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diff --git a/35295.txt b/35295.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b0cde73 --- /dev/null +++ b/35295.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21969 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Maroon, by Mayne Reid + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Maroon + +Author: Mayne Reid + +Release Date: February 15, 2011 [EBook #35295] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAROON *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Maroon +By Captain Mayne Reid +Published by Hurst and Blackett, 13 Great Marlborough Street, London. +This edition dated 1862. + +Volume One, Chapter I. + +A JAMAICA SUGAR ESTATE. + +A sugar estate, and one of the finest in the "land of springs," is that +of "Mount Welcome." + +It is situated about ten miles from Montego Bay, in a broad valley, +between two rounded ridges. These ridges, after running parallel for +more than a mile, and gradually increasing in elevation, at length +converge with an inward sweep--at their point of convergence, rising +abruptly into a stupendous hill, that fairly merits the name which it +bears upon the estate--_the "mountain_." + +Both the ridges are wooded almost down to their bases; the woods, which +consist of shining pimento trees, ending on each side in groves and +island copses, pleasantly interspersed over a park-like greensward. + +The "great house" or "buff" of the estate stands under the foot of the +mountain, just at the point of union between the two ridges--where a +natural table or platform, elevated several feet above the level of the +valley, had offered a tempting site to the builder. + +In architectural style it is not very different from other houses of its +kind, the well-known planter's dwelling of the West Indies. One +storey--the lower one, of course--is of strong stone mason-work; the +second and only other being simply a wooden "frame" roofed with +"shingles." + +The side and end walls of this second story cannot with propriety be +termed walls: since most part of them are occupied by a continuous line +of Venetian shutters--the "jalousies" of Jamaica. + +These impart a singular cage-like appearance to the house, at the same +time contributing to its coolness--a quality of primary importance in a +tropical climate. + +Outside in the front centre a flight of broad stone steps, resting upon +arched mason-work, and bordered by strong iron balustrades, conducts to +the level of the second storey--the real dwelling-house: since the +ground-floor is entirely occupied by store-rooms and other "offices." + +The entrance door is from the landing of the aforesaid _escalier_, and +conducts at once into the "hall"--a spacious apartment, of +crucifix-shape, running clear across the building from side to side, and +end to end. The current of air admitted by the open jalousies, passing +constantly through this apartment, renders it at all times delightfully +cool; while the lattice-work serves to mellow the glare of light, which, +under the sky of the tropics, is almost as disagreeable as the heat. An +uncarpeted floor, composed of the hardest sorts of native wood, and +subjected to a diurnal polish, contributes to increase the coolness. + +This great hall is the principal apartment of the dwelling. It is +dining and drawing-room in one--where side-boards and cheffoniers may be +seen in juxta-position with lounge chairs, fauteuils, and ottomans--a +grand chandelier in the centre extending its branches over all. + +The bed-chambers occupy the square spaces to one side of the cross; and +these also have their jalousied windows to admit the air, and exclude, +as much as possible, the sultry rays of the sun. + +In Mount Welcome House, as in all other country mansions of Jamaica, a +stranger would remark a want of correspondence between the dwelling +itself and the furniture which it contains. The former might be +regarded as slight, and even flimsy. But it is this very character +which renders it appropriate to the climate, and hence the absence of +substantiality or costliness in the style and materials of the building. + +The furniture, on the other hand--the solid tables of mahogany, and +other ornamental woods--the shining carved side-boards--the profuse show +of silver and cut glass that rests upon them--the elegant couches and +chairs--the glittering lamps and candelabras--all combine to prove that +the _quasi_ meanness of the Jamaica planter's establishment extends no +farther than to the walls of his house. If the case be a cheap one, the +jewels contained in it are of the costliest kind. + +Outside, the great house of Mount Welcome looks grand enough. Its broad +facade, in which the deep green of the jalousies contrasts pleasantly +with the white of the surrounding walls--the massive stone stairway in +front--the wooded mountain sweeping up and forming a background of +variegated green--the noble avenue of nearly a mile in length, with its +double rows of tamarinds and cocoa-palms, leading up in front from the +lower end of the valley--all contribute to produce a picture of almost +palatial grandeur. + +Nor does a nearer view detract from the splendour of this picture. The +platform on which the house is built affords space for a large garden +and shrubbery, extending rearward to the mountain-foot, from which they +are separated by a high wall of stone. + +The _mountain_ is a conspicuous feature of the landscape. Not so much +from its height: for there are others of equal elevation near to it; and +further off, though still within sight, many still higher. Even the +famed "Blue Peak" is visible, towering hundreds of feet above the +surrounding summits. + +Nor is it conspicuous from being isolated. On the contrary, it is only +a spur of that vast elevated chain of hills, that, separated by deep +gorge-like valleys, and soaring thousands of feet above the level of the +Caribbean Sea, are known as the "Blue Mountains of Jamaica." + +Covering almost the entire area of the island--which is thus broken into +an endless succession of gigantic corrugations--Jamaica presents a +surface rough and irregular as the crumplings upon a cabbage-leaf; and +"land of mountains" would be a title as appropriate as its ancient +Indian appellation, "the land of fountains." + +The hill which overlooks the estate of Mount Welcome is less than two +thousand feet above sea-level; but what renders it remarkable is the +geometrical regularity of its outlines, and, still more, its +singularly-shaped summit. + +Viewed from the valley below, it presents the appearance of an exact and +somewhat acute cone, up to within about fifty yards of its top. There +the sloping outline ends--the line on each side thence trending +vertically, and abruptly terminating in a square table-top, forty or +fifty feet in diameter. In general appearance, this truncated summit is +not unlike that of the famed "Cofre di Perote" of Mexico. + +The sloping sides of the mountain are densely wooded, especially that +fronting the valley of Mount Welcome--towards which is presented a broad +frowning _facade_, thickly clothed with a forest that appears primeval. + +Alone at its top is it treeless--bare and bald as the crown of a +Franciscan friar. There stands the square coffer-like summit, a mass of +solid rock, which repels the approach of the vegetable giants that crowd +closely around its base, some of them stretching out their huge arms as +if to strangle or embrace it. + +One tree alone has succeeded in scaling its steep rampart-like wall. A +noble palm--the _areca_--has accomplished this feat, and stands +conspicuously upon the table-top, its plumed leaves waving haughtily +aloft, like a triumphal banner planted upon the parapet of some +conquered castle. + +This summit rock presents a singular appearance. Its seamed and scarred +surface is mottled with a dark glaze, which during the sunlight, and +even under the mellower beams of the moon, gives forth a coruscation, as +if the light were reflected from scale armour. + +To the denizens of the valley below it is known as the _Jumbe Rock_--a +name characteristic of the superstitious ideas attached to it. Though +constantly before their eyes, and accessible by an hour's climbing up +the forest path, there is not a negro on the estate of Mount Welcome, +nor on any other for miles around, that would venture alone to visit the +Jumbe rock; and to most, if not all of them, the top of this mountain is +as much of a _terra incognita_ as the summit of Chimborazo! + +I am speaking of a period more than half a century ago. At that time +the terror, that was attached to the Jumbe Rock, did not altogether owe +its origin to a mere superstition. It had been partly inspired by the +remembrance of a horrid history. The rock had been the scene of an +execution, which for cruel and cold-blooded barbarity rather deserves to +be called a crime. + +That table-summit, like the blood-stained temples of the Moctezumas, had +been used as an altar, upon which a human sacrifice had been offered up. +Not in times long past, neither by the sanguinary priesthood of Azteca, +but by men of white skin and European race--their victim a black and an +African. + +This incident, illustrating Jamaica justice during the dark days of +slavery, deserves to be given in detail. + +Volume One, Chapter II. + +THE MYAL-MAN. + +In the West Indies, a few years previous to the Emancipation, there was +much agitation on the subject of _Obeah-ism_. + +The practice of this horrid art had become appallingly common--so common +that upon almost every extensive estate in the island there was a +"professor" of it; in other words, an "Obeah-man." "Professor," though +often used in speaking of these charlatans, is not a correct title. To +have _professed_ it--at least in the hearing of the whites--would have +been attended with peril: since it was punishable by the death penalty. +_Practitioner_ is a more appropriate appellation. + +These mysterious doctors were almost always men--very rarely women--and +usually natives of Africa. Universally were they persons of advanced +age and hideous aspect: the uglier the more successful in the pursuit of +their criminal calling. + +There was a class of them distinguished as "myal-men," whose chief +distinction consisted in their being able to _restore life to a dead +body_. + +Such was the belief of their ignorant fellow slaves, who little +suspected that the defunct subject had been all the while only dormant, +his death-like slumber secretly brought about by the myal-man himself, +assisted by a prescription of the branched "calalue"--a species of +_caladium_. + +I cannot here enter into an explanation of the mysteries of Obi, which +are simple enough _when understood_. I have met it in every land where +it has been my lot to travel; and although it holds a more conspicuous +place in the social life of the savage, it is also found in the +bye-lanes of civilisation. + +The reader, who may have been mystified about its meaning, will perhaps +understand what it is, when I tell him that the _obeah-man_ of the West +Indies is simply the counterpart of the "medicine man" of the +North-American Indians, the "piuche" of the South, the "rain-maker" of +the Cape, the "fetish man" of the Guinea coast, and known by as many +other titles as there are tribes of uncivilised men. + +It is the _first dawning of religion on the soul of the savage_; but +even when its malignant spirit has become changed to a purer aspiration +after eternal life, it still lingers amidst the haunts of ignorance, its +original form almost unaltered--_witchcraft_. + +To the statement above made--that on every large plantation there was an +obeah-man--the estate of Mount Welcome was no exception. It, too, was +blessed, or rather cursed, by a follower of the art, an old Coromantee +negro--Chakra by name--a man whose fell and ferocious aspect could not +have failed to make him one of the most popular of its practitioners. + +Such, to his misfortune, had he become. + +He had long been suspected of having poisoned his master, the former +owner of the estate, who had made an abrupt and mysterious exit from the +world. The fate of this man, however, was not much lamented, as he bore +the reputation of being a cruel slave-master. The present proprietor of +Mount Welcome had least reason to regret it: since it gave him +possession of an estate he had long coveted. + +It was greater chagrin to him, that since entering upon the enjoyment of +the property, several of his most valuable slaves had terminated their +existence suddenly, and in a manner which could only be accounted for by +the supposition that Obi had accomplished their destruction. + +Chakra, the myal-man, was suspected of causing their deaths. He was +arraigned and brought to trial. + +His judges were three--three justices of the neighbourhood--for that +number was sufficient to pass the death-sentence upon a slave. The +president of the court was the man's own master--Loftus Vaughan, +Esquire, proprietor of Mount Welcome, and _custos rotulorum_ of the +precinct. + +The substance of the crime charged against Chakra was "practising the +arts of Obi." The charge had no reference to the death of his former +master. + +The proofs were not very clear; but were deemed sufficiently so by the +court to warrant a conviction. + +Strange to say that of the three justices, the man's own master--the +president of the court--appeared the most anxious to bring the trial to +this termination. So anxious indeed, that he used every effort to +overrule the opinions of the other two: his superior position as +_custos_ giving him a certain power of controlling the decision. One of +them had actually pronounced in favour of an acquittal; but after a +whispering consultation with the custos, he retracted his former +opinion, and gave his vote for the verdict. + +There was a rumour at the time, that Loftus Vaughan, in this trial, was +actuated by meaner motives than either a stern love of justice, or the +desire to put down the practice of Obi. There was a whisper abroad of +some secrets--family secrets--with which the Coromantee had become +acquainted; some strange transaction, of which he was the sole living +witness; and of such a character, that even the testimony of a negro +would have been an inconvenience; and it was suspected that this, and +not obeah-ism, was the crime for which Chakra had to answer with his +life. + +Whether this was true or not, the Coromantee was condemned to die. + +The trial was not more irregular than the mode of execution, which these +irresponsible justices thought fit to decree. It was almost as +whimsical as it was cruel towards the wretched criminal. + +He was to be taken to the top of the Jumbe rock, chained to the +palm-tree, and there left to perish! + +It may be asked why this singular mode of execution was selected. Why +was he not hanged upon the scaffold, or burnt at the stake--a custom not +unusual with condemned criminals of his kind? + +The answer is easy. As already stated, at this particular period, much +unpleasant feeling prevailed on the subject of obeah-ism. In almost +every district mysterious deaths had occurred, and were occurring--not +only of black slaves, but of white masters, and even mistresses--all +attributed to the baneful influence of Obi. + +The African demon was ubiquitous, but invisible. Everywhere could be +witnessed his skeleton hand upon the wall, but nowhere himself. It had +become necessary to make a conspicuous example of his worshippers. The +voice of all planterdom called for it; and the myal-man, Chakra, was +selected for that example--in the belief that his fearful fate would +terrify the votaries of the vile superstition to their very hearts' +core. + +The Jumbe rock suggested itself as the most appropriate place for the +execution of the Coromantee. The terrors with which the place was +already invested--added to those now to be inspired by the fearful form +of punishment of which it was to be the scene--would exert a beneficial +effect on the superstitious understandings of the slaves, and for ever +destroy their belief in Obeah and Obboney. + +Under this belief was the myal-man escorted up to the summit of the +Jumbe rock; and, like a modern Prometheus, chained there. + +No guards were placed near him--none were required to stay by the spot. +His chains, and the terror inspired by the act, were deemed sufficient +to prevent any interference with his fate. + +In a few days, thirst and hunger, aided by the vultures, would perform +the final and fatal ceremony--as surely as the rope of the hangman, or +the axe of the executioner. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was long before Loftus Vaughan ascended the mountain to ascertain the +fate of the unfortunate negro, his _ci-devant_ slave. When, stimulated +by curiosity, and, perhaps, a motive still stronger--he, at length, +climbed to the top of the Jumbe rock, his hopes and expectations were +alike confirmed. A skeleton, picked clean by the John-crows, hung +suspended to the stem of the tree! + +A rusty chain, warped around the bones, kept the skeleton in place. + +Loftus Vaughan had no inclination to dwell long upon the spot. To him +the sight was fearful. One glance, and he hurried away; but far more +fearful--far more terrifying--was that which he saw, or fancied he saw, +in passing homeward down the forest path--either the ghost of the +myal-man, or the man himself! + +Volume One, Chapter III. + +A JAMAICA DEJEUNER. + +On a tranquil morning in the fair month of May--fair in Jamaica, as +elsewhere on the earth--a large bell ringing in the great hall of Mount +Welcome announced the hour of breakfast. + +As yet there were no guests around the table, nor in the hall--only the +black and coloured domestics, who, to the number of half-a-dozen, had +just come up from the kitchen with trays and dishes containing the +viands that were to compose the meal. + +Though but two chairs were placed by the table--and the disposition of +the plates, knives, and forks indicated that it had been set for only +that number of guests--the profusion of dishes, thickly covering the +snow-white damask cloth, might have led to the belief that a large party +was expected. + +It was emphatically a _dejeuner a la fourchette_. There were cutlets +plain, and with _sauce piquante_, _cavished_ fish, _entrees_ of devilled +fowl and duck, broiled salmon, and the like. These _hors d'oeuvres_ +were placed around the table, while a cold ham on one dish, and a tongue +on another, occupied the centre. + +Of "bread kind" there were mealy yams--some mashed with milk and butter, +and dished up in shapes--roast plantains, hot rolls, toast, cassada +cakes, and sweet potatoes. + +But that a splendid silver tea-service, and a large glittering urn were +conspicuous, the spread might have been mistaken for a dinner, rather +than the matutinal meal. The hour--nine o'clock a.m.--also precluded +the idea of its being dinner. + +Whoever were to be the guests at this table, it was intended they should +fair sumptuously. So did they every day of their lives; for there was +nothing occasional in that morning's meal. Both the style and the +profuseness were of diurnal occurrence--the mode of Jamaica. + +Soon after the tones of the bell had ceased to vibrate through the hall, +they for whom the summons was intended made their appearance--entering +from opposite sides, not together, but one coming in a little before the +other. + +The first was a gentleman of somewhat over middle age, of a hale +complexion, and fall, portly form. + +He was dressed in a suit of nankeens--jacket and trousers, both of ample +make--the former open in front, and displaying a shirt bosom of finest +white linen, the broad plaits of which were uncovered by any vest. A +wide turn-down collar was folded back, exhibiting a full development of +throat--which, with the broad jaws of ruddy hue, appeared clean and +freshly shaven. + +From a fob in the waistband of his trousers hung a massive gold chain, +with a bunch of seals and watch-keys at one end; while at the other was +an immense chronometer watch of the old-fashioned "guinea gold," with +white dial, upon which the black figures were conspicuously painted. +The watch itself could be seen; as, on entering, the wearer had drawn it +out of its fob with a view of ascertaining whether his servants were +punctual to the minute: for the gentleman in question was a very +martinet in such matters. + +Loftus Vaughan, Esquire, proprietor of Mount Welcome,--Justice of the +Peace, and _Custos Rotulorum_,--was the man thus characterised. + +After casting a scrutinising glance at the display of viands, and +apparently satisfied with what he saw, the master of Mount Welcome +seated himself before the table, his face beaming with a smile of +pleasant anticipation. + +He had scarce taken his seat when a fair apparition appeared entering +from the further end of the hall--a young virgin-like creature, looking +as fresh and roseate as the first rays of the Aurora. + +She was habited in a dress, or rather an undress, of purest white: a +morning wrapper of fine lawn, that, fitting closely behind, displayed +the waving _contour_ of her back. In front, the dress fell in loose +folds--scarce, however, concealing the full, bold outlines of her bosom; +and then draped gracefully downward, so low as to leave nothing visible +but the tips of a pair of tiny satin slippers, alternately showing +themselves like white mice as the young girl glided over the polished +surface of the floor. + +Her throat, full and finely rounded, was encircled with a string of +amber beads; and a crimson blossom--the beautiful bell of the +Quamoclit--glittered amidst the ample folds of her hair. This, of a +rich chestnut colour, was parted on her forehead, and carried in a +curving sweep over cheeks that rivalled the radiance of the flower. + +It would have required an experienced eye--one well acquainted with the +physiological characteristics of race--to have told that that young girl +was not of the purest Caucasian blood. And yet the slight undulation of +the hair; a rotund rather than an oval face; eyes of darkest umber, with +a light gleaming perpetually in the pupils; a singular picturelike +expression in the colouring of the cheeks--were all characteristics, +that proclaimed the presence of the _sang-melee_. + +Slight indeed was the _taint_; and it seems like profanation to employ +the phrase, when speaking of a creature so beautifully fair--for +beautifully fair was the daughter of Loftus Vaughan. She was his only +daughter--the only member of his family: for the proprietor of Mount +Welcome was a widower. + +On entering the hall, the young girl did not proceed directly to seat +herself; but, gliding behind the chair occupied by her father, she flung +her arms around his neck, and imprinted a kiss upon his forehead. + +It was her usual matutinal salute; and proved that, on that morning they +had met for the first time. + +Not that it was the first appearance of either: for both had been much +earlier abroad--up with the sun, indeed, as is the universal custom in +Jamaica. + +Mr Vaughan had entered the hall from the front door, and the +broad-brimmed Leghorn hat, and cane carried in his hand, told that he +had been out for a walk--perhaps to inspect the labour going on at the +"works," or ascertain the progress made in the cultivation of his +extensive cane-fields. + +His daughter, on the contrary, might have been seen entering the house +some half-hour before, in riding costume--hat, habit, and whip--proving +that her morning exercise had been taken on horseback. + +After saluting her father as described, the young girl took her seat in +front of the coffee urn, and commenced performing the duties of the +table. + +In this she was assisted by a girl apparently of her own age, but of +widely-different appearance. Her waiting-maid it was, who, having +entered at the same time, had taken her station behind the chair of her +mistress. + +There was something strikingly peculiar in the aspect of this +personage--as well in her figure as in the colour of her skin. She was +of that slender classic shape which we find in antique sculptures--like +the forms of the Hindoo women known in England as "ayahs" and differing +altogether from the negro outline. Her complexion, too, was not that of +a negress--still less of a mulatta or quadroon. It was an admixture of +black and red, resulting in a chestnut or mahogany colour; which, with +the deep damask tincture upon her cheeks, produced an impression not +unpleasing. + +Nor were the features at all of a negro type. On the contrary, far +removed from it. The lips were thin, the face oval, and the nose of an +aquiline shape--such features as may be traced on Egyptian sculptured +stones, or may be seen in living forms in the lands of the Arab. + +Her hair was not woolly, though it differed altogether from the hair of +a European. It was straight, and jet-black, yet scarcely reaching to +her shoulders. Not that it had been shortened by the scissors: for it +appeared to be at its fullest growth; and, hanging, as it did, loosely +over her ears, it imparted a youthful appearance to the brown-skinned +damsel. + +The girl was far from ill-looking; and, to an eye accustomed to her +"style," she may have appeared even handsome. Her elegant shape, +exposed by the extreme scantiness of her costume--a sleeveless robe, +with a Madras kerchief worn _a la toque_ upon her head--her graceful +attitudes, which seemed natural to her, either when in motion or +standing poised behind the chair of her mistress; the quick glance of +her fine, fiery eyes; and the pearl-like whiteness of her teeth; all +contributed to make up a picture that was far from commonplace. + +This young girl was a slave--the slave _Yola_. + +Volume One, Chapter IV. + +TWO LETTERS. + +Instead of standing in the middle of the floor, the breakfast table had +been placed close to the front window--in order that, with the jalousies +thrown open, the fresh air might be more freely felt, while at the same +time a view could be obtained of the landscape outside. A splendid view +it was, comprising the valley with its long palm-shaded avenue, a reach +of the Montego river, the roofs and spires of the town, the shipping in +the bay and roadstead, the bay itself, and the blue Caribbean beyond. + +Striking as was this landscape, Mr Vaughan just then showed no +inclination to look upon it. He was too busily occupied with the rich +viands upon the table; and when he at length found time to glance over +the window-sill, his glance extended no further than to the negro "gang" +at work among the canes--to see if his drivers were doing their duty. + +The eyes of Miss Vaughan were oftener directed to the outside view. It +was at this hour that one of the servants usually returned from Montego +Bay, bringing the letters from the post-office. There was nothing in +her manner that betrayed any particular anxiety about