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diff --git a/old/63014-8.txt b/old/63014-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 28e7dac..0000000 --- a/old/63014-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5431 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Masterpieces of Adventure--Stories of -Desert Places, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Masterpieces of Adventure--Stories of Desert Places - -Author: Various - -Editor: Nella Braddy - -Release Date: August 23, 2020 [EBook #63014] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURE--STORIES OF DESERT PLACES *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines - - - - - - - - - Masterpieces of - Adventure - - _In Four Volumes_ - - STORIES OF DESERT PLACES - - - - Edited by - Nella Braddy - - - - Garden City New York - Doubleday, Page & Company - 1922 - - - - - COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY - DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY - - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION - INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN - - PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES - AT - THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y. - - - - - GRATEFULLY DEDICATED - TO - BLANCHE COLTON WILLIAMS, Ph.D. - - - - -EDITOR'S NOTE - -In these volumes the word _adventure_ has been used in its broadest -sense to cover not only strange happenings in strange places but also -love and life and death--all things that have to do with the great -adventure of living. Questions as to the fitness of a story were -settled by examining the qualities of the narrative as such rather -than by reference to a technical classification of short stories. - -It is the inalienable right of the editor of a work of this kind to -plead copyright difficulties in extenuation for whatever faults it -may possess. We beg the reader to believe that this is why his -favorite story was omitted while one vastly inferior was included. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -I. THE BARON'S QUARRY - _Edgerton Castle_ - -II. A MAN AND SOME OTHERS - _Stephen Crane_ - -III. THE OUTLAWS - _Selma Lagerlöf_ - -IV. PRINCESS BOB AND HER FRIENDS - _Bret Harte_ - -V. THE THREE STRANGERS - _Thomas Hardy_ - -VI. THE PASSING OF BLACK EAGLE - _O. Henry_ - -VII. NIÑO DIABLO - _W. H. Hudson_ - - - - -Masterpieces of Adventure - -_STORIES OF DESERT PLACES_ - - -I - -THE BARON'S QUARRY* - -EGERTON CASTLE - -*Reprinted by permission of D. Appleton & Co. - - -"Oh no, I assure you, you are not boring Mr. Marshfield," said this -personage himself in his gentle voice--that curious voice that could -flow on for hours, promulgating profound and startling theories on -every department of human knowledge or conducting paradoxical -arguments without a single inflection or pause of hesitation. "I am, -on the contrary, much interested in your hunting talk. To paraphrase -a well-worn quotation somewhat widely, _nihil humanum a me alienum -est_. Even hunting stories may have their point of biological -interest: the philologist sometimes pricks his ear to the jargon of -the chase; moreover, I am not incapable of appreciating the -subject-matter itself. This seems to excite some derision. I admit -I am not much of a sportsman to look at, nor, indeed, by instinct, -yet I have had some out-of-the-way experiences in that -line--generally when intent on other pursuits. I doubt, for -instance, if even you, Major Travers, notwithstanding your well-known -exploits against man and beast, notwithstanding that doubtful smile -of yours, could match the strangeness of a certain hunting adventure -in which I played an important part." - -The speaker's small, deep-set, black eyes, that never warmed to -anything more human than a purely speculative, scientific interest in -his surroundings, here wandered round the sceptical yet expectant -circle with bland amusement. He stretched out his bloodless fingers -for another of his host's superfine cigars and proceeded, with only -such interruptions as were occasioned by the lighting and careful -smoking of the latter. - - -"I was returning home after my prolonged stay in Petersburg, -intending to linger on my way and test with mine own ears certain -among the many dialects of eastern Europe--anent which there is a -symmetrical little cluster of philological knotty points it is my -modest intention one day to unravel. However, that is neither here -nor there. On the road to Hungary I bethought myself opportunely of -proving the once pressingly offered hospitality of the Baron -Kossowski. - -"You may have met the man, Major Travers, he was a tremendous -sportsman, if you like. I first came across him at McNeil's place in -remote Ireland. Now, being in Bukowina, within measurable distance -of his Carpathian abode, and curious to see a Polish lord at home, I -remembered his invitation. It was already of long standing, but it -had been warm, born in fact of a sudden fit of enthusiasm for -me"--here a half-mocking smile quivered an instant under the -speaker's black moustache--"which, as it was characteristic, I may as -well tell you about. - -"It was on the day of, or rather, to be accurate, on the day after my -arrival, toward the small hours of the morning, in the smoking-room -at Rathdrum. Our host was peacefully snoring over his empty pipe and -his seventh glass of whiskey, also empty. The rest of the men had -slunk off to bed. The baron, who all unknown to himself had been a -subject of most interesting observation to me the whole evening, -being now practically alone with me, condescended to turn an eye, as -wide awake as a fox's, albeit slightly bloodshot, upon the -contemptible white-faced person who had preferred spending the raw -hours over his papers, within the radius of a glorious fire's warmth, -to creeping slily over treacherous quagmires in the pursuit of timid -bog creatures (snipe shooting had been the order of the day)--the -baron, I say, became aware of my existence and entered into -conversation with me. - -"He would no doubt have been much surprised could he have known that -he was already mapped out, craniologically and physiognomically, -catalogued with care, and neatly laid by in his proper ethnological -box, in my private type museum, that, as I sat and examined him from -my different coigns of vantage in library, in dining and smoking room -that evening, not a look of his, not a gesture went forth but had -significance for me. - -"You, I had thought, with your broad shoulders and deep chest, your -massive head that should have gone with a tall stature, not with -those short, sturdy limbs; with your thick red hair, that should have -been black for that matter, with your wide-set, yellow eyes, you -would be a real puzzle to one who did not recognize in you equal -mixtures of the fair, stalwart, and muscular Slav with the -bilious-sanguine, thick-set, wiry Turanian. Your pedigree would no -doubt bear me out; there is as much of the Magyar as of the Pole in -your anatomy. Athlete, and yet a tangle of nerves; a ferocious brute -at bottom, I dare say, for your broad forehead inclines to flatness, -under your bristling beard your jaw must protrude, and the base of -your skull is ominously thick. And, with all that, capable of ideal -transports; when that girl played and sang to-night I saw the -swelling of your eyelid veins, and how that small, tenacious, -clawlike hand of yours twitched. You would be a fine leader of -men--but God help the wretches in your power! - -"So had I mused upon him. Yet I confess that when we came into -closer contact with each other even I was not proof against the -singular courtesy of his manner and his unaccountable personal charm. - -"Our conversation soon grew interesting; to me as a matter of course, -and evidently to him also. A few general words led to interchange of -remarks upon the country we were both visitors in and so to national -characteristics--Pole and Irishman have not a few in common, both in -their nature and history. An observation which he made, not without -a certain flash in his light eyes and a transient uncovering of the -teeth, on the Irish type of female beauty, suddenly suggested to me a -stanza of an ancient Polish ballad, very full of milk-and-blood -imagery, of alternating ferocity and voluptuousness. This I quoted -to the astounded foreigner, in the vernacular, and this it was that -metamorphosed his mere perfection of civility into sudden warmth, -and, in fact, procured me the invitation in question. - -"When I left Rathdrum the baron's last words to me were that if I -ever thought of visiting his country otherwise than in books he held -me bound to make Yany, his Galician seat, my headquarters of study. - -"From Czernowicz, therefore, where I stopped some time, I wrote, -received in due time a few lines of prettily worded reply, and -ultimately entered my sled in the nearest town to, yet at a most -forbidding distance from, Yany, and started on my journey thither. - -"The undertaking meant many long hours of undulation and skidding -over the November snow, to the somniferous bell-jangle of my dirty -little horses; the only impression of interest being a weird gipsy -concert I came in for at a miserable drinking-booth half buried in -the snow where we halted for the refreshment of man and beast. Here, -I remember, I discovered a very definite connection between the -characteristic run of the tsimbol, the peculiar bite of the -Zigeuner's bow on his fiddle-string, and some distinctive points of -Turanian tongues--in other countries, in Spain for instance, your -gipsy speaks differently on his instrument. But, oddly enough, when -I later attempted to put this observation on paper I could find no -word to express it." - - -A few of our company evinced signs of sleepiness, but most of us who -knew Marshfield, and that he who could, unless he had something novel -to say, be as silent and retiring as he now evinced signs of being -copious, awaited further with patience. He has his own deliberate -way of speaking, which he evidently enjoys greatly, though it be -occasionally trying to his listeners. - -"On the afternoon of my second day's drive, the snow, which till then -had fallen fine and continuous, ceased, and my Jehu, suddenly -interrupting himself in the midst of some exciting wolf story, quite -in keeping with the time of year and the wild surroundings, pointed -to a distant spot against the grey sky to the north-west, between two -wood-covered folds of ground--the first eastern spurs of the great -Carpathian chain. - -"'There stands Yany,' said he. - -"I looked at my far-off goal with interest. As we drew nearer, the -sinking sun, just dipping behind the hills, tinged the now distinct -frontage with a cold, copperlike gleam, but it was only for a minute; -the next the building became nothing more to the eye than a black -irregular silhouette against the crimson sky. - -"Before we entered the long, steep avenue of poplars, the early -winter darkness was upon us, rendered all the more depressing by grey -mists which gave a ghostly aspect to such objects as the sheen of the -snow rendered visible. Once or twice there were feeble flashes of -light looming in iridescent halos as we passed little clusters of -hovels, but for which I should have been induced to fancy that the -great Hof stood alone in the wilderness, such was the deathly -stillness around. But even as the tall square building rose before -us above the vapour, yellow lighted in various stories, and mighty in -height and breadth, there broke upon my ear a deep-mouthed, menacing -bay, which gave at once almost alarming reality to the eerie -surroundings. - -"'His lordship's boar and wolf hounds,' quoth my charioteer calmly, -unmindful of the regular pandemonium of howls and barks which ensued -as he skilfully turned his horses through the gateway and flogged the -tired beasts into a sort of shambling canter that we might land with -glory before the house door; a weakness common, I believe, to drivers -of all nations. - -"I alighted in the court of honour, and while awaiting an answer to -my tug at the bell, stood, broken with fatigue, depressed, chilled -and aching, questioning the wisdom of my proceedings and the amount -of comfort, physical and moral, that was likely to await me in a -_tête-à-tête_ visit with a well-mannered savage in his own home. - -"The unkempt tribe of stable retainers who began to gather round me -and my rough vehicle in the gloom, with their evil-smelling -sheepskins and their resigned battered visages, were not calculated -to reassure me. Yet when the door opened, there stood a smart -chasseur and a solemn major-domo who might but just have stepped out -of Mayfair; and there was displayed a spreading vista of warm, -deep-coloured halls, with here a statue and there a stuffed bear, and -underfoot pile carpets strewn with rarest skins. - -"Marvelling, yet comforted withal, I followed the solemn butler, who -received me with the deference due to an expected guest and expressed -the master's regret for his enforced absence till dinner-time. I -traversed vast rooms, each more sumptuous than the last, feeling the -strangeness of the contrast between the outer desolation and this -sybaritic excess of luxury growing ever more strongly upon me; caught -a glimpse of a picture-gallery, where peculiar yet admirably executed -latter-day French pictures hung side by side with ferocious boar -hunts of Snyder and such kin; and, at length, was ushered into a most -cheerful room, modern to excess in its comfortable promise, where, in -addition to the tall stove necessary for warmth, there burned on an -open hearth a vastly pleasant fire of resinous logs, and where, on a -low table, awaited me a dainty service of fragrant Russian tea. - -"My impression of utter novelty seemed somehow enhanced by this -unexpected refinement in the heart of the solitudes and in such a -rugged shell, and yet, when I came to reflect, it was only -characteristic of my cosmopolitan host. But another surprise was in -store for me. - -"When I had recovered bodily warmth and mental equilibrium in my -downy armchair, before the roaring logs, and during the delicious -absorption of my second glass of tea, I turned my attention to the -French valet, evidently the baron's own man, who was deftly unpacking -my portmanteau, and who, unless my practised eye deceived me, asked -for nothing better than to entertain me with agreeable conversation -the while. - -"'Your master is out, then,' quoth I, knowing that the most trivial -remark would suffice to start him. - -"True, monseigneur was out; he was desolated in despair (this with -the national amiable and imaginative instinct); but it was doubtless -important business. M. le Baron had the visit of his factor during -the midday meal; had left the table hurriedly, and had not been seen -since. Madame la Baronne had been a little suffering, but she would -receive monsieur. - -"'Madame!' exclaimed I, astounded. 'Is your master then married? -since when?'--visions of a fair Tartar, fit mate for my baron, -immediately springing somewhat alluringly before my mental vision. -But the answer dispelled the picturesque fancy. - -"'Oh yes,' said the man, with a somewhat peculiar expression. 'Yes, -monseigneur is married. Did monsieur not know? And yet it was from -England that monseigneur brought back his wife.' - -"'An Englishwoman!' - -"My first thought was one of pity; an Englishwoman alone in this -wilderness--two days' drive from even a railway station--and at the -mercy of Kossowski! But the next minute I reversed my judgment. -Probably she adored her rufous lord, took his veneer of courtesy--a -veneer of the most exquisite polish, I grant you, but perilously -thin--for the very perfection of chivalry. Or perchance it was his -inner savageness itself that charmed her; the most refined women -often amaze one by the fascination which the preponderance of the -brute in the opposite sex seems to have for them. - -"I was anxious to hear more. - -"'Is it not dull for the lady here at this time of year?' - -"The valet raised his shoulders with a gesture of despair that was -almost passionate. - -"Dull! Ah, monsieur could not conceive to himself the dulness of it. -That poor Madame la Baronne! not even a little child to keep her -company on the long, long days when there was nothing but snow in the -heaven and on the earth and the howling of the wind and the dogs to -cheer her. At the beginning, indeed, it had been different; when the -master first brought home his bride the house was gay enough. It was -all redecorated and refurnished to receive her (monsieur should have -seen it before, a mere _rendezvous-de-chasse_--for the matter of that -so were all the country houses in these parts!) Ah, that was the -good time! There were visits month after month; parties, sleighing, -dancing, trips to St. Petersburg and Vienna. But this year it seemed -they were to have nothing but boars and wolves. How madame could -stand it--well, it was not for him to speak--and heaving a deep sigh -he delicately inserted my white tie round my collar, and with a -flourish twisted it into an irreproachable bow beneath my chin. - -"I did not think it right to cross-examine the willing talker any -further, especially as, despite his last asseveration, there were -evidently volumes he still wished to pour forth; but I confess that, -as I made my way slowly out of my room along the noiseless length of -passage, I was conscious of an unwonted, not to say vulgar, curiosity -concerning the woman who had captivated such a man as the Baron -Kossowski. - -"In a fit of speculative abstraction I must have taken the wrong -turning, for I presently found myself in a long, narrow passage I did -not remember. I was retracing my steps when there came the sound of -rapid footfalls upon stone flags; a little door flew open in the wall -close to me, and a small, thick-set man, huddled in the rough -sheepskin of the Galician peasant, with a mangy fur cap on his head, -nearly ran headlong into my arms. I was about condescendingly to -interpellate him in my best Polish when I caught the gleam of an -angry yellow eye and noted the bristle of a red beard--Kossowski! - -"Amazed, I fell back a step in silence. With a growl, like an -uncouth animal disturbed, he drew his filthy cap over his brow with a -savage gesture and pursued his way down the corridor at a sort of -wild-boar trot. - -"This first meeting between host and guest was so odd, so -incongruous, that it afforded me plenty of food for a fresh line of -conjecture as I traced my way back to the picture-gallery, and from -thence successfully to the drawing-room, which, as the door was ajar, -I could not this time mistake. - -"It was large and lofty and dimly lit by shaded lamps; through the -rosy gloom I could at first only just make out a slender figure by -the hearth; but as I advanced, this was resolved into a singularly -graceful woman in clinging, fur-trimmed velvet gown, who, with one -hand resting on the high mantelpiece, the other hanging listlessly by -her side, stood gazing down at the crumbling wood fire as if in a -dream. - -"My friends are kind enough to say that I have a catlike tread; I -know not how that may be, at any rate the carpet I was walking upon -was thick enough to smother a heavier footfall; not until I was quite -close to her did my hostess become aware of my presence. Then she -started violently and looked over her shoulder at me with dilating -eyes. Evidently a nervous creature, I saw the pulse in her throat, -strained by her attitude, flutter like a terrified bird. - -"The next instant she had stretched out her hand with sweet, English -words of welcome, and the face, which I had been comparing in my mind -to that of Guide's Cenci, became transformed by the arch and -exquisite smile of a Greuse. For more than two years I had had no -intercourse with any of my nationality. I could conceive the sound -of his native tongue under such circumstances moving a man in a -curious, unexpected fashion. - -"I babbled some commonplace reply, after which there was silence -while we stood opposite each other, she looking at me expectantly. -At length, with a sigh checked by a smile and an overtone of sadness -in a voice that yet tried to be sprightly:-- - -"'Am I then so changed, Mr. Marshfield?' she asked. And all at once -I knew her: the girl whose nightingale throat had redeemed the -desolation of the evenings at Rathdrum, whose sunny beauty had seemed -(even to my celebrated, cold-blooded aestheticism) worthy to haunt a -man's dreams. Yes, there was the subtle curve of waist, the warm -line of throat, the dainty foot, the slender, tip-tilted -fingers--witty fingers, as I had classified them--which I now shook -like a true Briton, instead of availing myself of the privilege the -country gave me, and kissing her slender wrist. - -"But she was changed; and I told her so with unconventional -frankness, studying her closely as I spoke. - -"'I am afraid,' I said gravely, 'that this place does not agree with -you.' - -"She shrank from my scrutiny with a nervous movement and flushed to -the roots of her red-brown hair. Then she answered coldly that I was -wrong, that she was in excellent health, but that she could not -expect, any more than other people, to preserve perennial youth (I -rapidly calculated she might be two-and-twenty), though indeed, with -a little forced laugh, it was scarcely flattering to hear one had -altered out of all recognition. Then, without allowing me time to -reply, she plunged into a general topic of conversation which, as I -should have been obtuse indeed not to take the hint, I did my best to -keep up. - -"But while she talked of Vienna and Warsaw, of her distant neighbours -and last year's visitors, it was evident that her mind was elsewhere; -her eye wandered, she lost the thread of her discourse; answered me -at random, and smiled her piteous smile incongruously. - -"However lonely she might be in her solitary splendour, the company -of a countryman was evidently no such welcome diversion. - -"After a little while she seemed to feel herself that she was lacking -in cordiality, and, bringing her absent gaze to bear upon me with a -puzzled, strained look:-- - -"'I fear you will find it very dull,' she said; 'my husband is so -wrapped up this winter in his country life and his sport, you are the -first visitor we have had. There is nothing but guns and horses -here, and you do not care for these things.' - -"The door creaked behind us; and the baron entered, in faultless -evening dress. Before she turned toward him I was sharp enough to -catch again the upleaping of a quick dread in her eyes, not even so -much dread perhaps, I thought afterward, as horror--the horror we -notice in some animals at the nearing of a beast of prey. It was -gone in a second, and she was smiling. But it was a revelation. - -"Perhaps he beat her in Russian fashion, and she as an English woman -was narrow-minded enough to resent this; or perhaps merely I had the -misfortune to arrive during a matrimonial misunderstanding. - -"The baron would not give me leisure to reflect; he was so very -effusive in his greeting--not a hint of our previous meeting--unlike -my hostess, all in all to me; eager to listen, to reply; almost -affectionate, full of references to old times and genial allusions. -No doubt when he chose he could be the most charming of men; there -were moments when, looking at him in his correct attire, hearkening -to his cultured voice, marking his quiet smile and restrained -gesture, the almost exaggerated politeness of his manner to his wife, -whose fingers he had kissed with pretty, old-fashioned gallantry upon -his entrance, I asked myself, could that encounter in the passage -have been a dream? could that savage in the sheepskin be my courteous -entertainer? - -"'Just as I came in, did I hear my wife say there was nothing for you -to do in this place?' he said presently to me. Then, turning to -her:-- - -"'You do not seem to know Mr. Marshfield. Wherever he can open his -eyes, there is for him something to see which might not interest -other men. He will find things in my library which I have no notion -of. He will discover objects for scientific observation in all the -members of my household, not only in the good-looking maids--though -he could, I have no doubt, tell their points as I could those of a -horse. We have maidens here of several distinct races, Marshfield. -We have also witches, and Jew leeches, and holy daft people. In any -case, Yany, with all its dependencies, material, male, and female, -are at your disposal, for what you can make out of them.' - -"'It is good,' he went on gaily, 'that you should happen to have this -happy disposition, for I fear that, no later than to-morrow, I may -have to absent myself from home. I have heard that there are news of -wolves--they menace to be a greater pest than usual this winter, but -I am going to drive them on quite a new plan, and it will go hard -with me if I don't come even with them. Well for you, by the way, -Marshfield, that you did not pass within their scent to-day.' Then, -musingly: 'I should not give much for the life of a traveller who -happened to wander in these parts just now.' Here he interrupted -himself hastily, and went over to his wife who had sunk back on her -chair, livid, seemingly on the point of swooning. - -"His gaze was devouring; so might a man look at the woman he adored, -in his anxiety. - -"'What! faint, Violet, alarmed!' His voice was subdued, yet there -was an unmistakable thrill of emotion in it. - -"'Pshaw!' thought I to myself, 'the man is a model husband.' - -"She clenched her hands, and by sheer force of will seemed to pull -herself together. These nervous women have often an unexpected fund -of strength. - -"'Come, that is well,' said the baron, with a flickering smile; 'Mr. -Marshfield will think you but badly acclimatized to Poland if a -little wolf-scare can upset you. My dear wife is so soft-hearted,' -he went on to me, 'that she is capable of making herself quite ill -over the sad fate that might have, but has not, overcome you. Or, -perhaps,' he added, in a still gentler voice, 'her fear is that I may -expose myself to danger for the public weal.' - -"She turned her head away, but I saw her set her teeth as if to choke -a sob. The baron chuckled in his throat and seemed to luxuriate in -the pleasant thought. - -"At this moment folding doors were thrown open, and supper was -announced. I offered my arm, she rose and took it in silence. This -silence she maintained during the first part of the meal, despite her -husband's brilliant conversation and almost uproarious spirits. But, -by and by, a bright colour mounted to her cheeks and lustre to her -eyes. I suppose you will all think me horribly unpoetical if I add -that she drank several glasses of champagne one after the other, a -fact which perhaps may account for the change. - -"At any rate she spoke and laughed and looked lovely, and I did not -wonder that the baron could hardly keep his eyes off her. -But--whether it was her wifely anxiety or not--it was evident her -mind was not at ease through it all, and I fancied that her -brightness was feverish, her merriment slightly hysterical. - -"After supper--an exquisite one it was--we adjourned together, in -foreign fashion, to the drawing-room; the baron threw himself into a -chair and, somewhat with the air of a pasha, demanded music. He was -flushed; the veins of his forehead were swollen and stood out like -cords; the wine drunk at table was potent; even through my phlegmatic -frame it ran hotly. - -"She hesitated a moment or two, then docilely sat down to the piano. -That she could sing I have already made clear; how she could sing, -with what pathos, passion, as well as perfect art, I had never -realized before. - -"When the song was ended she remained for a while, with eyes lost in -distance, very still, save for her quick breathing. It was clear she -was moved by the music; indeed she must have thrown her whole soul -into it. - -"At first we, the audience, paid her the rare compliment of silence. -Then the baron broke forth into loud applause. - -"'Brava, brava! that was really said _con amore_. A delicious -love-song, delicious--but French. You must sing one of our Slav -melodies for Marshfield before you allow us to go and smoke.' - -"She started from her reverie with a flush, and after a pause struck -slowly a few simple chords, then began one of those strangely sweet -yet intensely pathetic Russian airs which give one a curious -revelation of the profound, endless melancholy lurking in the -national mind. - -"'What do you think of it?' asked the baron of me when it ceased. - -"'What I have always thought of such music--it is that of a hopeless -people; poetical, crushed, and resigned.' - -"He gave a loud laugh. 'Hear the analyst, the psychologue--why, man, -it is a love-song! Is it possible that we, uncivilized, are truer -realists than our hyper-cultured Western neighbours? Have we gone to -the root of the matter, in our simple way?' - -"The baroness got up abruptly. She looked white and spent; there -were bistre circles round her eyes. - -"'I am tired,' she said, with dry lips. 'You will excuse me, Mr. -Marshfield, I must really go to bed.' - -"'Go to bed, go to bed,' cried her husband gaily. Then, quoting in -Russian from the song she had just sung: 'Sleep, my little soft white -dove; my little innocent, tender lamb!' - -"She hurried from the room. The baron laughed again, and, taking me -familiarly by the arm led me to his own set of apartments for the -promised smoke. He ensconced me in an armchair, placed cigars of -every description, and a Turkish pipe ready to my hand and a little -table on which stood cut glass flasks and beakers in tempting array. - -"After I had selected my cigar with some precautions, I glanced at -him over a careless remark, and was startled to see a sudden -alteration in his whole look and attitude. - -"'You will forgive me, Marshfield,' he said, as he caught my eye, -speaking with spasmodic politeness. 'It is more than probable that I -shall have to set out upon this chase I spoke of to-night, and I must -now go and change my clothes, that I may be ready to start at any -moment. This is the hour when it is most likely these hell-beasts -are to be got at. You have all you want, I hope,' interrupting an -outbreak of ferocity by an effort after his former courtesy. - -"It was curious to watch the man of the world struggling with the -primitive man. - -"'But, baron,' said I, 'I do not at all see the fun of sticking at -home like this. You know my passion for witnessing everything new, -strange, and outlandish. You will surely not refuse me such an -opportunity for observation as a midnight wolf-raid. I will do my -best not to be in the way if you will take me with you.' - -"At first it seemed as if he had some difficulty in realizing the -drift of my words, he was so engrossed by some inner thought. But as -I repeated them, he gave vent to a loud cachinnation. - -"'By heaven! I like your spirit,' he exclaimed, clapping me strongly -on the shoulder. 