in real danger of parting from +the body that contains it. + +The young hunter is left hanging--alone! + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER FOUR. + +A FORCED FREEDOM. + +Yes. The young hunter is left hanging alone; hanging by hand and arm; +soon to be suspended by the neck. + +Good God! is there no alternative? No hope of his being rescued from +his perilous situation? + +He sees none for himself. He feels that he is powerless; his left hand +is fastened to his thigh with a cord that cannot be stretched or broken. +He tries wrenching the wrist with all his strength, and in every +direction. The effort is idle, and ends only in the laceration of his +skin. + +With the right hand he can do nothing. He dare not remove it from the +limb; he dare not even change its hold. To unclasp it would be certain +strangulation. + +Can he not throw up his feet, and by them elevate himself upon the +branch? The idea at once suggests itself; and he at once attempts its +execution. He tries once, twice, thrice, until he proves it impossible. +With both arms it would have been easy; or with one at an earlier +period. But the strain has been too long continued, and he sees that +the effort is only bringing him nearer to his end. He desists, and once +more hangs vertically, from the limb. + +Is there no hope from hearing? He listens. There is no lack of sounds. +There is the baying of dogs at intervals, culminating in grand chorus, +or breaking into short, sharp barks, as the bear gives battle; there is +the bellowing of bruin himself, mingled with the crackling of cane, as +he makes his way through the thick-set culms; and, above all, the shouts +and wild yelling of his human pursuers. + +"Are they human?" asks he whom they have left behind. "Can it be that +they have abandoned me to this cruel death?" + +"It can--they have," is the agonised answer, as the sounds of the chase +come fainter from the forest. "They have--they have," he repeats, and +then, as the tide of vengeance surges up in his heart, he cries, through +clenched teeth, "O God; give me escape--if but to avenge myself on those +villains who have outraged your own image. O God! look down in mercy! +Send some one to deliver me!" + +Some one to deliver him! He has no hope that any of his late tormentors +will return to do it. He had but little from the first. He knows them +all, except Spence, the son of the clergyman; and from the late +behaviour of this youth, he has seen that he is like the rest. All six +are of the same stamp and character, the most dissolute scamps in the +country. No hope now; for the bear hunt has borne them far away, and +even their yells are no longer heard by him. + +Hitherto he has remained silent. It seemed idle to do otherwise. Who +was there to hear him, save those who would not have heeded. And his +shouts would not have been heard among the howling of hounds, the +trampling of horses, and the shrill screeching of six fiends in human +form. + +Now that silence is around him--deep, solemn silence--a new hope springs +up within his breast. Some one _might_ be near, straying through the +forest or travelling along the trace. He knows there is a trace. +Better he had never trodden it! + +But another might be on it. Some one with a human heart. Oh, if it +were only Lena! + +"Hilloa!" he cries, again and again; "help, help! For the love of God, +give help!" + +His words are repeated, every one of them, and with distinctness. But, +alas, not in answer, only in echo. The giant trunks are but taunting +him. A fiend seems to mock him far off in the forest! + +He shouts till he is hoarse--till despair causes him to desist. Once +more he hangs silent. A wonder he has hung so long. There are few +boys, and perhaps fewer men, who could for such a time have sustained +the terrible strain, under which even the professional gymnast might +have sunk. It is explained by his training, and partly by the Indian +blood coursing through his veins. A true child of the forest--a hunter +from earliest boyhood--to scale the tall tree, and hang lightly from its +limbs, was part of his education. To such as he the hand has a grasp +prehensile as the tail of the American monkey, the arm a tension not +known to the sons of civilisation. + +Fortunate for him it is thus, or perhaps the opposite, since it has only +added to his misery by delaying the fate that seems certainly in store +for him. + +He makes this reflection as he utters his last cry, and once more +suffers himself to droop despairingly. So strongly does it shape +itself, that he thinks of letting go his hold, and at once and for ever +putting an end to his agony. + +Death is a terrible alternative. There are few who do not fear to look +it in the face--few who will hasten to meet it, so long as the slightest +spark of hope glimmers in the distance. Men have been known to spring +into the sea, to be swallowed by the tumultuous waves; but it was only +when the ship was on fire, or certainly sinking beneath them. This is +but fleeing from death to death, when all hope of life is extinguished. +Perhaps it is only madness. + +But Pierre Robideau--for such is the name of the young hunter--is not +mad, and not yet ready to rush to the last terrible alternative. + +It is not hope that induces him to hold on--it is only the dread horror +of death. + +His arm is stretched almost to dislocation of its joints--the sinews +drawn tight as a bow-string, and still his fingers clutch firmly to the +branch, lapped like iron round it. + +His cheeks are colourless; his jaws have dropped till the lips are +agape, displaying his white teeth; his eyes protrude as if about to +start forth from their sockets. + +And yet out of these wild eyes one more glance is given to the glade-- +one more sweep among the trunks standing around it. + +What was seen in that last glaring look? + +Was it the form of a fair girl dimly outlined under the shadow of the +trees? or was it only that same form conjured up by a fancy flickering +on the edge of eternity? + +No matter now. It is too late. Even if Lena were there she would not +be in time to save him. Nature, tortured to the last throe, can hold +out no longer. She relaxes the grasp of Pierre Robideau's hand, and the +next moment he is seen hanging under the branch, with the tightened +noose around his neck, and his tongue protruding between his lips, livid +with the dark mantling of death! + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER FIVE. + +TWO OLD CHUMS. + +"Bound for Kaliforny, air ye?" + +"Yes; that's the country for me." + +"If what you say's true, it oughter be the country for more'n you. Air +ye sure 'beout it?" + +"Seems believing. Look at this." + +The man who gave utterance to the old saw pulled from his pocket a small +packet done up in fawn skin, and untying the string, exhibited some +glistening nodules of a yellowish colour. + +"True; seein' air believin', they do say, an' feelin' air second nater. +Let's lay my claw on't." + +The packet was passed into his hands. + +"Hang me eft don't look like gold! an' it feel like it, too; an', durn +me, ef't don't taste like it." + +This after he had put one of the nodules in his mouth, and rolled it +over his tongue, as if testing it. + +"It _is_ gold," was the positive rejoinder. + +"An' ye tell me, Dick Tarleton, they find these sort o' nuts in +Kaliforny lyin' right on the surface o' the groun'?" + +"Almost the same. They dig them out of the bed of a river, and then +wash the mud off them. The thing's been just found out by a man named +Captain Sutter while they were clearing out a mill-race. The fellow I +got these from's come direct from there with his bullet-pouch chock full +of them, besides several pounds weight of dust in a canvas bag. He was +in New Orleans to get it changed into dollars; an' he did it, too, five +thousand in all, picked up, he says, in a spell of three months' +washing. He's going right back." + +"Burn me ef I oughten't to go too. Huntin' ain't much o' a bizness hyar +any longer. Bar's gettin' pretty scace, an' deer's most run off +altogither from the settlements springin' up too thick. Besides, these +young planters an' the fellers from the towns air allers 'beout wi' thar +blasted horns, scarin' everything out of creashun. Thar's a ruck o' +them kine clost by hyar 'beout a hour ago, full tare arter a bar. Burn +'em! What hev they got to do wi' bar-huntin'--a parcel o' brats o' +boys? Jess as much as this chile kin do' to keep his ole karkidge from +starvin'; and thar's the gurl, too, growin' up, an' nothin' provided for +her but this ole shanty, an' the patch o' gurden groun'. I'd pull up +sticks and go wi' ye, only for one thing." + +"What is that, Rook?" + +"Wal, wal; I don't mind tellin' you, Dick. The gurl's good-lookin', an' +thar's a rich young feller 'pears a bit sweet on her. I don't much like +him myself; but he _air_ rich, or's boun' to be when the old 'un goes +under. He's an only son, an' they've got one o' the slickest cotton +plantations in all Arkansaw." + +"Ah, well; if you think he means marrying your girl, you had, perhaps, +better stay where you are." + +"Marryin' her! Burn him, I'll take care o' thet. Poor as I am myself, +an' as you know, Dick Tarleton, no better than I mout be, she hain't no +knowin' beout that. My little gurl, Lena, air as innocent as a young +doe. I'll take precious care nobody don't come the humbugging game over +her. In coorse you're gwine to take your young 'un along wi' ye?" + +"Of course." + +"Wal, he'll be better out o' hyar, any how. Thar a wild lot, the young +fellars 'beout these parts; an' I don't think over friendly wi' him. +'Tall events, _he_ don't sort wi' _them_. They twit him 'beout his +Injun blood, and that sort o' thing." + +"Damn them! he's got _my_ blood." + +"True enuf, true enuf; an' ef they knew thet, it wudn't be like to git +much favour for him. You dud well in makin' him grass under the name o' +the mother. Ef the folks 'beout hyar only knowed he war the son o' Dick +Tarleton--Dick Tarleton thet--" + +"Hush! shut up, Jerry Rook! Enough that you know it. I hope you never +said a word of that to the boy. I trusted you." + +"An' ye trusted to a true man. Wi' all my back-slidin's I've been, true +to you, Dick. The boy knows nothin' 'beout what you're been, nor me +neyther. He air as innocent as my own gurl Lena, tho' of a diffrent +natur altogither. Tho' he be three parts white, he's got the Injun in +him as much as ef he'd been the colour o' copper. Le's see; it air now +nigh on six year gone since ye seed him. Wal, he's wonderful growed up +an' good-lookin'; and thar arn't anythin' 'beout these parts kud tackle +on to him fur strenth. He kin back a squirrel wi' the pea-rifle, tho' +thet won't count for much now ef ye're gwine to set him gatherin' these +hyar donicks an' dusts. Arter all, thet may be the best for him. +Huntin' ain't no account any more. I'd gi'e it up myself ef I ked get +some eezier way o' keepin' my wants serplied." + +The man to whom these remarks were made did not give much attention to +the last of them. + +A proud fire was in his eye as he listened to the eulogy passed upon the +youth, who was his son by Marie Robideau, the half-breed daughter of a +famous fur-trader. Perhaps, too, he was thinking of the youth's mother, +long since dead. + +"He will soon be here?" he inquired, rousing himself from his reverie. + +"Oughter," was the reply. "Only went wi' my gurl to the store to git +some fixin's. It air in Helena, 'beout three mile by the old trace. +Oughter be back by this. I war expectin' 'em afore you kim in." + +"What's that?" asked Tarleton, as a huge bear-hound sprang from his +recumbent position on the hearth, and ran growling to the door. + +"Them, I reck'n. But it moutn't be; thar's plenty o' other people +abeout. Make safe, Dick, an' go in thar', into the gurl's room, till I +rickaneitre." + +The guest was about to act upon the hint, when a light footstep outside, +followed by the friendly whimpering of the hound, and the soft voice of +her on whom the dog was fawning, caused him to keep his place. + +In another second, like a bright sunbeam, a young girl--Lena Rook-- +stepped softly over the threshold. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER SIX. + +A CRY OF DISTRESS. + +Lena Rook knew the father of Pierre, and curtsied as she came in. + +It was six years since she had seen him; but she still remembered the +man who had stayed some days at her father's house, and left behind him +a boy, who had afterwards proved such a pleasant playmate. + +"Whar's Pierre?" asked her father. "Didn't he kum back from Helena +along wi' ye?" + +The guest simultaneously asked a similar question, for both had noticed +a slight shadow on the countenance of the girl. + +"He did," answered she, "as far as the clearing in the cane-brake, just +over the creek." + +"He stopped thar. What for?" + +"There was a party of hunters--boys." + +"Who mout they be?" + +"There was Alf Brandon, and Bill Buck, and young Master Randall, the +judge's son, and there was Jeff Grubbs, the son of Mr Grubbs, that +keeps the store, and Slaughter's son, and another boy I don't remember +ever seeing before." + +"A preecious pack o' young scamp-graces, every mother's son o' 'em, +'ceptin the one you didn't know, an' he can't be much different, seein' +the kumpany he air in. What war they a doin'?" + +"They had hounds and horses. They had killed a bear." + +"Killed a bar! Then that's the lot that went scurryin' up the crik, +while ago. Durn 'em! they never killed the bar. The houn's dud it for +'em. Ye see how it air, Dick? Who the Etarnal ked make his bread out +o' huntin' hyar, when sech green goslins as them goes screamin' through +the woods wi' a hul pack o' houn's to drive the game hillward! How d'ye +know, gurl, thet they killed a bar?" + +"I saw it lying on the ground, and the skin hanging to a tree." + +"Skinned it, too, did they?" + +"Yes. They had a fire, and they had been roasting and eating some of +it. I think they had been drinking too. They looked as if they had, +and I could smell whiskey about the place." + +"But what kept Pierre among 'em?" + +"They were trying who could hang longest to the branch of a tree. As +Pierre was coming past, Alf Brandon stopped him, and challenged him to +try too; then offered to make a bet--their rifles, I think--and Pierre +consented, and I came away." + +"Pierre should have kum along wi' ye, an' left them to theirselves. I +know Alf Brandon don't owe the boy any goodwill, nor Bill Buck neyther, +nor any o' that hul lot. I reckon they must a riled him, and rousted +his speerit a bit." + +As the old hunter said this, he stepped over the threshold of the door, +and stood outside, as if looking out for the coming of Dick Tarleton's +son. + +Seeing that he was listening, the other two, to avoid making a noise, +conversed in a low tone. + +"I kin hear the houn's," remarked Rook, speaking back into the cabin. +"Thar's a growl! Durn me, ef they hain't started suthin'. Thar they +go, an' the curs yellin' arter 'em as ef hell war let loose. Wonder +what it kin mean? Some varmint must a crawled right inter thar camp. +Wal, Pierre ain't like to a gone along wi' 'em, seein' as he's got no +hoss. I reck'n we'll soon see him hyar, an' maybe Alf Brandon's rifle +along wi' him. Ef it's bin who kin hang longest to the branch of a +tree, I'd back him agin the toughest-tailed possum in all these parts. +Ef that be the tarms o' the wager, he'll git the gun." + +The old hunter returned chuckling into the cabin. + +Some conversation passed between him and his daughter, about getting +dinner for their guest; and then, thinking that the expected Pierre was +a long time in showing himself, he went out again, and stood listening +as before. + +He had not been many moments in this attitude, when he was seen to +start, and then listen more eagerly with an uneasy look. + +Tarleton, looking from the inside, saw this, and so too the girl. + +"What is it, Jerry?" inquired the former, moving hastily towards the +door. + +"Durned if I know. I heerd a shriek as ef some'dy war in trouble. Yes, +thar 'tis agin! By the Etarnal, it's Pierre's voice!" + +"It is father," said Lena, who had glided out, and stood listening by +his side. "It is his voice; I could tell it anywhere. I fear they have +been doing something. I'm sure those boys don't like him, and I know +they were drinking." + +"No, Dick! don't you go. Some of them young fellurs might know you. +I'll go myself, and Lena kin kum along wi' me. My gun, gurl! An' you +may turn, too, ole Sneezer; you'd be more'n a match for the hul pack o' +thar curs. I tell ye, you shan't go, Dick! Git inside the shanty, and +stay thar till we kum back. Maybe, 'tain't much; some lark o' them +young scamp-graces. Anyhow, this chile'll soon see it all straight. +Now, Lena! arter yur ole dad." + +At the termination of this chapter of instructions, the hunter, long +rifle in hand, hound and daughter close following upon his heels, strode +off at the double-quick in the direction in which he had heard the +cries. + +For some moments their guest stood outside the door, apparently +unresolved as to whether he should stay behind or follow his host. But, +a shadow passing over his face, showed that some sentiment--perhaps +fear--stronger than affection for his son, was holding him in check; +and, yielding to this, he turned, and stepped back into the shanty. + +A remarkable-looking man was this old acquaintance of Jerry Rook; as +unlike the hunter as Hyperion to the Satyr. He was still under forty +years of age, while Jerry had outlived the frosts of full sixty winters. +But the difference between their ages was nothing compared with that +existing in other respects. While Jerry, crooked in limb and corrugated +in skin, was the beau ideal of an old borderer, with a spice of the +pirate in him to boot, Richard Tarleton stood straight as a lance, and +had been handsome as Apollo. + +Jerry, clad in his half-Indian costume of skin cap and buck-leather, +looked like the wild woods around him, while his guest in white linen +shirt and shining broadcloth, seemed better suited for the streets of +that city from which his conversation showed him to have lately come. + +What strange chance has brought two such men together? And what +stranger episode had kept them bound in a confidence neither seemed +desirous of divulging? + +It must have been a dark deed on the side of Dick Tarleton--a strong +fear that could hinder a father from rushing to the rescue of his son! + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER SEVEN. + +THE BODY TAKEN DOWN. + +The glade is silent as a graveyard, with a tableau in it far more +terribly solemn than tombs. A fire smoulders unheeded in its centre, +and near it the carcass of some huge creature, upon which the black +vultures, soaring aloft, have fixed their eager eyes. + +And they glance too at something upon the trees. There is a broad black +skin suspended over a branch; but there is more upon another branch-- +there is a _man_! + +But for the motions lately made by him the birds would ere this have +descended to their banquet. + +They may come down now. He makes no more motions, utters no cry to keep +them in the air affrighted. He hangs still, silent, apparently dead. +Even the scream of a young girl rushing out from the underwood does not +stir him, nor yet the shout of an old man sent forth under like +excitement. + +Not any more when they are close to the spot with arms almost touching +him--arms upraised and voices loud in lamentation. + +"It is Pierre! Oh, father, they have hanged him! Dead--he is dead!" + +"Hush gurl! Maybe not," cries the old man, taking hold of the loose +limbs and easing the strain of the rope. "Quick! come under here, catch +hold as you see me, an' bear up wi' all your strength. I must git my +knife out and spring up'ard to git at the durned rope. Thet's it. +Steady, now." + +The young girl has glided forward, and, as directed, taken hold of the +hanging limbs. It is a terrible task--a trying, terrible task even for +a backwoods maiden. But she is equal to it; and bending to it with all +her strength, she holds up what she believes to be the dead body of her +playmate and companion. Her young heart is almost bursting with agony +as she feels that in the limbs embraced there is no motion--not even a +tremor. + +"Hold on hard," urges her father. "Thet's a stout gurl. I won't be a +minnit." + +While giving this admonition, he is hurrying to get hold of his knife. + +It is out, and with a spring upward, as if youth had returned to his +sinews, the old hunter succeeds in reaching the rope. It is severed +with a "snig!" and the body, bearing the girl along with it, drops to +the ground. + +The noose is instantly slackened and switched off; the old hunter with +both hands embraces the throat, pressing the windpipe back into it; +then, placing his ear close to the chest, listens. + +With eyes set in agonised suspense, and ears also; Lena listens, too, to +hear what her father may say. + +"Oh! father, do you think he is dead? Tell me he still lives." + +"Not much sign o' it. Heigh! I thort I seed a tremble. You run to the +shanty. Thar's some corn whisky in the cubberd. It's in the stone +bottle. Bring it hyar. Go, gurl, an' run as fast as your legs kin +carry ye!" + +The girl springs to her feet, and is about starting off. + +"Stay, stay! It won't do to let Dick know; this'll drive _him_ mad. +Durn me, if I know what ter do. Arter all he may as well be told on't. +He must find it out, sooner or later. That must be, an' dog-gone it +'twon't do to lose time. Ye may go. No, stay! No, go--go! an' fetch +the bottle; ye needn't tell him what it's for. But he'll know thars +suthin' wrong. He'll be sure to know. He'll come back along wi' ye. +That's equilly sartin. Well, let him. Maybe thet's the best. Yes, +fetch him back wi' ye. Thar's no danger o' them chaps--showin' here +arter this, I reck'n. Hurry him along but don't forget the bottle. +Now, gurl, quick as lightnin', quick!" + +If not quite so quick as lightning, yet fast as her feet can carry her, +the young girl starts along the trace leading to the shanty. She is not +thinking of the sad tidings she bears to him who hides in her father's +cabin. Her own sorrow is sufficient for the time, and stifles every +other thought in her heart. + +The old hunter does not stand idly watching her. He is busy with the +body, doing what he can to restore life. He feels that it is warm. He +fancies it is still breathing. + +"Now, how it came abeout?" he asked himself, scanning the corpse for an +explanation. "Tied one o' his hands an' not the tother! Thar's a +puzzle. What can it mean? + +"They must a meant hangin' anyhow, poor young fellar! They've dud it +sure. For what? What ked he hev done, to hev engered them? Won the +rifle for one thing, an' thet they've tuk away. + +"The hul thing hez been a trick; a durned, infernal, hellniferous trick +o' some sort. + +"Maybe they only meant it for a joke. Maybe they only intended scarin' +him; an' jess then that varmint kim along, an' sot the houn's on to it, +an' them arter, an' they sneaked off 'thout thinkin' o' him? Wonder ef +that was the way. + +"Ef it warn't, what ked a purvoked them to this drefful deed? Durn me +ef I kin think o' a reezun. + +"Wal, joke or no joke, it hev ended in a tregidy--a krewel tregidy. +Poor young fellar! + +"An' dog-gone my cats! ef I don't make 'em pay for it, every mother's +chick o' 'em. Yes, Mr Alf Brandon, an' you, Master Randall, an' you, +Bill Buck, an' all an' every one o' ye. + +"Ya! I've got a idea; a durned splendifirous idea! By the Etarnal, I +kin make a good thing out o' this. Well thought o', Jeremiah Rooke; +ye've hed a hard life o't lately; but ye'll be a fool ef ye don't live +eezier for the future, a darned greenhorn o' a saphead! Oh, oh! ye +young bloods an' busters! I'll make ye pay for this job in a way ye +ain't thinkin' o', cussed ef I don't. + +"What's fust to be done? He musn't lie hyar. Somebody mout kum along, +an' that 'ud spoil all. Ef 'twar only meent as a joke they mout kum to +see the end o't. I heerd shots. That must a been the finish o' the +anymal. 'Tain't likely they'll kum back, but they may; an' ef so, they +musn't see this. I'll tell them I carried the corp away and berried it. +They won't care to inquire too close 'beout it. + +"An' Dick won't object. I won't let him object. What good would it do +him? an' t'other 'll do me good, a power o' good. Keep me for the +balance o' my days. Let Dick go a gold gatherin' his own way, I'll go +mine. + +"Thar ain't any time to lose. I must toat him to the shanty; load +enough for my old limbs. But I'll meet them a comin', an' Dick an' the +gurl kin help me. Now, then, my poor Pierre, you come along wi' me." + +This strange soliloquy does not occupy much time. It is spoken +_sotto-voce_, while the speaker is still engaged in an effort to +resuscitate life; nor is he yet certain that Pierre Robideau is dead, +while raising his body from the ground and bearing it out of the glade. + +Staggering under the load, for the youth is of no light weight, he +re-enters the trace conducting to his own domicile. The old bear-hound +slinks after with a large piece of flesh between his teeth, torn from +the carcase of the butchered bear. + +The vultures, no longer scared by man's presence, living or dead, drop +down upon the earth, and strut boldly up to their banquet. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE OATH OF SECRECY. + +While the black buzzards are quarrelling over the carcase, not far off +there is another carcase stretched upon the sward, also of a bear. + +But the grouping around it is different; six hunters on horseback and +double the number of dogs. + +They are the boy hunters late bivouacking in the glade, and the bear is +the same that had strayed unwittingly into their camp. + +The animal has just succumbed under the trenchant teeth of their dogs, +and a bullet or two from their rifles. Nor have the hounds come off +unscathed. Two or three of them, the young and rash, lie dead beside +the quarry they assisted in dragging down. + +The hunters have just ridden up and halted over the black, bleeding +mass. The chase, short and hurried, is at an end, and now for the first +time since leaving the glade do they seem to have stayed for reflection. +That which strikes them is, or should be, fearful. + +"My God!" cries young Randall, "the Indian! We've left him hanging." + +"We have, by the Lord!" seconds Spence, all six turning pale, and +exchanging glances of consternation. + +"If he have let go his hold--" + +"If! He must have let go; and long before this. It's full twenty +minutes since we left the glade. It isn't possible for him to have hung +on so long--not possible." + +"And if he's let go?" + +"If he has done that, why, then, he's dead." + +"But are you sure the noose would close upon his neck? You, Bill Buck, +and Alf Brandon, it was you two that arranged it." + +"Bah!" rejoins Buck; "you seed that same as we. It's bound to tighten +when he drops. Of course we didn't mean that; and who'd a thought o' a +bar runnin' straight into us in that way? Darn it, if the nigger has +dropped, he's dead by this time, and there's an end of it. There's no +help for it now." + +"What's to be done, boys?" asks Grubbs. "There'll be an ugly account to +settle, I reckon." + +There is no answer to this question or remark. + +In the faces of all there is an expression of strange significance. It +is less repentance for the act than fear for the consequences. Some of +the younger and less reckless of the party show some slight signs of +sorrow, but among all fear is the predominant feeling. + +"What's to be done, boys?" again asks Grubbs. + +"We must do something. It won't do to leave things as they are." + +"Hadn't we better ride back?" suggests Spence. + +"Thar's no use goin' now," answers the son of the horse-dealer. "That +is, for the savin' of him. If nobody else has been thar since we left, +why then the nigger's dead--dead as pale Caesar." + +"Do you think any one might have come along in time to save him?" + +This question is asked with an eagerness in which all are sharers. They +would be rejoiced to think it could be answered in the affirmative. + +"There might," replies Randall, catching at the slight straw of hope. +"The trace runs through the glade, right past the spot. A good many +people go that way. Some one might have come along in time. At all +events, we should go back and see. It can't make things any worse." + +"Yes; we had better go back," assents the son of the planter; and then +to strengthen the purpose, "we'd better go for _another purpose_." + +"What, Alf?" ask several. + +"That's easily answered. If the Indian's hung himself, we can't help +it." + +"You'll make it appear suicide? You forget that we tied his left arm. +It would never look like it. He couldn't have done that himself!" + +"I don't mean that," continues Brandon. + +"What, then?" + +"If he's hanged, he's hanged and dead before this. We didn't hang him, +or didn't intend it. That's clear." + +"I don't think the law can touch us," suggests the son of the judge. + +"But it may give us _trouble_, and that must be avoided." + +"How do you propose to do, Alf?" + +"It's an old story that dead men tell no tales, and buried ones less." + +"Thar's a good grist o' truth in that," interpolates Buck. + +"The suicide wouldn't stand. Not likely to. The cord might be cut away +from the wrist; but then there's Rook's daughter. She saw him stop with +us, and to find him swinging by the neck only half-an-hour after would +be but poor proof of his having committed self-murder. No, boys, he +must be put clean out of sight." + +"That's right; that's the only safe way," cried all the others. + +"Come on, then. We musn't lose a minute about it. The girl may come +back to see what's keeping him, or old Rook, himself, may be straying +that way, or somebody else travelling along the trace. Come on." + +"Stay," exclaimed Randall. "There's something yet--something that +should be done before any chance separates us." + +"What is it?" + +"We're all alike in this ugly business--in the same boat. It don't +matter who contrived it, or who fixed the rope. We all agreed to it. +Is that not so?" + +"Yes, all. I for one acknowledge it." + +"And I!" + +"And I!" + +All six give their assent, showing at least loyalty to one another. + +"Well, then," continues Randall, "we must be true to each other. We +must swear it, and now, before going further. I propose we all take an +oath." + +"We'll do that. You, Randall, you repeat it over, and we'll follow +you." + +"Head your horses round, then, face to face." + +The horses are drawn into a circle, their heads together, with muzzles +almost touching. + +Randall proceeds, the rest repeating after him. + +"We swear, each and every one of us, never to make known by act, word, +or deed, the way in which the half-breed Indian, called Choc, came by +his death, and we mutually promise never to divulge the circumstances +connected with that affair, even if called upon in a court of law; and, +finally, we swear to be true to each other in keeping this promise until +death." + +"Now," says Brandon, as soon as the six young scoundrels have shaken +hands over their abominable compact, "let us on, and put the Indian out +of sight. I know a pool close by, deep enough to drown him. If he do +get discovered, that will look better than hanging." + +There is no reply to this astute proposal; and though it helps to allay +their apprehensions, they advance in solemn silence towards the scene of +their deserted bivouac. + +There is not one of them who does not dread to go back in that glade, so +lately gay with their rude roystering; not one who would not give the +horse he is riding and the gun he carries in his hand, never to have +entered it. + +But the dark deed has been done, and another must needs be accomplished +to conceal it. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER NINE. + +A COMPULSORY COMPACT. + +Heavy with apprehension, rather than remorse for their crime, the six +hunters ride on towards the clearing. + +They avoid the travelled track, lest they may meet some one upon it, and +approach through the thick timber. + +Guiding their horses, so as to make the least noise, and keeping the +hounds in check, they advance slowly and with caution. + +Some of the less courageous are reluctant to proceed, fearing the +spectacle that is before them. + +Even the loud-talking Slaughter would gladly give up the newly-conceived +design, but for the manifest danger of leaving it undone. + +Near the edge of the opening, still screened from their view by the +interposing trunks and cane-culms, they again halt, and hold council-- +this time speaking in whispers. + +"We should not all go forward," suggests the son of the tavern-keeper. +"Better only one or two at first, to see how the land lies." + +"That would be better," chimes in Spence. + +"Who'll go, then?" + +Buck and Brandon are pointed out by the eyes of the others resting upon +them. These two have been leaders throughout the whole affair. Without +showing poltroon, they cannot hang back now. + +They volunteer for the duty, but not without show of reluctance. It is +anything but agreeable. + +"Let's leave our horses. We'll be better without them. If there's any +one on the ground, we can steal back without being seen." + +It is the young planter's proposition, and Buck consents to it. + +They slip out of their saddles, pass the bridles to two of those who +stay behind, and then, like a couple of cougars stealing upon the +unsuspicious fawn, silently make their way through the underwood. + +The clearing is soon under their eyes, with all it contains. + +There is the carcase of the bear, black with buzzards, and the skin +still hanging from the tree. + +But the object of horror they expected to see hanging upon another tree +is not there. That sight is spared them. + +There is no body on the branch, no corpse underneath it. Living or +dead, the Indian is gone. + +His absence is far from re-assuring them; the more so as, on scanning +the branch, they perceive, still suspended from it, a piece of the rope +they had so adroitly set to ensnare him. + +Even across the glade they can see that it has been severed with the +clean cut of a knife, instead of, as they could have wished, given way +under its weight. + +Who could have cut the rope? Himself? Impossible! Where was the hand +to have done it? He had none to spare for such a purpose. Happy for +them to have thought that he had. + +They skulk around the glade to get nearer, still going by stealth, and +in silence. The buzzards perceive them, and though dull birds, +reluctant to leave their foul feast, they fly up with a fright. +Something in the air of the two stalkers seemed to startle them, as if +they too knew them to have been guilty of a crime. + +"Yes, the rope's been cut, that's sartin," says Buck, us they stand +under it. "A clean wheep o' a knife blade. Who the divvel cud a done +it?" + +"I can't think," answers the young planter, reflecting. "As like as not +old Jerry Rook, or it might have been a stray traveller." + +"Whoever it was, I hope the cuss came in time; if not--" + +"If not, we're in for it. Bless'd if I wouldn't liked it better to've +found him hanging; there might have been some chance of hiding him out +of the way. But now, if he's been dropped upon dead, we're done for. +Whoever found him will know all about it. Lena Rook knew we were here, +and her sweet lips can't be shut, I suppose. If't had been only Rook +himself, the old scoundrel, there might have been a chance. Money would +go a long ways with him; and I'm prepared--so would we all be--to buy +his silence." + +"Lucky you riddy for that, Mister Alfred Brandon. That's jest what +Rook, `the old scoundrel,' wants, and jess the very thing he means to +insist upon hevin'. Now name your price." + +If a dead body had dropped down from the branch above them it could not +have startled the two culprits more than did the living form of Jerry +Rook, as it came gliding out of the thick cane close by the stem of the +tree. + +"You, Jerry Rook!" exclaim both together, and in a tone that came +trembling through their teeth. "You here?" + +"I'm hyar, gentlemen; an' jess in time, seeing as ye wanted me. Now, +name yur price; or, shall I fix it for ye? 'Tain't no use 'fectin' +innercence o' what I mean; ye both know cleer enuf, an' so do this +chile, all 'beout it. Ye've hanged young Pierre Robideau, as lived with +me at my shanty." + +"We did not." + +"Ye did; hanged him by the neck till he war dead, as the judges say. I +kim hyar by chance, an' cut him down; but not till 'twar too late." + +"Is that true, Rook? Are you speaking the truth? Did you find him +dead?" + +"Dead as a buck arter gittin' a bullet from Jerry Rook's rifle. If ye +don't b'lieve it, maybe you'd step down to my shanty, and see him +streeched out." + +"No, no. But we didn't do it; we didn't intend it, by Heaven!" + +"No swarin', young fellars. I don't care what your intentions war; +ye've done the deed. I seed how it war, and all abeout it; ye hung him +up for sport--pretty sport that war--an' ye rud off, forgitting all +abeout him. Yur sport hev been his death." + +"My God! we are sorry to hear it. We had no thought of such a thing. A +bear came along, and set the hounds up." + +"Oh, a bar, war it? I thort so. An' ye tuk arter the bar, and let the +poor young fellar swing?" + +"It is true; we can't deny it. We had no intention of what has +happened; we thought only of the bear." + +"Wal, now, ye'll have to think o' something else. What d'ye intend +doin'?" + +"It's a terrible ugly affair. We're very sorry." + +"No doubt ye air, an' ye'd be a precious sight sorrier of the young +fellar had any kinfolk to look arter it, and call ye to account. As it +be, there ain't nobody but me--and he warn't no kin o' mine--only a +stayin' wi' me, that may make it easier for you." + +"But, what have you done with--the--the body?" + +Brandon asks the question hesitatingly, and thinking of Rook's daughter. + +"The body? Wal, I've carried it to the shanty, an' put it out o' sight. +I didn't want the hul country to be on fire till I'd fust seed ye. As +yet, thar ain't nobody the wiser." + +"And--" + +"An' what?" + +"Your daughter." + +"Oh! my darter don't count. She air a 'bedient gurl, and ain't gwine to +blabbin' while I put the stopper on her tongue. Don't ye be skeeart +'beout thet." + +"Jerry Rook!" says Brandon, recovering confidence from the old hunter's +hints, "it's no use being basket-faced over this business. We've got +into a scrape, and and we know it. You know it, too. We had no +intention to commit a crime; it was all a lark; but since it's turned +out ugly, we must make the best we can of it. You're the only one who +can make it disagreeable for us, and you won't. I know you won't. +We're willing to behave handsomely if you act otherwise. You can say +this young fellow has gone away--down to Orleans, or anywhere else. +I've heard you once say he was not to be with you much longer. That +will explain to your neighbours why he is missing. To be plain, then, +what is the price of such an explanation?" + +"Durn me, Alf Brandon, ef you oughtn't to be a lawyer, or something o' +thet sort. You hit it so adzactly. Wal; let's see! I risk someat by +keepin' your secret--a good someat. I'll stand a chance o' bein' tuk up +for aidin' an' abettin'. Wal; let's see! Thar war six o' ye. My girl +tolt me so, an' I kin see it by the tracks o' your critters. Whar's the +other four?" + +"Not far off." + +"Wal; ye'd better bring 'em all up hyar. I s'pose they're all's deep in +the mud as you in the mire. Besides, it air too important a peint to be +settled by depity. I'd like all o' yur lot to be on the groun' an' +jedge for theerselves." + +"Agreed; they shall come. Bring them up, Bill." + +Bill does as directed, and the six young hunters are once more assembled +in the glade; but with very different feelings from those stirring them +when there before. + +Bill has told them all, even to the proposal made by Rook; and they sit +upon their horses downcast, ready to consent to his terms. + +"Six o' ye," says the hunter, apparently calculating the price of the +silence to be imposed on him; "all o' ye sons o' rich men, and all able +to pay me a hundred dollars a-year for the term o' my nateral life. Six +hundred dollars. 'Tain't much to talk abeout; jess keep my old carcase +from starvin'. Huntin's gone to the dogs 'bout hyar, an' you fellars +hev hed somethin' to do in sendin' it thar. So on that account o' +itself ye oughter be only too happy in purvidin' for one whose business +ye've speiled. It air only by way o' a penshun. Hundred dollars +apiece, and that reg'larly paid _pre-annum_. Ye all know what 'tis for. +Do ye consent?" + +"I do." + +"And I." + +"And I." + +And so signify the six. + +"Wal, then, ye may go hum; ye'll hear no more 'beout this bizness from +me, 'ceptin' any o' ye shed be sech a dod-rotted fool as ter fall behind +wi' yur payments. Ef ye do, by the Eturnal--" + +"You needn't, Jerry Rook," interposes Brandon, to avoid hearing the +threat; "you may depend upon us. I shall myself be responsible for +all." + +"Enuf sed. Abeout this bar skin hanging on the tree. I 'spose ye don't +want to take that wi' ye? I may take' it, may I, by way o' earnest to +the bargain?" + +No one opposes the request. The old hunter is made welcome to the +spoils of the chase, both those on the spot and in the forest further +off. + +They who obtained them are but too glad to surrender every souvenir that +may remind them of that ill-spent day. + +Slow, and with bitter thoughts, they ride off, each to return to his own +home, leaving Jerry Rook alone to chuckle over the accursed compact. + +And this does he to his satisfaction. + +"Now!" cries he, sweeping the bear's skin from the branch, and striding +off along the trace; "now to make things squar wi' Dick Tarleton. Ef I +ken do thet, I'll sot this day down in the kullinder as bein' the +luckiest o' my life." + +The sound of human voices has ceased in the glade. There is heard only +the "whish" of wings as the buzzards return to their interrupted repast. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TEN. + +VOWS OF VENGEANCE. + +The sun is down, and there is deep darkness over the firmament; deeper +under the shadows of the forest. But for the gleam of the lightning +bugs, the forms of two men standing under the trees could scarce be +distinguished. + +By such fickle light it is impossible to read their features, but by +their voices may they be recognised, engaged as they are in an earnest +conversation. + +They are Jerry Rook and Dick Tarleton. + +The scene is on the bank of the sluggish stream or _bayou_, that runs +past the dwelling of the hunter, and not twenty yards from the shanty +itself. Out of this they have just stepped apparently for the purpose +of carrying on their conversation beyond earshot of any one. + +The faint light burning within the cabin, that part of it that serves as +sitting-room and kitchen, is from the fire. But there is no one there; +no living thing save the hound slumbering upon the hearth. + +A still duller light from a dip candle shows through the slits of a shut +door, communicating with an inner apartment. One gazing in might see +the silhouette of a young girl seated by the side of a low bedstead, on +which lies stretched the form of a youth apparently asleep. At all +events, he stirs not, and the girl regards him in silence. There is +just enough light to show that her looks are full of anxiety or sadness, +but not sufficient to reveal which of the two, or whether both. + +The two men outside have stopped by the stem of a large cottonwood, and +are but continuing a dialogue commenced by the kitchen fire, that had +been kindled but for the cooking of the evening meal, now eaten. It is +still warm autumn weather, and the bears have not begun to hybernate. + +"I tell ye, Dick," says the old hunter, whose turn it is to speak, "for +you to talk o' revenge an' that sort o' thing air the darndest kind o' +nonsense. Take it afore the coort ideed! What good 'ud thet do ye? +They'd be the coort, an' the jedges; that is, thar fathers wud, an' ye'd +stan' as much chance o' gettin' jestice out o' 'em as ye wud o' lightin' +yur pipe at one o' them thar fire-bugs. They've got the money an' the +inflooence, an' thar's no law in these parts, 'ithout one or the +t'other." + +"I know it--I know it," says Tarleton, with bitter emphasis. + +"I reckin ye've reezun to know it, Dick, now you haven't the money to +spare for sech purposes, an', therefore, on thet score 'ud stan' no +chance. Besides thar's the old charge agin ye, and ye dasent appear to +parsecute. It's the same men ye see, or the sons o' the same--" + +"Curse them! The very same. Buck, Brandon, Randall--every one of them. +Oh, God! There is destiny in it! 