his arrival; but +simply that lively interest which young ladies in all countries feel +when expecting the postman--hoping for one of those little letters of +twelve sheets with closely-written and crossed lines, most difficult to +decipher, and yet to them more interesting than even the pages of the +newest novel. + +Very soon a dark object, of rudely Centaurean form, appeared coming +along the avenue; and, shortly after, an imp-like negro lad upon the +back of a rough pony galloped up to the front entrance. This was +Quashie--the post-boy, of Mount Welcome. + +If Miss Vaughan expected a billet, she was doomed to disappointment. +There were only two letters in the bag, with a newspaper; and all three +were for the Custos himself. + +All bore the English post-mark; and the superscription of one of the +letters was by him at once recognised--a pleasant smile stealing over +his features as he broke open the seal. + +A few moments sufficed to make him master of its contents, when the +smile increased to a look of vivid gratification; and, rising from his +chair, he paced for some time back and forward, snapping his fingers, +and ejaculating, "Good--good! I thought so!" + +His daughter regarded this behaviour with surprise. Gravity was her +father's habit, at times amounting to austerity. Such an exhibition of +gaiety was rare with Loftus Vaughan. + +"Some pleasing news, papa?" + +"Yes, you little rogue; very." + +"May I not hear it?" + +"Yes--no--no--not yet a while." + +"Papa! It is cruel of you to keep it from me. I promise I shall share +your joy." + +"Ah! you will when you hear the news--that is, if you're not a little +simpleton, Kate." + +"I a simpleton, papa? I shall not be called so." + +"Why, you'll be a simpleton if you don't be joyful--when you--never +mind, child--I'll tell you all about it by-and-by. Good, good!" +continued he, in a state of ecstatic frenzy. "I thought so--I knew he +would come." + +"Then you expect some one, papa?" + +"I do. Guess who it is!" + +"How could I? You know I am unacquainted with your English friends." + +"Not with their names? You have heard their names, and seen letters +from some of them?" + +"Oh, yes, I often hear you speak of one--Mr Smythje. A very odd name +it is! I wouldn't be called Smythje for the world." + +"Ta, ta, child! Smythje is a very pretty name, especially with Montagu +before it. Montagu is magnificent. Besides, Mr Smythje is the owner +of Montagu Castle." + +"Oh, papa! how can that make his name sound any better? Is it he whom +you expect?" + +"Yes, dear. He writes to say that he will come by the next ship--the +_Sea Nymph_ she is called. She was to sail a week after the letter was +written, so that we may look out for his arrival in a few days. Gad! I +must prepare for him. You know Montagu Castle is out of repair. He is +to be my guest; and, hark you, Catherine!" continued the planter, once +more seating himself at the table, and bending towards his daughter, so +that his _sotto voce_ might not be overheard by the domestics, "_you_ +must do your best to entertain this young stranger. He is said to be an +accomplished gentleman, and I know he is a rich one. It is to my +interest to be friendly with him," added Mr Vaughan, in a still lower +tone of voice, and as if in soliloquy, but loud enough for his daughter +to hear what was said. + +"Dear papa!" was the reply, "how could I be otherwise than polite to +him? If only for your sake--" + +"If only for _your own_," said the father, interrupting her, and +accompanying the remark with a sly look and laugh. "But, dear +Catherine," continued he, "we shall find time to talk of this again. I +must read the other letter. Who on earth can it be from? Egad! I +never saw the writing before." + +The announcement of the projected visit of Mr Montagu Smythje, with the +trumpet-like flourish of his many accomplishments--which Kate Vaughan +had not now listened to for the first time--appeared to produce in the +heart of the young lady no very vivid emotions of pleasure. She +received it with perfect indifference, not seeming to care much one way +or the other. If there was a balance, it was rather against him: for it +so chanced that much of what she had heard in relation to this gentleman +was not at all calculated to prepossess her in his favour. + +She had heard that he was an exquisite--a fop, in fact--perhaps of all +other characters the one most repulsive to a young Creole: for, +notwithstanding the natural disposition of these to become enamoured of +fine personal appearance, it must be accompanied by certain qualities of +mind, if not of the highest morality, or even intellectuality, yet +differing altogether from the frivolous accomplishments of mere +dandyism. + +Nature, that inspires the creole maiden to give her _whole heart away +and without any reserve_, has also taught her to bestow it with +judgment. Instinct warns her not to lay her precious offering upon an +altar unworthy of the sacrifice. + +There was another circumstance calculated to beget within the heart of +Kate Vaughan a certain feeling of repulsion towards the lord of Montagu +Castle; and that was the conduct of her own father in regard to this +matter. From time to time--when speaking of Mr Montagu Smythje--he had +made use of certain expressions and innuendoes, which, though couched in +ambiguous language, his daughter very easily comprehended. + +The heart of woman is quick, as it is subtle, in the understanding of +all that relates to the disposal of itself; and this even at the +earliest age of maidenhood. It is prone to repel any effort to guide it +from its natural inclinings, or rob it of its right to choose. + +Mr Vaughan, in his ignorance of these rather recondite truths, was +erecting a barrier to his own designs, all the while that he fancied he +was successfully clearing the track of presumptive obstructions, and +making the path smooth and easy. + +At match-making he was likely to prove a bungler: for it was evident +that match-making was in his mind. + +"Never saw the handwriting before," said he, in repetition, as he broke +open the seal of the second epistle. + +If the contents of the first had filled him with joy, those of the +second produced an effect directly the opposite. + +"'Sdeath!" exclaimed he, crushing the letter, as he finished reading it, +and once more nervously springing to his feet. "Dead or living, that +ill-starred brother of mine seems as if created to be a curse to me! +While alive, always wanting money; and now that he is dead sending his +son--a never-do-well, like himself--to trouble, and, perhaps, disgrace +me." + +"Dear father!" said the young girl, startled more by his wild demeanour +than what he was saying--for the words were muttered in a low voice, and +rather in soliloquy--"has the other letter brought unpleasant news?" + +"Ah! that it has. You may read for yourself." + +And once more seating himself, he tossed the unwelcome epistle across +the table, and recommenced eating with apparent voracity--as if by that +means to tranquillise his perturbed spirit. + +Kate took up the rejected letter; and, smoothing out the paper, ran her +eye over the contents. + +The perusal did not require much time: for considering that the letter +had made such a long journey, its contents were of the shortest:-- + +London, June 10, 18--. + +"Dear Uncle, + +"I have to announce to you the melancholy intelligence that your +brother, my dear father, is no more. His last words were, that I should +go over to you: and, acting in accordance with his wish, I have taken +passage for Jamaica. The ship is the _Sea Nymph_, and is to sail upon +the 18th instant. I do not know how long we shall be at sea, but I hope +it will prove a short voyage: as poor father's effects were all taken by +the sheriffs officer, and I am compelled, for want of money, to take +passage in the _steerage_, which I have been told is anything but a +luxurious mode of travelling. But I am young and strong, and no doubt +shall be able to endure it. + +"Yours affectionately, + +"Herbert Vaughan." + +Whatever effect the reading of the letter may have had upon Kate +Vaughan, it certainly did not produce indignation. On the contrary, an +expression of sympathy stole over her face as she mastered the contents +or the epistle; and on finishing it, the phrase, "poor fellow!" dropped +as if involuntarily, and just audibly, from her lips. + +Not that she knew anything of Herbert Vaughan, more than the name, and +that he was her cousin; but the word _cousin_ has an attractive sound, +especially in the ears of young people, equalling in interest--at times +even surpassing--that of sister or brother. + +Though uttered, as we have said, in a tone almost inaudible, the words +reached the ears of her father. + +"Poor fellow!" he repeated, turning sharply to his daughter, and +regarding her with a glance of displeasure, "I am surprised, Kate, to +hear you speak in that strain of one you know nothing about--one who has +done nothing to deserve your compassion. An idle, good-for-nothing +fellow--just as his father was before him. And only to think of it-- +coming over here a _steerage_ passenger, in the very same ship with Mr +Montagu Smythje! 'Sdeath! What a disgrace! Mr Smythje will be +certain to know who he is--though he is not likely to associate with +such _canaille_. He cannot fail to notice the fellow, however; and when +he sees him here, will be sure to remember him. Ah! I must take some +steps to prevent that. Poor fellow, indeed! Yes, poor enough, but not +in that sense. Like his father, I suppose, who fiddled his life away +among paint-brushes and palettes instead of following some profitable +employment, and all for the sake of being called an _artist_! Poor +fiddlestick! Bah! Don't let me hear you talk in that strain again!" + +And as Mr Vaughan ended his ill-natured harangue, he tore the wrapper +off the newspaper, and endeavoured, among its contents, to distract his +mind from dwelling longer on the unpleasant theme either of the epistle, +or him who had written it. + +The young girl, abashed and disconcerted by the unusual violence of the +rebuke, sat with downcast eyes, and without making any reply. The red +colour had deepened upon her cheeks, and mounted to her forehead; but, +notwithstanding the outrage done to her feelings, it was easy to see +that the sympathy she had expressed, for her poor but unknown cousin, +was felt as sensibly as ever. + +So far from having stifled or extinguished it, the behaviour of her +father was more likely to have given it increase and strength: for the +adage of the "stolen waters" is still true; and the forbidden fruit is +as tempting now as upon the morning of creation. As it was in the +beginning, so will it ever be. + +Volume One, Chapter V. + +THE SLAVER. + +A hot West Indian sun was rapidly declining towards the Caribbean Sea-- +as if hastening to cool his fiery orb in the blue water--when a ship, +that had rounded Pedro Point, in the Island of Jamaica, was seen +standing eastward for Montego Bay. + +She was a three-masted vessel--a barque--as could be told by the lateen +rig of her mizen-mast--and apparently of some three or four hundred tons +burden. + +As she was running under one of the gentlest of breezes, all her canvas +was spread; and the weather-worn appearance of her sails denoted that +she was making land at the termination of a long ocean voyage. This was +further manifest by the faded paint upon her sides, and the dark, +dirt-coloured blotches that marked the position of her hawse-holes and +scuppers. + +Besides the private ensign that streamed, pennon-like from her peak, +another trailed over her taffrail; which, unfolded by the motion of the +vessel, displayed a blue starry field with white and crimson stripes. +In this case the flag was appropriate--that is, in its stripes and their +colour. Though justly vaunted as the flag of the free, here was it +covering a cargo of slaves: the ship was a _slaver_. + +After getting fairly inside the bay, but still at a long distance from +the town, she was observed suddenly to tack; and, instead of continuing +on towards the harbour, head for a point on the southern side, where the +shore was uninhabited and solitary. + +On arriving within a mile of the land she took in sail, until every inch +of canvas was furled upon her yards. Then the sharp rattling of the +chain, as it dragged through the iron ring of the hawse-hole, announced +the dropping of an anchor. + +In a few moments after the ship swung round; and, drifting till the +chain cable became taut, lay motionless upon the water. + +The object for which the slaver had thus anchored short of the harbour +will be learnt by our going aboard of her--though this was a privilege +not granted to the idle or curious. Only the initiated were permitted +to witness the spectacle of which her decks now became the theatre: only +those who had an interest in the disposal of her cargo. + +Viewed from a distance, the slaver lay apparently inert; but for all +that a scene of active life was passing upon her deck--a scene of rare +and painful interest. + +She carried a cargo of two hundred human beings--"bales," according to +the phraseology of the slave-trader. These bales were not exactly +alike. It was, as her skipper jocularly styled it, an "assorted +cargo"--that is, one shipped on different points of the African coast, +and, consequently, embracing many distinct varieties of the Ethiopian +race. There was the tawny, but intelligent Mandingo, and by his side +the Jolof of ebon hue. There the fierce and warlike Coromantee, +alongside the docile and submissive Pawpaw; the yellow Ebo, with the +visage of a baboon, wretched and desponding, face to face with the +cannibal Moco, or chained wrist to wrist with the light-hearted native +of Congo and Angola. + +None, however, appeared of light heart on board the slaver. The horrors +of the "middle passage" had equally affected them all, until the dancing +Congese, and the Lucumi, prone to suicide, seemed equally to suffer from +dejection. The bright picture that now presented itself before their +eyes--a landscape gleaming with all the gay colours of tropical +vegetation--was viewed by them with very different emotions. Some +seemed to regard it with indifference; others it reminded of their own +African homes, from which they had been dragged by rude and ruffian men; +while not a few gazed upon the scene with feelings of keen +apprehension--believing it to be the dreaded _Koomi_, the land of the +gigantic cannibals--and that they had been brought thither _to be +eaten_! + +Reflection might have convinced them that this would scarcely be the +intention of the _Tobon-doo_--those white tyrants who had carried them +across the ocean. The hard, unhusked rice, and coarse maize corn--their +only food during the voyage--were not viands likely to fatten them for +the feast of Anthropophagi; and their once smooth and shining skins now +exhibited a dry, shrivelled appearance, from the surface coating of +dandruff, and the scars of the hideous _cra-cra_. + +The blacks among them, by the hardships of that fearful voyage, had +turned ashy grey and the yellows of a sickly and bilious hue. Males and +females--for there were many of the latter--appeared to have been alike +the objects of ill-usage, the victims of a starved stomach and a stifled +atmosphere. + +Some half-dozen of the latter--seen in the precincts of the cabin-- +presented a different aspect. These were young girls, picked from the +common crowd on account of the superiority of their personal charms; and +the flaunting vestments that adorned their bodies--contrasting with the +complete nudity of their fellow-voyagers--told too plainly why they had +been thus distinguished. A horrid contrast--wantonness in the midst of +woe! + +On the quarter-deck stood the slave-skipper--a tall, lathy individual of +sallow hue--and, beside him, his mate--a dark-bearded ruffian; while a +score of like stamp, but lower grade, acting under their orders, were +distributed in different parts of the ship. + +These last, as they tramped to and fro over the deck, might be heard at +intervals giving utterance to profane oaths--as often laying violent +hands upon one or other of their unfortunate captives--apparently out of +the sheer wantonness of cruelty! + +Immediately after the anchor had been dropped, and the ropes belayed and +coiled in their places, a new scene of this disgusting drama was entered +upon. The living "bales," hitherto restrained below, were now ordered, +or rather driven, upon deck--not all at once, but in lots of three or +four at a time. Each individual, as he came up the hatchway, was rudely +seized by a sailor, who stood by with a soft brush in his hand and a +pail at his feet; the latter containing a black composition of +gunpowder, lemon-juice, and palm-oil. Of this mixture the unresisting +captive received a coating; which, by the hand of another sailor, was +rubbed into the skin, and then polished with a "dandybrush," until the +sable epidermis glistened like a newly-blacked boot. + +A strange operation it might have appeared to those who saw it, had they +not been initiated into its object and meaning. But to the spectators +there present it was no uncommon sight. It was not the first time those +unfeeling men had assisted at the spectacle of black bales _being made +ready for the market_! + +One after another were the dark-skinned victims of human cupidity +brought from below, and submitted to this demoniac anointment--to which +one and all yielded with an appearance of patient resignation, like +sheep under the hands of the shearer. + +In the looks of many of them could be detected the traces of that +apprehension felt in the first hours of their captivity, and which had +not yet forsaken them. Might not this process be a prelude to some +fearful sacrifice? + +Even the females were not exempted from this disgusting desecration of +God's image; and they too, one after another, were passed through the +hands of the rough operators, with an accompaniment of brutal jests, and +peals of ribald laughter! + +Volume One, Chapter VI. + +JOWLER AND JESSURON. + +Almost on the same instant that the slave-barque had dropped anchor, a +small boat shot out from the silent shore; which, as soon as it had got +fairly clear of the land, could be seen to be steering in the direction +of the newly-anchored vessel. + +There were three men in the boat--two of whom were plying the oars. +These were both black men--naked, with the exception of dirty white +trousers covering their limbs, and coarse palm-leaf hats upon their +heads. + +The third occupant of the skiff--for such was the character of the +boat--was a white, or more properly, a _whitish_ man. He was seated in +the stern-sheets, with a tiller-rope in each hand; and steering the +craft--as his elbows held a-kimbo, and the occasional motion of his arms +testified. He bore not the slightest resemblance to the oarsmen, either +in the colour of his skin, or the costume that covered it. Indeed, it +would not have been easy to have found his counterpart anywhere either +on land or at sea. + +He appeared to be about sixty years old--he might have been more or +less--and had once been white; but long exposure to a West Indian sun, +combined with the numerous dirt-bedaubed creases and furrows in his +skin, had darkened his complexion to the hue of leaf-tobacco. + +His features, naturally of an angular shape, had become so narrowed and +sharpened by age as to leave scarce anything in front; and to get a view +of his face it was necessary to step to one side, and scan it _en +profil_. + +Thus viewed, there was breadth enough, and features of the most +prominent character--including a nose like the claw of a lobster--a +sharp, projecting chin--with a deep embayment between, marking the +locality of the lips: the outline of all suggesting a great resemblance +to the profile of a parrot, but still greater to that of a Jew--for +such, in reality was its type. + +When the mouth was opened in a smile--a rare occurrence, however--only +two teeth could be detected within, standing far apart, like two +sentinels guarding the approach to the dark cavern within. + +This singular countenance was lighted up by a pair of black, watery +orbs, that glistened like the eyes of an otter; and eternally glistened, +except when their owner was asleep--a condition in which it was said he +was rarely or never caught. + +The natural blackness of his eyes was rendered deeper by contrast with +long white eyebrows running more than half-way around them, and meeting +over the narrow ridge of the nose. Hair upon the head there was none-- +that is, none that was visible--a skull-cap of whitish cotton-stuff +covering the whole crown, and coming down over both ears. Over this was +a white beaver hat, whose worn nap and broken edges told of long +service. + +A pair of large green goggles, resting on the humped bridge of his nose, +protected his eyes from the sun; though they might, perhaps, have been +worn for another purpose--to conceal the villainous expression of the +orbs that sparkled beneath them. + +A sky-blue cloth coat, whitened by long wear, with metal buttons, once +bright, now changed to the hue of bronze; small-clothes of buff +kerseymere glistening with grease; long stockings, and tarnished +top-boots, made up the costume of this unique individual. A large blue +cotton umbrella rested across his knees, as both hands were occupied in +steering the skiff. + +The portrait here given--or, perhaps, it should be styled profile--is +that of Jacob Jessuron, the slave-merchant; an Israelite of Germanic +breed, but one in whom--it would not have been truth to say--there was +"no guile." + +The two oarsmen were simply his slaves. + +The little craft had put out from the shore--from a secluded spot at a +distance from the town, but still within view of it. It was evidently +making for the newly-anchored barque; and evidently rowed at its best +speed. Indeed, the steersman appeared to be urging his blacks to the +exertion of their utmost strength. From time to time he was seen to +twist his body half round and look towards the town--as though he +expected or dreaded to see a rival boat coming from that quarter, and +was desirous to reach the barque ahead of her. + +If such was his design it proved successful. Although his little skiff +was a considerable time in traversing the distance from shore to ship--a +distance of at least a mile--he arrived at the point of his destination +without any other boat making its appearance. + +"Sheep ahoy!" shouted he, as the skiff was pulled up under the larboard +quarter of the barque. + +"Ay, ay!" responded a voice from above. "Ish that Captain Showler I +hearsh?" + +"Hilloo! who's there?" interrogated some one on the quarter-deck; and +the moment after, the sallow face of Captain Aminadab Jowler presented +itself at the gangway. + +"Ah! Mister Jessuron, that you, eh? Determined to have fust peep at my +blackeys? Well! fust kim, fust served; that's my rule. Glad to see +you, old fellow. How'd deo?" + +"Fusht-rate!--fusht-rate! I hopsh you're the same yourshelf, Captain +Showler. How ish you for cargo?" + +"Fine, old boy! got a prime lot this time. All sizes, colours, and +_sexes_, too; ha! ha! You can pick and choose to suit yourself, I +reckin. Come! climb aboard, and squint your eye over 'em!" + +The slave-merchant, thus invited, caught hold of the rope-ladder let +down for his accommodation; and scrambling up the ship's side with the +agility of an old ape, stepped upon the deck of the slaver. + +After some moments spent in handshaking and other forms of gratulation; +proving that the trader and merchant were old friends--and as thick as +two thieves could possibly be--the latter fixed the goggles more firmly +on the ridge of his nose, and commenced his inspection of the "cargo." + +Volume One, Chapter VII. + +THE FOOLAH PRINCE. + +On the quarter-deck of the slaver, and near the "companion," stood a man +of unique appearance--differing not only from the whites who composed +the crew, but also from the blacks and browns who constituted the cargo. + +His costume, attitude, and some, other trivial circumstances, proclaimed +him as belonging neither to one nor the other. + +He had just stepped up from the cabin, and was lingering upon the +quarter-deck. + +Having the _entree_ of the first, and the privilege of remaining upon +the second, he could not be one of the "bales" of this human +merchandise; and yet both costume and complexion forbade the supposition +that he was of the slaver's crew. Both denoted an African origin-- +though his features were not of a marked African type. Rather were they +Asiatic, or, more correctly, Arabian; but, in some respects, differing +also from Arab features. In truth, they were almost European; but the +complexion again negatived the idea that the individual in question +belonged to any of the nationalities of Europe. His hue was that of a +light Florentine bronze, with a tinge of chestnut. + +He appeared to be about eighteen or nineteen years of age; with a person +well proportioned, and possessing the following characteristics:--A fine +arched eyebrow, spanning an eye full and rotund; a nose slightly +aquiline; thin, well-modelled lips; white teeth--whiter from contrast +with the dark shading on the upper lip--and over all an ample +_chevelure_ of jet-black hair, slightly curling, but not at all woolly. + +In nothing did he differ more, from the dark-skinned helots of the hold, +than in his costume. While none of these had any clothing upon their +bodies, or next to none, he, on the contrary, was splendidly +apparelled--his face, throat, arms, and limbs, from the knee to the +ankle, being the only parts not covered by a garment. + +A sort of sleeveless tunic of yellow satin, with a skirt that just +reached below his knees, was bound around his waist by a scarf of +crimson China crape, the ends of which, hanging still lower, were +adorned with a fringe-work of gold. Over the left shoulder rested +loosely another scarf of blue _burnous_ cloth, concealing the arm over +which it hung; while half hidden beneath its draping could be perceived +a scimitar in its richly-chased scabbard, with a hilt of carved ivory. +A turban on the head, and sandals of Kordofan leather upon the feet, +completed his costume. + +Notwithstanding the Asiatic character of the dress, and the resemblance +of the wearer to those East Indians known as Lascars, he was a true +African--though not of that type which we usually associate with the +word, and which suggests a certain _negroism_ of features. He was one +of a people entirely distinct from the negro--the great nation of the +Foolahs (Fellattas)--that race of shepherd warriors whose country +extends from the confines of Darfur to the shores of the Atlantic--the +lords of Sockatoo and Timbuctoo--those fanatic followers of the false +prophet who conspired the death of Laing, and murdered Mungo Park upon +the Quorra. Of such race was the individual who stood on the +quarter-deck of the slaver. + +He was not alone. Three or four others were around him, who also +differed from the wretched creatures in the hold. But their dresses of +more common material, as well as other circumstances, told that they +were his inferiors in rank--in short, his attendants. + +The humble mien with which they regarded him, and the watchful attention +to his every look and gesture, proclaimed the habitual obedience to +which they were accustomed; while the turbans which they wore, and their +mode of salutation--the _salaam_--told of an obeisance Oriental and +slavish. + +To the richness of the young man's attire was added a certain +haughtiness of mien that proclaimed him a person of rank--perhaps the +chieftain of some African tribe. + +And such, in reality, he was--a Foolah prince, from the banks of the +Senegal. + +There, neither his presence nor appearance would have attracted more +than passing observation; but here, on the western side of the Atlantic, +on board a slave-ship, both required explanation. + +It was evident that he was not in the same category with his unfortunate +countrymen "between decks"--doomed to perpetual captivity. There were +no signs that he had been treated as a captive, but the contrary. + +How, then, was his presence on board the slave-barque to be accounted +for? Was he a passenger? In what relationship did he stand to the +people who surrounded him? + +Such, though differently worded, were the interrogatories put by the +slave-merchant, as, returning from the fore-deck, after completing his +inspection of the cargo, his eyes for the first time fell upon the young +Fellatta. + +"Blesh my shtars, Captain Showler!" cried he, holding up both hands, and +looking with astonishment at the turbaned individuals on the +quarter-deck. "Blesh my shtars!" he repeated; "what ish all thish? +S'help my Gott! theesh fellows are not shlaves, are they?" + +"No, Mister Jessuron, no. They ain't slaves, not all on 'em ain't. +That 'ere fine fellow, in silk and satin, air a owner o' slaves hisself. +He air a prince." + +"What dosh you say, Captin Showler? a prinshe?" + +"Ye ain't 'stonished at that, air ye? 