'Of course you shall come. You shall,' he -repeated, 'and I promise you a sight, a hunt such as you never heard -or dreamt of--you will be able to tell them in England the sort of -thing we can do here in that line--such wolves are rare quarry,' he -added, looking slyly at me, 'and I have a new plan for getting at -them.'" - - -"There was a long pause, and then there rose in the stillness the -unearthly howling of the baron's hounds, a cheerful sound which only -their owner's somewhat loud converse of the evening had kept from -becoming excessively obtrusive. - -"'Hark at them--the beauties!' cried he, showing his short, strong -teeth, pointed like a dog's, in a wide grin of anticipative delight. -'They have been kept on pretty short commons, poor things! They are -hungry. By the way, Marshfield, you can sit tight to a horse, I -trust? If you were to roll off, you know, these splendid fellows -they would chop you up in a second. They would chop you up,' he -repeated unctuously, 'snap, crunch, gobble, and there would be an end -of you!' - -"'If I could not ride a decent horse without being thrown,' I -retorted, a little stung by his manner, 'after my recent three -months' torture with the Guard Cossacks, I should indeed be a -hopeless subject. Do not think of frightening me from the exploit, -but say frankly if my company would be displeasing.' - -"'Tut!' he said, waving his hand impatiently, 'it is your affair. I -have warned you. Go and get ready if you want to come. Time -presses.' - -"I was determined to be of the fray; my blood was up. I have hinted -that the baron's Tokay had stirred it. - -"I went to my room and hurriedly donned clothes more suitable for -rough nightwork. My last care was to slip into my pockets a brace of -double-barrelled pistols which formed part of my travelling kit. - -"When I returned I found the baron already booted and spurred; this -without metaphor. He was stretched full length on the divan, and did -not speak as I came in, or even look at me. Chewing an unlit cigar, -with eyes fixed on the ceiling, he was evidently following some -absorbing train of ideas. - -"The silence was profound; time went by; it grew oppressive; at -length, wearied out, I fell, over my chibouque, into a doze filled -with puzzling visions, out of which I was awakened with a start. My -companion had sprung up, very lightly, to his feet. In his throat -was an odd, half-suppressed cry, gruesome to hear. He stood on -tiptoe, with eyes fixed, as though looking through the wall, and I -distinctly saw his ears point in the intensity of his listening. - -"After a moment, with hasty, noiseless energy, and without the -slightest ceremony, he blew the lamps out, drew back the heavy -curtains and threw the tall window wide open. - -"A rush of icy air, and the bright rays of the moon--gibbous, I -remember, in her third quarter--filled the room. Outside, the mist -had condensed, and the view was unrestricted over the white plains at -the foot of the hill. - -"The baron stood motionless in the open window, callous to the cold -in which, after a minute, I could hardly keep my teeth from -chattering, his head bent forward, still listening. I listened too, -with 'all my ears,' but could not catch a sound; indeed the silence -over the great expanse of snow might have been called awful; even the -dogs were mute. - -"Presently, far, far away, came a faint tinkle of bells; so faint, at -first, that I thought it was but fancy, then distincter. It was even -more eerie than the silence I thought, though I knew it could come -but from some passing sleigh. All at once that ceased, and again my -duller senses could perceive nothing, though I saw by my host's -craning neck that he was more on the alert than ever. But at last I -too heard once more, this time not bells, but as it were the tread of -horses muffled by the snow, intermittent and dull yet drawing nearer. -And then in the inner silence of the great house it seemed to me I -caught the noise of closing doors; but here the hounds, as if -suddenly becoming alive to some disturbance, raised the same fearsome -concert of yells and barks with which they had greeted my arrival, -and listening became useless. - -"I had risen to my feet. My host, turning from the windows, seized -my shoulder with a fierce grip, and bade me 'hold my noise;' for a -second or two I stood motionless under his iron talons, then he -released me with an exultant whisper:-- - -"'Now for our chase!' and made for the door with a spring. Hastily -gulping down a mouthful of arrack from one of the bottles on the -table, I followed him, and, guided by the sound of his footsteps -before me, groped my way through passages black as Erebus. - -"After a time, which seemed a long one, a small door was flung open -in front, and I saw Kossowski glide into the moonlit courtyard and -cross the square. When I too came out he was disappearing into the -gaping darkness of the open stable door, and there I overtook him. - -"A man who seemed to have been sleeping in a corner jumped up at our -entrance, and led out a horse ready saddled. In obedience to a gruff -order from his master, as the latter mounted, he then brought forward -another which he had evidently thought to ride himself and held the -stirrup for me. - -"We came delicately forth, and the Cossack hurriedly barred the great -door behind us--I caught a glimpse of his worn, scarred face by the -moonlight, as he peeped after us for a second before shutting himself -in; it was stricken with terror. - -"The baron trotted briskly toward the kennels from whence there was -now issuing a truly infernal clangour, and, as my steed followed suit -of his own accord, I could see how he proceeded dexterously to unbolt -the gates without dismounting, while the beasts within dashed -themselves against them and tore the ground in their fury of -impatience. - -"He smiled, as he swung back the barriers at last, and his 'beauties' -came forth. Seven or eight monstrous brutes, hounds of a kind -unknown to me; fulvous and sleek of coat, tall on their legs, -square-headed, long-tailed, deep-chested; with terrible jaws -slobbering in eagerness. They leapt around and up at us, much to our -horses' distaste. Kossowski, still smiling, lashed at them -unsparingly with his hunting whip, and they responded, not with yells -of pain, but with snarls of fury. - -"Managing his restless steed and his cruel whip with consummate ease, -my host drove the unruly crew before him, out of the precincts, then -halted and bent down from his saddle to examine some slight prints in -the snow which led, not the way I had come, but toward what seemed -another avenue. In a second or two the hounds were gathered round -this spot, their great snake-like tails quivering, nose to earth, -yelping with excitement. I had some ado to manage my horse, and my -eyesight was far from being as keen as the baron's, but I had then no -doubt he had come already upon wolf-tracks, and I shuddered mentally, -thinking of the sleigh-bells. - -"Suddenly Kossowski raised himself from his strained position; under -his low fur cap his face, with its fixed smile, looked scarcely human -in the white light; and then we broke into a hand canter just as the -hounds dashed, in a compact body, along the trail. - -"But we had not gone more than a few hundred yards before they began -to falter, then straggled, stopped, and ran back and about with -dismal cries. It was clear to me they had lost the scent. My -companion reined in his horse, and mine, luckily a well-trained -brute, halted of himself. - -"We had reached a bend in a broad avenue of firs and larches, and -just where we stood, and where the hounds ever returned and met nose -to nose in frantic conclave, the snow was trampled and soiled, and a -little further on planed in a great sweep, as if by a turning sleigh. -Beyond was a double-furrowed track of skates and regular hoof-prints -leading far away. - -"Before I had time to reflect upon the bearing of this unexpected -interruption, Kossowski, as if suddenly possessed by a devil, fell -upon the hounds with his whip, flogging them upon the new track, -uttering the while the most savage cries I have ever heard issue from -human throat. The disappointed beasts were nothing loth to seize -upon another trail; after a second of hesitation they had understood, -and were off upon it at a tearing pace, and we after them at the best -speed of our horses. - -"Some unformed idea that we were going to escort, or rescue, -benighted travellers flickered dimly in my mind as I galloped through -the night air; but when I managed to approach my companion and called -out to him for explanation, he only turned half round and grinned at -me. - -"Before us lay now the white plain, scintillating under the high -moon's rays. That light is deceptive; I could be sure of nothing -upon the wide expanse, but of the dark, leaping figures of the hounds -already spread out in a straggling line, some right ahead, others -just in front of us. In a short time also the icy wind, cutting my -face mercilessly as we increased our pace, well-nigh blinded me with -tears of cold. - -"I can hardly realize how long this pursuit after an unseen prey -lasted; I can only remember that I was getting rather faint with -fatigue, and ignominiously held on to my pommel, when all of a sudden -the black outline of a sleigh merged into sight in front of us. - -"I rubbed my smarting eyes with my benumbed hand; we were gaining -upon it second by second; two of those hell-hounds of the baron's -were already within a few leaps of it. - -"Soon I was able to make out two figures, one standing up and urging -the horses on with whip and voice, the other clinging to the back -seat and looking toward us in an attitude of terror. A great fear -crept into my half frozen brain--were we not bringing deadly danger, -instead of help to these travellers? Great God! did the baron mean -to use them as a bait for his new method of wolf-hunting? - -"I would have turned upon Kossowski with a cry of expostulation or -warning, but he, urging on his hounds, as he galloped on their flank, -howling and gesticulating like a veritable Hun, passed me by like a -flash, and all at once I knew." - - -Marshfield paused for a moment and sent his pale smile round upon his -listeners, who now showed no signs of sleepiness; he knocked the ash -from his cigar, twisted the latter round in his mouth, and added -dryly:-- - - -"And I confess it seemed to me a little strong, even for a baron in -the Carpathians. The travellers were our quarry. But the reason why -the Lord of Yany had turned man-hunter I was yet to learn. Just then -I had to direct my energies to frustrating his plans. I used my -spurs mercilessly. Whilst I drew up even with him I saw the two -figures in the sleigh change places; he who had hitherto driven now -faced back, while his companion took the reins; there was the pale -blue sheen of a revolver barrel under the moonlight, followed by a -yellow flash, and the nearest hound rolled over in the snow. - -"With an oath the baron twisted round in his saddle to call up and -urge on the remainder. My horse had taken fright at the report and -dashed irresistibly forward, bringing me at once almost level with -the fugitives, and the next instant the revolver was turned -menacingly toward me. There was no time to explain; my pistol was -already drawn, and as another of the brutes bounded up, almost under -my horse's feet, I loosed it upon him--I must have let off both -barrels at once, for the weapon flew out of my hand, but the hound's -back was broken. I presume the traveller understood; at any rate he -did not fire at me. - -"In moments of intense excitement like these, strangely enough, the -mind is extraordinarily open to impressions. I shall never forget -that man's countenance, in the sledge, as he stood upright and defied -us in his mortal danger; it was young, very handsome, the features -not distorted, but set into a sort of desperate, stony calm, and I -knew it, beyond all doubt, for that of an Englishman. And then I saw -his companion--it was the baron's wife. - -"It takes a long time to say all this; it only required an instant to -see it. The loud explosion of my pistol had hardly ceased to ring -before the baron, with a fearful imprecation, was upon me. First he -lashed at me with his whip as we tore along side by side, and then I -saw him wind the reins round his off-arm and bend over, and I felt -his angry fingers close tightly on my right foot. The next instant I -should have been lifted out of my saddle, but there came another shot -from the sledge. The baron's horse plunged and stumbled, and the -baron, hanging on to my foot with a fierce grip, was wrenched from -his seat. His horse, however, was up again immediately, and I was -released, and then I caught a confused glimpse of the frightened and -wounded animal galloping wildly away to the right, leaving a black -track of blood behind him in the snow, his master, entangled in the -reins, running with incredible swiftness by his side and endeavouring -to vault back into the saddle. - -"And now came to pass a terrible thing which, in his savage plans, my -host had doubtless never anticipated. - -"One of the hounds that had during this short check recovered lost -ground, coming across this hot trail of blood, turned away from his -course, and with a joyous yell darted after the running man. In -another instant the remainder of the pack were upon the new scent. - -"As soon as I could stop my horse, I tried to turn him in the -direction the new chase had taken, but just then, through the night -air, over the receding sound of the horse's scamper and the sobbing -of the pack in full cry, there came a long scream, and after that a -sickening silence. And I knew that somewhere yonder, under the -beautiful moonlight, the Baron Kossowski was being devoured by his -starving dogs. - -"I looked round, with the sweat on my face, vaguely, for some human -being to share the horror of the moment, and I saw, gliding away, far -away, in the white distance, the black silhouette of the sledge." - -"Well?" said we, in divers tones of impatience, curiosity, or horror, -according to our divers temperaments, as the speaker uncrossed his -legs and gazed at us in mild triumph, with all the air of having said -his say, and satisfactorily proved his point. - -"Well," repeated he, "what more do you want to know? It will -interest you but slightly, I am sure, to hear how I found my way back -to the Hof; or how I told as much as I deemed prudent of the -evening's gruesome work to the baron's servants, who, by the way, to -my amazement, displayed the profoundest and most unmistakable sorrow -at the tidings, and sallied forth (at their head the Cossack who had -seen us depart) to seek for his remains. Excuse the unpleasantness -of the remark; I fear the dogs must have left very little of him; he -had dieted them so carefully. However, since it was to have been a -case of 'chop, crunch, and gobble,' as the baron had it, I preferred -that that particular fate should have overtaken him than me--or, for -that matter, either of these two country people of ours in the sledge. - -"Nor am I going to inflict upon you," continued Marshfield, after -draining his glass, "a full account of my impressions when I found -myself once more in that immense, deserted, and stricken house, so -luxuriously prepared for the mistress who had fled from it; how I -philosophized over all this, according to my wont; the conjectures I -made as to the first acts of the drama, the untold sufferings my -country-woman must have endured from the moment her husband first -grew jealous till she determined on this desperate step; as to how -and when she had met her lover, how they communicated, and how the -baron had discovered the intended flitting in time to concoct his -characteristic revenge. - -"One thing you may be sure of, I had no mind to remain at Yany an -hour longer than necessary. I even contrived to get well clear of -the neighbourhood before the lady's absence was discovered. Luckily -for me--or I might have been taxed with connivance; though indeed the -simple household did not seem to know what suspicion was, and -accepted my account with childlike credence--very typical, and very -convenient to me at the same time." - -"But how do you know," said one of us, "that the man was her -lover?--he might have been her brother or some other relative?" - -"That," said Marshfield, with his little flat laugh, "I happen to -have ascertained--and, curiously enough, only a few weeks ago. It -was at the play, between the acts, from my comfortable seat (first -row of the pit), I was looking leisurely round the house when I -caught sight of a woman, in a box, close by, whose head was turned -from me, and who presented the somewhat unusual spectacle of a young -neck and shoulders of the most exquisite contour--and perfectly gray -hair; and not dull gray, but rather of a pleasing tint--like frosted -silver. This aroused my curiosity. I brought my glasses to a focus -on her, and waited patiently till she turned round. Then I -recognized the Baroness Kossowski, and I no longer wondered at the -young hair being white. - -"Yet she looked placid and happy; strangely so, it seemed to me, -under the sudden reviving in my memory of such scenes as I have now -described. But presently I understood further; beside her, in close -attendance, was the man of the sledge, a handsome fellow, with much -of a military air about him. - -"During the course of the evening, as I watched, I saw a friend of -mine come into the box, and at the end I slipped out into the passage -to catch him as he came out. - -"'Who is the woman with the white hair?' I asked. Then, in the -fragmentary style approved of by ultra-fashionable young men--this -earnest-languid mode of speech presents curious similarities in all -languages--he told me: 'Most charming couple in London--awfully -pretty, wasn't she? _He_ had been in the Guards--_attaché_ at Vienna -once--they adored each other. White hair, devilish queer, wasn't it? -Suited her, somehow. And then she had been married to a Russian, or -something, somewhere in the wilds, and their names were--' But do -you know," said Marshfield, interrupting himself, "I think I had -better let you find that out for yourselves, if you care." - - - - -II - -A MAN AND SOME OTHERS - -STEPHEN CRANE - - -I - -Dark mesquit spread from horizon to horizon. There was no house or -horseman from which a mind could evolve a city or a crowd. The world -was declared to be a desert and unpeopled. Sometimes, however, on -days when no heat-mist arose, a blue shape, dun, of the substance of -a specter's veil, appeared in the southwest, and a pondering -sheep-herder might remember that there were mountains. - -In the silence of these plains the sudden and childish banging of a -tin pan could have made an iron-nerved man leap into the air. The -sky was ever flawless; the manoeuvring of clouds was an unknown -pageant; but at times a sheep-herder could see, miles away, the long, -white streamers of dust rising from the feet of another's flock, and -the interest became intense. - -Bill was arduously cooking his dinner, bending over the fire and -toiling like a blacksmith. A movement, a flash of strange colour, -perhaps, off in the bushes, caused him suddenly to turn his head. -Presently he arose, and, shading his eyes with his hand, stood -motionless and gazing. He perceived at last a Mexican sheep-herder -winding through the brush toward his camp. - -"Hello!" shouted Bill. - -The Mexican made no answer, but came steadily forward until he was -within some twenty yards. There he paused, and, folding his arms, -drew himself up in the manner affected by the villain in the play. -His serape muffled the lower part of his face, and his great sombrero -shaded his brow. Being unexpected and also silent, he had something -of the quality of an apparition; moreover, it was clearly his -intention to be mystic and sinister. - -The American's pipe, sticking carelessly in the corner of his mouth, -was twisted until the wrong side was uppermost, and he held his -frying-pan poised in the air. He surveyed with evident surprise this -apparition in the mesquit. "Hell, José!" he said; "what's the -matter?" - -The Mexican spoke with the solemnity of funeral tellings: "Beel, you -mus' geet off range. We want you geet off range. We no like. -Un'erstan'? We no like." - -"What you talking about?" said Bill. "No like what?" - -"We no like you here. Un'erstan'? Too mooch. You mus' geet out. -We no like. Un'erstan'?" - -"Understand? No: I don't know what the blazes you're gittin' at." -Bill's eyes wavered in bewilderment, and his jaw fell. "I must git -out? I must git off the range? What you givin' us?" - -The Mexican unfolded his serape with his small yellow hand. Upon his -face was then to be seen a smile that was gently, almost caressingly, -murderous. "Beel," he said, "git out!" - -Bill's arm dropped until the frying-pan was at his knee. Finally he -turned again toward the fire. "Go on, you dog-gone little yaller -rat!" he said over his shoulder. "You fellers can't chase me off -this range. I got as much right here as anybody." - -"Beel," answered the other in a vibrant tone, thrusting his head -forward and moving one foot, "you geet out or we keel you." - -"Who will?" said Bill. - -"I--and the others." The Mexican tapped his breast gracefully. - -Bill reflected for a time, and then he said: "You ain't got no manner -of license to warn me off'n this range, and I won't move a rod. -Understand? I've got rights, and I suppose if I don't see 'em -through, no one is likely to give me a good hand and help me lick you -fellers, since I'm the only white man in half a day's ride. Now, -look: if you fellers try to rush this camp, I'm goin' to plug about -fifty per cent. of the gentlemen present, sure. I'm goin' in fur -trouble, an' I'll git a lot of you. 'Nuther thing: if I was a fine -valuable caballero like you, I'd stay in the rear till the shootin' -was done, because I'm goin' to make a particular p'int of shootin' -you through the chest." He grinned affably, and made a gesture of -dismissal. - -As for the Mexican, he waved his hands in a consummate expression of -indifference. "Oh, all right," he said. Then, in a tone of deep -menace and glee, he added: "We will keel you eef you no geet. They -have decide." - -"They have, have they?" said Bill. "Well, you tell them to go to the -devil!" - - - -II - -As his Mexican friend tripped blithely away, Bill turned with a -thoughtful face to his frying-pan and his fire. After dinner he drew -his revolver from its scarred old holster, and examined every part of -it. It was the revolver that had dealt death to the foreman, and it -had also been in free fights in which it had dealt death to several -or none. Bill loved it because its allegiance was more than that of -man, horse, or dog. It questioned neither social nor moral position; -it obeyed alike the saint and the assassin. It was the claw of the -eagle, the tooth of the lion, the poison of the snake; and when he -swept it from its holster, this minion smote where he listed, even to -the battering of a far penny. Wherefore it was his dearest -possession, and was not to be exchanged in southwestern Texas for a -handful of rubies. - -During the afternoon he moved through his monotony of work and -leisure with the same air of deep meditation. The smoke of his -supper time fire was curling across the shadowy sea of mesquit when -the instinct of the plainsman warned him that the stillness, the -desolation, was again invaded. He saw a motionless horseman in black -outline against the pallid sky. The silhouette displayed serape and -sombrero, and even the Mexican spurs as large as pies. When this -black figure began to move toward the camp, Bill's hand dropped to -his revolver. - -The horseman approached until Bill was enabled to see pronounced -American features, and a skin too red to grow on a Mexican face. -Bill released his grip on his revolver. - -"Hello!" called the horseman. - -"Hello!" answered Bill. - -The horseman cantered forward. "Good evening," he said, as he again -drew rein. - -"Good evenin'," answered Bill, without committing himself by too much -courtesy. - -For a moment the two men scanned each other in a way that is not -ill-mannered on the plains, where one is in danger of meeting -horse-thieves or tourists. - -Bill saw a type which did not belong in the mesquit. The young -fellow had invested in some Mexican trappings of an expensive kind. -Bill's eyes searched the outfit for some sign of craft, but there was -none. Even with his local regalia, it was clear that the young man -was of a far, black northern city. He had discarded the enormous -stirrups of his Mexican saddle; he used the small English stirrup, -and his feet were thrust forward until the steel tightly gripped his -ankles. As Bill's eyes travelled over the stranger, they lighted -suddenly upon the stirrups and the thrust feet, and immediately he -smiled in a friendly way. No dark purpose could dwell in the -innocent heart of a man who rode thus on the plains. - -As for the stranger, he saw a tattered individual with a tangle of -hair and beard, and with a complexion turned brick-colour from the -sun and whiskey. He saw a pair of eyes that at first looked at him -as the wolf looks at the wolf, and then became childlike, almost -timid, in their glance. Here was evidently a man who had often -stormed the iron walls of the city of success, and who now sometimes -valued himself as the rabbit values his prowess. - -The stranger smiled genially, and sprang from his horse. "Well, sir, -I suppose you will let me camp here with you to-night?" - -"Eh?" said Bill. - -"I suppose you will let me camp here with you to-night?" - -Bill for a time seemed too astonished for words. - -"Well," he answered, scowling in inhospitable annoyance, "well, I -don't believe this here is a good place to camp to-night, Mister." - -The stranger turned quickly from his saddle-girth. - -"What?" he said in surprise. "You don't want me here? You don't -want me to camp here?" - -Bill's feet scuffled awkwardly, and he looked steadily at a -cactus-plant. "Well, you see, Mister," he said, "I'd like your -company well enough, but--you see, some of these here greasers are -goin' to chase me off the range to-night; and while I might like a -man's company all right, I couldn't let him in for no such game when -he ain't got nothin' to do with the trouble." - -"Going to chase you off the range?" cried the stranger. - -"Well, they said they were goin' to do it," said Bill. - -"And--great heavens!--will they kill you, do you think?" - -"Don't know. Can't tell till afterward. You see, they take some -feller that's alone like me, and then they rush his camp when he -ain't quite ready for 'em, and ginerally plug 'im with a sawed-off -shot-gun load before he has a chance to git at 'em. They lay around -and wait for their chance, and it comes soon enough. Of course a -feller alone like me has got to let up watching some time. Maybe -they ketch 'im asleep. Maybe the feller gits tired waiting, and goes -out in broad day, and kills two or three just to make the whole crowd -pile on him and settle the thing. I heard of a case like that once. -It's awful hard on a man's mind--to git a gang after him." - -"And so they're going to rush your camp tonight?" cried the stranger. -"How do you know? Who told you?" - -"Feller come and told me." - -"And what are you going to do? Fight?" - -"Don't see nothin' else to do," answered Bill, gloomily, still -staring at the cactus-plant. - -There was a silence. Finally the stranger burst out in an amazed -cry. "Well, I never heard of such a thing in my life! How many of -them are there?" - -"Eight," answered Bill. "And now look-a-here; you ain't got no -manner of business foolin' around here just now, and you might better -lope off before dark. I don't ask no help in this here row. I know -your happening along here just now don't give me no call on you, and -you'd better hit the trail." - -"Well, why in the name of wonder don't you go get the sheriff?" cried -the stranger. - -"Oh, hell!" said Bill. - - - -III - -Long, smouldering clouds spread in the western sky, and to the east -silver mists lay on the purple gloom of the wilderness. - -Finally, when the great moon climbed the heavens and cast its ghastly -radiance upon the bushes, it made a new and more brilliant crimson of -the campfire, where the flames capered merrily through its mesquit -branches, filling the silence with the fire chorus, an ancient melody -which surely bears a message of the inconsequence of individual -tragedy--a message that is in the boom of the sea, the shiver of the -wind through the grass-blades, the silken clash of hemlock boughs. - -No figures moved in the rosy space of the camp, and the search of the -moonbeams failed to disclose a living thing in the bushes. There was -no owl-faced clock to chant the weariness of the long silence that -brooded upon the plain. - -The dew gave the darkness under the mesquit a velvet quality that -made air seem nearer to water, and no eye could have seen through it -the black things that moved like monster lizards toward the camp. -The branches, the leaves, that are fain to cry out when death -approaches in the wilds, were frustrated by these mystic bodies -gliding with the finesse of the escaping serpent. They crept forward -to the last point where assuredly no frantic attempt of the fire -could discover them, and there they paused to locate the prey. A -romance relates the tale of the black cell hidden deep in the earth, -where, upon entering, one sees only the little eyes of snakes fixing -him in menaces. If a man could have approached a certain spot in the -bushes, he would not have found it romantically necessary to have his -hair rise. There would have been sufficient expression of horror in -the feeling of the death-hand at the nape of his neck and in his -rubber knee-joints. - -Two of the bodies finally moved toward each other until for each -there grew out of the darkness a face placidly smiling with tender -dreams of assassination. "The fool is asleep by the fire, God be -praised!" The lips of the other widened in a grin of affectionate -appreciation of the fool and his plight. There was some signalling -in the gloom and then began a series of subtle rustlings, interjected -often with pauses, during which no sound arose but the sound of faint -breathing. - -A bush stood like a rock in the stream of firelight, sending its long -shadow backward. With painful caution the little company travelled -along this shadow, and finally arrived at the rear of the bush. -Through its branches they surveyed for a moment of comfortable -satisfaction a form in a gray blanket extended on the ground near the -fire. The smile of joyful anticipation fled quickly, to give place -to a quiet air of business. Two men lifted shot-guns with much of -the barrels gone, and sighting these weapons through the branches, -pulled trigger together. - -The noise of the explosions roared over the lonely mesquit as if -these guns wished to inform the entire world; and as the grey smoke -fled, the dodging company back of the bush saw the blanketed form -twitching. Whereupon they burst out in chorus in a laugh, and arose -as merry as a lot of banqueters. They gleefully gestured -congratulations, and strode bravely into the light of the fire. - -Then suddenly a new laugh rang from some unknown spot in the -darkness. It was a fearsome laugh of ridicule, hatred, ferocity. It -might have been demoniac. It smote them motionless in their gleeful -prowl, as the stern voice from the sky smites the legendary -malefactor. They might have been a weird group in wax, the light of -the dying fire on their yellow faces, and shining athwart their eyes -turned toward the darkness whence might come the unknown and the -terrible. - -The thing in the grey blanket no longer twitched; but if the knives -in their hands had been thrust toward it, each knife was now drawn -back, and its owner's elbow was thrown upward, as if he expected -death from the clouds. - -This laugh had so chained their reason that for a moment they had no -wit to flee. They were prisoners to their terror. Then suddenly the -belated decision arrived, and with bubbling cries they turned to run; -but at that instant there was a long flash of red in the