'Twas their fathers who ruined me, +blighted my whole life, and now the sons to have done this. Strange-- +fearfully strange!" + +"Wal, it air kewrious, I admit, an' do look as ef the devvil hed a hand +in't. But he's playin' agen ye, Dick, yet, an' he'd beat ye sure, ef ye +try to fout agin him. Take the device I've gin ye, an' git out o' his +and thar way as fur's ye kin. Kaliforny's a good way off. Go thar as +ye intended. Git rich if ye kin, an' ye think ye hev a chance. Do +that, and then kum back hyar ef ye like. When yur pockets are well +filled wi' them thar shinin' pebbles, ye kin command the law as ye like, +and hev as much o' it as ye've a mind to." + +"I shall have it for my own wrongs, or for his." + +"Wal, I reck'n you hev reezun both ways. They used _you_ durn'd ill. +Thar's no doubt o' that. Still, Dick, ye must acknowledge that +appearances war dreadfully agin' ye." + +"Against me--perdition! From the way you say that, Jerry Rook, I might +fancy that you too believed it. If I thought you did--" + +"But I didn't, an' don't, ne'er a bit o' it, Dick. I know you war +innercent o' _thet_. + +"Jerry Rook, I have sworn to you, and swear it again, that I am as +innocent of that girl's murder as if I had never seen her. I +acknowledge that she used to meet me in the woods, and on the spot where +she was found with a bullet through her heart, and my own pistol lying +empty beside her. The pistol was stolen from my house by him who did +the deed. It was one of the two men; which, I could never tell. It was +either Buck or Brandon, the fathers of those fellows who have been +figuring to-day. Like father, like son! Both were mad after the girl, +and jealous of me. They knew I had outshined them, and that was no +doubt their reason for destroying her. One or other did it, and if I'd +known which, I'd have sent him after her long ago. I didn't wish to +kill the wrong man, and to say the truth, the girl was nothing to me. +But after what's happened to-day, I'll have satisfaction on them and +their sons too--ay, every one who has had a hand in this day's work!" + +"Wal, wal; but let it stan' over till ye kum back from Kaliforny. I +tell, ye, Dick, ye kin do nuthin' now, 'ceptin' to git yur neck into a +runnin' rope. The old lot are as bitter agin you now as they war that +day when they had ye stannin' under a branch, wi' the noose half +tightened round your thrapple; and ef ye hadn't got out o' thar +clutches, why, then thar'd a been an end o't. Ef you war to show here +agin, it wud be jest the same thing, an' no chance o' yur escapin' a +second time. Therefar, go to Kaliforny. Gather as many o' them +donicks, an' as much o' the dust as ye kin lay yur claws on. Kum back, +an' maybe then I mout do someat ter 'sist ye to the satisfacshin ye +speak o'." + +Tarleton stands silent, seeming to reflect. Strange that in all he has +said, there is no tone of sorrow--only anger. The grief he should feel +for his lost son--where is it? + +Has it passed away so soon? Or is it only kept under by the keener +agony of revenge? + +With some impatience, his counsellor continues:-- + +"I've gin you good reezuns for goin', an' if you don't take my device, +Dick, you'll do a durned foolish thing. Cut for Kaliforny, an' get +gold--gold fust, an' let the revenge kum arter." + +"No," answers Tarleton, with an emphasis telling of fixed determination. +"The reverse, Jerry Rook, the reverse. For me, the revenge first, and +then California! I'm determined to have satisfaction; and, if the law +won't give it--" + +"It won't, Dick, it won't." + +"Then, this will." + +There is just light enough from the fire-flies to show Jerry Rook the +white ivory handle of a large knife, of the sort quaintly called +Arkansas tooth-pick, held up for a moment in Tarleton's hand. + +But there is not enough to show Tarleton the dark cloud of +disappointment passing over the face of the old hunter, as he perceives +by that exhibition that his counsel had been spoken to no purpose. + +"And now," said the guest, straightening himself up as if about to make +his departure, "I've business that takes me to Helena. I expect to meet +that fellow I've been telling you of who gave me the gold. He's to come +there by an up-river boat, and should be there now. As you know, I've +to do my travelling between two days. You may expect me back before +sunrise. I hope you won't be disturbed by my early coming?" + +"Come an' go when you like, Dick. Thar ain't much saramony 'beout my +shanty. All hours air the same to me." + +Tarleton buttons up his coat, in the breast of which is concealed the +before-mentioned tooth-pick, and, without saying another word, strikes +off for the road leading towards the river and the town of Helena. It +is but little better than a bridle trace; and he is soon lost to sight +under the shadows of its overhanging trees. + +Jerry Rook keeps his place, standing close to the trunk of the +cottonwood. When his guest has gone beyond reach of hearing, an +exclamation escapes through his half-shut teeth, expressive of bitter +chagrin. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +DICK TARLETON. + +In the conversation recorded Dick Tarleton has thrown some light on his +own history. Not much more is needed to elucidate the statement made by +him--that he must do his travelling _between two days_. He has admitted +almost enough to serve the purposes of our tale which refers only to +him, though a few more words, to fill up the sketch, may not be out of +place. + +Richard Tarleton was, in early life, one of those wild spirits by no +means uncommon along the frontier line of civilisation. By birth and +breeding a gentleman; idleness, combined with evil inclinations had led +him into evil ways, and these, in their turn, had brought him to +beggary. Too proud to beg, and too lazy to enter upon any industrious +calling, he had sought to earn his living by cards and other courses +equally disreputable. + +Vicksburg and other towns along the Lower Mississippi furnished him with +many victims, till, at length, he made a final settlement in the state +of Arkansas, at that time only a territory, and, as such, the safest +refuge for all characters of a similar kind. The town of Helena became +his head-quarters. + +In this grand emporium of scamps and speculators there was nothing in +Dick Tarleton's profession to make him conspicuous. Had he confined +himself to card-playing, he might have passed muster among the most +respectable citizens of the place or its proximity, many of whom, like +himself, were professed "sportsmen." But, Dick was not long in Helena +until he began to be suspected of certain specialities of sport, among +others, that of _nigger-running_. Long absences unaccounted for, +strange company in which he was seen in strange places--both the company +and the places already suspected--with, at times, a plentiful supply of +money drawn from unknown sources, at length fixed upon Dick Tarleton a +stigma of a still darker kind than that of card-playing or even +sharping. It became the belief that he was a _negro-stealer_, a crime +unpardonable in all parts of planter-land--Arkansas not excepted. + +Along with this belief, every other stigma that might become connected +with his name was deemed credible, and no one would have doubted Dick +Tarleton's capability of committing whatever atrocity might be charged +to him. + +Bad as he was, he was not so bad as represented and believed. A +professed "sportsman," of wild and reckless habits, he knew no limits to +dissipation and common indulgence. Immoral to an extreme degree, it was +never proved that he was guilty of those dark crimes with which he stood +charged or suspected; and the suspicions, when probed to the bottom, +were generally found to be baseless. + +There were few, however, who took this trouble, for from the first Dick +Tarleton was far from being a favourite among the fellows who surrounded +him. He was of haughty habits, presuming on the superiority of birth +and education, and--something still less easily tolerated--a handsome +personal appearance. One of the finest looking men to be seen among the +settlements, he was, it need hardly be said, popular among the fair +sex--such of them as might be expected to turn their eyes upon a +_sportsman_. + +One of this class--a young girl of exceeding attraction, but, alas! with +tarnished reputation--was at the time an inhabitant of Helena. Among +her admirers, secret and open, were many young men of the place and of +the adjacent plantations. She could count a long list of conquests, +numbering names far above her own rank and station in life. Among those +were Planter Brandon, the lawyer Randall, and, of lesser note, the +horse-dealer, Buck. None of these, however, appeared to have been +successful in obtaining her smiles, which, according to general belief, +were showered on the dissolute but handsome Dick Tarleton. + +However it might have gratified the gambler's vanity, it did not add to +his popularity. On the contrary, it increased the spite felt for him, +and caused the dark suspicions to be oftener repeated. + +Such were the circumstances preceding a terrible tragedy that one day +startled Helena out of its ordinary tranquillity. The young girl in +question was found in the woods, at no great distance from the town, in +the condition already stated by Dick Tarleton, murdered, and Dick +himself was charged with being the murderer. + +He was at once arrested and arraigned, not before a regular court of +justice, but one constituted under a tree, and under the presidency of +Judge Lynch. It was done in all haste, both the arrest and the trial, +and equally quick was the condemnation. The case was so clear. His +pistol, the very weapon that had sent the fatal bullet, in the hurry and +confusion of escape, was let fall upon the ground close by the side of +the victim. His relation with the unfortunate girl--some speech he had +been heard boastingly to utter--a suspected disagreement arising from +it--all pointed to Dick Tarleton as the assassin; and by a unanimous +verdict of his excited judges, prompted by extreme vindictiveness, he +was sentenced to hanging upon a tree. + +In five minutes more he would have been consigned to this improvised +gallows, but for the negligence of his executioners. In their blind +fury they had but slightly fastened his hands, while they had forgotten +to strip him of his coat. In the pocket of this there chanced to be +another pistol--the fellow of that found. Its owner remembered it, and, +in the hour of his despair, determined upon an attempt to escape. +Wresting his wrists free from their fastening, he drew the pistol, +discharged it in the face of the man who stood most in his way, and then +clearing a track, sprang off into the woods! + +The sudden surprise, the dismay caused by the death of the man shot at-- +for he fell dead in his track--held the others for some time as if +spell-bound. When the pursuit commenced Dick Tarleton was out of sight, +and neither Judge Lynch nor his jury ever set eyes upon him again. + +The woods were scoured all round, and the roads travelled for days by +parties sent in search of him. But all returned without reporting Dick +Tarleton, or any traces of him. + +It was thought that some one must have assisted him in his escape, and +suspicion was directed upon a hunter named Rook, who squatted near White +River--the Jerry Rook of our tale. But no proof could be obtained of +this, and the hunter was left unmolested, though with some additional +stain on a character before not reputed very clean. + +Such is a brief sketch of the life of Richard Tarleton--that portion of +it spent on the north-eastern corner of Arkansas. No wonder, with such +a record, he felt constrained to do his travelling by night. + +Since that fearful episode, now a long time ago, he had not appeared at +Helena or the settlements around--at least not to the eyes of those who +would care to betray him. Gone to Texas was the general belief--Texas +or some other lawless land, where such crimes are easily condoned. So +spoke the "Puritans" of Arkansas, blind to their own especial blemish. + +Even Jerry Rook knew not the whereabouts of his old acquaintance, until +some six years before, when he had come to his cabin under the shadows +of the night, bringing with him a boy whom he hinted at as being his +son, the youth who had that day afforded such fatal sport for his +atrocious tormentors. + +The link between the two men could not have been strong, for the hunter, +in taking charge of the boy had stipulated for his "keep," and once or +twice, during the long absence of his father, had shown a disposition to +turn him out of doors. Still more so of late; and doubly more when Lena +showed signs of interference in his favour. Ever, while regarding his +daughter, he seemed to dread the presence of Pierre Robideau, as if the +youth stood between him and some favourite scheme he had formed for her +future. + +There need be nothing to fear now--surely not; if Dick Tarleton would +but discharge the debt. + +Ah! to suppose this would be to make the grandest of mistakes. The +brain of Jerry Rook was at that moment busy revolving more schemes than +one. But there was one, grand as it was, dire and deadly. + +Let our next chapter reveal it. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWELVE. + +A TRAITOR'S EPISTLE. + +As already chronicled, Dick Tarleton has started along the forest path, +leaving Jerry Rook under the cottonwood tree. + +For some time he remains there, motionless as the trunk beside him. + +The exclamation of chagrin that escaped him, as the other passed beyond +earshot, is followed by words of a more definite shape and meaning. It +was Dick Tarleton who drew from him the former. It is to him the latter +are addressed, though without the intention of their being heard. + +"Ye durned fool! ye'd speil my plan, wud ye? An' I 'spose all the same +if I war to tell ye o't? But I ain't gwine to do that, nor to hev it +speiled neyther by sich a obs'nate eedyut as you. Six hundred dollars +pre annul air too much o' a good pull to be let go agin slack as that. +An' doggoned if I do let it go, cost what it may to keep holt o't. Yes, +_cost what it may_!" + +The phrase repeated with increased emphasis, along with a sudden change +in the attitude of the speaker, shows some sinister determination. + +"Dick," he continued, forsaking the apostrophic form, "air a fool in +this bizness; a dod-rotted, pursumptuous saphead. _He_ git satisfakshun +out o' that lot, eyther by the law or otherways! They'd swing him up as +soon as seed; an' he'd be seed afore he ked harm 'ere a one o' them. +Then tha don't go 'beout 'ithout toatin' thar knives and pistols 'long +wi' them, any more'n he. An' they'll be jest as riddy to use 'em. Ef't +kim to thet, what then? In coorse the hole thing 'ud leak out, an' +whar'd this chile be 'beout his six hundred dollars?" Durn Dick +Tarleton! Jest for the sake o' a silly revenge he'd be a speiln' all, +leavin' me as I've been all my life, poor as he's turkey gobbler. + +"It must be preevented, it must! + +"How air the thing to be done? Le's see. + +"Thar's one way I knows o', that appear to be eezy enuf. + +"Dick has goed to the town, an's boun' to kum back agin _from_ the town. +That's no reeson why he shed kum back hyar. Thar's nobody to miss him! +The gurl won't know he ain't gone for good. He's boun' to kum back +afore mornin', an' afore thar's sunlight showin' among the trees. He'll +be sartin' to kum along the trace, knowing thar's not much danger o' +meetin' anybody, or bein' reco'nised in the dark. Why shedn't I meet +him?" + +With this interrogatory, a fiendish expression, though unseen by human +eye, passes over the face of the old hunter. A fiendish thought has +sprung up in his heart. + +"Why shedn't I?" he pursues, reiterating the reflection. "What air Dick +Tarleton to me? I haint no particklar spite agin him, thet is ef he'll +do what I've devised him to do. But ef he won't, ef he won't-- + +"An' he won't. He's sed so, he's swore it. + +"What, then! Am I to lose six hundred dollars pre-annum, jess for the +satisfakshun o' his spite? Durned ef I do, cost what it may. + +"The thing'd be as eezy es tumbling off o' a log. A half-an-hour's +squatting among the bushes beside that ere gleed, the pull in' o' a +trigger, an' it air done. That mout be a leetle bit o' haulin' an' +hidin', but I kin eezy do the fust, and the Crik 'll do the last. I +know a pool close by, thet's just the very place for sech a kinceelmint. + +"Who'd iver sispect? Thar's nobody to know; neery soul but myself, an' +I reck'n that ere secret 'ud be safe enuf in this coon's keepin'." + +For some time the old hunter stands silent, as if further reflecting on +the dark scheme, and calculating the chances of success or discovery. + +All at once an exclamation escapes him that betokens a change of mind. +Not that he has repented of his hellish design, only that some other +plan promises better for its execution. + +"Jerry Rook, Jerry Rook!" he mutters in apostrophe to himself, "what the +stewpid hae ye been thinking o'. Ye've never yit spilt hewmin blood, +an' mustn't begin thet game now. It mout lie like a log upon yur soul, +and besides, it's jest possible that somebody mout get to hear o't. The +crack o' a rifle air a sespishous soun' at any time, but more +espeeshully i' the dead o' night, if thar should chance to be the howl +of a wounded man comin' arter it. Sposin he, that air Dick, warn't shot +dead at fust go. Durned ef I'd like to foller it up; neery bit o't. As +things stan' thar need be no sech chances, eyther o' fearin' or failin'. +A word to Planter Brandon 'll be as good as six shots out o' the surest +rifle. It's only to let him know Dick Tarleton's hyar, an' a direckshun +beouts whar he kin be foun'. He'll soon summons the other to 'sist him +in thet same bizness they left unfinished, now, God knows how miny yeer +ago. They'll make short work wi' him. No danger ov thar givin' him +time to palaver beout _thet_ or anythin' else, I reckin; an' no danger +to _me_. A hint'll be enuf, 'ithout my appearin' among 'em. The very +plan, by the Etarnal!" + +"How's best for the hint ter be konvayed to 'em? Ha! I kin rite. +Fort'nit I got skoolin' enuf for thet. I'll write to Planter Brandon. +The gurl kin take it over to the plantation. She needn't be know'd +eyther. She kin rop up in hur cloke, and gi'e it ter sum o' the +niggers, as'll sure ter be 'beout the place outside. Thar's no need for +a answer. I know what Brandon'll do arter gittin' it. + +"Thar's no time to be squandered away. By this, Dick hes got ter the +town. Thar's no tellin' how long he may stay thar, an' they must intrap +him on his way back. They kin be a waitin' an' riddy, in that bit o' +clearin'. The very place for the purpis, considerin' it's been tried +arready. + +"No, thar arn't a minnit to be lost. I must inter the shanty, an' +scrape off the letter." + +Bent upon his devilish design, he hastens inside the house; as he +enters, calling upon his daughter to come into the kitchen. + +"Hyar gurl. Ye've got some paper ye rite yur lessons upon. Fetch me a +sheet o't, along wi' a pen an' ink. Be quick 'bout it." + +The young girl wonders what he can want with things so rarely used by +him, but she is not accustomed to question him, and without saying a +word, complies with the requisition. + +The pen, inkstand, and paper, are placed on the rude slab table, and +Jerry Rook sits down before it, taking the pen between his fingers. + +After a few moments spent in silent cogitation, reflecting on the form +of his epistle, it is produced. + +Badly spelt, and rudely scrawled, but short and simple, it runs thus:-- + +"To Planter Brandin, Esquare. + +"Sir,--I guess as how ye recollex a man, by name, Dick Tarleton; an' +maybe ye mout be desireous o' seein' him. Ef ye be, ye kin gratify yur +desire. He air now, at this present moment, in the town o' Helena, tho' +what part o' it I don't know. But I know whar he will be afore mornin'. +That air upon the road leadin' from the town t'ward the settlements on +White River. He arn't a gwine fur out, as he's travellin' afoot, and +he's sartin to keep the trace through the bit o' clearin' not fur from +Caney Crik. Ef you or anybody else wants ter see him, that wud be as +good a place as thar is on the road. + +"Y'urs at command, + +"A Strenger but a Fren'." + +Jerry Rook has no fear of his handwriting beings recognised. So long +since he has seen it, he would scarce know it himself. + +Folding up the sheet, and sealing it with some drops of resin, melted in +the dull flame of the dip, he directs it as inside--"To Planter Brandin, +Esquare." + +Then handing it to his daughter, and instructing the young girl how to +deliver it _incog_, he despatches her upon her errand. + +Lena, with her cloak folded closely around her fairy form, and hooded +over her head, proceeds along the path leading to the Brandon +plantation. Poor, simple child, herself innocent as the forest fawn, +she knows not that she is carrying in her hand the death-warrant of +one,--who, although but little known, should yet be dear to her--Dick +Tarleton, the father of Pierre Robideau. + +She succeeds in delivering the letter, though failing to preserve her +incognito. The hooded head proved but a poor disguise. The domestic +who takes the epistle out of her hand recognises, by the white +out-stretched arm and slender symmetrical fingers, the daughter of "old +Rook, de hunter dat live 'pon Caney Crik." So reports he to his master, +when questioned about the messenger who brought the anonymous epistle. + +Known or unknown, the name is of slight significance; the withholding of +it does not affect the action intended by the writer, nor frustrate the +cruel scheme. As the morning sun strikes into the "bit o' clearing" +described in Jerry Rook's letter, it throws light upon a terrible +tableau--the body of a man suspended from the branch of a tree. It is +upon the same branch where late hung the young hunter Robideau. _It is +the body of his father_. + +There is no one near--no sign of life, save the buzzards still lingering +around the bones of the bear, and the quaint, grey wolf that has shared +with them their repast. But there are footmarks of many men--long +scores across the turf, that tell of violent struggling, and a patch of +grass more smoothly trampled down beneath the gallows tree. There stood +Judge Lynch, surrounded by his jury and staff of executioners, while +above him swung the victim of their vengeance. + +Once more had the travestie of a trial been enacted; once more +condemnation pronounced; and that tragedy, long postponed, was now +played to the closing scene, the _denouement_ of death! + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +SIX YEARS AFTER. + +Six years have elapsed since the lynching of Dick Tarleton. Six years, +by the statute of limitations, will wipe cut a pecuniary debt, and make +dim many a reminiscence. But there are remembrances not so easily +effaced; and one of these was the tragedy enacted in the clearing, near +the Caney Creek. + +And yet it was but little remembered. In a land, where every-day life +chronicles some lawless deed, the mere murder of a man is but a slight +circumstance, scarce extending to the proverbial "nine days' wonder." + +Richard Tarleton was but a "sportsman," a gambler, if not more; and, as +to the mode of his execution, several others of the same fraternity were +treated in like fashion not long after, having been hanged in the +streets of Vicksburg, the most respectable citizens of the place acting +as their executioners! + +Amidst these, and other like reminiscences, the circumstance of Dick +Tarleton's death soon ceased to be talked about, or even thought of, +except, perhaps, by certain individuals who had played a part in the +illegal execution. + +But some of these were dead, some gone away from the neighbourhood; +while the influx of colonising strangers, creating a thicker population +in the place, had caused those changes that tend to destroy the +souvenirs of earlier times, and obliterate the memories of many a local +legend. + +There was one memory that remained fresh--one souvenir that never slept +in the minds of certain individuals who still lived in Helena or its +neighbourhood. It was of another tragic occurrence that had taken place +in the clearing near Caney Creek, on the day before that on which the +condemned gambler had been dispatched into eternity. + +The knowledge of this second tragedy had been confided only to a few; +and beyond this few it had not extended. The disappearance of young +Robideau, sudden as it had been, excited scarce any curiosity--less on +account of the other and better known event that for the time occupied +the attention of all. + +The boy, as if feeling the taint of his Indian blood, and conscious of a +distinction that in some way humiliated him, had never mixed much with +the youth of the surrounding settlement, and for this reason his absence +scarce elicited remark. + +Those who chanced to make the inquiry were told that Jerry Rook had sent +him back to his mother's people, who were half-breed Choctaw Indians, +located beyond the western border of Arkansas territory, on lands lately +assigned to them by a decree of the Congress. + +The explanation was of course satisfactory; and to most people in Helena +and its neighbourhood the boy Robideau was as if he had never been. + +There were some, however, who had better reason to remember him, as also +to disbelieve this suspicious tale of Jerry Rook, though careful never +to contradict it. These were the six youths, now grown to be men, the +heroes of that wild, wicked frolic already recorded. + +In their minds the remembrance of that fatal frolic was as vivid as +ever, having been periodically refreshed by an annual disbursement of a +hundred dollars each. + +With the exacting spirit of a Shylock, Jerry Rook had continued to hold +them to their contract; and if at any time remonstrance was made, it was +soon silenced, by his pointing to an oblong mound of earth, rudely +resembling a grave, under that tree where he had held his last +conversation with _his friend_, Dick Tarleton. + +The inference was that the remains of Pierre Robideau were deposited +beneath that sod, and could at any time be disinterred to give damning +evidence of his death. + +Remonstrance was rarely made. Most of the contributors to Jerry Rook's +income had become masters of their own substance. Still, the compulsory +payment of a hundred dollars each was like the annual drawing of a +tooth; all the more painful from the reflection of what it was for, and +the knowledge as long as their creditor lived there was no chance of +escaping it. + +Painful as it was, however, they continued to pay it more punctually +than they would have done had it been a debt recoverable by court, or an +obligation of honour. + +They were not all equally patient under the screw thus periodically put +upon them. There were two more especially inclined to kick out of the +terrible traces that chafed them. These were Bill Buck, the son of the +horse-dealer, and Slaughter, who kept the "Helena Tavern," his father +being defunct. + +Neither had greatly prospered in the world, and to both the sum of a +hundred dollars a-year was a tax worth considering. + +In their conversations with one another, they had discussed this +question, and more than once had been heard to hint at some dark design +by which the impost might be removed. + +These hints were only made in presence of their partners in the secret +compact, and never within earshot of Jerry Rook. + +It is true they were discouraged by the others less harassed by the tax, +and, therefore, Jess tempted to take any sinister step towards removing +it. They had enough to torment them already. + +Both Buck and Slaughter were capable of committing crimes even deeper +than that already on their conscience. Six years had not changed them +for the better. On the contrary, they had become worse, both being +distinguished as among the most dissolute members of the community. + +A similar account might be given of the other four; though these, +figuring in positions of greater respectability, kept their characters a +little better disguised. + +Two of their fathers were also dead--Randall, the judge, and Spence, the +Episcopalian clergyman, while their sons, less respected than they, were +not likely to succeed to their places. + +Brandon's father still lived, though drink was fast carrying him to the +grave, and his son was congratulating himself on the proximity of an +event that would make him sole master of himself as also of a cotton +plantation. + +The store-keeper, Grubbs, had gone, no one knew whither--not even the +sheriff, loth to let him depart--leaving his son to build up a new +fortune extracted out of the pockets of the Mississippi boatmen. The +horse-dealer still stuck to his old courses--coping, swopping, +swearing--likely to outlive them all. + +Among the many changes observable in the settlements around Helena there +was none more remarkable than that which had taken place in the fortunes +of Jerry Rook. It was a complete transformation, alike mysterious, for +no one could tell how it came, or whence the power that had produced it. +It appeared not only in the person of Jerry himself, but in everything +that appertained to him--his house, his grounds, his dogs, and his +daughter; in short, all his belongings. + +An old hunter no longer, clad in dirty buckskin, and dwelling in a +hovel, but a respectable-looking citizen of the semi-planter type, +habited in decent broadcloth, wearing clean linen, living in a neat +farm-house, surrounded by fenced fields, and kept by black domestics. + +The old scarred dog was no longer to be seen; but, in his place, some +three or four hounds, lounging lazily about, and looking as if they had +plenty to eat and nothing to do. + +But, in the _personnel_ of the establishment, there was, perhaps, no +transformation more striking than that which had taken place in Jerry +Rook's daughter. There was no change in her beauty; that was still the +same, only more womanly--more developed. But the sun-tanned, barefoot +girl, in loose homespun frock, with unkempt hair sweeping over her +shoulders, was now, six years after, scarce recognisable in the young +lady in white muslin dress, fine thread stockings, and tresses plaited, +perfumed, and kept from straying by the teeth of a tortoiseshell comb. + +And this was Lena Rook, lovely as ever, and more than ever the theme of +man's admiration. + +Despite all this, despite her father's prosperity, and the comfort, +almost luxury, surrounding her, few failed to remark an expression of +melancholy constantly pervading her countenance, though none could tell +its cause. + +Some dread souvenir must have become fixed in the mind of that young +girl--some dark cloud had descended over her heart, perhaps, to shadow +it for ever! + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +STEALING UPON A SHANTY. + +The breath of autumn had blown over the woods of Arkansas, and the first +frost of November, followed by the beautiful Indian summer, had imparted +to the foliage those rich tints of red and gold known only to the +forests of America. + +The squirrel, down among the dead leaves, actively engaged in garnishing +its winter store, scarce heeds the footstep of the hunter heard near by +among the trees. + +There is one making his way through the woods at no great distance from +the dwelling of Jerry Rook. He was approaching from the west, with his +face in the direction of the house. But although he carried a gun, and +was not travelling upon either trace or path, he did not appear to be in +pursuit of game. + +Squirrels scampered off before him unmolested, and, once or twice, +turkeys ran across his track without tempting him to draw trigger or +even take the gun from his shoulder. + +In appearance he would have scarce have passed for a hunter, nor was he +dressed after this fashion. His costume was more that of a traveller. +Moreover, he had just come from a stand some three miles back, where he +had left a horse and a pair of well-filled saddle-bags. + +The "stand," a solitary tavern, was not far from the crossing of White +River, on the road leading from Little Rock to the settlements on the +Mississippi. He had approached the tavern from the west as if coming +from the former, and now on foot he was still advancing eastward, though +not along the road which ran through the forest at some distance to his +right, screened from view by thick timber standing between. + +By the dust still clinging to his garments, he appeared to have come a +long way. It was gradually getting brushed off by the leaves of the +underwood and the thick cane-brakes through which he was compelled to +pass. + +Why was he avoiding the road? Was he a stranger who had taken the wrong +fork that had conducted him to a blind trace now run out? No. It could +not be that. The main road was not to be mistaken. Besides, he had +left it at right angles after getting out of sight of the stand, and had +since been keeping parallel to it as if acquainted with its direction. +If a stranger, he was evidently one who had been over the ground before. + +He had the appearance of being twenty-five years of age, with a +complexion naturally dark, still further shaded either by exposure to a +tropical sun or a protracted spell of travelling. His hair was jetty +black and curly, his upper lip bearded, with a dark, well-defined +whisker on the cheek. The chin was clean shaven, showing a protrusion +indicative of great firmness, while the profile was of true Roman type. +His eyes were dark, lustrous, and piercing. In stature, he was full six +feet, with a figure of fine proportions, knit as if for strength. Its +activity was displayed by his light, lithe step, as he made his way +through the tangle of trees. + +As already stated, the dress was not that of a hunter, either amateur or +professed. The coat was of broadcloth, dark-coloured, and of good +quality, cut frock-fashion. It was worn buttoned, though showing +underneath a vest of Marsala, with striped shirt-bosom and sparkling +breast-pin. The hat was of the kind known as grey felt. This, with the +green-baize "wrappers" around the legs, showing the chafe of the +stirrup-leather gave the costume somewhat of the character of a +traveller's. + +The jaded horse and heavy saddle-bags, with a thick coating of dust over +all, had told the tavern people as he reined up, of a long road left +behind him--perhaps from the far prairies. + +The keeper of the lone hostelry had thought it strange his starting off +the moment his horse was stabled. But the horse and saddle-bags were +earnest of his coming back; and Boniface had continued to chew his quid +without being inquisitive. + +As the young man threaded his way through the trees, it was evident he +was not straying. His face was continually in one direction; while his +glance, directed forward, seemed to search for some object expected to +appear before him. + +All at once he made a stop, at sight of a break among the trees. It +indicated a tract of open ground, or clearing, that extended athwart the +path he was pursuing. + +He seemed surprised at this, and glanced quickly to the right and left, +as if to assure himself that he had been going right. + +"Yes," he muttered, apparently satisfied on this head. "Right before me +was the spot--the creek and the cabin. I can't be mistaken. These old +trees I remember well--every one of them. But there's a clearing now-- +perhaps a plantation,--and the old shanty gone altogether." + +Without finishing the reflection he kept onward, though slowly, and with +greater caution, increasing as he drew nearer to the open ground. He +appeared to approach it stealthily, step by step, as if stalking a herd +of deer. + +He was soon on the edge of the opening, though still under cover of +thick woods. + +A stream made the line of demarcation between them. + +On its opposite side, about twenty yards from the bank, he saw a neat +farm-house, with a spacious porch in front, and surrounded by fields. +There were outbuildings at the back, with sheds and corn-cribs; while in +front a fenced enclosure, half garden half orchard, extended down to the +stream, which formed its bottom boundary. + +Just opposite this enclosure the stranger had stopped, the moment he +caught sight of the house. + +"As I anticipated;" he muttered to himself. + +Changed--everything changed!--the cabin cleared away, and the trees. +Jerry Rook gone--perhaps dead. Some stranger in his place;--and she +gone too--grown up--and--and-- + +A choking sigh forbade the pronunciation of some word that struggled for +utterance--the expression of some painful thought, made manifest by the +dark shadow that swept across the countenance of the speaker. + +"Oh! what an unfortunate fate. Fool that I was to go away and leave +her. Fool to have listened to the counsels of her wicked father. When +I learnt what he had done I should have come back, if not for love, for +revenge. It may not be too late for the last; but, for the first--O +God!--the girl I have loved for long years, to come back and find her-- +perhaps in the arms of another--O God!" + +For some moments the young man stood with clouded, lace, his strong +frame quivering under the shock of some painful emotion. + +"Shall I cross over and make inquiry?" was the reflection that followed, +as he became calmer. + +"The people can, no doubt, give me some information, whether he be dead, +and if she be still in the neighbourhood. No--no; I will not ask. I +dread the answer to be given me. + +"But, why not? I may as well know now the worst, whatever it be. I +must learn it in time. Why not at once? + +"There is no danger of my being recognised--even she would not know me, +and these people are, perhaps, strange to the settlement. The country +shows a change--clearings everywhere around, where I remember only +trees. I wonder who they are? Some of them should, soon come out by +that door. The day is inviting; I shall hold back awhile and see." + +During all this time the young man had been standing among thick +underwood that screened his person from view. + +He only changed position so that his face should be also invisible to +any one upon the other side of the creek, and thus stood with eyes fixed +intently upon the house. + +He had not been many minutes in this attitude of expectation, when the +front door, which stood open, was filled by a form, the sight of which +sent the blood in a lava current through his veins, and caused his heart +to bound audibly in his breast. + +The apparition that had produced this effect was a young girl--a lady +she might be called--in light summer dress, with a white kerchief thrown +loosely over her head, only partially concealing the thick coil of +shining hair held by the tortoiseshell comb underneath it. + +Standing on the step of the door, with the dark background behind her, +she appeared like some fair portrait suddenly set in its frame. + +Changed as she was since he had last seen her--a young girl in coarse, +copperas-dyed gown of homespun stuff, bareheaded, stockingless and +shoeless--he who stood among the trees might not so readily have +recognised her had he met her elsewhere; but there, upon that spot where +stood the old cabin, under whose roof he had lived and loved--loved +her--recognition came at the first glance. He knew that the fair vision +before him was Lena Rook, still living, still lovely as ever. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +LENA'S RECOGNITION. + +The first impulse of the young man was to spring forth from his ambush, +leap over the creek, a mere rivulet, and rush into the presence of the +fair creature who had shown herself in the doorway. + +He was restrained by a crowd of thoughts that came surging up at the +moment--doubts and memories--both painful. Her father might be still +alive and inside the house. The stranger had serious reasons for not +wishing to see _him_. Or he might be dead and she now under the control +of another! + +The last thought was agonising, and he gazed intently upon the girl as +if searching for some sign that would release him from the torture of +suspense. Scarce twenty yards from where she stood, he could see the +sparkle of jewellery upon the fingers of her left hand. Did one of them +carry that thin circlet of gold to show she was lost to him for ever? + +His glance, instinctively directed to her hand, now traced the contour +of her person, and once more mounted to her face. Form and features +were alike scrutinised--the colour of her cheeks--the expression in her +eyes--the air that pervaded all. + +It was that of one still single, whose fresh virginal charms had not +given place to the staid demeanour produced by the solicitudes of wedded +life. It pleased him to fancy so. + +And she, too, noted the melancholy air, and wondered at its meaning. + +There was much besides to wonder at in the changes that had taken place. +How had Jerry Rook, a poor white, become a proprietor? He must be so +if the house were his. And if not, then back again comes the painful +thought that it, and she, too, might be the property of another. + +What had he best do? Retire without showing himself, and seek +information elsewhere--some one living near who could tell him all? Or +he might learn what he wanted from the landlord of the tavern where he +had stopped. Should he return to it and stay till circumstances +favoured him with an _eclaircissement_? + +Why not have it at once; and from her? Maid or married she would not be +likely to remember him. A skin changed from the soft smoothness of +boyhood's day--a complexion deeply bronzed--the downy cheek and lips now +roughly bearded--stature increased by at least six inches, and a dress +altogether different from that in which she had been accustomed to see +him. + +"No; she will not recognise me," muttered the young man, as he completed +this self-examination. "I will go round by the gate, make some excuse +for a call; get into conversation with her; and then--" + +He was about turning, to make the circuit unobserved, when he saw that +she had stepped out of the porch, and was coming towards the creek. It +was for this that the kerchief had been spread over her crown, as a +shade against the sun. + +He could not safely retreat without having his ambush discovered. He +resolved to keep his place. + +She came on down the walk, and turned in among the trees of the orchard. +Most of them were peach trees, laden with their luscious fruit, now +ripe and falling. The ground was strewed with these golden globes, +affording food to the honey-bee and hornet. + +She was now out of his sight, or seen only at intervals, her white dress +gleaming through the leaves, as she moved through the orchard. + +The young man was thinking how he might present himself without seeming +rude, when, all at once, a cry came from the lips of the young lady. It +was a short, sharp exclamation, apparently called forth by some +impending danger. It seemed a sufficient apology for intruding. + +Accepting it as such, the stranger sprang across the creek, and rushed +direct to the orchard. + +In a few seconds he stood confronting the girl, who had turned towards +the house. + +"I heard you cry out," he said; "was there any danger. May I ask--" + +But, before he had finished the interrogatory, he saw what had elicited +the exclamation. + +A huge snake lay coiled under one of the trees! + +It had been feasting on the fallen fruit, and, nearly trodden upon, had +thrown itself into the defensive attitude. + +The "skirr" caused by the vibration of its tail told it to be a +rattle-snake. + +Without inquiring further, the young man raised his rifle, and sent a +bullet through its head. Its coils flew out, and, after struggling a +few seconds on the grass the reptile lay dead. + +"Thanks, sir," said the lady, as soon as she had recovered from her +surprise. "I came near setting my foot upon it, and, perhaps, would +have done so, if I'd not heard the rattle. You're a good shot, sir; +you've killed it outright!" + +"I've had a deal of practice, _Miss_," he replied, laying a marked +emphasis on the last word. + +His heart throbbed audibly, as he awaited the rejoinder. Would she +accept the title, or correct it? + +He had already glanced at her left hand, holding a peach she had +plucked. There were rings; but among them he saw not the plain circlet +nor its keeper. Their absence inspired him with hope. + +"One can easily see that," she rejoined. "Besides, I am not +unacquainted with the way of the woods. My father is a hunter, or was." + +"You say _was_, _Miss_. Is your father still living?" + +The question was asked with a double design. Would she still permit +herself to be called "Miss?" Was Jerry Rook the owner of the pretty +house that had supplanted his rude sheiling? + +"My father living? Certainly, sir; but he does not go hunting any +more--or only at times. He has enough to keep him occupied about home-- +clearing the ground and planting the crops." + +"Is he at home now?" + +"To-day, no. He has ridden over to Helena. I expect he will be back +soon. Do you wish to see him, sir. You have some business, perhaps?" + +"No, no. I was merely wandering through the woods, squirrel shooting. +I had strayed to the other side of the creek, when I heard you cry." + +"It was very kind of you to come to my assistance," said the young girl, +giving to the stranger a glance, in which she did not fail to note his +graceful bearing. Then, observing the dust upon his garments, she +added, "If I mistake not, you're a stranger to this part of the +country?" + +"I once knew it well, especially around this place." + +"Indeed!" + +"Yes. If I remember right, there was a cabin here--upon the very spot +on which your house is now standing. It was inhabited by an old hunter +by the name of Rook--Jeremiah or Jerry Rook." + +"That is my father's name." + +"Then it must have been he. What a change! It was all standing timber +around--scarce an acre of clearing." + +"That is true. It is only lately that my father bought the land, and +cleared it as you see. We are better off than we were then." + +"Has your father any family besides yourself--a son, or _son-in-law_?" + +"Not any, sir," replied the young girl, turning upon the questioner a +look of some surprise; "I am the only one--his only daughter. Why do +you ask?" + +"I thought I remembered--or had heard--something--" + +"Heard what, sir?" asked she, cutting short the stammering speech. + +"Of a young man--a boy, rather--who lived in your father's cabin. Was +he not your brother?" + +"I never had one. He you speak of was no relative to us." + +"There was some one, then?" + +"Yes. He is gone away--gone years ago." + +The serious tone in which these words were spoken--something like a sigh +that accompanied them, with a shadow that made its appearance on the +countenance of the speaker--were signs pleasing to the interrogator. +His heart beat joyfully as he put upon them his own interpretation. + +Before he could question her further, the young girl, as if stirred by a +sudden thought, looked inquiringly in his face. + +"You say you knew this place well, sir? When did you leave it? Was it +a long time ago?" + +"Not so long either; but, alas! long enough for you to have forgotten +me, Lena." + +"_Pierre, it is you_!" + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +ABSENCE EXPLAINED. + +It was Pierre Robideau who stood once more in the presence of Lena +Rook--not in her presence alone, for they were locked in each other's +embrace. + +From the first moment of seeing him, the young girl had felt strange +thoughts stealing over her--weird memories, awakened by that manly +presence that scarce seemed unknown to her. + +She knew that Pierre Robideau still lived, and that her father had +compelled her to keep it a secret. But why, she knew not, nor why her +father had sent him away. It was well she knew not this. + +Equally ignorant had she been kept as to where he had gone. + +California, her father told her; and this was indeed true. But what +knew she of California? Nothing beyond the fact of its being a far +distant land, where people went to gather gold. + +This much was known to every one in the settlements around--every one in +America. + +Lena Rook thought not of the gold. She thought only of her old +playmate, and wondered why he was staying so long away. + +Was he never going to return? He who had won the girl's heart--the +firstlings of her young love--had stood under the forest tree, clasping +her in his arms, and telling her she had won his! + +And on that dread night, when he lay upon the couch, slowly recovering +from the terrible strangulation, was not the first word breathed forth +from his lips her own name--Lena? + +And to have gone away, and staid away, and forgotten all this! + +It was not strange she wondered, not strange she grieved--or that the +cloud of melancholy, already remarked upon, sat almost continually on +her countenance. + +She had not forgotten _him_--not for a single day. Throughout the long +lonely years, there was scarce an hour in which she did not think, +though not permitted to speak, of him. She had been true to him--both +in heart and hand--true against scores of solicitations, including that +of Alfred Brandon, who was now seeking her hand in marriage, determined +upon obtaining it. + +But she had resisted his suit--even braving the displeasure of her +father who was backing it. + +And all for the memory of one who had gone away, without explaining the +cause of his departure, or making promise to return. + +Often had she thought of this, and with bitterness--at times, too, with +a feeling akin to spite. + +But now with Pierre once more in her presence, his tall graceful form +before her eyes, she instantly forgot all, and threw herself sobbing +upon his breast. + +There was no reservation in the act--no pretence of prudery. Lena's +instinct told her he was still loyal, and the firm, fervent pressure of +his arms, as he received her in that sweet embrace, confirmed it. + +For some time both remained silent--their hearts too happy for speech. + +At length it returned to them, Lena taking the initiative. + +"But tell me, Pierre, why did you stay from me, and for such a time?" + +"Your question is easily answered, Lena. I have made a long journey to +begin with. I have been to California, and spent some time there in +searching for gold. But that is not altogether what delayed me. I was +for three years a prisoner among the Arapahoes." + +"Arapahoes? What are they?" + +"A tribe of Indians, who roam over the big prairie. I might have been +still in their hands, but for a party of Choctaws--my mother's people, +you know--who chanced to come among the Arapahoes. They rescued me by +paying a ransom, and brought me back with them to the Choctaw country, +west of here, whence I have just come almost direct." + +"O, Pierre! I am so happy you are here again. And you have grown so +big and so beautiful, Pierre. But you were always beautiful, Pierre. +And you have been to California? I heard that. But tell me, why did +you go there at all?" + +"I went to find my father," he answered, in quiet tones. + +"Your father? But he--" + +The young girl checked herself at the thought of a fearful incident that +only now rose to her remembrance--another episode of that night of +horrors. + +She repented of her speech, for she believed that Pierre knew nothing of +what had then occurred. He had not been told, either by her father or +by herself, that Dick Tarleton had been there, as he was still in an +unconscious state when the latter left the cabin never more to return to +it. + +She had said nothing of it to Pierre after his recovery. Her father had +cautioned her against any communication with him on the subject, and +indeed there was not much chance, for the moment he was in a condition +to travel, the old hunter had hurried him off, going in the dead of +night, and taking the youth along with him. + +Remembering all this, Lena regretted the speech half commenced, and was +thinking how she should change to another subject, when Pierre, +interrupting, relieved her from her embarrassment, as he spoke. + +"You need not tell me, Lena," said he, his voice trembling; "I know the +sad tale--all of it, perhaps more than you, though it was later that! +learnt of it, my sweet innocent! You little dreamt when--But no, I must +not. Let us talk no more of those times, but only of the present. And +now, Lena, I do not wish to see your father, nor do I want him to know +that I am in the neighbourhood. Therefore, you must not say you have +seen me." + +"I will not," answered she, in a tone that spoke more of sorrow than +surprise. "Alas! it is too easy to obey your request, for I dare not +even speak of you to him. My father, I know not for what reason, has +forbidden me to mention your name. If by chance I ever asked after you, +or spoke of your coming back, it was only to get scolded. Will you +believe it, Pierre, he once told me you were dead? But I grieved so, he +afterwards repented, and said he had only done it to try me. God +forgive me for speaking so of my own father, but I almost fancied at +times that he wished it himself. O Pierre! what have you ever done to +make him your enemy?" + +"I cannot tell, that is a mystery to me; and so too his sending me away, +and so too several other things; but--Whose voice is that?" + +"My father's! And the tramp of his horse! He is coming along the lane. +O, Pierre! you must not let him see you!" + +"Nor shall he. I can get off as I came, under cover of the trees. +Adieu, dearest! meet me to-morrow night. Come out late, when all are +gone to bed--say eleven. You'll find me waiting for you here--no, by +the big cottonwood yonder. How often we used to sit under its shade." + +"Go, Pierre, go! He's got up to the gate." + +"One more kiss, love! and then--" + +Their lips met and parted; and they too parted, the girl gliding towards +the house, and the young man stealing off among the peach trees, to seek +safer concealment in the shadowy woods beyond. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +FATHER AND DAUGHTER. + +"I've got good news for ye, gurl," said Jerry Rook, sliding out of his +saddle, and joining her in the porch. "Darnationed good news." + +"What news, father?" + +"Thet the liquor hez at last done its work, an' ole Planter Brandon air +dead." + +"O father! surely you do not call it good news?" + +"And shurly I do--the best o' news. Alf air now full master o' the +place, an' thar's nothin' to hinder you from bein' full mistress o't. I +know he intend makin', you a offer o' marriage, an' I've reezun to +b'lieve it'll be done this very day. Brandon war buried day before +yesserday." + +"If he does, father, I shall refuse him." + +"Refuse him!" cried the quondam squatter, half starting out of the chair +in which he had just seated himself. "Lena, gurl! hev ye tuk leave o' +yur senses? Air ye in airnest?" + +"I am, father. I mean what I've said." + +"Mean, darnation! ye're eyether mad, gurl, or else talkin' like a chile. +D'ye know what refusin' means?" + +"I have not thought of it." + +"But I hev, over an' over agin. It means beggary--preehap sturvation, +for myself as well as you." + +"I'd rather starve than marry Alf Brandon." + +"Ye woud, woud ye? Then ye may hev a chance o't, sooner'n ye think for. +Ye've got an idea yur ole dad's well to do; an' so think a good many +other folks. Thar's been a house built, an' a clarin' made; but +neyther's been paid for. Jerry Rook don't know the day he may hev to up +sticks, an' go back agin to some durned old crib o' a cabin." + +"Father! I was as happy in our old cabin as I've ever been in this fine +house. Ay, far happier." + +"Yer war, war ye? But I warn't--not by a long chalk; and I don't want +to squat in any o' yer shanties agin--not if I kin keep out o' 'em. +Hyar's a plan by which yur may be rich for the rest o' yur life; an' +thur'd be no need for me starvin' eyther. Alf Brandon kums in for a +good plantation, wi' three score niggers on it; an' thur's nothin' to +hinder yur from bein' mistress o' the hul lot." + +"I don't wish it." + +"But I do; an' I mean to hev it so. Don't git it in yur head, +good-lookin' as yur may think yurself, thet the world air a stick o' +sugar-candy an' ye've got nothin' to do but suck it. I tell yur, gurl, +I've drifted into difeequilties. I've had some rasources you know +nothin' beout; but I can't tell the day _the supplies may be stopt_, an' +then we've got to go under. Now, d'ye unnerstan' me?" + +"Indeed, father, I know nothing of your affairs. How should I? But I +am sure I should never be happy as the wife of Alfred Brandon." + +"An' why? What hev yur get agin him? He's a good-lookin' feller-- +doggoned good-lookin'." + +"It has nothing to do with his looks." + +"What then? His karracktur, I s'pose?" + +"You know it is not good." + +"Dum karracktur! What signify that? Ef all the young weemen in these +parts war to wait till they got a husband o' good karracktur, they'd +stay a long spell single, I reck'n. Alf Brandon ain't no worse nor +other people; an', what's o' far more konsequince, he air richer than +most. Ye'd be a fool, gurl, a dod-rotted eedyit, not to jump at the +chance. An' don't you get it into yur head that I'm gwine to let it +slip. Willin' or not, ye've got to be the wife o' Alf Brandon. Refuse? +an' by the Eturnal, ye shall be no longer my darter? Ye hear that?" + +"I hear you, father. It is very painful to hear you; and painful, too, +for me to tell you, that your threat cannot change me. I'm sure I have +been obedient to you in everything else. Why should you force me to +this?" + +"Wal," said the hardened man, apparently relenting, "I acknowledge ye've +been a good gurl; but why shed yur now speil all the chances o' our +gettin' a good livin' by yur obstinateness in bizness? I tell ye that +my affairs air jest at this time a leetle preecarious. I owe Alf +Brandon money--a good grist o't--an' now his father's dead he may be on +me for't. Beside, you're o' full age, an' oughter be spliced to +somebody. Who's better'n Alf Brandon?" + +Had Jerry arrived a little sooner at his house, or approached it with +greater caution, he might have received a more satisfactory answer to +his question. As it was, he got none, his daughter remaining silent, as +if not caring to venture a reply. + +She had averted her eyes, displaying some slight embarrassment. +Something of this the old man must have noticed, as evinced by the +remark that followed:-- + +"Poor white, ye ain't a gwine to marry wi' my consent--I don't care what +be his karracktur; an' ef ye've been makin' a fool o' yurself wi' sich, +an' gin any promise, ye've got to get out o' it best way ye kin." + +Neither was there any rejoinder to this; he sat for a time in silence, +as if reflecting on the probability of some such complication. + +He had never heard of his daughter having bestowed her heart on any one; +and, indeed, she had gained some celebrity for having so long kept it to +herself. + +For all that, it might have been secretly surrendered; and this would, +perhaps, account for her aversion to the man he most wished her to +marry. + +"I heerd a shot as I war coming along the road. It war the crack o' a +rifle, an' sounded as ef 'twar somewhar near the house. Hez anybody +been hyar?" + +The question was but a corollary to the train of thought he had been +pursuing. + +Fortunately for the young girl, it admitted of an evasive answer, under +the circumstances excusable. + +"There has been no one _at the house_ since you left. There was a shot +though; I heard it myself." + +"Whar away?" + +"I think down by the creek--maybe in the woods beyond the orchard." + +"Thar ain't nothin' in them woods, 'ceptin' squrrl. Who's been squrrl +shootin' this time o' day?" + +"Some boys, perhaps?" + +"Boys! Hey! what's that dog a draggin' out from 'mong the peach trees? +Snake, by the Eturnal!--a rattler too! The hound ain't killed that +varmint himself?" + +The old hunter, yielding to curiosity, or some undeclared impulse, +stepped down from the porch, and out to where the hound had come to a +stop, and was standing by the body of the snake. + +Driving the dog aside, he stooped over the dead reptile to examine it. + +"Shot through the skull!" he muttered to himself; "an' wi' a rifle, o' +sixty to the pound. That ere's been a hunter's gun. Who ked it be? +It's been done this side of the crik, too; seems as the dog hain't +wetted a hair in fetchin' o't." + +Turning along the trail of the snake--which, to his experienced eye, was +discernible in the grass--he followed it, till he came to the spot where +the snake had been killed. + +"Shot hyar for sartin. Yes; thar's the score o' the bullet arter it had +passed through the varmint's brainpan; an' thar's the shoe track o' him +as fired the shot. No boy that; but a full growed man! Who the +durnation hez been trespassin' 'mong my peach trees?" + +He bent down over the track, and carefully scrutinised them. Then +rising erect, he followed them to the bank of the creek, where he saw +the same footprints, more conspicuously outlined in the mud. + +"Stranger for sartin!" muttered he; "no sich futmark as that 'beout +these settlements--not as I know on. Who the durnation kin it a-been?" + +It was strange he should take so much trouble about a circumstance so +slight; or show such anxiety to discover who had been the intruder. He +was evidently uneasy about something of more importance to him than the +trespass among his peach trees. + +"That gurl must a heerd the shot plainer than she's been tellin' me o', +an' seed more'n she's confessed to. Thar's somethin' on her mind, I +hain't been able to make out any how. She shall be put thro' a chapter +o' kattykism." + +"Lena, gurl!" he continued, going back towards the porch, still occupied +by his daughter; "d'ye mean to say ye seed nobody beout hyar to-day?" + +"I see some one now," said she; by the rarest bit of good luck enabled +to evade giving an answer to the question. + +"See some un now! Whar?" + +"There, a friend of yours, coming along the lane." + +"Alf Brandon!" exclaimed the old hunter, hurrying forth to receive the +individual then announced; and who, astride a sleek horse, was seen +riding leisurely in the direction of the house. + +For Lena Rook it was an opportune arrival; and, for a time at least, she +was spared that threatened "chapter o' kattykism." + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +AN ANGRY ADMIRER. + +For the first time in her life, Lena Rook saw Alfred Brandon approach +her father's house without a feeling of pain or repulsion. + +Though for years he had been the most solicitous of her suitors, she +felt for him something more than contempt. + +Despite his position in society--far superior to her own--despite his +fine clothes and speeches, she saw through the character of the man, and +believed him to be both a pretender and poltroon. + +She knew that he was cruel--a tyrant to all who had the misfortune to be +under him, and a hard task-master to the black-skinned slaves that lived +upon his father's plantation. + +Though dissipated, he was not generous; and, with all the plenty he +possessed, he was accounted among his associates the closest of screws. +He spent money, and enough of it, but only upon himself, and in the +indulgence of his own sensual desires. + +He had obtained the reputation of being one of the meanest fellows in +the neighbourhood to which he belonged; and Lena Rook knew it. + +She had never liked him as a boy; and her aversion was increased by her +knowledge that, as a boy, he had been the bitter enemy of Pierre +Robideau. + +She did not think how much of this hostility was due to herself; for, +from an early period, the son of the planter had been bitterly jealous +of her playmate and companion. + +But she remembered the scene in the glade; she believed that Alf Brandon +had been the chief instigator; and she had, all along, suspected that +Pierre's absence was in some way due to what had that day transpired. + +She was very pleased to see Brandon now, only because he had rescued her +from a position that promised to become embarrassing. What answer could +she have made to that question her father had asked? + +The opportune arrival had relieved her from an agony of apprehension. + +The planter--now that his father was dead, no longer the planter's son-- +seemed a little surprised at the pleased look with which she received +him. She was not accustomed to give him such gracious acceptance, and +little dreamt he of its cause. + +"No doubt," reasoned he, with a feeling of self-gratulation, "she's +heard I'm now my own master, and won't much object to my becoming her's. +A planter in his own right is a very different individual from a +planter expectant; and Miss Lena Rook will have the sense to see it. I +don't think there will be much difficulty about this thing. She's been +only pretending with me in the past; now that she sees all's ready, I +guess she'll not stand shilly-shallying any longer. So here goes for +the proposals." + +This string of reflections were made after Alfred Brandon had entered +the gate, and was making his way towards the porch, on which the young +lady was still standing. They were finished as he set foot on the step. + +There was no one to interfere with the conversation that came after. +Jerry Rook, suspecting the purport of the planter's visit, had stayed +behind to hitch up his horse, and afterwards found excuse to stray off +to the back of the house, leaving the two alone. + +"I suppose you have heard of my affliction, Miss Rook?" said Brandon, +after salutations had been exchanged. + +"My father has been just telling me of it." + +"Ah! yes; my old dad's dead and gone; buried him day before yesterday. +Can't be helped, you know. It's the way of us all. We've all got to +die." + +To this lugubrious declaration Lena Rook yielded ready assent. + +There was a pause in the conversation. Notwithstanding his plentitude +of power, tending to inspire him with sufficient assurance, the suitor +felt ill at ease. It was not to be wondered at, considering the errand +on which he had come. + +Moreover, the pleasant look had forsaken Lena's face, and he had begun +to doubt of success. + +She knew what he had come for, and was seriously reflecting upon the +answer she should give him. + +She, of course, intended it to be negative; but she remembered her +father's words, and was thinking in what way she might reject the +disagreeable suitor, without stirring up his spite. She so well +understood his nature as to know he would be contemptible enough to use +it. + +It was no thought of herself that dictated the affability with which she +was entertaining him; though she could scarce conceal her disgust for +the man before her, talking in such strains of a father so recently +deceased. + +She, too, had a father, who was not what he ought to be; and she knew +it. But still he was her father. + +After remaining for some time silent--not knowing what to say--Brandon +at length summoned sufficient courage to stammer out his proposal. It +was done with some fear and trembling. + +He was more himself after he had received the refusal, which he did, in +as delicate terms as the young lady could command. + +But, delicacy was thrown away upon the spiteful planter, who, stung by +the thought of being refused by the daughter of a poor white--he knew +the secret of Jerry Rook's altered circumstances--began upbraiding in +terms of opprobrious wrath the woman from whose feet he had just arisen! + +The young girl, thus grossly outraged, would have called to her father +for protection, but again remembering his words, she remained silent +under the infliction, not even making answer to her cowardly insulter. + +"Somebody else, I suppose," said the rejected gentleman, spitefully +pronouncing the words. "Some poor `trash' of your own sort has got a +hold of you! By--!" the ruffian swore a frightful oath, "if it be so, +when I find out who it is, and I don't care who it is, I'll make these +settlements too hot to hold him! _Lena Rook, you'll rue this refusal_!" + +Not a word said Lena Rook in reply to this coarse invective. A +disdainful curl upon her lip was all the answer she vouchsafed; which +stayed there as she stood watching him along the walk, and until he had +remounted his horse, and galloped off from the gate. + +Her's were not the only eyes bent upon the disappointed suitor. Jerry +Rook, engaged among the pigs and poultry, saw him ride away; and from +the spiteful spurring of his horse, and the reckless air with which he +rode, the old hunter conjectured the sort of answer that had been given +him. + +"Durn the girl!" muttered he, as a black shadow swept across his +wrinkled brow; "she's played fool, an' refused him! Looks as ef she'd +sassed him! Never mind, Alf Brandon, I'll make it all right for you. +This chile ain't a gwine to let that fine plantashin o' your's slip +through his fingers--not ef he know it. You shall hev the gurl, and she +you, ef I hev myself to drag her up to the haltar. So, then, my Lena, +lass, when I've done here I'm a gwine to read you a lecture." + +If the abrupt departure of Brandon had brought anger into the eyes of +Lena Rook, there was yet another pair watching it, that became suffused +with joy. + +They were the eyes of Pierre Robideau. + +After parting from that sweetheart so long separated from him, the young +man had recrossed the creek; and, as he had intended, kept on through +the woods towards the stand where he had left his horse. + +Before going far, the thought occurred to him that he might as well have +a look at the quondam squatter, and see if he, too, was changed like +everything else. + +It was only to place himself in the ambush that had already proved so +serviceable to his purposes, and stay there till Jerry should show +himself! + +Knowing that the porches of a backwood's dwelling usually supplies the +place of sitting-room, he did not anticipate any severe trial of +patience. + +It was not the gratification of mere curiosity that tempted him to +return. He had other reasons that rendered him desirous to look upon +his host of former days; at the same time that he was equally desirous +not to let that host see him. + +Nor was it exactly a desire that counselled him to this act; but a sort +of involuntary impulse, such as the bird feels to approach the serpent +that would destroy it. + +Pierre Robideau had returned from California, better informed about the +doings of Jerry Rook than he had been on going out there. It was the +old hunter who had induced him to take that distant journey. He had +counselled, almost compelled, him to it, by a false story that his +father had gone there before him, and had entrusted Jerry to send him +after in all haste. For this purpose, his former host had furnished the +outfit and directions, and had even seen him some distance on his way. + +As already stated the unsuspicious youth, before starting, knew nothing +of what had occurred that night in the glade--not even that while he was +himself hanging there, his father had been so near him! + +The story of the lynching had been kept from him previous to his +departure, Jerry Rook alone having access to him, and carefully guarding +against all other approach. + +It was only after his arrival in California, and failing to find his +father at the appointed place, that he had heard of the tragedy on Caney +Creek, and who had been its victim. + +The tale had got among the gold diggers, brought out by some new +arrivals from Little Rock. + +Why Jerry Rook had been so anxious to get him away, Pierre Robideau +could never tell, though he had some terrible suspicions about it-- +almost pointing out the old squatter as one of his father's murderers. + +It was this sort of curiosity that caused him to turn among the trees, +and steal back to the concealment he had so recently forsaken. Perhaps, +too, he may have wished once more to gratify his eyes by gazing on that +loved form so unceremoniously hurried out of his sight. + +Whether or not, he was soon in his old position, and gazing intently +through the curtain of leaves. + +So far as Jerry Rook was concerned, he obtained the satisfaction he had +sought for. His quondam host was in front of the house, in conversation +with his daughter, who stood in the porch above him. + +Pierre had arrived at the moment when that question was put, so nearly +concerning himself. + +He did not hear it, but he noticed the embarrassed air of the young +lady, and the quick change that came over her countenance as she +adroitly evaded the answer. + +From that moment Jerry Rook was no longer regarded. A third personage +had appeared upon the scene, and the pleasing look with which Jerry +Rook's daughter appeared to receive him sent a pang through the heart of +Pierre Robideau. + +The exclamation had told him who the new comer was. But he did not heed +that. + +No time could efface from his memory the image of one who had so cruelly +outraged him, and six years had produced but little change in Alf +Brandon. + +Pierre knew him on sight. + +With heart beating wildly, he remained a silent witness of the scene +that ensued. + +At first it beat bitterly, as he marked and misinterpreted the +complaisant look with which Lena regarded his rival. + +Ere long came a delightful change, as he listened to the dialogue-- +plainly overheard where he stood--and, when he heard the final speech, +and saw the discomfited lover stride off towards the gate, he could +scarce restrain himself from a shout of joy. + +He was fain to have sprung across the creek, and once more enfolded that +fair form in his passionate embrace. But he saw that mischief might +spring from such imprudence; and, turning from the spot, he walked +silently away--his heart now swelling with triumph, now subsiding into +sweet contentment. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +A CONCLAVE OF SCOUNDRELS. + +There was a time when "Slaughter's Hotel" was the first and only house +of its kind in the town of Helena. That was when Slaughter, senior, +presided over its destinies. Now that he was no more, and his son +walked rather slipshod in his shoes, it had sunk into a second-rate +place of entertainment--an establishment more respectable, or, at all +events, more pretentious, having swung out its sign. + +In Slaughter's hostelry _bona fide_ travellers had become scarce. Still +it was not without guests and patrons in plenty. There were enough +"sportsmen" in the place, with adventurers of other kinds, to give the +house a custom, and these principally patronised it. From a family +hotel, it had changed into a drinking and gambling saloon, and in this +respect was prosperous enough. It was the resort of all the dissipated +young men of the neighbourhood--and the old ones too. It had public and +private parlours, and one of the latter, the landlord's own, was only +accessible to the select of his acquaintances--his cronies of a special +type. + +On the evening of that day in which Alfred Brandon had received his +dismissal from the daughter of Jerry Rook, this apartment was occupied +by six persons, including the landlord himself. They were the same who +had figured in the hanging frolic, of which young Robideau had been so +near being the victim. On this account, it is not necessary to give +their names nor any description of them, farther than to say that all +six were as wild and wicked as ever, or, to speak with greater +exactitude, wilder and more wicked. + +It might seem strange that chance had brought these young men together +without any other company, but the closed door, and the order for no one +to be admitted, showed that their meeting was not by mere accident. +Their conversation, already commenced, told that they had met by +appointment, as also the purpose of their assembling. + +It was Alfred Brandon who had summoned them to the secret conclave, and +he who made the opening speech, declaring his object in having done so. + +After "drinks all round," Brandon had said:-- + +"Well, boys, I've sent for you to meet me here, and here we are, guests; +you know why?" + +"I guess we don't," bluntly responded Buck. + +"Choc?" suggested Slaughter. + +"Well, we know it's about Choc," assented the son of the horse dealer; +"any fool might guess that. But what about him? Let's hear what you've +got to say, Alf." + +"Well, not much, after all. Only that I think it's high time we took +some steps to get rid of this infernal tax we've been paying." + +"Oh! you're come to that, are you? I thought you would, sometime. But +for you, Alf Brandon, we might have done somethin' long ago. I'm out o' +pocket clear five hundred dols, and damn me if I intend to pay another +cent, come what will or may." + +"Ditto with you, Bill Buck," endorsed Slaughter. + +Grubbs, Randall, and Spence were silent, though evidently inclined to +the same way of thinking. + +"I've sworn every year I'd stop it," continued Buck, "an' I'd have done +so but for Alf there. It's all very well for him. He's rich, and can +stand it. With some of the rest of us it's dog-gone different." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Brandon. "My being rich had nothing to do with +it. I was as anxious as any of you to get the load off my shoulders, +only I could never see how it was to be done." + +"Do you see now?" asked Spence. + +"Not very clearly, I confess." + +"It's clear as mud to me--one way is--" said Slaughter. + +"And to me," chimed in Buck. "What way? Tell us?" demanded the +store-keeper. "I'm ready for most anything that'll clear us of that +tax." + +"You can get clear, then, by making a _clear_ of the collector." + +The suggestion was Slaughter's, the last part of it made in a +significant whisper. + +"Them's just my sentiments," said Buck, speaking louder and with more +determination. "I'd have put 'em in practice before this, if Alf +Brandon had showed the pluck to agree to it. Durned if I wouldn't!" + +"What!" said the young planter, affecting ignorance of the suggested +scheme, "carry the collector off? Is that what you mean?" + +"Oh! you're very innocent, Alf Brandon, you are, my sucking dove!" + +It was Slaughter who spoke. + +"Yes," said Buck, who answered to the interrogatory, "carry him off, and +so far that there'll be no danger o' his coming back again. That's what +we mean. Have you got anything better to propose? If you have, let's +hear it. If not, what's the use of all this palaverin'?" + +"Well," said Brandon, "I've been thinking we might carry something else +off that might answer our purpose as well, and without getting us into +any _scrape_ worth talking about." + +"Carry what off? The girl--Rook's daughter?" + +"No, no; Brandon don't mean that, and don't need it. He is going to +take her to church, and there's no danger about his getting consent." + +It was Buck who made the remark, and with some bitterness, being himself +one of Lena Rook's unsuccessful admirers. + +Brandon felt the sting all the more keenly from what had that day +occurred. Moreover, he knew that Buck was upon the list of his rivals, +and saw that the speech was meant for a slur. + +The lurid light in his eye, and the pallor suddenly overspreading his +lips, showed the depth of his chagrin. But he said nothing, fearful of +defeating the scheme he had traced out for himself in relation to Lena +Rook. + +"Come, gentlemen," said Randall, for the first time entering into the +conversation, "this talk only wastes time, and the subject is too +serious for that. Let us hear Brandon out. I'm as anxious as any of +you to settle this unpleasant matter, and if there be any safe plan we +can all agree about, the sooner it's carried out the better. I needn't +remind you the time's close at hand when the old Shylock will call for +another pound of flesh. If any one can suggest a way to escape paying +it, I think the most of us would be but too willing to stand the best +champagne supper Jim Slaughter can get up for us, and a `jury' into the +bargain." + +"Certain we'll all go snacks for that." + +"Speak out, Brandon!" + +"The fact is," said Brandon, thus appealed to, "we've been all a lot of +fools to stand this thing so long. Supposing we have the old scoundrel, +and dare him to do his worst, what evidence has he got against us only +his own oath?" + +"An' the girl's." + +"No; the girl saw nothing, at least, only what was circumstantial. She +couldn't swear to the deed; nor he neither, as far as that goes, though +he makes pretence that he can. Suppose he does swear, what then? There +are six of us--six oaths to one. I needn't ask whether you are all +willing?" + +"No, you needn't," was the unanimous rejoinder. + +"Good, so far. I think you all know that Jerry Rook's oath wouldn't go +far about these parts, and if we stick together and deny the thing _in +toto_, I'd like to know how a jury could give against us. We've been +fools not to try it. I'd have proposed it long ago, only that, like +some of the rest, I've been thin-skinned about it, and didn't like to +stir up stinking waters." + +"Yes," cried Buck; "you've been thin-skinned 'bout it--no mistake o' +that. Your damned thin-skinnedness, as you call it, has cost me five +hundred silver dollars." + +"Me the same," said Slaughter. + +"Well, for that matter, we all had to pay alike; and now let us all +agree to share alike in any law expenses, in case it should come to +that; for my part, I don't think it will." + +"And why won't it?" asked Randall, whose law experience, himself being a +practitioner, guided him to a different conclusion. "You don't suppose +that the old Shylock will yield without a trial? Trust me, fellows, +he'll fight hard to stick to that six hundred dollars _per annum_ he's +been so long pulling out of us." + +"Damn him! let him fight! What can he do? Let him tell his story, and +what evidence can he bring to support it? As I've said, his oath won't +count for anything against all six of ours." + +"But, Alf; you forget the _body_?" + +This reminiscence called up by Randall, caused all the others to start; +for all had forgotten it--Brandon alone excepted. + +"No, I don't," replied the latter, with an air of triumph at his own +astuteness. + +"Well, he'd bring that up, wouldn't he?" + +"No doubt he would, if we're fools enough to let him." + +"Ah! I see what you're driving at." + +"So do we all." + +"We know where _it_ lies; we've had good reason to. We've been soft to +let it lie there so long, and we'd be softer still to let it lie there +any longer." + +"Darn it, there's something in what he says." + +"What do you propose, Alf?" + +"That we go in for a good bit of quiet exhumation, and transfer that +body, or bones, or whatever relics be left of it, to a safer place. +After that's done let Jerry Rook do his worst." + +"A good idea!" + +"Jest the thing, by God!" + +"Let's carry it out, then!" + +"When?" + +"To-morrow night; we're not prepared now, or it might be to-night. Let +us provide the tools for to-morrow night, and meet about midnight. We +can come together in the glade, and go from there. You must all of you +come, and all have a hand in it." + +"Agreed! We'll do the grave-digging!" + +"Enough, boys! Let's fill up and drink to our success!" + +Amidst the clinking of glasses was sealed the singular compact; and the +body-stealers, that were to be, soon after separated, to come together +again upon the morrow. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY. + +THE TRYST UNDER THE TREE. + +Under the canopy of the great cottonwood the tryst of the lovers was to +be kept. + +Pierre was there first, and stood within the shadow of the tree, +expectant. + +There had been nothing to interfere with his coming, either to hinder or +retard it. He had left the tavern at an early hour, telling them he +might not return that night; and slowly sauntering through the woods, +had reached the place of appointment some time before that agreed upon. + +Having arrived under the tree, and taken a survey of the ground, he +regretted having chosen it as a rendezvous. + +Better need not have been desired had the night been dark; but it was +not; on the contrary, a clear moon was sailing through the sky. + +When Pierre Robideau last stood under that tree there was brushwood +around it, with a cane-brake along the edge of the creek. Both were now +gone; burnt off long ago to enlarge the little clearing that had +sufficed for the cabin of the squatter. There were the stumps of other +trees still, and a rough rail fence running up to the corner of the +house; but with the exception of these, any one approaching from the +house side would find no cover to prevent them from being seen. + +It occurred to Pierre Robideau that his sweetheart might be watched. He +had reason to believe that her father kept a close eye upon her, and +might be suspicious of her movements. What he had seen and heard the +day before told him how things stood between Jerry Rook and Alf Brandon. + +Once under the cottonwood there would be no danger; even the white dress +of a woman could not be descried in the deep shadow of the moss-laden +branches--at least, not from any distance, and in case of any one +passing accidentally near, the young man knew that the tree was hollow-- +a huge cavity opening into its trunk, capable of holding a horse. More +than once, when a boy, had he and little Lena played hide and seek in +this capacious tree-chamber. + +On the other side, that opposite to the house, the tree could be +approached under cover, along the edge of the creek, where a thin strip +of wood had been left standing undisturbed. It was through this he had +himself come, after crossing the creek some distance above. + +Eleven o'clock came, as he knew by a clock striking inside the house, +and then a long spell that seemed nearly a day, though it was not quite +an hour. Still no sign of his sweetheart, nor of living thing anywhere +outside the dwelling of Jerry Rook. + +He could see the porch, and one of the windows beyond it; through this +came the light of a lamp or candle indistinct under the bright shimmer +of the moonbeams. + +Upon the window his eyes were habitually kept, and he indulged in +conjecture as to who was the occupant of the lighted room. At first he +supposed it to be Lena; but as the time passed without the appointment +being kept, he began to fancy it might be her father. + +He had no knowledge of the interior of the house; but if the lighted +window belonged to the kitchen, it was like enough the old hunter was +inside, sitting in a huge arm-chair, and smoking his pipe, a habit that +Pierre knew him to indulge in days long past. Moreover, he might set +very late up into the morning hours, as he had been often accustomed to +do in those same days. + +The remembrance made Pierre uneasy, especially as the time stole past, +and still no appearance of the expected one. + +He was beginning to despair of an interview that night, when the light +upon which his eyes had been fixed appeared to have been put out, as the +glass showed black under the moonbeams. + +"It was she, then," he muttered to himself. "She has been waiting till +all were well asleep. She will come now." + +Forsaking the window, his gaze became fixed upon the porch, within whose +shadow he expected her to appear. + +She did so, but not until another long interval had elapsed--a fresh +trial of the lover's patience. + +Before it was exhausted, however, a form became outlined in the dark +doorway--the door having been silently opened--and soon after the moon +shone down upon the drapery of a woman's dress. + +The white kerchief upon her head would have enabled Pierre Robideau to +recognise her. But that was not needed. The direction she took on +stepping out of the porch, told him it was she whom he expected. + +She came on, but not as one who walks without fear. She kept along the +fence, on its shadowy side, and close in to the rails. Now and then she +stopped, looked behind, and listened. That she feared was evidently not +abroad, but at home. Some serious cause had detained her beyond her +time. + +Pierre watched her with eager eyes, with heart beating impatiently, +until he felt hers beating against it? + +Once more they stood breast to breast, with arms entwining. + +Why was she so late? What had detained her? + +The questions were put with no thought of reproach, only fear as to the +answer. + +As Pierre had suspected, Jerry Rook had been sitting up late; and, as +she suspected, with some idea of watching her. The lighted room was +his, and it was he who had extinguished the candle; she had waited +after, till he should be well asleep. She had a terrible time of it, +both that day and yesterday. Her father had been very angry with her +about several things; he had found out that Pierre had been there; he +had cross-questioned her, and made her confess it. It was no use +denying it, as her father had found his track, and saw the snake that +had been shot; and, besides, one of the negroes had heard a man's voice +along with hers among the trees of the orchard. It made it all the +worse that she had tried to conceal it, and been found out. Of course +she did not say who it was, only a stranger _she had never seen before_. + +"O, Pierre! I told that great lie about you. God forgive me!" + +Her father had gone furious; there was something else, too, that made +him so--about Alf Brandon, who had come over to see them just after +Pierre had gone. + +"What was it about Alf Brandon?" asked Pierre, rather calmly, +considering that the individual spoken of was a most dangerous rival. + +The young girl noticed this, and answered with some pique. + +"Oh! nothing much," she said, relaxing the pressure of her arms. "At +least, nothing, I suppose, you would care about." + +"Nay, dear Lena!" he hastily rejoined, noticing the hurt he had +unconsciously occasioned, and drawing her back to his breast, "pardon me +for the apparent coldness of the question; I only asked it because I +wished to tell you that I know all." + +"All what, Pierre?" + +"All that occurred between you and Alf Brandon." + +"And who told you?" + +"No one. I'm going to make a confession if you'll promise not to be +angry with me." + +"Angry with you, Pierre?" + +"Well, then, it was thus: after leaving you yesterday, I came back +again, and took stand under cover of the trees, just over the creek +there, at the bottom of the garden. Of course, I could see the house, +and all in front of it. I got there just as your father was leaving to +meet Mr Brandon by the gate, and I not only saw what passed between you +two, but heard most of what was said. It was much as I could do to +restrain myself from springing across the creek, and laying the fellow +at your feet; but I kept back, thinking of the trouble I might get you +into, to say nothing of myself, with your father. I own to all this +meanness, Lena, without being able to let you know my motive for it. +One reason for my returning, was to look again upon you." + +"Oh, Pierre," said the girl, once more reciprocating the pressure of his +embrace, "if I had only known you were there! But, no; perhaps it was +better not. I might have done something that would have betrayed us +both." + +"True," he said. "And, from what I know of your father's designs, I see +that we cannot be too cautious. But, promise me, love; promise, before +we part, that, no matter what may arise, nor how long it may be before I +gain your father's consent, that you will still keep true to me. Will +you promise this?" + +"Promise it! How could you doubt me? After six years--more I may say, +for I loved you ever since I first knew you, ay, Pierre, when I was only +a little bit of a bare-footed girl--after being true all that time, +surely you will not doubt me now? Promise it! Anything, Pierre-- +anything!" + +Firmer and faster became the folding of their arms, closer and closer +came their lips, till meeting, they remained together in a long, +rapturous kiss. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +THE TREE-CAVE. + +A long, rapturous kiss, and a kiss that came nigh betraying them. + +Fortunately, it had ended before anyone was near enough to bear witness +to it, or blight its sweetness by rude interruption. + +The lovers were about taking leave of each other, their arms were once +more free, and they were arranging the time and place for another +interview, when the quick ear of the young man, attuned to take notice +of suspicious sounds, was caught by one that appeared to be of this +character. + +It was a rustling among the canes that bordered the creek, with now and +then their culms crackling together as if something--man or animal--was +making way through them. + +The sounds proceeded from a point at some distance; but, as the lovers +stood listening, they could tell that, whatever made them, was drawing +nearer. + +And soon they saw that they were not made by an animal, nor yet by a +man, but by several men, who, under the clear light of the moon, could +be seen approaching the spot. + +And it could be seen, too, that they were not coming on openly and +boldly, like men bent on an honest errand, but skulking along the edge +of the creek, here and there crouching under the cane, whose thin growth +only partially concealed them. The noise they made was inadvertent. +They were not making more than they could help, and, if there was any +talk between them, it must have been in whispers, as no words were heard +by the two standing under the tree. + +For them it was too late to retreat unobserved. + +They might have done so at first; but not now. The skulkers were too +near, and any attempt to get away from the spot would expose the lovers +under the full light of the moon. + +Their only chance to remain undiscovered was to keep within the shadow +of the tree. + +Not long before, this, too, appeared doubtful; as they now saw that the +dark forms advancing along the edge of the stream must pass close to +where they stood--so close as to see them in spite of the obscurity. + +Who the cautious travellers were, or what their designs, neither had the +slightest idea. But it mattered not what. Enough for the lovers to +know that they were in danger of being surprised, and under +circumstances to cause them chagrin. + +What was to be done? The skulkers were coming on. They would soon be +under the tree! + +The returned gold-seeker had taken the young girl on his arm--partly +with the idea of protecting her should any rudeness he attempted, and +partly to inspire her with courage. + +He was thinking whether it would not be the best for them to step boldly +out and show themselves in the open light. It would less expose them to +ridicule, though the lateness of the hour--it was now after midnight-- +would still render them liable to that. A young lady and gentleman-- +they had markedly this appearance--indulging in a moonlight stroll at +nigh one o'clock of the morning, were not likely to escape scandal if +seen. + +What was to be done? + +At this moment a happy thought came up to answer the question. It +flashed simultaneously through the minds of both. Both remembered the +cavity in the tree; and without a word to one another--both acting under +the same impulse--they glided inside, and stood in shadow dark as the +dungeon itself! + +They had scarce time to compose themselves ere the party of intruders +came up, and stopped right under the tree. To their chagrin they saw +this. They had hoped that such early travellers might be bent upon some +distant journey, and that once past the spot they would be themselves +free to continue their affectionate leave-taking. + +They soon perceived that this was not to be. The new comers had halted +close up to the trunk, directly in front of the cavity, and although +enveloped in deep shadow their figures were distinguishable from the +deeper shadow that surrounded the two spectators. Either of these could +have touched them by stretching forth a hand! + +Neither had thoughts of doing this. On the contrary, they stood +motionless as marble, both silently striving to keep back their breath. + +Six figures there were--six men--several of them carrying implements, at +first taken for guns, but which, on more prolonged scrutiny, proved to +be spades and shovels. From the way they were manipulating these tools +it was evident they intended making use of them, and on the spot! + +The occupants of the tree-cave where puzzled by these preparations. For +what were they going to dig? + +The blood of both ran cold at the thought of its being a _grave_. And +both had it. What else could they have thought? Six men, armed with +excavating implements, at that unearthly time of the night! + +And a secret grave, too, for the body of some one whom they had +murdered! Else why their stealthy movements, and their talking in low +tones, scarce louder than a whisper? + +Who could they be? And what their purpose? + +These were the questions that came before the minds of Pierre Robideau +and Lena Rook, only in thought; they dared not interrogate one another +even in whispers. They stood silent, watching the development of +events. + +"Where can the darned thing be?" asked one of the men, stooping down, +and apparently searching for something along the grass. "Who of ye +remembers the spot?" + +"A little farther out, I think," answered a voice that caused Lena Rook +to start, and take hold of Pierre's hand. "About here. Yes, here it +is. I can feel the lumps upon the turf." + +The speaker appeared to be groping the ground with his feet. + +"Alf Brandon!" whispered the girl, with her lips close to her +companion's ear. + +The others gathered around the spot indicated by Brandon. + +Two who carried spades commenced digging, while a like number of +shovel-men followed, throwing out the loose earth. + +"Wonder how deep the old skunk has buried him?" asked one. + +"Not very deep, I reck'n. Jerry Rook's too lazy to a dug far down. +We'll soon come to it." + +These were the voices of Bill Buck and Slaughter, the hotel-keeper, +recognised by Lena Rook, though not by her companion. + +"Do you think there's a coffin?" inquired one who had not yet spoken. +It was Spence. + +"No," answered another new speaker, recognised as Lawyer Randall, "I +should say not. The old squatter wasn't likely to take that trouble for +such a creature as Choc, and, as the fellow had no other friends, I +think you'll find him in his deerskin shirt--that is, if Jerry harn't +taken the pains to strip him." + +"The shirt wasn't worth it," remarked a sixth speaker, who was the +store-keeper, Grubbs. + +"The six who hanged you, Pierre!" whispered the girl to him by her side. +"The very same!" + +Pierre made no reply. He was too much occupied in endeavouring to +interpret the strange talk, and comprehend the singular scene passing +before him. + +"It's getting hard down here," said one of the spadesmen. "Seems to me +I've touched bottom." + +"Old Jerry must have tramped him tight down," remarked another, adding a +slight laugh. + +"Don't speak so loud, boys!" commanded Brandon. "Look at the house, +'tisn't twenty yards off, and there's a weasel in it that seldom sleeps. +If we're heard, you know what'll follow. Keep silent, it may save each +of you a hundred dollars a-year." + +At this appeal the diggers turned their eyes towards the house; but only +to give a cursory glance, and back to the ground again. + +Lena Rook looked longer in that direction, for there was the man she +most feared--her father. + +Intimately acquainted with the precincts of the dwelling, and, of +course, better able to tell if anything was stirring, she saw--what had +escaped the notice of the body-stealers--the front door standing open! +It should have been shut; for, on coming out, she had carefully closed +it behind her! + +She had scarce made the discovery when she saw a figure in the doorway, +that, after standing a moment as if to reconnoitre and listen, stole out +into the porch, and then, stealthily descending the steps, glided +crouchingly towards the cover of the orchard. Only for a moment was it +under the moonlight; but the young girl had no difficulty in recognising +the form of her father! + +Something in his hands glistened in the moonlight. It appeared to be a +gun. + +Pierre's attention is called to it by a significant pressure on his arm. +Pierre also saw the flitting figure and knew whose it was. + +The weasel, as Alf Brandon termed him, had not been asleep! + +And just like a weasel he had acted; in sight only for six seconds, as +he shot across the open space between the porch and the peach trees. + +Once among these, he was invisible to the only eyes that had seen him, +those of his daughter and Pierre Robideau. + +But both expected soon to see him again. He had not gone into the +orchard for nothing, and his cat-like movements told that he had +suspicion of something astir under the cottonwood, and was stealing +round by the creek to approach it unobserved. + +Whether he yet saw the excavators could not be known, but he must have +heard the clinking of their tools as he stood in the doorway. + +Not one of them either heard or saw him, as, without pausing, they +continued their work, Brandon having once again counselled them to +silence. + +"Darned if 'taint the bottom! I told you so," said Bill Buck, striking +his spade point against the ground under his feet. "Thar's been neyther +pick nor spade into this not since the days of old Noah, I reckon. +There! try for yourself, Alf Brandon!" + +Brandon took the implement offered, and struck it upon the space already +stripped, and sunk some eighteen inches below the surface. The ring was +that of solid earth that had never been disturbed by a spade. + +He tried it in several places, all of which gave back the same sound! + +"Clear out the loose mould!" commanded he. + +This was done, and once more was the test applied. + +"There's no grave there," remarked Randall. + +"Nor body," said Spence. + +"Not so much as a bone," added Buck; "no, nor never has been. Dog-gone +my cats, if old Rook hasn't been humbuggin' us!" + +"Ha-ha! He--he--he--he!" + +The sounds thus represented were intended for a laugh, that came from +the other side of the tree, and in a voice that did not belong to any of +the excavating party. + +Whatever mirth may have been in the man who uttered them, it failed to +communicate itself to any of the six grave-diggers, all of whom, +startled at the strange noise, stood staring wildly around them. + +If the body for which they had been searching had suddenly appeared in +their midst, and given utterance to that unearthly cachination, they +could not have been more astonished. + +And their astonishment lasted until a man, well known to them, stepped +from behind the tree, and discovered himself in the clear moonlight. + +"Jerry Rook, by the Eternal!" + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +THE DIGGERS DISMISSED. + +"Yes, Jerry Rook, by the Eternal!" exclaimed the old hunter, with +another mocking laugh. "An' why thet, I shed like to know? Do it +astonish ye to see a man by the side o' his own gurden? I reckin this +chile hev got more reezun to be surprised at seem you hyar, one an' all +o' ye. Who air ye anyhow?" he asked, drawing nearer to the party, and +pretending to examine their faces. "Ef this chile ain't mistaken he +heard Bill Buck among ye. Yes, Billee, thet's you, an' Mr Planter +Brandon, an' as thar's four more o' ye, I reckin' I kin guess who the +t'others air. An' what mout ye a been doin'? Spades and shovels! Ho-- +ho! ye've been a grave-diggin', hev ye? Wal, I hope ye've goed deep +enough. You're a gwine to berry somebidy, air ye?" + +There was no reply. The six excavators had thrown down their tools, and +stood in sullen silence. + +"Maybe ye were arter the other thing. Doin' a bit of dissinterry as +they call it? Wal, I hope ye foun' what ye hev been rootin' for?" + +Still no response. + +"An' so, Mr Bill Buck, you think thet Jerry Rook hez been a humbuggin' +ye?" + +"I do," replied Buck, doggedly. + +"And so do I." + +"Yes; so all of us." + +"Oh! ye're agreed beout thet, air ye? Wal, ye ain't a gwine to humbug +_me_ as ye've been jest now a tryin'. I warn't sech a precious fool as +to put the poor young fellur's karkiss whar you could kum and scrape it +up agin whenever you'd a mind. Ne'er a bit o't. I've got it safer +stowed than that, an' I'll take care o't too, till ye refuse to keep to +your contract. When any o' ye do that I'll then do a bit o' dissenterry +myself, you see ef I don't." + +The discomfited excavators had once more relapsed into silence. Having +nothing to say by which they could justify themselves, they made no +attempt. It was no use to deny either what they had been doing, or its +design. Jerry Rook saw the one, and guessed the other. + +"Ye 'pear very silent beout it," he continued, jeeringly. "Wal, ef +you've got nothing to say, I reckin you'd better all go hum to yur beds +an' sleep the thing over. Preehaps some o' ye may dream whar the body +air laid. Ha--ha--ha!" + +They were not all silent, though their speech was not addressed to him. +There was whispering among themselves, in which Bill Buck and Slaughter +took the principal part; and had there been lights enough for Jerry Rook +to see the faces of these two men, and the demoniac fire in their eyes, +as they glanced at him, and then towards the spades, he might have +changed his hilarious tune, and, perhaps, made hasty retreat into the +house. + +There was a suggestion that the half-dug grave should be deepened, and a +body put into it--the body of Jerry Rook! It came from Slaughter, and +was backed by Bill Buck. But the others were not plucky enough for such +an extreme measure; and the old squatter was spared. Perhaps his rifle +had something to do with the decision. They saw that he had it with +him, and, although Jerry Rook was a sexagenarian, they knew him to be a +sure and deadly shot. He would not be conquered without a struggle. + +"What the ole Nick air ye whisperin' 'beout?" he asked, seeing them with +their heads together. "Plotting some kind o' a conspyracy, air ye? +Wal, plot away. Ef ye kin think o' any way that'll git ye clear o' +payin' me your hundred dollars apiece pree-annum, I'd like to hear it. +I know a way, myself, maybe you'd like to hear it?" + +"Let's hear it, then!" + +"Wal, I am open to a offer, or, I'll make one to you; whichsomever you +weesh." + +"Make it!" + +"Durn it, don't be so short 'beout it. I only want to be accommodatin'. +Ef you'll each an' all o' ye pay me five hundred a piece, down on the +nail, an' no darduckshin, I'll gie you a clar receet, an' squar up the +hul buzness now!" + +"We can't give you an answer now, Jerry Rook," interposed the planter, +without waiting for the others. "We shall consider your proposal, and +tell you some other time." + +"Wal, tak' yur own time; but remember, all o' ye, thet Saturday nex air +the day of the annival settlin'; an' don't fail to meet me at the usooal +place. I hain't no spare beds, or I'd ask you all in; but I s'pose +ye'll be a goin' back wi' Mr Slaughter thar, an' havin' a drink by way +o' night cap? Don't forgit your spades; they mout git stole ef you left +'em hyar." + +This bit of irony terminated the scene, so far as the disappointed +resurrectionists were concerned, who, like, a band of prowling jackals, +scared from a carcass, turned in their tracks and sneaked sulkily away. + +"He! he! he!" chuckled the old pirate, as he stood watching them. "Out +of the field--he! he! he!" he continued, stooping over the fresh turned +earth, and examining their work. "They _war_ playin' a game wi' poor +cards in thar hand--the set o' cussed greenhorns! Durnation!" + +That this last exclamation had no reference to the episode just ended, +was evident from the cloud that passed over his countenance while giving +utterance to it. Something else had come into his thoughts, all at once +changing them from gay to grave. + +"Durnation!" he repeated, stamping on the ground, and glancing angrily +around him. "I'd most forgotten it! Whar kin the gurl hev gone? + +"Ain't in her bed; nor ain't a been this night! _Ain't_ in the house +neyther! Whar kin she be?" + +"I thort I mout a foun' her hyar; but this hain't hed nuthin' ter do wi' +her. It kedn't a' hed. + +"Durn me, ef I don't b'lieve she's goed out to meet some un'; an', +maybe, that same fellar as shot the snake! Who the red thunder kin he +be? By the Eturnal, ef't be so, I'll put a eend to his snake shooting! + +"Whar _kin_ the gurl be? I shall look all night, or I'll find her. She +ain't in the orchart, or I'd a seed her comin' through. An' shurly she +ain't goed across the crik? Maybe she's strayed up behint the stable or +the corn-cribs? I'll try thar." + +The hearts of the lovers, so long held in a suspense, almost agonising, +began to beat more tranquilly as they saw him pass away from the spot. + +It was but a short respite, lasting only the time occupied by Jerry Rook +in taking ten steps. + +A hound, beating about the field, had strayed up to the tree and poked +his snout into the cavity where they stood concealed. + +A short, sharp yelp, followed by a growl, proclaimed the presence of +something that ought not to be there. + +"Yoicks! good dog!" cried the ci-devant hunter, quick harking to the +cry. "What you got thar?" + +Hastily returning to the tree, and stopping in front of the dark +entrance, he continued-- + +"Somebidy inside thar? Who air it? Lena, gurl, is't you?" + +Silence broken only by the baying of the hound. + +"Hush up, you brute!" cried his master, driving off the dog with a kick. +"Hear me thar, you inside! 'Tain't no good playin' possum. Ef it's +you, Lena gurl, I command ye to come out." + +Thus summoned, the girl saw it would be no use disobeying. It could +serve no purpose, and would only end in her father stepping inside the +cavity and dragging her angrily forth. + +"I'll go," she whispered to her companion. "But stay you, Pierre, and +don't stir! He'll think I'm alone." + +Pierre had no chance to remonstrate, for on speaking the words, she +stepped hastily out, and stood face to face with her father. + +"So, so! I've foun' you at last, hev I? An' that's the hole in which +ye war hidin', is it? Nice place that for a young lady, as ye think +yurself, at this time o' night! An' a nice party yer been hevin' clost +to ye! Come, gurl! No denial o' what you've been doin'; but give an +explanation o' yurself! How kim ye to be hyar?" + +"O, father! I was walking about. It was such a beautiful night, and I +couldn't sleep. I thought I'd come out into the field and have a stroll +down here to the old tree. I was standing under it when I saw them +coming up--Alf Brandon and the others--" + +"Wal, go on!" + +"I couldn't get back without their seeing me, and as I was afraid of +them, I slipped inside the hollow." + +"An' ye war thar all the time, war ye?" + +"Yes; all the time." + +"Wal, and what did yur hear?" + +"A great deal, father. It'll take time to tell it all. If you'll come +on into the house, I can repeat better what was said by them. I'm so +frightened after what I heard, I want to get away from this horrid +place." + +It was a commendable stratagem to secure the retreat of her lover. +Unfortunately it did not succeed. The old squatter was too cautious to +be so easily deceived. + +"O, yes," he said; "I'll go 'long wi' ye into the house; but not afore +I've fust seed whether thar ain't somethin' else in the holler o' this +tree." + +His daughter trembled as he gazed towards the entrance, but her +trembling turned to a convulsive agony, as she heard the cocking of his +rifle, and saw him point it towards the dark cavity in the trunk. + +With a wild cry, she sprang forward, placing herself right before the +muzzle of the gun. + +Then, in the terrible agitation of the moment, forgetting all else, she +shouted: + +"Come out, Pierre, come out!" + +"Pierre!" cried the furious father. "What Pierre?" + +"Oh, father, it is Pierre Robideau!" + +It was well Lena Rook had grasped the barrel of the rifle and turned it +aside, else along with the last speech the bullet would have passed +through the body of Pierre, instead of over his head. + +But it was now too late, and Jerry Rook saw it. + +The young man had sprung out, and was standing by his side. + +Any attempt at violence on his part would have ended by his being dashed +instantly to the earth. Beside Pierre Robideau he was like an old +wasted wolf in the presence of a young, strong panther. + +He felt his inferiority, and cowered upon the instant. + +He even assumed the counterfeit of friendship. + +"Oh, 'tair you, Pierre, is it? I wouldn't a knowed yer. It's so long +since I've seed yer. You kin go in, gurl. I want to hev some talk wi' +Pierre." + +Lena looked as though she would have stayed. It was a look of strange +meaning, but it wore off as she reflected that her lover could be in no +danger now, and she walked slowly away. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +A COMPANION. + +For some seconds Jerry Rook stood in the shadow without saying a word, +but thinking intensely. + +His thoughts were black and bitter. The return of Pierre Robideau would +be nothing less than ruin to him, depriving him of the support upon +which for years he had been living. Once Buck, Brandon, and Co. should +ascertain that he they supposed dead was still living, not only would +the payment be stopped, but they might demand to be recouped the sums of +which he had so cunningly mulcted them. + +He had not much fear of this last. + +If they had not actually committed murder, they would still be +indictable for the attempt; and though, under the circumstances, they +might not fear any severe punishment, they would yet shrink from the +exposure. + +It was not the old score that Jerry Rook was troubled about, but the +prospect now before him. No more black mail; no money from any source; +and Alf Brandon his creditor, now released from the bondage in which he +had hitherto been held, spited by the rejection of yesterday, would lose +no time in coming down upon him for the debt. + +The quondam squatter saw before him only a feature of gloom and +darkness--ejection from his ill-gotten home and clearing--a return to +his lowly life--to toil and poverty--along with a dishonoured old age. + +Mingling with these black thoughts, there was one blacker--a regret that +he had not pulled the trigger in time! + +Had he shot Pierre Robideau inside the tree all would have been well. +No one would have known that he had killed him; and to his own daughter +he could have pleaded ignorance that there was any one inside. Much as +she might have lamented the act, she could scarcely have believed it +wilful, and would have said nothing about it. + +It was too late now. To kill the young man as he stood, in the +darkness--it might still have been done--or even at a later time, would +be the same as to murder him under the eyes of his daughter. From what +she now knew the hand of the assassin could not be concealed. + +These thoughts occupied Jerry Rook scarce any time. They came and +passed like lightning that flashes deadly through dark clouds. + +This prolonged silence was due to other thoughts. He was reflecting on +what course he would take with the man, whose unexpected appearance had +placed him in such a dilemma. + +Turning to the latter, he at length spoke-- + +"How long 've ye been back, Pierre?" + +The tone of pretended kindness did not deceive the returned gold-seeker. + +"I came into the neighbourhood yesterday," he replied, coldly. + +"Have ye seed any one that know'd ye?" + +"Not that I am aware of." + +"Ye'll excuse me for bein' a leetle rough wi' ye. I war a bit flurried +'beout the gurl bein' out, not knowin' who she wur with. There's a lot +o' fellars arter her, an' it's but right I shed be careful." + +Pierre could not object to this. + +"Of course," pursued Jerry, after another pause of reflection, "ye heerd +all that passed atween me an' that lot o' diggers?" + +"Every word of it." + +"An' I suppose you know who they war?" + +"Yes; I have good reason." + +"Yu're right thar. Ye'll be knowin' then why this chile ain't livin' +any more in the ole shanty, but in a good, comftable frame-house, wi' a +clarin' roun' it?" + +"Yes, Jerry Rook, I think I understand that matter." + +"Yur won't wonder, then, why I tuk so much pains, six years ago, to send +yur out o' the way? No doubt yur did wonder at that?" + +"I did; I don't now. It is all clear enough!" + +"An' I reck'n it'll be equally clar to ye, thet yur comin' back ain't a +gwine to do _me_ any good. Jest ruinates me, that's all." + +"I don't see that, Jerry Rook." + +"Ye don't! But this chile do. The minute any o' them six sets eyes on +yur my game's up, an' thar's nothin' more left but clear out o' this, +an' take to the trees agin. At my time o' life that ere'll be +pleasant." + +"You mean that by my showing myself you would lose the six hundred +dollars per annum I've heard you make mention of." + +"Not only thet, but--I reckin I may as well tell yer--I am in debt to +Alf Brandon, an' it war only by his believin' in your death I hev been +able to stave it off. Now, Pierre Robideau!" + +In his turn the gold-seeker stood reflecting. + +"Well, Jerry Rook," he rejoined, after a time, "as to the black mail +you've been levying on these six scoundrels, I have no particular wish +to see them relieved of it. It is but a just punishment for what they +did to me, and to tell you the truth, it has, to some extent, taken the +sting out of my vengeance, for I had come back determined upon a +terrible satisfaction. While serving yourself you've been doing some +service to me!" + +"May be," suggested the old pirate, pleased at the turn matters appeared +to be taking, "maybe Pierre, ye'd like things to go on as they air, an' +let me gi'e you more o' the same sort o' satisfackshun? Thar's a way o' +doin' it, without any harm to yurself. It's only for you _to keep out +o' sight_." + +Pierre was again silent, as if reflecting on the answer. + +He at length gave it. + +"You speak truth, Jerry Rook. There is a way, as you've said; but it +must be coupled with a condition." + +"What condishun?" + +"Your daughter." + +"What o' her?" + +"I must have her for my wife." + +Rook recoiled at the proposal. He was thinking of Alf Brandon and the +plantation, the grand estate he had so long coveted, and set his heart +upon having. + +On the other side were the six hundred dollars a-year. But what was +this in comparison? And coupled with a young man for his son-in-law, +who was not even a full-blooded white--poor, perhaps penniless. No +doubt he had come back without a dollar in his pocket. + +Was this certain? He had been to California, the country of gold. From +what could be seen of him in the dim light, he appeared well dressed, +and his speech proclaimed him well instructed. He had certainly changed +much from the time of his departure. He may not have returned either so +fortuneless or friendless. + +These conjectures kept Jerry Rook from making any immediate answer. + +Taking advantage of his silence, the young man continued-- + +"I know, Jerry Rook, you will be wanting for your son-in-law some one +with means; at least, enough to support your daughter in a decent +position in society. I am fortunate enough to have this, obtained by +hard toil, in the gold _placers_ of California. If you wish +satisfaction on this head, I can refer to the Pacific Banking Company of +San Francisco, where, three years ago, I deposited my three year's +gatherings--in all, I believe, about fifty thousand dollars." + +"Fifty thousand dollars! D'ye mean that, Pierre Robideau?" + +"I mean it. If I had a light here, I could show you the proof of the +deposit." + +"Come into the house, Pierre. I don't mean for a light. Ye'll stay all +night? Thar's a spare bed; and Lena'll see to your heving some supper. +Come along in." + +The lucky gold-seeker made no opposition to the proffered hospitality; +and in five minutes after he was seated by the fireside of the man who, +but five minutes before, had been chafing at having lost the opportunity +of spilling his blood! + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +ANOTHER EAVESDROPPER. + +Jerry Rook and his guest had scarce closed the door behind them, when a +man, who had been skulking behind the cottonwood, came out into the +front, and paused upon the spot they had abandoned. + +He had been on the other side of the tree, from the time they had +commenced their conversation, and heard it all. + +The man was Alfred Brandon! + +What had brought Alfred Brandon back to the cottonwood? + +The explanation is easy enough. + +The six resurrectionists did not go to Helena, as Jerry Rook had hinted +they might do. + +On getting out of Jerry's clearing, only five of them turned towards the +town, Brandon going off towards his own home, which was not far off, in +the opposite direction. + +The planter, on parting with the others, instead of continuing +homewards, sat down upon a stump by the side of the path, and taking out +a cigar, commenced smoking it. + +He had no particular reason for thus stopping on his way, only that +after such a disappointment he knew he could not sleep, and the cigar +might do something to compose his exasperated spirit. + +The night was a lovely one, and he could pass a half-hour upon the stump +with reflections not more wretched than those that awaited him in his +sleeping-chamber. + +He was still within earshot of Jerry Rook's house, and he had scarce +ignited his cigar, when a sound reached his ear from that direction. + +It was the yelp of a hound, close followed by the animal's howling. + +Soon after was heard the voice of a man speaking in harsh accents, and +soon after this another voice--a woman's. + +On the still silent night they were borne to Brandon's ears with +sufficient distinctness for him to recognise them as the voices of Jerry +Rook and his daughter. It did not need either the angry accent of the +one, nor the affecting tone of the other, to draw Alf Brandon to the +spot. + +Starting up from the stump, and flinging himself over the fence, he +proceeded towards the place where the voices were still heard in excited +and earnest conversation. + +Had Brandon not feared discovering himself to the speakers, he might +have been up in time to see Pierre Robideau step forth from the cavity +of the tree, and Lena Rook protecting him from the wrath of her father. + +But the necessity of approaching unobserved, by skulking along the creek +and keeping under cover of the canes, delayed him, and he only arrived +behind the cottonwood as the young lady was being ordered into the +house. + +For Alfred Brandon, there was surprise enough without that. The +presence of Pierre Robideau, whose name he had heard distinctly +pronounced, with the sight of a tall form, dimly shaded under the tree, +which he knew must be that of the _murdered_ man, was sufficient to +astonish him to his heart's content. + +It had this effect; and he stood behind the cottonwood, whose shelter he +had reached, in speechless wonder, trembling from the crown to the toes. + +Though his fear soon forsook him, his wonder was scarce diminished, when +the dialogue between Jerry Rook and Pierre Robideau furnished him with a +key to the mysterious re-appearance of the latter upon the banks of +Caney Creek. + +"God a mercy!" gasped he, stepping from behind the huge tree trunk, and +looking after them as they were entering the house. "Here's news for +Messrs. Buck, Slaughter, Grubbs, Spence, and Randall! Glad they'll be +to hear it, and at last get relief from their debts. This I reckon'll +cancel it. + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, adding a fearful oath; "it's all very well for them, +but what matters the money to me? I'd pay it ten times over and all my +life to have that girl; and hang me if I don't have her yet for a wife +or for worse. Choc still alive and kicking! Cut down then before he +got choked outright! Darned if I didn't more than half suspect it from +the way old Rook talked about the burying of the body. The precious old +pirate; hasn't he bilked us nicely? + +"Mr Pierre Robideau! yes that was the name, and this is the very +fellow. I remember his voice, as if it were but yesterday. Missing for +six years! Been to California! and picked up fifty thousand worth of +yellow gravel! Lodged it in a bank, too, at San Francisco. No doubt +going there again, and will be wanting to take Lena Rook along with +him." + +At this thought another fierce oath leaped from his lips, and the light +of the fire-flies as they flitted past his face showed an expression +upon it that might have done credit to the stage of a suburban theatre. + +"Never!" he ejaculated. "Never shall _she_ go, if I can find means to +prevent it." + +He stood for a time reflecting. + +"There's a way," he again broke forth, "a sure way. Buck would be the +man to lend a hand in it. He's crazed about the girl himself, and when +he knows there's no chance for him, and thinks it's this fellow stands +in the way; besides, he wants money, and wouldn't mind risking something +to get it. Buck's the man!" + +"If he don't I'll do it myself. I will, by the Etarnal! I'd rather die +upon the scaffold than this Indian should have her--he or any one else. +I've been wild about her for six years. Her refusing has only made me +worse. + +"There can't be much danger if one only gets the chance. He's been away +once, and nobody missed him. He can go gold gathering again--this time +never to return. He shall do it." + +An oath again clinched the ambiguous threat. + +Apparently relieved by having expressed his dark determination, he +proceeded in a calmer strain. + +"Won't they be glad to hear of this resurrection! I wonder if they're +still at Slaughter's. They went there--sure to be there yet. I'll go. +It'll make their hearts happier than all the liquor in the tavern. Good +night, Jerry Rook! Take care of your guest. Next time he goes off it +won't be by your sending of him." + +After this sham apostrophe he struck off across the field, and, once +more clambering over the fence, he took the road leading to Helena. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +THE STRANGER GUEST. + +The fifth instalment of "hush-money," that had been paid to Jerry Rook, +proved to be the last. + +On meeting the contracting parties, and applying for the sixth, he found +to his great surprise, as well as chagrin, that the grand secret was +gone out of his keeping, and his power over them at an end! + +They were not only prepared to repudiate, but talked of his refunding, +and even threatened to lynch him upon the spot. + +So far from making his claim, he was but too glad to get out of their +company. + +It is probable they would have insisted upon the repayment, or put +lynching in practice, but for fear of the scandal that either must +necessarily create in the community. To this was Jerry indebted for his +escape from their vengeful indignation. + +"Who could have told them that Pierre Robideau still lived?" + +This was the question put by Jerry Rook to himself, as he rode back to +his house, filled with mortification. He asked it a score of times, +amid oaths and angry ejaculations. + +It could not have been Pierre himself, who was now his welcome guest, +and had been so ever since the night of that strange rencontre under the +cottonwood? Though the returned gold-seeker had strolled about the +clearing, with Lena for a companion, he had never once gone beyond its +boundaries, and could scarce have been seen by any outsider. No one-- +neighbour or stranger--had been near the house. The half-dozen negroes +who belonged to Jerry Rook, had no previous acquaintance with Pierre +Robideau's person; and, even had it been otherwise, they would scarce +have recognised him now. It was not through them the information had +reached Alfred Brandon and his associates. Who, then, could have been +the informer? + +For the life of him Jerry Rook could not guess; and Pierre himself, when +told of it, was equally puzzled upon the point. + +The only conjecture at all probable, was, that some one had seen and +identified him--one of the gang themselves; or it might have been some +individual totally uninterested, who, by chance, had seen and recognised +him, soon after his arrival at the stand. + +Now that his being alive was known to them, there was no longer any +object in his keeping concealed; and he went about the settlements as of +yore, at times visiting the town of Helena, for the purchase of such +commodities as he required. + +He had taken up his stay at the house of his former host, and was so +often seen in the company of his host's daughter, that it soon became +talked of in the neighbourhood. Those who took any interest in the +affairs of Jerry Rook's family were satisfied that his daughter, so long +resisting, had at length yielded her heart to the dark-skinned, but +handsome stranger, who was staying at her father's house. + +There were few accustomed to have communication with either the quondam +squatter or his people. It was a time when there were many new comers +among the surrounding settlements, and a stranger, of whatever kind, +attracted but slight attention. Under these circumstances Pierre +Robideau escaped much notice, and many remarks that might otherwise have +been made about him. + +There were more than one, however, keenly sensible of his existence--his +success with Lena Rook--who saw with black bitterness that the smiles of +that young lady were being bestowed upon him. + +Bill Buck was among the number of these disappointed aspirants; but the +chief sufferer was Alfred Brandon. With heart on fire, and bosom +brimful of jealous rage, he heard all the talk about Jerry Rook's +daughter and her stranger sweetheart. + +It in no way tranquilised his spirits when Jerry Rook returned him his +loan of stores and dollars, and promptly on the first demand. It but +farther embittered it; for he could not help knowing whence the money +had come. He saw that his wealth would no longer avail him. There +would be no chance now of reducing the parent to that penury that would +give him power over the child. His scheme had fallen through? and he +set himself to the concoction of some new plan that would help him +either to Lena Rook or revenge. + +He spent nearly the whole of his time in reflecting upon his atrocious +purpose--brooding over it until he had come to the determination of +committing murder! + +Several times he had thought of this, but on each occasion had recoiled +at the thought, less from horror of the crime itself, than through fear +of the consequences. + +He had half resolved to make common cause with Bill Buck, and induce him +to become a confederate in the foul deed. But the doubtful character of +the horse-dealer's son, each day getting darker, had scared him from +entering into such a perilous partnership; and he still kept his designs +locked up within his own troubled bosom. + +Strange enough, Buck was at the same time entertaining in his own mind a +scheme of assassination, and with the same victim in view. + +Without suspecting it, Pierre Robideau was in double danger. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was about ten days after the returned gold-seeker had taken up his +residence at the house of Jerry Rook, when an errand called him to the +town of Helena. It was the mending of his bridle-bit, which had been +broken by accident, and required to be half an hour in the hands of a +blacksmith. + +It was the bridle he had brought with him from the Choctaw country--an +Indian article with reins of plaited horsehair--and as he had no other, +it necessitated his going afoot. + +In this way he started from Jerry Rook's house, leaving Jerry Rook's +daughter at the door, looking lovingly after and calling him to come +soon back. + +The distance was not great; and in less than an hour after he was +standing in the blacksmith's shop, a tranquil spectator to the welding +of his broken bit. + +There was one who saw him there, whose spirit was less composed--one who +had seen him entering the town, and had sauntered after at a distance, +careless like, but closely watching him. This was not a citizen of the +place; but a man in planter costume, who, by the spurs on his heels, had +evidently ridden in from the country. In his hand he carried a rifle, +as was common at the time to all going abroad, no matter to what +distance, on horseback. + +The man thus armed and accoutred was Alfred Brandon. + +There were plenty of other people in the streets, and but few took note +of him as he walked carelessly along. No one noticed the lurid light in +his eye, nor the tight contraction of his lips that spoke of some +dangerous design. + +Much less were these indications observed by the man who was calling +them forth. Standing beside the blacksmith's forge, quietly watching +the work, Pierre Robideau had no thought of the eyes that were upon him, +nor did he even know that Brandon was in the town. + +Little dreamt he at that moment how near was a treacherous enemy +thirsting for his blood. + +Brandon's design was to pick a quarrel with the stranger, and before the +latter could draw in his defence, shoot him down in his track. In this +there would be nothing strange for the streets of Helena, nor anything +very reprehensible. Pierre was armed with knife and pistol, but both +were carried unseen. + +All at once the planter appeared to recoil from his purpose, and looking +askant, he spent some time in surveying his intended victim, and as if +calculating the chances of a rencontre. Perhaps the stalwart frame and +strong vigorous arms of the _ci-devant_ gold-seeker rendered him +apprehensive about the issue, and caused him to change his resolution. +The protruding breast of Pierre Robideau's coat told of pistol or other +weapon, and should the first fire fail, his own life, and not that of +his unsuspecting adversary, might be the forfeit in the affray. + +While thus communing with his own mind, a still fouler thought came into +it, kindling in his eye with more sinister lights. + +Suddenly turning away, as if from some change of design, he patrolled +back along the street, entered the stable where he had left his horse, +and, mounting inside the stable-yard, rode hastily out of the town. + + + +STORY ONE, CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +A REVANCHE. + +About half an hour after the planter had taken his departure from the +house, Pierre Robideau paid for the mending of his bridle; and having no +other errand to detain him in the town, started homewards afoot as he +had come. + +The road to Jerry Rook's house still corresponded with that leading to +Little Rock, only that the latter, now much travelled, no longer passed +through the well-known glade--a better crossing of Caney Creek having +caused it to diverge before it entered the natural clearing. + +The old trace, however, was that taken by any one going to Rook's house, +and to it Pierre Robideau was making his return from the town. + +With the bridle lashed belt-like across his shoulders, he was walking +unsuspectingly along, thinking how pleased Lena Rook would be at seeing +him so soon back. + +On entering the glade a change came over his spirit, indicated by a dark +cloud suddenly overspreading his face. It was natural enough at sight +of that too well-remembered tree, recalling not only his own agonies, +but the foul murder there committed, for he knew that upon that same +tree his unfortunate father, whom he could not think otherwise than +innocent, had been sacrificed to the madness of a frantic mob. + +There still was the branch extended towards him, as if mockingly to +remind him of a vengeance still unsatisfied! + +An impulse came over him he was unable to resist; and yielding to it, he +stopped in his track, and stood gazing upon the tree--a strange lurid +light shining in his eyes. + +All at once he felt a shock in the left arm, accompanied by a stinging +sensation, as if from the bite of an insect; but it was not this, for, +almost at the same instant, he heard the "spang" of a rifle, and saw a +puff of smoke flirting up over some bushes directly before him. + +It was a shot that had been fired; and the blood spirting from his torn +coat-sleeve left no doubt of it having been fired at himself. + +Nor could there be as to the deadly intention, though the damage done +was only a slight abrasion of the arm, scarce deeper than the thickness +of the skin. + +Pierre Robideau did not stay to reflect on this. The moment he saw the +smoke he sprang forward, and ran on until he had reached the spot where +the bushes were still enveloped in the low, scattering, sulphurous +vapour. + +He could see no one there; but this did not surprise him. It was not +likely that such an assassin would stay to be discovered; but he must +still be near, stealing off among the trees. + +Suspending his breath Pierre stood to listen. + +For a time he could hear nothing, not even the rustling of a leaf, and +he was beginning to fear that he might again be made the mark of an +unseen murderer's bullet, when the screech of a jay came sharply through +the trees. + +It gave him instant relief, for he knew by the compressed scolding of +the bird that some one was intruding upon its haunts. It must be the +retreating assassin! + +Guided by the chattering of the jay, he recommenced the pursuit. + +He had not gone twenty yards farther when he heard footsteps, and the +"swish" of leaves, as if some one was making way through the underwood. +Directed by these sounds he rushed rapidly after. + +Ten seconds more and he was in sight of a saddled horse, standing tied +to a tree, and a man in the act of untying him. The man was making all +haste, hindered by a heavy rifle carried in his hand. It was the gun +that had just been discharged, and Pierre Robideau had recognised the +man who had made the attempt to murder him. + +Alfred Brandon! + +With a shout, such as only one Indian-born could give, he bounded +forward, and, before the retreating assassin could climb into his +saddle, he seized him by the throat and dashed him against the trunk of +a tree. The horse, frightened by the fierce onslaught, gave a loud +neigh, and galloped off. + +"I thank you," cried Robideau, "and you alone, Mr Alf Brandon, for +giving me this chance! I've got you exactly where I wanted you! For +six years I've been longing for this hour, and now it has come as if I'd +planned it myself." + +Brandon, by this time recovered from the shock, threw down his gun, drew +pistol, and was about to fire; but, before he could get his finger on +the trigger, his antagonist seized him by the wrist, and, wrenching the +weapon from his hand, dashed him a second time against the tree trunk. + +Reeling and giddy, he saw the muzzle of his own pistol pointed at his +head, and expected nothing else than the bullet through his brains. + +The cry of the coward came from his lips as he writhed under the +terrible anticipation. + +To his astonishment the shot was not fired! + +Pierre Robideau, flinging the pistol away, stood before him apparently +unarmed! + +"No, Mr Alf Brandon!" said he, "shooting is too good for such a dog as +you; and a dog's death you shall have. Come away from here! Come on! +I want to see which of us can _hang longest by the hand_. We tried it +six years ago, but the trial wasn't a fair one. 'Tis your turn now. +Come on!" + +More than ever astonished, Brandon hesitated to comply. The calm yet +determined air of his antagonist told him it was no jest, but that +something terrible was intended. He glanced stealthily to the right and +left, and seemed to calculate the chances of escape. + +Robideau read his thoughts. + +"Don't attempt it," said he, throwing back the lapel of his coat, and +showing the butt of a pistol. "I have this, and will use it if you make +any effort to get off. Come!" + +Saying this, he seized the cowering ruffian by the wrist, and, half +leading, half dragging, hurried him away from the spot. + +In five minutes after they stood under a tree--the same upon which +Pierre Robideau had endured all the horrors of hanging. + +"What do you mean to do?" asked Brandon, in a faltering voice. + +"I've told you. I am curious to see how long _you_ can stand it." + +As he said this, he unloosed the bridle-reins from his body, and, taking +out his knife, commenced cutting them free from the bit. It was a +double rein, composed of two long pieces of closely-plaited hair taken +from the tail of a horse. + +Brandon stood pale and trembling. He could not fail to interpret the +preparations that were being made. Once more he thought of flight, and +once more Pierre Robideau read his thoughts. + +"It is no use," he said sternly; "you are in my power. Attempt to get +out of it, or resist, and I dash your brains out against that tree. +Now, your wrist in this rope." + +Feeble with fear, Brandon allowed his left hand to be seized, and his +wrist drawn into a noose made of one of the bridle-reins. The other end +of the cord was passed around his thigh, and then brought back and +secured by a firm knot, so as to hold the arm helpless by his side. +This done, the other rein, with a running loop, was adjusted round his +neck, its loose end thrown over one of the large branches. + +"Now," cried Robideau, "mount upon this log, and take hold, as you made +me do. Quick, or I jerk you up by the neck!" + +Bewildered, Brandon knew not what to do. Was his enemy in earnest, or +was it only a grim jest? He would fain have believed it this; but the +fierce, determined look of Robideau forbade him to hope for mercy. He +remembered at this moment how little he was deserving of it. + +He was left no time to reflect. He felt the noose tightening around his +neck, and the cord stretching taut above him. + +In another instant he was drawn from the ground and, mechanically +throwing up his right arm, he caught hold of the branch. It was the +only chance to save him from almost instant strangulation! + +"Now," cried Robideau, who had sprung upon the log and made the rope +fast to the upper limb, "now, Mr Alf Brandon, you're just as you left +me six years ago. I hope you'll enjoy the situation. Good day to you!" +And, with a scornful laugh, Pierre Robideau strode away from the spot. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +All the agony that can be endured by a man who sees death before him, +and sees no chance to escape it, was at that hour endured by Alfred +Brandon. + +In vain he shouted till he was hoarse, till his cries could have been no +longer heard a hundred yards from the tree, soon to become his gallows. +There was no response, save the echo of his own voice. No one to hear +or to heed it! He had no expectation of being saved by the man who had +just left him. That scornful laugh at parting precluded all hope: +though in his agonised struggle he begged aloud for mercy, calling upon +Pierre Robideau by name. + +Pierre Robideau came not to his assistance; and, after a long struggle-- +protracted to the utmost point of endurance--till the arm, half +disjointed, could no longer sustain his body, he let go his hold, and +dropped _to the ground_. + +The peals of derisive laughter that rang in his ears as he lay exhausted +upon the earth, were not pleasant--the less so that a female voice was +heard taking part in it. But even this was endurable after the dread +agony through which he had passed; and hurriedly springing to his feet, +and releasing his neck from the rope, he sneaked off among the trees, +without staying to cast a look at Pierre Robideau or Lena Rook, who, +standing by the edge of the glade, had been witness to his unnecessary +contortions. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Our tale is told, so far as it might interest the reader. What +afterwards happened to the different character who have figured in it, +were but events such as may occur in every-day life. There was nothing +strange in a young man, with a taint of Indian blood in him, marrying +the daughter of a backwoods-settler, and carrying her off to California; +nothing strange, either, that the father of the girl should sell off his +"improvement," and make the far-western migration along with them. + +And this was the history of Jerry Rook, his daughter, and his daughter's +husband; all three of whom, in less than twelve months after, might have +been seen settled in their new home, on the far shore of the Pacific, +and surrounded with every comfort required upon earth. + +There Pierre Robideau had nothing further to fear from the hostility of +early enemies, or the vengeance of jealous rivals; there Lena Rook, no +longer exposed to social humiliation, had the opportunity of becoming +that for which nature had intended her--an ornament of society; and +there, too, her father found time to repent of the past, and prepare +himself for that future which awaits alike the weary and the wicked. + +Of his crimes, both committed and conceived, Jerry Rook died repentant. + +The fate of Alfred Brandon was somewhat similar to that of his father. +Drink brought him to a premature grave; though, unlike his father, he +died without heir and almost without heritage, having spent the whole of +his property in the low dissipation of the tavern and the gaming-table. +His executors found scarce sufficient to pay for the hearse that carried +him to the grave. + +With Bill Buck it was different. His funeral, which occurred shortly +after, was at the public expense--his grave being dug near the foot of +the gallows on which he had perished for many crimes committed against +society, the last and greatest being a cold-blooded murder, with robbery +for its motive. + +Spencer, Slaughter, Randall, and Grubbs, lived to take part in the late +fratricidal war--all four, as might be expected, embracing the cause of +secession, and all, it is believed, having perished in the strife, after +the perpetration of many of those cruel atrocities in which the state of +Arkansas was most conspicuously infamous. + +Helena still stands on the banks of the mighty river, and there are many +there who remember the tragedy of Dick Tarleton's death; but few, if +any, who have ever heard the tale of "The Helpless Hand." + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER ONE. + +THE FALCON ROVER. + +THE DISCOVERY. + + A mystery! By heaven, I'll find it out. + If a man may!--_The Maiden_. + + Speed, Malise, speed!--_Lady of the Lake_. + +One of the most lovely pictures in lowland scenery which I have ever +looked upon is that around the mouth of a river which I have called the +Clearwater (the English translation of its Indian name), and which flows +between two of the southern counties of the western shore of Maryland. + +From the northern shore of that stream, in this place wide and +beautiful, stretches out a long, flat strip of white sand, which is +covered here and there with patches of crab-grass, and of that kind of +cactus commonly called the prickly pear. On the western side of this +strip of sand is a deep and capacious harbour, much resorted to by +bay-craft and sea-going vessels, while waiting for a fair wind up or +down the bay. On its eastern side extends a gulf, or indentation of the +coast, called by sailors, if I remember rightly, Patuxent Roads, and +which expands towards, and mingles with, the broad and beautiful +Chesapeake. Along the shores of this gulf are shoals, famous in the +country round as resorts of the fish called drums, which circumstance +has given the name of Drum Point to the beach extending, as described, +between the Clearwater and Maryland's noble bay. + +On the northern side of Drum Point harbour, and near to where the point +begins to curve away from the mainland, stood, during the second decade +of this century (and, indeed, for many years afterwards), a long, +single-storey frame building. This building, though placed upon the +sands, was still many yards away from the highest line reached by the +water at high tide. Directly behind it the land rose with a rapid swell +to a plateau, some thirty or forty feet above the shore of the harbour. +This frame structure was what is called in the United States a store, +and contained for sale such articles as are most in demand among seamen. +It belonged to an individual whom, for many reasons, I will call by a +fictitious name, Ashleigh, and who owned an estate of several hundred +acres, embracing all the eastern line of the harbour shore, and +extending some distance into the country behind it. + +At the time of which I write, mysterious and very injurious stories, +about the owner of this store, circulated in the neighbouring country on +both sides of the Clearwater. It was said that he concealed smuggled +goods, and even goods captured by pirates on the high seas, until an +opportunity should occur for secretly conveying them to Baltimore for +sale; and that he was implicated in some way in the trials for piracy +held before one of the United States courts in Baltimore, in the early +part of the present century. + +At about half-past twelve o'clock, on a night towards the end of May, in +the year 1817, three human figures stood upon the hill-side, overlooking +Drum Point harbour. The principal form in the group was that of John +Alvan Coe, a handsome young man of twenty-one or twenty-two years of +age, tall, and well proportioned. When seen in the day-time, his clear +blue eyes, Roman nose, and light chestnut hair, indicated a sanguine but +gentle character, and one endowed with dauntless courage, controlled by +a reflective mind. This young gentleman, the son of a planter in the +neighbourhood, once wealthy, but now much reduced in worldly +circumstances, was returning from his sport of night-fishing for drums, +accompanied by two sturdy negro men, who bore between them, suspended +upon a pole, the ends of which rested upon their shoulders, a large +basket, heavily laden with the scaly trophies of their recent sport. + +Young Coe, while passing on his way to the fishing, about sunset, along +the hill-side on which he now stood, had noticed, among the two or three +vessels in Drum Point harbour, a beautiful brig of about a hundred and +twenty tons burden. She was remarkable among the other vessels for her +graceful figure, and the neat and trim appearance of everything on board +of her. On his return from the fishing, after leaving his boat hauled +up on the beach of a small cove on the east side of Drum Point, his path +lay across the low and sandy neck of land connecting the point with the +mainland, and then in a gradual ascent along the green hill-side +overlooking the harbour. While pursuing this path he had halted, with +his companions, in a position from which he could view to the best +advantage the fair and romantic scene which lay before him. + +The moon, which was at its full, shed a softly brilliant silvery light +over land and water. Away towards the west spread the beautiful +lake-like expanse of the river--above five miles in length by two miles +in width--which is bounded northward and southward respectively by the +counties before referred to, eastward by Drum Point, and westward by the +long, slender and curving, and still more lovely Point Patience. The +waters of this fair expanse, softly stirred by a light breeze, gleamed +with myriads of lights and shadows under the moonlight spell. The front +of the low bluffs on the Saint Mary's side of the river, and the broad +beach of sand beneath them, glowed softly white in the beautiful light. + +It was impossible that one endowed with the temperament of John Alvan +Coe could avoid, although constantly accustomed to scenes of natural +beauty, allowing his gaze to rest for a moment upon the charming view +before him. His attention was soon arrested, however, by something +which was occurring in the harbour under the hill on which he stood. +The only vessel remaining there was the beautiful brig which he had +noticed at sunset. Three boats, apparently heavily laden, had left the +brig and were coming towards the shore. Soon afterwards the young man +saw a light shining out from one of the back windows of the storehouse +on the beach. + +There were some peculiarities in the character, or rather mental +constitution, of young Coe, with which it is necessary that I should +acquaint the reader, before we proceed farther in the narrative, of the +remarkable series of occurrences which arose to him out of the incidents +of this night. He not only loved danger for its own sake, but was +endowed with great fondness for romantic and stirring adventures. He +had a great and at times irresistible curiosity to investigate whatever +presented the appearance of darkness and mystery. In childhood this +peculiarity had mainly exhibited itself in a fondness for unravelling +riddles and conundrums; in more advanced youth, by solving, with great +patience and industry, the most difficult problems in mathematics. The +penetration of the meaning of the movement of the boats from the brig at +such an hour irresistibly called to mind, as it did, the mysterious +reports of smugglers and pirates in connection with this place, +presented an especial fascination to a mind constituted as was his. His +resolution was immediately formed to discover, at all hazards, the +meaning of what was taking place beneath him. + +It should have been mentioned before, perhaps, that the hill-side above +the harbour was covered, to a great extent, with a growth of bushes, +with a tree here and there. It was under one of the latter, whose dense +shadow hid them from the view of those in the boats, that the +fishing-party stood, while young Coe was making the observations +recorded above. As soon as he formed the resolution already mentioned, +the young man addressed the two negro men-- + +"Boys," he said, "take up the basket"--they had put it down to rest +themselves--"and go on. I shall follow you very soon. But do not wait +for me, even though I should not overtake you before you get home." + +The two negroes resumed their load and again started on their path. The +young man waited until they had passed out of sight over the hill, and +until the boats had landed and the men belonging to them had, after a +number of trips between the boats and the storehouse, transferred all +the lading to the latter, and themselves remained under its roof. He +then cautiously descended the hill, concealing himself as much as +possible by interposing, whenever he could do so, the bushes between +himself and the shore. In a few minutes he arrived beneath the window +of the store-room from which the light that he had before observed was +still shining. + +Guardedly he looked in. The counter had been entirely removed from its +place, revealing a long and narrow opening in the floor, and steps +leading downwards. Silks and other costly dry goods, and a number of +boxes and other closed packages, were piled on the counter and floor. A +lamp, casting a bright light, stood upon the counter, and another light +shone from an opening in the floor; and men were seen carrying the +merchandise into the cellar to which the steps below the floor led, and +returning at short intervals for more. Two or three other men were +standing on the floor of the store-room; one or the other of whom +seemed, from time to time, to be giving directions to those who were +removing the piles of goods to the apartment below. + +There was a tall and handsome man on the side of the room opposite to +the window at which young Coe was standing, who leaned against the +closed door which looked, when opened, upon the river. This man wore a +dark dress, and a black hat with a broad slouched brim, which threw a +dense shadow over the upper part of his countenance. The long black +beard from his unshaven face reached half way from his chin to his +waist. This man did not speak, except to make a remark now and then to +the two or three men who were not engaged in removing the goods. + +Among all the men whom young Coe saw, there was not one whom he +recognised as having been seen by him before. If Mr Ashleigh himself +was engaged in what was taking place, he must have been in the cellar. + +John Alvan Coe had barely time to make the observations recorded above, +when the tall and quiet individual, who was leaning against the closed +door, beckoned to a man near him, to whom he made some remarks in a low +tone. This man immediately spoke to the others who were standing about +on the floor of the store room. Instantly all in the room who were not +engaged in removing the goods--except the long-bearded man who wore the +slouched hat, and who, with a motion not at all hurried, opened for them +the door against which he had been leaning--sallied forth upon the +sands. + +The young man waited for no further development. Supposing very +naturally, what was the case, that he had been discovered, and that this +party were sent in pursuit of him, he immediately turned away from the +window and plunged into the pathway leading up the hill towards Mr +Ashleigh's residence. No action, under the circumstances, could have +shown the quick perception and ready decision of his mind to more +advantage than his at once taking to this pathway; for, after he was +once seen by his pursuers, his concealing himself amongst the few trees +and scattered clumps of bushes along the hill-side would have been no +safeguard under the almost daylight brightness of the clear moonlight. + +Such a course would have given to his pursuers only a limited space of +ground to search over at their leisure, with the absolute certainty of +discovering his place of concealment and making him prisoner. His +taking the plain pathway to the hill-top made his escape depend upon his +fleetness of foot, but only for a short distance; the hill once +surmounted, a dense forest spread for miles along the route which he had +to pursue. He had no uneasiness or doubt in trusting to his speed; for, +inured by daily exercise, he had long been considered the boldest leaper +and fleetest runner in all the country side. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER TWO. + +THE PURSUIT. + + *Hahn*. My lord, he has escaped. + *Otto*. Have thou no fear; he shall be prisoner. + I know the bird, his ways, where he frequents; + And I shall lime a twig, upon the which + I'll easily entice him to alight.--_Oldenheim_. + +The noise of the footsteps passing out of the door brought from the +cellar a tall and slender elderly man, with black eyes, and dark hair +thickly interspersed with grey. This individual seemed to be in a state +of much excitement. + +"What is the matter, Captain Vance?" he asked. "What has happened?" + +"Nothing of much importance," answered the dark man with the black +slouched hat, who was again leaning, as when first seen by John Alvan +Coe, against the door, which opened upon the sands. "I caught sight of +a man looking in upon us just now through the back window." + +"Do you consider that fact as of not much importance?" said the elderly +man from the cellar. "If you were in my position, I think that you +would entertain a different opinion." + +"Oh!" exclaimed the captain in a careless manner, "he was only `A chiel +amang us takin' notes.' I am very sure that he will never `prent 'em.' +I shall take especial pains that he shall never have a chance of doing +so." + +"The men who went out just now then," remarked the elderly man, in an +interrogative manner, "were sent to catch him?" + +"Yes," was the laconic reply. + +"God grant that they may catch him!" exclaimed the grey-headed man, in +an earnest tone. + +"If I were you, I would not call upon God in such a case," said Captain +Vance, whose coolness and self-possession afforded a complete contrast +to the excitement and alarm conspicuous in the bearing of his elder +companion. "You had better turn your face downward than upward when you +call for help; for you are more likely to have sympathy, in the present +business, from the powers below than from the powers above. If prayer +is the longing of the heart rather than the speech of the lips--as I +heard the man who was looking in at the window say a year or so ago--you +would have more chance for help by praying to the devil, Mr Ashleigh; +that is, if his infernal majesty should think that any more assistance +to you is needed to buy you." + +"It is evident, captain," retorted Mr Ashleigh, "that you are now in +one of your philosophical moods, as Billy Bowsprit calls them. I cannot +see, however, that, even in the view of our relative positions which you +are now taking, you have any advantage of me. I have long been familiar +with the saying that `the receiver is as bad as the thief;' but I have +never heard, if my memory serves me rightly, that the receiver is worse +than the thief." + +"Nevertheless, I have the advantage of you," quietly answered Captain +Vance. "I do not pretend to be any better than I am; I do not `wear the +livery of heaven to serve the devil in.'" + +"Not in `your vocation, Hal,'" said Mr Ashleigh; "that is, not here, on +shipboard; but at home you are, I am sure, just as much a hypocrite as I +am." + +"There is some pith in that retort," replied Captain Vance, in a +somewhat yielding tone. "Ah! we are all more or less hypocrites, Mr +Ashleigh; as the poet says, `we are all shadows to each other.'" + +"Besides," continued Mr Ashleigh, "nobody in this neighbourhood would +recognise you in that disguise and by this light; whereas, this building +is known to belong to me, and the discovery of the business which is +carried on here would, therefore, ruin me." + +"Pardon the lightness of my manner of speaking," said the young man, in +an earnest tone of voice. "My real reason for speaking so was not on +account of want of concern in your interests, but because there is, in +fact, no danger to you, or to any one of us, in any discovery made by +the individual who just now peeped in upon us." + +"I think that you intimated, a few moments ago," remarked Ashleigh, +"that you know the person who was reconnoitring us. Who is he?" + +"John Alvan Coe," was the answer; "son of old Mr Coe, who owns a +plantation at the head of Saint John's Creek, a few miles from this +place." + +"Then I am lost," exclaimed Ashleigh, in increased alarm. "No man in +this county--I may say in this State--can surpass him in ferreting out a +secret, when once he has obtained a hint of it." + +"I am as familiar with that peculiarity in his character as you are," +remarked Captain Vance. "But I have a plan partly formed in my head, +which, I am almost sure, will not only render him harmless, but will +also add a very brave and intelligent member to my ship's company. I +have but little hope that those who have gone in pursuit of him will +overtake him. He is the fleetest runner that I ever knew; and sailors +make but poor comparative headway on land." + +"What is your plan?" asked Ashleigh. + +"It is not yet perfectly formed," answered Vance. "It is still in the +crucible of the brain; and I cannot tell what shape it will take until +it has come out complete." + +"You had better be in a hurry then," said the elder speaker. "There is +but little time to act; when he has once told what he has witnessed here +to another, the information will spread and spread, and there will be no +stopping it. And then the consequences--ah! `that way madness lies.'" + +"Feel no uneasiness," said Captain Vance, in a tone of perfect +confidence. "He shall take his breakfast on board of the _Falcon_ +to-morrow morning." + +"It is some relief to me to hear you speak so confidently," remarked +Ashleigh. "Still I cannot help fearing that trouble will grow out of +this thing. I wish that my advice in one respect had been followed, and +that we had waited for a few days, until the moon will set before +daylight, so that we might have had an hour or two of absolute darkness +for our work." + +"I have before represented to you," replied Captain Vance, "that we +should have run still greater risk by such a course, perhaps have had +the revenue officer down upon me, while I had all these men on board, +and such a quantity of goods for which I have no bill of lading. What +suspicions would have been aroused by my lingering round here for a week +at least, with no excuse on account of stress of weather for the delay!" + +"Well," observed Ashleigh, with an uneasy sigh, "there is some force in +what you say; and it is too late now to discuss the matter." + +"Oh!" said Vance, in a light and cheerful manner, "there is no need of +sighing, I assure you. This affair of young Coe does not disturb me at +all. It only determines me to do at once what I have often thought of +undertaking. I have no doubt, as I said before, that it will only +result in adding a new and unusually valuable member to our force. He +is remarkably intelligent, and as brave as a lion." + +"I hope that your impressions may prove correct," remarked Ashleigh, in +a manner that still expressed uneasiness. + +At this moment the door was opened from the outside, giving entrance to +a male individual of a somewhat comical appearance. He was rather under +five feet in height, and was what is called "square built," that is, his +form and limbs were very stout, or rather, perhaps, thick; and his waist +was nearly as wide as his shoulders or his hips. His hair was of a +reddish-brown or tawny colour, of exuberant growth, and worn in long, +clustering curls which swept his shoulders. His face was deeply tanned +by sun and weather; and the scar of a sabre-cut above his left eye +caused the eyebrow on that side to be below the line of its fellow. The +eyes were of a reddish hazel colour, and their expression showed that +their possessor had an appreciation of the humorous, but that there was +also "a lurking devil" in his composition. He was dressed in the +ordinary sailor costume of that as well as of the present period, of +blue cloth roundabout, with many small brass buttons, coarse Osnaburg +trowsers, considerably soiled, light pumps, and a tarpaulin hat. + +"Well, Billy," said the captain, "what luck?" + +"No luck at all, as far as I am concerned," was the answer. "A short, +broad-beamed lugger like me has no more chance of overhauling a trim, +well-rigged craft like that long-legged fellow, who has been taking +liberties with our harmless secrets, than a Dutch drogger has to beat +upon a wind a Baltimore clipper." + +Baltimore was even then, the reader will recollect, famed for the +fleetness of her vessels. + +"Where are the other two?" asked Captain Vance. + +"I don't know, indeed, captain," replied Billy. "When I got to the top +of the hill they were all hull down; and I thought that I had better +steer for port before I had lost all my bearings. So here I am. I +think, by-the-bye, that that long-legged fellow will get the +weather-guage of all of them. Do you know his name, captain?" + +Billy was a privileged character with his captain, who, in fact, was +generally more familiar with his men than is usual with officers in +chief command. + +"Yes," answered Captain Vance; "his name is Coe." + +"That's just the very name for him," said the sailor. "I have often +heard that, in the merchant-houses, `Co.' sometimes stands for more than +one man; and I know that this fellow is fully equal to two. Indeed, I +think that he'll prove himself too much for all of us to-night. He runs +like a clipper before the wind." + +The door again opened, and two seamen entered, both dressed in costumes +similar to that of the last-comer before them. One was evidently a +common sailor; the other was a stout, compactly-built man, about five +feet six or seven inches in height, of a swarthy complexion, with dark +and lowering eyes, and a generally stern and forbidding expression of +countenance. His dark hair, somewhat mingled with grey, was, contrary +to the usual sailor fashion, cut closely to his head; but he wore all of +his grizzled, straight, and uncurling beard long. He seemed to be about +forty years of age. + +This man interlarded his talk with many oaths of the rudest character. +I prefer to omit them in reporting his conversation. + +"Well, Mr Afton," said Captain Vance, in a pleasant tone, addressing +this individual, "where is your prisoner?" + +"Prisoner?" was the rough answer, "I once was told of a man who was such +a fool as to undertake to run a race with the moon; but he had a sight +more chance of winning his race than we had of winning ours. We +overtook, in the pursuit, two stupid negroes carrying a load of fish. I +thought that they had probably seen him, and could, therefore, give us +some information with regard to our chase; but though I cut some tough +hickory rods, and they were both well thrashed, we could get nothing out +of them." + +"That was useless, to say the least of it," said the captain, with some +sternness. "Of course, if they had seen him, they would have told you +without having been cruelly beaten." + +Mr Afton indulged himself in a few more oaths, and a heavy frown came +upon his face. The captain seemed to take but little notice, however; +and there was silence for a few moments. This silence was broken by Mr +Afton. + +"If I knew who that spying fellow is, and where he lives, captain," he +said, with more respect in his tones and manner, "I would, with your +consent, take a few of the men, storm the house, capture him, and bring +him aboard." + +"I know the man," replied Captain Vance, "and also where he is to be +found. But there is no need of resorting to the violent means which you +recommend--which, by-the-bye, would destroy our trade here, by making it +unsafe for us to visit this harbour or its neighbourhood any more. I +think that I have a better plan. I know well the character of the man +who was watching us, and since you started in pursuit of him, have +thought of a plan by which I shall have him peaceably on board of the +brig early to-morrow morning, before he shall have an opportunity of +communicating with any one. Trust the matter to me; I feel not the +least doubt of my success. I will speak to you further on the subject +presently." + +From the time that Afton, Billy, and the other sailor had gone in +pursuit of young Coe, the process of removing the bales and boxes of +goods to the cellar had been unremittingly continued. Soon after Billy +Bowsprit's return, Mr Ashleigh had gone down into the cellar again, to +resume the superintendence of the storage of the merchandise. Shortly +after the close of the conversation recorded above, between the captain +and the first-mate, the merchant reascended to the store-room, and +announced that the goods were all safely put away. He was followed by +the sailors who had been engaged in carrying down the packages. + +"Come, boys," said the store-keeper, addressing those who had come with +him out of the cellar; "let us put the slide and the counter back into +their places, and put the store-room again in order. Our night's work +will then be finished. I, for one, shall be glad of it, for I am both +tired and sleepy." + +In a few moments afterwards, and while Captain Vance was holding a +short, whispered conversation with Mr Afton, his first-mate, the doors +and windows of the store-room were made fast. Then the merchant took +his way up the hill to his house, and the seafaring people, all but one, +returned to the brig. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER THREE. + +THE EARLY VISITOR. + + *Teler*. 'Tis a brave venture, our good master Jansen, + And needs a man of pluck to carry it. + *Jansen*. Danger, say you? and mystery to back it! + Say no more, Teler--I'm the man for you.--_Old Drama_. + +Millmont, the residence of Thomas Coe, Esq, on his plantation of the +same name, near the head of Saint John's creek, was a large, two-storey +frame building, with single-storey wings. Each of these wings contained +one room, with an attic above, and was connected with the main building +by a short and narrow passage or entry. In one of these wings was the +chamber of John Alvan Coe. It was a large room, with windows sheltered +by Venetian blinds, and opening almost to the floor. A large yard, +shaded by several old trees, extended from the front of the house and +from the gables of the wings; the garden, in the usual fashion when +attached to plantation houses of that time, was on the fourth side, or +in the rear of the buildings. + +John Alvan Coe not only escaped from his pursuers, but arrived home +before the two negro men who had accompanied him. He at once entered +his room, and in a few moments--having first loaded his pistols and +placed them on a table near the head of his bed, and having seen that +the window-shutters were all made fast--sprung into bed, and was soon +deep in that sound and refreshing sleep which fatigue always assures to +healthy youth. + +About four o'clock, or at the earliest "peep of day," the young man was +aroused from his slumbers by a light, grating noise, made by running a +stick or a finger down along the outside of the Venetian shutters of one +of the windows of his room. He immediately started from his sleep. + +"Who is there?" he exclaimed. + +"Get up, John, and let me in, quickly," said a voice from the outside of +the window. "I have something interesting to tell you." + +"Is that you, Harry Marston?" asked John. "Wait a moment till I get on +some of my clothes." + +In a few minutes the early visitor was admitted into the chamber. It +was, as John had supposed, Henry Marston, the son of a wealthy planter +in the neighbourhood. Being of an adventurous and roving disposition, +he had been unwillingly allowed by his parents, some years before, to +enter upon a seafaring life. He had risen rapidly in his chosen +profession, and was now captain of the _Sea-bird_, a merchant vessel in +which his father owned an interest, and which was engaged in trading +between Baltimore and certain ports in the West Indies and along the +Spanish main. + +Young Marston was tall and handsome. His hair and the slight moustache +which shaded his upper lip were of dark brown hue. His dark, hazel eyes +were expressive, at the first glance, of both gentleness and resolution; +but a second, and more observant look, discovered something more in +them--a something that created uneasiness and a want of trust. Every +movement of his body seemed instinct with grace. His voice was soft and +musical, but it did not at all remind you of the singing of birds or of +the tones of other cheerful and innocent creatures. Still, there was a +peculiar fascination in his speech and manner, which possessed a great +influence over certain natures. The young man was on this occasion +dressed in a handsome suit of black broadcloth. + +"How _are_ you, Harry?" exclaimed John, as soon as his visitor entered +the room. "This is, indeed, a surprise, and a delightful one. When did +you get back home?" + +"Last night," was the answer, "or, rather, I should say this morning, +since it was fully one o'clock when I got home. Everybody was aroused +from sleep by my arrival; and the old folks insisted upon dressing and +coming down to see me at once. All the little ones, too, came out of +their nests to see the long-absent Harry. Thus, it was nearly three +o'clock before I got a chance of retiring to my chamber, by which time +the excitement of seeing so many loved ones banished from me all +weariness and inclination to sleep. And this brings me to the cause of +my so early visit to you." + +"In the delight of seeing you," said John, "I had forgotten that subject +entirely." + +"When I entered my chamber," continued Henry Marston, "I found upon the +floor, directly in front of the door by which I had come in, this +singular and enigmatical card, enclosed in an envelope directed to my +address--`Captain Henry Marston, Blue Oldfields'--the name of my +father's place, you know. Remembering your fondness for adventure--we +are alike in that respect, in truth--I came over here at once, to ask +your assistance in developing the mystery. There is no time for delays, +you see, as to-day is the twenty-first." + +The young sailor handed to his friend a card, on which was written, in +letters imitating print, these words: + + _May 21st, 1817, at 5:12 a.m_. + At the Spout. + _The number is_ *eight*. + Be *Prompt*--*Be True*. + _Forget not the Pass_. "A F E." + +"What do you want to do?" asked John, after reading the words on the +card. "I can make but little meaning out of this." + +"Why, of course," replied Marston, "I want you to go with me to this +rendezvous. I am determined to find out the mystery. You see, there +will be eight there--seven besides myself; at any rate, that is what I +understand the card to mean. If anything be wrong, I can scarcely hope +to contend successfully against seven men. At an hour so early, few +upon whom I could call for help will be about--probably not one at that +lonely place. Yet I am determined, at all hazards, to solve the +mystery. If you think there is too much risk in the affair, John, I +will go by myself." + +"As to that matter," said John, "you know that I don't care about the +risk, as you call it; so that if you are determined to go I will +accompany you. But the affair may be only a joke; and I don't wish to +do anything that will make me the subject of laughter." + +"It may be a joke to try my courage," observed Marston. "In any view of +the case," he continued, after a pause, "I am determined to make the +venture." + +"And I shall accompany you," said John. "The place designated, I +suppose, is the Spout on Saint Leonard's Creek?" + +"Of course it is," was the answer. "There is no other place in this +neighbourhood called the Spout." + +"But my going with you," said John, reflectively, "may be the very cause +of danger to you, since I have received no card of invitation. By the +way, what is that piece of paper on the floor behind you near the door. +Bless my life!" he continued, picking up the paper; "it is addressed to +me, and contains, word for word, a card like the one addressed to you." + +"You will go now, I suppose, unhesitatingly," said Captain Marston. + +"Certainly," was the reply. "But I had better awaken one of the +servants, and leave a message for the family." + +"There is no use in doing that," said Henry. "I left no message at +home. We shall be back, in all probability, by the time they are up. +Have you not a pair of pistols? I remember that we each bought, in +Baltimore, a pair precisely alike, during my last visit home. We should +go well armed, and in that condition, I think, as we are both good +shots, and not at all nervous, that we shall be very nearly, if not +quite, a match for the other six." + +"My pistols," answered young Coe, "are here on the table, and ready for +use. I loaded them immediately on my return from a drum-fishing +excursion last night, on account of an adventure which befell me on my +way home. This card may have something to do with that adventure." + +"Ah! What is that adventure to which you refer!" asked Captain Marston, +with much expression of interest. + +While young Coe was relating to his friend the incidents of the night, +he was also engaged in dressing. During the process of dressing, while +young Coe's eyes were turned for a moment or two away from Marston, the +latter took up the pistols which had been lying upon the table, and +placed them in his pockets, and immediately afterwards put upon the +table in their place another pair of pistols which were precisely +similar in appearance to the former, and which he had withdrawn from +another pair of pockets in his dress. + +"What befell you last night," remarked the captain, when John had +concluded his narrative, "can have nothing to do with the present +affair, because they could not have recognised you under the +circumstances; and, besides, I should not have received a card as well +as you, since I had nothing to do with that adventure." + +"True," replied John. "Yet I may have been recognised; who knows but +that one or more persons of this neighbourhood who knows me are engaged +in this smuggling business, and were there disguised? Moreover, the +card sent to you also may be intended to put me off my guard." + +"If you feel any uneasiness about the matter," said Captain Marston, +"you had better, perhaps, not go. I shall go, however, at all risks." + +"Oh!" exclaimed John, in an easy tone; "my thinking the affair a plot +will not prevent me from trying to discover its meaning. If it be a +trap to catch me, that trap is well set; for what is more apt to draw +one on to adventure than mystery, especially when that mystery is +awaited on by apparent peril? I am determined to solve the riddle, let +it be attended by what danger it may be." + +"Come, then," said the captain, "are you ready? If so, let us go at +once. Time is pressing." + +The two men then left the house, and proceeded to the stable, where John +soon saddled two horses for the ride. Mounting, they rode slowly, for +fear of disturbing the sleep of the household, down a land bordered with +old cherry-trees, which led from the dwelling at Millmont to the public +road at the distance of a few hundred yards; but on gaining this road +their horses were urged to a fast gallop. + +The daylight was now shining broad and bright, although there was nearly +half an hour to sunrise. The sky was softly blue, and clear of clouds, +save a few light and fleecy ones, which sailed slowly along, seemingly +far away in the depths of ether. "A dewy freshness filled the air," +which was cool and bracing, and made sweet by the fragrant breath of +grasses and leaves, and of the humble wild flowers which grew on either +side of the road. + +The stimulating character of the atmosphere, and the elastic motion of +their steeds, stirred the blood of the young men to a more, rapid +circulation, and aroused them to a full enjoyment of the adventure in +which they were engaged. + +"What a strange and inexpressible pleasure there is in danger!" said +John. "There seems to me to be no enjoyment in life, unless there be +obstacles to overcome, and perils to meet." + +"I agree with you," said Captain Marston. "But it requires caution as +well as courage to win for us in the battle of life. Has it occurred to +you that we have not the password to admit us to the rendezvous?" + +"No," replied John. "But what is the use of it? We have received cards +of invitation, and we know the place and hour of meeting." + +"So we do," said Marston; "yet a want of knowledge of this password may +give us inconvenience as well as trouble." + +"Probably," suggested Coe, "the letters `A F E' are the password." + +"But," objected Captain Marston, "perhaps they are only the initials of +it; and in that case, the question arises, what do they stand for? It +is well to be armed against all contingencies." + +"True," consented John. "But I am sure I have no idea what they can +mean. Let me think for a minute or two." + +"Don't you remember," asked Marston, "the English story, which we read +together when we were schoolboys, about a mysterious secret society? +Can you recollect the initials of their password?" + +"Yes," was the ready reply; "they are `O F A--A F O,' which, being +interpreted, mean `One for All, All for One.' Let me see! `A F E.' +All for each. I wonder if that is not the password in this case?" + +"Very probable," assented Marston. "If necessary, let us try it, at all +events." + +This proposition was agreed to. As the distance between Millmont and +the Spout, over a road which traversed, in rapidly succeeding +alternations, fields and forests, hills and plains, was fully nine +miles, the two young men were obliged to put their horses to a tolerably +high speed to reach the place of their destination in time. But little +more conversation passed between them, therefore, until they arrived at +the head of the ravine, down which their road led to the shore of Saint +Leonard's Creek. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER FOUR. + +AT THE SPOUT. + + *Ossario*. Stand, ho! Who are you? + *Antonio*. We are true men, sir. + *Ossario*. True men, give the word--and pass. + _Old Play_. + + *Walter*. Only a pleasant jest, I do assure you. + _The borry Joke_. + +When the two men descended the ravine leading to the shore, the sun was +half an hour above the horizon. Before they left the mouth of the +ravine, they dismounted, at the suggestion of Captain Marston, and +fastened their horses to the drooping branches of a tree which grew by +the side of the road. The animals were, in this situation, out of sight +of the place of rendezvous. The companions having thus made their +horses secure, advanced to the shore. + +The novelist, and even the poet, could find no lovelier locality, ready +created for the scenes of fancied grief and pleasures, than that +contained within lines embracing Saint Leonard's Creek and its immediate +adjuncts. Not only is the stream itself--especially in the fair expanse +near its junction with the river, which is now supposed to lie glowing +and dimpling in the morning sunshines with varying lights and shadows, +before the reader's mental eyes--remarkably beautiful; but all around +it--every bill and dale, every field and grove, every jutting promontory +and retiring cove--partakes of the same character of pre-eminent +loveliness. + +On the southern side of the expanse mentioned is a broad beach of white +sand. From the side of a cliff which towers above this beach flows a +fountain of water, very pure, clear, and cold, and equally abundant at +all seasons of the year. This fountain is known throughout a large +district of surrounding country as the Spout, and is some fifty yards +from the spot where the road, leading down the ravine before-mentioned, +enters upon the sands. + +Just as Captain Marston and John Coe stepped upon the shore, and were +turning to the left hand to seek the fountain, a short and stout man, +about forty years of age, with long, curling locks of reddish-brown +hair, and a face very darkly tanned by sun and breeze, and, probably, by +battle, too--to judge by the marks upon his countenance--presented +himself before them. + +"Stand!" exclaimed this individual, planting himself directly in front +of the two young men, and presenting a cocked pistol in each hand. + +"We'll see about that," said John Coe, sternly, drawing a pistol also. + +But Captain Marston placed a hand upon the arm of the angry young man. + +"Don't be so fast, John," he said. "Don't you see the twinkle in the +fellow's eyes? I am disposed to believe that this is but a jest after +all. What do you want?" he continued, addressing the sailor. + +"No one can go beyond this spot," answered the stranger, "without giving +the password." + +"A F E?" said Captain Marston, interrogatively. + +"There seems to be something in that," remarked the sailor; "but it will +not answer." + +"How will this answer?" asked the captain. "`All for Each?'" + +"All right," was the reply; "pass, gentlemen." + +As the two young men walked forward, they were followed by the sailor, +who still held the two pistols in his hands. + +On arriving in front of the Spout, they found a beautiful row-boat, the +bow of which just touched the shore. It was manned by four sturdy +seamen, whose hands rested upon their oars, which were ready placed in +their rowlocks. A boy, apparently between fifteen and sixteen years of +age, in straw hat and light blue trousers and jacket, occupied the stern +seat. This last-mentioned person was remarkably handsome; his face was +beautifully oval in its shape; its complexion was a pale brunette (if I +may use the phrase), there being in it no tinge of red. His form was +slender and graceful; his large, soft black eyes had a thoughtful, or +rather a dreamy expression, and masses of jet-black curls hung down +below his shoulders. + +"Jump aboard, gentlemen," said the sailor in fancy dress; "the time is +fully arrived, and we shall be expected as soon as we can make the +distance. If we don't go at once, somebody will be disappointed." + +"A moment, if you please, sir," said John, in a sarcastic tone and +manner, and with a darkening expression of face. "May I claim the +honour of knowing your name?" + +"Certainly, sir," was the answer, accompanied by a mock-ceremonious bow, +which did not tend to cool the rising wrath of young Coe. "My name is +William Brown, better known as Billy Bowsprit. This latter name may +seem, unaccompanied by a proper explanation, to derogate from the +dignity of the fair position which I occupy in maritime society, and +with which, by-the-bye, I will presently make you acquainted. But it +originated in what was, in fact, a compliment to my wit and my other +good qualities. A highly intelligent gentleman, of French +inclinations--having probably been born of such a disposition, seeing +that he was a native of Paris--once did me the honour, on account of +some slight jocular remark which fell from me in a social hour, of +saying that I was a _beau esprit_. The rude, unlettered sailors," he +waved a hand towards those in the row-boat, "have, in their ignorance, +manufactured out of this compliment the absurd name of Bowsprit. I +submit to the _soubriquet_, partly because those who use it do not know +any better, but mainly because it intimates a just compliment, seeing +that, as the bowsprit is in advance of the ship, so do I take the lead +of all on shipboard in all affairs where either sagacity or boldness is +required." + +"Well, Mr Brown," began young Coe-- + +"Allow me, if you please, sir," said Bowsprit, interrupting him, and +making at the same time a low and apologetic bow; "I have not yet +finished the catalogue of myself, a desire to become acquainted with +which was intimated in your polite and very flattering inquiry. Permit +me to add, to what I have already said, that I fill the honourable post +of first-mate on board of as beautiful a little craft as eye was ever +blessed with seeing." + +The reader will, perhaps, be surprised at the great apparent improvement +in the language of Billy Bowsprit since his first introduction in the +second chapter. The fact is, that individual had received what is +called a good ordinary education, and prided himself upon his ability to +talk in either good English, or in what he styled "sailors' lingo." + +"Well, Mr Brown, better known as Billy Bowsprit," said John Coe, in a +tone of voice expressive of both anger and resolution, as soon as the +voluble sailor gave him an opportunity of speaking, "I wish you to know +that I do not allow myself to be dealt with in this summary manner. I +shall return home, and any man who interferes with me will do so at his +imminent peril." + +Saying this, he drew both of his pistols, setting the hammers with his +thumbs in the act of drawing them from his pockets. + +Billy Bowsprit raised the pistol which was in his right hand, and was +about to pull the trigger, when at a slight and rapid sign from Captain +Marston, who stood a little in the rear of young Coe, he suddenly +pointed the muzzles of both pistols towards the ground. At the same +moment the captain drew both of his pistols also, and placed himself by +the side of John. + +"Come," he said, addressing Billy Bowsprit in a really stern voice, "if +this is a jest--as I think it is--we have had enough of it. Tell us +what you want, and what the whole of this singular affair means." + +"Why, sir," replied the seaman, in a somewhat crestfallen tone, "no harm +has been meant to either of you all the while; and if this young +gentleman," looking at John, "hadn't been quite so fiery, everything +would have been explained to you some time ago. The fact is, my captain +is an old acquaintance of both of you; he hasn't seen either of you for +years, and so is very anxious to see you both, if only for a short time. +He wants you to come and take breakfast with him this morning. He had +business with the schooner up the river here as far as Benedict, to land +a cargo of goods. He has to get to Baltimore as soon as possible, but +was determined to see you both first. So he landed me early yesterday +morning, on this side of the river, opposite Benedict, to carry a +message to you. But not knowing the latitude and longitude of that part +of the country, I was obliged to take bearings and to make observations +so often, that I did not arrive in your neighbourhood till after +midnight; and I did not of course like to waken up families who were +strangers to me at such a time of night. The notion about the cards was +one of my own--a kind of experiment. I know how much curiosity there is +in the world; and I felt certain, therefore, of seeing you two gentlemen +here this morning." + +"Thank you for the compliment, Mr Bowlegs--I beg your pardon-- +Bowsprit," said the captain. "You seem to be somewhat of a philosopher; +you carry out a plan with so much coolness, so much self-possession, +beings always on your guard neither to act nor to speak hastily or +unadvisedly." + +There was evidently sarcasm, if not irony, in the captain's remarks. + +The sailor bowed merely; he seemed to be, to use a common expression, +"struck dumb." + +Young Coe laughed heartily. Yet he must doubtless have felt somewhat +abashed at the conviction that Marston's course of treating the affair +as a farce was decidedly more successful than his own, of viewing it as +a melodrama. + +There was silence for a minute or two, during which all the pistols +which had been drawn were put out of sight. At length the stillness was +broken by a question from John. + +"How did you manage to get your card or note into my room?" he asked of +the sailor. + +"Allow me to keep that secret to myself," answered Billy Bowsprit, with +a smile, holding out in his hand at the same time, however, several +skeleton keys. "But you are not to suppose, Mr Coe, that these keys +show that I have any bad habits; I have never used them except in such +innocent ventures as the present." + +John took the skeleton keys in his hand; he had never seen such +instruments before. + +"I don't think," he remarked, returning the keys, "that any one of those +could possibly unlock my outer door." + +"One must understand the use of them," replied Billy Bowsprit. "I have +others, however." + +"How did you so readily make your way to this point!" asked Captain +Marston of Billy Bowsprit. + +"Why, sir," was the reply, "I have been over this road before, many +years ago now. On that occasion, I was for a short time at the houses +of both your father and Mr Coe. I came here because this was the place +where this boat here was to meet you two gentlemen and myself." + +"Who is this friend of ours who wants to see us, Mr Bowsprit--I mean +Mr Brown?" asked John. + +"I beg your pardon, sir," was the answer. "My captain particularly +ordered me not to tell you; he wanted, he said, to give you a pleasant +surprise." + +"What do you say, John?" asked Captain Marston. "Shall we accept the +invitation of this unknown friend?" + +"If we knew what to do with our horses," said John, "and I could get a +note home to tell them what has become of me, I should say `yes' at +once." + +"If that is all that is in the way, gentlemen," said Mr Brown, _alias_ +Bowsprit, "get your notes ready at once. Here, Tom," he continued, +addressing the youth who was sitting on the stern seat of the row-boat, +"do you knew the way to Millmont and to Blue Oldfields?" + +"If I don't, I can inquire for it, sir," answered the boy. + +"Then, as soon as you get the notes which these gentlemen want you to +deliver at their houses," said Bowsprit, "take their horses, which you +will find just behind those trees, _there_," pointing, "where the road +corners with the shore; and as soon as you can do so, deliver notes and +horses to their proper addresses. You will then walk down to Drum +Point, where we shall be by that time, and we will there take you +aboard." + +"Ay, ay, sir," said the boy. + +While these directions were being given, Captain Marston had drawn a +note-book and a couple of lead-pencils from his pocket. Tearing a blank +leaf from the book, he handed that and one of the pencils to John. +Using their hats as writing-desks, the two young men soon finished their +notes and handed them to the boy, who immediately started on his +mission. + +The four men in the boat had been merely lookers-on and listeners in +respect to what had been taking place on the shore. + +When the boy took his departure, Captain Marston, John Coe, and Billy +Bowsprit leaped into the boat. + +"Will you steer, Captain Marston, if you please?" asked Bowsprit. + +"With pleasure," answered the captain. "Then, if Mr Coe will take his +seat with you at the stern," said the sailor, "I will take my place at +the bow, and act as lookout." + +The seats were taken, and the boat having been driven from the shore by +one or two backward strokes of the oars, her head was turned down the +creek. The supple rowers bending "with a will" to the elastic blades, +the light craft fleetly bounded on her course over the glowing tide of +Saint Leonard's, towards the broad Clearwater, which lay before them in +the morning sunshine as ever bright and beautiful. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER FIVE. + +ON BOARD THE SCHOONER. + + *Sebastian*. How are you, friends? + I'm very glad to see you. + _As You Will_. + + *Toby*. Who are these men, sir? + *Wily Will*. They're travellers only. + _The Masquerade_. + +The row-boats, carrying John, Captain Harry Marston, Billy Bowsprit, and +the four seamen, leaving the mouth of Saint Leonard's Creek, entered +upon that largest and fairest of the several lake-like expanses of the +Clearwater--being six miles in length and three in width--which lies +between Point Patience on the south-east, and Solitary Point on the +north-west. + +On gaining an offing sufficient to give the occupants of the boat a view +commanding the whole expanse, only one vessel was in sight. This was a +graceful little schooner, of about thirty tons burden, which lay at +anchor on a part of the river called the Flats, situate on the eastern +side of the stream; she was in a position south-east of Otter Point, +directly in front of Hungerford's Creek, and about a mile and a half +from Point Patience. An easy row of three-quarters of an hour over the +crystal-like waters, which were but slightly stirred by a slight wind, +brought the boat from the Spout alongside of this schooner. + +A vessel so small required no steps to ascend her sides, and the +occupants of the row-boat soon leaped upon the deck. They were there +met by a young man about five feet and a half in height, with blue eyes, +light flaxen hair, and cheeks which, originally fair, were somewhat +tanned by exposure to sun, wind, and weather. He was dressed in +roundabout and pantaloons of light blue cloth, pumps, and light straw +hat. + +"How are you, John? how are you, Harry?" he exclaimed, shaking hands +with Coe and Marston, with much appearance of cordiality. "I am very +glad to see you. I hope that you are not offended with the _ruse_ which +I used to bring you to see me for a short time? I feared that, if you +knew who it was, you would not take the trouble to come to see me." + +Both of the young men assured him that a _ruse_ was not at all +necessary; it was nearly preventing them from coming, and that, had they +only known at once that it was their old school-friend, George Dempster, +who wanted to see them, there would have been no hesitation on their +part in coming to visit him. + +John Coe was much surprised at finding George Dempster--who had been his +classmate at Princeton, and who was the oldest son of a planter in good +circumstances on the eastern shore of Maryland--occupying the position +of skipper of a small bay-craft; politeness, however, prevented him from +making any allusion to what seemed to him so singular. + +Captain Dempster--to give him the title generally bestowed in courtesy +upon the commander of the smallest trading craft, on the Chesapeake Bay, +at least--invited his old friends to come at once into his cabin. + +Here a mahogany table was handsomely set out, being spread with a fine +linen diaper cloth, and being covered with a porcelain breakfast-set. +Cushioned mahogany seats for four surrounded the table. + +The steward--or he who in a vessel so small generally performs the +duties of both that officer and of cook--had apparently already received +his orders, for scarcely had the captain, his mate, and his two friends +entered the cabin, when breakfast was placed on the table. Fragrant +coffee, light rolls, fresh butter, ham and eggs, fried crocuses and soft +crabs, formed the repast. + +"You may think it strange, my friends," said Captain Dempster, while the +party of four were partaking of the meal, for which the bracing morning +air and their early ride and row had given my hero and Captain Marston +keen appetites, "that you find me in this position. The matter is +easily explained, however. It is due to a compromise, agreed to by my +father and myself, between my extreme views in favour of a life on the +ocean and his extreme views in favour of a life for me on the land. +Thus I can indulge, to a limited extent, my preference for a seafaring +life, and he can enjoy what he honours me by calling the pleasure of +seeing me frequently. I confess that I would much prefer a life on the +open sea; but one must not be disobedient to an affectionate and +generally indulgent father." + +While the three friends--Mr Bowsprit had left the table, as soon as his +appetite was satisfied, to attend to duties upon deck--sat over their +claret, talking of "old days," as, even when young, we fondly call them, +hours sped on. In the meantime the anchor had been secured on board, +the sails hoisted, and the vessel had laid her course down the river, +impelled by a light wind from the west. Point Patience was soon +rounded, and in two hours and a half or three hours from the time of +leaving her anchorage, the schooner had passed down the lowest reach of +Clearwater, and had rounded to at the extreme end of Drum Point, to take +on board the lad who had been sent to deliver the horses and notes of +John Alvan Coe and Captain Marston to their respective homes. The boy +made excellent speed, and was waiting at the place of rendezvous when +the schooner was still some miles from the Point. + +"Why, Dempster," said young Coe, seeing that they had passed Drum Point +Harbour, "you are not going out upon the bay, are you?" + +"I have to take off a load of cord-wood," was the answer, "from the +shore near the old Eltonhead Manor House, this side of Cove Point. We +shall there be but little farther from your home than here at Drum +Point; and I want to see all that I can of both of you. But think, Coe, +of my carrying a load of fire-wood to Baltimore! + +"`To what base uses we may come, Horatio.'" + +"But how are Marston and myself to get home this evening?" asked John. + +"Oh! as to that matter," was the answer, "I can borrow horses from Mr +Chew, whose house is but a few miles from Eltonhead; and the boy Tom, +who took your horses home this morning, can go with you, and bring back +the animals. But I hope that you will not return until the morning. +Let me spend at least one evening with you." + +"What do you say, Marston?" asked John, who was enjoying the society of +his friends very much. "I have not seen that lonely old Eltonhead house +since I was a schoolboy, and I should like to see it again, especially +if we could visit it `by the glimpses of the moon' to-night, since it +has now, and has had for some time, I believe, the reputation of being +haunted. I hardly think that they would feel uneasy at home on account +of my continued absence, as I merely said in my note that I was going to +visit a friend on board of his vessel." + +"If you are agreed, let us stay," replied Marston. "I should like to +revisit the old house myself, especially as you say, to + + "`Visit it by the pale moonlight.'" + +"And, if you gentlemen desire it," said Captain Dempster, "I will have +some hammocks swung this evening in the old manor house. We will pass +the night there, and will thus--to take a liberty with Sir Walter +Scott's verse--dare + + "`To brave the witches in their den, + The spirits in their hall.'" + +This proposition being very agreeable to both Coe and Marston, they +consented to continue as Captain Dempster's guests until the morning. + +The three young men remained upon deck to enjoy the glorious day and the +beautiful and rapidly shifting scenes presented to their view, as the +schooner skirted, within a few hundred yards of the beach, the northern +shore of Patuxent Roads--a sheet of water which is, in fact (as I have +before mentioned, I think), a gulf or widening of the Chesapeake Bay at +the mouth of the Clearwater river. While the three friends were gaily +chatting, inspired by the cheering influence of their surroundings, Mr +Bowsprit walked up to the commander of the craft. + +"Captain Dempster," he said, "I think those sailors in the hold and +forecastle will be getting into a state of mutiny soon, if we don't let +them come out upon deck. They say that their quarters are too close." + +"Tell them," replied the skipper, "they can come up as soon as they +please; we are now fairly out of the Clearwater--at least, out of sight +of Drum Point Harbour." + +The sheet of water called Patuxent Roads is by some considered to be a +part of the Clearwater river. + +"These men of whom Mr Brown speaks," continued Captain Dempster, +addressing his two friends, "are some newly-discharged United States +seamen, whom I am taking to Baltimore. I had a load of freight to carry +from Baltimore to Portsmouth. At the latter place these men applied to +me for passage to the former city. I told them that I had freight to +take from Portsmouth to Benedict, and then a load of wood to carry to +Baltimore. As they did not care much for the delay, I bargained to take +them to Baltimore, and to charge them only for what their board while on +the schooner might be worth, on condition that they would help us to +load and to unload. I did not wish so many men to be seen on board of +my craft while in the river, since such an incident would probably +subject me to the delay of a search by the revenue officer, who, having +but very little to do, naturally wishes to make the most of his office." + +About thirty rough, sunburnt and weather-beaten men now came upon the +deck. Among them was almost every variety of dress which nautical +fashions then allowed; but the cloth roundabouts and tarpaulin hats +prevailed. They kept away from the after-part of the deck, gathering in +groups amidships and towards the bow. They seemed to be in fine +spirits, as frequent bursts of somewhat subdued laughter came from the +different groups. Little did young Coe think that he was the subject of +their merriment. + +It was scarcely half an hour after these men came upon deck when the +schooner anchored about fifty yards from the beach, at a point where +long ranks of pine and oak cord-wood were ranged along the edge of the +cliff, which was here but from twenty to twenty-five feet high. A large +flatboat, oblong in shape, and of the kind commonly called "scow," was +lying on rollers far up on the beach and close under the cliff. + +As soon as the anchor was dropped overboard and the sails lowered and +secured, the row-boat--which had been hanging from the davits at the +stern of the schooner since the lad had been taken aboard at Drum +Point--was forthwith let down into the water. It had to make three +trips from the schooner to the shore before the unusually large number +of hands were all landed. Then the scow was at once pushed into the +water. Some of the seamen soon ascended the cliff by a small ravine +near at hand; and the work of throwing down the wood to the beach, +pitching it to the water's edge, and piling it into the scow was at once +commenced. + +Our hero and his two friends passed the rest of the day, to all +appearances, very pleasantly together; there was so much to say to each +other of what young people call, queerly enough, "old times," so much +that each had to tell to the others of what had occurred to himself +since their last meeting. About an hour after the schooner came to +anchor they took their dinner--which comprised "all the luxuries of the +season"--in the elegant little cabin. Mr Bowsprit was present at this +meal, and added to the enjoyment of it by his unique and pleasant +sallies. This joyous individual was with them only at dinner; his duty +required him to attend to the loading of the vessel. The dinner of the +hands, by the way, was sent ashore to them, and eaten under the shade of +the trees upon the cliff. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER SIX. + +AT THE OLD MANOR HOUSE. + + A prisoner, didst thou say? O, gracious heaven! + Have mercy on my parents and my friends, + And for uncertainty let them not too long suffer! + Oh speedily set me free!--_Anon_. + + *Cyrus*. Who art thou, fair and gentle princess? + *Myranda*. Knight, + I am, alas! unfortunate; but yet + I wish thee well, and fain would do thee service. + _Romance of Sir Cyrus_. + + I will not do it, lady; speak no more. + _The Tempted_. + +About half an hour after the dinner was concluded, the three young +friends were taken ashore in the jolly-boat. Leaving the beach, they +pursued a path through a dense forest for about half a mile, when they +came into a small opening in the woods, in the centre of which stood the +old brick building known as Eltonhead Manor House, surrounded by its +out-houses, all of brick. The opening in which this old-time mansion +stood had evidently been in former days much more extensive, for among +the small pine-trees covering the ground in the part of the forest +nearest to the old house, the earth still distinctly bore the impress of +corn-rows the marks of former cultivation of that species of grain first +obtained from the red man. + +Desolation marked the spot. The yard and garden walls were broken down +in many places; the gate at the end of the short avenue had fallen and +now lay in ruins. The shade trees in the yard and avenue needed +pruning; scions from their roots had sprang up in all directions. Even +at this early season weeds spread over the yard and garden, and closed +the gateways; yet the building itself was in comparatively good +preservation. + +It was not by any means such a mansion as in Great Britain would be +suggested to the mind by the title of manor house. It was built of +bricks imported from England, and the walls were of such thickness that, +though time had, in passing over them, stamped his impress upon them in +weather-stains and moss and lichen, they stood, apparently, as firm as +when first erected. The house, was two stories high; on the floor of +the first storey, a wide hall passing through the centre of the +buildings with two very large rooms on each side of it. The second +storey, and the attic to some extent, corresponded to the first; a broad +staircase led upwards from the hall on the ground floor. Some pieces of +old and almost worn-out furniture remained in the building, one or two +heavy old tables, and a dozen or so huge and very old-fashioned oaken +chairs. In one of the rooms downstairs were two or three rude settees +or benches, left by some tenant who had used the premises since they had +been deserted by their proper occupants. + +During the afternoon Captain Dempster and his guests rambled through the +woods and along the bay shore. When they had concluded their ramble and +returned to the old manor house, the shades of twilight were gathering. +They found that three hammocks, intended for their night's rest, had +been swung in one of the large rooms of the second storey, and in +another room on the same floor, a plentiful and well-lighted board was +spread for supper. On a chair beside the supper table was an open +hamper of champagne, beside which was a pack of playing cards. The +intention of Captain Dempster was declared by himself to be to pass the +evening at whist, admitting Mr Brown, _alias_ Billy Bowsprit, to +complete the necessary party of four; the game to be enlivened by an +occasional glass of wine. No game of whist was played that evening, +however. John Coe, after he had finished his supper and taken one or +two glasses of champagne, was obliged to plead overwhelming drowsiness, +which he attributed to the interesting character and unusual excitement +of the day. + +Although early in going to bed, yet it was late in the morning when the +young man awoke. On looking around him he found that the other hammocks +in the room were vacant. + +Springing out of bed he hurried to the door; it was locked. The windows +were all down. On throwing open the sash of one of them and looking +out, he saw a man with a musket on his shoulder, who was promenading to +and fro in the yard below, and keeping an eye on the windows of his +room. It seemed, then, that he was guarded as if a prisoner. He called +out to the man who was apparently keeping watch in the court below. + +"What do you want?" asked the guard. + +"Where are Captain Dempster and Captain Marston?" exclaimed John. + +"I don't know of whom you are talking," answered the guard. "I only +know that Captain Vance and Lieutenant Seacome took supper with you last +night, after which you got drunk, and had to be put to bed; and that +Captain Vance--my captain--said that you were on no account to leave the +house. That is all I know about the matter, sir." + +"I was not drunk," said young Coe. "I took but two glasses of wine +after supper. There must be some mistake somewhere. The gentlemen with +whom I supped last night are two of my oldest friends. I never dreamed +that they were capable, nor can I yet believe that they are, of +treachery towards me." + +"I don't understand what you are talking about," said the man with the +musket. "I only know that our orders are not only to keep you within +this house, but not to let any one come near enough to the house to hear +a human voice from it, even when raised to its highest pitch. We are +also ordered, if you make a very loud call, to shoot you at once. We +have nearly thirty men here; guards are placed all round the building, +and scouts are spread through the country for a mile round. My own +impression is, Mr Coe (that is your name I believe)--but it is, after +all, only my opinion, mind you--that you are a very close prisoner. +Moreover, I believe that I am authorised in saying to you that you are a +prisoner to men from whom no one ever escaped alive. So, close your +window, and make the best of your situation." + +John left the window, and walked to the door, which he found locked. + +On turning his face from the door he noticed, for the first time, in his +astonishment at his situation, that a table was already neatly spread, +near the middle of the room, with a clean, white damask table cloth, +upon which a handsome breakfast-set of china-ware was arranged, with +chairs, plates, knives and forks, cups and saucers, for two; but no +viands were yet set out upon the board. + +The sight of the table so spread, creating in him a fear of being +surprised by the entrance of a visitant before his toilet was completed, +caused him to hurry on his dress. He found a pair of pistols in his +pockets; they seemed to be his own, but on examining them closely, he +found not the private mark which he had placed on each of them, soon +after they were purchased, to distinguish them from Henry Marston's. It +was evident that the re-exchange of pistols, by which his own should +have been returned to him, had either been overlooked, or intentionally +avoided by his captors the night before. + +Scarcely had his hasty toilet been completed, for which he had found in +the room water, towels and soap, looking-glass, combs, brushes, shaving +instruments, and even scented oils and waters--when the door opened, and +two of the seamen came in, bringing the covers for breakfast. They +placed upon the table the dishes which they carried, and then +immediately retired, taking with them the three hammocks, and removing +all vestiges of the room having been slept in. + +Shortly after they retired, two or three light taps were given at the +door, and a soft and musical female voice was heard asking permission to +enter. + +"Enter if you can," he said. + +The door was opened again, and what seemed to be a vision of loveliness +entered. This vision was a lady, rather above than under the ordinary +height, with a form as graceful as imagination can conceive. Her face +was oval in shape, her complexion was very pure olive, beautifully +tinged with rose. Her features were neither perfectly Grecian nor +perfectly Roman, but of a style where the two were equally and +beautifully blended. Her eyes were of jet-black, and of wonderful +brightness, and her hair, of raven hue, was confined by a circlet of +large pearls, with a single brilliant just above the forehead, and fell, +in heavy and tastefully-arranged masses of curls, all round her head, to +below her shoulders. Her dress was of rich black silk, elegantly fitted +to her shape, and ornamented, on the flounces of the skirt and above the +elbows of the loose sleeves, with thick and glossy fringes of the same +hue and material as the dress. Light golden bracelets, ornamented each +with pearls and a single diamond, encircled her wrists. As she advanced +into the room, her very small and well-shaped feet--covered with a pair +of light, black satin slippers, with high heels, and festooned with +light gold buckles, flashing with tiny jewels--peeped in and out from +under the sweeping folds of her skirt. + +This lady advanced gracefully to the head of the table, making an +elegant courtesy to the astonished John, and inviting him, by a polite +motion of the head, to take a seat. + +"A pleasant morning to you, Mr Coe," she said. + +"I should thank you for your good wish," answered the young man; "but, +lady, I am a prisoner, I am informed. I have, it seems, been betrayed +by those whom I thought my friends. Oh, madam! of all the pains in the +world, the greatest is that which is caused by having been betrayed by +those in whom we had unlimited faith." + +"There are cases in which that which seems to be treason is friendship +in disguise. It was no wish to do you injury which caused you to be +taken prisoner; but your friends wished to have you always with them. +Had harm been intended towards you, I should not have been left here; it +was thought that I might devise ways of making captivity more bearable +to you. I fear that this opinion only flattered me." + +John was young, and therefore impressible; he could but feel the spell +of so dazzling a presence. What could he do but make such answer as the +lady had sought to obtain? + +"So much beauty, madam," he said with _empressement_, "has power to +lessen the pain of the most wretched captivity." + +"You are improving vastly," said the lady, with a bright and fascinating +smile. "We shall, I see, be very good friends, indeed. But the fact +that we shall have to pass nearly, if not quite two weeks together, +requires that you should have for me some less formal title than +`madam.' Call me, hereafter, Ada." + +"You still leave me in doubt, madam. I cannot take the liberty of +addressing you familiarly by your Christian name." + +The lady seemed for a moment to be in thought. "Know me then," she at +length said, "as Miss Ada Revere." + +"Your face is strangely familiar to me," said John. + +"You saw me yesterday morning," answered the lady, with a sad smile, "at +the Spout on Saint Leonard's Creek. You remember the lad who took +charge of your and Captain Marston's notes and horses?" + +Young Coe's countenance expressed much surprise and interest. But Miss +Revere gave him no opportunity to speak. + +"But I have known you much longer ago than that," she continued, after +making but little pause--"long before either of us knew that there was +evil or deceit in the world. I may, perhaps, by-and-bye tell you my sad +history,"--an expression of intense pain passed over the beautiful +face--"this is no time for such a narrative. Your own position requires +consideration and action; and our first thoughts must be given to that." + +"Can you explain to me," asked John, "why I was captured, and why I am +held as a prisoner?" + +"Yes," answered the lady; "and I am authorised to give you the +information which you ask. I was not at the store at Drum Point the +night before last, when you were seen by Captain Vance to look in at the +window while certain goods were being conveyed to their secret +depository; but I know all that took place. Ruin to Mr Ashleigh, and +great injury to all connected with the brig would have been the certain +result of your making publicly known what you had discovered. The first +thought was to pursue and capture you at once; and the attempt to do so +was made. That attempt was, as you know, a failure. The proposition +was then made, as you were known to more than one of the brig's company, +to seize you at once at your father's house. This proposition was made +by one whom I hate, a man the enormity of whose villainy I have no words +to express; I have no doubt that, had his proposal been acceded to, you +would have been killed instead of captured. Captain Marston saved you +from such a fate; he thought you might be enticed from your home, and +even induced to join the ship's company. He has a great affection for +you, as an old schoolmate and friend; he has told me, with his own lips, +that there is no living man for whom he has greater regard than for +yourself." + +"I do not, without much painful feeling, oppose a lady's views," said +our hero, "and yours seem to agree with those of Captain Marston; but it +would not be fair in me to allow you to entertain opinions so incorrect +as are Captain Marston's respecting my character. True, I have been +made a prisoner in the manner in which he had thought that I could be +captured; so far his views were correct. But he does not understand my +character entirely: I can be led--alas! too easily--even perhaps, to do +what my moral sense disapproves of; but I cannot be driven. Had I been +attacked in my father's house by open force, I do not think that I +should have been captured; I had arms at hand, and should have resisted +to the death. My father is himself a strong, sensible, and brave man; +the negroes would have fought for both. We might, at least, have held +out until the neighbourhood could have been aroused; and the result, +instead of being disastrous to me, might have been ruinous to the +assailants. As to Captain Marston's impression that I might be induced +to join a ship's company, or any other company, engaged in illicit +trade--especially without my father's consent--such a notion proves that +he understands, and but to a small extent, only the outride of my +character; while my inner and real life is to him a thoroughly sealed +book." + +The lady reflected for some moments. She hardly knew how to act with +the case before her. She saw clearly that he felt the power of her +beauty; but that beauty, she began to think, would have no influence to +change his opinions. She had been placed in the position in which we +find her for the purpose of inducing young Coe to join the company of +the brig; she was authorised to offer him a new office in that company +which was to be created especially for him, that of commander of a kind +of marine corps, to be organised especially on his account, and the +chief officer of which organisation, should he become popular with his +men, might have the power to defy the authority of the captain of the +brig himself, or even to supersede him. + +Miss Ada Revere, as she called herself, determined, after some +reflection, to pursue the subject no further for the present. + +"We shall be prisoners in this house, Mr Coe," she added, after a few +moments' silence, "for some weeks, while the _Sea-bird_ is discharging +and receiving freight, and perhaps undergoing some necessary repairs. +In the meantime, it will be my duty to use my best efforts to make your +captivity bearable. We have the materials here for chess, draughts, and +backgammon. I sing a little, and also play upon several musical +instruments; but only one instrument of the kind is here--a guitar. +Should you wish to take a glass of wine, there are specimens of several +vintages at hand. And believe, at any rate, that, whatever may happen, +I am entirely your friend." + +The lady was evidently in earnest in this last declaration. John made a +proper acknowledgment; and in a few moments the two were engaged in a +game of chess. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER SEVEN. + +ON BOARD THE BRIG--THE CHALLENGE. + + *Othario*. Remove the prisoner; the foe is near. + _The Sea Witch_. + + He manned himself with dauntless air, + Returned the chief his haughty stare. + * * * * * + Come one, come all! + * * * * * + Fear nought--nay, that I need not say-- + But doubt not aught from mine array. + Thou art my guest. + _Lady of the Lake_. + +More than a week passed, and still John Coe was a prisoner at the old +manor house. No chance of escape presented itself; and neither offers +of money nor threats affected his guards. Yet, but for the name of +captivity, and the thought of what might be in store for him in the +future, his time would have passed pleasantly. Miss Ada Revere--as the +lady chose to call herself--exerted all her talents and accomplishments +to cause his time to pass agreeably. Games at chess and cards, books of +poetry and romance, music of the guitar, and songs sung with charming +taste, and accompanied by that fascinating instrument, varied her day +and evening entertainments for the prisoner. + +As great as was the interest which he felt in her who made his captivity +pleasant, and as much aroused, therefore, as was his curiosity to know +what was meant by her declaration that he and she had known each other +in earlier days, he could not induce her to tell him to what she +referred; he could only obtain from her the promise that she would at +some future time make him acquainted with her history. + +Miss Ada Revere had been commissioned by those who held John in +captivity, not only to make his imprisonment more bearable, but also to +endeavour to persuade him to join Captain Vance's band. In the former +task the reader has seen that she was successful; but the latter seemed +to her to be so hopeless, that she did not even attempt it; she +contented herself by persuading him to yield so far to circumstances as +to pretend to be inclined to join them, that he might by such means have +some chance of securing an opportunity to escape. The violent +indignation--to call the feeling by a mild name--which young Coe +entertained against his pretended friends, Marston and Dempster, he made +no secret of to the lady; but the earnest desire which he cherished to +have each of them before him at the pistol's mouth, or at the sword's +point, he kept to himself. + +Some ten or twelve days after that upon which young Coe had been so +skilfully allured to imprisonment at the old manor house, the brig +_Sea-bird_ Captain Henry Marston, dropped anchor off the Eltonhead +landing. She had needed no repairs, and her unlading and relading in +Baltimore had been executed with the greatest despatch. + +Without resistance John allowed himself to be taken from the manor house +on board the brig. Where opposition would have been certainly +unavailing, the attempt to make it would have been only a compromise of +his dignity. + +As the moon was in its first quarter, that orb had long since set when +the long-boat and jolly-boat belonging to the brig returned from the +shore to the vessel, both heavily laden with the men who had been left +at the manor house--those in the smaller boat having young Coe among +them as prisoner. A single lantern, held by one of the seamen at the +gangway, showed but a dim outline of the deck and rigging of the brig, +as those newly arrived climbed her sides. John had but a short time to +make observations, as he was at once hurried down into the after-cabin, +and through that into a small and neat state-room forward of it. He +parted with Miss Ada Revere immediately on gaining the deck. There was +much expression of pain and uneasiness in the face of the mysterious +young girl when she shook hands, on parting with the prisoner at the +gangway, and whispered to him "Be firm and hopeful, and do not give way +to anger, however just." + +When all had embarked, the boats were secured on deck, the anchor +lifted, the sails hoisted, and the brig, impelled by a fair and light +but freshening breeze from the north, sped on her course over the broad, +bold waters of the Chesapeake towards the wide Atlantic. + +When a bright and cloudless morning, near the middle of June, arose in +beauty over the wide and flashing expanse of the lower Chesapeake, Old +Point Comfort lay in sight, but far away on the starboard-bow. A number +of bay-craft, and a few sea-going vessels were scattered here and there, +at points nearer or more distant, over the bright surface. The smoke of +no steamer was seen; such vessels were at that period very rare, not +only on the waters of the Chesapeake, but over the whole world. + +At this time, John was confined to his state-room; he had risen and +dressed, but, on trying the door of his room, had found it locked. None +of the seamen, either, except those consisting of the watch, were +allowed to come upon deck while the brig was in such confined waters; +such a large number of hands being seen would not comport with the +_Sea-bird's_ character of a peaceful merchant vessel. + +The wind continuing to blow fair, although still somewhat light, the +afternoon had advanced but two or three hours when the brig had passed +out between the capes and was at sea, and entirely out of sight of land. +All were now allowed to come upon deck, John among them, to find upon +the quarter-deck Captains Marston and Dempster. Near to them stood Mr +Bowsprit, Mr Afton, and Ada Revere--the latter wearing her sailor-boy +dress. The rest of the crew were mostly on the deck amidships; some few +were in the bows, and a group was gathered but a little forward of the +quarter-deck. + +"Well, John," said Captain Marston, "I hope that you have made up your +mind to join us. I can offer you a respectable position. We have very +nearly fifty men, all told. I shall form thirty of these into a company +of marines, and offer you the post of commander of this newly-made +corps. But, before I proceed any farther, let me introduce you to some +of your new shipmates. This old friend of ours, whom you know now, I +suppose, as my first-mate, Mr Dempster, becomes my first lieutenant, +Mr Seacome, when we enter the tropics; at the same time your humble +servant takes the more convenient name of Captain Vance, and this good +brig, the _Sea-bird_, becomes the _Falcon_--the free rover. This is my +second mate, Mr Afton, who prefers to change, under such circumstances, +his title only, and to be called Second-lieutenant Afton." + +This burly and savage-looking individual growled an oath or two about +not being afraid of his own name. + +"This joyous individual," continued the captain, motioning his hand +towards another of the party, "is my third-mate, or lieutenant, and +selects his _sobriquet_ for his roving name--that is, Third-mate Brown +becomes Third-lieutenant Bowsprit. You have already met this jolly +person. You are also, I presume, well acquainted by this time, with +this young gentleman, Master Revere, my clerk." + +At mentioning this last name, Captain Marston, with a slightly sarcastic +expression of countenance, waved his hand towards Ada Revere. She cast +her eyes to the deck, and a vivid blush spread over her beautiful face. +Even in the midst of his own trouble, John could not help feeling pity +for the poor girl. Often had the questions recurred to him: "What is +her real position on board of this vessel? What is her history?" +Sympathy with her lonely condition and the wrongs which he felt that she +must have received from one leading member, at least, of the brig's +company, strengthened the indignation which he experienced on account of +his own injuries, and probably caused him to forget all prudence in +answering Captain Marston's addresses to him. + +"You, Captain Marston," he said, in a firm and perfectly collected +manner, and with a certain intensity of voice which intimated that he +felt more than he spoke, "address me in calm tones and familiarly, as if +you had done me no wrong to destroy the intimacy and kind feelings which +existed between us in past years. In speaking thus, you add insult to +injury; your words, manner, and voice suggesting that I am so simple, so +very weak in intellect, as not to be able to appreciate the +inexpressibly gross outrage which has been committed against me." + +"You do me wrong," said Captain Marston, "in supposing for a moment that +I doubt that you possess a very unusual degree of intellect. I have +always considered you one of the most remarkably endowed men, both in +mind and body, with whom I ever met. In what other manner could I have +spoken? and what was the use of my speaking with excitement? That you +must remain with us is a fixed fact. You have learned things the public +knowledge of which would ruin Mr Ashleigh, implicate--if an +investigation should take place--the character of some gentlemen of the +highest standing in Baltimore, or even endanger their safety--to say +nothing of the security and interests of those among whom you are now +standing. Self-preservation is the first law of nature; and you obliged +us to make and hold you a prisoner, by informing yourself wilfully of +secrets important to us, and of not the least concern to you. You have +yourself alone to blame for the situation in which you are placed." + +"Every citizen," replied the spirited young man, "has not only a right, +but it is his duty, if an opportunity occurs, to investigate whatsoever +appears to him to be a breach of the laws of his country." + +"That remark does not affect us at all," answered Marston, "although it +may have justified, to yourself and others, your curiosity and +interference. Our duty is to defend ourselves against the laws." + +"With the view which you take of the matter," retorted John, feeling +offended and irritated by Marston's application to him of the words +"curiosity and interference," and determined to retort at all hazards to +language which appeared to him personally insulting, "I should not have +so much cause to complain had I been captured by open force; but my kind +feelings towards yourself were played upon in a treacherous and cowardly +manner to work out my own injury." + +A dark and lowering scowl came upon the face of Captain Marston, and he +placed his right hand in his bosom as if to draw a weapon. + +At the same instant Afton drew a pistol from one of his pockets and +raised it. + +"Do you dare," he cried, "to call our captain a coward?" + +Captain Marston, however, who seemed not yet to have overcome his rage +sufficiently to speak, suddenly grasped Afton's weapon, and drew it from +his hand. + +"This is courage, truly!" said young Coe, with bitter irony expressed in +his voice, and addressing Afton. "You are _very_ brave in assaulting an +unarmed man. You would feel and act very differently if you and I were +alone, and equally armed." + +"Captain," exclaimed Afton, "what is the use of bandying words with this +fool? Let us settle the matter at once by shooting him, and throwing +him overboard. We needn't fear his betraying us then. `Dead men tell +no tales.'" + +"Leave him to me," said Captain Marston, moving his hand towards Afton. +Then, addressing John, he continued--"You take advantage, John Coe, of +our relative positions; you know that I, as a brave man, cannot, while +surrounded by my band, resent an insult from an unarmed prisoner. If I +am a smuggler--and, perhaps, even what you would call a pirate--you know +that I cannot so sacrifice my manhood as to take advantage of the means +at my command to punish the gross insult which you have offered me." + +"If you boast so much of your manhood, which word also implies your +honour, such as it is," said John, "and feel so wounded at what I have +said, the same power which you possess over your band to bring them +against me, should also be strong enough to prevent them from +interfering while I render you the satisfaction for which you seem to +long. Here, in the sight of your men, with no friend to see what is +called fair play, I am willing to fight you with sword, pistol, or gun. +Yes, I will do so, even though they may kill me, should I defeat you, +the moment after; for I had as lief die as be debarred my liberty, or be +obliged to yield my actions to the expediency which is merely suggested +by opposing force." + +"I thank you for your proposition," said Captain Vance, "and accept of +it. You shall have a fairer contest, too, than you seem to expect. +Here, Dempster, Afton, Brown." + +The officers addressed drew around their captain. + +"Promise me," said Marston, "by all the pledges that bind our +association together, that if Mr Coe should succeed in killing me, he +shall receive no injury for doing so; and further, that, upon his mere +pledge of honour to keep secret what he has learned about us, you will +land him at any port, near to our course, at which he may wish to +disembark. Promise, moreover, under the same pledges, that you will not +interfere in the combat about to take place between Mr Coe and myself, +by deed, word, or look." + +The officers addressed, even the brutal Afton, gave the pledges required +unhesitatingly, being perfectly assured that their captain would gain +the victory. + +"What weapons do you choose, Mr Coe?" asked Marston. + +"It is for you to choose," said John; "you have the right as the +challenged party." + +"I select swords, then," said Captain Marston; "the conqueror with that +weapon is not obliged to injure his adversary." + +"You seem to consider it as granted, by that remark," observed our hero, +"that you will be successful?" + +"By no means," answered Marston. + +John turned upon his adversary an inquiring and rather threatening look; +but he said nothing more on the subject. + +Lieutenant Dempster, or Seacome, was sent into the captain's cabin for a +pair of small-swords. + +Ada Revere had looked imploringly upon Marston and Coe alternately, +while the quarrel had been growing to its present condition. Anxiety +and terror were both plainly expressed in her face; she had seemed, +hitherto, desirous of interfering, but fearful of doing so; no doubt she +had learned from much experience the danger of attempting to check +Captain Marston in any of his acts. Now the prospect of an immediate +conflict seemed to rouse her to action. She threw herself upon her +knees between the two foes. + +"Oh! I beseech you," she cried, "let this quarrel go no farther. You +know, Captain Marston, why I feel an interest in you; but you do not +know that this gentleman, Mr Coe, rendered me, many years ago, one of +those services which can never be forgotten. Think, gentlemen, what +horror it would be to me to see one of you injured, or perhaps even +killed by the other, and have pity upon me." + +John Coe raised her from her kneeling position with evident tenderness. + +"I do not fully know what you mean, madam," he said, "and cannot, +therefore, make use of your meaning to put a stop to what is going on. +But I can feel for your evident suffering without knowing its cause." + +"Master Revere," said Marston, with sadness and yet something of +sternness in his voice, "if I could, I would consult your feelings in +this matter. But what you say comes too late, even if it were fully +explained. Mr Brown, do me the favour to lead this young gentleman to +his state-room door." + +Mr Bowsprit advanced, and taking the hand of Ada led her away. She +retired, still extending her disengaged hand towards the intended +combatants, with an imploring glance. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER EIGHT. + +THE SHIP DUCHESS. + + She was a vision of delight. + _Ballad_. + + These treasures are for you, my own beloved one-- + Laid up for you by your own father's hand. + _Foxglove_. + + *Antonio*. A long, low, black and rakish vessel, say you? + *Pietro*. Yes, captain; she's a pirate beyond doubt. + *Antonio*. We'll have a fight or e'er she capture us. + _The Storm_. + +The truth of my history obliges me to relate some occurrences powerfully +bearing upon John's fortunes. + +It was in the early part of the month of June, in the year 1817, when +the ship _Duchess_ left the port of Kingston, in the island of Jamaica, +bound to the port of Havre, in France. She had been chartered for this +voyage by a French merchant by the name of Jules Durocher. + +Jules Durocher had settled, when a young man, as a planter in the island +of Hayti; but, dissatisfied with a planter's life, he had sold his land +in that island, and afterwards removed from Hayti to Kingston, where he +established himself as a merchant. Here he had succeeded in making a +large fortune, when he was but little more than forty years of age. +Having lost his wife, an English lady, whom he had married in Jamaica, +and to whom he was much attached, and his health, which had for many +years seemed to be good, failing at length suddenly from the insidious +and slowly-working effects of the climate, he had determined to retire +from business, to realise his gains, and to pass the remainder of his +days in his native France, with his only child Louise. + +He had now so far carried out his intentions as to have converted into +gold and bills of exchange all his large fortune, except the +comparatively small portion which had been required to purchase a cargo +of the native products of Jamaica for the ship he had chartered. So +uncertain, however, are the calculations of men, that now, when the +quietude in which he had long hoped to pass his declining years appeared +almost certain of realisation, his health began rapidly to decline; and +his state was so weak, when the lading of the _Duchess_ was completed, +that he had to be taken from his bed on land and carried to one on board +of the ship. Such was the state of things in which Jules Durocher and +his daughter Louise left their home of many years in Kingston, to +transfer their fortunes to the father's native France. + +Louise Durocher was very beautiful; but her beauty was not of the kind +which we generally attribute to French ladies, and which is +characterised by sparkling black eyes, raven-hued tresses, and a +brunette complexion. Her loveliness was a direct antithesis to this +description. Her hair deserved fully the title of "golden" on account +of both its colour and its lustre, and held smoothly round her head by a +plain riband, fell in a mass of rich curls over her shoulders. Her +softly bright eyes, dark, but decidedly and purely blue, exhibited in +every glance a tender heart and an intelligent mind. A soft rose-tinge +upon her cheeks illustrated by a delicate contrast the pearly fairness +of her complexion. + +At the time when she is introduced to my readers, she was dressed in a +loose white muslin morning robe, slightly confined at the waist by a +white silken cord; and from beneath the folds of this garment peeped out +now and then two beautifully-shaped little feet clad in a delicate pair +of white satin slippers. The band round her hair was also white. A +dress of this description does not generally comport with beauty of the +style of Louise's; but in the case of loveliness so exceeding as hers, +it absolutely added to the effect. The pure, innocent, and elevated +expression of her face, haloed by her lustrous wealth of golden hair, +the beholder might be said to realise the ideal of the old masters. + +The cabin of the _Duchess_ occupied, as usual, the after-part of the +ship. Directly at the stern, and dividing the width of the vessel +between them, were two handsome and elegantly-furnished state-rooms--the +one assigned to Mr Durocher, and the other to his daughter. Each of +these state-rooms opened into the saloon, which, occupying the breadth +of the ship, was very nearly square. Forward of this saloon, a narrow +passage leading from it divided a double row of state-rooms--two upon +each side--which were used by the officers of the ship. + +At the time when these new characters are introduced to the reader, the +_Duchess_ had been some days out of port. She had gone through what is +called the Windward Passage--between the islands of Cuba and Hayti--had +passed through the channel crowded with many islets, which lies between +Caycos and Turks islands and had fairly entered upon the broad Atlantic. +The invigorating air of the open sea had so improved the health of Mr +Durocher that he had been brought from the bed in his state-room to a +sofa in the saloon. Here he was attended by his daughter and a young +quadroon slave girl, who waited upon the young lady. + +Louise, who was skilled in music, and performed upon several +instruments, had just finished singing, to an accompaniment on the harp, +the beautiful old song entitled "My Normandy"--a genuine relic of the +age of chivalry, of the days of the trouviers and troubadours--when her +father's emotion caused her to put aside the instrument. That touching +song, applying fully to the case of the returning exile himself, with +its tender refrain-- + +"I long again the land to see, Which gave me birth--my Normandy," +recalled the past vividly, with many a hope then entertained of a happy +return to his native land--many a hope which the untimely death of his +wife had destroyed for ever. + +"Dear Louise," said Mr Durocher, "how feelingly you sing that charming +song of my native land! What happiness I used to anticipate in pointing +out to your now sainted mother--when wealth, achieved through a long and +tedious exile, should enable me to resume, in my Normandy, the station +from which losses had reduced my family--all the beautiful scenes so +familiar to my childhood. God destroys such hopes to draw our +affections away from the things of earth. 'Tis now for you only, my +beloved child, that I at all consider a worldly future. You will have +wealth; few of the daughters of France born upon the soil will be heirs +to such a fortune. But there are cares also belonging to the possession +of riches; and how will an inexperienced young girl like you know how to +meet these?" + +"Do not trouble yourself about me, my dear father," said the +affectionate daughter. "Is not your health improving? Every day since +we left Kingston you have gained strength. You will live yourself to +see your money safely invested and your daughter's future secured. Let +us hope that many, many happy years on earth await us." + +"If future years are in store for me, Louise," replied Mr Durocher, +"they may be cheerful when blessed by your presence, but I cannot be +happy where your mother is not. I feel convinced, however, that I shall +soon meet her again; I am impressed with a feeling--though I know not +why--that I shall never more see France." + +The young lady left her seat beside the harp and sat upon a chair near +to the sofa on which her father was reclining. She placed her arm round +his neck, and took in her disengaged hand one of his. + +"Dearest father," she said, in a tender and soothing tone of voice, +"these low spirits are but the lingering effects of your illness. Life +must still have much happiness in store for you. The grand and +beautiful scenes of day and night, upon land and water, exhibiting, as +they ever do, a proof of the power and goodness and love of God towards +His creatures, must have an influence leading to happiness upon every +human soul. I am sure that one so good as you must feel this blessed +influence." + +"I do feel it, my dear child," said the invalid; "but that feeling +cannot remove the uneasiness which I experience at the conviction that I +must soon leave you alone in the world. I have a number of relations in +France; but you are unknown to all of them; even I, so long has it been +since I have met any of them, must be nearly, if not quite forgotten." + +The speaker paused awhile in reflection. Louise was also silent; she +could make no reply to her father's last observation; its probable truth +admitted of no just objection. Mr Durocher at length spoke again-- + +"Louise," he said, taking a pocket-book from an inside breast-pocket of +his coat, "in this pocket-book are bills of exchange on different +bankers in France to the amount of twelve hundred thousand francs. Even +if these be lost, the money will still be safe; the bills are executed +in triplicate; one copy of each has been left by me in the hands of a +friend at Kingston, and the third copy of each has been sent to a +gentleman in Havre. These bills can only be paid on my endorsement, or +on that of my legal representative, in case of my death. There is a +note of the names of these gentlemen and of a list of the drafts in my +trunk; here is a copy of the same note which I wish you to take +possession of. In the strong-box in my state-room are fifty thousand +francs in gold; and the cargo of this ship should sell at Havre for at +least a hundred and fifty thousand francs. In the event of my death, +this property is yours. I should have mentioned to you these +particulars before; I feel urged now to postpone no longer giving you +this information." + +At this instant, and before Louise could make a reply, a loud voice +giving orders and the noise of hurrying feet were heard upon deck. + +"Celeste," said Mr Durocher, addressing the quadroon girl, "go upon +deck and see if you can learn what is the matter." + +The girl hurried up the cabin steps, as ordered, and soon returned +accompanied by the captain. + +"What is the cause of the disturbance overhead, Captain Johnson?" asked +the invalid. + +"We have been apparently pursued for some hours," was the answer, "by a +rather suspicious-looking vessel. Pirates are by no means uncommon in +these waters, and it is not improbable that this is one. As the wind is +light, we have crowded on every yard of canvas. The stranger, +nevertheless, is evidently gaining upon us. I have, therefore, ordered +our two twelve-pounders to be made ready for service, and have directed +the men also to look to their small-arms. If it were late in the day we +might indulge a hope of keeping at a sufficient distance from the +suspicious craft to make our escape in the night." + +The time was between nine and ten o'clock in the morning. + +The face of Louise became white with alarm. The poor girl seemed to be +terribly frightened. + +"There is no need of feeling alarmed, Miss Durocher," said the captain, +in a cheerful voice. "We are not by any means certain the stranger is a +pirate. Should he prove to be such, the probabilities are in our favour +that he will not molest us, when he finds, on nearer approach, that we +are so strong; these sea-robbers are not apt to assault any vessel which +they cannot capture without fighting. We are well manned, having +sixteen officers and seamen, all able men. We have two cannons and +plenty of muskets and cutlasses, besides a full supply of ammunition. +Even if he should attack us, I think that we can easily beat him off. +My vessel is larger than his, and manoeuvres well; and fully one-half of +us are man-of-war's men." + +"Why do you suppose," asked Mr Durocher, "that the stranger is in +pursuit of you?" + +"Because," replied Captain Johnson, "when we first saw him, the course +which he was steering was due south-east as ours is north-east, and he +is now directly astern of us. If Miss Durocher will come with me upon +deck, she can see our pursuer very plainly by aid of the telescope. You +are too weak, I suppose, to get upon deck yourself, Mr Durocher?" + +"I will try to do so, if you will give me your aid," answered the +invalid. + +"You had better not undertake so much," said Louise. "I am afraid that +the fatigue will do you harm." + +"It will not hurt him at all, miss," said Captain Johnson, cheerily. +"He need not suffer from fatigue at all. If you will let that yellow +girl of yours bring up an easy-chair, I will carry your father up in my +arms." + +Captain Johnson was, indeed, a powerfully-made man; he was fully six +feet in height, and stout in proportion. Constant exercise in the open +air had given to him the full vigour to which his herculean frame seemed +to entitle him. + +As soon as the invalid was made comfortable in his easy-chair, and was +in a position from which he commanded a view of the ocean all around, +the spy-glass was handed to him. Far away towards the south-west, and +at first sight rather low upon the horizon, the strange sail could be +seen by the unassisted eye; but the telescope showed that her hull was +above the horizon. + +"There seem to be a number of men upon her deck," said Mr Durocher; +"and she has one of those long pivot-guns amidships. That is a very +dangerous cannon, Captain Johnson; our pursuer may, with a gun of so +long a range, do us ruinous injury without coming near enough to allow +us to do him harm with our small cannon." + +The telescope was passed to the captain, and by him to Louise. It was +then handed to the officers of the ship. + +"Can you make out her hull?" asked the captain of one of these officers, +who had at the moment the glass in his hand. + +"Partly," was the answer. "What I can see of it is entirely black. She +seems to be clipper-built." + +"And these Baltimore clippers are so fleet," remarked the captain. + +Things began to look dark for those on board the ship, it must be +confessed; if the stranger's intentions were hostile, his superior +speed, and the long range of his pivot-gun, made the escape of the chase +very doubtful. Captain Johnson, however, like a good officer, made +every preparation for defence. His self-possessed and even cheerful +manner inspired those under his command with confidence. But Louise +became very pale, and Mr Durocher suffered much in mind, principally +upon her account; but, for the sake of each other, their fears were kept +to themselves. The quadroon girl shivered with terror, on her own +account, and on account of those to whom she had been so much attached +for many years. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER NINE. + +THE COMBAT. + + The foe, invulnerable still, + Foiled his wild rage by steady skill, + Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand + Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand. + _Lady of the Lake_. + + *Orano*. We offer you the post of captain, sir. + *Ortega*. I accept--with conditions. + _The Onslaught_. + + A pirate ship, and a pirate crew. + _Old Song_. + +The swords were brought. A clear space was left upon the deck for the +combatants to move in, around which the sailors--first those who had +stood near to the quarter-deck, and afterwards those from the more +forward parts of the vessels formed a ring; all were eager and intensely +interested, but quiet spectators. Seeing the officers offering no +interference, they no doubt considered that it was also their part to +make no interruption. Mr Dempster acted as second to Marston; Mr +Brown, better known as Bowsprit, acted as second to John Coe. + +The swords were measured by the seconds and found of equal length. As +both the weapons belonged to Captain Marston, the choice of them was +offered to the prisoner, who took one of them at once, apparently +without making any selection. The combatants were then placed in +position; the salutes with the blades were given, and the fight began. + +It was very soon apparent that young Coe was the more expert swordsman. +Captain Marston had, when young, as most young gentlemen of fortune were +in the habit of doing, taken lessons in the small-sword exercise; but he +had of late been accustomed only occasionally to combats with the +cutlass; and such conflicts--as even one who is not an expert at either +weapon must know--must rather tend to diminish than increase one's skill +with the small-sword. His antagonist, on the contrary, had been in the +habit for years of practising play with foils with young gentlemen in +his neighbourhood, so that he had much improved his skill of late years. + +The sword-points were scarcely crossed before John was aware that his +adversary's life was in his hands. This discovery was a great relief to +his mind. He placed no faith in the pledges given by Captain Marston's +officers; on the contrary, he felt assured that, if he should kill one +who had virtually acknowledged himself to be a pirate chief, his own +life would be forfeited; even if the officers should keep their pledges +to the letter, the common sailors were bound by no pledge. These +reflections caused him to use all his efforts to disarm his adversary; +and added to these considerations, inducing him to pursue such a course, +was the memory of early associations, and also the apparent generosity +of his foe in granting him a combat at all, as equal almost as it could +be made under the circumstances. + +Captain Marston, too, became very soon aware that he was fighting +against one who was superior in the use of the weapon which he had +selected. Shaken from his usual self-possession by a knowledge of this +fact, and irritated by the forbearance of one whom he had considered his +inferior with any weapon, and especially with the one which he had +chosen, he made the mistake usual in such cases, + +"And showered his blows like wintry rain." + +John Coe, on the contrary, kept perfect control of his faculties. For +an instant he retreated rapidly before the violent assault of his +adversary; but the next moment, with a short, sudden and powerful blow +of his sword, he sent Captain Marston's weapon flying over his own head. +His own sword-point was immediately at the captain's breast. + +There was a sensation among the spectators at this sudden and totally +unexpected result of the combat; but there was no movement towards any +interference. + +Captain Marston's arms dropped by his side. He stood before his +antagonist, as if ready to receive his sword-thrust. Coe stood, +meanwhile, with his sword fixed, as it were, in the same position, while +he kept his eyes firmly bent upon those of his conquered adversary. + +"I am at your mercy, Mr Coe," said Captain Marston, at length in a +voice that palpitated, if I may use the term, partly on account of his +recent violent exertion, and partly because of surprise at his defeat. + +"I wish you no harm," answered the victor, lowering his sword-point. "I +only wished to show that had I been assailed by open force, I should not +have been easily made a prisoner." + +The expression of the faces of the lookers-on showed that their captive +had risen very highly in their estimation within the last few minutes. +The most brutal and debased human being in the world still admires manly +courage and magnanimity. The determined bearing of the prisoner, +indicating a perfect preservation of his self-respect and self-reliance, +in such adverse circumstances, and his willingness, even eagerness to +prove his manhood by fighting Captain Marston in the very presence of +his band, and the coolness, skill, and self-control which he had +exhibited in winning and in using his victory, all manifested those +qualities which men most admire in men. Captain Marston saw the +admiration of his prisoner which was expressed in the faces of his +officers and men; and he immediately resorted to an expedient which, by +exhibiting on his part a generosity apparently equal, but in fact more +than equal, to that of his adversary, might neutralise to some extent +the injury which may have been done to his standing in the opinions of +his band by the result of the contest. + +"You see, gentlemen," he said, addressing his ship's company, "that in +the opinion which I have heretofore expressed to you of my friendly foe, +I have not overrated his merits. Let us have three hearty cheers for +John Alvan Coe." + +The three cheers called for were immediately given with a will. + +"I further propose, gentlemen," said Captain Marston, "that we proceed +forthwith to form the corps of marines which I have before spoken of to +you, and that Mr Coe be offered the captaincy of that band." + +"And with all due deference to Captain Vance," exclaimed Afton, before +Captain Marston's proposition could be acted upon, and with his usual +intermingling of expletives, "I propose that we either make Mr Coe +commander of this brig, or throw him overboard. For my part, I should +prefer to have the latter alternative carried out. No divided command +can exist except to our disadvantage. If Mr Coe is, in your opinion, +superior to Captain Vance, make him our chief; but do not give to him a +charge which, unless he and the captain entirely agree, may cause civil +war on board the brig." + +"I beg to differ with my honoured friend, Lieutenant Afton," said +Bowsprit, facing the ship's company. "As Mr Coe has proved himself a +brave and skilful man, we should try to secure him as a co-partner in +our enterprises. As he is a born and bred gentleman, there are cogent +reasons why he should hold a respectable position among us. But, +although he has shown that he is superior to Captain Vance in the use of +the small-sword, we are not therefore to suppose that he is co-equal +with our distinguished chieftain in experience in seamanship and in +habits of command. Nor would our new friend rank, in the position +proposed, with our captain; he would be co-ordinate in rank with +Lieutenant Seacome. There would be no danger of a conflict of authority +with Captain Vance; there is a commander of marines on board of every +man-of-war. I cannot, therefore, agree with either of the propositions +of my distinguished friend Afton. His first would be unjust to our +captain, his second would be an equal wrong to the gallant new comer. I +second Captain Vance's motion." + +The speech of Billy Bowsprit was received with much applause, and the +proposition of the captain was adopted by a vote of two to one. Mr +Afton had his admirers among those old salts who were, like himself, +rough in language, and especially hardened in crime. These men were not +influenced in their votes by the authority of the captain, or the +eloquence of Billy Bowsprit. + +"And now, Mr Coe," said the captain, "will you do me the honour of +accepting the post to which we have elected you, and give me the +pleasure of being the first to name you by your new title, Captain Coe, +of the marine force?" + +Young Coe remembered the conversation upon this very subject which he +had held, in anticipation, with Ada Revere, and her advice as to the +course which he should pursue, should the offer be made to him. He +called to mind also that, immediately preceding his duel with Captain +Marston, she had declared that she was indebted to himself for an +important service. He knew that that unfortunate girl must be better +qualified by experience than he was himself to guide his course in +relation to this matter. He determined, therefore, that he would +consult with her again, and, should he find her sincere in her friendly +feelings towards him, to be governed by her counsel in the desperate +strait in which he was placed. With this purpose in view he made answer +to Captain Marston's question-- + +"Your offer, Captain Vance, and gentlemen," he said, addressing the +officers and seamen, and, for the first time, giving the captain of the +brig his assumed name, "so changes the relation which I bore towards you +but a few moments ago, that I must beg of you to grant me a little time +to consider this question so suddenly placed before me. With your +permission, I will retire for a few moments, and then return and give +you my decision. In any case, I thank you for the favour you have shown +to me." + +Having thus spoken on deck, he retired to the cabin. In the saloon he +found Ada Revere. She sat upon a sofa, with her head resting upon her +hands. On the entrance of our hero she rose at once to meet him, and +her face, which had been sad, expressed a sense of relief. + +"Oh! I am so glad to see you, Mr Coe," she said. "Your face seems to +show that nothing unpleasant has resulted from the state of things in +which I left you. Tell me--do tell me quickly--what has happened?" + +John related to her all that had occurred. + +"And now, Miss Revere," he added, "I have come to ask an explanation of +your language when you spoke some time ago of being under an obligation +to me. When I saw you at the old manor house, your face seemed familiar +to me. I thought that that recognition was accounted for by my having +seen you in your boy's dress, at the Spout on Saint Leonard's Creek. +But you appeared to refer to an acquaintance between us dating, farther +into the past." + +"I can see nothing wrong, Mr Coe," answered the beautiful girl, "in +telling you--in outline, at least--all my history. Do you remember Ada +Ashleigh, who was one of your schoolmates at the old Manor Quarter +school-house situate between Millmont and Drum Point?" + +"Certainly I do," was the answer. "What a sweet and guileless little +girl she was!" + +"I was that little girl, Mr Coe," said Ada. "Do you not remember that, +when any of the schoolchildren charged me with being the daughter of a +man who received smuggled goods, after my father was brought before a +court in Baltimore on such a charge, you always took my part? And +once--an occasion which I shall never forget--when Mr Dempster, now an +officer on board of this brig, but then a boy almost a year older than +yourself, wounded my feelings even to weeping by his jeers, you rebuked +him so severely for being rude, as you said, to a harmless little girl, +that he challenged you to fight. I shall never forget the gratitude +which I felt towards you for championing my cause, and my delight when +you handled Dempster so roughly, that he was obliged to acknowledge +himself beaten, and to promise never to say a harsh word to me again." + +"We had heard in Calvert," said John Alvan, "that Ada Ashleigh had made +a runaway marriage in Baltimore, for which she was disinherited by her +father. Since that intelligence was received, two or three years ago, I +have heard nothing of her fate." + +"That runaway marriage was between me and Harry Marston," said Ada. "He +intended it for a false marriage; and when he told me that it was such, +I believed his words. But I learned, nearly a year ago now, from the +friend of Captain Marston, whom he engaged to procure the services of +some one, not a minister of the gospel, to perform the ceremony, that we +had actually been wedded by a regular priest, and I have since obtained +from that priest a certificate of the marriage. The conscience of Henry +Marston's friend would not, at the last, allow him to take part in such +deceit. My father never knew that it was with Captain Marston that I +left his house; nor have I yet been able to summon the necessary courage +to inform Captain Marston that we are really married. I wish that he +knew it. I am sure that, had he been acquainted with the fact, he would +never have commissioned me, his own wife, to act the part which he meant +that I should act during your imprisonment at the old manor house and at +the hut." + +"I would tell him for you myself, unhesitatingly," remarked John Alvan, +"but the information would come most properly from you." + +After some further conversation upon the subject, young Coe asked-- + +"Do you still advise me, madam, to accept this position which is offered +to me? I do not mean absolutely to accept it, but seem to accept it. I +know now that you are really my friend, and have full faith in you." + +"I certainly do," answered the lady. "Your refusal to do so must +eventuate in your death. They have gone too far to set you free, even +under the most solemn pledges. As the most of these men would not be +faithful to any pledge made to you, so they would not trust in any +pledges made by you to them, under the circumstances. Whereas, by +seeming to accept the offer, you will, in the ordinary course of things, +have many chances of making your escape." + +"Yet," remarked the young man, "if they were to undertake, for instance, +to capture a merchant vessel, I would die rather than give assistance in +the commission of such a crime." + +"Of course," answered Ada, "but the `chapter of accidents' may make +unnecessary your placing yourself in antagonism to the brig's crew on +that question. We will hope so." + +"Have they ever really made such captures?" asked young Coe. + +"Many such," replied Ada. "They are pirates in the full meaning of the +word." + +"In this business they must have committed murders," said John. + +"There is not a man in the brig, except yourself," answered Ada, "who is +not responsible for the shedding of human blood." + +"Dear madam," said John, pityingly, "what a terrible life you must have +led among such men." + +"I have often been able to save bloodshed," said Ada. "Most of the +captures made by the _Falcon_ have been made without the taking of human +life. When life has been taken it has been mostly in cases where a +fight has followed a refusal on the part of a merchant vessel to +surrender. I have never known a case where Captain Marston has allowed +any one to be hurt after surrender. Indeed, I think at heart he is sick +of the business in which he is engaged. Afton, however, and too many of +the crew with him, appear to take pleasure in acts of cruelty." + +The conversation between Mrs Marston and young Coe here closed, and the +latter returned upon deck. He expressed to the captain and the ship's +company his acceptance provisionally of the post offered to him, it +being understood that he reserved to himself the right to resign it +whenever he thought proper to do so. + +Mr Afton loudly pronounced his maledictions against such "half-way" +courses; and there were at first some dark scowls seen among the men. + +"I welcome you into our gallant service, Captain Coe," said Captain +Marston, with much cordiality in his manner, "and am sure that no one +member could be a greater addition to our company. As to the terms +which Captain Coe makes," continued the pirate chief, addressing the +men, "no one can object to them; any man has the right to resign at any +time any office which he holds among us. The main thing is that Captain +Coe is now a member of our band, and we all know how forcibly, in an +instance of this kind, applies the old adage, `In for a penny, in for a +pound!' Shipmates welcome our new comrade." + +These remarks of Captain Marston, intended to counteract what had been +said by Afton, and to satisfy the crew with regard to the reservation +made by Coe, were well-timed, and their new comrade was welcomed with +loud cheers. + +The company of marines was at once formed, and "Captain" Coe, as they +called him, immediately commenced the performance of his new office, by +taking his men through such a preparatory drill as the short remaining +time of daylight would allow. It was his determination to make himself +as popular as he could among those who were placed under his command, +with the view of using his influence for such good purposes as might +hereafter present themselves. He was eminently successful in his +endeavours to obtain popularity, his men already entertaining great +admiration of his courage and resolute demeanour. + +The _Sea-bird_ continued for some days to run a southerly course, +impelled by a moderate breeze from the west. Her prow was then turned +towards the south-east, it being the intention of Captain Marston to get +into the track of vessels trading between the West Indies and the +Spanish Main, and the different European ports. While on this course +certain changes were made in the appearance of the brig. The white +stripe along her bends, just below the guards, was covered with a strip +of black canvas; like strips, on which were painted the words the +_Falcon_, were placed on each of her bows, and on her stern, over the +name the _Sea-bird_, and the carved image of one bird was substituted +for that of another as her figure-head. Other alterations were made in +her rigging and elsewhere, so that the vessel's appearance was almost +entirely changed. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER TEN. + +THE CHASE. + + The western breeze is fresh and free; + Before its power the vessels fleet, + And, bounding o'er the flashing waves, + Like lovers haste to meet. + _Isobel--A Ballad_. + + And sweep through the deep, + While the stormy tempests blow; + While the battle rages loud and long, + And the stormy tempests blow. + _Mariners of England_. + + By each gun a lighted brand, + In a bold, determined hand. + _Battle of the Baltic_. + +Day after day the wind continued to blow mildly from the west, and the +brig still made regular but slow progress before it, on her +south-eastwardly course. + +One morning, before sunrise, a strange sail was espied upon the larboard +bow. It was during Mr Afton's watch that this discovery was made. The +second-lieutenant pronounced the stranger to be a merchant ship. This +fact, with the opinion of the officer of the watch, being communicated +to the commander of the brig, who was still in his hammock, and whom we +must now call Captain Vance, orders were given by him to crowd all sail +on the _Falcon_, and to pursue the stranger ship. + +Hour after hour passed away, and still the pirate vessel continued to +gain on the chase, which had in the meanwhile been discovered to be a +large and heavily-laden ship. + +Mile after mile the brig gained while the wind lasted; but towards two +o'clock the light breeze, which had been blowing from the same point so +many days, began to die away, and by noon there was an absolute calm. +The brig was at this time still many miles distant from the ship. For +more than an hour each vessel remained, except as affected by that +unceasing swell (in this instance scarcely perceptible) which never +allows the water to be perfectly tranquil, as motionless as-- + + "A painted ship + Upon a painted ocean." + +Between one and two o'clock, clouds, in masses at first comparatively +light, but which grew dense and denser, began to move overhead from the +east towards the west; these were evidently impelled by a wind +travelling in the same direction, and light flaws of which occasionally +made faint shadows over the ocean by slightly stirring its waters, and +sometimes gave a soft pulsation to the sails of the two vessels. + +Shortly after two o'clock, lightning flashes gleamed in rather quick +succession, from below the eastern horizon; but no thunder was heard. +At length a small portion of densely black cloud showed itself in the +same direction, above the line dividing the ocean and sky. This cloud +rapidly rose, spreading itself as it ascended, while flashes of +lightning, followed, after fast-diminishing intervals, by grand and +grander thunder-burst, flamed forth more and more frequently, from the +dark and threatening mass of vapour. + +Soon blasts of wind, heavily laden with moisture, and each more powerful +than that which preceded it, came with rapidly decreasing lulls, from +the west, until the breeze, having at length become continuous, had +grown almost to a storm. Both vessels had prepared for this increased +force of the wind by shortening sail. The chase, however, urged by the +necessity of escaping as well from the brig which pursued her as from +the storm, still carried all the canvas which she could bear under the +heavy pressure of the wind, almost directly before which both vessels +were now steering an east-north-east course. Still the brig, built +after the Baltimore clipper model, so famed for fleetness, continued to +gain rapidly upon the ship. + +"Suppose, captain," said Afton, addressing Marston, "we range the `Long +Tom' to bear upon her, and give her a shot?" + +"There is no chance of hitting her," answered the captain, "with the +brig beginning to pitch in the way she is now; it will be but waste of +powder. Besides, the distance is too great." + +"If we wait," objected the second-lieutenant (so-called), "until we get +within range of her two cannon, she will have the advantage of us in the +number of her guns. If we fire at her from a distance, on the contrary, +her cannon will be of no use to her." + +The intelligent reader, of course, already understands that the ship +pursued was the _Duchess_, which, with her passengers and captain, was +introduced to his attention in a previous chapter. + +"In the present condition of the weather," replied the captain to the +objections of his second officer, "we shall have to lose the advantage +of the longer range of our gun, or lose our hoped-for prize. At the +rate at which we are now gaining on her, it will be nearly sunset when +we overtake her. The sky is already darkened by clouds, and if the +rain--which is threatening to fall every moment--should continue into +the night, we may lose sight of her altogether, and she may make her +escape in the darkness. If she offers to resist, therefore, we shall +have to fight at close quarters." + +"I hope that she may be worth the trouble she is likely to give us," +muttered Afton, with his usual maledictions. + +"And I hope, Afton," retorted the captain, with a jesting smile, "that +you have no intention of getting nervous about the matter?" + +"A pretty time of day," rejoined Afton, "for anybody to be doubting my +courage. You know well enough that I was only wishing that we should +make a good haul in capturing her." + +"We cannot tell what she is worth," said the captain, "until we get on +board of her. This we know--that she is a large ship, and appears to be +well laden. Others might give up the hope of capturing her on account +of the state of the weather; I never give up what I undertake." + +"It is very evident," said Lieutenant Seacome, "from the manner in which +she is handled, that the man who has charge of her is a thorough +seaman." + +"Yes," assented the captain. "And there is something about the man's +movements, as I note him through the telescope, which convinces me that +he will make a fight of it before he yields. Captain Coe, you must see +to it that your men are ready with all their side-arms. They evidently +have men enough to manage both their cannon; and they will, therefore, +have the advantage of us, unless we board them, or lay so closely +alongside of them that our small-arms will tell. I am determined to +board, however, if it be possible to do so in such a sea." + +"My men are prepared to act at a minute's notice," said the captain of +Marines. + +Young Coe had made much progress in the last few days in perfecting his +men in their drill. He had already gained their confidence in his +capacity for command, his courage and skill, and his possession of all +his faculties in moments of danger. Notwithstanding the language in +which he had so promptly answered Captain Vance's (as we must call him +now) inquiry, he entertained not the slightest intention of taking any +part in the commission of crime; he was determined, on the contrary, to +use his influence with his men to prevent it. For the manner in which +he should carry out this latter determination he was compelled to trust +to contingencies. + +On board the pirate-brig every preparation was made for a conflict. In +the meantime the hours advanced, and at length the two vessels were +within short cannon range of each other. It still wanted more than an +hour to sunset, and notwithstanding the dense clouds which still covered +the sky (the rain which had fallen heavily for a while had soon ceased) +the daylight was still clear enough to distinguish objects on board of +one ship from the other, whenever the upheaving and subsidence of the +waves allowed the deck of the lower to be seen from that of the higher. + +As the brig overhauled the chase, Captain Vance directed his helmsman to +steer to the larboard of the chase, on a line as near as it was safe to +approach her; by this course he would not only take the weather-guage of +the ship, but would also make his position more convenient to "speak" +her. + +"Mr Bowsprit," said the captain to the officer who had charge of the +cannon, "fire a shot across her bows. That is the best way to open the +conversation." + +The shot was immediately fired; and the reverberation was deafening, in +the damp, heavy atmosphere. + +The vessels were now not more than a hundred yards apart; so near were +they to each other, that the shadow of the brig--the outlines of which +were defined clearly by the light which came from the western sky, where +the clouds were somewhat broken--fell almost aboard the ship. + +The shot brought immediately a hail from the deck of the _Duchess_. + +"Brig ahoy!" came through a speaking trumpet in stentorian tones from +Captain Johnson. + +"Ay, ay," was the answer. + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" was the retort from the deck of the +ship. + +"The _Falcon_, free rover," replied Captain Vance, "and we want you to +surrender." + +"We will never surrender to pirates," answered Captain Johnson. + +"If you surrender without resistance, we will spare the lives of all on +board," said the captain of the _Falcon_. + +"I would rather sink the ship," replied the captain of the _Duchess_. + +"Woe be to you then," exclaimed Captain Vance. "Your blood and that of +those under your control be upon your own head." + +All this conversation between the vessels had been carried on through +speaking-trumpets. + +"Mr Seacome," said Captain Vance to his first lieutenant, "display the +flag." + +The pirate flag of those days, having a black ground with white skull +and cross-bones displayed upon it, was immediately run up to the main +mast-head of the brig. + +The gale still continued to blow with great force, and the waves were +running higher and higher. Though I have said that the vessels were +about a hundred yards apart, it is not to be supposed that there was any +regularity in the distance between them. Now one vessel would be far +below, then far above the other, as she sank into the trough of a sea, +or rose upon the crest of a wave. Now the surging waters would drive +them farther apart, and now closer together. Meanwhile, near and far +over the sea, the fiercely-labouring winds and billows loudly roared in +wild unison their stern and complaining songs. + +"Had we not better, captain," asked Seacome, "keep as near as we can to +the ship until this gale has fallen, and then make the assault? We +could scarcely board in such a wind as this, even should she surrender." + +John Coe wished sincerely that this proposition should be adopted. Only +in case of boarding the ship could he hope to carry out his plans; and +it did not seem to him possible that boarding could be done in such a +state of the weather. Should muskets be used, while the vessels were +thus running side by side, his men--acting under his orders too--would, +like the rest of the pirate-brig's crew, do all the damage they could to +those on board the ship; and he would have no means of preventing them. + +"It is not the wind that is in our way," answered Captain Vance to Mr +Seacome, "so much as the waves; and seas will run higher and higher +while this gale continues. Our best chance is now. Mr Bowsprit," he +exclaimed, turning to that officer, "have you reloaded your gun?" + +"Ay, ay, sir," was the answer. + +"Then fire into them," said the captain, "and do them all the damage you +can." + +The Long Tom again pealed a savage note. But the only damage done to +the _Duchess_ was a small hole made through one of her sails. + +The shot was immediately returned; it was fired by Captain Johnson's own +hand. The ball passed through the guards and swept across the deck of +the _Falcon_, killing one man, and wounding two more by the splinters +which it tore from the timbers through which it had forced its way. The +loud peal of the cannon had not died away, when another shot from the +_Duchess_ came almost upon its track, again killing one and wounding two +more. + +"This will never do, Mr Bowsprit," said Captain Vance. "Is your gun +loaded again?" + +"Yes, sir," was the reply. + +"Let me manage her this time," said the captain. + +His shot was well aimed; it struck the guards of the _Duchess_, +scattering the splinters far and wide. + +"I'll guarantee that did them some damage," remarked Captain Vance. + +Scarcely had he spoken, when two cannon-shots came in quick succession +from the _Duchess_. The one struck the deck of the _Falcon_, tearing up +the splinters; the other again struck the guards, scattering fragments +of timber. One sailor was killed directly beside Captain Vance; three +others were slightly wounded. + +"Furies!" exclaimed the pirate chief, "that fellow knows his business. +But this will never do. Give them a volley of musketry." + +The loud roar of the Long Tom, and the rattling peal of the muskets +immediately blended into one tremendous sound. That sound was instantly +echoed from on board the ship; two cannon-shots and a dozen musket-loads +again poured devastation upon the deck of the brig. + +"We must come to close quarters," exclaimed the pirate chief; "we are +fast losing the advantage of superior numbers. The terrible skill of +that devil with his cannon is destroying our superiority in that +respect. Give me a loaded musket." + +He waited until a partial lifting of the smoke-cloud gave him a glimpse +of the stout, manly figure of Captain Johnson, then, in an instant, +taking aim, he fired. The ceaseless motion of the vessels destroyed the +effect of his aim; and the man who was fired at escaped unharmed. + +"Pistols and cutlasses!" exclaimed Vance, much excited. "Prepare to +board. Forward with your men, Captain Coe. Helmsman, put us alongside +of that vessel at once." + +"That's the way to talk," said Afton. "We'll give the whelps no mercy +now." + +"We may sink both vessels by collision," said Seacome, "in such a sea as +this." + +"Then let them sink," cried the pirate chief, all of whose evil passions +were now aroused. "Lay us aboard quickly, helmsman." + +The helmsman did his work skilfully; the starboard-bow of the brig was +brought to bear gradually towards the larboard bow of the ship; and the +two vessels approached each other in such a manner that their sides when +they touched formed, at the point of contact, a very acute angle. The +guards of the ship were above those of the brig; yet grappling-irons +were cast from the latter and the vessels were made fast together. But +the independent rolling and pitching of each of them, which caused them +sometimes to "yaw" asunder, sometimes to come together with a crash that +sounded like thunder, made the passage from one to the other very +dangerous. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +THE BOARDING ATTACK. + + Together they came with a crashing and rending, + While the sounds of the battle and tempest were blending. + _The Lost Ship_. + + We will be true to you, most noble sir. + _Avator_. + + Oh, spare my daughter! Take my wealth--I care not; + But spare my daughter. + _Old Play_. + + Villain, forbear! + Throw down your arms--surrender. + _The Assault_. + +The last fire from the _Falcon_ had made sad havoc among the crew of the +merchant vessel; two men were killed and three badly wounded by it. +Hence it was that, when the pirates were thronging the brig's side, +preparing to spring on board the ship, Captain Johnson had but nine men +to aid him in resisting the assault, the tenth being at the wheel. The +odds were fearfully against him, being more than three to one; the +pirate chief, leaving ten men to take care of the brig, had still +thirty-one men, besides those who had been placed _hors de combat_, with +whom to board the ship. + +While John Coe was standing by the starboard guards of the brig, +prepared to spring on board of the ship, with every nerve wrought up to +its highest tension, he ejaculated prayers to the Almighty to guard him +from sin and guide him to goodness in this terrible crisis of his fate. +Just as the vessels were coming together, he felt his arm touched, and +turning, saw Ada by his side. + +"For heaven's sake, madam," he said, in low but earnest tones, "what are +you doing here? Do go into the cabin and seek out its safest corner. +You are almost certain to lose your life here. This is no place for a +helpless woman." + +"How can I stay there," she said, "while these horrible scenes are +taking place? I am inured to danger, and put no value on my life. +Besides, I feel impelled by a power within me, and which I cannot +resist, to take part in the scenes about to occur on board of that ship. +I put myself by your side, both because my husband would drive me away +from his, and because, of all who are about to board that vessel, you +alone have no evil in your heart, but are seeking to prevent it; and I +wish to aid you in that good work. See! I also am armed." + +She showed a cutlass in her hand, and pointed to two double-barrelled +pistols in a belt round her waist. + +"Keep closely by my side, then," said John, seeing her determination. +"I will do all that I can to protect you." + +"Thank you," she replied. + +John turned towards his other side; there, near to him, stood Billy +Bowsprit. + +"Bowsprit," he said, in a low voice, "keep near to me; and do not forget +your pledge to give all the aid in your power to prevent, to such extent +as we can, the shedding of innocent blood." + +"Mr Coe," answered Billy, earnestly and emphatically, yet in a whisper, +"I am with you, heart and hand, I am yours in life and death." + +"And see, too," said Coe, in the same low tones, "that the five men of +my band, who are with us, keep near to us, and that you and they follow +me wherever I go." + +"They are here, sir," whispered Billy, "just behind you and me. Every +man of them can be relied on; they are all devoted to you." + +"And you and they," replied John, still in the same undertones, "may +depend upon my fulfilling my promise, should I escape with life and +freedom from the perils of this night." + +Thus the thirty men of the _Falcon's_ crew detailed for the +boarding-party, stood by the guards of the brig upon that side of her +towards the ship, waiting for the moment when the upheaving and +subsidence of the waters should uplift the former and depress the +latter, that they might seize the opportunity to leap down upon the deck +of the _Duchess_. + +Captain Johnson was also waiting for the same moment. He had stationed +eight men each with a cutlass in his right hand and a pistol in his +left, in a position to meet the pirates should they gain his deck. He +had so carefully balanced and trained his two guns that, when they +should be fired, the balls would come together at a short distance from +the muzzles of the cannon. By one of these guns stood Captain Johnson +himself, by the other one of his mates, upon whose coolness he could +thoroughly depend. Each of these two resolute men held a lighted match +in his hand. + +By this time the sun had been half an hour below the horizon, and the +short twilight of that southern latitude was fast darkening into a night +of storm and of unusual gloom; for although there was one clear spot in +the western sky, all the rest of the face of heaven was veiled in heavy +clouds. + +In his anxiety to gain as soon as possible the deck of the ship, Captain +Vance had not noted all the dispositions made on board the _Duchess_; +his attention had been given mainly to the ordering of his own men, and +to the eight men arranged for the reception of his assaulting party. + +The critical moment, upon the results of which so much of vital +importance to the combatants depended, arrived. The brig rose high upon +the summit of a huge billow, while the merchant ship descended into the +valley between that and another monster wave. At that instant the +pirates sprung towards the deck of the _Duchess_, the eight men of the +latter, who had been placed to meet this assault, fired their pistols, +and Captain Johnson and his mate applied the matches to the cannon. + +Three of the pirates fell upon the ship's deck, two killed and one +mortally wounded by the pistol-shots of their enemies; five made the +leap too late, of whom two were crushed between the vessels, and fell +into the sea, and three struck against the guards of the now rising +ship, and were thrown back with violence upon their own deck. Captain +Vance himself received a pistol-shot through the brain at the moment +when he was about to spring from the guards of the _Falcon_ to the deck +of the _Duchess_; he disappeared between the two vessels and sunk into +the sea. + +John Coe--to avoid confronting the eight defenders of the ship--had +taken his station with Ada, Billy Bowsprit, and the rest of the small +party devoted to him, on the extreme left of the boarding-line of +pirates. The next officer on his right was Lieutenant Afton, who was +separated from him, however, by several men. At the extreme right of +the whole line had been Captain Vance; Lieutenant Seacome being left in +charge of the brig. + +Thus, when young Coe, holding Ada by the hand, alighted on the deck of +the _Duchess_, he found the second-lieutenant of the _Falcon_--with a +party of five men under his immediate command--between himself and the +defenders of the ship. He saw the wretch Afton, ever intent upon +spoil--after making, with all the assaulting party to his right, a rush +against the ship's crew, which forced the latter to give back a space-- +detach himself with four men from the rest of the pirates, and, crossing +the deck, hurry along the starboard side of the ship towards the +entrance to the cabin. + +It had been the first intention of Coe to throw himself, with his small +force, between the contending parties, and to insist upon the pirates +retiring to the brig; or, in case of their refusal to do so, to take +sides against them in the fight. But, seeing that the odds against the +ship's crew was now not so great, Captain Johnson and his mate having +joined them, he determined, with his followers, to pursue Afton, and to +prevent such mischief as he might be bent upon. + +Captain Johnson, when he saw so many of the pirate crew hastening +towards the cabin, was also anxious to follow them; but he was too hard +pressed by his enemies to allow him to do so. He hoped, moreover, that +the tenants of the cabin had had the forethought to barricade the door, +in which case the pirates might be prevented from breaking in upon Mr +Durocher and his family until he could overpower the force immediately +before him, and then, turning upon those who had gone towards the cabin, +might thus be able to overcome his enemies in detail. + +The door of the cabin had been barricaded by Mr Durocher, as well as he +could do so, with the aid of his daughter and the quadroon girl, but the +fastenings scarcely withstood for one moment the violent assault of +Afton and his men. + +They passed in without further opposition--the illness of Mr Durocher +preventing him from offering even a moment's resistance. An instant of +silence ensued, and then, above the noise of conflict without arose the +cries of distress from the cabin--the shrieks of women! That was the +cry most agonising to young Coe. + +"Here, my brave fellows!" he shouted, "follow me, and remember your own +mothers and sisters at home!" + +He dashed off down the deck, past the assailants and assailed still +struggling there, and, followed by Ada and his men, sprung into the +cabin to confront Afton and his men in their fiendish scheme. Afton, +having penetrated to the state-rooms, had seized Miss Durocher, and was +trying to drag her forth, preparatory to removing her to the brig. +"Unhand that lady, villain!" shouted Coe. "Villain yourself?" roared +Afton. "Who made you my master, I should like to know?" + +Afton was a strong man, but young Coe was both stronger and more active, +and when he was aroused and inflamed by a righteous anger the pirate was +but a child in his hands. He said not another word, but releasing the +lady from the grasp of the ruffian by a sudden and dexterous exertion, +he seized the pirate with both hands and swung him with tremendous force +through the state-room doorway into the saloon. So violently did the +latter strike the floor, that he lay at once without sense or motion. + +One of Afton's men, drawing a pistol, had pointed it at the head of the +infuriated rescuer; but ere he could pull the trigger, Ada, who already +had a pistol in her hand, fired, and broke his right arm, which fell +powerless to his side. He stooped to pick up the weapon which he had +dropped with the hand of his uninjured arm, but Ada drew another pistol +from her belt and presented it at his head. + +"If you attempt to take up that weapon again, Joe," she said, with +firmness of purpose expressed in her tones, "you are a dead man." + +The man yielded at once, and stood motionless and silent before the +pistol which she continued to hold with the muzzle towards him. + +At the same time when these scenes were occurring in the state-room, +others were taking place in the saloon. + +"Unhand that gentleman," said Bowsprit, to two men who held the sick Mr +Durocher prisoner. + +"We are acting under the orders of the second-lieutenant," replied one +of the men. + +"Point your pistols at those men," said Bowsprit, addressing those under +his command, himself presenting at them a weapon in each hand. + +His orders were at once obeyed. + +"We have pistols, too," gruffly said one of the men who held Mr +Durocher. + +"Now," said Billy, "release your prisoner at once, or I'll warrant +you'll never disobey orders again." + +At this moment the body of Afton came rushing head-foremost out of the +state-room. + +Seeing the condition of their officer, the two men unhanded Mr +Durocher, and sullenly threw their weapons upon the floor. + +The fourth of the men who had accompanied Afton, and who had stood at +the state-room door through all these scenes, apparently stupefied by +surprise, quietly handed his pistols and cutlass to Bowsprit. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER TWELVE. + +THE FATE OF THE FALCON. + + Sir, I thank you-- + My heart is full of thanks to you. + _The Dream_. + + *John*. Surrender, sirs. + *Isaac*. Never; we die first. + _Old Play_. + + Full many a fathom deep they rushed + Down--down the dark abyss. + _Ballad_. + +Mr Durocher, with the vivacity and warm-heartedness of a Frenchman, +embraced young Coe, calling him his preserver, and overwhelming him with +thanks. + +"Thank only God, my dear sir," replied the deliverer. "I am not doing +even all my duty. How many lives may be lost on deck while I am +delaying here! Mr Bowsprit," he continued, addressing that individual, +"bind the hands of your prisoners at once, and then come, with your men, +upon deck with me." + +Through the open door of the state-room he could see Ada, still pointing +her pistol at Joe, whose right arm hung loosely at his side. + +"Madam," asked John, "is that man's arm broken?" + +"Yes," she answered; "I broke it with a pistol-shot; but I understand a +little of surgery, and can easily set it if I can get a few splinters of +wood." + +Mr Durocher had hastened to his daughter and was holding her in his +embrace, when hearing the word madam addressed to a person in male +attire, he said-- + +"From this gentleman calling you madam, I suppose that you are a woman, +and understand those sudden sicknesses caused by excited feelings, and +peculiar to women?" + +"I am a woman," answered Ada, blushing; "and I understand you. I see +that your daughter has fainted. I will attend to her. Have you any +salts?" she continued, addressing Celeste. + +The poor quadroon girl was herself near to the point of swooning; but +aroused herself when thus addressed, and hastened to bring the +restoratives asked for. While she was searching for these among the +vials and bottles of the medicine-case, Mr Durocher laid his daughter +upon the bed. He then turned to Ada, and said-- + +"You need not trouble yourself with that man any more. Let him come +into my state-room adjoining this, and lie upon my bed. I understand +something of surgery myself; I also have the materials for making +splinters, and will dress his wound." + +Meantime, in the saloon, the hands of the prisoners were bound, even +those of Afton. Leaving one of his men to guard the prisoners, Coe and +the rest hastened upon deck. Scarcely five minutes had elapsed since he +had left the deck--so many incidents may occur in a brief period of +time, when the struggle is one of life and death. + +The man who had been placed at the helm by Captain Johnson still kept +his post. Through all the excitement and confusion, through the uproar +and perils of the storm and the battle, that sturdy and brave seaman +had, with unflinching patience and fidelity, and by a skilful management +of the helm, watched for and warded off the effect of every huge wave +which had threatened the safety of this ship. When the two vessels had +come together, he had, by good guidance, broken to a great extent the +force of the collision. When he had seen his comrades pressed by vastly +superior numbers, and knew that his own safety depended on their +successful defence--when he had seen the pirates hurry into the cabin +where were only the sickly old man and the two helpless females--he had +firmly maintained his post, steadily and faithfully performing the +duties which had been assigned to him. He knew that upon him depended +the safety of all on board; that the slightest neglect on his part, the +slightest failure of hand or eye, might allow the ship to broach to and +be swamped in the tremendous seas which were now running. + +Fidelity to duty, in instances of this kind, exhibits the purest type of +heroism of character. And such instances are very common in ordinary +life, among all classes, and especially among the humblest. There is +seldom any genuine heroism in mere fighting; when man's passions are +stirred--whether by feelings right or wrong--and his animal nature +thoroughly roused, fighting is an absolute enjoyment to him; and in +battle there is the additional incentive of glory to urge him to acts of +valour. But, too often, in the apparent stillness of quiet life, there +are duties which are discharged amid ceaseless temptations to neglect +them. These nobody notes as worthy of especial honour; because they +occur every day, every hour. Many persons cross the Atlantic to see +Niagara, and they talk of its grandeur and sublimity--and justly do they +do so; yet who speaks of, or even notes the fact, which all must +acknowledge, that the sky, which by day and by night bends over the head +of every man, woman, and child in every part of the world, is a thousand +times grander and more sublime than even the wonderful cataract? A +blessed truth it is to the humble disciples of humble duty, that, though +no earthly being observes them with praise, God sees them. + +There was yet a faint glimmer of daylight when John Coe came upon the +deck of the ship. In that dim light the fight was still going on. It +had commenced with twelve men from the _Falcon_ on the one side, and ten +men belonging to the _Duchess_ on the other. So nearly were the +individuals of the contending parties balanced in personal strength and +prowess, that the success of the pirates had been very nearly in exact +proportion to their superiority of number. The loss was of two men upon +each side, and the defenders of the ship had been driven back to a +position very near to the quarter-deck; but of the pirates one was +wounded and one was killed, while of the defenders two only were +wounded. Both of the parties were fighting with cutlasses only; the +pistols had all been fired in the beginning of the engagement, and there +had since been no opportunity of reloading them. + +Coe, with his small force, threw himself between the contending ranks, +flashing his cutlass right and left, and striking upwards the clashing +weapons. + +"Hold your hands," he cried, in a loud voice. "My party is a small one; +but we are enough to settle this contest at once in favour of the side +into whose support we may throw ourselves." + +The pirates at once dropped their points and fell back; they, of course, +felt convinced that a reinforcement had come to their help. Captain +Johnson and his men, however, naturally looking upon the new comers as +enemies, and supposing that Coe's mode of dealing with existing affairs +was a _ruse_ to take them at disadvantage, were not disposed to cease +fighting so readily. Still, Captain Johnson reflected that it would be +well to hear what proposition was to be made. He, therefore, dropped +his point and retired a step or two, and ordered his men to cease +fighting and to fall back. His command was immediately obeyed. + +"Mr Brown," said Coe, addressing Bowsprit, as soon as he saw that the +fighting was suspended, "you and your men are supplied with two pistols +apiece, I believe?" + +"Yes, sir," answered Billy. + +"Are they all loaded?" asked Coe. + +"All loaded," was the echoed answer. + +"Then draw, each of you, one in each hand," said our hero, "and have +each pistol ready for instant use. But keep your cutlasses suspended by +the cord from the right wrist." + +Coe's order was instantly obeyed; and he himself at the moment prepared +his weapons as he had commanded the others to prepare theirs. + +"Gentlemen pirates," he said, sarcastically, addressing those of the +boarding-party who had been engaged in the fight, "you will remember +that when I accepted the high and distinguished office of captain of +marines on board of the brig _Falcon_, the free rover, I did so +provisionally, and on the express condition that I retained the right of +resigning whenever I should think proper to do so. I exercise that +reserved right now. I resign the honourable post so flatteringly +offered to me; and I am, therefore, no longer a member of the gallant +band composing the crew of the brig _Falcon_." + +"What's the meaning of all this fine talk?" asked a gruff-looking +pirate. "What have we got to do with your affairs at this time?" + +"It means that I never have been, and never have intended to be, a +pirate," answered the captain; "I had rather die a thousand deaths than +be one of your kind. I was taken prisoner by deceit, and was then +entirely in your power; yet, even in such circumstances, my first +impulse was to defy your whole band and thus to bring on my own death +rather than to seem to become a member of your ship's company. I was +induced to act as I have done, partly by the advice of a friend whom +circumstances had forced to remain among you, but mainly by the +conviction that the Ruler of Events would not have allowed me to be +taken prisoner by you merely for the purpose of permitting my death. I +hoped not only that I might thus be able to make my escape, but that I +might prevent some of the evil which you are accustomed to do in your +vocation, and might also find amongst your number some whom I could +induce to become again honest men. I see a good prospect of success in +all these objects." + +"What's the use of all this argufying?" said the sailor who had before +spoken, and who was boatswain of the _Falcon_. "Tell us what do you +mean? What are you going to do?" + +"What I mean is this," answered Coe. "Lay down your arms at once and +surrender. You have no chance of defending yourselves successfully +against such odds as will now be opposed to you." + +"You don't mean to say," said the boatswain, "that Leftenant Bowsprit +and them others there have turned agin us?" + +"We are all," answered Bowsprit, "pledged to stand by Mr Coe for life +or death." + +"As to them other fellows there," said the boatswain, "I never had much +faith in them; but I didn't think, leftenant, that you would ever desert +us." + +"I am determined," replied Bowsprit, "to live hereafter, and to die, an +honest man." + +"And to get yourself hanged," sneered the sailor. + +"I had rather things should come to that," said Bowsprit, "than ever to +be a pirate again." + +"Come," said Coe; "you must decide quickly. Do you surrender?" + +"Never," answered the boatswain. "We can hold out until old bully Afton +comes from the cabin--confound him, he's always after the gals and the +rhino--we shall then be equal to you. Never say `die'--heh, boys?" + +The pirates answered him by cheers, mingled with oaths, swearing that +they would rather die where they stood like men, than to be hanged like +dogs. + +"You need not expect help from Afton or his men," said the resolute Coe, +addressing the pirates; "I have them all bound in the cabin." + +"Mr Coe," said Bowsprit, who did not like to take a part in consigning +any of his old comrades to the gallows, "suppose we allow them to escape +to the _Falcon_?" That question was never answered. The reference made +by Bill Bowsprit to the brig caused most of the pirates, and the +boatswain among the number, to turn their faces towards the vessel. +What they saw determined them to immediate action. Most men come to a +resolution very speedily when a sudden emergency leaves them but a brief +time for doing so. + +When the two cannon were fired by Captain Johnson and one of his mates +at the very moment when the pirates boarded the _Duchess_, the effect of +the rebound of the guns upon one vessel and of the striking of the shot +upon the other had a violent tendency to drive the ship and the brig +apart. The hold of the grappling-irons and other fastenings which kept +the two vessels together was therefore, much weakened by the shock. The +violent dashing against each other of the ship and the brig had not only +carried away a considerable part of the upper-works, but threatened, if +continued much longer, to dash in the very sides of the two vessels; of +course, this ceaseless motion tended to weaken more and more the bonds +which held the ship and the brig together. + +At the very moment when the boatswain and others of the pirates looked +towards the brig, these fastenings gave way, and the two vessels were +about to part. + +"Come, boys! quick!" cried the boatswain, rushing towards the guards of +the ship. He was immediately followed by all of his men who were left +alive, except the one who lay wounded upon the ship's deck. The next +instant they sprang from the broken guards of the _Duchess_ towards the +deck of the _Falcon_; in the confusion and hurry three of them missed +the leap, fell into the sea and were drowned. At the same time the +vessels parted. + +When the boatswain gained the brig, he turned round to those whom he +left on the deck of the ship, shook his fist, and exclaimed, in a voice +that was heard above the sound of the wind and the sea: + +"Look out for the Long Tom!" + +"We should not have allowed them to escape," said John Coe to Captain +Johnson. + +"It is better as it is," said the captain. "We have escaped from a fate +so terrible, that all minor perils are but as trifles in comparison. I +know not who you are, young gentleman; but your appearance and action +among us have been so wonderful that it almost seems as if you were an +angel sent from heaven to rescue us." + +"You do me too much honour," said the young man. "But I will explain to +you everything when we have leisure. At present, there are the wounded +to be attended to." + +"True," replied the captain. Then turning to his men, he added, "Bring +lights, some of you, and remove the wounded below." + +By this time the vessels were some twenty yards apart. + +"See!" exclaimed Billy Bowsprit, "they are loading the cannon on board +the _Falcon_." + +Only dimly through the night shadows could the deck of the brig be seen; +for now the last vestige of daylight had departed. + +Some of the men who belonged to the _Duchess_ were enabled to assist in +loading the two cannon; for Captain Johnson had expressed his +determination that, if a shot was fired from the pirate-brig, he would, +as before, return them two for one. + +"The two shots which I fired at the moment of their boarding us," he +said to Coe, "made a good-sized hole in their hull just above the +water-mark; and they must have taken in considerable water through it, +during the tossing and pitching of the brig. I will make another hole +in their timbers if they fire at me again." + +Even while he spoke a shot came from the _Falcon_. It was fired, +probably, by the skilful hand of Seacome; for it again carried away a +part of the guards. Fortunately, no one was injured. + +Captain Johnson quickly responded with his two guns. His object was to +strike the enemy's hull, near where his last two shots had struck; and +he probably did so, for, in a few moments afterwards--by the light of +the lamps on board the _Falcon_--men were seen hurrying to and fro in +apparently great excitement. Loud tones were also heard, seemingly +giving orders. + +All who were on the deck of the _Duchess_ stood still, listening and +watching. + +"Your shot must have done them serious damage," said Coe, at length, to +Captain Johnson; "the excitement seems to increase." + +"It seems to me," said Billy Bowsprit, who was watching things sharply, +"the _Falcon_ is settling in the water." + +Upon the background of the sky, the spectators on board the _Duchess_ +could see the masts of the brig slowly bend forward; still slowly for a +while they moved onward in the same direction, sinking, sinking from the +horizontal line in the sky which they had formerly touched; and then +their motion was gradually accelerated. + +"See!" exclaimed Bowsprit, "her bows are going under, as sure as my name +is William." + +That instant, a wild, despairing and mingled cry arose from the deck of +the _Falcon_; the next moment that gallant craft plunged head-foremost +into the sea and disappeared. + +"God have mercy on their souls!" exclaimed Captain Johnson. "The best +among them can be but little prepared to enter the other world." + +The captain of the _Duchess_ then ordered a thorough examination to be +made of the damage done to his ship. For many feet along the larboard +beam and larboard bow the guards were almost entirely torn away. From +the fact that the ship was also leaking, it was evident that the planks +had been started somewhat where the larboard side of the _Duchess_ had +been beaten against by the starboard of the _Falcon_; a single pump kept +regularly at work easily balanced the effects of this leak. A part of +this labour was performed by some of Billy Bowsprit's men, all of whom-- +at the suggestion of Coe--reported themselves to Captain Johnson for +duty as a part of his crew. + +Afton and three of his men who were unwounded were put in irons and +removed to safe keeping in the forward part of the ship; and the man +whose arm had been broken by Ada Marston's shot was placed with the rest +of the wounded in the sailor's quarters, where they were all made as +comfortable as circumstances would allow. After these tasks had been +attended to, Captain Johnson read the "funeral service at sea" over the +bodies of the dead, which, enshrouded and with weights attached to them, +were launched into the ocean. The decks were then scrubbed by the light +of lanterns, the watch set for the night, and all made secure. + +These duties being performed, Captain Johnson, Coe, and Bowsprit went +down into the cabin, to look after the condition of things there. They +found Louise recovered from her swoon, but still very pale and nervous. +She sat beside the sofa, on which lay her father, very ill from the +shock of his recent terrible excitement. The quadroon girl was crouched +upon the floor at the feet of her mistress; she also was very pale, and +her eyes still had a wild and alarmed look. Ada, too, sat upon the +floor, at a little distance from the others, her head against the seat +of a chair, and her face hidden in her hands. She had been upon deck +and had seen the brig sink in the ocean. She had learned of her +husband's death; that she was weeping proved that she was a woman. + +There was not much rest for Captain Johnson that night; the leaky +condition of his ship, and the still strong gale and high-rolling waves +kept him on the alert. Billy Bowsprit, who was a thorough seaman, +insisted upon watching with the captain. Coe was assigned a berth in +one of the state-rooms forward of the saloon. Knowing that he could be +of no farther use, he consented to retire for the night. Being much +fatigued, he soon fell asleep, in dreams to recall, in forms more or +less distorted, all the incidents of the day; yet amid all the scenes +which his memory presented to his imagination, bent over him the soft, +appealing eyes, the pale and beautiful face of Louise Durocher. + + + +STORY TWO, CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +GATHERED ENDS. + + Melting and mingling into one + Two kindred souls. + _Anon_. + + And so his life was gently exhaled in peace. + _Anon_. + + Hail, wedded love! + _Paradise Lost_. + + That's the very moral on't. + _Nym_. + +The gale continued blowing all that night, all the next day, and for two +or three days following. The injured condition of the ship made it +unsafe for her to contend against the force of so strong a wind; and she +was, therefore, kept directly before it. While the _Duchess_ was thus +running before the wind, two of the wounded pirates and three of the +wounded of the ship's crew died, and were committed to the deep. The +man whose arm had been broken by Ada's pistol-shot, and the other two of +the wounded men belonging to the ship's company, recovered before the +arrival of the vessel in port. + +A consultation was held in Mr Durocher's state-room, on the day after +the fight, between Mr Durocher himself, Captain Johnson, and John Coe, +to which Billy Bowsprit was also admitted, and in which it was +determined that as soon as the gale should abate, the ship should be +steered for the nearest port in the United States. This determination +was formed, that the ship might receive the necessary repairs, and that +the captured pirates might be surrendered to the Government whose +citizens they were. + +On the fourth day after the fight the wind from the west had so abated +that the course of the ship was changed, and she was headed towards the +west. On the fifth day a fresh wind from the north arose; and, impelled +by it, the _Duchess_ made good progress for the American coast. + +Meanwhile, the gallant young Marylander had become intimately acquainted +with Mr Durocher and his daughter. He told to them the singular +history of his connection with the pirates, of which Ada had already +given them some particulars. The warm-hearted old French gentleman +became much attached to the brave fellow, upon whom he could not look, +he said, without remembering the awful horror from which he had +delivered his daughter and himself. Besides, he esteemed him as an +impersonation of courage and genius, because, in circumstances in which, +according to ordinary apprehension, it seemed impossible to avoid being +forced to the commission of crime, he had not only overcome his enemies, +saving the penitent, and destroying the hopelessly guilty, but had also +escaped from all the difficulties which had surrounded him, with his own +hands unstained by human blood. + +The fair and gentle Louise, too, was not insensible to the merits of her +deliverer; her fervid feelings recognised in him a personification of +the knights of old; and, with the spirit of self-sacrifice which greatly +influences the tender and amiable of her sex, she longed to devote the +services of her life to him in requital for her salvation from a +horrible doom. + +It must be confessed that "the deliverer" was not unimpressible nor +unimpressed. Fixed for ever in his memory was the image of that young +and loving girl, as he first beheld her when she lay pale, senseless, +and perfectly helpless in the power of the pirate. And when he saw her +afterwards, fully awakened to life, and her intelligent and enthusiastic +mind and kind and loving heart expressing themselves in every glance of +her soft blue eyes, in every flush that tinged her fair cheeks, in every +expression of her beautiful lips, and in every musical sentence that +issued from between them, he could scarcely realise that the bright +form, clad in white robes, expressive of purity, and the shining face, +surrounded by a halo of golden hair, belonged not to an angelic +presence. + +Indeed, these two young hearts required but an uttered word to cause the +fountain of mutual love, like the waters of Horeb brought forth by the +touch of the prophet's wand, to pour out for each other its treasures of +tenderness. And that word was at length spoken, with the entire +approbation of Mr Durocher, whose friendship and fatherly regard for +the young man was almost as great as his daughter's love. + +The merchant's health, already weak, had received a terrible shock from +the agony which his heart experienced on the evening of the assault of +the pirates, a shock from the effects of which he never recovered, and +when the _Duchess_ entered Charleston Harbour, three weeks after that +dreadful evening, he had to be carried on a bed from the boat to the +rooms engaged for his party at the hotel. To this house, Ada Marston +and John Coe accompanied him. + +Immediately on arriving at Charleston, John wrote to his parents, +informing them of all the remarkable adventures which had befallen him, +and mentioning the state of affairs between Louise and himself. In due +course he received letters from his father and mother, stating the great +happiness of all the family at hearing of his safety, and expressing the +full and joyous consent of Mr and Mrs Coe to the engagement of their +son with Miss Durocher. + +These letters gave great satisfaction to Mr Durocher. He learned from +them that his child was about to enter a family by whom she would be +received and cherished as indeed a daughter and sister. As his health +was rapidly failing, and he felt that death was near at hand, he +expressed an earnest desire that the marriage ceremony between John and +Louise should not be postponed; he wished, before his departure, to see +his daughter in the lawful care of a protector in whose honourable +character and sincere love for her he himself had perfect faith. His +will was law under the circumstances; and, on the second day after the +receipt of the letters from Millmont, John Alvan Coe and Louise Durocher +were united for life, at the bedside of the bride's dying father, by a +minister of the church to which all the parties belonged. + +Mr Durocher survived his daughter's marriage but two weeks. His +sick-bed was waited on by two attentive and affectionate children, and +his last days were soothed by the knowledge that he had done all that +could be done to secure for his beloved child a happy life. + +A few days after the death of Mr Durocher, John Coe and his wife left +Charleston, and arrived in due course of time at the young husband's old +home at Millmont--but a little more than two months after he had +disappeared from the latter place in a manner apparently so mysterious. + +In less than a year John realised the amount of his wife's fortune, with +a part of which a large estate was purchased in one of the upper +counties of Maryland. Upon this estate a handsome building was erected, +to which he removed his family in the second year of his marriage. His +descendants, distinguished, like their ancestors, for intellect and +energy, still occupy that mansion. + +A few words must be allowed with regard to our other characters. + +Afton and the four pirates taken prisoners with him, were tried, a few +months after their capture, before one of the United States Courts, in +Baltimore, to which port their vessel had belonged. They were all found +guilty and sentenced to be hanged. Two of them died in prison before +the day appointed for their execution, the other three--of whom the +ruffian Afton was one--suffered the extreme penalty of the law. + +John Coe kept his promise to Billy Bowsprit and the five repentant +pirates. His father's influence, and that of all his father's friends, +was used to obtain their pardon; and when it was made clearly apparent +that but for their help the result of the fight between the _Duchess_ +and the _Falcon_ would have been entirely different, that pardon was +readily granted. + +Perhaps the reader has some desire to know what was the future fortune +of Ada. + +She accompanied Coe and his wife from Charleston to Maryland. Here a +fresh grief awaited her. Her father, in alarm at hearing of the safety +and early return of young Coe, and in dread of the consequences of the +exposure which must ensue, had hastily and rashly taken his own life. + +By the death of her father without a will, she became heir to one half +of his wealth, there being but one other child of Mr Ashleigh, a grown +son, to divide his property with her. She thus became an heiress; and +several young gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Drum Point and elsewhere +were quite willing, on account of her riches and her great beauty, to +forget that she was the daughter of a receiver of smuggled goods and the +widow of a pirate, and made her a tender of their hands. Ada, however, +politely declined all these disinterested offers. About a year and a +half after the death of her first husband she was married to Billy +Bowsprit. Billy had been the only person on board the brig who had +invariably treated her with kindness and respect; he had been her +champion on all occasions, and she knew that he was devoted to her. +Moreover, he could not upbraid her for having been the wife of a pirate. + +Mr and Mrs Brown (to give them their right title) wished to be away +from the neighbourhood of those who were acquainted with their +antecedents. The lady's portion of her father's estate was, therefore, +soon after her marriage, converted into funds, with which a large +plantation was purchased in Mississippi. To this they removed, where +they prospered, and some of their descendants still flourish in that +State. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fatal Cord, by Mayne Reid + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FATAL CORD *** + +***** This file should be named 35195.txt or 35195.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/1/9/35195/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +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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