'Tain't the fust time I've had an +African prince for a passenger. This yeer's his Royal Highness the +Prince Cingues, son o' the Grand Sultan of Foota-toro. The other +fellows you see thar by him are his attendants--courteers as waits on +him. That with the yellow turban's `gold stick;' him in blue 's `silver +stick;' an' t'other fellow's `groom o' the chamber,' I s'pose." + +"Sultan of Foota-toro!" exclaimed the slave-merchant, still holding up +the blue umbrella in surprise; "King of the Cannibal Islandsh! Aha, a +good shoke, Captain Showler! But, serious, mine friend, what for hash +you tricked them out in this way? They won't fetch a joey more in the +market for all theesh fine feathers." + +"Seerus, Mister Jessuron, they're not for the market. I sw'ar to ye the +fellur's a real Afrikin prince." + +"African fiddleshtick!" echoed the slave-merchant with an incredulous +shrug. "Come, worthy captin, what'sh the mashquerade about?" + +"Not a bit of that, ole fellur! 'Sure ye the nigger's a prince, and my +passenger--nothing more or less." + +"S'help you gott, ish it so?" + +"So help me that!" emphatically replied the skipper. "It's just as I've +told ye, Mister Jessuron." + +"Blesh my soul!--a passenger, you shay?" + +"Yes; and he's paid his passage, too--like a prince, as he is." + +"But what's hish business here in Shamaica?" + +"Ah! that's altogether a kewrious story, Mister Jessuron. You'll hardly +guess his bizness, I reckon?" + +"Lesh hear it, friend Showler." + +"Well, then, the story air this: 'Bout twelve months ago an army o' +Mandingoes attacked the town of Old Foota-toro, and, 'mong other +plunder, carried off one o' his daughters--own sister to the young +fellur you see there. They sold her to a West India trader; who, in +course, brought the girl over here to some o' the islands; which one +ain't known. Old Foota-toro, like the rest o' 'em, thinks the slaves +are all fetched to one place; and as he's half beside himself 'bout the +loss of this gurl--she war his favourite, and a sort of a court belle +among 'em--he's sent the brother to search her out, and get her back +from whoever hez purchased her on this side. There's the hul story for +you." + +The expression that had been gathering on the countenance of the Jew, +while this relation was being made to him, indicated something more than +a common interest in the tale--something beyond mere curiosity. At the +same time, he seemed as if trying to conceal any outward sign of +emotion, by preserving, as much as possible, the rigidity of his +features. + +"Blesh my soul!" he exclaimed, as the skipper had concluded. "Ash I +live, a wonderful shtory! But how ish he ever to find hish sister? He +might ash well look for a needle in a hayshtack." + +"Wall, that's true enough," replied the slave-skipper. "As for that," +added he, with an air of stoical indifference, "'taint no business o' +mine. My affair hez been to carry the young fellur acrost the Atlantic; +an' I'm willin' to take him back on the same tarms, and at the same +price, if he kin pay it." + +"Did he pay you a goodsh price?" inquired the Jew, with evident interest +in the answer. + +"He paid like a prince, as I've told you. D'ye see that batch o' yellow +Mandingoes by the windlass yonder?" + +"Yesh-yesh!" + +"Forty there air--all told." + +"Wen?" + +"Twenty on 'em I'm to have for fetchin' him acrost. Cheap enough, ain't +it?" + +"Dirt sheep, friend Showler. The other twenty?" + +"They are _hisn_. He's brought 'em with him to swop for the sister-- +when he finds her." + +"Ah, yesh! if he finds the girl." + +"In coorse, if he finds her." + +"Ach!" exclaimed the Jew, with a significant shrug of his shoulders; +"that will not be an easy bishness, Captin Showler." + +"By Christopher Columbus, old fellow!" said the trader, apparently +struck with an idea; "now I think of it, you might gie him some help in +the findin' o' her. I know no man more likely than yourself to be able +to pilot him. You know everybody in the island, I reckon. No doubt he +will pay you well for your trouble. I'm rayther anxious he should +succeed. King Foota-toro is one of my best sources of supply; and if +the gurl could be found and took back, I know the old nigger would do +the handsome to me on my next trip to the coast." + +"Well, worthy captin, I don't know that there's any hope, and won't hold +out any to hish royal highnesh the prince. I'm not as able to get about +ash I ushed to was; but I'll try my besht for you. As you shay, I might +do something towardsh putting him in the way. Well, we'll talk it over; +but let ush first settle our other bishness, or all the world will be +aboard. Twenty, you shay, are his?" + +"Twenty of them 'ere Mandingoes." + +"Hash he anything besides?" + +"In cash? no, not a red cent. Men and women are the dollars of his +country. He hez the four attendants, you see. They air his slaves like +the others." + +"Twenty-four, then, in all. Blesh my soul! What a lucky fellow ish +this prinsh. Maybe I can do something for him; but we can talk it over +in the cabin, and I'm ready for something to drink, worthy Showler." + +"Ah!" he exclaimed, as, on turning round, he perceived the group of +girls before mentioned. "Blesh my soul! Some likely wenches. Just the +sort for chambermaids," added he, with a villainously significant look. +"How many of that kind hash you got, good Showler?" + +"About a dozen," jocularly responded the skipper; "some splendid +breeders among 'em, if you want any for that bizness." + +"I may--I may. Gad! it's a valuable cargo--one thing with another! +Well, let ush go below," added he, turning towards the companion. +"What's in your locker? I musht have a drink before I can do bishness. +Likely wenches! Gad--a valuable cargo!" + +Smacking his lips, and snapping his fingers as he talked, the old +reprobate descended the companion stairway--the captain of the slaver +following close behind him. + +We know not, except by implication, the details of the bargaining that +took place below. The negotiation was a secret one--as became the +nature of any transaction between two such characters as a slave-dealer +and a slave-stealer. + +It resulted, however, in the purchase of the whole cargo; and in so +short a time, that just as the sun sank into the sea, the gig, cutter, +and long-boat of the slaver were lowered into the water; and, under the +darkness of night, the "bales" were transported to the shore, and landed +in the little cove whence the skiff of the slave-merchant had put out. + +Amongst them were the twenty Mandingoes, the attendants of the prince, +and the "wenches," designed for improving the breed on Jessuron's +plantation: for the slave-merchant was also a land-proprietor and +planter. + +The skiff was seen returning to the shore, a cable's-length in the wake +of the other boats. Now, however, a fourth personage appeared in it, +seated in the stern, face to face with the owner. The gaily-coloured +costume, even in the darkness, shining over the calm shadowy surface of +the sea, rendered it easy to recognise this individual as the Foolah +prince. The wolf and the lamb were sailing in the same boat. + +Volume One, Chapter VIII. + +A HANDSOME OFFER. + +On the day after the slave-ship had landed her cargo, and at an early +hour in the morning, Mr Vaughan, looking from the front window of his +house, perceived a solitary horseman approaching by the long avenue. + +As the stranger drew nearer, the animal he bestrode appeared gradually +to transform itself into a mule; and the rider was seen to be an old +gentleman in a blue coat, with metal buttons, and ample outside +pockets--under which were breeches and top-boots, both sullied by long +wear. A damaged brown beaver hat upon his head, with the edge of a +white cotton skull-cap showing beneath it--green goggles upon the nose-- +and a large blue umbrella, instead of a whip, grasped in the right +hand--enabled Mr Vaughan to identify one of his nearest neighbours: the +penn-keeper Jacob Jessuron, who, among other live stock, was also known +as an extensive speculator in slaves. + +"The old Jew!" muttered Mr Vaughan, with an accent that betokened a +certain degree of discontent. "What can _he_ want at this early hour? +Some slave stock for sale, I suppose? That looked like a trader I saw +yesterday in the offing; and he's sure to have had a lot or two out of +her. Well, he won't find a market here. Fortunately, I'm stocked. +Morning, Mr Jessuron!" continued he, hailing his visitor as the latter +dismounted by the bottom of the stairway. "As usual, you are early +abroad. Business, eh?" + +"Ach, yesh, Mishter Vochan! Bishness must be minded. A poor man like +me can't afford to shleep late theesh hard times!" + +"Ha! ha! Poor man, indeed! That's a capital joke, Mr Jessuron! Come +in. Have you breakfasted?" + +"Yesh, thanks, Mishter Vochan," replied the Jew, as he climbed up the +steps. "I always breakfasht at six." + +"Oh, that is early! A glass of swizzle, then?" + +"Thanks, Mishter Vochan; you ish very kind. A glash of shwizzell will +be better ash anything else. Itsh warm thish morning." The _swizzle_, +a mixture of rum, sugar, water, and lime-juice, was found in a large +punch-bowl that stood upon the sideboard, with a silver ladle resting +across the rim, and glasses set around it. This is a standing drink in +the dwelling of a Jamaica planter--a fountain that may be said never to +go dry, or, at all events, renewed as soon as exhausted. + +Stepping up to the sideboard, where he was attended to by a black +butler, the penn-keeper briskly quaffed off a tumbler of the swizzle; +and then smacking his lips, and adding the observation, "'Tish goot!" he +returned towards the window, where a chair had been placed for him +beside the one already occupied by his host. + +The visitor removed his beaver hat, though the white skull-cap--not over +clean--was still permitted to keep its place upon his head. + +Mr Vaughan was a man possessed of considerable courtesy, or at least, +an affectation of it. He remained silent, therefore, politely waiting +for his guest to initiate the conversation. + +"Well, Mishter Vochan," began the Jew, "I hash come over to see you on a +shmall bishness--a very shmall bishness it is, shcarcely worth troubling +you about." + +Here the speaker hesitated, as if to put some proposition into shape. + +"Some black stock for sale, eh? I think I've heard that a cargo came in +yesterday. You got part, I suppose?" + +"Yesh, yesh, I bought a shmall lot, a very shmall lot. I hadn't the +monish to buy more. S'help me gott! the shlaves ish getting so dear ash +I can't afford to buy. This talk about shtoppin' the trade ish like to +ruin ush all. Don't you think so, Mishter Vochan?" + +"Oh, as for that, _you_ needn't fear. If the British Government should +pass the bill, the law will be only a dead letter. They could never +guard the whole of the African coast--no, nor that of Jamaica neither. +I think, Mr Jessuron, you would still contrive to land a few bales, +eh?" + +"Ach, no, Mishter Vochan! dear, oh dear, no! I shouldn't venture +againsht the laws. If the trade ish to be stop, I musht give up the +bishness. Slaves would be too dear for a poor Jewsh man like me to deal +in: s'help me, yesh! they're too dear ash it ish." + +"Oh, that's all nonsense about their getting dearer! It's very well for +you to talk so, Mr Jessuron: you have some to sell, I presume?" + +"Not now, Mishter Vochan, not now. Posshible, I may have a shmall lot +to dishpose of in a day or two; but joosht now, I haven't a shingle head +ready for the market. Thish morning I want to buy, instead of shell." + +"To buy! From me, do you mean?" + +"Yesh, Mishter Vochan, if you're disposed to shell." + +"Come, that's something new, neighbour Jessuron! I know you're always +ready for a trade; but this is the first time I ever heard of you buying +slaves on a plantation." + +"Well, the truth ish, Mishter Vochan, I hash a cushtomer, who wants a +likely wench for waiting at hish table. Theresh none among my shtock, +he thinks good enough for hish purposh. I wash thinking you hash got +one, if you could shpare her, that would suit him nishely." + +"Which do you mean?" + +"I mean that young Foolah wench ash I sold you lasht year--joosh after +crop time." + +"Oh! the girl Yola?" + +"Yesh, I think that wosh her name. Ash you had her dirt sheep, I don't +mind giving you shomething on your bargain--shay ten pounds currenshy?" + +"Poh, poh, poh!" replied the planter, with a deprecating shrug. "That +would never do--even if I meant to sell the girl. But I have no wish to +part with her." + +"Shay twenty, then?" + +"Nor twice twenty, neighbour. I wouldn't, under any circumstances, take +less than two hundred pounds for that girl. She has turned out a most +valuable servant--" + +"Two hunder poundsh!" interrupted the Jew, starting up in his chair. +"Och! Mishter Vochan, theresh not a black wench in the island worth +half the monish. Two hunder poundsh! Blesh my soul, that ish a prishe! +I wish I could shell some of my shtock at that prishe! I'd be glad to +give any two I hash for two hunder poundsh." + +"Why, Mr Jessuron! I thought you said just now slaves were getting +very dear?" + +"Dear, yesh; but that is doublish dear. S'help me gott! You don't mean +it, Mishter Vochan?" + +"But I do mean it; and even if you were to offer me two hundred--" + +"Don't shay more about it," said the slave-merchant, hurriedly +interrupting the hypothetical speech; "don't shay more; I agreesh to +give it. Two hunder poundsh!--blesh my shtars! it'll make a bankrup' of +me." + +"No, it will not do that: since I cannot agree to take it." + +"Not take two hunder poundsh?" + +"No--nor twice that sum." + +"Gott help ush, Mishter Vochan; you ish shurely shokin? Why will you +not take two hunder? I hash the monish in my pocket." + +"I am sorry to disappoint you, neighbour; but the fact is, I could not +sell the girl Yola at any price, without the consent of my daughter--to +whom I have given her." + +"Mish Vochan?" + +"Yes--she is her maid; and I know that my daughter is very fond of her. +It is not likely she would consent to the girl's being sold." + +"But, Mishter Vochan! you shurely don't let your daughter shtand between +you and a good bargain? Two hunder poundsh is big monish--big monish, +Cushtos. The wench ish not worth half ash much, and, for myshelf, I +wouldn't give half; but I don't want to dishappoint a good cushtomer, +who'sh not so particular ash to prishe." + +"Your customer fancies the girl, eh?" said Mr Vaughan, glancing +significantly at his guest. "She is very good-looking--no wonder. But, +if that be the reason for his wanting to buy her, I may as well tell +you, I should myself not be inclined to part with her; and, as for my +daughter, if she suspected such a purpose, all the money you have got, +Mr Jessuron, wouldn't reach the price of Yola." + +"S'help me gott, Mishter Vochan, you're mishtaken! The cushtomer I +speak of never shet hish eyes on the wench. Itsh only a waiting-maid he +wants for hish table; and I thought of her, ash she'sh joost what he +deshcribes. How do you know that Mish Vochan might not conshent to let +her go? I promish to get her another young girl ash goot or better ash +Yola." + +"Well," replied the planter, after a moment's reflection, and apparently +tempted by the handsome offer, "since you seem so determined upon buying +the wench, I'll consult my daughter about it. But I can hold out very +little hope of success. I know that she likes this young Foolah. I +have heard that the girl was some king's daughter in her own country; +and I am as good as certain Kate won't consent to her being sold." + +"Not if _you_ wished it, Mishter Vochan?" + +"Oh, if I insisted upon it, of course; but I gave my daughter a promise +not to part with the girl against her wish, and I never break my word, +Mr Jessuron--not to my own child." + +With this rather affected profession, the planter walked out of the +room, leaving the slave-merchant to his reflections. + +"May the diffel strike me dead if that man ishn't mad!" soliloquised the +Jew, when left to himself; "shtark shtarin mad! refuse two hunder +poundsh for a she wench ash brown ash a cocoa-nut! Blesh my shtars!" + +"As I told you, Mr Jessuron," said the planter, re-entering the hall, +"my daughter is inexorable. Yola cannot be sold." + +"Good morning, Mishter Vochan," said the slave-merchant, taking up his +hat and umbrella, and making for the door. "Good morning, shir: I hash +no other bishness to-day." + +Then, putting on his hat and grasping his umbrella, with an air of +spitefulness he was unable to conceal, he hurried down the stone steps, +scrambled upon the back of his mule, and rode away in sullen silence. + +"Unusually free with, his money this morning," said the planter, looking +after him. "Some shabby scheme, I have no doubt. Well, I suppose I +have thwarted it; besides, I am glad of an opportunity of disobliging +the old curmudgeon: many's the time he has done as much for me!" + +Volume One, Chapter IX. + +JUDITH JESSURON. + +In the most unamiable of tempers did the slave-speculator ride back down +the avenue. So out of sorts was he at the result of his interview, that +he did not think of unfolding his blue umbrella to protect himself from +the hot rays of the sun, now striking vertically downward. On the +contrary, he used the _parapluie_ for a very different purpose--every +now and then belabouring the ribs of his mule with it: as if to rid +himself of his spleen by venting it on the innocent mongrel. + +Nor did he go in silence, although he was alone. In a kind of +involuntary soliloquy he kept muttering, as he rode on, long strings of +phrases denunciatory of the host whose roof he had just quitted. + +The daughter, too, of that host came in for a share of his muttered +denunciations, which at times, assumed the form of a menace. + +Part of what he said was spoken distinctly and with emphasis:-- + +"The dusht off my shoosh, Loftish Vochan--I flingsh it back to you! +Gott for damsch! there wash a time when you would be glad for my two +hunder poundsh. Not for any monish? Bosh! Grand lady, Mish Kate--Mish +Quasheby! Ha! I knowsh a thing--I knowsh a leetle thing. Some day, +may be, yourshelf sell for lesh ash two hunder poundsh. Ach! I not +grudgsh twice the monish to see that day! + +"The dusht off my shoosh to both of yoush!" he repeated, as he cleared +the gate-entrance. "I'sh off your grounds, now; and, if I hash you +here, I shay you something of my mind--something ash make you sell your +wench for lesh ash two hunder poundsh! I do so, some time, pleash gott! +Ach!" + +Uttering this last exclamation with a prolonged aspirate, he raised +himself erect in his stirrups; and, half turning his mule, shook his +umbrella in a threatening manner towards Mount Welcome--his eye +accompanying the action with a glance that expressed some secret but +vindictive determination. + +As he faced back into the road, another personage appeared upon the +scene--a female equestrian, who, trotting briskly up, turned her horse, +and rode along by his side. + +She was a young girl, or, rather a young woman--a bright, beautiful +creature--who appeared an angel by the side of that demonlike old man. + +She had evidently been waiting for him at the turning of the road; and +the air of easy familiarity, with the absence of any salutation as they +met, told that they had not long been separated. + +Who was this charming equestrian? + +A stranger would have asked this question, while his eye rested upon the +object of it with mingled feelings of wonder and admiration: admiration +at such rare beauty--wonder at beholding it in such rude companionship! + +It was a beauty that need not be painted in detail. The forehead of +noble arch; the scimitar-shaped eyebrows of ebon blackness; the +dark-brown flashing pupils; the piquant prominence of the nose, with its +spiral curving nostrils; were all characteristics of Hebraic beauty--a +shrine before which both Moslem and Christian have ofttimes bent the +knee in humblest adoration. + +Twenty cycles have rolled past--twenty centuries of outrage, calumny, +and wrong--housed in low haunts--pillaged and persecuted--oft driven to +desperation--rendered roofless and homeless--still, amid all, and in +spite of all, lovely are Judah's dark-eyed daughters--fair as when they +danced to the music of cymbal and timbrel, or, to the accompaniment of +the golden-stringed harp, sang the lays of a happier time. + +Here, in a new world, and canopied under an occidental sky, had sprung +up a very type of Jewish beauty: for never was daughter of Judah +lovelier than the daughter of Jacob Jessuron--she who was now riding by +his side. + +A singular contrast did they present as they rode together--this fair +maid and that harsh-featured, ugly old man--unlike as the rose to its +parent thorn. + +Sad are we to say, that the contrast was only physical morally, it was +"like father like daughter." In external form, Judith Jessuron was an +angel; in spirit--and we say it with regret--she was the child of her +father--devilish as he. + +"A failure?" said this fair she, taking the initiative. "Pah! I +needn't have asked you: it's clear enough from your looks--though, +certes, that beautiful countenance of yours is not a very legible index +to your thoughts. What says Vanity Vaughan? Will he sell the girl?" + +"No." + +"As I expected." + +"S'help me, he won't!" + +"How much did you bid for her?" + +"Och! I'sh ashamed to tell you, Shoodith." + +"Come, old rabbi, you needn't be backward before me. How much?" + +"Two hunder poundsh." + +"Two hundred pounds! Well, that is a high figure! If what you've told +me be true, his own daughter isn't worth so much. Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Hush, Shoodith, dear! Don't shpeak of that--for your life don't shpeak +of it. You may shpoil some plansh I hash about her." + +"Have no fear, good father. I never spoiled any plan of yours yet--have +I?" + +"No, no! You hash been a good shild, my daughter!--a good shild, s'help +me gott, you hash." + +"But tell me; why would the Custos not sell? He likes money almost as +well as yourself. Two hundred pounds is a large price for this +copper-coloured wench--quite double what she's worth." + +"Ach, Shoodith dear, it wash not Vochan hishelf that refused it." + +"Who then?" + +"Thish very daughter you speaksh of." + +"She!" exclaimed the young Jewess, with a curl of the lip, and a +contemptuous twist of her beautiful nostril, that all at once changed +her beauty into very ugliness. "She, you say? I wonder what next! The +conceited _mustee_--herself no better than a slave!" + +"Shtop--shtop, Shoodith," interrupted the Jew, with a look of +uneasiness. "Keep that to yourshelf, my shild. Shay no more about it-- +at leasht, not now, not now. The trees may have earsh." + +The burst of angry passion hindered the fair "Shoodith" from making +rejoinder, and for some moments father and daughter rode on in silence. + +The latter was the first to re-commence the conversation. + +"You are foolish, good father," said she; "absurdly foolish." + +"Why, Shoodith?" + +"Why? In offering to buy this girl at all." + +"Ay--what would you shay?" inquired the old Jew, as if the interrogatory +had been an echo to his own thoughts. "What would you shay?" + +"I would say that you are silly, old rabbi Jacob; and that's what I do +say." + +"Blesh my shoul! What dosh you mean, Shoodith?" + +"Why, dear and worthy papa, you're not always so dull of comprehension. +Answer me: what do you want the Foolah for?" + +"Och! you know what I wants her for, Thish prinshe will give hish twenty +Mandingoes for her. There ish no doubt but that she's his sister. +Twenty good shtrong Mandingoes, worth twenty hunder poundsh. Blesh my +soul! it'sh a fortune?" + +"Well; and if it is a fortune, what then?" + +"If it ish? By our fathers! you talk of twenty hunder poundsh ash if +monish was dirt." + +"My worthy parent, you misunderstand me." + +"Mishunderstand you, Shoodith?" + +"You do. I have more respect for twenty hundred pounds than you give me +credit for. So much, as that I advise you to _get it_." + +"Get it! why, daughter, that ish shoosht what I am trying to do." + +"Ay, and you've gone about it in such a foolish fashion, that you run a +great risk of losing it." + +"And how would you have me go about it, mine Shoodith?" + +"By _taking it_." + +The slave-merchant suddenly jerked upon the bridle, and pulled his mule +to a stand--as he did so darting towards his daughter a look +half-puzzled, half-penetrating. + +"Good father Jacob," continued she, halting at the same time, "_you_ are +not wont to be so dull-witted. While waiting for you at the gate of +this pompous sugar-planter, I could not help reflecting; and my +reflections led me to ask the question: what on earth had taken you to +his house?" + +"And what answer did you find, Shoodith?" + +"Oh, not much; only that you went upon a very idle errand." + +"Yesh, it hash been an idle errand: I did not get what I went for." + +"And what matters if you didn't?" + +"Mattersh it? Twenty Mandingoes mattersh a great deal--twenty hunder +poundsh currenshy. That ish what it mattersh, Shoodith mine darling!" + +"Not the paring of a Mandingo's toe-nail, my paternal friend." + +"Hach! what shay you, mine wise Shoodith?" + +"What say I? Simply, that these Mandingoes might as well have been +yours without all this trouble. They may be yet--ay, and their master +too, if you desire to have a prince for your slave. _I_ do." + +"Speak out, Shoodith; I don't understand you." + +"You will presently. Didn't you say, just now, that Captain Jowler has +reasons for not coming ashore?" + +"Captain Showler! He would rather land in the Cannibal Islands than in +Montego Bay. Well, Shoodith?" + +"Rabbi Jessuron, you weary my patience. For the Foolah prince--as you +say he is--you are answerable only to Captain Jowler. Captain Jowler +comes not ashore." + +"True--it ish true," assented the Jew, with a gesture that signified his +comprehension of these preliminary premises. + +"Who, then, is to hinder you from doing as you please in the matter of +these Mandingoes?" + +"Wonderful Shoodith!" exclaimed the father, throwing up his arms, and +turning upon his daughter a look of enthusiastic admiration. "Wonderful +Shoodith! Joosh the very thing!