darkness, -and with the report one of the men shouted a bitter shout, spun once, -and tumbled headlong. The thick bushes failed to impede the route of -the others. - -The silence returned to the wilderness. The tired flames faintly -illumined the blanketed thing and the flung corpse of the marauder, -and sang the fire chorus, the ancient melody which bears the message -of the inconsequence of human tragedy. - - - -IV - -"Now you are worse off than ever," said the young man, dry-voiced and -awed. - -"No, I ain't," said Bill, rebelliously. "I'm one ahead." - -After reflection, the stranger remarked, "Well, there's seven more." - -They were cautiously and slowly approaching the camp. The sun was -flaring its first warming rays over the gray wilderness. Upreared -twigs, prominent branches, shone with golden light, while the shadows -under the mesquit were heavily blue. - -Suddenly the stranger uttered a frightened cry. He had arrived at a -point whence he had, through openings in the thicket, a clear view of -a dead face. - -"Gosh!" said Bill, who at the next instant had seen the thing; "I -thought at first it was that there José. That would have been queer, -after what I told 'im yesterday." - -They continued their way, the stranger wincing in his walk, and Bill -exhibiting considerable curiosity. - -The yellow beams of the new sun were touching the grim hues of the -dead Mexican's face, and creating there an inhuman effect, which made -his countenance more like a mask of dulled brass. One hand, grown -curiously thinner, had been flung out regardlessly to a cactus bush. - -Bill walked forward and stood looking respectfully at the body. "I -know that feller; his name is Miguel. He----" - -The stranger's nerves might have been in that condition when there is -no backbone to the body, only a long groove. "Good heavens!" he -exclaimed, much agitated; "don't speak that way!" - -"What way?" said Bill. "I only said his name was Miguel." - -After a pause the stranger said: - -"Oh, I know; but--" He waved his hand. "Lower your voice, or -something. I don't know. This part of the business rattles me, -don't you see?" - -"Oh, all right," replied Bill, bowing to the other's mysterious mood. -But in a moment he burst out violently and loud in the most -extraordinary profanity, the oaths winging from him as the sparks go -from the funnel. - -He had been examining the contents of the bundled gray blanket, and -he had brought forth, among other things, his frying-pan. It was now -only a rim with a handle; the Mexican volley had centred upon it. A -Mexican shot-gun of the abbreviated description is ordinarily loaded -with flatirons, stove-lids, lead pipe, old horseshoes, sections of -chain, window weights, railroad sleepers and spikes, dumbbells, and -any other junk which may be at hand. When one of these loads -encounters a man vitally, it is likely to make an impression upon -him, and a cooking-utensil may be supposed to subside before such an -assault of curiosities. - -Bill held high his desecrated frying-pan, turning it this way and -that way. He swore until he happened to note the absence of the -stranger. A moment later he saw him leading his horse from the -bushes. In silence and sullenly the young man went about saddling -the animal. Bill said, "Well, goin' to pull out?" - -The stranger's hands fumbled uncertainly at the throat-latch. Once -he exclaimed irritably, blaming the buckle for the trembling of his -fingers. Once he turned to look at the dead face with the light of -the morning sun upon it. At last he cried, "Oh, I know the whole -thing was all square enough--couldn't be squarer--but--somehow or -other, that man there takes the heart out of me." He turned his -troubled face for another look. "He seems to be all the time calling -me a--he makes me feel like a murderer." - -"But," said Bill, puzzling, "you didn't shoot him, Mister; I shot -him." - -"I know; but I feel that way, somehow. I can't get rid of it." - -Bill considered for a time; then he said diffidently, "Mister, you'r -a' eddycated man, ain't you?" - -"What?" - -"You're what they call a'--a' eddycated man, ain't you?" - -The young man, perplexed, evidently had a question upon his lips, -when there was a roar of guns, bright flashes, and in the air such -hooting and whistling as would come from a swift flock of -steamboilers. The stranger's horse gave a mighty, convulsive spring, -snorting wildly in its sudden anguish, fell upon its knees, scrambled -afoot again, and was away in the uncanny death-run known to men who -have seen the finish of brave horses. - -"This comes from discussin' things," cried Bill, angrily. - -He had thrown himself flat on the ground facing the thicket whence -had come the firing. He could see the smoke winding over the -bush-tops. He lifted his revolver, and the weapon came slowly up -from the ground and poised like the glittering crest of a snake. -Somewhere on his face there was a kind of smile, cynical, wicked, -deadly, of a ferocity which at the same time had brought a deep flush -to his face, and had caused two upright lines to glow in his eyes. - -"Hello, José!" he called, amiable for satire's sake. "Got your old -blunderbusses loaded up again yet?" - -The stillness had returned to the plain. The sun's brilliant rays -swept over the sea of mesquit, painting the far mists of the west -with faint rosy light, and high in the air some great bird fled -toward the south. - -"You come out here," called Bill, again addressing the landscape, -"and I'll give you some shootin' lessons. That ain't the way to -shoot." Receiving no reply, he began to invent epithets and yell -them at the thicket. He was something of a master of insult, and, -moreover, he dived into his memory to bring forth imprecations -tarnished with age, unused since fluent Bowery days. The occupation -amused him, and sometimes he laughed so that it was uncomfortable for -his chest to be against the ground. - -Finally the stranger, prostrate near him, said wearily, "Oh, they've -gone." - -"Don't you believe it," replied Bill, sobering swiftly. "They're -there yet--every man of 'em." - -"How do you know?" - -"Because I do. They won't shake us so soon. Don't put your head up, -or they'll get you, sure." - -Bill's eyes, meanwhile, had not wavered from their scrutiny of the -thicket in front. "They're there, all right; don't you forget it. -Now you listen." So he called out: "José! Ojo, José! Speak up, -_hombre_! I want have talk. Speak up, you yaller cuss, you!" - -Whereupon a mocking voice from off in the bushes said, "Senor?" - -"There," said Bill to his ally; "didn't I tell you? The whole -batch." Again he lifted his voice. "José--look--ain't you gittin' -kinder tired? You better go home, you fellers, and git some rest." - -The answer was a sudden furious chatter of Spanish, eloquent with -hatred, calling down upon Bill all the calamities which life holds. -It was as if some one had suddenly enraged a cageful of wildcats. -The spirits of all the revenges which they had imagined were loosened -at this time, and filled the air. - -"They're in a holler," said Bill, chuckling, "or there'd be shootin'." - -Presently he began to grow angry. His hidden enemies called him nine -kinds of coward, a man who could fight only in the dark, a baby who -would run from the shadows of such noble Mexican gentlemen, a dog -that sneaked. They described the affair of the previous night, and -informed him of the base advantage he had taken of their friend. In -fact, they in all sincerity endowed him with every quality which he -no less earnestly believed them to possess. One could have seen the -phrases bite him as he lay there on the ground fingering his revolver. - - - -V - -It is sometimes taught that men do the furious and desperate thing -from an emotion that is as even and placid as the thoughts of a -village clergyman on Sunday afternoon. Usually, however, it is to be -believed that a panther is at the time born in the heart, and that -the subject does not resemble a man picking mulberries. - -"B' G--!" said Bill, speaking as from a throat filled with dust, -"I'll go after 'em in a minute." - -"Don't you budge an inch!" cried the stranger, sternly. "Don't you -budge!" - -"Well," said Bill, glaring at the bushes--"well." - -"Put your head down!" suddenly screamed the stranger, in white alarm. -As the guns roared, Bill uttered a loud grunt, and for a moment -leaned panting on his elbow, while his arm shook like a twig. Then -he upreared like a great and bloody spirit of vengeance, his face -lighted with the blaze of his last passion. The Mexicans came -swiftly and in silence. - -The lightning action of the next few moments was of the fabric of -dreams to the stranger. The muscular struggle may not be real to the -drowning man. His mind may be fixed on the far, straight shadows -back of the stars, and the terror of them. And so the fight, and his -part in it, had to the stranger only the quality of a picture half -drawn. The rush of feet, the spatter of shots, the cries, the -swollen faces seen like masks on the smoke, resembled a happening of -the night. - -And yet afterward certain lines, forms, lived out so strongly from -the incoherence that they were always in his memory. - -He killed a man, and the thought went swiftly by him, like a feather -on a gale, that it was easy to kill a man. - -Moreover, he suddenly felt for Bill, this grimy sheep-herder, some -deep form of idolatry. Bill was dying, and the dignity of last -defeat, this superiority of him who stands in his grave, was in the -pose of the lost sheep-herder. - - -The stranger sat on the ground idly mopping the sweat and -powder-stain from his brow. He wore the gentle idiotic smile of an -aged beggar as he watched three Mexicans limping and staggering in -the distance. He noted at this time that one who still possessed a -serape had from it none of the grandeur of the cloaked Spaniard, but -that against the sky the silhouette resembled a cornucopia of -childhood's Christmas. - -They turned to look at him, and he lifted his weary arm to menace -them with his revolver. They stood for a moment banded together, and -hooted curses at him. - -Finally he arose, and, walking some paces, stooped to loosen Bill's -gray hands from a throat. Swaying as if slightly drunk, he stood -looking down into the still face. - -Struck suddenly with a thought, he went about with dulled eyes on the -ground, until he plucked his gaudy blanket from where it lay dirty -from trampling feet. He dusted it carefully, and then returned and -laid it over Bill's form. There he again stood motionless, his mouth -just agape and the same stupid glance in his eyes, when all at once -he made a gesture of fright and looked wildly about him. - -He had almost reached the thicket when he stopped, smitten with -alarm. A body contorted, with one arm stiff in the air, lay in his -path. Slowly and warily he moved around it, and in a moment the -bushes nodding and whispering, their leaf-faces turned toward the -scene behind him, swung and swung again into stillness and the peace -of the wilderness. - - - - -III - -THE OUTLAWS - -SELMA LAGERLÖF - - -A peasant who had murdered a monk took to the woods and was made an -outlaw. He found there before him in the wilderness another outlaw, -a fisherman from the outer-most islands, who had been accused of -stealing a herring net. They joined together, lived in a cave, set -snares, sharpened darts, baked bread on a granite rock and guarded -one another's lives. The peasant never left the woods, but the -fisherman, who had not committed such an abominable crime, sometimes -loaded game on his shoulders and stole down among men. There he got -in exchange for black-cocks, and long-eared hares and fine-limbed red -deer, milk and butter, arrow-heads and clothes. These helped the -outlaws to sustain life. - -The cave where they lived was dug in the side of a hill. Broad -stones and thorny-sloe-bushes hid the entrance. Above it stood a -thick growing pine-tree. At its roots was the vent-hole of the cave. -The rising smoke filtered through the tree's thick branches and -vanished into space. The men used to go to and from their -dwelling-place, wading in the mountain stream, which ran down the -hill. No one looked for their tracks under the merry, bubbling water. - -At first they were hunted like wild beasts. The peasants gathered as -if for a chase of bear or wolf. The wood was surrounded by men with -bows and arrows. Men with spears went through it and left no dark -crevice, no bushy thicket unexplored. While the noisy battue hunted -through the wood, the outlaws lay in their dark hole, listening -breathlessly, panting with terror. The fisherman held out a whole -day, but he who had murdered was driven by unbearable fear out into -the open, where he could see his enemy. He was seen and hunted, but -it seemed to him seven times better than to lie still in helpless -inactivity. He fled from his pursuers, slid down precipices, sprang -over streams, climbed up perpendicular mountain walls. All latent -strength and dexterity in him was called forth by the excitement of -danger. His body became elastic like a steel spring, his foot made -no false step, his hand never lost its hold, eye and ear were twice -as sharp as usual. He understood what the leaves whispered and the -rocks warned. When he had climbed up a precipice, he turned toward -his pursuers, sending them gibes in biting rhyme. When the whistling -darts whizzed by him, he caught them, swift as lightning, and hurled -them down on his enemies. As he forced his way through whipping -branches, something within him sang a song of triumph. - -The bald mountain ridge ran through the wood and alone on its summit -stood a lofty fir. The red-brown trunk was bare, but in the -branching top rocked an eagle's nest. The fugitive was now so -audaciously bold that he climbed up there, while his pursuers looked -for him on the wooded slopes. There he sat twisting the young -eaglets' necks, while the hunt passed by far below him. The male and -female eagle, longing for revenge, swooped down on the ravisher. -They fluttered before his face, they struck with their beaks at his -eyes, they beat him with their wings and tore with their claws -bleeding weals in his weather-beaten skin. Laughing, he fought with -them. Standing upright in the shaking nest, he cut at them with his -sharp knife and forgot in the pleasure of the play his danger and his -pursuers. When he found time to look for them, they had gone by to -some other part of the forest. No one had thought to look for their -prey on the bald mountain-ridge. No one had raised his eyes to the -clouds to see him practising boyish tricks and sleep-walking feats -while his life was in the greatest danger. - -The man trembled when he found that he was saved. With shaking hands -he caught at a support, giddy he measured the height to which he had -climbed. And moaning with the fear of falling, afraid of the birds, -afraid of being seen, afraid of everything, he slid down the trunk. -He laid himself down on the ground, so as not to be seen, and dragged -himself forward over the rocks until the underbrush covered him. -There he hid himself under the young pine-tree's tangled branches. -Weak and powerless, he sank down on the moss. A single man could -have captured him. - -* * * * * - -Tord was the fisherman's name. He was not more than sixteen years -old, but strong and bold. He had already lived a year in the woods. - -The peasant's name was Berg, with the surname Rese. He was the -tallest and the strongest man in the whole district, and moreover -handsome and well-built. He was broad in the shoulders and slender -in the waist. His hands were as well shaped as if he had never done -any hard work. His hair was brown and his skin fair. After he had -been some time in the woods he acquired in all ways a more formidable -appearance. His eyes became piercing, his eyebrows grew bushy, and -the muscles which knitted them lay finger thick above his nose. It -showed now more plainly than before how the upper part of his -athlete's brow projected over the lower. His lips closed more firmly -than of old, his whole face was thinner, the hollows at the temples -grew very deep, and his powerful jaw was much more prominent. His -body was less well filled out but his muscles were as hard as steel. -His hair grew suddenly grey. - -Young Tord could never weary of looking at this man. He had never -before seen anything so beautiful and powerful. In his imagination -he stood high as the forest, strong as the sea. He served him as a -master and worshipped him as a god. It was a matter of course that -Tord should carry the hunting spears, drag home the game, fetch the -water and build the fire. Berg Rese accepted all his services, but -almost never gave him a friendly word. He despised him because he -was a thief. - -The outlaws did not lead a robber's or brigand's life: they supported -themselves by hunting and fishing. If Berg Rese had not murdered a -holy man, the peasants would soon have ceased to pursue him and have -left him in peace in the mountains. But they feared great disaster -to the district, because he who had raised his hand against the -servant of God was still unpunished. When Tord came down to the -valley with game, they offered him riches and pardon for his own -crime if he would show them the way to Berg Rese's hole, so that they -might take him while he slept. But the boy had always refused; and -if anyone tried to sneak after him up to the wood, he led him so -cleverly astray that he gave up the pursuit. - -Once Berg asked him if the peasants had not tried to tempt him to -betray him, and when he heard what they offered him as a reward, he -said scornfully that Tord had been foolish not to accept such a -proposal. - -Then Tord looked at him with a glance, the like of which Berg Rese -had never before seen. Never had any beautiful woman in his youth, -never had his wife or child looked so at him. "You are my lord, my -elected master," said the glance. "Know that you may strike me and -abuse me as you will, I am faithful notwithstanding." - -After that Berg Rese paid more attention to the boy and noticed that -he was bold to act but timid to speak. He had no fear of death. -When the ponds were first frozen, or when the bogs were most -dangerous in the spring, when the quagmires were hidden under richly -flowering grasses and cloudberry, he took his way over them by -choice. He seemed to feel the need of exposing himself to danger as -a compensation for the storms and terrors of the ocean, which he had -no longer to meet. At night he was afraid in the woods, and even in -the middle of the day the darkest thickets or the wide-stretching -roots of a fallen pine could frighten him. But when Berg Rese asked -him about it, he was too shy even to answer. - -Tord did not sleep near the fire, far in in the cave, on the bed -which was made soft with moss and warm with skins, but every night, -when Berg had fallen asleep, he crept out to the entrance and lay -there on a rock. Berg discovered this, and although he well -understood the reason, he asked what it meant. Tord would not -explain. To escape any more questions, he did not lie at the door -for two nights, but then he returned to his post. - -One night, when the drifting snow whirled about the forest tops and -drove into the thickest underbrush, the driving snowflakes found -their way into the outlaws' cave. Tord, who lay just inside the -entrance, was, when he waked in the morning, covered by a melting -snowdrift. A few days later he fell ill. His lungs wheezed, and -when they were expanded to take in air, he felt excruciating pain. -He kept up as long as his strength held out, but when one evening he -leaned down to blow the fire, he fell over and remained lying. - -Berg Rese came to him and told him to go to his bed. Tord moaned -with pain and could not raise himself. Berg then thrust his arms -under him and carried him there. But he felt as if he had got hold -of a slimy snake; he had a taste in the mouth as if he had eaten the -unholy horseflesh, it was so odious to him to touch the miserable -thief. - -He laid his own big bearskin over him and gave him water, more he -could not do. Nor was it anything dangerous. Tord was soon well -again. But through Berg's being obliged to do his tasks and to be -his servant, they had come nearer to one another. Tord dared to talk -to him when he sat in the cave in the evening and cut arrow shafts. - -"You are of a good race, Berg," said Tord. "Your kinsmen are the -richest in the valley. Your ancestors have served with kings and -fought in their castles." - -"They have often fought with bands of rebels and done the kings great -injury," replied Berg Rese. - -"Your ancestors gave great feasts at Christmas, and so did you, when -you were at home. Hundreds of men and women could find a place to -sit in your big house, which was already built before Saint Olof -first gave the baptism here in Viken. You owned old silver vessels -and great drinking-horns, which passed from man to man, filled with -mead." - -Again Berg Rese had to look at the boy. He sat up with his legs -hanging out of the bed and his head resting on his hands, with which -he at the same time held back the wild masses of hair which would -fall over his eyes. His face had become pale and delicate from the -ravages of sickness. In his eyes fever still burned. He smiled at -the pictures he conjured up: at the adorned house, at the silver -vessels, at the guests in gala array and at Berg Rese, sitting in the -seat of honour in the hall of his ancestors. The peasant thought -that no one had ever looked at him with such shining, admiring eyes, -or thought him so magnificent, arrayed in his festival clothes, as -that boy thought him in the torn skin dress. - -He was both touched and provoked. That miserable thief had no right -to admire him. - -"Were there no feasts in your house?" he asked. - -Tord laughed. "Out there on the rocks with father and mother! -Father is a wrecker and mother is a witch. No one will come to us." - -"Is your mother a witch?" - -"She is," answered Tord, quite untroubled. "In stormy weather she -rides out on a sea to meet the ships over which the waves are -washing, and those who are carried overboard are hers." - -"What does she do with them?" asked Berg. - -"Oh, a witch always needs corpses. She makes ointments out of them, -or perhaps she eats them. On moonlight nights she sits in the surf, -where it is whitest, and the spray dashes over her. They say that -she sits and searches for shipwrecked children's fingers and eyes." - -"That is awful," said Berg. - -The boy answered with infinite assurance: "That would be awful in -others, but not in witches. They have to do so." - -Berg Rese found that he had here come upon a new way of regarding the -world and things. - -"Do thieves have to steal, as witches have to use witchcraft?" he -asked sharply. - -"Yes, of course," answered the boy; "everyone has to do what he is -destined to do." But then he added, with a cautious smile: "There -are thieves also who have never stolen." - -"Say out what you mean," said Berg. - -The boy continued with his mysterious smile, proud at being an -unsolvable riddle: "It is like speaking of birds who do not fly to -talk of thieves who do not steal." - -Berg Rese pretended to be stupid in order to find out what he wanted. -"No one can be called a thief without having stolen," he said. - -"No; but," said the boy, and pressed his lips together as if to keep -in the words, "but if someone had a father who stole," he hinted -after a while. - -"One inherits money and lands," replied Berg Rese, "but no one bears -the name of thief if he has not himself earned it." - -Tord laughed quietly. "But if somebody has a mother who begs and -prays him to take his father's crime on him. But if such a one -cheats the hangman and escapes to the woods. But if someone is made -an outlaw for a fish-net which he has never seen." - -Berg Rese struck the stone table with his clenched fist. He was -angry. This fair young man had thrown away his whole life. He could -never win love, nor riches, nor esteem after that. The wretched -striving for food and clothes was all which was left him. And the -fool had let him, Berg Rese, go on despising one who was innocent. -He rebuked him with stern words, but Tord was not even as afraid as a -sick child is of its mother, when she chides it because it has caught -cold by wading in the spring brooks. - -* * * * * - -On one of the broad, wooded mountains lay a dark tarn. It was -square, with as straight shores and as sharp corners as if it had -been cut by the hand of man. On three sides it was surrounded by -steep cliffs, on which pines clung with roots as thick as a man's -arm. Down by the pool, where the earth had been gradually washed -away, their roots stood up out of the water, bare and crooked and -wonderfully twisted about one another. It was like an infinite -number of serpents which had wanted all at the same time to crawl up -out of the pool but had got entangled in one another and been held -fast. Or it was like a mass of blackened skeletons of drowned giants -which the pool wanted to throw up on the land. Arms and legs writhed -about one another, the long fingers dug deep into the very cliff to -get a hold, the mighty ribs formed arches, which held up primeval -trees. It had happened, however, that the iron arms, the steel-like -fingers with which the pines held themselves fast, had given way, and -a pine had been borne by a mighty north wind from the top of the -cliff down into the pool. It had burrowed deep down into the muddy -bottom with its top and now stood there. The smaller fish had a good -place of refuge among its branches, but the roots stuck up above the -water like a many-armed monster and contributed to make the pool -awful and terrifying. - -On the tarn's fourth side the cliff sank down. There a little -foaming stream carried away its waters. Before this stream could -find the only possible way, it had tried to get out between stones -and tufts, and had by so doing made a little world of islands, some -no bigger than a little hillock, others covered with trees. - -Here where the encircling cliffs did not shut out all the sun, leafy -trees flourished. Here stood thirsty, gray-green alders and -smooth-leaved willows. The birch-tree grew there as it does -everywhere where it is trying to crowd out the pine woods, and the -wild cherry and the mountain ash, those two which edge the forest -pastures, filling them with fragrance and adorning them with beauty. - -Here at the outlet there was a forest of reeds as high as a man, -which made the sunlight fall green on the water just as it falls on -the moss in the real forest. Among the reeds there were open places; -small, round pools, and water-lilies were floating there. The tall -stalks looked down with mild seriousness on those sensitive beauties, -who discontentedly shut their white petals and yellow stamens in a -hard, leather-like sheath as soon as the sun ceased to show itself. - -One sunshiny day the outlaws came to this tarn to fish. They waded -out to a couple of big stones in the midst of the reed forest and sat -there and threw out bait for the big, green-striped pickerel that lay -and slept near the surface of the water. - -These men, who were always wandering in the woods and the mountains, -had, without their knowing it themselves, come under nature's rule as -much as the plants and the animals. When the sun shone, they were -open-hearted and brave, but in the evening, as soon as the sun had -disappeared, they became silent; and the night, which seemed to them -much greater and more powerful than the day, made them anxious and -helpless. Now the green light, which slanted in between the rushes -and coloured the water with brown and dark-green streaked with gold, -affected their mood until they were ready for any miracle. Every -outlook was shut off. Sometimes the reeds rocked in an imperceptible -wind, their stalks rustled, and the long, ribbon-like leaves -fluttered against their faces. They sat in grey skins on the grey -stones. The shadows in the skins repeated the shadows of the -weather-beaten, mossy stone. Each saw his companion in his silence -and immovability change into a stone image. But in among the rushes -swam mighty fishes with rainbow-coloured backs. When the men threw -out their hooks and saw the circles spreading among the reeds, it -seemed as if the motion grew stronger and stronger, until they -perceived that it was not caused only by their cast. A sea-nymph, -half human, half a shining fish, lay and slept on the surface of the -water. She lay on her back with her whole body under water. The -waves so nearly covered her that they had not noticed her before. It -was her breathing that caused the motion of the waves. But there was -nothing strange in her lying there, and when the next instant she was -gone, they were not sure that she had not been only an illusion. - -The green light entered through the eyes into the brain like a gentle -intoxication. The men sat and stared with dulled thoughts, seeing -visions among the reeds, of which they did not dare to tell one -another. Their catch was poor. The day was devoted to dreams and -apparitions. - -The stroke of oars was heard among the rushes, and they started up as -from sleep. The next moment a flat-bottomed boat appeared, heavy, -hollowed out with no skill and with oars as small as sticks. A young -girl, who had been picking water-lilies, rowed it. She had -dark-brown hair, gathered in great braids, and big dark eyes; -otherwise she was strangely pale. But her paleness toned to pink and -not to grey. Her cheeks had no higher colour than the rest of her -face, the lips had hardly enough. She wore a white linen shirt and a -leather belt with a gold buckle. Her skirt was blue with a red hem. -She rowed by the outlaws without seeing them. They kept breathlessly -still, but not for fear of being seen, but only to be able to really -see her. As soon as she had gone they were as if changed from stone -images to living beings. Smiling, they looked at one another. - -"She was white like the water-lilies," said one. "Her eyes were as -dark as the water there under the pine-roots." - -They were so excited that they wanted to laugh, really laugh as no -one had ever laughed by that pool, till the cliffs thundered with -echoes and the roots of the pines loosened with fright. - -"Did you think she was pretty?" asked Berg Rese. - -"Oh, I do not know, I saw her for such a short time. Perhaps she -was." - -"I do not believe you dared to look at her. You thought that it was -a mermaid." - -And they were again shaken by the same extravagant merriment. - -* * * * * - -Tord had once as a child seen a drowned man. He had found the body -on the shore on a summer day and had not been at all afraid, but at -night he had dreamed terrible dreams. He saw a sea, where every wave -rolled a dead man to his feet. He saw, too, that all the islands -were covered with drowned men, who were dead and belonged to the sea, -but who still could speak and move and threaten him with withered -white hands. - -It was so with him now. The girl whom he had seen among the rushes -came back in his dreams. He met her out in the open pool, where the -sunlight fell even greener than among the rushes, and he had time to -see that she was beautiful. He dreamed that he had crept up on the -big pine root in the middle of the dark tarn, but the pine swayed and -rocked so that sometimes he was quite under water. Then she came -forward on the little islands. She stood under the red mountain -ashes and laughed at him. In the last dream-vision he had come so -far that she kissed him. It was already morning, and he heard that -Berg Rese had got up, but he obstinately shut his eyes to be able to -go on with his dream. When he awoke, he was as though dizzy and -stunned by what had happened to him in the night. He thought much -more now of the girl than he had done the day before. - -Toward night he happened to ask Berg Rese if he knew her name. - -Berg looked at him inquiringly. "Perhaps it is best for you to hear -it," he said. "She is Unn. We are cousins." - -Tord then knew that it was for that pale girl's sake Berg Rese -wandered an outlaw in forest and mountain. Tord tried to remember -what he knew of her. Unn was the daughter of a rich peasant. Her -mother was dead, so that she managed her father's house. This she -liked, for she was fond of her own way and she had no wish to be -married. - -Unn and Berg Rese were the children of brothers, and it had been long -said that Berg preferred to sit with Unn and her maids and jest with -them than to work on his own lands. When the great Christmas feast -was celebrated at his house, his wife had invited a monk from -Draksmark, for she wanted him to remonstrate with Berg, because he -was forgetting her for another woman. This monk was hateful to Berg -and to many on account of his appearance. He was very fat and quite -white. The ring of hair about his bald head, the eyebrows above his -watery eyes, his face, his hands and his whole cloak, everything was -white. Many found it hard to endure his looks. - -At the banquet table, in the hearing of all the guests, this monk now -said, for he was fearless and thought that his words would have more -effect if they were heard by many, "People are in the habit of saying -that the cuckoo is the worst of birds because he does not rear his -young in his own nest, but here sits a man who does not provide for -his home and his children, but seeks his pleasure with a strange -woman. Him will I call the worst of men." Unn then rose up. "That, -Berg, is said to you and me," she said. "Never have I been so -insulted, and my father is not here either." She had wished to go, -but Berg sprang after her. "Do not move!" she said. "I will never -see you again." He caught up with her in the hall and asked her what -he should do to make her stay. She had answered with flashing eyes -that he must know that best himself. Then Berg went in and killed -the monk. - -Berg and Tord were busy with the same thoughts, for after a while -Berg said: "You should have seen her, Unn, when the white monk fell. -The mistress of the house gathered the small children about her and -cursed her. She turned their faces toward her, that they might -forever remember her who had made their father a murderer. But Unn -stood calm and so beautiful that the men trembled. She thanked me -for the deed and told me to fly to the woods. She bade me not to be -robber, and not to use the knife until I could do it for an equally -just cause." - -"Your deed had been to her honour," said Tord. - -Berg Rese noticed again what had astonished him before in the boy. -He was like a heathen, worse than a heathen; he never condemned what -was wrong. He felt no responsibility. That which must be, was. He -knew of God and Christ and the saints, but only by name, as one knows -the gods of foreign lands. The ghosts of the rocks were his gods. -His mother, wise in witchcraft, had taught him to believe in the -spirits of the dead. - -Then Berg Rese undertook a task which was as foolish as to twist a -rope about his own neck. He set before those ignorant eyes the great -God, the Lord of justice, the Avenger of misdeeds, who casts the -wicked into places of everlasting torment. And he taught him to love -Christ and his mother and the holy men and women, who with lifted -hands kneeled before God's throne to avert the wrath of the great -Avenger from the hosts of sinners. He taught him all that men do to -appease God's wrath. He showed him the crowds of pilgrims making -pilgrimages to holy places, the flight of self-torturing penitents -and monks from a worldly life. - -As he spoke, the boy became more eager and more pale, his eyes grew -large as if for terrible visions. Berg Rese wished to stop, but -thoughts streamed to him, and he went on speaking. The night sank -down over them, the black forest night, when the owls hoot. God came -so near to them that they saw his throne darken the stars, and the -chastising angels sank down to the tops of the trees. And under them -the fires of Hell flamed up to the earth's crust, eagerly licking -that shaking place of refuge for the sorrowing races of men. - -* * * * * - -The autumn had come with a heavy storm. Tord went alone in the woods -to see after the snares and traps. Berg Rese sat at home to mend his -clothes. Tord's way led in a broad path up a wooded height. - -Every gust carried the dry leaves in a rustling whirl up the path. -Time after time Tord thought that someone went behind him. He often -looked round. Sometimes he stopped to listen, but he understood that -it was the leaves and the wind, and went on. As soon as he started -on again, he heard someone come dancing on silken foot up the slope. -Small feet came tripping. Elves and fairies played behind him. When -he turned round, there was no one, always no one. He shook his fists -at the rustling leaves and went on. - -They did not grow silent for that, but they took another tone. Then -began to hiss and to pant behind him. A big viper came gliding. Its -tongue dripping venom hung far out of its mouth, and its bright body -shone against the withered leaves. Beside the snake pattered a wolf, -a big, gaunt monster, who was ready to seize fast in his throat when -the snake had twisted about his feet and bitten Him in the heel. -Sometimes they were both silent, as if to approach him unperceived, -but they soon betrayed themselves by hissing and panting, and -sometimes the wolf's claws rang against a stone. Involuntarily Tord -walked quicker and quicker, but the creatures hastened after him. -When he felt that they were only two steps distant and were preparing -to strike, he turned. There was nothing there, and he had known it -the whole time. - -He sat down on a stone to rest. Then the dry leaves played about his -feet as if to amuse him. All the leaves of the forest were there: -small, light yellow birch leaves, red speckled mountain ash, the -elm's dry, dark-brown leaves, the aspen's tough light red, and the -willow's yellow green. Transformed and withered, scarred and torn -were they, and much unlike the downy, light green, delicately shaped -leaves which a few months ago had rolled out of their buds. - -"Sinners," said the boy, "sinners, nothing is pure in God's eyes. -The flame of his wrath has already reached you." - -When he resumed his wandering, he saw the forest under him bend -before the storm like a heaving sea, but in the path it was calm. -But he heard what he did not feel. The woods were full of voices. - -He heard whisperings, wailing songs, coarse threats, thundering -oaths. There were laughter and laments, there was the noise of many -people. That which hounded and pursued, which rustled and hissed, -which seemed to be something and still was nothing, gave him wild -thoughts. He felt again the anguish of death, as when he lay on the -floor in his den and the peasants hunted him through the wood. He -heard again the crashing of branches, the people's heavy tread, the -ring of weapons, the resounding cries, the wild, bloodthirsty noise, -which followed the crowd. - -But it was not only that which he heard in the storm. There was -something else, something still more terrible, voices which he could -not interpret, a confusion of voices, which seemed to him to speak in -foreign tongues. He had heard mightier storms than this whistle -through the rigging, but never before had he heard the wind play on -such a many-voiced harp. Each tree had its own voice; the pine did -not murmur like the aspen nor the poplar like the mountain ash. -Every hole had its note, every cliff's sounding echo its own ring. -And the noise of the brooks and the cry of foxes mingled with the -marvellous forest storm. But all that he could interpret; there were -other strange sounds. It was those which made him begin to scream -and scoff and groan in emulation with the storm. - -He had always been afraid when he was alone in the darkness of the -forest. He liked the open sea and the bare rocks. Spirits and -phantoms crept about among the trees. - -Suddenly he heard who it was who spoke in the storm. It was God, the -great Avenger, the God of justice. He was hunting him for the sake -of his comrade. He demanded that he should deliver up the murderer -to His vengeance. - -Then Tord began to speak in the midst of the storm. He told God what -he had wished to do, but had not been able. He had wished to speak -to Berg Rese and to beg him to make his peace with God, but he had -been too shy. Bashfulness had made him dumb. "When I heard that the -earth was ruled by a just God," he cried, "I understood that he was a -lost man. I have lain and wept for my friend many long nights. I -knew that God would find him out, wherever he might hide. But I -could not speak, nor teach him to understand. I was speechless, -because I loved him so much. Ask not that I shall speak to him, ask -not that the sea shall rise up against the mountain." - -He was silent, and in the storm the deep voice, which had been the -voice of God for him, ceased. It was suddenly calm, with a sharp sun -and a splashing as of oars and a gentle rustle as of stiff rushes. -These sounds brought Unn's image before him. The outlaw cannot have -anything, not riches, nor women, nor the esteem of men. If he should -betray Berg, he would be taken under the protection of the law. But -Unn must love Berg, after what he had done for her. There was no way -out of it all. - -When the storm increased, he heard again steps behind him and -sometimes a breathless panting. Now he did not dare to look back, -for he knew that the white monk went behind him. He came from the -feast at Berg Rese's house, drenched with blood, with a gaping -axe-wound in his forehead. And he whispered: "Denounce him, betray -him, save his soul. Leave his body to the pyre, that his soul may be -spared. Leave him to the slow torture of the rack, that his soul may -have time to repent." - -Tord ran. All this fright of what was nothing in itself grew, when -it so continually played on the soul, to an unspeakable terror. He -wished to escape from it all. As he began to run, again thundered -that deep, terrible voice which was God's. God himself hunted him -with alarms, that he should give up the murderer. Berg Rese's crime -seemed more detestable than ever to him. An unarmed man had been -murdered, a man of God pierced with shining steel. It was like a -defiance of the Lord of the world. And the murderer dared to live! -He rejoiced in the sun's light and in the fruits of the earth as if -the Almighty's arm were too short to reach him. - -He stopped, clenched his fists and howled out a threat. Then he ran -like a madman from the wood down to the valley. - -* * * * * - -Tord hardly needed to tell his errand; instantly ten peasants were -ready to follow him. It was decided that Tord should go alone up to -the cave, so that Berg's suspicions should not be aroused. But where -he went he should scatter peas, so that the peasants could find the -way. - -When Tord came to the cave, the outlaw sat on the stone bench and -sewed. The fire gave hardly any light, and the work seemed to go -badly. The boy's heart swelled with pity. The splendid Berg Rese -seemed to him poor and unhappy. And the only thing he possessed, his -life, should be taken from him. Tord began to weep. - -"What is it?" asked Berg. "Are you ill? Have you been frightened?" - -Then for the first time Tord spoke of his fear. "It was terrible in -the wood. I heard ghosts and saw spectres. I saw white monks." - -"'Sdeath, boy!" - -"They crowded round me all the way up Broad mountain. I ran, but -they followed after and sang. Can I never be rid of the sound? What -have I to do with them? I think that they could go to one who needed -it more." - -"Are you mad to-night, Tord?" - -Tord talked, hardly knowing what words he used. He was free from all -shyness. The words streamed from his lips. - -"They are all white monks, white, pale as death. They all have blood -on their cloaks. They drag their hoods down over their brows, but -still the wound shines from under; the big, red, gaping wound from -the blow of the axe." - -"The big, red, gaping wound from the blow of the axe?" - -"Is it I who perhaps have struck it? Why shall I see it?" - -"The saints only know, Tord," said Berg Rese, pale and with terrible -earnestness, "what it means that you see a wound from an axe. I -killed the monk with a couple of knife-thrusts." - -Tord stood trembling before Berg and wrung his hands. "They demand -you of me! They want to force me to betray you!" - -"Who? The monks?" - -"They, yes, the monks. They show me visions. They show me her, Unn. -They show me the shining, sunny sea. They show me the fisherman's -camping-ground, where there is dancing and merry-making. I close my -eyes, but still I see. 'Leave me in peace,' I say. 'My friend has -murdered, but he is not bad. Let me be, and I will talk to him, so -that he repents and atones. He shall confess his sin and go to -Christ's grave. We will both go together to the places which are so -holy that all sin is taken away from him who draws near them.'" - -"What do the monks answer?" asked Berg. "They want to have me saved. -They want to have me on the rack and wheel." - -"Shall I betray my dearest friend, I ask them," continued Tord. "He -is my world. He has saved me from the bear that had his paw on my -throat. We have been cold together and suffered every want together. -He has spread his bearskin over me when I was sick. I have carried -wood and water for him; I have watched over him while he slept; I -have fooled his enemies. Why do they think that I am one who will -betray a friend? My friend will soon of his own accord go to the -priest and confess, then we will go together to the land of -atonement." - -Berg listened earnestly, his eyes sharply searching Tord's face. -"You shall go to the priest and tell him the truth," he said. "You -need to be among people." - -"Does that help me if I go alone? For your sin, Death and all his -spectres follow me. Do you not see how I shudder at you? You have -lifted your hand against God himself. No crime is like yours. I -think that I must rejoice when I see you on rack and wheel. It is -well for him who can receive his punishment in this world and escapes -the wrath to come. Why did you tell me of the just God? You compel -me to betray you. Save me from that sin. Go to the priest." And he -fell on his knees before Berg. - -The murderer laid his hand on his head and looked at him. He was -measuring his sin against his friend's anguish, and it grew big and -terrible before his soul. He saw himself at variance with the Will -which rules the world. Repentance entered his heart. - -"Woe to me that I have done what I have done," he said. "That which -awaits me is too hard to meet voluntarily. If I give myself up to -the priests, they will torture me for hours; they will roast me with -slow fires. And is not this life of misery, which we lead in fear -and want, penance enough? Have I not lost lands and home? Do I not -live parted from friends and everything which makes a man's -happiness? What more is required?" - -When he spoke so, Tord sprang up wild with terror. "Can you repent?" -he cried. "Can my words move your heart? Then come instantly! How -could I believe that! Let us escape! There is still time." - -Berg Rese sprang up, he too. "You have done it, then----" - -"Yes, yes, yes! I have betrayed you! But come quickly! Come, as -you can repent! They will let us go. We shall escape them!" - -The murderer bent down to the floor, where the battle-axe of his -ancestors lay at his feet. "You son of a thief!" he said, hissing -out the words, "I have trusted you and loved you." - -But when Tord saw him bend for the axe, he knew that it was now a -question of his own life. He snatched his own axe from his belt and -struck at Berg before he had time to raise himself. The edge cut -through the whistling air and sank in the bent head. Berg Rese fell -head foremost to the floor, his body rolled after. Blood and brains -spouted out, the axe fell from the wound. In the matted hair Tord -saw a big, red, gaping hole from the blow of an axe. - -The peasants came rushing in. They rejoiced and praised the deed. - -"You will win by this," they said to Tord. - -Tord looked down at his hands as if he saw there the fetters with -which he had been dragged forward to kill him he loved. They were -forged from nothing. Of the rushes' green light, of the play of the -shadows, of the song of the storm, of the rustling of the leaves, of -dreams were they created. And he said aloud: "God is great." - -But again the old thought came to him. He fell on his knees beside -the body and put his arm under his head. - -"Do him no harm," he said. "He repents; he is going to the Holy -Sepulchre. He is not dead, he is not a prisoner. We were just ready -to go when he fell. The white monk did not want him to repent, but -God, the God of justice, loves repentance." - -He lay beside the body, talked to it, wept and begged the dead man to -awake. The peasants arranged a bier. They wished to carry the -peasant's body down to his house. They had respect for the dead and -spoke softly in his presence. When they lifted him up on the bier, -Tord rose, shook the hair back from his face, and said with a voice -which shook with sobs,-- - -"Say to Unn, who made Berg Rese a murderer, that he was killed by -Tord the fisherman, whose father is a wrecker and whose mother is a -witch, because he taught him that the foundation of the world is -justice." - - - - -IV - -THE PRINCESS BOB AND HER FRIENDS* - -BRET HARTE - -*Reprinted by permission of, and by special arrangement with Houghton -Mifflin Co. - - -She was a Klamath Indian. Her title was, I think, a compromise -between her claim as daughter of a chief and gratitude to her -earliest white protector, whose name, after the Indian fashion, she -had adopted. "Bob" Walker had taken her from the breast of her dead -mother at a time when the sincere volunteer soldiery of the -California frontier were impressed with the belief that extermination -was the manifest destiny of the Indian race. He had with difficulty -restrained the noble zeal of his compatriots long enough to convince -them that the exemption of one Indian baby would not invalidate this -theory. And he took her to his home,--a pastoral clearing on the -banks of the Salmon River,--where she was cared for after a frontier -fashion. - -Before she was nine years old, she had exhausted the scant kindliness -of the thin, overworked Mrs. Walker. As a playfellow of the young -Walkers she was unreliable; as a nurse for the baby she was -inefficient. She lost the former in the trackless depths of a -redwood forest; she basely abandoned the latter in an extemporized -cradle, hanging like a chrysalis to a convenient bough. She lied and -she stole,--two unpardonable sins in a frontier community, where -truth was a necessity and provisions were the only property. Worse -than this, the outskirts of the clearing were sometimes haunted by -blanketed tatterdemalions with whom she had mysterious confidences. -Mr. Walker more than once regretted his indiscreet humanity; but she -presently relieved him of responsibility, and possibly of -blood-guiltiness, by disappearing entirely. - -When she reappeared, it was at the adjacent village of Logport, in -the capacity of housemaid to a trader's wife, who, joining some -little culture to considerable conscientiousness, attempted to -instruct her charge. But the Princess proved an unsatisfactory pupil -to even so liberal a teacher. She accepted the alphabet with great -good-humour, but always as a pleasing and recurring novelty, in which -all interest expired at the completion of each lesson. She found a -thousand uses for her books and writing materials other than those -known to civilized children. She made a curious necklace of bits of -slate-pencil, she constructed a miniature canoe from the pasteboard -covers of her primer, she bent her pens into fish-hooks, and tattooed -the faces of her younger companions with blue ink. Religious -instruction she received as good-humouredly, and learned to pronounce -the name of the Deity with a cheerful familiarity that shocked her -preceptress. Nor could her reverence be reached through analogy; she -knew nothing of the Great Spirit, and professed entire ignorance of -the Happy Hunting-Grounds. Yet she attended divine service -regularly, and as regularly asked for a hymn-book; and it was only -through the discovery that she had collected twenty-five of these -volumes and had hidden them behind the woodpile, that her connection -with the First Baptist Church of Logport ceased. She would -occasionally abandon these civilized and Christian privileges, and -disappear from her home, returning after several days of absence with -an odour of bark and fish, and a peace-offering to her mistress in -the shape of venison or game. - -To add to her troubles, she was now fourteen, and, according to the -laws of her race, a woman. I do not think the most romantic fancy -would have called her pretty. Her complexion defied most of those -ambiguous similes through which poets unconsciously apologize for any -deviation from the Caucasian standard. It was not wine nor amber -coloured; if anything, it was smoky. Her face was tatooed with red -and white lines on one cheek, as if a fine-toothed comb had been -drawn from cheek-bone to jaw, and, but for the good-humour that -beamed from her small berry-like eyes and shone in her white teeth, -would have been repulsive. She was short and stout. In her scant -drapery and unrestrained freedom she was hardly statuesque, and her -more unstudied attitudes were marred by a simian habit of softly -scratching her left ankle with the toes of her right foot, in moments -of contemplation. - -I think I have already shown enough to indicate the incongruity of -her existence with even the low standard of civilization that -obtained at Logport in the year 1860. It needed but one more fact to -prove the far-sighted political sagacity and prophetic ethics of -those sincere advocates of extermination to whose virtues I have done -but scant justice in the beginning of this article. This fact was -presently furnished by the Princess. After one of her periodical -disappearances--this time unusually prolonged--she astonished Logport -by returning with a half-breed baby of a week old in her arms. That -night a meeting of the hard-featured serious matrons of Logport was -held at Mrs. Brown's. The immediate banishment of the Princess was -demanded. Soft-hearted Mrs. Brown endeavoured vainly to get a -mitigation or suspension of the sentence. But, as on a former -occasion, the Princess took matters into her own hands. A few -mornings afterwards a wicker cradle containing an Indian baby was -found hanging on the handle of the door of the First Baptist Church. -It was the Parthian arrow of the flying Princess. From that day -Logport knew her no more. - -It had been a bright clear day on the upland, so clear that the -ramparts of Fort Jackson and the flagstaff were plainly visible -twelve miles away from the long curving peninsula that stretched a -bared white arm around the peaceful waters of Logport Bay. It had -been a clear day upon the seashore, albeit the air was filled with -the flying spume and shifting sand of a straggling beach whose low -dunes were dragged down by the long surges of the Pacific and thrown -up again by the tumultuous tradewinds. But the sun had gone down in -a bank of fleecy fog that was beginning to roll in upon the beach. -Gradually the headland at the entrance of the harbour and the -lighthouse disappeared, then the willow fringe that marked the line -of Salmon River vanished, and the ocean was gone. A few sails still -gleamed on the waters of the bay; but the advancing fog wiped them -out one by one, crept across the steel-blue expanse, swallowed up the -white mills and single spire of Logport, and, joining with -reinforcements from the marshes, moved solemnly upon the hills. Ten -minutes more and the landscape was utterly blotted out; -simultaneously the wind died away, and a death-like silence stole -over sea and shore. The faint clang, high overhead, of unseen brent, -the nearer call of invisible plover, the lap and wash of -undistinguishable waters, and the monotonous roll of the vanished -ocean, were the only sounds. As night deepened, the far-off booming -of the fog-bell on the headland at intervals stirred the thick air. - -Hard by the shore of the bay, and half hidden by a drifting -sand-hill, stood a low nondescript structure, to whose composition -sea and shore had equally contributed. It was built partly of logs -and partly of driftwood and tarred canvas. Joined to one end of the -main building--the ordinary log-cabin of the settler--was the -half-round pilot-house of some wrecked steamer, while the other gable -terminated in half of a broken whaleboat. Nailed against the boat -were the dried skins of wild animals, and scattered about lay the -flotsam and jetsam of many years' gathering,--bamboo crates, casks, -hatches, blocks, oars, boxes, part of a whale's vertebræ, and the -blades of swordfish. Drawn up on the beach of a little cove before -the house lay a canoe. As the night thickened and the fog grew more -dense, these details grew imperceptible, and only the windows of the -pilot-house, lit up by a roaring fire within the hut, gleamed redly -through the mist. - -By this fire, beneath a ship's lamp that swung from the roof, two -figures were seated, a man and a woman. The man, broad-shouldered -and heavily bearded, stretched his listless powerful length beyond a -broken bamboo chair, with his eyes fixed on the fire. The woman -couched cross-legged upon the broad earthen hearth, with her eyes -blinkingly fixed on her companion. They were small, black, round, -berry-like eyes, and as the firelight shone upon her smoky face, with -its one striped cheek of gorgeous brilliancy, it was plainly the -Princess Bob and no other. - -Not a word was spoken. They had been sitting thus for more than an -hour, and there was about their attitude a suggestion that silence -was habitual. Once or twice the man rose and walked up and down the -narrow room, or gazed absently from the windows of the pilot-house, -but never by look or sign betrayed the slightest consciousness of his -companion. At such times the Princess from her nest by the fire -followed him with eyes of canine expectancy and wistfulness. But he -would as inevitably return to his contemplation of the fire, and the -Princess to her blinking watchfulness of his face. - -They had sat there silent and undisturbed for many an evening in fair -weather and foul. They had spent many a day in the sunshine and -storm, gathering the unclaimed spoil of sea and shore. They had kept -these mute relations, varied only by the incidents of the hunt or -meagre household duties, for three years, ever since the man, -wandering moodily over the lonely sands, had fallen upon the -half-starved woman lying in the little hollow where she had crawled -to die. It had seemed as if they would never be disturbed, until -now, when the Princess started, and, with the instinct of her race, -bent her ear to the ground. - -The wind had risen and was rattling the tarred canvas. But in -another moment there plainly came from without the hut the sound of -voices. Then followed a rap at the door; then another rap; and then, -before they could rise to their feet, the door was flung briskly open. - -"I beg your pardon," said a pleasant but somewhat decided contralto -voice, "but I don't think you heard me knock. Ah, I see you did not. -May I come in?" - -There was no reply. Had the battered figurehead of the Goddess of -Liberty, which lay deeply embedded in the sand on the beach, suddenly -appeared at the door demanding admittance, the occupants of the cabin -could not have been more speechlessly and hopelessly astonished than -at the form which stood in the open doorway. - -It was that of a slim, shapely, elegantly dressed young woman. A -scarlet-lined silken hood was half thrown back from the shining mass -of the black hair that covered her small head; from her pretty -shoulders drooped a fur cloak, only restrained by a cord and tassel -in her small gloved hand. Around her full throat was a double -necklace of large white beads, that by some cunning feminine trick -relieved with its infantile suggestion the strong decision of her -lower face. - -"Did you say yes? Ah, thank you. We may come in, Barker." (Here a -shadow in a blue army overcoat followed her into the cabin, touched -its cap respectfully, and then stood silent and erect against the -wall.) "Don't disturb yourself in the least, I beg. What a -distressingly unpleasant night! Is this your usual climate?" - -Half graciously, half absently overlooking the still embarrassed -silence of the group, she went on: "We started from the fort over -three hours ago,--three hours ago, wasn't it, Barker?" (the erect -Barker touched his cap)--"to go to Captain Emmons's quarters on -Indian Island,--I think you call it Indian Island, don't you?" (she -was appealing to the awe-stricken Princess),--"and we got into the -fog and lost our way; that is, Barker lost his way" (Barker touched -his cap deprecatingly), "and goodness knows where we didn't wander to -until we mistook your light for the lighthouse and pulled up here. -No, no, pray keep your seat, do! Really I must insist." - -Nothing could exceed the languid grace of the latter part of this -speech,--nothing except the easy unconsciousness with which she -glided by the offered chair of her stammering, embarrassed host and -stood beside the open hearth. - -"Barker will tell you," she continued, warming her feet by the fire, -"that I am Miss Portfire, daughter of Major Portfire, commanding the -post. Ah, excuse me, child!" (She had accidentally trodden upon the -bare yellow toes of the Princess.) "Really, I did not know you were -there. I am very near-sighted." (In confirmation of her statement, -she put to her eyes a dainty double eyeglass that dangled from her -neck.) "It's a shocking thing to be near-sighted, isn't it?" - -If the shamefaced uneasy man to whom this remark was addressed could -have found words to utter the thought that even in his confusion -struggled uppermost in his mind, he would, looking at the bold, dark -eyes that questioned, have denied the fact. But he only stammered, -"Yes." The next moment, however, Miss Portfire had apparently -forgotten him and was examining the Princess through her glass. - -"And what is your name, child?" - -The Princess, beatified by the eyes and eyeglass, showed all her -white teeth at once, and softly scratched her leg. - -"Bob." - -"Bob? What a singular name!" - -Miss Portfire's host here hastened to explain the origin of the -Princess's title. - -"Then you are Bob." (Eyeglass.) - -"No, my name is Grey,--John Grey." And he actually achieved a bow -where awkwardness was rather the air of imperfectly recalling a -forgotten habit. - -"Grey?--ah, let me see. Yes, certainly. You are Mr. Grey the -recluse, the hermit, the philosopher, and all that sort of thing. -Why, certainly; Dr. Jones, our surgeon, has told me all about you. -Dear me, how interesting a rencontre! Lived all alone here for -seven--was it seven years?--yes, I remember now. Existed quite _au -naturel_, one might say. How odd! Not that I know anything about -that sort of thing, you know. I've lived always among people, and am -really quite a stranger, I assure you. But honestly, Mr.