--blesh my soul!--and I never thought of +it!" + +"Well, father; luckily it's not too late. _I_ have been thinking of it. +I knew very well that Kate Vaughan would not part with the girl Yola. +I told you she wouldn't; but, by the bye, I hope you've said nothing of +what you wanted her for? If you have--" + +"Not a word, Shoodith! not a word!" + +"Then no one need be a word the wiser. As to Captain Jowler--" + +"Showler daren't show hish face in the Bay: that'sh why he landed hish +cargo on the coast. Besides, there wash an understanding between him +and me. He doeshn't care what ish done with the prinshe--not he. +Anyhow, he'll be gone away in twenty-four hours." + +"Then in twenty-four hours the Mandingoes may be yours--prince, +attendants, and all. But time is precious, papa. We had better hasten +home at once, and strip his royal highness of those fine feathers before +some of our curious neighbours come in and see them. People will talk +scandal, you know. As for our worthy overseer--" + +"Ah, Ravener! he knowsh all about it. I wash obliged to tell him ash we +landed." + +"Of course you were; and it will cost you a Mandingo or two to keep +_his_ tongue tied: that it will. For the rest, there need be no +difficulty. It won't matter what these savages may say for themselves. +Fortunately, there's no scandal in a black man's tongue." + +"Wonderful Shoodith!" again exclaimed the admiring parent. "My precious +daughter, you are worth your weight in golden guinish! Twenty-four +shlaves for nothing, and one of them a born prinshe! Two thousand +currenshy! Blesh my soul! It ish a shplendid profit--worth a whole +year's buyin' and shellin'." And with this honest reflection, the +slave-merchant hammered his mule into a trot, and followed his "precious +Shoodith"--who had already given the whip to her horse, and was riding +rapidly homeward. + +Volume One, Chapter X. + +THE SEA NYMPH. + +On the third day after the slaver had cast anchor in the Bay of Montego, +a large square-rigged vessel made her appearance in the offing; and, +heading shoreward, with all sail set, stood boldly in for the harbour. +The Union Jack of England, spread to the breeze, floated freely above +her taffrail; and various boxes, bales, trunks, and portmanteaus, that +could be seen on her deck--brought up for debarkation--as well as the +frank, manly countenances of the sailors who composed her crew, +proclaimed the ship to be an honest trader. The lettering upon her +stern told that she was the "_Sea Nymph_, of Liverpool." + +Though freighted with a cargo of merchandise, and in reality a +merchantman, the presence on board of several individuals in the costume +of landsmen, denoted that the _Sea Nymph_ also accommodated passengers. + +The majority of these were West India planters, with their families, +returning from a visit to the mother country--their sons, perhaps, after +graduating at an English university, and their daughters on having +received their final _polish_ at some fashionable metropolitan seminary. + +Here and there an "attorney"--a constituent element of West Indian +society, though not necessarily, as the title suggests, a real limb of +the law. Of the latter there might have been one or two, with a like +number of unpractised disciples of Aesculapius; both lawyer and doctor +bent on seeking fortune--and with fair prospects of finding it in a land +notorious for crime as unwholesome in clime. These, with a sprinkling +of nondescripts, made up the list of the _Sea Nymph's_ cabin-passengers. + +Among these nondescripts was one of peculiarities sufficiently +distinctive to attract attention. A single glance at this personage +satisfied you that you looked upon a London Cockney, at the same time a +West-End exquisite of the very purest water. He was a young man who had +just passed the twenty-first anniversary of his birth; although the +indulgence of youthful dissipation had already brushed the freshness +from his features, giving them the stamp of greater age. In complexion +he was fair--pre-eminently so--with hair of a light yellowish hue, that +presented the appearance of having been artificially curled, and +slightly darkened by the application of some perfumed oil. The whiskers +and moustache were nearly of the same colour; both evidently cultivated +with an elaborate assiduity, that proclaimed excessive conceit in them +on the part of their owner. + +The eyebrows were also of the lightest shade; but the hue of the eyes +was not so easily told: since one of them was kept habitually closed; +while a glancing lens, in a frame of tortoise-shell, hindered a fair +view of the other. Through the glass, however, it appeared of a +greenish grey, and decidedly "piggish." + +The features of this individual were regular enough, though without any +striking character; and of a cast rather effeminate than vulgar. Their +prevailing expression was that of a certain superciliousness, at times +extending to an affectation of sardonism. + +The dress of the young man was in correspondence with the foppery +exhibited in the perfumed locks and eye-glass. It consisted of a +surtout of broadcloth, of a very light drab, with a cape that scarce +covered the shoulders; a white beaver hat; vest and pants of spotless +huff kerseymere; kid gloves on his hands; and boots, blight as lacquer +could make them, on his feet. These items of apparel, made in a style +of fashion and worn with an air of _savoir faire_, loudly proclaimed the +London fop of the time. + +The affected drawl in which the gentleman spoke, whenever he +condescended to hold communion with his fellow-passengers, confirmed +this character. + +Notwithstanding a certain ill-disguised contempt with which he was +regarded by some of his fellow-voyagers, not a few treated him with +marked deference; and the obeisance paid him by the steward and cabin +boys of the _Sea Nymph_ gave evidence of his capability to bestow a +liberal largess. And such capability did he possess: for Mr Montagu +Smythje, the individual in question, was a youth of good family and +fortune--the latter consisting of a magnificent sugar estate in Jamaica, +left him by a deceased relative, to visit which was the object of his +voyage. + +The estate he had never seen, as this was his first trip across the +Atlantic; but he had no reason to doubt the existence of the property. +The handsome income which it had afforded him, during several years of +his minority, and which had enabled him to live in magnificent style in +the most fashionable circles of London society, was a substantial proof +that Montagu Castle--such was the name of the estate--was something more +than a castle in the air. During his minority, the estate had been +managed by a _trustee_ resident in the island: one Mr Vaughan, himself +a sugar-planter, whose plantation adjoined that of Montagu Castle. + +Mr Smythje had not come over the water with any intention of settling +upon his Jamaica estate. "Such an ideaw," to use his own phraseology, +"nevwaw entawed ma bwain. To exchange London and its pwesyaws for a +wesidence among those haw-ed niggaws--deaw, no--I could nevwaw think of +such a voluntawy banishment; that would be a baw--a decided baw!" "A +meaw twip to see something of the twopics, of which I've heard such +extwaor'nary stowies--have a look at my sugaw plantation and the dem'd +niggaws--besides, I have a stwong desire to take a squint at these +Queeole queetyaws, who are said to be so dooced pwetty. Haw! haw!" + +After such fashion did Mr Montagu Smythje explain the purpose of his +voyage to such of his fellow-passengers as chanced to take an interest +in it. + +There were but few travellers in the steerage of the _Sea Nymph_. They +who are compelled to adopt that irksome mode of voyaging across the +Atlantic have but little errand to the West Indies, or elsewhere to +tropical lands--where labour is monopolised by the thews and sinews of +the slave. Only three or four of this class had found accommodation on +board the _Sea Nymph_; and yet among these humble voyagers was one +destined to play a conspicuous part in our story. + +The individual in question was a young man, in appearance of the same +age as Mr Montagu Smythje, though differing from the latter in almost +everything else. In stature he was what is termed "middle height," with +limbs well set and rounded, denoting activity and strength. His +complexion, though not what is termed _brunette_, was dark for a native +of Britain, though such was he. + +His features were nobly defined; and his whole countenance sufficiently +striking to attract the attention of even an indifferent observer. +Dark-brown eyes, and hair of like colour, curling jauntily over his +cheeks, were characteristic points of gracefulness; and, take him all in +all, he was what might justly be pronounced a handsome young fellow. + +The garments he wore were his best--put on for the first time during the +voyage, and for the grand occasion of _landing_. A dark blue tunic +frock, faced with black braid, skirting down over a pair of +close-fitting tights, and Hessian boots, gave him rather a _distingue_ +air, notwithstanding a little threadbarishness apparent along the seams. + +The occupation in which the young man was engaged betrayed a certain +degree of refinement. Standing near the windlass, in the blank leaf of +a book, which appeared to be his journal, he was sketching the harbour +into which the ship was about to enter; and the drawing exhibited no +inconsiderable degree of artistic skill. + +For all that, the sketcher was _not_ a professional artist. +Professionally, indeed, and to his misfortune, he was nothing. A poor +scholar--without trick or trade by which he might earn a livelihood--he +had come out to the West Indies, as young men go to other colonies, with +that sort of indefinite hope, that Fortune, in some way or other, might +prove kinder abroad than she had been at home. + +Whatever hopes of success the young colonist may have entertained, they +were evidently neither sanguine nor continuous. Though naturally of a +cheerful spirit, as his countenance indicated, a close observer might +have detected a shadow stealing over it at intervals. + +As the ship drew near to the shore, he closed the book, and stood +scanning the gorgeous picture of tropical scenery, now, for the first +time, disclosed to his eyes. + +Despite the pleasant emotions which so fair a scene was calculated to +call forth, his countenance betrayed anxiety--perhaps a doubt as to +whether a welcome awaited him in that lovely land upon which he was +looking. + +Only a few moments had he been thus occupied, when a strange voice +falling upon his ear caused him to turn towards the speaker--in whom he +recognised the distinguished cabin-passenger, Mr Montagu Smythje. + +As this gentleman had voyaged all the way from Liverpool to Jamaica +without once venturing to set his foot across the line which separates +the sacred precincts of the quarter from the more plebeian for'ard deck, +his presence by the windlass might have been matter of surprise. + +A circumstance, however, explained it. It was the last hour of the +voyage. The _Sea Nymph_ was just heading into the harbour; and the +passengers of all degrees had rushed forward, in order to obtain a +better view of the glorious landscape unfolding itself before their +eyes. Notwithstanding his often-expressed antipathy to the "abom'nable +smell of taw" it was but natural that Mr Smythje should yield to the +general curiosity, and go forward among the rest. + +Having gained an elevated stand-point upon the top of the windlass, he +had adjusted the glass to his eye, and commenced _ogling_ the landscape, +now near enough for its details to be distinguished. + +Not for long, however, did Mr Smythje remain silent. He was not one of +a saturnine habit. The fair scene was inspiring him with a poetical +fervour, which soon found expression in characteristic speech. + +"Dooced pwetty, 'pon honaw!" he exclaimed; "would make a spwendid +dwop-scene faw a theataw! Dawnt yaw think so, ma good fwend?" + +The person thus appealed to chanced to be the young steerage passenger; +who, during the long voyage, had abstained from going _abaft_ of the +main-mast with as much scrupulousness as Mr Smythje had observed about +venturing forward. Hence it was that the voice of the exquisite was as +strange to him, as if he had never set eyes on that illustrious, +personage. + +On perceiving that the speech was meant for himself, he was at first a +little nettled at its patronising tone; but the feeling of irritation +soon passed away, and he fixed his eyes upon the speaker, with a +good-humoured, though somewhat contemptuous expression. + +"Aw--haw--it is yaw, my young fellaw," continued the exquisite, now for +the first time perceiving to whom he had made his appeal. "Aw, indeed! +I've often observed yaw from the quawter-deck. Ba Jawve! yes--a veway +stwange individwal!--incompwehensibly stwange! May I ask--pawdon the +liberty--what is bwinging yaw out heaw--to Jamaica, I mean?" + +"That," replied the steerage passenger, again somewhat nettled at the +rather free style of interrogation, "which is bringing yourself--the +good ship _Sea Nymph_." + +"Aw, haw! indeed! Good--veway good! But, my deaw sir, that is not what +I meant." + +"No?" + +"No, I ashaw yaw. I meant what bisness bwings yaw heaw. P'waps you +have some pwofession?" + +"No, not any," replied the young man, checking his inclination to +retaliate the impertinent style of his interrogator. + +"A twade, then?" + +"I am sorry to say I have not even a trade." + +"No pwofession! no twade! what the dooce daw yaw intend dawing in +Jamaica? P'waps yaw expect the situation of book-keepaw on a +pwantation, or niggaw-dwivaw. Neithaw, I believe, requiaws much +expewience, as I am told the book-keepaw has pwositively no books to +keep--haw! haw! and shawly any fellaw, howevaw ignowant, may dwive a +niggaw. Is that yaw expectation, my worthy fwend?" + +"I have no expectation, one way or another," replied the young man, in a +tone of careless indifference. "As to the business I may follow out +here in Jamaica, that, I suppose, will depend on the will of another." + +"Anothaw! aw!--who, pway?" + +"My uncle." + +"Aw, indeed! yaw have an uncle in Jamaica, then?" + +"I have--if he be still alive." + +"Aw--haw! yaw are not shaw of that intewesting fact? P'waps yaw've not +heard from him wately?" + +"Not for years," replied the young steerage passenger, his poor +prospects now having caused him to relinquish the satirical tone which +he had assumed. "Not for years," repeated he, "though I've written to +him to say that I should come by this ship." + +"Veway stwange! And pway, may I ask what bisness yaw uncle follows?" + +"He is a planter, I believe." + +"A sugaw plantaw?" + +"Yes--he was so when we last heard from him." + +"Aw, then, p'waps he is wich--a pwopwietor? In that case he may find +something faw yaw to daw, bettaw than niggaw-dwiving. Make yaw his +ovawseeaw. May I know yaw name?" + +"Quite welcome to it. Vaughan is my name." + +"Vawrn!" repeated the exquisite, in a tone that betrayed some +newly-awakened interest; "Vawn, did I understand yaw to say?" + +"Herbert Vaughan," replied the young man, with firmer emphasis. + +"And yaw uncle's name?" + +"He is also called Vaughan. He is my father's brother--or rather +_was_--my father is dead." + +"Not Woftus Vawn, Esquire, of Mount Welcome?" + +"Yes, Loftus Vaughan; my uncle is so called, and Mount Welcome is, I +believe, the name of his estate." + +"Veway stwange! incompwehensibly stwange! D'yaw know, my young fellaw, +that yaw and I appeaw to be making faw the same pawt. Woftus Vawn, of +Mount Welcome, is the twustwee of my own pwoperty--the veway person to +whom I am consigned. Deaw me! how dooced stwange if yaw and I should +yet be guests undaw the same woof!" + +The remark was accompanied by a supercilious glance, that did not escape +the observation of the young steerage passenger. It was this glance +that gave the true signification to the words, which Herbert Vaughan +interpreted as an insult. + +He was on the point of making an angry rejoinder, when the exquisite +turned abruptly away--as he parted drawling out some words of +leave-taking, with the presumptive conjecture that they might meet +again. + +Herbert Vaughan stood for a moment looking after him, an expression of +high contempt curling upon his lip. Only for a short while, however, +did this show itself; and then, his countenance resuming its habitual +expression of good-nature, he descended into the steerage, to prepare +his somewhat scanty baggage for the debarkation. + +Volume One, Chapter XI. + +LOFTUS VAUGHAN ON THE LOOK-OUT. + +Every day, after that on which he had received the two English letters-- +and almost every hour during daylight--might Loftus Vaughan have been +seen, telescope in hand, at one of the front windows of his house, +sweeping with his glass the roadstead and offing of Montego Bay. + +The object of this telescopic observation was, that he might descry the +_Sea Nymph_ before she had entered the harbour: in order that his +carriage should be at the port to receive the distinguished Smythje on +the moment of his landing. + +At this period there were no steamers trading across the Atlantic, +punctual to a day, and almost to an hour. Though the letter of advice +had been written several days before that on which the _Sea Nymph_ was +to sail, there could be no calculation made upon such uncertain data as +winds and waves; and the ship which carried Montagu Smythje might arrive +at any hour. + +That some distinguished guest was expected, was a fact that had become +well-known to every domestic in the establishment of Mount Welcome. +Every day saw some article or articles of costly furniture brought home +from the "Bay"; and the chambers of the "great house" were being freshly +decorated to receive them. The house-wenches and other indoor servants +were furnished with new dresses, some even with liveries--an unusual +piece of finery in Jamaica--while shoes and stockings were forced upon +feet that, perhaps, had never felt such _impedimenta_ before, and whose +owners would have been only too glad to have escaped the torture of +wearing them. + +It need scarcely be said that the planter was undergoing all this +extravagant expenditure for the reception of Mr Montagu Smythje, and +him alone. Had it been only his nephew that was expected, no such +continuous look-out would have been kept, and no such preparations made +to do him honour on his arrival. + +Neither do Mr Vaughan's motives require explanation: the reader will +ere this have surmised them. He was the father of a daughter ready at +any moment for marriage. Mr Montagu Smythje was, in his eyes, not only +an eligible, but highly desirable, specimen for a son-in-law. The young +man was possessed of a splendid property, as Mr Vaughan well knew: for +the worthy planter was not only Custos Rotulorum, but for many long +years had been custos of Montagu Castle, and could tell its value to a +shilling "currency." It lay contiguous to his own. He had looked with +a longing eye upon its broad acres and black retainers, until he had +become imbued with a desire, amounting indeed to a passion, to possess +it--if not in his own right, at least in that of his daughter. The +union of the two estates, Mount Welcome and Montagu Castle, would make a +magnificent domain--one of the richest in the Island. + +To accomplish this object had long been the wish of Loftus Vaughan. It +had grown and grown upon him, till it had become the most cherished +purpose of his heart. + +Let us not conceal a really creditable motive that Mr Vaughan had for +desiring this union. He had been too long in Jamaica to be ignorant of +the true social position of his daughter. However beautiful and +accomplished Kate Vaughan was; however much her father loved her--and, +to do him justice, his paternal affection was of the strongest--he knew +that her mother was a _quadroon_, and she only a _mustee_. No matter +how little trace there might be of the _taint_--however imperceptible to +the outward eye--he knew that between her and the young gentlemen of his +acquaintance--that is, those who would have been eligible--there was +still enough to erect a certain social barrier. He knew, moreover, that +young Englishmen, especially on their first arrival, make light of this +barrier; in fact, altogether disregard it, until corrupted by the +"society" of the island. + +In his match-making designs the Jamaica planter was not more of a sinner +than hundreds of other parents both at home and abroad; and there is +this much in his favour: that, perhaps, his affection for his daughter, +and the desire of ennobling her--for by such an alliance would the +_taint be extinguished_--were the chief motives for the conduct he was +pursuing in regard to Montagu Smythje. + +So far Mr Vaughan's conduct may be excused. But, unfortunately, the +studied courtesy with which he was preparing to receive the lord of +Montagu Castle presented a damaging contrast to the discourtesy he had +designed for his kinsman. + +In the latter case, both his acts and intentions were paltry beyond +parallel. + +The announcement in the nephew's letter, that he had taken a _steerage +passage_, had been to his uncle a source of bitter chagrin. Not that he +would have cared a whit about the thing, had the young fellow voyaged in +any other vessel than the _Sea Nymph_, or had he travelled unrecognised. +What troubled Mr Vaughan was the fear that the relationship might +become known to Mr Montagu Smythje, and thus create in the mind of the +latter a suspicion of his, the planter's, respectability. + +The dread of this _expose_ so preyed upon Mr Vaughan's mind that, had +it been possible, he would have denied the relationship altogether. + +He had conceived a hope that this recognition might not take place +during the voyage: building his hope on the character of the +aristocratic Cockney, which he knew to be a type of supercilious pride. +Confiding in the faith that nothing might transpire on board ship to +make Mr Smythje acquainted with the connection, he was determined there +should be no chance on shore. To preclude the possibility of such a +thing, he had conceived a design as childish as it was cruel: his nephew +was to be _kept out of the way_. + +The plan of action he had traced out long before the arrival of the _Sea +Nymph_. Mr Montagu Smythje was to be met at the landing, and at once +hurried off to Mount Welcome. Herbert Vaughan was likewise to be +conducted thither; but not direct. + +A different means of transport was to be provided for him; and on his +arrival within the bounds of the plantation, he was to be taken by a +private road to the house of the overseer--which stood in a secluded +corner of the valley, nearly half a mile distant from the "Buff." + +Here he was to remain as the guest of the latter, until such time as his +uncle could find a way of disposing of him--either by procuring some +employment for him at Montego Bay, or the situation of book-keeper on +some distant plantation. + +With this ingenious contrivance did Mr + +Vaughan await the arrival of his guests. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +It was upon the third day after receiving his letters of advice, and +near the hour of noon, that the planter, playing as usual with his +telescope, perceived in the offing of Montego Bay, and standing in for +the port, a large square-rigged vessel--a ship. + +It might be the Sea Nymph, and it might not; but, taking into +consideration some circumstances, known to Mr Vaughan, the +probabilities were that it was the expected vessel. + +Whether or no, the planter was determined that the programme, he had so +ingeniously sketched out, should _not_ be spoiled by any mismanagement +in the performance; and its execution was ordered upon the instant. + +Bells were rung for a general muster of the domestics; a horn was +sounded to summon the overseer; and, in less than half an hour +afterwards, the family barouche--a handsome equipage, drawn by a pair of +splendidly-caparisoned horses--was on the road to the Bay, with the +overseer on horseback, riding as an escort behind it. + +In rear of this went a waggon, to which eight large oxen were attached; +and behind the waggon appeared an escort _sui generis_: a rough negro +boy, mounted on the shaggiest of steeds, who was no other than the +post-boy already mentioned--the identical Quashie. + +Quashie was not on his usual diurnal duty: his present errand was one of +a far more important character, and the duty confided to him of an +exceedingly delicate nature. + +At this hour the great hall of Mount Welcome exhibited a scene that, to +the eye of a stranger to West Indian customs, might have appeared +curious enough. + +Scattered over the floor, at certain distances from each other, were +some six or eight negro girls, or "wenches," as they are called, most of +them being of the younger brood of the plantation blacks. All were down +on their knees--each one having by her side, and within reach of her +hand, an orange freshly cut in halves, some bees'-wax, and a portion of +the fibrous pericarp of a cocoa-nut. + +The floor itself was without carpet of any kind; but instead of being of +plain deal, it presented a mosaic of hard woods, of different colours-- +among which might be recognised the mahogany and heart-wood, the +bread-nut and bully-tree. + +To give the tesselated surface a polish was the business of the dark +damsels on their knees; and for that purpose were the oranges and +cocoa-husks provided. + +To an islander the sight was one of common, indeed daily, occurrence. +The lustre of his hall floor is a matter of pride with a Jamaica +planter; as much so as the quality or pattern of his drawing-room carpet +to a householder at home; and every day, and at the same hour, the +dark-skinned housemaids make their appearance, and renew the glitter of +the surface, whose gloss has been tarnished by the revels of the +preceding night. + +The hour set apart for this quaint custom is just before laying the +cloth for dinner--about three or four o'clock; and that she may not +sully the polish while carrying in the dishes, the barefooted Abigail +adopts a plan that deserves mention on account of its originality. + +Having provided herself with two small pieces of linen or cotton cloth, +she spreads them out upon the floor, and then places a foot upon each. +As the toes of a West Indian house-wench are almost as prehensile as her +fingers, she finds no difficulty in "cramping" the cloth and holding it +between the "big toe" and its nearest neighbour; and with this simple +_chaussure_ she is enabled to slide over the floor without in the least +degree "smoutching" its gloss, or leaving any sign of her passage over +its shining surface. + +While such a busy scene was transpiring in the great hall of Mount +Welcome, one of a different character, but of equal activity, was going +on in the kitchen. This "office" stood a little apart from the main +dwelling, communicating with its lower storey by a covered gallery. +Along this passage black and yellow wenches could be seen constantly +going and returning, each with her load--a haunch of venison, a ham of +the wild hog, a turtle, ramier pigeons, and mountain crabs, all on their +way to the spit, the stew-pan, or the chafing-dish. + +A similar sight might have been witnessed at Mount Welcome any other day +in the year; but perhaps with a less abundant variety in the materials, +and with not half so much movement among the staff of wenches pertaining +to the _cuisine_--whose excited manner in the performance of their +specific duties testified, as much as the variety of luxuries lying +around, that on this particular day a repast of the most sumptuous kind +was expected from their skill. + +Their master did not leave these preparations to be made without his own +personal surveillance. From the time that the ship had been descried, +he was everywhere--in the stable, to look after the sable grooms; in the +kitchen, to instruct the cooks; in the great hall, to inspect the +polishing of the floor; and, at last, on the landing outside, standing, +telescope to his eye, and looking down the long avenue, where the +carriage containing his distinguished visitor might at any moment be +expected to make its appearance. + +Volume One, Chapter XII. + +KATE AND YOLA. + +Occupying one corner of the mansion of Mount Welcome--that which was +farthest removed from the din and clangour of the kitchen--was a small +chamber, richly and elegantly furnished. The light was admitted into it +on two sides through latticed windows, that, when open, left a free +passage from the floor to a little balcony outside--with which each of +the windows was provided. + +One of these windows looked out to the rearward, commanding a view of +the garden, and the wooded steep beyond. The other opened to the left +side of the house, upon the shrubbery grounds that extended in that +direction as far as the foot of the ridge. + +Even had there been no one within this little chamber, the style and +character of its furniture would have told, that the person to whom it +appertained was of the gentler sex. + +In one corner stood a bed, with carved posts of yellow lance wood; from +which hung what at first sight might have been taken for white muslin +curtains, but which, on closer scrutiny, could be seen to be the +gauze-like netting of a "mosquito bar." + +The size of the bed told that it was intended for but one individual. +Its habitual occupant was therefore unmarried. + +In the bay of one of the windows stood a dressing-table of _papier +mache_, inlaid with mother-of-pearl; and upon this was placed a mirror +of circular shape on a stand of the finest Spanish mahogany. + +In front of the mirror was a variety of objects of different forms-- +among which might be noticed the usual implements of the toilet, with +many of those eccentric little articles of _luxe_ and _vertu_, that +bespeak the refined presence of woman. + +Other pieces of furniture in the room were three or four Chinese chairs; +a small marqueterie table; a work-box of tortoise-shell veneer, on a +pedestal of like material; and a little cabinet of ebony wood, richly +inlaid with buhl. + +There was neither mantel nor fireplace--the climate of eternal summer +precluding all necessity for such "fixtures." + +The window-curtains were of a thin transparent muslin, with a pattern of +pink flowering woven into the stuff, and bordered with a fringe of +alternate pink and white tassels. + +A breeze, laden with the perfume of a thousand flowers, blowing in +through the open lattice-work of the jalousies, kept these light +hangings almost continually in motion, imparting an aspect of coolness +to the chamber. This was further heightened by the glossy smoothness of +the hard-wood floor, which glistened under foot like a mirror. + +No one could have glanced into this little apartment, without being +struck with its costly yet chaste adornment. Rich and elegant, however, +as was the case, it was no more than worthy of the jewel which it was +accustomed to contain. It was the bedroom and boudoir of "Lilly +Quasheba," the heiress _presumptive_ of Mount Welcome. + +But few were ever favoured with a glance into that luxurious chamber. +It was a sacred precinct, into which curious eyes were not permitted to +penetrate. Its polished floor was not to be trodden by vulgar feet. +With the exception of her father, no man had ever intruded into that +virgin shrine; and he, only on rare and extraordinary occasions. Even +to the domestics it was not of free access. Only one, besides its +mistress, could enter it unbidden--her brown-skinned handmaid Yola. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +On that same day--shortly after the ringing of the bells had announced +the arrival of the English ship, and while the dusky domestics were +engaged, as described, in their ante-prandial preparations--two +individuals occupied the chamber in question. + +One was the young lady to whom the apartment pertained--the other her +maid. + +They were in different attitudes: the mistress seated upon one of the +Chinese chairs in front of the window, while the maid was standing +behind, occupied in arranging her mistress's hair. + +The girl was just entering upon her task--if we may so designate that +which many might have deemed a pleasure. Already the complicated +machinery of combs and hair-pins lay strewed over the table; and the +long chestnut-coloured tresses hung in luxuriant confusion around those +shoulders of snow, in whose velvet-like epidermis there appeared no +trace of the _taint_. + +Involuntarily the maid ceased from her task, and stood gazing upon her +young mistress with a look of instinctive admiration. + +"Oh, beautiful!" exclaimed she, in a low, murmured voice; "you +beautiful, missa!" + +"Tut, Yola: 'tis only flattery of you to say so! You are as beautiful +as I; only your beauty is of a different order. No doubt, in your +country you would be a great belle." + +"Ah, missa, you belle anywhere--black man--white man--all think you +beautiful--all the same!" + +"Thank you, Yola! but I shouldn't particularly desire to be the object +of such universal admiration. For my part, I don't know one male biped +in whose eyes I care to appear attractive." + +"Perhaps missa no so say, when come young buckra from Inglis' country!" + +"Which buckra?--there are two of them expected from the English +country." + +"Yola no hear two come. Massa she hear speak of one--only one." + +"Oh, you've heard speak of one only! Did you hear his name mentioned?" + +"Yes; he grand man--great lord--Sultan of Mongew. He have other name-- +Yola hear it; but she no sabbey speak it." + +"Ha! ha! ha! I don't wonder at that. It's as much as I `sabbey' myself +to pronounce that second name: which I presume to be _Smythje_. Is that +the name you heard?" + +"That it, missa--he berry fine gentl'man, he beauty man. Massa he so +tell Massr' Trusty." + +"Ah, Yola! your master is a man, and men are not always the best judges +of one another's looks. Perhaps the Sultan of Mongew, as you call him, +might not be such a pattern of perfection as papa describes him. But no +doubt, we shall soon have an opportunity of judging for ourselves. Did +you hear your master say nothing about another `buckra' that is +expected?" + +"No, Missa Kate. One only he speak of--dis same one of Mongew Castle." + +A low ejaculation, expressive of disappointment, escaped the lips of the +young Creole, as she settled down into an attitude of silent reflection, +her eyes turned upon the shining floor at her feet. + +It is not easy to tell why she put the last interrogatory. Perhaps she +had some suspicion of her father's plans. At all events, she knew there +was some mystery, and was desirous of penetrating it. + +The maid was still gazing upon her, when all at once the dark Arab-like +features of the latter assumed a changed expression--the look of +admiration giving place to one of earnest inquiry, as if some strange +thought had occurred to her. + +"Allah!" ejaculated she, still keeping her eyes fixed upon the face of +her mistress. + +"Well, Yola," said the latter, attracted by the exclamation, and looking +up; "why do you call upon Allah? Has anything occurred to you?" + +"Oh! beauty missa! you so like one man." + +"I like a man! I resemble a man! Is that what you mean?" + +"Yes, missa. Nebber see it before--you berry, berry like!" + +"Well, Yola, you are certainly not flattering me now. Who might this +man be? I pray you tell me." + +"He man of the mountains--Maroon." + +"Oh! worse and worse! I resemble a _Maroon_? Gracious me! Surely you +are jesting, Yola?" + +"Oh! missa, he beauty man; roun black eyes that glance like the fire-fly +in the wood--eyes like yours--berry like you eyes, missa." + +"Come, silly girl!" said the young lady, speaking in a tone of reproval, +more affected than real; "do you know that it is very naughty of you, to +compare me to a man--much more to a Maroon?" + +"Oh! Missa Kate, he beauty man--berry beauty man." + +"That I doubt very much; but even were it so, you should not speak of +his resembling _me_." + +"Me pardon, missa. I no more so say." + +"No, you had better not, good Yola. If you do, I shall ask papa to +_sell_ you." + +This was said in a tone of gentle raillery, which told that any +intention of carrying out the threat was far from the speaker's +thoughts. + +"By the bye, Yola," continued the young lady, "I could get a good price +for you. How much do you suppose I was offered for you the other day?" + +"Missa Kate, I no know. Allah forbid me you ebber leave! If you no +more my missa, I care no more live." + +"Thanks, Yola," said the young Creole, evidently touched by the words of +her attendant, the sincerity of which was proved by the tone in which +they were spoken. "Be not afraid of my parting with you. As proof that +I shall not, I refused a very large sum--how much, can you guess?" + +"Ah! missa, I worth nothing to no one but you. If I you forced leave, I +be no more happy in this world." + +"Well, there is one who thinks you worth two hundred pounds, and has +offered that for you." + +"Who, missa?" + +"Why--he who sold you to papa--Mr Jessuron." + +"Allah help poor Yola! Oh! missa Kate, he bad master; he berry wicked +man. Yola die--Cubina kill her! Yola herself kill rather than she go +back to Jew slave-dealer! Good missa!--beauty missa!--you no sell you +poor slave?" + +The girl fell upon her knees at the feet of her young mistress, with her +hands clasped over her head, and for some moments remained in this +attitude. + +"Don't fear my selling you," said the young lady, motioning the +suppliant to rise to her feet; "least of all to him--whom I believe to +be what you have styled him, a very wicked man. Have no fear for that. +But tell me, what name was that you pronounced just now? _Cubina_, was +it not?" + +"Yes, missa, Cubina." + +"And pray who is Cubina?" + +The brown maid hesitated before making reply, while the crimson began to +show itself on her chestnut-coloured cheeks. + +"Oh, never mind!" said her young mistress, noticing her hesitation. "If +there's any secret, Yola, I shall not insist upon an answer." + +"Missa, from you Yola no have secret. Cubina, he mountain man--Maroon." + +"What! is he the Maroon I am supposed to resemble?" + +"True, missa, he same." + +"Oh! I see how it is--I suppose that accounts for you thinking _me_ +beautiful? This Cubina, no doubt, is a sweetheart of yours?" + +Yola lowered her eyes without making reply. The crimson appeared in +deeper tint through the chestnut. + +"You need not answer, good Yola," said the young Creole, with a +significant smile. "I know what your answer _ought_ to be, if you were +to speak your mind. I think I have heard of this Cubina. Have a care, +my girl! These Maroons are a very different sort of men from the +coloured people on the plantations. Like me, he is--ha! ha! ha!" and +the young beauty glanced coyly at the mirror. "Well, Yola, I'm not +angry with you, since it is your sweetheart with whom I am compared. +Love, they say, is a wonderful beautifier; and no doubt Master Cubina +is, in your eyes, a perfect Endymion. + +"Come girl!" added she, coquettishly tossing the chestnut tresses over +her shoulders of ivory, "I fear we have been wasting time. If I'm not +ready to receive this grand guest, I'll get into trouble with papa. Go +on, and trick me out in a style becoming the mistress of Mount Welcome." + +With a peal of merry laughter at the air of grandeur she had thus +jestingly assumed, the young lady bent down her head, submitting her +magnificent _chevelure_ to the manipulation of her maid. + +Volume One, Chapter XIII. + +QUASHIE. + +In less than half an hour after the brief conversation between Mr +Montagu Smythje and the young steerage passenger, the _Sea Nymph_ had +got warped into port, and was lying alongside the wharf. + +A gangway-plank was stretched from the shore; and over this, men and +women, of all shades of colour, from blonde to ebony black, and of as +many different callings, came crowding aboard; while the passengers, +sick of the ship and everything belonging to her, hastened to get on +shore. + +Half-naked porters--black, brown, and yellow--commenced wrangling over +the luggage--dragging trunks, boxes, and bags in every direction but the +right one, and clamouring their gumbo jargon with a volubility that +resembled the jabbering of apes. + +On the wharf appeared a number of wheeled vehicles, that had evidently +been awaiting the arrival of the ship--not hackneys, as would have been +the case in a European port, but private carriages--some of them +handsome "curricles" drawn by a pair, and driven by black Jehus in +livery; others only gigs with a single horse, or two-wheelers of even an +inferior description--according to the wealth or style of the individual +for whose transport each had been brought to the port. + +Waggons, too, with teams of oxen--some having eight in the yoke--stood +near the landing-place, waiting for baggage: the naked black drivers +lounging silently by the animals, or occasionally calling them by their +names, and talking to them, just as if their speeches had been +understood! + +Among the different carriages ranged along the wharf, a handsome +barouche appeared conspicuous. It was attached to a pair of +cream-coloured horses, splendidly caparisoned. A mulatto coachman sat +upon the box, shining in a livery of lightest green, with yellow +facings; while a footman, in garments of like hue, attended at the +carriage-step, holding the door for some one to get in. + +Herbert Vaughan, standing on the fore-deck of the _Sea Nymph_--as yet +undecided as to whether he should then go ashore--had noticed this +magnificent equipage. He was still gazing upon it, when his attention +was attracted to two gentlemen, who, having walked direct from the +vessel, had just arrived by the side of the carriage. A white servant +followed them; and behind were two negro attendants, carrying a number +of parcels of light luggage. One of the gentlemen and the white servant +were easily recognised by Herbert: they were Mr Montagu Smythje and his +valet. + +Herbert now recalled the odd expression made use of, but the moment +before, by his fellow-passenger--that he was "consigned" to the +proprietor of Mount Welcome. + +The carriage having received Mr Montagu Smythje, and the footman having +mounted the box--leaving the rumble to the English valet--was driven off +at full speed; the second gentleman, who appeared to be an overseer, +following on horseback as an escort. + +Herbert watched the receding vehicle, until a turn in the road hid it +from his view; and then, dropping his eyes towards the deck, he stood +for some moments in a reflective attitude,--revolving in his mind some +thoughts that were far from agreeable. + +No one there to meet _him_ and bid him welcome! + +The countenance of the young adventurer became clouded under the +influence of this thought; and he stood silently gazing upon the deck +with eyes that saw not. + +"Sa!" said a negro boy, at this moment stepping up and interrupting his +reflections. + +"Ha!" rejoined Herbert, looking up and perceiving, with some surprise, +that the darkey was regarding him with a fixed stare. "What might you +want, my lad? If it be money, I have none to give you." + +"Money, sa? wharra fo' Quashie want money? He do wha' massr bid. Young +buckra ready go now?" + +"Ready to go! where?--what mean you, boy?" + +"Go fo' da great house." + +"Great house! of what great house are you speaking?" + +"Moun' Welc'm', sa--Massr Va'n. You fo' Massr Va'n, sa?" + +"What!" exclaimed Herbert, in surprise, at the same time scanning the +darkey from head to foot; "how do you know that, my boy?" + +"Quashie know dat well 'nuf. Cappen ob da big ship, obaseeah say so. +Obaseeah point out young buckra from de waff--he send Quashie fetch +young buckra to Moun' Welc'm'. Ready go now, sa?" + +"You are from Mount Welcome, then?" + +"Ya, sa--me hoss-boy da, an' pose-boy--fetch pony for young Englis' +buckra. Obaseeah he bring b'rouche for grand Englis' buckra. Baggage +dey go in de ox-waggon." + +"Where is your pony?" + +"Up yonna, sa; on de waff, sa. Ready go, sa?" + +"All right," said Herbert, now comprehending the situation of affairs. +"Shoulder that portmanteau, and toss it into the waggon. Which road am +I to take?" + +"Can't miss um road, sa--straight up da ribber till you come to de +crossin'. Dar you take de road dat don't lead to da leff--you soon see +Moun' Welc'm', sa." + +"How far is it?" + +"Bout sebben or eight mile, sa--reach dar long 'fore sun-down; pony go +like de berry lightnin'. Sure you no keep to da left by da crossin'." + +Thus instructed, the young steerage-passenger took his departure from +the ship--after bidding adieu to the friendly tars, who had treated him +so handsomely during his irksome voyage. + +With his gun, a single-barrelled fowling-piece, on his shoulder, he +strode over the platform, and up the wooden wharf. Then detaching the +pony from the wheel of the ox-waggon, to which it had been tied, he +threw himself into the saddle, and trotted off along the road pointed +out as the one that would conduct him to Mount Welcome. + +The excitement produced by the sudden change from ship to shore--the +stir of the streets through which he had to pass--the novel sights and +sounds that at every step saluted his eyes and ears--hindered Herbert +Vaughan from thinking of anything that concerned himself. + +Only for a short time, however, was his mind thus distracted from +dwelling on his own affairs. Before he had ridden far, the road-- +hitherto bordered by houses--entered under a dark canopy of forest +foliage; and the young traveller, all at once, found himself surrounded +by a perfect solitude. + +Under the sombre shadow of the trees, his spirit soon returned to its +former gloomy forebodings; and, riding more slowly over a stretch of the +road where the ground was wet and boggy, he fell into a train of +thoughts that were anything but pleasant. + +The subject of his reflections may be easily guessed. He had not failed +to notice--how could he?--the distinction made between himself and his +fellow-voyager. While a splendid equipage had been waiting for the +latter--and his landing had been made a sort of ovation, how different +was the means of transport provided for him! + +"By the memory of my father!" muttered he, as he rode on, "it is an +insult I shall not overlook: an insult to him more than to myself. But +for the fulfilment of _his_ dying wish, I should not go one step farther +and as he said this, he drew his rough roadster to a halt--as if +half-resolved to put his hypothetic threat into practice. + +"Perhaps," he continued, again moving forward, with a more hopeful air, +"perhaps there may be some mistake? But no," he added with a strong +emphasis on the negative monosyllable, "there can be none! This shallow +fop is a young man of fortune--I a child of misfortune;" and he smiled +bitterly at the antithesis he had drawn; "that is the reason why such a +distinction has been made between us. Be it so!" he continued, after a +pause. "Poor as I am, this churlish relative will find me as proud as +himself. I shall return him scorn for scorn. I shall demand an +explanation of his behaviour; and the sooner I have it the better!" + +As if stimulated by a sense of the outrage, as also by a half-formed +purpose of retaliation, the young adventurer gave the whip to his shaggy +steed, and dashed onward at full gallop. + +Volume One, Chapter XIV. + +TRAVELLING AT THE TAIL. + +For nearly an hour did the cob continue its gallop, without pause or +slacking. The road was a wide one, much tracked by wheels; and, as it +ran in a direct course, the rider took it for granted he was keeping the +right path. Now and then he caught a glimpse of water through the +trees--no doubt, the river mentioned in the directions given him by the +darkey. + +The crossing at length came in sight, causing him to desist from his +rapid pace--in order that he might ford the stream. There was no +appearance of a bridge. The water, however, was only knee-deep; and, +without hesitation, the pony plunged in and waded over. + +Herbert halted on the opposite bank: for there appeared in front of him +a dilemma. The road forked. The negro boy had warned him of this-- +telling him at the same time to take the one that _didn't_ lead to "da +leff"; but instead of two "tines" to the fork, there were _three_! + +Here was a puzzle. It was easy enough to know which of the three _not_ +to take--the one that _did_ lead to "da leff"; but which of the other +two was to be chosen was the point that appeared to present a difficulty +in the solution. Both were plain, good roads; and each as likely as the +other to be the one which would conduct him to Mount Welcome. + +Had his rider left the pony to its own guidance, perhaps it would have +chosen the right road. In all likelihood he would have done so in the +end; but, before determining on any particular line of action, he +thought it better to look for the wheel-tracks of the carriage, that he +knew must have passed in advance of him. + +While thus cogitating, the silence occasioned by his momentary halt was +all at once interrupted by a voice that sounded at his very side, and +the tones of which he fancied were not new to him. + +On suddenly turning in the saddle, and looking in the direction whence +the voice appeared to proceed, what was his astonishment on beholding +the negro boy--the veritable Quashie! + +"Da, sa! das da crossin' me you tell 'bout; you no take by de leff--dat +lead to ole Jew penn; nor da right--he go to Mon'gew Cassel; de middle +Massr Va'n road--he go straight na Moun' Welc'm'." + +The young traveller sat for some moments without speaking, or making +reply in any way--surprise, as by a spell, holding him silent. He had +left the boy on the forward deck of the ship, to look after his luggage; +and he had seen him--he could almost swear to it--still on board, as he +rode away from the wharf! Moreover, he had ridden a stretch of many +miles--most of the way at full gallop, and all of it at a pace with +which no pedestrian could possibly have kept up! How, then, was he to +account for the lad's presence upon the spot? + +This was the first question that occurred to him; and which he put to +the darkey, as soon as he had sufficiently recovered from his surprise +to be able to speak. + +"Quashie foller young buckra--at him pony heels." + +The answer went but a short way towards enlightening the "young buckra;" +since he still believed it utterly impossible for any human being to +have travelled as fast as he had ridden. + +"At the pony's heels! What, my black skin! do you mean to say you have +run all the way after me from the landing-place?" + +"Ya, sa: dat hab Quashie do." + +"But I saw you on board the ship as I started off. How on earth could +you have overtaken me?" + +"Yaw, massa, dat wa' easy 'nuf. Young buckra, he start off; Quashie, he +put him porkmantle in da ox-waggon, an' den he foller. Buckra, he go +slow at fuss, Quashie soon cotch up, and den easy run 'long wi' da +pony--not much in dat, sa." + +"Not much! Why, you imp of darkness, I have been riding at the rate of +ten miles an hour, and how you've kept up with me is beyond my +comprehension! Well, you're a noble runner, that I will say! I'd back +you at a foot-race against all comers, whether black ones or white ones. +The middle road, you say?" + +"Ya, sa, dat de way to Moun' Welc'm'; you soon see de big gate ob de +plantation." + +Herbert headed his roadster in the direction indicated; and moved onward +along the path--his thoughts still dwelling on the odd incident. + +He had proceeded but a few lengths of his pony, when he was tempted to +look back--partly to ascertain if Quashie was still following him, and +partly with the intention of putting a query to this singular escort. + +A fresh surprise was in store for him. The darkey was nowhere to be +seen! Neither to the right, nor the left, nor yet in the rear, was he +visible! + +"Where the deuce can the boy have gone?" inquired Herbert, +involuntarily, at the same time scanning the underwood on both sides of +the road. + +"Hya, sa!" answered a voice, that appeared to come out of the ground +close behind--while at the same instant the brown mop of Quashie, just +visible over the croup of the cob, proclaimed his