--I beg your -pardon--Mr. Grey, how do you like it?" - -She had quietly taken his chair and thrown her cloak and hood over -its back, and was now thoughtfully removing her gloves. Whatever -were the arguments,--and they were doubtless many and -profound,--whatever the experience,--and it was doubtless hard and -satisfying enough,--by which this unfortunate man had justified his -life for the last seven years, somehow they suddenly became trivial -and terribly ridiculous before this simple but practical question. - -"Well, you shall tell me all about it after you have given me -something to eat. We will have time enough; Barker cannot find his -way back in this fog to-night. Now don't put yourselves to any -trouble on my account. Barker will assist." - -Barker came forward. Glad to escape the scrutiny of his guest, the -hermit gave a few rapid directions to the Princess in her native -tongue, and disappeared in the shed. Left a moment alone, Miss -Portfire took a quick, half-audible, feminine inventory of the cabin. -"Books, guns, skins, _one_ chair, _one_ bed, no pictures, and no -looking-glass!" She took a book from the swinging shelf and resumed -her seat by the fire as the Princess re-entered with fresh fuel. But -while kneeling on the hearth the Princess chanced to look up and met -Miss Portfire's dark eyes over the edge of her book. - -"Bob!" - -The Princess showed her teeth. - -"Listen. Would you like to have fine clothes, rings, and beads like -these, to have your hair nicely combed and put up so? Would you?" - -The Princess nodded violently. - -"Would you like to live with me and have them? Answer quickly. -Don't look round for him. Speak for yourself. Would you? Hush; -never mind now." - -The hermit re-entered, and the Princess, blinking, retreated into the -shadow of the whaleboat shed, from which she did not emerge even when -the homely repast of cold venison, ship biscuit, and tea was served. -Miss Portfire noticed her absence: "You really must not let me -interfere with your usual simple ways. Do you know this is -exceedingly interesting to me, so pastoral and patriarchal and all -that sort of thing. I must insist upon the Princess coming back; -really, I must." - -But the Princess was not to be found in the shed, and Miss Portfire, -who the next minute seemed to have forgotten all about her, took her -place in the single chair before an extemporized table. Barker stood -behind her, and the hermit leaned against the fireplace. Miss -Portfire's appetite did not come up to her protestations. For the -first time in seven years it occurred to the hermit that his ordinary -victual might be improved. He stammered out something to that effect. - -"I have eaten better, and worse," said Miss Portfire, quietly. - -"But I thought you--that is, you said----" - -"I spent a year in the hospitals, when father was on the Potomac," -returned Miss Portfire, composedly. After a pause she continued: -"You remember after the second Bull Run-- But, dear me! I beg your -pardon; of course, you know nothing about the war and all that sort -of thing, and don't care." (She put up her eyeglass and quietly -surveyed his broad muscular figure against the chimney.) "Or, -perhaps, your prejudices-- But then, as a hermit you know you have -no politics, of course. Please don't let me bore you." - -To have been strictly consistent, the hermit should have exhibited no -interest in this topic. Perhaps it was owing to some quality in the -narrator, but he was constrained to beg her to continue in such -phrases as his unfamiliar lips could command. So that little by -little Miss Portfire yielded up incident and personal observation of -contest then raging; with the same half-abstracted, half-unconcerned -air that seemed habitual to her, she told the stories of privation, -of suffering, of endurance, and of sacrifice. With the same -assumption of timid deference that concealed her great self-control, -she talked of principles and rights. Apparently without enthusiasm -and without effort, of which his morbid nature would have been -suspicious, she sang the great American Iliad in a way that stirred -the depths of her solitary auditor to its massive foundations. Then -she stopped and asked quietly, "Where is Bob?" - -The hermit started. He would look for her. But Bob, for some -reason, was not forthcoming. Search was made within and without the -hut, but in vain. For the first time that evening Miss Portfire -showed some anxiety. "Go," she said to Barker, "and find her. She -_must_ be found; stay, give me your overcoat, I'll go myself." She -threw the overcoat over her shoulders and stepped out into the night. -In the thick veil of fog that seemed suddenly to inwrap her, she -stood for a moment irresolute, and then walked toward the beach, -guided by the low wash of waters on the sand. She had not taken many -steps before she stumbled over some dark crouching object. Reaching -down her hand she felt the coarse wiry mane of the Princess. - -"Bob!" - -There was no reply. - -"Bob. I've been looking for you, come." - -"Go 'way." - -"Nonsense, Bob. I want you to stay with me to-night, come." - -"Injin squaw no good for waugee woman. Go 'way." - -"Listen, Bob. You are daughter of a chief: so am I. Your father had -many warriors: so has mine. It is good that you stay with me. Come." - -The Princess chuckled and suffered herself to be lifted up. A few -moments later they re-entered the hut hand in hand. - -With the first red streaks of dawn the next day the erect Barker -touched his cap at the door of the hut. Beside him stood the hermit, -also just risen from his blanketed nest in the sand. Forth from the -hut, fresh as the morning air, stepped Miss Portfire, leading the -Princess by the hand. Hand in hand also they walked to the shore, -and when the Princess had been safely bestowed in the stern sheets, -Miss Portfire turned and held out her own to her late host. - -"I shall take the best of care of her, of course. You will come and -see her often. I should ask you to come and see me, but you are a -hermit, you know, and all that sort of thing. But if it's the -correct anchorite thing, and can be done, my father will be glad to -requite you for this night's hospitality. But don't do anything on -my account that interferes with your simple habits. Good-bye." - -She handed him a card, which he took mechanically. - -"Good-bye." - -The sail was hoisted, and the boat shoved off. As the fresh morning -breeze caught the white canvas it seemed to bow a parting salutation. -There was a rosy flush of promise on the water, and as the light -craft darted forward toward the ascending sun, it seemed for a moment -uplifted in its glory. - - -Miss Portfire kept her word. If thoughtful care and intelligent -kindness could regenerate the Princess, her future was secure. And -it really seemed as if she were for the first time inclined to heed -the lessons of civilization and profit by her new condition. An -agreeable change was first noticed in her appearance. Her lawless -hair was caught in a net, and no longer strayed over her low -forehead. Her unstable bust was stayed and upheld by French corsets; -her plantigrade shuffle was limited by heeled boots. Her dresses -were neat and clean, and she wore a double necklace of glass beads. -With this physical improvement there also seemed some moral -awakening. She no longer stole nor lied. With the possession of -personal property came a respect for that of others. With increased -dependence on the word of those about her came a thoughtful -consideration of her own. Intellectually she was still feeble, -although she grappled sturdily with the simple lessons which Miss -Portfire set before her. But her zeal and simple vanity outran her -discretion, and she would often sit for hours with an open book -before her, which she could not read. She was a favourite with the -officers at the fort, from the Major, who shared his daughter's -prejudices and often yielded to her powerful self-will, to the -subalterns, who liked her none the less that their natural enemies, -the frontier volunteers, had declared war against her helpless -sisterhood. The only restraint put upon her was the limitation of -her liberty to the enclosure of the fort and parade; and only once -did she break this parole, and was stopped by the sentry as she -stepped into a boat at the landing. - -The recluse did not avail himself of Miss Portfire's invitation. But -after the departure of the Princess he spent less of his time in the -hut, and was more frequently seen in the distant marshes of Eel River -and on the upland hills. A feverish restlessness, quite opposed to -his usual phlegm, led him into singular freaks strangely inconsistent -with his usual habits and reputation. The purser of the occasional -steamer which stopped at Logport with the mails reported to have been -boarded, just inside the bar, by a strange bearded man, who asked for -a newspaper containing the last war telegrams. He tore his red shirt -into narrow strips, and spent two days with his needle over the -pieces and the tattered remnant of his only white garment; and a few -days afterward the fishermen on the bay were surprised to see what, -on nearer approach, proved to be a rude imitation of the national -flag floating from a spar above the hut. - -One evening, as the fog began to drift over the sand-hills, the -recluse sat alone in his hut. The fire was dying unheeded on the -hearth, for he had been sitting there for a long time, completely -absorbed in the blurred pages of an old newspaper. Presently he -arose, and, refolding it,--an operation of great care and delicacy in -its tattered condition,--placed it under the blankets of his bed. He -resumed his seat by the fire, but soon began drumming with his -fingers on the arm of his chair. Eventually this assumed the time -and accent of some air. Then he began to whistle softly and -hesitatingly, as if trying to recall a forgotten tune. Finally this -took shape in a rude resemblance, not unlike that which his flag bore -to the national standard, to Yankee Doodle. Suddenly he stopped. - -There was an unmistakable rapping at the door. The blood which had -at first rushed to his face now forsook it and settled slowly around -his heart. He tried to rise, but could not. Then the door was flung -open, and a figure with a scarlet-lined hood and fur mantle stood on -the threshold. With a mighty effort he took one stride to the door. -The next moment he saw the wide mouth and white teeth of the -Princess, and was greeted by a kiss that felt like a baptism. - -To tear the hood and mantle from her figure in the sudden fury that -seized him, and to fiercely demand the reason of this masquerade, was -his only return to her greeting. "Why are you here? Did you steal -these garments?" he again demanded in her guttural language, as he -shook her roughly by the arm. The Princess hung her head. "Did -you?" he screamed, as he reached wildly for his rifle. - -"I did." - -His hold relaxed, and he staggered back against the wall. The -Princess began to whimper. Between her sobs, she was trying to -explain that the Major and his daughter were going away, and that -they wanted to send her to the Reservation; but he cut her short. -"Take off those things!" The Princess tremblingly obeyed. He rolled -them up, placed them in the canoe she had just left, and then leaped -into the frail craft. She would have followed, but with a great oath -he threw her from him, and with one stroke of his paddle swept out -into the fog, and was gone. - -"Jessamy," said the Major, a few days after, as he sat at dinner with -his daughter, "I think I can tell you something to match the -mysterious disappearance and return of your wardrobe. Your crazy -friend, the recluse, has enlisted this morning in the Fourth -Artillery. He's a splendid-looking animal, and there's the right -stuff for a soldier in him, if I'm not mistaken. He's in earnest -too, for he enlists in the regiment ordered back to Washington. -Bless me, child, another goblet broken; you'll ruin the mess in -glassware, at this rate!" - -"Have you heard anything more of the Princess, papa?" - -"Nothing, but perhaps it's as well that she has gone. These cursed -settlers are at their old complaints again about what they call -'Indian depredations,' and I have just received orders from -headquarters to keep the settlement clear of all vagabond aborigines. -I am afraid, my dear, that a strict construction of the term would -include your _protégée_." - -The time for the departure of the Fourth Artillery had come. The -night before was thick and foggy. At one o'clock, a shot on the -ramparts called out the guard and roused the sleeping garrison. The -new sentry, Private Grey, had challenged a dusky figure creeping on -the glacis, and, receiving no answer, had fired. The guard sent out -presently returned, bearing a lifeless figure in their arms. The new -sentry's zeal, joined with an ex-frontiersman's aim, was fatal. - -They laid the helpless, ragged form before the guard-house door, and -then saw for the first time that it was the Princess. Presently she -opened her eyes. They fell upon the agonized face of her innocent -slayer, but haply without intelligence or reproach. - -"Georgy!" she whispered. - -"Bob!" - -"All's same now. Me get plenty well soon. Me make no more fuss. Me -go to Reservation." - -Then she stopped, a tremor ran through her limbs, and she lay still. -She had gone to the Reservation. Not that devised by the wisdom of -man, but that one set apart from the foundations of the world for the -wisest as well as the meanest of His creatures. - - - - -V - -THE THREE STRANGERS* - -THOMAS HARDY - -*Reprinted from "Wessex Tales" by permission of Harper and Brothers. - - -Among the few features of agricultural England which retain an -appearance but little modified by the lapse of centuries, may be -reckoned the high, grassy, and furzy downs, coombs, or ewe-leases, as -they are indifferently called, that fill a large area of certain -counties in the south and south-west. If any mark of human -occupation is met with hereon it usually takes the form of the -solitary cottage of some shepherd. - -Fifty years ago such a lonely cottage stood on such a down, and may -possibly be standing there now. In spite of its loneliness, however, -the spot, by actual measurement, was not more than five miles from a -county town. Yet, what of that? Five miles of irregular upland, -during the long inimical seasons, with their sleets, snows, rains, -and mists, afford withdrawing space enough to isolate a Timon or a -Nebuchadnezzar; much less, in fair weather, to please that less -repellant tribe, the poets, philosophers, artists, and others who -"conceive and meditate of pleasant things." - -Some old earthen camp or barrow, some clump of trees, at least some -starved fragment of ancient hedge, is usually taken advantage of in -the erection of these forlorn dwellings. But, in the present case, -such a kind of shelter had been disregarded. Higher Crowstairs, as -the house was called, stood quite detached and undefended. The only -reason for its precise situation seemed to be the crossing of two -footpaths at right angles hard by, which may have crossed there and -thus for a good five hundred years. The house was thus exposed to -the elements on all sides. But, though the wind up here blew -unmistakably when it did blow, and the rain hit hard whenever it -fell, the various weathers of the winter season were not quite so -formidable on the coomb as they were imagined to be by dwellers on -low ground. The raw rimes were not so pernicious as in the hollows, -and the frosts were scarcely so severe. When the shepherd and his -family who tenanted the house were pitied for their sufferings from -the exposure, they said that upon the whole they were less -inconvenienced by "wuzzes and flames" (hoarses and phlegms) than when -they had lived by the stream of a snug neighbouring valley. - -The night of March 28, 182-, was precisely one of the nights that -were wont to call forth these expressions of commiseration. The -level rainstorm smote walls, slopes, and hedges like the clothyard -shafts of Senlac and Crécy. Such sheep and outdoor animals as had no -shelter stood with their buttocks to the wind; while the tails of -little birds trying to roost on some scraggy thorn were blown inside -out like umbrellas. The gable-end of the cottage was stained with -wet, and the eaves-droppings flapped against the wall. Yet never was -commiseration for the shepherd more misplaced. For that cheerful -rustic was entertaining a large party in glorification of the -christening of his second girl. - -The guests had arrived before the rain began to fall, and they were -all now assembled in the chief or living-room of the dwelling. A -glance into the apartment at eight o'clock on this eventful evening -would have resulted in the opinion that it was as cosy and -comfortable a nook as could be wished for in boisterous weather. The -calling of its inhabitant was proclaimed by a number of -highly-polished sheep-crooks without stems that were hung -ornamentally over the fireplace, the curl of each shining crook -varying from the antiquated type engraved in the patriarchal pictures -of old family Bibles to the most approved fashion of the last local -sheep-fair. The room was lighted by half-a-dozen candles, having -wicks only a trifle smaller than the grease which enveloped them, in -candlesticks that were never used but at high-days, holy-days, and -family feasts. The lights were scattered about the room, two of them -standing on the chimneypiece. This position of candles was in itself -significant. Candles on the chimneypiece always meant a party. - -On the hearth, in front of a back-brand to give substance, blazed a -fire of thorns, that crackled "like the laughter of the fool." - -Nineteen persons were gathered here. Of these, five women, wearing -gowns of various bright hues, sat in chairs along the wall; girls shy -and not shy filled the window-bench; four men, including Charley Jake -the hedge-carpenter, Elijah New the parish-clerk, and John Pitcher, a -neighbouring dairyman, the shepherd's father-in-law, lolled in the -settle; a young man and maid, who were blushing over tentative -_pourparlers_ on a life-companionship, sat beneath the -corner-cupboard; and an elderly engaged man of fifty or upward moved -restlessly about from spots where his betrothed was not to the spot -where she was. Enjoyment was pretty general, and so much the more -prevailed in being unhampered by conventional restrictions. Absolute -confidence in each other's good opinion begat perfect ease, while the -finishing stroke of manner, amounting to a truly princely serenity, -was lent to the majority by the absence of any expression or trait -denoting that they wished to get on in the world, enlarge their -minds, or do any eclipsing thing whatever--which nowadays so -generally nips the bloom and bonhomie of all except the two extremes -of the social scale. - -Shepherd Fennel had married well, his wife being a dairyman's -daughter from the valley below, who brought fifty guineas in her -pocket--and kept them there, till they should be required for -ministering to the needs of a coming family. This frugal woman had -been somewhat exercised as to the character that should be given to -the gathering. A sit-still party had its advantages; but an -undisturbed position of ease in chairs and settles was apt to lead on -the men to such an unconscionable deal of toping that they would -sometimes fairly drink the house dry. A dancing-party was the -alternative; but this, while avoiding the foregoing objection on the -score of good drink, had a counterbalancing disadvantage in the -matter of good victuals, the ravenous appetites engendered by the -exercise causing immense havoc in the buttery. Shepherdess Fennel -fell back upon the intermediate plan of mingling short dances with -short periods of talk and singing, so as to hinder any ungovernable -rage in either. But this scheme was entirely confined to her own -gentle mind: the shepherd himself was in the mood to exhibit the most -reckless phases of hospitality. - -The fiddler was a boy of those parts, about twelve years of age, who -had a wonderful dexterity in jigs and reels, though his fingers were -so small and short as to necessitate a constant shifting for the high -notes, from which he scrambled back to the first position with sounds -not of unmixed purity of tone. At seven the shrill tweedle-dee of -this youngster had begun, accompanied by a booming ground-bass from -Elijah New, the parish-clerk, who had thoughtfully brought with him -his favourite musical instrument, the serpent. Dancing was -instantaneous, Mrs. Fennel privately enjoining the players on no -account to let the dance exceed the length of a quarter of an hour. - -But Elijah and the boy, in the excitement of their position, quite -forgot the injunction. Moreover, Oliver Giles, a man of seventeen, -one of the dancers, who was enamoured of his partner, a fair girl of -thirty-three rolling years, had recklessly handed a new crown-piece -to the musicians, as a bribe to keep going as long as they had muscle -and wind. Mrs. Fennel, seeing the steam begin to generate on the -countenances of her guests, crossed over and touched the fiddler's -elbow and put her hand on the serpent's mouth. But they took no -notice, and fearing she might lose her character of genial hostess if -she were to interfere too markedly, she retired and sat down -helpless. And so the dance whizzed on with cumulative fury, the -performers moving in their planet-like courses, direct and -retrograde, from apogee to perigee, till the hand of the well-kicked -clock at the bottom of the room had travelled over the circumference -of an hour. - -While those cheerful events were in course of enactment within -Fennel's pastoral dwelling, an incident having considerable bearing -on the party had occurred in the gloomy night without. Mrs. Fennel's -concern about the growing fierceness of the dance corresponded in -point of time with the ascent of a human figure to the solitary hill -of Higher Crowstairs from the direction of the distant town. This -personage strode on through the rain without a pause, following the -little-worn path which, further on in its course, skirted the -shepherd's cottage. - -It was nearly the time of full moon, and on this account, though the -sky was lined with a uniform sheet of dripping cloud, ordinary -objects out-of-doors were readily visible. The sad wan light -revealed the lonely pedestrian to be a man of supple frame; his gait -suggested that he had somewhat passed the period of perfect and -instinctive agility, though not so far as to be otherwise than rapid -of motion when occasion required. In point of fact he might have -been about forty years of age. He appeared tall, but a recruiting -sergeant, or other person accustomed to the judging of men's heights -by the eye, would have discerned that this was chiefly owing to his -gauntness, and that he was not more than five feet eight or nine. - -Notwithstanding the regularity of his tread, there was caution in it, -as in that of one who mentally feels his way; and despite the fact -that it was not a black coat nor a dark garment of any sort that he -wore, there was something about him which suggested that he naturally -belonged to the black-coated tribes of men. His clothes were of -fustian, and his boots hobnailed, yet in his progress he showed not -the mud-accustomed bearing of hobnailed and fustianed peasantry. - -By the time that he had arrived abreast of the shepherd's premises -the rain came down, or rather came along, with yet more determined -violence. The outskirts of the little homestead partially broke the -force of wind and rain, and this induced him to stand still. The -most salient of the shepherd's domestic erections was an empty sty at -the forward corner of his hedgeless garden, for in these latitudes -the principle of masking the homelier features of your establishment -by a conventional frontage was unknown. The traveller's eye was -attracted to this small building by the pallid shine of the wet -slates that covered it. He turned aside, and, finding it empty, -stood under the pent-roof for shelter. - -While he stood, the boom of the serpent within, and the lesser -strains of the fiddler, reached the spot as an accompaniment to the -surging hiss of the flying rain on the sod, its louder beating on the -cabbage-leaves of the garden, on the eight or ten beehives just -discernible by the path, and its dripping from the eaves into a row -of buckets and pans that had been placed under the walls of the -cottage. For at Higher Crowstairs, as at all such elevated -domiciles, the grand difficulty of housekeeping was an insufficiency -of water; and a casual rainfall was utilized by turning out, as -catchers, every utensil that the house contained. Some queer stories -might be told of the contrivances for economy in suds and dish-waters -that are absolutely necessitated in upland habitations during the -droughts of summer. But at this season there were no such -exigencies: a mere acceptance of what the skies bestowed was -sufficient for an abundant store. - -At last the notes of the serpent ceased and the house was silent. -This cessation of activity aroused the solitary pedestrian from the -reverie into which he had lapsed, and, emerging from the shed, with -an apparently new intention, he walked up the path to the house-door. -Arrived here, his first act was to kneel down on a large stone beside -the row of vessels, and to drink a copious draught from one of them. -Having quenched his thirst, he rose and lifted his hand to knock, but -paused with his eye upon the panel. Since the dark surface of the -wood revealed absolutely nothing, it was evident that he must be -mentally looking through the door, as if he wished to measure thereby -all the possibilities that a house of this sort might include, and -how they might bear upon the question of his entry. - -In his indecision he turned and surveyed the scene around. Not a -soul was anywhere visible. The garden-path stretched downward from -his feet, gleaming like the track of a snail; the roof of the little -well (mostly dry), the well cover, the top rail of the garden-gate, -were varnished with the same dull liquid glaze; while, far away in -the vale, a faint whiteness of more than usual extent showed that the -rivers were high in the meads. Beyond all this winked a few bleared -lamplights through the beating drops, lights that denoted the -situation of the county-town from which he had appeared to come. The -absence of all notes of life in that direction seemed to clinch his -intentions, and he knocked at the door. - -Within, a desultory chat had taken the place of movement and musical -sound. The hedge-carpenter was suggesting a song to the company, -which nobody just then was inclined to undertake, so that the knock -afforded a not unwelcome diversion. - -"Walk in!" said the shepherd promptly. - -The latch clicked upward, and out of the night our pedestrian -appeared upon the door-mat. The shepherd arose, snuffed two of the -nearest candles, and turned to look at him. - -Their light disclosed that the stranger was dark in complexion, and -not unprepossessing as to feature. His hat, which for a moment he -did not remove, hung low over his eyes, without concealing that they -were large, open, and determined, moving with a flash rather than a -glance round the room. He seemed pleased with the survey, and, -baring his shaggy head, said, in a rich deep voice, "The rain is so -heavy, friends, that I ask leave to come in and rest awhile." - -"To be sure, stranger," said the shepherd. "And faith, you've been -lucky in choosing your time, for we are having a bit of a fling for a -glad cause--though to be sure a man could hardly wish that glad cause -to happen more than once a year." - -"Nor less," spoke up a woman. "For 'tis best to get your family over -and done with, as soon as you can, so as to be all the earlier out of -the fag o't." - -"And what may be this glad cause?" asked the stranger. - -"A birth and christening," said the shepherd. - -The stranger hoped his host might not be made unhappy either by too -many or too few of such episodes, and being invited by a gesture to a -pull at the mug, he readily acquiesced. His manner, which before -entering had been so dubious, was now altogether that of a careless -and candid man. - -"Late to be traipsing athwart this coomb--hey?" said the engaged man -of fifty. - -"Late it is, master, as you say.