whereabouts. + +How the boy had been able to keep up with the pony was at length +explained: he had been _holding on to its tail_! + +There was something so ludicrous in the sight, that the young Englishman +forgot for a moment the grave thoughts that had been harassing him; and +once more checking his steed into a halt, gave utterance to roars of +laughter. The darkey joined in his mirth with a grin that extended his +mouth from ear to ear--though he was utterly unconscious of what the +young buckra was laughing at. He could not see anything comic in a +custom which he was almost daily in the habit of practising--for it was +not the first time Quashie had travelled at the tail of a horse. + +Journeying about half a mile further along the main road, the +entrance-gate of Mount Welcome was reached. There was no lodge--only a +pair of grand stone piers, with a wing of strong mason-work on each +flank, and a massive folding gate between them. + +From the directions Herbert had already received, he might have known +this to be the entrance to his uncle's plantation; but Quashie, still +clinging to the pony's tail, removed all doubt by crying out,-- + +"Da's da gate, buckra gemman--da's de way fo' Moun' Welc'm'!" + +On passing through the gateway, the mansion itself came in sight--its +white walls and green jalousies shining conspicuously at the extreme end +of the long avenue; which last, with its bordering rows of palms and +tamarinds, gave to the approach an air of aristocratic grandeur. + +Herbert had been prepared for something of this kind. He had heard at +home that his father's brother was a man of great wealth; and this was +nearly all his father had himself known respecting him. + +The equipage which had transported his more favoured fellow-voyager--and +which had passed over the same road about an hour before him--also gave +evidence of the grand style in which his uncle lived. + +The mansion now before his eyes was in correspondence with what he had +heard and seen. There could be no doubt that his uncle was one of the +grandees of the island. + +The reflection gave him less pleasure than pain. His pride had been +already wounded; and as he looked up the noble avenue, he was oppressed +with a presentiment that some even greater humiliation was in store for +him. + +"Tell me, Quashie," said he, after a spell of painful reflection, "was +it your master himself who gave you directions about conducting me to +Mount Welcome? Or did you have your orders from the overseer?" + +"Massr no me speak 'bout you, sa; I no hear him say nuffin." + +"The overseer, then?" + +"Ya, sa, de obaseeah." + +"What did he tell you to do? Tell me as near as you can; and I may make +you a present one of these days." + +"Gorry, massr buckra! I you tell all he say, 'zactly as he say um. +`Quashie,' say he, `Quashie,' he say, `you go down board de big ship; +you see dat ere young buckra'--dat war yourseff, sa--`you fotch 'im up +to de ox-waggon, you fotch 'im baggage, too; you mount 'im on Coco,'-- +da's de pony's name--`and den you fetch him home to _my_ house.' Da's +all he say--ebbery word." + +"To _his_ house? Mount Welcome, you mean!" + +"No, young buckra gemman--to de obaseeah own house. And now we jess got +to da road dat lead dar. Dis way, sa! dis way!" + +The darkey pointed to a bye-road, that, forking off from the main +avenue, ran in the direction of the ridge, where it entered into a tract +of thick woods. + +Herbert checked the pony to a halt, and sat gazing at his guide, in mute +surprise. + +"Dis way, sa!" repeated the boy. "Yonna's de obaseeah's house. You see +wha da smoke rise, jess ober de big trees?" + +"What do you mean, my good fellow? What have I to do with the +overseer's house?" + +"We's agwine da, sa." + +"Who? you?" + +"Boff, sa; an' Coco too." + +"Have you taken leave of your senses, you imp of darkness?" + +"No, sa; Quashie only do what him bid. Da obaseeah Quashie bid fotch +young buckra to him house. Dis yeer's da way." + +"I tell you, boy, you must be mistaken. It is to Mount Welcome I am +going--my uncle's house--up yonder!" + +"No, buckra gemman, me no mistake. Da obaseeah berry partikler 'bout +dat same. He tell me you no fo' da great house--da Buff. He say me +fotch you to 'im _own_ house." + +"Are you sure of that?" Herbert, as he put this interrogatory, leant +forward in the saddle, and listened attentively for the reply. + +"Lor, buckra gemman! I'se sure ob it as de sun am in de hebbens dar. I +swa' it, if you like." + +On hearing this positive affirmation, the young Englishman sat for a +moment, as if wrapt in a profound and painful reverie. His breast rose +and fell as though some terrible truth was breaking upon him, which he +was endeavouring to disbelieve. + +At this moment, Quashie caught the rein of the bridle, and was about to +lead the pony into the bye-path. + +"No!" shouted the rider, in a voice loud and angry. "Let go, boy! let +go, or I'll give you the whip. This is _my_ way." + +And, wrenching the rein from the grasp of his sable guide, he headed the +pony back into the main avenue. + +Then laying on the lash with all his might, he pressed forward, at full +gallop, in the direction of the "great house." + +Volume One, Chapter XV. + +A SLIPPERY FLOOR. + +The carriage conveying Mr Montagu Smythje from Montego Bay to Mount +Welcome, passed up the avenue and arrived at the great house, just one +hour before Herbert Vaughan, mounted on his rough roadster, and guided +by Quashie, made his appearance at the entrance-gate of the plantation. + +Mr Smythje had arrived at half-past three, p.m. Four was the regular +dining hour at Mount Welcome: so that there was just neat time for the +valet to unpack the ample valises and portmanteaus, and dress his master +for the table. + +It had been the aim of Mr Vaughan to make the introduction of Mr +Smythje to his daughter as effective as possible. He was sage enough to +know the power of first appearances. + +For this reason, he had managed to keep them apart until the moment of +meeting at the dinner-table, when both should appear under the advantage +of a full dress. + +So far as the impression to be made on Mr Smythje was concerned, Mr +Vaughan's scheme was perfectly successful. His daughter really appeared +superb--radiant as the crimson quamoclit that glistened amidst the +plaits of her hair; graceful as nature, and elegant as art, could make +her. + +The heart of the cockney felt--perhaps for the first time in his life-- +that true sentiment of admiration which beauty, combined with virgin +modesty, is almost certain to inspire. + +For a moment, the remembrance of the ballet girl and the lewd +recollections of the _bagnio_ were obliterated; and a graver and nobler +inspiration took their place. + +Even vulgar Loftus Vaughan had skill enough to note this effect; but how +long it would last--how long the plant of a pure passion would flourish +in that uncongenial soil--was a question which it required an abler +physiologist than Loftus Vaughan to determine. + +The sugar-planter congratulated himself upon his success. Smythje was +smitten, beyond the shadow of a doubt. + +Had the calculating father been equally anxious to perceive a +_reciprocity_ of this fine first impression, he would have been doomed +to a disappointment. As certainly as that of Mr Smythje was a +sentiment of admiration, so certainly was that of Kate Vaughan a feeling +of _degout_; or at least of indifference. + +In truth, the Londoner had made a most unfortunate _debut_. A +_contretemps_ had occurred in the ceremony of introduction--just at that +crisis-moment when all eyes are sharply set, and all ears acutely bent +in mutual _reconnoissance_. Mr Vaughan had committed a grand error in +causing the presentation to take place in the grand hall. Ice itself +was not more slippery than its floor. The consequence was unavoidable; +and the cockney, essaying one of his most graceful attitudes, fell flat +upon his face at the feet of her he simply intended to have saluted! + +In that fall he had lost everything--every chance of winning Kate +Vaughan's heart. A thousand acts of gracefulness, a thousand deeds of +heroism, would not have set him up again, after that unfortunate fall. +It was a clear paraphrase of the downfall of Humpty Dumpty--the +restoration alike hopeless, alike impossible. + +Mr Montagu Smythje was too well stocked with self-complacency to suffer +much embarrassment from a _lapsus_ of so trifling a character. His +valet had him upon his feet in a trice; and with a "Haw-haw!" and the +remark that the floor was "demmed swippeway," he crept cautiously to his +chair, and seated himself. + +Though the Londoner had been all his life accustomed to dining well, he +could not help indulging in some surprise at the plentiful and luxurious +repast that was placed before him. + +Perhaps in no part of the world does the table groan under a greater +load of rich viands than in the West Indian Islands. In the prosperous +times of sugar-planting, a Jamaican dinner was deserving of the name of +feast. Turtle was the common soup; and the most sumptuous dishes were +arranged thickly over the board. Even the ordinary every-day dessert +was a spread worthy of Apicius; and the wines--instead of those dull +twin poisons, port and sherry--were south-side Madeira, champagne, +claret, and sparkling hock--all quaffed in copious flagons, plenteous as +small beer. + +These were glorious times for the white-skinned oligarchy of the sugar +islands--the days of revel and rollicky living--before the wedge of +Wilberforce split the dark pedestal which propped up their pomp and +prosperity. + +A dinner of this good old-fashioned style had Loftus Vaughan prepared +for his English guest. Behind the chairs appeared troops of coloured +attendants, gliding silently over the smooth floor. A constant stream +of domestics poured in and out of the hall, fetching and removing the +dishes and plates, or carrying the wine decanters in silver coolers. +Young girls of various shades of complexion--some nearly white--stood at +intervals around the table, fanning the guests with long peacock plumes, +and filling the great hall with an artificial current of delicious +coolness. + +Montagu Smythje was delighted. Even in his "dear metwopolis" he had +never dined so luxuriously. + +"Spwendid, spwendid--'pon honaw! A dinner fit for a pwince!" he +exclaimed, in compliment to his entertainer. + +The savoury dishes were partaken of, and removed, and the table, +arranged for _dessert_, exhibited that gorgeous profusion which a tropic +clime can alone produce--where almost every order of the botanical world +supplies some fruit or berry of rarest excellence. Alone in the +intertropical regions of the New-World may such variety be seen--a +_dessert table_ upon which Pomona appears to have poured forth her +golden _cornucopiae_. + +The cloth having been removed from the highly-polished table, the +sparkling decanters were once more passed round. In honour of his +guest, the planter had already made free with his own wines, all of +which were of most excellent quality. Loftus Vaughan was at that moment +at a maximum of enjoyment. + +Just at that very moment, however, a cloud was making its appearance on +the edge of the sky. + +It was a very little cloud, and still very far off; but, for all that, a +careful observer could have seen that its shadow became reflected on the +brow of the planter. + +Literally speaking, this cloud was an object on the earth, of shape half +human, half equine, that appeared near the extreme end of the long +avenue, moving towards the house. + +When first seen by Loftus Vaughan, it was still distant, though not so +far off but that, with the naked eye, he could distinguish a man on +horseback. + +From that moment he might have been observed to turn about in his +chair--at short intervals casting uneasy glances upon the centaurean +form that was gradually growing bigger as it advanced. + +For a time, the expression on the face of Mr Vaughan was far from being +a marked one. The looks that conveyed it were furtive, and might have +passed unnoticed by the superficial observer. They had, in fact, +escaped the notice both of his daughter and his guest; and it was not +until after the horseman had made halt at the entrance of the bye-path, +and was seen coming on for the house, that the attention of either was +drawn to the singular behaviour of Mr Vaughan. Then, however, his +nervous anxiety had become so undisguisedly patent, as to elicit from +Miss Vaughan an ejaculation of alarm; while the cockney involuntarily +exclaimed, "Bless ma soul!" adding the interrogatory,-- + +"Anything wong, sir?" + +"Oh! nothing!" stammered the planter; "only--only--a little surprise-- +that's all." + +"Surprise, papa! what has caused it? Oh, see! yonder is some one on +horseback--a man--a young man. I declare it is our own pony he is +riding; and that is Quashie running behind him! How very amusing! +Papa, what is it all about?" + +"Tut! sit down, child!" commanded the father, in a tone of nervous +perplexity. "Sit down, I say! Whoever it be, it will be time enough to +know when he arrives. Kate! Kate! 'tis not well-bred of you to +interrupt our dessert. Mr Smythje--glass of Madeira with you, sir?" + +"Plesyaw!" answered the exquisite, turning once more to the table, and +occupying himself with the decanter. + +Kate obeyed the command with a look that expressed both reluctance and +surprise. She was slightly awed, too; not so much by the words, as the +severe glance that accompanied them. She made no reply, but sat gazing +with a mystified air in the face of her father--who, hob-nobbing with +his guest, affected not to notice her. + +The pony and his rider were no longer visible: as they were now too +close to the house to be seen over the sill of the window; but the +clattering hoofs could be heard, the sounds coming nearer and nearer. + +Mr Vaughan was endeavouring to appear collected, and to say something; +but his _sang froid_ was assumed and unnatural; and being unable to keep +up the conversation, an ominous silence succeeded. + +The sound of the hoofs ceased to be heard. The pony, having arrived +under the windows, had been brought to a halt. + +Then there were voices--earnest and rather loud. They were succeeded by +the noise of footsteps on the stone stairway. Someone was coming up the +steps. + +Mr Vaughan looked aghast. All his fine plans were about to be +frustrated. There was a hitch in the programme--Quashie had failed in +the performance of _his_ part. + +"Aha!" ejaculated the planter, with returning delight, as the smooth, +trim countenance of his overseer made its appearance above the landing. +"Mr Trusty wishes to speak with me. Your pardon, Mr Smythje--only for +one moment." + +Mr Vaughan rose from his seat, and hastened, as if wishing to meet the +overseer, before the latter could enter the room. Trusty, however, had +already stepped inside the doorway; and, not being much of a +diplomatist, had bluntly declared his errand--in _sotto voce_, it is +true, but still not low enough to hinder a part of his communication +from being heard. Among other words, the phrase "your nephew" reached +the ears of Kate--at that moment keenly bent to catch every sound. + +The reply was also partially heard, though delivered in a low and +apparently tremulous voice:--"Show him--summer-house--garden--tell him +to wait--there presently." + +Mr Vaughan turned back to the table with a half-satisfied air. He was +fancying that he had escaped from his dilemma, at least, for the time; +but the expression which he perceived on the countenance of his daughter +restored his suspicions that all was not right. + +Scarce a second was he left in doubt, for almost on the instant, Kate +cried out, in a tone of pleased surprise,-- + +"Oh, papa, what do I hear? Did not Mr Trusty say something about `your +nephew'? After all, has cousin come? Is it he who--" + +"Kate, my child," quickly interrupted her father, and appearing not to +have understood her interrogatory, "you may retire to your room. Mr +Smythje and I would like to have our cigar; and the smoke of tobacco +don't agree with you. Go, child--go!" + +The young girl instantly rose from her chair, and hastened to obey the +command--notwithstanding the protestations of Mr Smythje, who looked as +if he would have much preferred her company to the cigar. + +But her father hurriedly repeated the "Go, child--go!" accompanying the +words with another of those severe glances which had already awed and +mystified her. + +Before she had passed fairly out of the great hall, however, her +thoughts reverted to the unanswered interrogatory; and as she crossed +the threshold of her chamber, she was heard muttering to herself: + +"I wonder if cousin be come!" + +Volume One, Chapter XVI. + +THE KIOSK. + +A portion of the level platform, on which Mount Welcome was built, +extended to the rear of the dwelling; and was occupied, as already +described, by a garden filled with rare and beautiful plants. Near the +midst of this garden, and about a dozen paces from the house, stood a +small detached building--a summer-house--the materials of which were +ornamental woods of various kinds, all natives of the island, famed for +such products. The pieces composing this summer-house, or "kiosk," as +it was habitually called, had all been cut and carved with skilful care; +and the whole structure had been designed as a representation of a +miniature temple, with a cupola upon its top, surmounted by a gilded and +glittering vane. + +Inside there were neither stairs nor partitions--the whole space being +taken up by a single apartment. There were no glass windows: but all +around, the walls were open, or closed only with Venetian blinds, the +laths of which were of the finest mahogany. A Chinese mat covered the +floor, and a rustic table of bamboo cane pieces, with some half-dozen +chairs of like manufacture, constituted the principal part of the +furniture. + +On the aforesaid table stood an inkstand of silver, elaborately chased, +with plume pens pertaining to it. Some writing-paper lay beside it; and +on a silver tray there were wafers, red sealing-wax, and a signet seal. +An escritoire stood on one side; and two or three dozen volumes placed +upon the top of this--with a like number thrown carelessly on chairs-- +formed the library of Mount Welcome. + +Some magazines and journals lay upon the centre-table, and a box of best +Havannahs--open and half used--showed that the summer-house served +occasionally for a smoking-room. + +It was sometimes styled the "Library," though its purposes were many. +Mr Vaughan, at times, used it for the reception of visitors--such as +might have come upon errands of business--such, in short, as were not +deemed worthy of being introduced to the company of the grand hall. + +Just at the moment when Kate Vaughan quitted the dinner-table, a young +man was shown into this detached apartment, Mr Trusty, the overseer, +acting as his chaperon. + +It is not necessary to say that this young man was Herbert Vaughan. + +How he came to be conducted thither is easily explained. On learning +from Quashie the destination designed for him--aggrieved and angry at +the revelation--he had hurried in hot haste up to the house. To Mr +Trusty, who was keeping guard at the bottom of the stairway, he had +announced his relationship with Mr Vaughan, and demanded an interview-- +making his requisition in such energetic terms as to disturb the +habitual _sang froid_ of the overseer, and compel him to the +instantaneous delivery of his message. + +Indeed, so indignant did Herbert feel, that he would have mounted the +steps and entered the house without further parley, had not Mr Trusty +put forth his blandest entreaties to prevent such a terrible +catastrophe. + +"Patience, my good sir!" urged the overseer, interposing himself between +the new comer and the stairway; "Mr Vaughan _will_ see you, presently-- +not just this moment; he is engaged--company with him. The family's at +dinner." + +So far from soothing the chafed spirit of the young man, the +announcement was only a new mortification. At dinner, and with +company--the cabin-passenger, of course--the ward--not even a relative-- +while he, the nephew--no dinner for him! + +In truth, Herbert recognised in this incident a fresh outrage. + +With an effort, he gave up the idea of ascending the stairs. Poor +though he was, he was nevertheless a gentleman; and good breeding +stepped in to restrain him from this unbidden intrusion: though more +than ever did he feel convinced that an insult was put upon him, and one +that almost appeared premeditated. + +He stood balancing in his mind whether he should turn upon his heel, and +depart from his uncle's house without entering it. A feather would have +brought down the scale. The feather fell on the negative side, and +decided him to remain. + +On being conducted into the summer-house and left to himself, he showed +no wish to be seated; but paced the little apartment backward and +forward in a state of nervous agitation. + +He took but slight heed of aught that was there. He was in no mood for +minutely observing--though he could not help noticing the luxurious +elegance that surrounded him: the grandeur of the great house itself; +the splendid _parterres_ and gardens filled with plants and flowers of +exquisite beauty and fragrant perfume. + +These fine sights, however, instead of soothing his chafed spirit, only +made him more bitterly sensible of his own poor fortunes, and the +immeasurable distance that separated him from his proud, rich uncle. + +Through the open sides of the kiosk he merely glanced hastily at the +grounds; and then his eyes became bent upon the great house--directed +habitually towards an entrance at the back that by a flight of steps +conducted into the garden. By this entrance he expected his uncle would +come out; and in angry impatience did he await his coming. + +Had he seen the beautiful eyes that were, at that moment, tenderly +gazing upon him from behind the lattice-work of the opposite window, +perhaps the sight would have gone far towards soothing his irate soul. +But he saw them not. The jalousies were closed; and though from the +shadowy interior of the chamber, the kiosk and its occupant were in full +view, the young Englishman had no suspicion that he was at that moment +the object of observation--perhaps of admiration--by a pair of the +loveliest eyes in the island of Jamaica. + +After turning, for the twentieth time, across the floor--at each turn +scanning the stairs with fresh impatience--he somewhat spitefully laid +hold of a book, and opened it--in the hope of being able to kill time +over its pages. + +The volume which came into his hands--by chance: he had not chosen it-- +was but little calculated to tranquillise his troubled spirit. It was a +digest of the statutes of Jamaica relating to slavery--the famous, or +rather infamous, _black code_ of the island. + +There he read: that a man might mutilate his own image in the person of +a fellow-man--torture him, even to death, and escape with the punishment +of a paltry fine! That a man with a black skin--or even white, if at +all tainted with African blood--could hold no real estate, no office of +trust; could give no evidence in a court of law--not even had he been +witness of the crime of murder; that such a man must not keep or ride a +horse; must not carry a gun, or other weapon of defence; must not defend +himself when assaulted; must not defend wife, sister, or daughter--even +when ruffian hands were tearing them from him for the most unholy of +purposes! In short, that a _man of colour_ must do nothing to make +himself different from a docile and submissive brute! + +To the young Englishman, fresh from a Christian land--at that period +ringing with the eloquent denunciations of a Wilberforce, and the +philanthropic appeals of a Clarkson--the perusal of this execrable +statute-book, instead of producing tranquillity, only infused fresh +bitterness into his soul; and stamping his foot fiercely on the floor, +he flung the detestable volume back to its place. + +At that moment--just as he had reached the maximum of reckless +defiance--a noise was heard in the direction of the great house, and the +door of the stair-landing was seen to turn on its hinges. + +Of course, he expected to see a surly old uncle, and was resolved to be +as surly as he. + +On the contrary, and to his pleased surprise, he beheld in the doorway a +beautiful young girl, bending her eyes upon him with an affectionate +look, and as if courting recognition! + +A sudden revulsion of feeling passed through his whole frame; his +countenance changed its angry expression to one of admiration; and, +unable to utter a word, he remained silently gazing on this lovely +apparition. + +Volume One, Chapter XVII. + +A BOLD RESOLVE. + +Far better would it have been for Mr Vaughan--at least, for the success +of his schemes--had he adopted an honourable course with his nephew; and +at once introduced him, openly and above-board, to his table, his +daughter, and his aristocratic guest. + +Had he known before dinner what he was made aware of in less than five +minutes after it, he would, in all likelihood, have adopted this course. +It would have spared him the chagrin he was made to feel, on Mr +Smythje reporting to him the encounter he had had on board ship--which +the latter proceeded to do, the moment after Kate had been so +unceremoniously dismissed from the hall. + +Smythje had also overheard the communication of the overseer--the word +"nephew," at least--and this recalled to his mind--not without some +unpleasant remembrance of the satire from which he had suffered--the +steerage passenger who had treated him so brusquely on board the _Sea +Nymph_. + +The miserable bubble was burst; and the onus of a somewhat bungling +explanation was put upon the shoulders of the pompous planter--into +whose heart a bitter drop of gall was infused by the disclosure. + +As the deception could be sustained no longer, the relationship was +necessarily acknowledged; but the spark of ire thus introduced boded a +still more unwelcome reception to the unlucky nephew. + +The planter partially cleared himself of the scrape by a false +representation. In other words, he told a lie, in saying that his +nephew had not been expected. Smythje knew it was a lie, but said +nothing; and the subject was allowed to drop. + +Loftus Vaughan was a common man; and the course he had followed--shallow +and self-defeating--was proof of an intellect as low as its morality. + +By his shabby treatment of his nephew, he was investing that young man +with a romantic interest in the eyes of his daughter, that perhaps might +never have been felt, or, at all events, not so readily. Misfortune-- +especially that which springs from persecution--is a grand suggester of +sympathy--that is, when the appeal is made to noble hearts; and the +heart of Kate Vaughan was of this quality. + +Moreover, this surreptitious dealing with the poor relative--smuggling +him into the house like a bale of contraband goods--was sufficient of +itself to pique the curiosity of those whom it was meant to mystify. + +So far as Kate Vaughan was concerned, that very effect it produced: for, +on leaving the dining-room--from which, to say the truth, she was only +too happy to escape--the young girl glided at once to that window that +opened out upon the garden; and, parting the lattice with her fingers, +looked eagerly through. + +In the brief undertone that had passed between her father and the +overseer, she had heard the command, "Show him to the summer-house." +She knew that the summer-house was within view of her chamber-window. +She was curious to see what in all her life she had never beheld--a +_cousin_. Her curiosity was not balked. On looking through the +lattice, her cousin was before her eyes--pacing the little apartment as +described. + +With his braided frock, buttoned tightly over his breast--glittering +Hessian boots on his well-turned limbs--his neat three-cornered hat set +lightly over his brown curls--he was not a sight likely to terrify a +young girl--least of all a cousin. Even the bold, somewhat fierce, +expression upon his countenance--at that moment reflecting the angry +emotions that were stirring within him--did not, in the eyes of the +young Creole, detract from the beauty of the face she saw before her. + +What impression did the sight produce? Certainly not terror--certainly +not dislike. On the contrary, she appeared gratified by it: else, why +did she continue her gaze, and gaze so earnestly? Why became her eyes +filled with fire, and fixed, as by some fascination? Why did her young +bosom heave and fall, as if some new, undefinable emotion was for the +first time germinating within it? + +For some moments she remained in the same attitude, gazing steadfastly +and silent. Then, without turning, there escaped from her lips, low +murmured, and as if by an involuntary effort, the interrogatory,--"Yola! +is he not beautiful?" + +"Beautiful, missa," repeated the maid, who had not yet beheld the object +for whom this admiration was meant; "who beautiful?" + +"Who? My cousin, Yola." + +"You cousin--what cousin, young missa?" + +"Look yonder, and see! That's my cousin." + +"I see a man." + +"Ah! and saw you ever such a man?" + +"True, missa; never see man look so--he surely angry, missa?" + +"Angry?" + +"Berry angry. He go back, he go forward, like hyena in a cage." + +"He is only impatient at being kept waiting. My word! I think he looks +all the better for it. Ah! see how his eye flashes. Oh! Yola, how +handsome he is--how different from the young men of this island. Is he +not a beautiful fellow?" + +"He curled hair, like Cubina!" + +"Cubina! ha! ha! ha! This Cubina must be a very Proteus, as well as an +Adonis. Do you see any other resemblance, except in the hair? If so, +my cousin may, perhaps, resemble _me_." + +"Cubina much darker in de colour ob him skin, missa." + +"Ha! ha! that is not unlikely." + +"Cubina same size--same shape--'zactly same shape." + +"Then I should say that Cubina is a good shape; for, if I know anything +of what a man ought to be, that cousin of mine is the correct thing. +See those arms! they look as if he could drag down that great tamarind +with them! Gracious me! he appears as if he intended doing it! Surely, +he must be very impatient? And, after his coming so far, for papa to +keep him waiting in this fashion! I really think I should go down to +him myself. What is your opinion, Yola? Would it be wrong for me to go +and speak with him? He is my cousin." + +"What am cousin, missa?" + +"Why, cousin is--is--something like a brother--only not exactly--that +is--it's not quite the same thing." + +"Brudder! Oh, missa! if he Yola brudder, she him speak; she care not +who be angry." + +"True, Yola; and if he were my brother--alas! I have none--I should do +the same without hesitation. But with a cousin--that's different. +Besides, papa don't like this cousin of mine--for some reason or +another. I wonder what he can have against him. I can't see; and +surely it can be no reason for _my_ not liking him? And, surely, his +being my cousin is just why I should go down and talk to him. + +"Besides," continued the young girl, speaking to herself rather than to +the maid, "he appears very, very impatient. Papa may keep him waiting-- +who knows how long? since he is so taken up with this Mr Montagu +What's-his-name! Well, I may be doing wrong--perhaps papa will be +angry--perhaps he won't know anything about it! Right or wrong, I'll +go! I _shall_ go!" + +So saying, the young Creole snatched a scarf from the fauteuil; flung it +over her shoulders; and, gliding from the chamber, tripped silently +along the passage that conducted towards the rear of the dwelling. + +Volume One, Chapter XVIII. + +THE ENCOUNTER OF THE COUSINS. + +Opening the door, and passing out, Kate Vaughan paused timidly upon the +top of the stairway that led down into the garden. Her steps were +stayed by a feeling of bashful reserve, that was struggling to restrain +her from carrying out a resolve somewhat hastily formed. + +Her hesitancy was but the matter of a moment; for on the next--her +resolution having become fixed--she descended the stairs, and advanced +blushingly towards the kiosk. + +Herbert had not quite recovered from surprise at the unexpected +apparition, when he was saluted by the endearing interrogatory,--"Are +you my cousin?" The question, so _naively_ put, remained for a moment +unanswered: for the tone of kindness in which it was spoken had caused +him a fresh surprise, and he was too much confused to make answer. + +He soon found speech, however, for the hypothetical reply:-- + +"If you are the daughter of Mr Loftus Vaughan--" + +"I am." + +"Then I am proud of calling myself your cousin. I am Herbert Vaughan-- +from England." + +Still under the influence of the slight which he believed had been put +upon him, Herbert made this announcement with a certain stiffness of +manner, which the young girl could not fail to notice. It produced a +momentary incongeniality, that was in danger of degenerating into a +positive coolness; and Kate, who had come forth under the promptings of +an affectionate instinct, trembled under a repulse, the cause of which +she could not comprehend. + +It did not, however, hinder her from courteously rejoining:-- + +"We were expecting you--as father had received your letter; but not +to-day. Papa said not before to-morrow. Permit me, cousin, to welcome +you to Jamaica." Herbert bowed profoundly. Again the young creole felt +her warm impulses painfully checked; and, blushing with embarrassment, +she stood in an attitude of indecision. + +Herbert, whose heart had been melting like snow under a tropic sun, now +became sensible that he was committing a rudeness; which, so far from +being natural to him, was costing him a struggle to counterfeit. + +Why should the sins of the father be visited on the child--and such a +child? + +With a reflection kindred to this, the young man hastened to change his +attitude of cold reserve. + +"Thanks for your kind welcome!" said he, now speaking in a tone of +affectionate frankness; "But, fair cousin, you have not told me your +name." + +"Catherine--though I am usually addressed by the shorter synonym, Kate." + +"Catherine! that is a family name with us. My fathers mother, and your +father's, too--our grandmamma--was a Catherine. Was it also your +mother's name?" + +"No; my mother was called Quasheba." + +"Quasheba! that is a very singular name." + +"Do you think so, cousin? I am sometimes called Quasheba myself--only +by the old people of the plantation, who knew my mother. Lilly Quasheba +they call me. Papa does not like it, and forbids them." + +"Was your mother an Englishwoman?" + +"Oh, no! she was born in Jamaica, and died while I was very young--too +young to remember her. Indeed, cousin, I may say I never knew what it +was to have a mother!" + +"Nor I much, cousin Kate. My mother also died early. But are you my +only cousin?--no sisters nor brothers?" + +"Not one. Ah! I wish I had sisters and brothers!" + +"Why do you wish that?" + +"Oh, how can you ask such a question? For companions, of course." + +"Fair cousin! I should think _you_ would find companions enough in this +beautiful island." + +"Ah! enough, perhaps; but none whom I like--at least, not as I think I +should like a sister or brother. Indeed," added the young girl, in a +reflective tone, "I sometimes feel lonely enough!" + +"Ah!" + +"Perhaps, now that we are to have guests, it will be different. Mr +Smythje is very amusing." + +"Mr Smythje! Who is he?" + +"What! you do not know Mr Smythje? I thought that you and he came over +in the same ship? Papa said so; and that _you_ were not to be here +until to-morrow. I think you have taken him by surprise in coming +to-day. But why did you not ride out with Mr Smythje? He arrived here +only one hour before you, and has just dined with us. I have left the +table this moment, for papa and him to have their cigars. But, bless +me, cousin! Pardon me for not asking--perhaps _you_ have not dined +yet?" + +"No," replied Herbert, in a tone that expressed chagrin, "nor am I +likely to dine here, to-day." + +The storm of queries with which, in the simplicity of her heart, the +young Creole thus assailed him, once more brought back that train of +bitter reflections, from which her fair presence and sweet converse had +for the moment rescued him. Hence the character of his reply. + +"And why, cousin Herbert?" asked she, with a marked air of surprise. +"If you have not dined, it is not too late. Why not here?" + +"Because,"--and the young man drew himself proudly up--"I prefer going +without dinner to dining where I am not welcome. In Mount Welcome, it +seems, I am _not_ welcome." + +"Oh, cousin--!" + +The words, and the appealing accent, were alike interrupted. The door +upon the landing turned upon its hinge, and Loftus Vaughan appeared in +the doorway. + +"Your father?" + +"My father!" + +"Kate!" cried the planter, in a tone that bespoke displeasure, "Mr +Smythje would like to hear you play upon the harp. I have been looking +for you in your room, and all over the house. What are you doing out +there?" + +The language was coarse and common--the manner that of a vulgar man +flushed with wine. + +"Oh, papa! cousin Herbert is here. He is waiting to see you." + +"Come you here, then! Come at once. Mr Smythje is waiting for you." +And with this imperious rejoinder Mr Vaughan reentered the house. + +"Cousin! I must leave you." + +"Yes; I perceive it. One more worthy than I claims your company. Go! +Mr Smythje is impatient." + +"It is papa." + +"Kate! Kate! are you coming? Haste, girl! haste, I say!" + +"Go, Miss Vaughan! Farewell!" + +"Miss Vaughan? Farewell?" Mystified and distressed by those +strange-sounding words, the young girl stood for some seconds undecided, +but the voice of her father again came ringing along the corridor--now +in tones irate and commanding. Obedience could no longer be delayed; +and, with a half-puzzled, half-reproachful glance at her cousin, she +reluctantly parted from his presence. + +Volume One, Chapter XIX. + +A SURLY RECEPTION. + +After the young Creole had disappeared within the entrance, Herbert +remained in a state of indecision as to how he should act. + +He no longer needed an interview with his uncle, for the sake of having +an explanation. This new slight had crowned his convictions that he was +there an unwelcome guest; and no possible apology could now retrieve the +ill-treatment he had experienced. + +He would have walked off on the instant without a word; but, stung to +the quick by the series of insults he had received, the instinct of +retaliation had sprung up within him, and determined him to stay--at all +events, until he could meet his relative face to face, and reproach him +with his unnatural conduct. He was recklessly indifferent as to the +result. + +With this object, he continued in the kiosk--his patience being now +baited with the prospect of that slight satisfaction. + +He knew that his uncle might not care much for what he should say: it +was not likely such a nature would be affected by reproach. +Nevertheless, the proud young man could not resist the temptation of +giving words to his defiance--as the only means of mollifying the +mortification he so keenly felt. + +The tones of a harp, vibrating through the far interior of the dwelling, +faintly reached the kiosk; but they fell on his ear without any soothing +effect. Rather did they add to his irritation: for he could almost +fancy the music was meant to mock him in his misery. + +But no; on second thoughts, that could not be. Surely, that sweet +strain was not intended to tantalise him. He caught the air. It was +one equally appropriate to the instrument and to his own situation. It +was the "Exile of Erin." + +Presently a voice was heard accompanying the music--a woman's voice-- +easily recognisable as that of Kate Vaughan. + +He listened attentively. At intervals he could hear the words. How +like to his own thoughts! + + "`Sad is my fate,' said the heart-broken stranger; + `The wild deer and wolf to the covert can flee, + But I have no refuge from famine and danger-- + A home and a country remain not to me!'" + +Perhaps the singer intended it as a song of sympathy for him? It +certainly exerted an influence over his spirits, melting him to a degree +of tenderness. + +Not for long, however, did this feeling continue. As the last notes of +the lay died away in the distant corridor, the rough baritones of the +planter and his guest were heard joining in loud laughter--perhaps some +joke at the expense of himself, the poor exile? + +Shortly after, a heavy footstep echoed along the passage. The door +opened; and Herbert perceived it was his uncle, who had at length found +time to honour him with an interview. + +Though so joyous but the moment before, all traces of mirth had +disappeared from the countenance of Loftus Vaughan, when he presented +himself before the eyes of his nephew. His face, habitually red, was +fired with the wine he had been drinking to the hue of scarlet. +Nevertheless, an ominous mottling of a darker colour upon his broad +massive brow foretold the ungracious reception his relative was likely +to have at his hands. + +His first words were uttered in a tone of insolent coolness:-- + +"So you are my brother's son, are you?" There was no extending of the +hand, no gesture--not even a smile of welcome! + +Herbert checked his anger, and simply answered,-- + +"I believe so." + +"And pray, sir, what errand has brought you out to Jamaica?" + +"If you have received my letter, as I presume you have, it will have +answered that question." + +"Oh, indeed!" exclaimed Mr Vaughan, with an attempt at cynicism, but +evidently taken down by the unexpected style of the reply. "And what, +may I ask, do you purpose doing here?" + +"Have not the slightest idea," answered Herbert, with a provoking air of +independence. "Have you any profession?" + +"Unfortunately, not any." + +"Any trade?--I suppose not." + +"Your suppositions are perfectly correct." + +"Then, sir, how do you expect to get your bread?" + +"Earn it, the best way I can." + +"Beg it, more likely, as your father before you: all his life begging +it, and from me." + +"In that respect I shall not resemble him. You would be the last man I +should think of begging from." + +"S'death! sirrah, you are impertinent. This is fine language to me, +after the disgrace you have already brought upon me!" + +"Disgrace?" + +"Yes, sir, disgrace. Coming out here as a pauper, in the steerage of a +ship! And you must needs boast of your relationship--letting all the +world know that you are my nephew." + +"Boast of the relationship!" repeated Herbert, with a smile of contempt. +"Ha! ha! ha! I suppose you refer to my having answered a question +asked me by this pretty jack-a-box you are playing with. Boast of it, +indeed! Had I known you then as well as I do now, I should have been +ashamed to acknowledge it!" + +"After that, sir," shouted Mr Vaughan, turning purple with rage--"after +that, sir, no more words! You shall leave my house this minute." + +"I had intended to have left it some minutes sooner. I only stayed to +have an opportunity of telling you what I think of you." + +"What is that, sir? what is that?" + +The angry youth had summoned to the top of his tongue a few of the +strongest epithets he could think of, and was about to hurl them into +his uncle's teeth, when, on glancing up, he caught sight of an object +that caused him to change his intention. It was the beautiful face of +the young creole, that appeared through the half-open lattice of the +window opposite. She was gazing down upon him and his uncle, and +listening to the dialogue with an anguished expression of countenance. + +"He is _her_ father," muttered Herbert to himself; "for _her_ sake I +shall not say the words;" and, without making any reply to the last +interrogatory of his uncle, he strode out of the kiosk, and was walking +away. + +"Stay, sir!" cried the planter, somewhat taken aback by the turn things +had taken. "A word before you go--if you _are_ going." + +Herbert turned upon his heel and listened. + +"Your letter informs me that you are without funds. It shall not be +said that a relative of Loftus Vaughan left his house penniless and +unprovided. In this purse there are twenty pounds currency of the +island. Take it; but on the condition that you say nothing of what has +occurred here; and, furthermore, that you keep to yourself that you are +the nephew of Loftus Vaughan." + +Without saying a word, Herbert took the proffered purse; but, in the +next moment, the chink of the gold pieces was heard upon the gravel walk +as he dashed the bag at the feet of his uncle. + +Then, turning to the astonished planter, and measuring him with a look +that scorned all patronage, he faced once more to the path, and walked +proudly away. + +The angry "Begone, sir!" vociferated after him, was only addressed to +his back, and was altogether unheeded. Perhaps it was even unheard: for +the expression in the eyes of the young man told that at that moment his +attention was occupied elsewhere. + +As he walked towards the house--with the design of going round it to get +upon the front avenue--his glance was directed upwards to the window +where that beautiful face had been just seen. The lattice was now +closed; and he endeavoured to pierce the sombre shadows behind it. The +face was no longer there. No eyes met his. + +He glanced back towards the kiosk to see if he might linger a moment. +His uncle was in a bent attitude, gathering the scattered pieces of +gold. In this position the shrubbery concealed him. + +Herbert was about to glide nearer to the window, and summon his cousin +by name, when he heard his own pronounced, in a soft whisper, and with +the endearing prefix "cousin." + +Distinctly he heard "Cousin Herbert!" and as if spoken around the angle +of the building. + +He hastened thither: for that was his proper path by which to arrive at +the front of the house. + +On turning the wall, he looked up. He saw that another window opened +from the same chamber. Thence came the sweet summons, and there +appeared the fair face for which he was searching. + +"Oh, cousin Herbert! do not go in anger! Papa has done wrong--very +wrong, I know; but he has been taking much wine--he is not--Good cousin, +you will pardon him?" + +Herbert was about to make reply, when the young Creole continued:-- + +"You said in your letter you had no money. You have refused father's-- +you will not refuse mine? It is very little. It is all I have. Take +it!" + +A bright object glistened before his eyes, and fell with a metallic +chink at his feet. He looked down. A small silk purse containing coin, +with a blue ribbon attached, was seen lying upon the ground. + +The young man raised it, and, holding it in one hand, hesitated for a +moment--as if he had thoughts of accepting it. It was not that, +however, but another thought that was passing in his mind. + +His resolve was soon taken. + +"Thanks!" said he. "Thanks, cousin Kate!" he added, with increasing +warmth. "_You_ have meant kindly, and though we may never meet again--" + +"Oh, say not so!" interrupted the young girl, with an appealing look. + +"Yes," continued he, "it is probable we never shall. Here there is no +home for me. I must go hence; but, wherever I may go, I shall not soon +forget this kindness. I may never have an opportunity of repaying it-- +you are beyond the necessity of aught that a humble relative could do +for you; but remember, Kate Vaughan! should you ever stand in need of a +strong arm and a stout heart, there is one of your name who will not +fail you! + +"Thanks!" he repeated, detaching the ribbon from the bag, and flinging +the latter, with its contents, back through the open window. Then, +fastening the ribbon to the breast-button of his coat, he added: "I +shall feel richer with the possession of this token than with all the +wealth of your father's estate. Farewell! and God bless you, my +generous cousin!" + +Before the young Creole could repeat her offer, or add another word of +counsel or consolation, he had turned the angle of the building, and +passed out of sight. + +Volume One, Chapter XX. + +THE JEW'S PENN. + +While these scenes were transpiring upon the plantation of Mount +Welcome, others of a still more exciting nature were being enacted on +that which adjoined it--the property of Jacob Jessuron, slave-merchant +and penn-keeper. + +Besides a "baracoon" in the Bay, where his slaves were usually exposed +for sale, the Jew was owner of a large plantation in the country, on +which he habitually resided. It lay contiguous to the estate of the +Custos Vaughan--separated from the latter by one of the wooded ridges +already mentioned as bounding the valley of Mount Welcome. + +Like the latter, it had once been a sugar estate, and an extensive one; +but that was before Jessuron became its owner. Now it was in the +condition termed _ruinate_. The fields where the golden cane had waved +in the tropic breeze were choked up by a tangled "second growth," +restoring them almost to their primitive wildness. With that quickness +characteristic of equatorial vegetation, huge trees had already sprung +up, and stood thickly over the ground--logwoods, bread-nuts, cotton, and +calabash trees, which, with their pendent parasites, almost usurped +dominion over the soil. Here and there, where the fields still remained +open, instead of cultivation, there appeared only the wild nursery of +nature--glades mottled with flowering weeds, as the Mexican horn-poppy, +swallow-worts, West Indian vervains, and small _passiflorae_. + +At intervals, where the underwood permitted them to peep out, might be +seen stretches of "dry wall," or stone fence, without mortar or cement, +mostly tumbled down, the ruins thickly trellised with creeping plants-- +as convolvuli, cereus, and aristolochia; cleome, with the cheerful +blossoming _lantana_; and, spreading over all, like the web of a +gigantic spider, the yellow leafless stems of the American dodder. + +In the midst of this domain, almost reconquered by nature, stood the +"great house"--except in size, no longer deserving the appellation. It +consisted rather of a _pile_ than a single building--the old "sugar +works" having been joined under the same roof with the dwelling--and +negro cabins, stables, offices, all inclosed within an immense high +wall, that gave to the place the air of a penitentiary or barrack, +rather than that of a country mansion. The enclosure was a modern +construction--an afterthought--designed for a purpose very different +from that of sugar-making. + +Garden there was none, though evidence that there _had been_ was seen +everywhere around the building, in the trees that still bloomed: some +loaded with delicious fruits, others with clustering flowers, shedding +their incense on the air. Half wild, grew citrons, and _avocado_ pears, +sop and custard apples, mangoes, guavas, and pawpaws; while the +crown-like tops of cocoa-palms soared high above the humble denizens of +this wild orchard, their recurvant fronds drooping as in sorrow at the +desolation that surrounded them. + +Close to the buildings stood several huge trees, whose tortuous limbs, +now leafless, rendered it easy to identify them. They were the giants +of the West Indian forest--the silk-cotton-tree (_Eriodendron +anfractuosum_). The limbs of these vegetable monsters--each itself as +large as an ordinary tree--were loaded with parasites of many species; +among which might be distinguished ragged _cactacae_, with various +species of wild pines, from the noble _vriesia_ to the hoary, beard-like +"Spanish moss," whose long streaming festoons waved like winding-sheets +in the breeze--an appropriate draping for the eyrie of the black +vultures (John-Crows) that might at all times be seen seated in solemn +silence upon the topmost branches. + +In the olden time, this plantation had borne the name of "Happy Valley"; +but during the ownership of Jessuron, this designation--perhaps deemed +inappropriate--had been generally dropped; and the place was never +spoken of by any other name than that of the "Jew's Penn." + +Into a "penn" (grazing farm) Jessuron had changed it, and it served well +enough for the purpose: many of the old sugar fields, now overgrown by +the valuable Guinea grass, affording excellent pasturage for horses and +cattle. + +In breeding and rearing the former for the use of the sugar estates, and +fattening the latter for the beef markets of the Bay, the industrious +Israelite had discovered a road to riches, as short as that he had been +travelling in the capacity of slave-dealer; and of late years he had +come to regard the latter only as a secondary calling. + +In his old age, Jessuron had become ambitious of social distinction; and +for this reason, was desirous of sinking the slave-merchant in the more +respectable profession of penn-keeper. He had even succeeded so far in +his views as to have himself appointed a justice of the peace--an office +that in Jamaica, as elsewhere, is more distinctive of wealth than +respectability. + +In addition to penn-keeper, the Jew was also an extensive +spice-cultivator, or rather spice-gatherer: for the indigenous pimento +forests that covered the hills upon his estate required no cultivation-- +nothing further than to collect the aromatic berries, and cure them on +the _barbacoa_. + +Though changed from a plantation to a penn, the estate of Jacob Jessuron +was not less a scene of active industrial life. + +In the fields adjacent to the house, and through the glades of Guinea +grass, horses and half wild cattle might be seen in turns neighing and +bellowing, pursued by mounted herdsmen, black and half-naked. + +Among the groves of pimento on the hills, gangs of negro wenches could +be heard screaming and chattering