--I'll take a seat in the -chimney-corner, if you have nothing to urge against it, ma'am; for I -am a little moist on the side that was next the rain." - -Mrs. Shepherd Fennel assented, and made room for the self-invited -comer, who, having got completely inside the chimney-corner, -stretched out his legs and his arms with the expansiveness of a -person quite at home. - -"Yes, I am rather thin in the vamp," he said freely, seeing that the -eyes of Shepherd's wife fell upon his boots, "and I am not -well-fitted, either. I have had some rough times lately, and have -been forced to pick up what I can get in the way of wearing, but I -must find a suit better fit for working-days when I reach home." - -"One of hereabouts?" she inquired. - -"Not quite that--further up the country." - -"I thought so. And so am I; and by your tongue you come from my -neighbourhood." - -"But you would hardly have heard of me," he said quickly. "My time -would be long before yours, ma'am, you see." - -This testimony to the youthfulness of his hostess had the effect of -stopping her cross-examination. - -"There is only one thing more wanted to make me happy," continued the -newcomer. "And that is a little baccy, which I am sorry to say I am -out of." - -"I'll fill your pipe," said the shepherd. - -"I must ask you to lend me a pipe likewise." - -"A smoker, and no pipe about ye?" - -"I have dropped it somewhere on the road." - -The shepherd filled and handed him a new clay pipe, saying, as he did -so, "Hand me your baccy-box--I'll fill that too, now I am about it." - -The man went through the movement of searching his pockets. - -"Lost that too?" said his entertainer, with some surprise. - -"I am afraid so," said the man with some confusion. "Give it to me -in a screw of paper." Lighting his pipe at the candle with a suction -that drew the whole flame into the bowl, he resettled himself in the -corner, and bent his looks upon the faint steam from his damp legs, -as if he wished to say no more. - -Meanwhile the general body of guests had been taking little notice of -this visitor by reason of an absorbing discussion in which they were -engaged with the band about a time for the next dance. The matter -being settled, they were about to stand up when an interruption came -in the shape of another knock at the door. - -At sound of the same the man in the chimney-corner took up the poker -and began stirring the fire as if doing it thoroughly were the one -aim of his existence; and a second time the shepherd said "Walk in!" -In a moment another man stood upon the straw-woven door-mat. He too -was a stranger. - -This individual was one of a type radically different from the first. -There was more of the commonplace in his manner, and a certain jovial -cosmopolitanism sat upon his features. He was several years older -than the first arrival, his hair being slightly frosted, his eyebrows -bristly, and his whiskers cut back from his cheeks. His face was -rather full and flabby, and yet it was not altogether a face without -power. A few grog-blossoms marked the neighbourhood of his nose. He -flung back his long drab greatcoat, revealing that beneath it he wore -a suit of cinder-grey shade throughout, large heavy seals, of some -metal or other that would take a polish, dangling from his fob as his -only personal ornament. Shaking the water-drops from his low-crowned -glazed hat, he said, "I must ask for a few minutes' shelter, -comrades, or I shall be wetted to my skin before I get to -Casterbridge." - -"Make yerself at home, master," said the shepherd, perhaps a trifle -less heartily than on the first occasion. Not that Fennel had the -least tinge of niggardliness in his composition; but the room was far -from large, spare chairs were not numerous, and damp companions were -not altogether comfortable at close quarters for the women and girls -in their bright-coloured gowns. - -However, the second comer, after taking off his greatcoat, and -hanging his hat on a nail in one of the ceiling-beams as if he had -been specially invited to put it there, advanced and sat down at the -table. This had been pushed so closely into the chimney-corner, to -give all available room to the dancers, that its inner edge grazed -the elbow of the man who had ensconced himself by the fire; and thus -the two strangers were brought into close companionship. They nodded -to each other by way of breaking the ice of unacquaintance, and the -first stranger handed his neighbour the large mug--a huge vessel of -brown ware, having its upper edge worn away like a threshold by the -rub of whole genealogies of thirsty lips that had gone the way of all -flesh, and bearing the following inscription burnt upon its rotund -side in yellow letters:-- - - THERE iS NO FUN - UNTiLL i CUM. - -The other man, nothing loth, raised the mug to his lips, and drank -on, and on, and on--till a curious blueness overspread the -countenance of the shepherd's wife, who had regarded with no little -surprise the first stranger's free offer to the second of what did -not belong to him to dispense. - -"I knew it!" said the toper to the shepherd with much satisfaction. -"When I walked up your garden afore coming in, and saw the hives all -of a row, I said to myself, 'Where there's bees there's honey, and -where there's honey there's mead.' But mead of such a truly -comfortable sort as this I really didn't expect to meet in my older -days." He took yet another pull at the mug, till it assumed an -ominous horizontality. - -"Glad you enjoy it!" said the shepherd warmly. - -"It is goodish mead," assented Mrs. Fennel with an absence of -enthusiasm, which seemed to say that it was possible to buy praise -for one's cellar at too heavy a price. "It is trouble enough to -make--and really I hardly think we shall make any more. For honey -sells well, and we can make shift with a drop o' small mead and -metheglin for common use from the comb-washings." - -"Oh, but you'll never have the heart!" reproachfully cried the -stranger in cinder-grey, after taking up the mug a third time and -setting it down empty. "I love mead, when 'tis old like this, as I -love to go to church o' Sundays, or to relieve the needy any day of -the week." - -"Ha, ha, ha!" said the man in the chimney-corner, who, in spite of -the taciturnity induced by the pipe of tobacco, could not or would -not refrain from this slight testimony to his comrade's humour. - -Now the old mead of those days, brewed of the purest first-year or -maiden honey, four pounds to the gallon--with its due complement of -whites of eggs, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, rosemary, yeast, and -processes of working, bottling, and cellaring--tasted remarkably -strong; but it did not taste so strong as it actually was. Hence, -presently, the stranger in cinder-grey at the table, moved by its -creeping influence, unbuttoned his waistcoat, threw himself back in -his chair, spread his legs, and made his presence felt in various -ways. - -"Well, well, as I say," he resumed, "I am going to Casterbridge, and -to Casterbridge I must go. I should have been almost there by this -time, but the rain drove me into ye; and I'm not sorry for it." - -"You don't live in Casterbridge?" said the shepherd. - -"Not as yet; though I shortly mean to move there." - -"Going to set up in trade, perhaps?" - -"No, no," said the shepherd's wife. "It is easy to see that the -gentleman is rich, and don't want to work at anything." - -The cinder-gray stranger paused, as if to consider whether he would -accept that definition of himself. He presently rejected it by -answering, "Rich is not quite the word for me, dame. I do work, and -I must work. And even if I only get to Casterbridge by midnight I -must begin work there at eight tomorrow morning. Yes, het or wet, -blow or snow, famine or sword, my day's work to-morrow must be done." - -"Poor man! Then, in spite o' seeming, you be worse off than we?" -replied the shepherd's wife. - -"'Tis the nature of my trade, men and maidens. 'Tis the nature of my -trade more than my poverty.... But really and truly I must up and -off, or I shan't get a lodging in the town." However, the speaker -did not move, and directly added, "There's time for one more draught -of friendship before I go; and I'd perform it at once if the mug were -not dry." - -"Here's a mug o' small," said Mrs. Fennel. "Small, we call it, -though to be sure 'tis only the first wash o' the combs." - -"No," said the stranger disdainfully. "I won't spoil your first -kindness by partaking o' your second." - -"Certainly not," broke in Fennel. "We don't increase and multiply -every day, and I'll fill the mug again." He went away to the dark -place under the stairs where the barrel stood. The shepherdess -followed him. - -"Why should you do this?" she said reproachfully, as soon as they -were alone. "He's emptied it once, though it held enough for ten -people; and now he's not contented wi' the small, but must needs call -for more o' the strong! And a stranger unbeknown to any of us. For -my part I don't like the look o' the man at all." - -"But he's in the house, my honey; and 'tis a wet night, and a -christening. Daze it, what's a cup of mead more or less? there'll be -plenty more next bee-burning." - -"Very well--this time, then," she answered, looking wistfully at the -barrel. "But what is the man's calling, and where is he one of, that -he should come in and join us like this?" - -"I don't know. I'll ask him again." - -The catastrophe of having the mug drained dry at one pull by the -stranger in cinder-grey was effectually guarded against this time by -Mrs. Fennel. She poured out his allowance in a small cup, keeping -the large one at a discreet distance from him. When he had tossed -off his portion the shepherd renewed his inquiry about the stranger's -occupation. - -The latter did not immediately reply, and the man in the -chimney-corner, with sudden demonstrativeness, said, "Anybody may -know my trade--I'm a wheelwright." - -"A very good trade for these parts," said the shepherd. - -"And anybody may know mine--if they've the sense to find it out," -said the stranger in cinder-grey. - -"You may generally tell what a man is by his claws," observed the -hedge-carpenter, looking at his hands. "My fingers be as full of -thorns as an old pincushion is of pins." - -The hands of the man in the chimney-corner instinctively sought the -shade, and he gazed into the fire as he resumed his pipe. The man at -the table took up the hedge-carpenter's remark, and added smartly, -"True; but the oddity of my trade is that, instead of setting a mark -upon me, it sets a mark upon my customers." - -No observation being offered by anybody in elucidation of this -enigma, the shepherd's wife once more called for a song. The same -obstacles presented themselves as at the former time--one had no -voice, another had forgotten the first verse. The stranger at the -table, whose soul had now risen to a good working temperature, -relieved the difficulty by exclaiming that, to start the company, he -would sing himself. Thrusting one thumb into the arm-hole of his -waistcoat, he waved the other hand in the air, and, with an -extemporizing gaze at the shining sheep-crooks above the mantelpiece, -began: - - Oh my trade it is the rarest one, - Simple shepherds all-- - My trade is a sight to see; - For my customers I tie, and take them up on high, - And waft 'em to a far countree. - -The room was silent when he had finished the verse--with one -exception, that of the man in the chimney-corner, who, at the -singer's word, "Chorus!" joined him in a deep bass voice of musical -relish-- - - And waft 'em to a far countree. - -Oliver Giles, John Pitcher the dairyman, the parish-clerk, the -engaged man of fifty, the row of young women against the wall seemed -lost in thought not of the gayest kind. The shepherd looked -meditatively on the ground, the shepherdess gazed keenly at the -singer, and with some suspicion; she was doubting whether this -stranger were merely singing an old song from recollection or was -composing one there and then for the occasion. All were as perplexed -at the obscure revelation as the guests at Belshazzar's Feast, except -the man in the chimney-corner, who quietly said, "Second verse, -stranger," and smoked on. - -The singer thoroughly moistened himself from his lips inward, and -went on with the next stanza as requested:-- - - My tools are but common ones, - Simple shepherds all, - My tools are no sight to see: - A little hempen string, and a post whereon to swing, - Are implements enough for me. - -Shepherd Fennel glanced round. There was no longer any doubt that -the stranger was answering his question rhythmically. The guests one -and all started back with suppressed exclamations. The young woman -engaged to the man of fifty fainted half-way, and would have -proceeded, but finding him wanting in alacrity for catching her she -sat down trembling. - -"Oh, he's the--!" whispered the people in the background, mentioning -the name of an ominous public officer. "He's come to do it. 'Tis to -be at Casterbridge gaol to-morrow--the man for sheep-stealing--the -poor clock-maker we heard of, who used to live away at Anglebury and -had no work to do--Timothy Sommers, whose family were a-starving, and -so he went out of Anglebury by the highroad, and took a sheep in open -daylight, defying the farmer and the farmer's wife and the farmer's -man, and every man jack among 'em. He" (and they nodded toward the -stranger of the terrible trade) "is come from up the country to do it -because there's not enough to do in his own county-town, and he's got -the place here now our own county man's dead; he's going to live in -the same cottage under the prison wall." - -The stranger in cinder-grey took no notice of this whispered string -of observations, but again wetted his lips. Seeing that his friend -in the chimney-corner was the only one who reciprocated his joviality -in any way, he held out his cup toward that appreciative comrade, who -also held out his own. They clinked together, the eyes of the rest -of the room hanging upon the singer's actions. He parted his lips -for the third verse; but at that moment another knock was audible -upon the door. This time the knock was faint and hesitating. - -The company seemed scared; the shepherd looked with consternation -toward the entrance, and it was with some effort that he resisted his -alarmed wife's deprecatory glance, and uttered for the third time the -welcoming words, "Walk in!" - -The door was gently opened, and another man stood upon the mat. He, -like those who had preceded him, was a stranger. This time it was a -short, small personage, of fair complexion, and dressed in a decent -suit of dark clothes. - -"Can you tell me the way to--?" he began; when, gazing round the room -to observe the nature of the company amongst whom he had fallen, his -eyes lighted on the stranger in cinder-grey. It was just at the -instant when the latter, who had thrown his mind into his song with -such a will that he scarcely heeded the interruption, silenced all -whispers and inquiries by bursting into his third verse:-- - - To-morrow is my working day, - Simple shepherds all-- - To-morrow is a working day for me: - For the farmer's sheep is slain, and the lad who did it ta'en, - And on his soul may God ha' merc-y! - -The stranger in the chimney-corner, waving cups with the singer so -heartily that his mead splashed over on the hearth, repeated in his -bass voice as before:-- - - And on his soul may God ha' merc-y! - -All this time the third stranger had been standing in the doorway. -Finding now that he did not come forward or go on speaking, the -guests particularly regarded him. They noticed to their surprise -that he stood before them the picture of abject terror--his knees -trembling, his hand shaking so violently that the door-latch by which -he supported himself rattled audibly; his white lips were parted, and -his eyes fixed on the merry officer of justice in the middle of the -room. A moment more and he had turned, closed the door, and fled. - -"What a man can it be?" said the shepherd. - -The rest, between the awfulness of their late discovery and the odd -conduct of this third visitor, looked as if they knew not what to -think, and said nothing. Instinctively they withdrew further and -further from the grim gentleman in their midst, whom some of them -seemed to take for the Prince of Darkness himself, till they formed a -remote circle, an empty space of floor being left between them and -him-- - - ----circulus, cujus centrum diabolus. - -The room was so silent--though there were more than twenty people in -it--that nothing could be heard but the patter of the rain against -the window-shutters, accompanied by the occasional hiss of a stray -drop that fell down the chimney into the fire, and the steady puffing -of the man in the corner, who had now resumed his pipe of long clay. - -The stillness was unexpectedly broken. The distant sound of a gun -reverberated through the air--apparently from the direction of the -county-town. - -"Be jiggered!" cried the stranger who had sung the song, jumping up. - -"What does that mean?" asked several. - -"A prisoner escaped from the gaol--that's what it means." - -All listened. The sound was repeated, and none of them spoke but the -man in the chimney-corner, who said quietly, "I've often been told -that in this county they fire a gun at such times; but I never heard -it till now." - -"I wonder if it is my man?" murmured the personage in cinder-grey. - -"Surely it is!" said the shepherd involuntarily. "And surely we've -seen him! That little man who looked in at the door by now, and -quivered like a leaf when he seed ye and heard your song!" - -"His teeth chattered, and the breath went out of his body," said the -dairyman. - -"And his heart seemed to sink within him like a stone," said Oliver -Giles. - -"And he bolted as if he'd been shot at," said the hedge-carpenter. - -"True--his teeth chattered, and his heart seemed to sink; and he -bolted as if he'd been shot at," slowly summed up the man in the -chimney-corner. - -"I didn't notice it," remarked the grim songster. - -"We were all a-wondering what made him run off in such a fright," -faltered one of the women against the wall, "and now 'tis explained." - -The firing of the alarm-gun went on at intervals, low and sullenly, -and their suspicions became a certainty. The sinister gentleman in -cinder-grey roused himself. "Is there a constable here?" he asked in -thick tones. "If so, let him step forward." - -The engaged man of fifty stepped quavering out of the corner, his -betrothed beginning to sob on the back of the chair. - -"You are a sworn constable?" - -"I be, sir." - -"Then pursue the criminal at once, with assistance, and bring him -back here. He can't have gone far." - -"I will, sir, I will--when I've got my staff. I'll go home and get -it, and come sharp here, and start in a body." - -"Staff!--never mind your staff; the man'll be gone!" - -"But I can't do nothing without my staff--can I, William, and John, -and Charles Jake? No; for there's the king's royal crown a painted -on en in yaller and gold, and the lion and the unicorn, so as when I -raise en up and hit my prisoner, 'tis made a lawful blow thereby. I -wouldn't 'tempt to take up a man without my staff--no, not I. If I -hadn't the law to gie me courage, why, instead o' my taking up him he -might take up me!" - -"Now, I'm a king's man myself, and can give you authority enough for -this," said the formidable person in cinder-grey. "Now then, all of -ye, be ready. Have ye any lanterns?" - -"Yes--have ye any lanterns?--I demand it," said the constable. - -"And the rest of you able-bodied----" - -"Able-bodied men--yes--the rest of ye," said the constable. - -"Have you some good stout staves and pitchforks----" - -"Staves and pitchforks--in the name o' the law. And take 'em in yer -hands and go in quest, and do as we in authority tell ye." - -Thus aroused, the men prepared to give chase. The evidence was, -indeed, though circumstantial, so convincing, that but little -argument was needed to show the shepherd's guests that after what -they had seen it would look very much like connivance if they did not -instantly pursue the unhappy third stranger, who could not as yet -have gone more than a few hundred yards over such uneven country. - -A shepherd is always well provided with lanterns; and, lighting these -hastily, and with hurdle-staves in their hands, they poured out of -the door, taking a direction along the crest of the hill away from -the town, the rain having fortunately a little abated. - -Disturbed by the noise, or possibly by unpleasant dreams of her -baptism, the child who had been christened began to cry heartbrokenly -in the room overhead. These notes of grief came down through the -chinks of the floor to the ears of the women below, who jumped up one -by one, and seemed glad of the excuse to ascend and comfort the baby, -for the incidents of the last half hour greatly oppressed them. Thus -in the space of two or three minutes the room on the ground floor was -deserted quite. - -But it was not for long. Hardly had the sound of footsteps died away -when a man returned round the corner of the house from the direction -the pursuers had taken. Peeping in at the door, and seeing nobody -there, he entered leisurely. It was the stranger of the -chimney-corner, who had gone out with the rest. The motive of his -return was shown by his helping himself to a cut piece of -skimmer-cake that lay on a ledge beside where he had sat, and which -he had apparently forgotten to take with him. He also poured out -half a cup more mead from the quantity that remained, ravenously -eating and drinking these as he stood. He had not finished when -another figure came in just as quietly--the stranger in cinder-grey. - -"Oh--you here?" said the latter smiling. "I thought you had gone to -help in the capture." And this speaker also revealed the object of -his return by looking solicitously round for the fascinating mug of -old mead. - -"And I thought you had gone," said the other, continuing his -skimmer-cake with some effort. - -"Well, on second thoughts, I felt there were enough without me," said -the first confidentially, "and such a night as it is, too. Besides, -'tis the business o' the Government to take care of its -criminals--not mine." - -"True; so it is. And I felt as you did, that there were enough -without me." - -"I don't want to break my limbs running over the humps and hollows of -this wild country." - -"Nor I neither, between you and me." - -"These shepherd-people are used to it--simple-minded souls, you know, -stirred up to anything in a moment. They'll have him ready for me -before the morning, and no trouble to me at all." - -"They'll have him, and we shall have saved ourselves all labour in -the matter." - -"True, true. Well, my way is to Casterbridge; and 'tis as much as my -legs will do to take me that far. Going the same way?" - -"No, I am sorry to say. I have to get home over there" (he nodded -indefinitely to the right), "and I feel as you do, that it is quite -enough for my legs to do before bedtime." - -The other had by this time finished the mead in the mug, after which, -shaking hands at the door, and wishing each other well, they went -their several ways. - -In the meantime the company of pursuers had reached the end of the -hog's-back elevation which dominated this part of the coomb. They -had decided on no particular plan of action; and, finding that the -man of the baleful trade was no longer in their company, they seemed -quite unable to form any such plan now. They descended in all -directions down the hill, and straightway several of the party fell -into the snare set by Nature for all misguided midnight ramblers over -the lower cretaceous formation. The "lynchets," or flint slopes, -which belted the escarpment at intervals of a dozen yards, took the -less cautious ones unawares, and losing their footing on the rubbly -steep they slid sharply downward, the lanterns rolling from their -hands to the bottom, and there lying on their sides till the horn was -scorched through. - -When they had again gathered themselves together, the shepherd, as -the man who knew the country best, took the lead, and guided them -round these treacherous inclines. The lanterns, which seemed rather -to dazzle their eyes and warn the fugitive than to assist them in the -exploration, were extinguished, due silence was observed; and in this -more rational order they plunged into the vale. It was a grassy, -briary, moist channel, affording some shelter to any person who had -sought it; but the party perambulated it in vain, and ascended on the -other side. Here they wandered apart, and after an interval closed -together again to report progress. At the second time of closing in -they found themselves near a lonely oak, the single tree on this part -of the upland, probably sown there by a passing bird some hundred -years before. And here, standing a little to one side of the trunk, -as motionless as the trunk itself, appeared the man they were in -quest of, his outline being well defined against the sky beyond. The -band noiselessly drew up and faced him. - -"Your money or your life!" said the constable sternly to the still -figure. - -"No, no," whispered John Pitcher. "'Tisn't our side ought to say -that. That's the doctrine of vagabonds like him, and we be on the -side of the law." - -"Well, well," replied the constable impatiently; "I must say -something, mustn't I? and if you had all the weight o' this -undertaking upon your mind, perhaps you'd say the wrong thing -too.--Prisoner at the bar, surrender, in the name of the Fath----the -Crown, I mane!" - -The man under the tree seemed now to notice them for the first time, -and, giving them no opportunity whatever for exhibiting their -courage, he strolled slowly toward them. He was, indeed, the little -man, the third stranger; but his trepidation had in a great measure -gone. - -"Well, travellers," he said, "did I hear ye speak to me?" - -"You did: you've got to come and be our prisoner at once," said the -constable. "We arrest ye on the charge of not biding in Casterbridge -gaol in a decent proper manner to be hung to-morrow morning. -Neighbours, do your duty, and seize the culpet!" - -On hearing the charge, the man seemed enlightened, and, saying not -another word, resigned himself with preternatural civility to the -search-party, who, with their staves in their hands, surrounded him -on all sides, and marched him back toward the shepherd's cottage. - -It was eleven o'clock by the time they arrived. The light shining -from the open door, a sound of men's voices within, proclaimed to -them as they approached the house that some new events had arisen in -their absence. On entering they discovered the shepherd's -living-room to be invaded by two officers from Casterbridge gaol, and -a well-known magistrate who lived at the nearest country seat, -intelligence of the escape having become generally circulated. - -"Gentlemen," said the constable, "I have brought back your man--not -without risk and danger; but every one must do his duty. He is -inside this circle of able-bodied persons, who have lent me useful -aid considering their ignorance of Crown work. Men, bring forward -your prisoner." And the third stranger was led to the light. - -"Who is this?" said one of the officials. - -"The man," said the constable. - -"Certainly not," said the other turnkey; and the first corroborated -his statement. - -"But how can it be otherwise?" asked the constable. "Or why was he -so terrified at sight o' the singing instrument of the law?" Here he -related the strange behaviour of the third stranger on entering the -house. - -"Can't understand it," said the officer coolly. "All I know is that -it is not the condemned man. He's quite a different character from -this one; a gauntish fellow, with dark hair and eyes, rather -good-looking, and with a musical bass voice that if you heard it once -you'd never mistake as long as you lived." - -"Why, souls--'twas the man in the chimney-corner!" - -"Hey--what?" said the magistrate, coming forward after inquiring -particulars from the shepherd in the background. "Haven't you got -the man after all?" - -"Well, sir," said the constable, "he's the man we were in search of, -that's true; and yet he's not the man we were in search of. For the -man we were in search of was not the man we wanted, sir, if you -understand my everyday way; for 'twas the man in the chimney-corner." - -"A pretty kettle of fish altogether!" said the magistrate. "You had -better start for the other man at once." - -The prisoner now spoke for the first time. The mention of the man in -the chimney-corner seemed to have moved him as nothing else could do. -"Sir," he said, stepping forward to the magistrate, "take no more -trouble about me. The time is come when I may as well speak. I have -done nothing; my crime is that the condemned man is my brother. -Early this afternoon I left home at Anglebury to tramp it all the way -to Casterbridge gaol to bid him farewell. I was benighted, and -called here to rest and ask the way. When I opened the door I saw -before me the very man, my brother, that I thought to see in the -condemned cell at Casterbridge. He was in this chimney-corner; and -jammed close to him, so that he could not have got out if he had -tried, was the executioner who'd come to take his life, singing a -song about it and not knowing that it was his victim who was close -by, joining in to save appearances. My brother looked a glance of -agony at me, and I knew he meant, 'Don't reveal what you see; my life -depends on it.' I was so terror-struck that I could hardly stand, -and, not knowing what I did, I turned and hurried away." - -The narrator's manner and tone had the stamp of truth, and his story -made a great impression on all around. "And do you know where your -brother is at the present time?" asked the magistrate. - -"I do not. I have never seen him since I closed this door." - -"I can testify to that, for we've been between ye ever since," said -the constable. - -"Where does he think to fly to? What is his occupation?" - -"He's a watch-and-clock-maker, sir." - -"'A said 'a was a wheelwright--a wicked rogue," said the constable. - -"The wheels o' clocks and watches he meant, no doubt," said Shepherd -Fennel. "I thought his hands were palish for's trade." - -"Well, it appears to me that nothing can be gained by retaining this -poor man in custody," said the magistrate; "your business lies with -the other, unquestionably." - -And so the little man was released off-hand; but he looked nothing -the less sad on that account, it being beyond the power of magistrate -or constable to raze out the written troubles in his brain, for they -concerned another whom he regarded with more solicitude than himself. -When this was done, and the man had gone his way, the night was found -to be so far advanced that it was deemed useless to renew the search -before the next morning. - -Next day, accordingly, the quest for the clever sheep-stealer became -general and keen, to all appearance at least. But the intended -punishment was cruelly disproportioned to the transgression, and the -sympathy of a great many country folk in that district was strongly -on the side of the fugitive. Moreover, his marvellous coolness and -daring under the unprecedented circumstances of the shepherd's party -won their admiration. So that it may be questioned if all those who -ostensibly made themselves so busy in exploring woods and fields and -lanes were quite so thorough when it came to the private examination -of their own lofts and outhouses. Stories were afloat of a -mysterious figure being occasionally seen in some old overgrown -trackway or other, remote from turnpike roads; but when a search was -instituted in any of these suspected quarters nobody was found. Thus -the days and weeks passed without tidings. - -In brief, the bass-voiced man of the chimney-corner was never -recaptured. Some said that he went across the sea, others that he -did not, but buried himself in the depths of a populous city. At any -rate, the gentleman in cinder-grey never did his morning's work at -Casterbridge, nor met anywhere at all, for business purposes, the -comrade with whom he had passed an hour of relaxation in the lonely -house on the coomb. - -The grass has long been green on the graves of Shepherd Fennel and -his frugal wife; the guests who made up the christening party have -mainly followed their entertainers to the tomb; the baby in whose -honour they all had met is a matron in the sere and yellow leaf. But -the arrival of the three strangers at the shepherd's that night, and -the details connected therewith, is a story as well known as ever in -the country about Higher Crowstairs. - - - - -VI - -THE PASSING OF BLACK EAGLE - -O. HENRY - - -For some months of a certain year a grim bandit infested the Texas -border along the Rio Grande. Peculiarly striking to the optic nerve -was this notorious marauder. His personality secured him the title -of "Black Eagle, the Terror of the Border." Many fearsome tales are -of record concerning the doings of him and his followers. Suddenly, -in the space of a single minute, Black Eagle vanished from the earth. -He was never heard of again. His own band never even guessed the -mystery of his disappearance. The border ranches and settlements -feared he would come again to ride and ravage the mesquite flats. He -never will. It is to disclose the fate of Black Eagle that this -narrative is written. - -The initial movement of the story is furnished by the foot of a -bartender in St. Louis. His discerning eye fell upon the form of -Chicken Ruggles as he pecked with avidity at the free lunch. Chicken -was a "hobo." He had a long nose like the bill of a fowl, an -inordinate appetite for poultry, and a habit of gratifying it without -expense, which accounts for the name given him by his fellow vagrants. - -Physicians agree that the partaking of liquids at meal times is not a -healthy practice. The hygiene of the saloon promulgates the -opposite. Chicken had neglected to purchase a drink to accompany his -meal. The bartender rounded the counter, caught the injudicious -diner by the ear with a lemon squeezer, led him to the door and -kicked him into the street. - -Thus the mind of Chicken was brought to realize the signs of coming -winter. The night was cold; the stars shone with unkindly -brilliancy; people were hurrying along the streets in two egotistic, -jostling streams. Men had donned their overcoats, and Chicken knew -to an exact percentage the increased difficulty of coaxing dimes from -those buttoned-in vest pockets. The time had come for his annual -exodus to the South. - -A little boy, five or six years old, stood looking with covetous eyes -in a confectioner's window. In one small hand he held an empty -two-ounce vial; in the other he grasped tightly something flat and -round, with a shining milled edge. The scene presented a field of -operations commensurate to Chicken's talents and daring. After -sweeping the horizon to make sure that no official tug was cruising -near, he insidiously accosted his prey. The boy, having been early -taught by his household to regard altruistic advances with extreme -suspicion, received the overtures coldly. - -Then Chicken knew that he must make one of those desperate, -nerve-shattering plunges into speculation that fortune sometimes -requires of those who would win her favour. Five cents was his -capital, and this he must risk against the chance of winning what lay -within the close grasp of the youngster's chubby hand. It was a -fearful lottery, Chicken knew. But he must accomplish his end by -strategy, since he had a wholesome terror of plundering infants by -force. Once, in a park, driven by hunger, he had committed an -onslaught upon a bottle of peptonized infant's food in the possession -of an occupant of a baby carriage. The outraged infant had so -promptly opened its mouth and pressed the button that communicated -with the welkin that help arrived, and Chicken did his thirty days in -a snug coop. Wherefore he was, as he said, "leary of kids." - -Beginning artfully to question the boy concerning his choice of -sweets, he gradually drew out the information he wanted. Mamma said -he was to ask the drug-store man for ten cents' worth of paregoric in -the bottle; he was to keep his hand shut tight over the dollar; he -must not stop to talk to anyone in the street; he must ask the -drug-store man to wrap up the change and put it in the pocket of his -trousers. Indeed, they had pockets--two of them! And he liked -chocolates cream best. - -Chicken went into the store and turned plunger. He invested his -entire capital in C.A.N.D.Y. stocks, simply to pave the way to the -greater risk following. - -He gave the sweets to the youngster, and had the satisfaction of -perceiving that confidence was established. After that it was easy -to obtain leadership of the expedition, to take the investment by the -hand and lead it to a nice drug store he knew of in the same block. -There Chicken, with a parental air, passed over the dollar and called -for the medicine, while the boy crunched his candy, glad to be -relieved of the responsibility of the purchase. And then the -successful investor, searching his pockets, found an overcoat -button--the extent of his winter trousseau--and, wrapping it -carefully, placed the ostensible change in the pocket of confiding -juvenility. Setting the youngster's face homeward, and patting him -benevolently on the back--for Chicken's heart was as soft as those of -his feathered namesakes--the speculator quit the market with a profit -of 1,700 per cent. on his invested capital. - -Two hours later an Iron Mountain freight engine pulled out of the -railroad yards, Texas bound, with a string of empties. In one of the -cattle cars, half buried in excelsior, Chicken lay at ease. Beside -him in the nest was a quart bottle of very poor whiskey and a paper -bag of bread and cheese. Mr. Ruggles, in his private car, was on his -trip south for the winter season. - -For a week that car was trundled southward, shifted, laid over, and -manipulated after the manner of rolling stock, but Chicken stuck to -it, leaving it only at necessary times to satisfy his hunger and -thirst. He knew it must go down to the cattle country, and San -Antonio, in the heart of it, was his goal. There the air was -salubrious and mild; the people indulgent and long-suffering. The -bartenders there would not kick him. If he should eat too long or -too often at one place they would swear at him as if by rote and -without heat. They swore so drawlingly, and they rarely paused short -of their full vocabulary, which was copious, so that Chicken had -often gulped a good meal during the process of the vituperative -prohibition. The season there was always spring-like; the plazas -were pleasant at night, with music and gaiety; except during the -slight and infrequent cold snaps one could sleep comfortably -out-of-doors in case the interiors should develop inhospitality. - -At Texarkana his car was switched to the I. and G. N. Then still -southward it trailed until, at length, it crawled across the Colorado -bridge at Austin, and lined out, straight as an arrow, for the run to -San Antonio. - -When the freight halted at that town Chicken was fast asleep. In ten -minutes the train was off again for Laredo, the end of the road. -Those empty cattle cars were for distribution along the line at -points from which the ranches shipped their stock. - -When Chicken awoke his car was stationary. Looking out between the -slats he saw it was a bright, moonlit night. Scrambling out, he saw -his car with three others abandoned on a little siding in a wild and -lonesome country. A cattle pen and chute stood on one side of the -track. The railroad bisected a vast, dim ocean of prairie, in the -midst of which Chicken, with his futile rolling stock, was as -completely stranded as was Robinson with his land-locked boat. - -A white post stood near the rails. Going up to it, Chicken read the -letters at the top, S.A.90. Laredo was nearly as far to the south. -He was almost a hundred miles from any town. Coyotes began to yelp -in the mysterious sea around him. Chicken felt lonesome. He had -lived in Boston without an education, in Chicago without nerve, in -Philadelphia without a sleeping place, in New York without a pull, -and in Pittsburgh sober, and yet he had never felt so lonely as now. - -Suddenly through the intense silence, he heard the whicker of a -horse. The sound came from the side of the track toward the east, -and Chicken began to explore timorously in that direction. He -stepped high along the mat of curly mesquite grass, for he was afraid -of everything there might be in this wilderness--snakes, rats, -brigands, centipedes, mirages, cowboys, fandangoes, tarantulas, -tamales--he had read of them in the story papers. Rounding a clump -of prickly pear that reared high its fantastic and menacing array of -rounded heads, he was struck to shivering terror by a snort and a -thunderous plunge, as the horse, himself startled, bounded away some -fifty yards, and then resumed his grazing. But here was the one -thing in the desert that Chicken did not fear. He had been reared on -a farm; he had handled horses, understood them, and could ride. - -Approaching slowly and speaking soothingly, he followed the animal, -which, after its first flight seemed gentle enough, and secured the -end of the twenty-foot lariat that dragged after him in the grass. -It required him but a few moments to contrive the rope into an -ingenious nose-bridle, after the style of the Mexican _borsal_. In -another he was upon the horse's back and off at a splendid lope, -giving the animal free choice of direction. "He will take me -somewhere," said Chicken to himself. - -It would have been a thing of joy, that untrammelled gallop over the -moonlit prairie, even to Chicken, who loathed exertion, but that his -mood was not for it. His head ached; a growing thirst was upon him; -the "somewhere" whither his lucky mount might convey him was full of -dismal peradventure. - -And now he noted that the horse moved to a definite goal. Where the -prairie lay smooth he kept his course straight as an arrow's toward -the east. Deflected by hill or arroyo or impracticable spinous -brakes he quickly flowed again into the current, charted by his -unerring instinct. At last, upon the side of a gentle rise, he -suddenly subsided to a complacent walk. A stone's cast away stood a -little mott of coma trees; beneath it a jacal such as the Mexicans -erect--a one-room house of upright poles daubed with clay and roofed -with grass or tule reeds. An experienced eye would have estimated -the spot as the headquarters of a small sheep ranch. In the -moonlight the ground in the nearby corral showed pulverized to a -level smoothness by the hoofs of the sheep. Everywhere was -carelessly distributed the paraphernalia of the place--ropes, -bridles, saddles, sheep pelts, wool sacks, feed troughs and camp -litter. The barrel of drinking water stood in the end of the -two-horse wagon near the door. The harness was piled, promiscuous, -upon the wagon tongue, soaking up the dew. - -Chicken slipped to earth, and tied the horse to a tree. He halloed -again and again, but the house remained quiet. The door stood open, -and he entered cautiously. The light was sufficient for him to see -that no one was at home. He struck a match and lighted a lamp that -stood on a table. The room was that of a bachelor ranchman who was -content with the necessaries of life. Chicken rummaged intelligently -until he found what he had hardly dared hope for--a small, brown jug -that still contained something near a quart of his desire. - -Half an hour later, Chicken--now a gamecock of hostile -aspect--emerged from the house with unsteady steps. He had drawn -upon the absent ranchman's equipment to replace his own ragged -attire. He wore a suit of coarse brown ducking, the coat being a -sort of rakish bolero, jaunty to a degree. Boots he had donned, and -spurs that whirred with every lurching step. Buckled around him was -a belt full of cartridges with a big six-shooter in each of its two -holsters. - -Prowling about, he found blankets, a saddle and bridle with which he -caparisoned his steed. Again mounting, he rode swiftly away, singing -a loud and tuneless song. - - -Bud King's band of desperadoes, outlaws and horse and cattle thieves -were in camp at a secluded spot on the bank of the Frio. Their -depredations in the Rio Grande country, while no bolder than usual, -had been advertised more extensively, and Captain Kinney's company of -rangers had been ordered down to look after them. Consequently, Bud -King, who was a wise general, instead of cutting out a hot trail for -the upholders of the law, as his men wished to do, retired for the -time to the prickly fastnesses of the Frio valley. - -Though the move was a prudent one, and not incompatible with Bud's -well-known courage, it raised dissension among the members of the -band. In fact, while they thus lay ingloriously _perdu_ in the -brush, the question of Bud King's fitness for the leadership was -argued, with closed doors, as it were, by his followers. Never -before had Bud's skill or efficiency been brought to criticism; but -his glory was waning (and such is glory's fate) in the light of a -newer star. The sentiment of the band was crystallising into the -opinion that Black Eagle could lead them with more lustre, profit, -and distinction. - -This Black Eagle--sub-titled the "Terror of the Border"--had been a -member of the gang about three months. - -One night while they were in camp on the San Miguel water-hole a -solitary horseman on the regulation fiery steed dashed in among them. -The new-comer was of a portentous and devastating aspect. A -beak-like nose with a predatory curve projected above a mass of -bristling, blue-black whiskers. His eye was cavernous and fierce. -He was spurred, sombreroed, booted, garnished with revolvers, -abundantly drunk, and very much unafraid. Few people in the country -drained by the Rio Bravo would have cared thus to invade alone the -camp of Bud King. But this fell bird swooped fearlessly upon them -and demanded to be fed. - -Hospitality in the prairie country is not limited. Even if your -enemy pass your way you must feed him before you shoot him. You must -empty your larder into him before you empty your lead. So the -stranger of undeclared intentions was set down to a mighty feast. - -A talkative bird he was, full of most marvellous loud tales and -exploits, and speaking a language at times obscure but never -colourless. He was a new sensation to Bud King's men, who rarely -encountered new types. They hung, delighted, upon his vainglorious -boasting, the spicy strangeness of his lingo, his contemptuous -familiarity with life, the world, and remote places, and the -extravagant frankness with which he conveyed his sentiments. - -To their guest the band of outlaws seemed to be nothing more than a -congregation of country bumpkins whom he was "stringing for grub" -just as he would have told his stories at the back door of a -farmhouse to wheedle a meal. And, indeed, his ignorance was not -without excuse, for the "bad man" of the Southwest does not run to -extremes. Those brigands might justly have been taken for a little -party of peaceable rustics assembled for a fish-fry or pecan -gathering. Gentle of manner, slouching of gait, soft-voiced, -unpicturesquely clothed; not one of them presented to the eye any -witness of the desperate records they had earned. - -For two days the glittering stranger within the camp was feasted. -Then, by common consent, he was invited to become a member of the -band. He consented, presenting for enrollment the prodigious name of -"Captain Montressor." This name was immediately overruled by the -band, and "Piggy" substituted as a compliment to the awful and -insatiate appetite of its owner. - -Thus did the Texas border receive the most spectacular brigand that -ever rode its chaparral. - -For the next three months Bud King conducted business as usual, -escaping encounters with law officers and being content with -reasonable profits. The band ran off some very good companies of -horses from the ranges, and a few bunches of fine cattle which they -got safely across the Rio Grande and disposed of to fair advantage. -Often the band would ride into the little villages and Mexican -settlements, terrorising the inhabitants and plundering for the -provisions and ammunition they needed. It was during these bloodless -raids that Piggy's ferocious aspect and frightful voice gained him a -renown more widespread and glorious than those other gentle-voiced -and sad-faced desperadoes could have acquired in a lifetime. - -The Mexicans, most apt in nomenclature, first called him The Black -Eagle, and used to frighten the babes by threatening them with tales -of the dreadful robber who carried off little children in his great -beak. Soon the name extended, and Black Eagle, the Terror of the -Border, became a recognized factor in exaggerated newspaper reports -and ranch gossip. - -The country from the Nueces to the Rio Grande was a wild but fertile -stretch, given over to the sheep and cattle ranches. Range was free; -the inhabitants were few; the law was mainly a letter and the pirates -met with little opposition until the flaunting and garish Piggy gave -the band undue advertisement. Then McKinney's ranger company headed -for those precincts, and Bud King knew that it meant grim and sudden -war or else temporary retirement. Regarding the risk to be -unnecessary, he drew off his band to an almost inaccessible spot on -the bank of the Frio. Wherefore, as has been said, dissatisfaction -arose among the members, and impeachment proceedings against Bud were -premeditated, with Black Eagle in high favour for the succession. -Bud King was not unaware of the sentiment, and he called aside Cactus -Taylor, his trusted lieutenant, to discuss it. - -"If the boys," said Bud, "ain't satisfied with me, I'm willin' to -step out. They're buckin' against my way of handlin' 'em. And -'specially because I concludes to hit the brush while Sam Kinney is -ridin' the line. I saves 'em from bein' shot or sent up on a state -contract, and they up and says I'm no good." - -"It ain't so much that," explained Cactus, "as it is they're plum -locoed about Piggy. They want them whiskers and that nose of his to -split the wind at the head of the column." - -"There's somethin' mighty seldom about Piggy," declared Bud, -musingly. "I never yet see anything on the hoof that he exactly -grades up with. He can shore holler a plenty, and he straddles a -hoss from where you laid the chunk. But he ain't never been smoked -yet. You know, Cactus, we ain't had a row since he's been with us. -Piggy's all right for skearin' the greaser kids and layin' waste a -crossroads store. I reckon he's the finest canned oyster buccaneer -and cheese pirate that ever was, but how's his appetite for fightin'? -I've knowed some citizens you'd think was starvin' for trouble get a -bad case of dyspepsy the first dose of lead they had to take." - -"He talks all spraddled out," said Cactus, "'bout the rookuses he's -been in. He claims to have saw the elephant and hearn the owl." - -"I know," replied Bud, using the cowpuncher's expressive phrase of -skepticism, "but it sounds to me!" - -This conversation was held one night in camp while the other members -of the band--eight in number--were sprawling around the fire, -lingering over their supper. When Bud and Cactus ceased talking they -heard Piggy's formidable voice holding forth to the others as usual -while he was engaged in checking, though never satisfying, his -ravening appetite. - -"Wat's de use," he was saying, "of chasin' little red cowses and -hosses 'round for t'ousands of miles? Dere ain't nuttin' in it. -Gallopin' t'rough dese bushes and briers, and gettin' a t'irst dat a -brewery couldn't put out, and missin' meals! Say! You know what I'd -do if I was main finger of dis bunch? I'd stick up a train. I'd -blow de express car and make hard dollars where you guys gets wind. -Youse makes me tired. Dis sook-cow kind of cheap sport gives me a -pain." - -Later on, a deputation waited on Bud. They stood on one leg, chewed -mesquit twigs and circumlocuted, for they hated to hurt his feelings. -Bud foresaw their business, and made it easy for them. Bigger risks -and larger profits was what they wanted. - -The suggestion of Piggy's about holding up a train had fired their -imagination and increased their admiration for the dash and boldness -of the instigator. They were such simple, artless, and custom-bound -bush-rangers that they had never before thought of extending their -habits beyond the running off of live-stock and the shooting of such -of their acquaintances as ventured to interfere. - -Bud acted "on the level," agreeing to take a subordinate place in the -gang until Black Eagle should have been given a trial as leader. - -After a great deal of consultation, studying of time-tables, and -discussion of the country's topography, the time and place for -carrying out their new enterprise was decided upon. At that time -there was a feedstuff famine in Mexico and a cattle famine in certain -parts of the United States, and there was a brisk international -trade. Much money was being shipped along the railroads that -connected the two republics. It was agreed that the most promising -place for the contemplated robbery was at Espina, a little station on -the I. and G. N., about forty miles north of Laredo. The train -stopped there one minute; the country around was wild and unsettled; -the station consisted of but one house in which the agent lived. - -Black Eagle's band set out, riding by night. Arriving in the -vicinity of Espina they rested their horses all day in a thicket a -few miles distant. - -The train was due at Espina at 10.30 P.M. They could rob the train -and be well over the Mexican border with their booty by daylight the -next morning. - -To do Black Eagle justice, he exhibited no signs of flinching from -the responsible honours that had been conferred upon him. - -He assigned his men to their respective posts with discretion, and -coached them carefully as to their duties. On each side of the track -four of the band were to lie concealed in the chaparral. Gotch-Ear -Rodgers was to stick up the station agent. Bronco Charlie was to -remain with the horses, holding them in readiness. At a spot where -it was calculated the engine would be when the train stopped, Bud -King was to lie hidden on one side, and Black Eagle himself on the -other. The two would get the drop on the engineer and fireman, force -them to descend and proceed to the rear. Then the express car would -be looted, and the escape made. No one was to move until Black Eagle -gave the signal by firing his revolver. The plan was perfect. - -At ten minutes to train time every man was at his post, effectually -concealed by the thick chaparral that grew almost to the rails. The -night was dark and lowering, with a fine drizzle falling from the -flying gulf clouds. Black Eagle crouched behind a bush within five -yards of the track. Two six-shooters were belted around him. -Occasionally he drew a large black bottle from his pocket and raised -it to his mouth. - -A star appeared far down the track which soon waxed into the -headlight of the approaching train. It came on with an increasing -roar; the engine bore down upon the ambushing desperadoes with a -glare and a shriek like some avenging monster come to deliver them to -justice. Black Eagle flattened himself upon the ground. The engine, -contrary to their calculations, instead of stopping between him and -Bud King's place of concealment, passed fully forty yards farther -before it came to a stand. - -The bandit leader rose to his feet and peered around the bush. His -men all lay quiet, awaiting the signal. Immediately opposite Black -Eagle was a thing that drew his attention. Instead of being a -regular passenger train it was a mixed one. Before him stood a box -car, the door of which, by some means, had been left slightly open. -Black Eagle went up to it and pushed the door farther open. An odour -came forth--a damp, rancid, familiar, musty, intoxicating, beloved -odour stirring strongly at old memories of happy days and travels. -Black Eagle sniffed at the witching smell as the returned wanderer -smells of the rose that twines his boyhood's cottage home. Nostalgia -seized him. He put his hand inside. Excelsior--dry, springy, curly, -soft, enticing, covered the floor. Outside the drizzle had turned to -a chilling rain. - -The train bell clanged. The bandit chief unbuckled his belt and cast -it, with its revolvers, upon the ground. His spurs followed quickly, -and his broad sombrero. Black Eagle was moulting. The train started -with a rattling jerk. The ex-Terror of the Border scrambled into the -box car and closed the door. Stretched luxuriously upon the -excelsior, with the black bottle clasped closely to his breast, his -eyes closed, and a foolish, happy smile upon his terrible features -Chicken Ruggles started upon his return trip. - -Undisturbed, with the band of desperate bandits lying motionless, -awaiting the signal to attack, the train pulled out from Espina. As -its speed increased, and the black masses of chaparral went whizzing -past on either side, the express messenger, lighting his pipe, looked -through his window and remarked, feelingly: - -"What a jim-dandy place for a hold-up!" - - - - -VII - -NIÑO DIABLO* - -W. H. HUDSON - -*Reprinted from the volume, Tales of the Pampas, by permission of -Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. - - -The wide pampas rough with long grass; a vast level disc now growing -dark, the horizon encircling it with a ring as faultless as that made -by a pebble dropped into smooth water; above it the clear sky of -June, wintry and pale, still showing in the west the saffron hues of -the afterglow tinged with vapoury violet and grey. In the centre of -the disc a large low rancho thatched with yellow rushes, a few -stunted trees and cattle enclosures grouped about it; and dimly seen -in the shadows, cattle and sheep reposing. At the gate stands -Gregory Gorostiaga, lord of house, lands and ruminating herds, -leisurely unsaddling his horse; for whatsoever Gregory does is done -leisurely. Although no person is within earshot he talks much over -his task, now rebuking his restive animal, and now cursing his -benumbed fingers and the hard knots in his gear. A curse falls -readily and not without a certain natural grace from Gregory's lips; -it is the oiled feather with which he touches every difficult knot -encountered in life. From time to time he glances toward the open -kitchen door, from which issue the far-flaring light of the fire and -familiar voices, with savoury smells of cookery that come to his -nostrils like pleasant messengers. - -The unsaddling over at last the freed horse gallops away, neighing -joyfully, to seek his fellows; but Gregory is not a four-footed thing -to hurry himself; and so, stepping slowly and pausing frequently to -look about him as if reluctant to quit the cold night air, he turns -toward the house. - -The spacious kitchen was lighted by two or three wicks in cups of -melted fat, and by a great fire in the middle of the clay floor that -cast crowds of dancing shadows on the walls and filled the whole room -with grateful warmth. On the walls were fastened many deers' heads, -and on their convenient prongs were hung bridles and lassos, ropes of -onions and garlic, bunches of dried herbs, and various other objects. -At the fire a piece of beef was roasting on a spit; and in a large -pot suspended by hook and chain from the smoke-blackened central -beam, boiled and bubbled an ocean of mutton broth, puffing out white -clouds of steam redolent of herbs and cummin-seed. Close to the -fire, skimmer in hand, sat Magdalen, Gregory's fat and florid wife, -engaged in frying pies in a second smaller pot. There also, on a -high, straight-backed chair, sat Ascension, her sister-in-law, a -wrinkled spinster; also, in a low rush-bottomed seat, her -mother-in-law, an ancient white-headed dame, staring vacantly into -the flames. On the other side of the fire were Gregory's two eldest -daughters, occupied just now in serving _maté_ to their elders--that -harmless bitter decoction the sipping of which fills up all vacant -moments from dawn to bed-time--pretty dove-eyed girls of sixteen, -both also named Magdalen, but not after their mother nor because -confusion was loved by the family for its own sake; they were twins, -and born on the day sacred to Santa Magdalena. Slumbering dogs and -cats were disposed about the floor, also four children. The eldest, -a boy, sitting with legs outstretched before him, was cutting threads -from a slip of colt's hide looped over his great toe. The two next, -boy and girl, were playing a simple game called nines, once known to -English children as nine men's morrice; the lines were rudely -scratched on the clay floor, and the men they played with were bits -of hardened clay, nine red and as many white. The youngest, a girl -of five, sat on the floor nursing a kitten that purred contentedly on -her lap and drowsily winked its blue eyes at the fire; and as she -swayed herself from side to side she lisped out the old lullaby in -her baby voice: - - A-ro-ró mi niño - A-ro-ró mi sol, - A-ro-ró pedazos - De mi corazon. - - -Gregory stood on the threshold surveying this domestic scene with -manifest pleasure. - -"Papa mine, what have you brought me?" cried the child with the -kitten. - -"Brought you, interested? Stiff whiskers and cold hands to pinch -your dirty little cheeks. How is your cold to-night, mother?" - -"Yes, son, it is very cold to-night; we knew that before you came -in," replied the old dame testily as she drew her chair a little -closer to the fire. - -"It is useless speaking to her," remarked Ascension. "With her to be -out of temper is to be deaf." - -"What has happened to put her out?" he asked. - -"I can tell you, papa," cried one of the twins. "She wouldn't let me -make your cigars to-day, and sat down out-of-doors to make them -herself. It was after breakfast when the sun was warm." - -"And of course she fell asleep," chimed in Ascension. - -"Let me tell it, auntie!" exclaimed the other. "And she fell asleep, -and in a moment Rosita's lamb came and ate up the whole of the -tobacco-leaf in her lap." - -"It didn't!" cried Rosita, looking up from her game. "I opened its -mouth and looked with all my eyes, and there was no tobacco-leaf in -it." - -"That lamb! that lamb!" said Gregory slily. "Is it to be wondered at -that we are turning grey before our time--all except Rosita! Remind -me to-morrow, wife, to take it to the flock: or if it has grown fat -on all the tobacco-leaf, aprons and old shoes it has eaten----" - -"Oh no, no, no!" screamed Rosita, starting up and throwing the game -into confusion, just when her little brother had made a row and was -in the act of seizing on one of her pieces in triumph. - -"Hush, silly child, he will not harm your lamb," said the mother, -pausing from her task and raising eyes that were tearful with the -smoke of the fire and of the cigarette she held between her -good-humoured lips. "And now, if these children have finished -speaking of their important affairs, tell me, Gregory, what news do -you bring?" - -"They say," he returned, sitting down and taking the maté-cup from -his daughter's hand, "that the invading Indians bring seven hundred -lances, and that those that first opposed them were all slain. Some -say they are now retreating with the cattle they have taken; while -others maintain that they are waiting to fight our men." - -"Oh, my sons, my sons, what will happen to them!" cried Magdalen, -bursting into tears. - -"Why do you cry, wife, before God gives you cause?" returned her -husband. "Are not all men born to fight the infidel? Our boys are -not alone--all their friends and neighbours are with them." - -"Say not this to me, Gregory, for I am not a fool nor blind. All -their friends indeed! And this very day I have seen the Niño Diablo; -he galloped past the house, whistling like a partridge that knows no -care. Why must my two sons be called away, while he, a youth without -occupation and with no mother to cry for him, remains behind?" - -"You talk folly, Magdalen," replied her lord. "Complain that the -ostrich and puma are more favoured than your sons, since no man calls -on them to serve the state; but mention not the Niño, for he is freer -than the wild things which Heaven has made, and fights not on this -side nor on that." - -"Coward! Miserable!" murmured the incensed mother. - -Whereupon one of the twins flushed scarlet, and retorted, "He is not -a coward, mother!" - -"And if not a coward why does he sit on the hearth among women and -old men in times like these? Grieved am I to hear a daughter of mine -speak in defence of one who is a vagabond and a stealer of other -men's horses!" - -The girl's eyes flashed angrily, but she answered not a word. - -"Hold your tongue, woman, and accuse no man of crimes," spoke -Gregory. "Let every Christian take proper care of his animals; and -as for the infidel's horses, he is a virtuous man that steals them. -The girl speaks truth; the Niño is no coward, but he fights not with -our weapons. The web of the spider is coarse and ill-made compared -with the snare he spreads to entangle his prey." Thus fixing his -eyes on the face of the girl who had spoken, he added: "therefore be -warned in season, my daughter, and fall not into the snare of the -Niño Diablo." - -Again the girl blushed and hung her head. - -At this moment a clatter of hoofs, the jangling of a bell, and shouts -of a traveller to the horses driven before him, came in at the open -door. The dogs roused themselves, almost overturning the children in -their hurry to rush out; and up rose Gregory to find out who was -approaching with so much noise. - -"I know, _papita_," cried one of the children. "It is Uncle -Polycarp." - -"You are right, child," said her father. "Cousin Polycarp always -arrives at night, shouting to his animals like a troop of Indians." -And with that he went out to welcome his boisterous relative. - -The traveller soon arrived, spurring his horse, scared at the light -and snorting loudly, to within two yards of the door. In a few -minutes the saddle was thrown off, the fore feet of the bell-mare -fettered, and the horses allowed to wander away in quest of -pasturage; then the two men turned into the kitchen. - -A short, burly man aged about fifty, wearing a soft hat thrust far -back on his head, with truculent greenish eyes beneath arched bushy -eyebrows, and a thick shapeless nose surmounting a bristly -moustache--such was Cousin Polycarp. From neck to feet he was -covered with a blue cloth poncho, and on his heels he wore enormous -silver spurs that clanked and jangled over the floor like the fetters -of a convict. After greeting the women and bestowing the avuncular -blessing on the children, who had clamoured for it as for some -inestimable boon--he sat down, and flinging back his poncho displayed -at his waist a huge silver-hilted knife and a heavy brass-barrelled -horse-pistol. - -"Heaven be praised for its goodness, Cousin Magdalen," he said. -"What with pies and spices your kitchen is more fragrant than a -garden of flowers. That's as it should be, for nothing but rum have -I tasted this bleak day. And the boys are away fighting, Gregory -tells me. Good! When the eaglets have found out their wings let -them try their talons. What, Cousin Magdalen, crying for the boys! -Would you have had them girls?" - -"Yes, a thousand times," she replied, drying her wet eyes on her -apron. - -"Ah, Magdalen, daughters can't be always young and sweet-tempered, -like your brace of pretty partridges yonder. They grow old, Cousin -Magdalen--old and ugly and spiteful; and are more bitter and -worthless than the wild pumpkin. But I speak not of those who are -present, for I would say nothing to offend my respected Cousin -Ascension, whom may God preserve, though she never married." - -"Listen to me, Cousin Polycarp," returned the insulted dame so -pointedly alluded to. "Say nothing to me nor of me, and I will also -hold my peace concerning you; for you know very well that if I were -disposed to open my lips I could say a thousand things." - -"Enough, enough, you have already said them a thousand times," he -interrupted. "I know all that, cousin; let us say no more." - -"That is only what I ask," she retorted, "for I have never loved to -bandy words with you; and you know already, therefore I need not -recall it to your mind, that if I am single it is not because some -men whose names I could mention if I felt disposed--and they are the -names not of dead but of living men--would not have been glad to -marry me, but because I preferred my liberty and the goods I -inherited from my father; and I see not what advantage there is in -being the wife of one who is a brawler and a drunkard and spender of -other people's money, and I know not what besides." - -"There it is!" said Polycarp, appealing to the fire. "I knew that I -had thrust my foot into a red ant's nest--careless that I am! But in -truth, Ascension, it was fortunate for you in those distant days you -mention that you hardened your heart against all lovers. For wives, -like cattle that must be branded with their owner's mark, are first -of all taught submission to their husbands; and consider, cousin, -what tears! what sufferings!" And having ended thus abruptly, he -planted his elbows on his knees and busied himself with the cigarette -he had been trying to roll up with his cold drunken fingers for the -last five minutes. - -Ascension gave a nervous twitch at the red cotton kerchief on her -head, and cleared her throat with a sound "sharp and short like the -shrill swallow's cry," when---- - -"_Madre del Cielo_, how you frightened me!" screamed one of the -twins, giving a great start. - -The cause of this sudden outcry was discovered in the presence of a -young man quietly seated on the bench at the girl's side. He had not -been there a minute before, and no person had seen him enter the -room--what wonder that the girl was startled! He was slender in form -and had small hands and feet, and oval olive face, smooth as a girl's -except for the incipient moustache on his lip. In place of a hat he -wore only a scarlet ribbon bound about his head, to keep back the -glossy black hair that fell to his shoulders; and he was wrapped in a -white woollen Indian poncho, while his lower limbs were cased in -white coltskin coverings, shaped like stockings to his feet, with the -red tassels of his embroidered garters falling to the ankles. - -"The Niño Diablo!" all cried in a breath, the children manifesting -the greatest joy at his appearance. But old Gregory spoke with -affected anger. "Why do you always drop on us in this treacherous -way, like rain through a leaky thatch?" he exclaimed. "Keep these -strange arts for your visits in the infidel country; here we are all -Christians, and praise God on the threshold when we visit a -neighbour's house. And now, Niño Diablo, what news of the Indians?" - -"Nothing do I know and little do I concern myself about specks on the -horizon," returned the visitor with a light laugh. And at once all -the children gathered round him, for the Niño they considered to -belong to them when he came, and not to their elders with their -solemn talk about Indian warfare and lost horses. And now, now he -would finish that wonderful story, long in the telling, of the little -girl alone and lost in the great desert, and surrounded by all the -wild animals met to discuss what they should do with her. It was a -grand story, even mother Magdalen listened, though she pretended all -the time to be thinking only of her pies--and the teller, like the -grand old historians of other days, put most eloquent speeches, all -made out of his own head, into the lips (and beaks) of the various -actors--puma, ostrich, deer, cavy, and the rest. - -In the midst of this performance supper was announced, and all -gathered willingly round a dish of Magdalen's pies, filled with -minced meat, hard-boiled eggs chopped small, raisins, and plenty of -spice. After the pies came roast beef; and, finally, great basins of -mutton broth fragrant with herbs and cummin-seed. The rage of hunger -satisfied, each one said a prayer, the elders murmuring with bowed -heads, the children on their knees uplifting shrill voices. Then -followed the concluding semi-religious ceremony of the day, when each -child in its turn asked a blessing of father, mother, grandmother, -uncle, aunt, and not omitting the stranger within the gates, even the -Niño Diablo of evil-sounding name. - -The men drew forth their pouches, and began making their cigarettes, -when once more the children gathered round the story-teller, their -faces glowing with expectation. - -"No, no," cried their mother. "No more stories to-night--to bed, to -bed!" - -"Oh, mother, mother!" cried Rosita pleadingly, and struggling to free -herself; for the good woman had dashed in among them to enforce -obedience. "Oh, let me stay till the story ends! The reed-cat has -said such things! Oh, what will they do with the poor little girl?" - -"And oh, mother mine!" drowsily sobbed her little sister; "the -armadillo that said--that said nothing because it had nothing to say, -and the partridge that whistled and said,--" and here she broke into -a prolonged wail. The boys also added their voices until the hubbub -was no longer to be borne, and Gregory rose up in his wrath and -called on someone to lend him a big whip; only then they yielded, and -still sobbing and casting many a lingering look behind, were led from -the kitchen. - -During this scene the Niño had been carrying on a whispered -conversation with the pretty Magdalen of his choice, heedless of the -uproar of which he had been the indirect cause; deaf also to the -bitter remarks of Ascension concerning some people who, having no -homes of their own, were fond of coming uninvited into other people's -houses, only to repay the hospitality extended to them by stealing -their silly daughters' affections, and teaching their children to -rebel against their authority. - -But the noise and confusion had served to arouse Polycarp from a -drowsy fit; for like a boa constrictor, he had dined largely after -his long fast, and dinner had made him dull; bending toward his -cousin he whispered earnestly: "Who is this young stranger, Gregory?" - -"In what corner of the earth have you been hiding to ask who the Niño -Diablo is?" returned the other. - -"Must I know the history of every cat and dog?" - -"The Niño is not cat nor dog, cousin, but a man among men, like a -falcon among birds. When a child of six the Indians killed all his -relations and carried him into captivity. After five years he -escaped out of their hands, and, guided by sun and stars and signs on -the earth, he found his way back to the Christian's country, bringing -many beautiful horses stolen from his captors; also the name of Niño -Diablo first given to him by the infidel. We know him by no other." - -"This is a good story; in truth I like it well--it pleases me -mightily," said Polycarp. "And what more, cousin Gregory?" - -"More than I can tell, cousin. When he comes the dogs bark not--who -knows why? his tread is softer than the cat's; the untamed horse is -tame for him. Always in the midst of dangers, yet no harm, no -scratch. Why? Because he stoops like the falcon, makes his stroke -and is gone--Heaven knows where!" - -"What strange things are you telling me? Wonderful! And what more, -cousin Gregory?" - -"He often goes into the Indian country, and lives freely with the -infidel, disguised, for they do not know him who was once their -captive. They speak of the Niño Diablo to him, saying that when they -catch that thief they will flay him alive. He listens to their -strange stories, then leaves them, taking their finest ponchos and -silver ornaments, and the flower of their horses." - -"A brave youth, one after my own heart, cousin Gregory. Heaven -defend and prosper him in all his journeys into the Indian territory! -Before we part I shall embrace him and offer him my friendship, which -is worth something. More, tell me more, cousin Gregory?" - -"These things I tell you to put you on your guard; look well to your -horses, cousin." - -"What!" shouted the other, lifting himself up from his stooping -posture, and staring at his relation with astonishment and kindling -anger in his countenance. - -The conversation had been carried on in a low tone, and the sudden -loud exclamation startled them all--all except the Niño, who -continued smoking and chatting pleasantly to the twins. - -"Lightning and pestilence, what is this you say to me, Gregory -Gorostiaga!" continued Polycarp, violently slapping his thigh and -thrusting his hat farther back on his head. - -"Prudence!" whispered Gregory. "Say nothing to offend the Niño, he -never forgives an enemy--with horses." - -"Talk not to me of prudence!" bawled the other. "You hit me on the -apple of the eye and counsel me not to cry out. What! have not I, -whom men call Polycarp of the South, wrestled with tigers in the -desert, and must I hold my peace because of a boy--even a boy devil? -Talk of what you like, cousin, and I am a meek man--meek as a sucking -babe; but touch not on my horses, for then I am a whirlwind, a -conflagration, a river flooded in winter, and all wrath and -destruction like an invasion of Indians! Who can stand before me? -Ribs of steel are no protection! Look at my knife; do you ask why -there are stains on the blade? Listen: because it has gone straight -to the robber's heart!" And with that he drew out his great knife -and flourished it wildly, and made stabs and slashes at an imaginary -foe suspended above the fire. - -The pretty girls grew silent and pale and trembled like poplar -leaves; the old grandmother rose up, and clutching at her shawl -toddled hurriedly away, while Ascension uttered a snort of disdain. -But the Niño still talked and smiled, blowing thin smoke-clouds from -his lips, careless of that tempest of wrath gathering before him; -till, seeing the other so calm, the man of war returned his weapon to -its sheath, and glancing round and lowering his voice to a -conversational tone, informed his hearers that his name was Polycarp, -one known and feared by all men,--especially in the south; that he -disposed to live in peace and amity with the entire human race, and -he therefore considered it unreasonable of some men to follow him -about the world asking him to kill them. "Perhaps," he concluded, -with a touch of irony, "they think I gain something by putting them -to death. A mistake, good friends; I gain nothing by it! I am not a -vulture and their bodies can be of no use to me." - -Just after this sanguinary protest and disclaimer the Niño all at -once made a gesture as if to impose silence, and turning his face -toward the door, his nostrils dilating, and his eyes appearing to -grow large and luminous like those of a cat. - -"What do you hear, Niño?" asked Gregory. - -"I hear lapwings screaming," he replied. - -"Only at a fox perhaps," said the other. "But go to the door, Niño, -and listen." - -"No need," he returned, dropping his hand, the light of a sudden -excitement passing from his face. "'Tis only a single horseman -riding this way at a fast gallop." - -Polycarp got up and went to the door, saying that when a man was -among robbers it behooved him to look well after his cattle. Then he -came back and sat down again. "Perhaps," he remarked, with a side -glance at the Niño, "a better plan would be to watch the thief. A -lie, cousin Gregory; no lapwings are screaming; no single horseman -approaching at a fast gallop. The night is serene, and earth as -silent as the sepulchre." - -"Prudence!" whispered Gregory again. "Ah, cousin, always playful -like a kitten; when will you grow old and wise? Can you not see a -sleeping snake without turning aside to stir it up with your naked -foot?" - -Strange to say, Polycarp made no reply. A long experience in getting -up quarrels had taught him that these impassive men were, in truth, -often enough like venomous snakes, quick and deadly when roused. He -became secret and watchful in his manner. - -All now were intently listening. Then said Gregory, "Tell us, Niño, -what voices, fine as the trumpet of the smallest fly, do you hear -coming from that great silence? Has the mother skunk put her little -ones to sleep in their kennel and gone out to seek for the pipit's -nest? Have fox and armadillo met to challenge each other to fresh -trials of strength and cunning? What is the owl saying this moment -to his mistress in praise of her big green eyes?" - -The young man smiled slightly but answered not; and for full five -minutes more all listened, then sounds of approaching hoofs became -audible. Dogs began to bark, horses to snort in alarm, and Gregory -rose and went forth to receive the late night-wanderer. Soon he -appeared, beating the angry barking dogs off with his whip, a -white-faced wild-haired man, furiously spurring his horse like a -person demented or flying from robbers. - -"Ave Maria!" he shouted aloud; and when the answer was given in -suitable pious words, the scared-looking stranger drew near, and -bending down said, "Tell me, good friend, is one whom men call Niño -Diablo with you; for to this house I have been directed in my search -for him?" - -"He is within, friend," answered Gregory. "Follow me and you shall -see him with your own eyes. Only first unsaddle, so that your horse -may roll before the sweat dries on him." - -"How many horses have I ridden their last journey on this quest!" -said the stranger, hurriedly pulling off the saddle and rugs. "But -tell me one thing more: is he well--no indisposition? Has he met -with no accident--a broken bone, a sprained ankle?" - -"Friend," said Gregory, "I have heard that once in past times the -moon met with an accident, but of the Niño no such thing has been -reported to me." - -With this assurance the stranger followed his host into the kitchen, -made his salutation, and sat down by the fire. He was about thirty -years old, a good-looking man, but his face was haggard, his eyes -bloodshot, his manner restless, and he appeared like one half-crazed -by some great calamity. The hospitable Magdalen placed food before -him and pressed him to eat. He complied, although reluctantly, -despatched his supper in a few moments, and murmured a prayer; then, -glancing curiously at the two men seated near him, he addressed -himself to the burly, well-armed, and dangerous-looking Polycarp. -"Friend," he said, his agitation increasing as he spoke, "four days -have I been seeking you, taking neither food nor rest, so great was -my need of your assistance. You alone, after God, can help me. Help -me in this strait, and half of all I possess in land and cattle and -gold shall be freely given to you, and the angels above will applaud -your deed!" - -"Drunk or mad?" was the only reply vouchsafed to this appeal. - -"Sir," said the stranger with dignity, "I have not tasted wine these -many days, nor has my great grief crazed me." - -"Then what ails the man?" said Polycarp. "Fear perhaps, for he is -white in the face like one who has seen the Indians." - -"In truth I have seen them. I was one of those unfortunates who -first opposed them, and most of the friends who were with me are now -food for wild dogs. Where our houses stood there are only ashes and -a stain of blood on the ground. Oh, friend, can you not guess why -you alone were in my thoughts when this trouble came to me--why I -have ridden day and night to find you?" - -"Demons!" exclaimed Polycarp, "into what quagmires would this man -lead me? Once for all I understand you not! Leave me in peace, -strange man, or we shall quarrel." And here he tapped his weapon -significantly. - -At this juncture, Gregory, who took his time about everything, -thought proper to interpose. "You are mistaken, friend," said he. -"The young man sitting on your right is the Niño Diablo, for whom you -inquired a little while ago." - -A look of astonishment, followed by one of intense relief, came over -the stranger's face. Turning to the young man he said, "My friend, -forgive me this mistake. Grief has perhaps dimmed my sight; but -sometimes the iron blade and the blade of finest temper are not -easily distinguished by the eye. When we try them we know which is -the brute metal, and cast it aside to take up the other, and trust -our life to it. The words I have spoken were meant for you, and you -have heard them." - -"What can I do for you, friend?" said the Niño. - -"Oh, sir, the greatest service! You can restore my lost wife to me. -The savages have taken her away into captivity. What can I do to -save her--I who cannot make myself invisible, and fly like the wind, -and compass all things!" And here he bowed his head, and covering -his face gave way to overmastering grief. - -"Be comforted, friend," said the other, touching him lightly on the -arm. "I will restore her to you." - -"Oh, friend, how shall I thank you for these words!" cried the -unhappy man, seizing and pressing the Niño's hand. - -"Tell me her name--describe her to me." - -"Torcuata is her name--Torcuata de la Rosa. She is one finger's -width taller than this young woman," indicating one of the twins who -was standing. "But not dark; her cheeks are rosy--no, no, I forget, -they will be pale now, whiter than the grass plumes, with stains of -dark colour under the eyes. Brown hair and blue eyes, but very deep -blue. Look well, friend, lest you think them black and leave her to -perish." - -"Never!" remarked Gregory, shaking his head. - -"Enough--you have told me enough, friend," said the Niño, rolling up -a cigarette. - -"Enough!" repeated the other, surprised. "But you do not know; she -is my life; my life is in your hands. How can I persuade you to be -with me? Cattle I have. I had gone to pay the herdsmen their wages -when the Indians came unexpectedly; and my house at La Chilca, on the -banks of the Langueyü, was burnt, and my wife taken away during my -absence. Eight hundred head of cattle have escaped the savages, and -half of them shall be yours; and half of all I possess in money and -land." - -"Cattle!" returned the Niño smiling, and holding a lighted stick to -his cigarette. "I have enough to eat without molesting myself with -the care of cattle." - - -"But I told you that I had other things," said the stranger full of -distress. - -The young man laughed, and rose from his seat. - -"Listen to me," he said. "I go now to follow the Indians--to mix -with them, perhaps. They are retreating slowly, burdened with much -spoil. In fifteen days go to the little town of Tandil, and wait for -me there. As for land, if God has given so much of it to the ostrich -it is not a thing for a man to set a great value on." Then he bent -down to whisper a few words in the ear of the girl at his side; and -immediately afterward, with a simple "good-night" to the others, -stepped lightly from the kitchen. By another door the girl also -hurriedly left the room, to hide her tears from the watchful -censuring eyes of mother and aunt. - -Then the stranger, recovering from his astonishment at the abrupt -ending of the conversation started up, and crying aloud, "Stay! stay -one moment--one word more!" rushed out after the young man. At some -distance from the house he caught sight of the Niño, sitting -motionless on his horse, as if waiting to speak to him. - -"This is what I have to say to you," spoke the Niño, bending down to -the other. "Go back to Langueyü, and rebuild your house, and expect -me there with your wife in about thirty days. When I bade you go to -the Tandil in fifteen days, I spoke only to mislead that man -Polycarp, who has an evil mind. Can I ride a hundred leagues and -back in fifteen days? Say no word of this to any man. And fear not. -If I fail to return with your wife at the appointed time take some of -that money you have offered me, and bid a priest say a mass for my -soul's repose; for eye of man shall never see me again, and the brown -hawks will be complaining that there is no more flesh to be picked -from my bones." - -During this brief colloquy, and afterward, when Gregory and his -women-folk went off to bed, leaving the stranger to sleep in his rugs -beside the kitchen fire, Polycarp, who had sworn a mighty oath not to -close his eyes that night, busied himself making his horses secure. -Driving them home, he tied them to the posts of the gate within -twenty-five yards of the kitchen door. Then he sat down by the fire -and smoked and dozed, and cursed his dry mouth and drowsy eyes that -were so hard to keep open. At intervals of about fifteen minutes he -would get up and go out to satisfy himself that his precious horses -were still safe. At length in rising, some time after midnight, his -foot kicked against some loud-sounding metal object lying beside him -on the floor, which on examination proved to be a copper bell of a -peculiar shape, and curiously like the one fastened to the neck of -his bell-mare. Bell in hand, he stepped to the door and put out his -head, and lo! his horses were no longer at the gate! Eight horses: -seven iron-grey geldings, every one of them swift and sure-footed, -sound as the bell in his hand, and as like each other as seven -claret-coloured eggs in the tinamou's nest; and the eighth the gentle -piebald mare--the madrina his horses loved and would follow to the -world's end, now, alas! with a thief on her back! Gone--gone! - -He rushed out, uttering a succession of frantic howls and -imprecations; and finally, to wind up the performance, dashed the now -useless bell with all his energy against the gate, shattering it into -a hundred pieces. Oh, that bell, how often and how often in how many -a wayside public-house had he boasted, in his cups and when sober, of -its mellow, far-reaching tone,--the sweet sound that assured him in -the silent watches of the night that his beloved steeds were safe! -Now he danced on the broken fragments, digging them into the earth -with his heel; now in his frenzy, he could have dug them up again to -grind them to powder with his teeth! - -The children turned restlessly in bed, dreaming of the lost little -girl in the desert; and the stranger half awoke, muttering, "Courage, -O Torcuata--let not your heart break.... Soul of my life, he gives -you back to me--on my bosom, rosa fresca, rosa fresca!" Then the -hands unclenched themselves again, and the muttering died away. But -Gregory woke fully, and instantly divined the cause of the clamour. -"Magdalen! Wife!" he said. "Listen to Polycarp; the Niño has paid -him out for his insolence! Oh, fool, I warned him, and he would not -listen!" But Magdalen refused to wake; and so, hiding his head under -the coverlet, he made the bed shake with suppressed laughter, so -pleased was he at the clever trick played on his blustering cousin. -All at once his laughter ceased, and out popped his head again, -showing in the dim light a somewhat long and solemn face. For he had -suddenly thought of his pretty daughter asleep in the adjoining room. -Asleep! Wide awake, more likely, thinking of her sweet lover, -brushing the dews from the hoary pampas grass in his southward -flight, speeding away into the heart of the vast mysterious -wilderness. Listening also to her uncle, the desperado, -apostrophising the midnight stars; while with his knife he excavates -two deep trenches, three yards long and intersecting each other at -right angles--a sacred symbol on which he intends, when finished, to -swear a most horrible vengeance. "Perhaps," muttered Gregory, "the -Niño has still other pranks to play in this house." - -When the stranger heard next morning what had happened he was better -able to understand the Niño's motive in giving him that caution -overnight; nor was he greatly put out, but thought it better that an -evil-minded man should lose his horses than that the Niño should set -out badly mounted on such an adventure. - -"Let me not forget," said the robbed man, as he rode away on a horse -borrowed from his cousin, "to be at the Tandil this day fortnight, -with a sharp knife and a blunderbuss charged with a handful of powder -and not fewer than twenty-three slugs." - -Terribly in earnest was Polycarp of the South! He was there at the -appointed time, slugs and all; but the smooth-cheeked, mysterious, -child-devil came not; nor stranger still, did the scared-looking de -la Rosa come clattering in to look for his lost Torcuata. At the end -of the fifteenth day de la Rosa was at Langueyü, seventy-five miles -from the Tandil, alone in his new rancho, which had just been rebuilt -with the aid of a few neighbours. Through all that night he sat -alone by the fire, pondering many things. If he could only recover -his lost wife, then he would bid a long farewell to that wild -frontier and take her across the great sea, and to that old -tree-shaded stone farm-house in Andalusia, which he had left a boy, -and where his aged parents still lived, thinking no more to see their -wandering son. His resolution was taken; he would sell all he -possessed, all except a portion of land in the Langueyü with the -house he had just rebuilt; and to the Niño Diablo, the deliverer, he -would say, "Friend, though you despise the things that others value, -take this land and poor house for the sake of the girl Magdalen you -love; for then perhaps her parents will no longer deny her to you." - -He was still thinking of these things when a dozen or twenty military -starlings--that cheerful scarlet-breasted songster of the lonely -pampas--alighted on the thatch outside, and warbling their gay, -careless winter-music told him that it was day. And all day long, on -foot and on horseback, his thoughts were of his lost Torcuata; and -when evening once more drew near his heart was sick with suspense and -longing; and climbing the ladder placed against the gable of his -rancho he stood on the roof gazing westward into the blue distance. -The sun, crimson and large, sunk into the great green sea of grass, -and from all the plain rose the tender fluting notes of the -tinamou-partridges, bird answering bird. "Oh, that I could pierce -the haze, with my vision," he murmured, "that I could see across a -hundred leagues of level plain, and look this moment on your sweet -face, Torcuata!" - -And Torcuata was in truth a hundred leagues distant from him at that -moment; and if the miraculous sight he wished for had been given, -this was what he would have seen. A wide barren plain scantily -clothed with yellow tufts of grass and thorny shrubs, and at its -southern extremity, shutting out the view of that side, a low range -of dune-like hills. Over this level ground, toward the range, moves -a vast herd of cattle and horses--fifteen or twenty thousand -head--followed by a scattered horde of savages armed with their long -lances. In a small compact body in the centre ride the captives, -women and children. Just as the red orb touches the horizon the -hills are passed, and lo! a wide grassy valley beyond, with flocks -and herds pasturing, and scattered trees, and the blue gleam of water -from a chain of small lakes! There full in sight is the Indian -settlement, the smoke rising peacefully up from the clustered huts. -At the sight of home the savages burst into loud cries of joy and -triumph, answered, as they drew near, with piercing screams of -welcome from the village population, chiefly composed of women, -children and old men. - - -It is past midnight; the young moon has set; the last fires are dying -down; the shouts and loud noise of excited talk and laughter have -ceased, and the weary warriors, after feasting on sweet mare's flesh -to repletion, have fallen asleep in their huts, or lying out-of-doors -on the ground. Only the dogs are excited still and keep up an -incessant barking. Even the captive women, huddled together in one -hut in the middle of the settlement, fatigued with their long rough -journey, have cried themselves to sleep at last. - -At length one of the sad sleepers wakes, or half wakes, dreaming that -someone has called her name. How could such a thing be? Yet her own -name still seems ringing in her brain, and at length, fully awake, -she finds herself intently listening. Again it -sounded--"Torcuata"--a voice fine as the pipe of a mosquito, yet so -sharp and distinct that it tingled in her ear. She sat up and -listened again, and once more it sounded "Torcuata!" "Who speaks?" -she returned in a fearful whisper. The voice, still fine and small, -replied: "Come out from among the others until you touch the wall." -Trembling she obeyed, creeping out from among the sleepers until she -came into contact with the side of the hut. Then the voice sounded -again, "Creep round the wall until you come to a small crack of light -on the other side." Again she obeyed, and when she reached the line -of faint light it widened quickly to an aperture, through which a -shadowy arm was passed round her waist; and in a moment she was -lifted up and saw the stars above her, and at her feet dark forms of -men wrapped in their ponchos lying asleep. But no one woke, no alarm -was given; and in a very few minutes she was mounted, man-fashion, on -a barebacked horse, speeding swiftly over the dim plains, with the -shadowy form of her mysterious deliverer some yards in advance, -driving before him a score or so of horses. He had only spoken -half-a-dozen words to her since their escape from the hut but she -knew by those words that he was taking her to Langueyü. - - - -END - - - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Masterpieces of Adventure--Stories of -Desert Places, by Various - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURE--STORIES OF DESERT PLACES *** - -***** This file should be named 63014-8.txt or 63014-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/6/3/0/1/63014/ - -Produced by Al Haines -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law 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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