continually, as they picked the +allspice berries from the branches; or, with the filled baskets poised +on their heads, marched in long, chanting files towards the _barbacoa_. + +Outside the gate-entrance, upon the broad avenue leading to the main +road, negro horse-tamers might every day be seen, giving their first +lessons to rough colts fresh caught from the pastures; while inside the +grand enclosure, fat oxen were being slaughtered to supply the markets +of the Bay--huge, gaunt dogs holding carnival over the offal--while +black butchers, naked to the waist, their brown arms reeking with red +gore, stalked over the ground, brandishing blood-stained blades, and +other instruments of their sanguinary calling. + +Such scenes might be witnessed diurnally on the estate of Jacob +Jessuron; but on the day succeeding that on which the slave-merchant had +made his unsuccessful errand to Mount Welcome, a spectacle of a somewhat +rarer kind was about to be exhibited at the penn. + +The scene chosen for this exhibition was an inner inclosure, or +courtyard, contiguous to the dwelling--the great house itself forming +one side of this court, and opening upon it by a broad verandah, of a +dingy, dilapidated appearance. + +_Vis-a-vis_ with the dwelling was another large building which shut in +the opposite side of the court--the two being connected by high massive +walls, that completed the quadrangle. A strong double gate, opening +near the centre of one of these walls, was the way out--that is, to the +larger enclosure of the cattle-penn. + +From the absence of chimneys and windows, as well as from its plain +style of architecture, the building that stood opposite the +dwelling-house might have been taken for some large granary or barn. +But a peep into its interior at once controverted this idea. Inside +could be seen groups of human beings, of all colours, from ebony black +to jaundice yellow, in all attitudes--seated, standing, or lying upon +the floor--and not a few of them, in pairs, manacled to one another. +Their attitudes were not more various than the expressions upon their +faces. Some looked sad and sullen; some glanced fearfully around, as if +waking from horrid dreams, and under the belief that they were +realities; others wore the vacant stare of idiotcy; while here and there +a group--apparently regardless of past, present, or future--chattered in +their barbaric language with an air of gaiety that bespoke the most +philosophic _insouciance_. + +The building that contained them was the baracoon--the storehouse of the +slave-merchant. Its occupants were his stores! + +The "stock" had been just replenished by the cargo of the slave-ship, +though there were also some old "bales" on hand; and these were in the +act of entertaining the new comers, and initiating them into the ways of +the place. Their means, of showing hospitality had been limited--as +testified by the empty calabashes and clean-scraped wooden platters that +lay scattered over the floor. Not a grain of rice, not a spoonful of +the pepper-pot, not a slice of plantain, was left. The emptiness of the +vessels showed that the rations had been as short as the viands were +coarse and common. + +Outside, in the yard, were many groups, happier to escape from the +stifled atmosphere of their crowded quarters; though that was freedom +when compared with the 'tween-decks of the _middle passage_. + +Each group was gathered around some old hand--some compatriot who had +preceded them across the great sea--and who, himself initiated into +slavery under a western sky, was giving them some notions of what they +had to expect. Eager looks of all, from time to time, directed towards +the verandah, told that they were awaiting some event of more than +ordinary interest. + +There were white men in the courtyard--three of them. Two were of dark +complexion--so swarth that many of the coloured slaves were as +fair-skinned as they. These two men were lounging by the stairway of +the verandah--one of them seated upon the steps. Both were sparely clad +in check shirts and trousers, having broad-brimmed palmetto hats on +their heads, and rough buskins on their feet and ankles. + +Each carried a long, rapier-like blade--a _machete_--hanging over his +hip in its leathern sheath; while a brace of fierce dogs--looped in +cotton-rope leashes, attached to belts worn around their waists-- +crouched upon the ground at their feet. + +The faces of these men were clean-shaven--a pointed chin-tuft, or +"bigote," alone being left; and the hair on the heads of both was +close-cropped. Their sharp, angular features were thus fully displayed, +denoting a high order of intelligence; which might have produced a +pleasing effect, but for the pronounced expression of cruelty which +accompanied it. + +The exclamations that from time to time escaped from their lips, with +the few words of conversation that passed between them, bespoke them of +Spanish race. Their costume--their arms and accoutrements--their +comrades, the fierce dogs--plainly proclaimed, their calling, as well as +the country from whence they came. They were _cacadores de negros_-- +negro-hunters from the Island of Cuba. + +The third white man who appeared in the courtyard differed essentially +from these--not so much in colour, for he was also of swarth +complexion--but in size, costume, and calling. A pair of horse-skin +riding-boots reached up to his thighs, on the heels of which appeared +heavy spurs, with rowels three inches in diameter. A sort of +monkey-jacket of thick cloth--notwithstanding its unsuitableness to the +climate--hung down to his hips; under which appeared a waistcoat of +scarlet plush, with tarnished metal buttons, and a wool comforter of the +same flaming colour. Crowning all was a felt hat; which, like the other +articles of his dress, gave evidence of exposure to all weathers--sun +and rain, storm and tornado. + +A thick shock of curling hair, so dark in colour as to pass for black; a +heavy beard, jet-black, and running most of the way around his mouth; +amber-coloured eyes, with a sinister, shining light that never seemed to +pale; lips of an unnatural redness gleaming through the black beard; and +a nose of aquiline oblique, were the points in the personal appearance +of this man that most prominently presented themselves. + +The effect of this combination was to impress you with the conviction, +that the individual in question belonged to the same nationality as the +proprietor of the penn. Such was in reality the case: for the bearded +man was another of the race of Abraham, and one of its least amiable +specimens. His name was Ravener, his calling that of overseer: he was +the overseer of Jessuron. The symbol of his profession he carried under +his arm--a huge cart-whip. He had it by him at all hours--by night, as +by day--for by night, as by day, was he accustomed to make use of it. +And the victims of his long lash were neither oxen nor horses--they were +men and _women_! + +No sparing use made he of this hideous implement. "Crack, crack!" was +it heard from morn to eve; "crack, crack!" from eve to midnight; if need +be, from midnight to morning again: for some said that the overseer of +Jessuron never slept. "Crack, crack!" did he go through the courtyard, +apparently proud of exhibiting his power before the newly-arrived +negroes--here and there swinging his long bitter lash among the groups, +as if to break up and scatter them in sheer wantonness. + +Volume One, Chapter XXI. + +A FIERY BAPTISM. + +It was about twelve o'clock in the day. Jessuron and his daughter had +just stepped forth into the verandah, and taken their stand by the +balustrade looking down into the court. The countenance of both +betrayed a certain degree of solicitude, as if they had come out to be +witnesses to some spectacle of more than common interest. + +The house-wenches and other domestics, trooping behind them with curious +looks, showed that some rare scene was to be enacted. + +A small iron furnace, filled with live coals, had been placed in the +courtyard, near the bottom of the steps. Three or four sullen-looking +men--blacks and mulattoes--stood around it in lounging attitudes. One +of these stooped over the furnace, turning in the fire what appeared to +be a soldering iron, or some other instrument of a brazier. + +It was not that, however, as the spectators well knew. All who beheld +it recognised the dreaded _branding iron_: for every one present, the +whites and newly-arrived Africans excepted, had, ere now, felt its hot, +seething fire in their flesh. + +These last had already learnt what was preparing for them; and most of +them stood regarding the preparations with looks of silent awe. + +Some Coromantees there were among the number, who looked on with +reckless indifference, chatting as gaily--and, at intervals, laughing as +loudly--as if they awaited the beginning of some merry game. Little +cared these courageous sons of Ethiopia--whose sable skins bore scars of +many a native fray--little cared they for the scorching of that simple +brand. + +It was not long before the inhuman spectacle commenced. The entrance of +Jessuron and his daughter was the cue to begin; and the bearded +overseer, who was master of the ceremonies, had only been waiting till +these should make their appearance. The man, from experience, knew that +his master always gave his personal superintendence when such a scene +was to be enacted. He knew, moreover, that his master's daughter was +equally accustomed to assist at these interesting ceremonies! + +"Go on, Mishter Ravener!" cried the Jew, on reaching the front of the +verandah. "Theesh first," he added, pointing towards a group of Eboes-- +who stood trembling with apprehension in one corner of the yard. + +At a sign from the overseer, who was one of the taciturn sort, a number +of old negroes--evidently used to the business--laid hands upon the +Eboes, and led them up to the furnace. + +As the victims were brought near to the fire, and saw the red iron +glowing amid the coals, fear became strongly depicted upon their faces, +and their frames shook with a convulsive terror. Some of them, the +younger ones, screamed aloud, and would have rushed away from the spot, +had they not been held in the grasp of the attendants. + +Their appeals, made by the most pitiful looks and gestures, were +answered only by unfeeling jeers and shouts of laughter, in which the +old Jew himself joined--in which, incredible to relate, joined his +beautiful daughter! Nor was it a mere smile which appeared on the face +of the fair Judith; clear laughter rang from her lips, exhibiting her +regular rows of ivory-like teeth--as if some fiend had assumed the form +of an angel! + +The Eboes were led forward, and held firmly by the assistants, while +their breasts were presented to receive the brand. The red-hot iron +flashed for a moment in the eyes of each; and then fell with a dull clap +upon the clammy skin. Smoke ascended with a hiss, till the court became +filled with a smell of roasting flesh! A struggle, some wild cries, and +the operation was over. The slave was marked with those indelible +initials, to be carried with him to his grave. + +One by one, the poor beings received this terrible baptism, and were led +away from the ground. + +A batch of Pawpaws--from the Whidaw country--came next. They were +brought up one by one, like the Eboes; but altogether unlike these was +their behaviour. They neither gave way to extreme fear, nor yet +displayed extraordinary courage. They appeared to submit with a sort of +docile resignation: as though they regarded it in the light of a destiny +or duty. + +The operation of branding them was a short work, and afforded no mirth +to the bystanders: since there was no ludicrous display of terror to +laugh at. This facile disposition renders the Whidaw the most valuable +of slaves. + +A group of Coromantees were now to undergo the fiery ordeal. These bold +and warlike indigenes of Africa evinced, by their attitudes and actions, +the possession of a moral nature altogether different from that either +of Pawpaw or Eboe. Instead of waiting to be led forward, each stepped +boldly up, as he did so baring his breast to receive the red brand, at +which he glanced with an air of lordly contempt! + +One young fellow even seized the iron from the grasp of the operator; +and, turning it in his hand, struck the stamp firmly against his breast, +where he held it until the seething flesh told that a deep imprint had +been made! Then, flinging the instrument back into the furnace, he +strode away from the spot with the air of a triumphant gladiator! + +At this moment there occurred a pause in the proceedings--not as if the +drama was ended, but only an act. Another was yet to come. + +Ravener stepped up to the verandah, in front of the place where Jessuron +and his daughter stood. With the former, or indeed with both, he +communicated in a voice just audible,--not as if with any design of +concealing what he said--but because there was no necessity for loud +talking. + +The two man-hunters were the only persons there he might have had any +care to be cautious about; but these were at that moment busy with their +dogs, and not heeding aught that was going on. Branding a batch of +negroes was no new sight to them; and they were spectators, merely from +having, at the moment, nothing better to do. + +"Which next?" was the question put by Ravener to the Jew; "the +Mandingoes?" + +"Either them or the prinshe," replied Jessuron; "it don't matter which +ish marked first." + +"Oh, the prince first, by all means!" suggested the amiable Judith, with +a smile of satisfaction. "Bring him out first, Mr Ravener; I'm curious +to see how his royal highness will stand fire." + +The overseer made no reply; but, taking the wish of the young lady as a +command, proceeded to obey it. + +Stepping across the court he opened a door that led into a room, +separate from that in which the slaves had been lodged. + +The overseer entered the room; and in a few minutes came out again, +bringing with him an individual who, by his dress, it might have been +difficult to recognise as the young Fellatta seen on board the slaver, +but whose noble mien still rendered it possible to identify him: for it +was he. + +Changed, indeed, was his costume. The turban was gone, the rich silken +tunic, the sandals and scimitar--all his finery had been stripped off; +and in its place appeared a coarse Osnaburg shirt and trousers--the +dress of a plantation negro. + +He looked wretched, but not crestfallen. + +No doubt he had by this time learnt, or suspected, the fate that was in +store for him; but, for all that, his features exhibited the proud air +of a prince; and the glances which he cast upon the overseer by his +side, but oftener upon Jessuron--whose instrument he knew the other to +be--were those of concentrated anger and defiance. + +Not a word escaped his lips, either of protest or reproach. This had +all passed before--when the first rude assault had been made upon him, +to deprive him of his garments and the adornments of his person. The +hour of recrimination was past. He knew he had no alternative but +submission, and he was submitting--though in angry and sullen silence. + +He had no idea of what was now designed for him. He had been shut up in +a windowless room, and saw nothing of the spectacle that had just +passed. Some new outrage he anticipated; but of what nature he could +not guess. + +He was not allowed to remain long in ignorance. Ravener, roughly +grasping him by the wrist, led him up to the furnace. + +The iron by this time was ready--glowing red-hot among the coals. The +operator stood watching for the signal to use it; and on its being +given, he seized the instrument in his grasp, and poised it aloft. + +The prince now perceived the intention, but shrank not at the sight. +His eyes were not upon the iron, but, gleaming with a fire like that of +the furnace itself, were directed upon the face of the old Jew--at +intervals upon that of the angel-like demon at his side. + +The Jew alone shrank from the glance; his daughter returned it with a +mocking imperturbability! + +In another instant the red brand hissed as it burnt into the flesh of +the Fellattas bosom. Prince Cingues was the slave of Jacob Jessuron! + +As if the terrible reality had now for the first time burst upon him, +the young man sprang forward with a cry; and before anyone could oppose +his progress, he had bounded up the steps and entered the verandah. + +Then, gliding along the gallery, to the spot occupied by Jessuron and +his daughter, he launched himself forward upon the Jew. As he clutched +the latter by the throat, both came together to the ground, and rolled +over and over in the writhings of a desperate struggle. + +Fortunate it was for the slave-merchant that his victim had been +disarmed: else that moment would have been fatal to him. As it was, he +came very near being strangled; and had it not been for Ravener and the +two Spaniards, who hastened to his rescue, the betrayal of the Foolah +prince would have been the last treason of his life. + +Overpowered by numbers, Cingues was at length secured; and the throat of +the slave-merchant was extricated from his death-like clutch. + +"Kill him!" cried the Jew, as soon as he found breath to speak. "No, +don't kill him yet," added he, correcting himself, "not joosh yet, till +I punish him for it! an' if I don't punish him--ach!" + +"Flog the savage!" shouted the beautiful Judith; "make an example of +him, Mr Ravener: else those others will be rising upon us in the same +style." + +"Yesh, flog him! that'll do to begin with. Flog him now, goot Ravener. +Give him a hundred lashes thish minute!" + +"Ay, ay!" responded the overseer, dragging the victim down the steps; +"I'll give him his full dose--never fear you!" + +Ravener was as good as his word. The spectacle that followed was even +more horrible to behold than that which has been described: for the +punishment of the lash is among the most fearful of exhibitions. + +The young Foolah was tied to a post--one that stood there for the +purpose. A strong _headman_ wielded the cruel _quirt_; and as the last +stripe was administered, completing that horrid hundred, the poor victim +sank fainting against the blood-stained stake. + +The occupants of the verandah showed not the slightest signs of having +been moved to pity by this horrid spectacle. On the contrary, both +father and daughter seemed to draw delight from it; and, instead of +retiring when the fearful scene was over, both, seemingly with perfect +unconcern, remained to witness the _finale_ of the day's work--the +marking of the Mandingoes! + +Volume One, Chapter XXII. + +A COUCH OF SILK-COTTON. + +On parting from the presence of his fair cousin, and, at the same time, +from the house of his inhospitable relative, Herbert Vaughan struck off +through the shrubbery that stretched towards the ridge on the right. + +Notwithstanding the storm that was raging in his breast, a reflection +had occurred to him, which hindered him from going by the main avenue. +Suffering from a keen sense of humiliation, he had no desire to meet +with any of his uncle's people: since the very slaves seemed to be privy +to his false position. Still less desirous was he of being observed, +while making the long traverse of the avenue, by eyes that might be +directed upon him from the windows of the great house. + +On reaching the limits of the level platform, he leaped a low wall, that +separated the shrubbery from the outer fields; and then, under cover of +the pimento groves, commenced ascending the slope of the ridge. + +For some time the conflicting emotions that were stirring in his soul +hindered him from anything like tranquil reflection. Conflicting, I +say: for two very opposite sentiments had been aroused by the two +individuals with whom he had just held interview; opposite as darkness +from light--as sorrow from joy--perhaps, as hate from love. + +The conflict might have lasted longer, had there been an opportunity to +give way to idle emotions. But there was not. The young man felt too +forlorn and friendless to indulge in the luxury of passionate thought; +and, on this account, the sooner did the storm subside. + +On reaching the crest of the ridge, and before plunging into the deep +forest that stretched away on the other side, he endeavoured, through an +opening in the trees, to catch a view of those white walls and green +jalousies. In that glance there was more of regretfulness than anger-- +an expression of despair, such as may have appeared on the face of the +fallen angel when gazing back over the golden palings of Paradise. + +As the young man turned away, and entered under the sombre shadows of +the forest, the expression of despair seemed to become deeper and +darker. + +To make Montego Bay--to seek in it such humble home as might offer--to +wait there till his poorly-stocked portmanteau, now on its way to Mount +Welcome, should be returned to him--these were the simple plans that +suggested themselves. His mind was still too much on the rack to permit +of his dwelling upon any ulterior purpose. + +He walked on through the woods, without taking much heed as to the +direction in which he was going. Anyone who could have seen him just +then might have supposed that he had lost his way, and was wandering. + +It was not so, however. He knew or believed that by keeping to the left +of his former course he would get out upon the main road, by which he +had reached the entrance-gate of Mount Welcome. In any case, he could +not fail to find the river he had already crossed; and by following it +downward, he would in time arrive at the town. + +With this confidence, false as it may have been, he was not wandering; +only absorbed in thought--in common parlance, absent-minded. + +But this absence of mind lasted so long, that it led to the result it +resembled: he lost his way in reality. + +The trees hindered him from seeing the sun--now low down. But even if a +view of the golden orb had been afforded him, it would have served no +purpose: since, on riding out to Mount Welcome, he had taken no note of +the relative directions between it and the Bay. + +He was not much disconcerted by the discovery that he had lost himself. +The reflection that in Montego Bay he would be no better off, hindered +him from greatly regretting the circumstance. He had not the means to +command the shelter of a roof--even in the midst of a whole city full-- +and the chances were he might find none better than that which was above +him at the moment--the spreading fronds of a gigantic cotton-tree. + +At the time that this reflection crossed his mind, the sun had gone +quite down: for the cotton-tree stood upon the edge of an opening where +he could see the sky above him; and he perceived that it was already +tinged with the purple of twilight. To find his way in the darkness +would be no longer possible, and he resolved for that night to accept +the hospitality of the _ceiba_. + +It had even spread a couch for him: for the seed capsules had burst upon +its branches; and the pale-brown staple thickly covered the ground +beneath--offering a couch that, under the canopy of a West Indian summer +sky, was sufficiently luxuriant. + +Was there a supper as well? Herbert looked around--he was hungry. Not +a morsel had he eaten since breakfast--only a piece of mess-pork and a +brown wormy biscuit, on parting from the ship. Hunger had already made +itself felt. During his wanderings, having his gun with him, he had +looked out for game. Had any appeared, he was too good a sportsman to +have let it escape. But none had shown itself--neither beast nor bird. +The woods seemed deserted as himself. He could hear the voices of +birds--all strange to his ear--he could see bright-winged creatures +fluttering amongst the leaves; but none near enough for the range of his +fowling-piece. + +Now that he had come to a halt, and having nothing better to do, he took +his stand, watching the open glade. Perhaps some bird might yet show +itself passing from tree to tree, or flying about in pursuit of prey. +It was the hour for owls. He felt hungry enough to eat one. + +Neither owl nor night-jar came in sight; but his attention was attracted +to an object edible as either, and which promised to relieve him from +the pangs he was suffering. + +Close by the cotton-tree stood another giant of the forest--rivalling +the former in height, but differing from it as an arrow from its bow. +Straight as a lance, it rose to the height of an hundred feet. It was +branchless as a column of polished malachite or marble--up to its high +summit, where its long green fronds, radiating outward, drooped +gracefully over, like a circlet of reflexed ostrich plumes. + +A child could have told it to be a palm; but Herbert knew more. He had +heard of the noble "mountain-cabbage" of Jamaica--the kingly _areca +oredoxia_. He knew that in the centre of that circlet of far-stretching +fronds--in that crown--there was a jewel that had often proved more +precious than gems or gold: for often had it been the means of saving +human life. + +How was this jewel to be obtained? Like all crowns, it was placed +high--far above the reach of ordinary mortals. Young and active though +he was, and a climber at school, he could never "swarm up" that tall, +smooth shaft. Without a ladder a hundred feet in length, it would not +be possible to reach its summit. + +But, see! the palm-tree stands not alone. A great black lliana +stretches tortuously from the earth up to the crown, where its head is +buried among the tufted leaves, as if it were some huge dragon in the +act of devouring its victim. + +Herbert stood for a moment reconnoitring the grand stay-cable, that, +trailing from the summit of the palm, offered, as it were, a natural +ladder for ascending it. Hunger stimulated him to the attempt; and, +resting his gun against the trunk of the _ceiba_, he commenced climbing +upward. + +Without much difficulty, he succeeded in reaching the top, and making +his way among the huge _pinnae_ of the leaves--each in itself a leaf of +many feet in length. He arrived at the youngest of them all--that still +enfolded in the envelope of the bud--and which was the object for which +he had climbed. + +With his knife he separated this summit leaf from the stem, flung it to +the earth; and then, descending to the bottom of the tree, made his +supper upon the raw but sweet and succulent shoots of the +mountain-cabbage. + +Supper over, he collected a quantity of the strewn fleece of the +silk-cotton; and, placing it between two of the great buttress-like +root-spurs of the tree, constructed for himself a couch on which, but +for some hard thoughts within, he might have slept as softly and soundly +as upon a bed of eider. + +Volume One, Chapter XXIII. + +THE TREE FOUNTAIN. + +That he did not sleep soundly may be attributed solely to his anxieties +about the morrow: for the night was mild throughout, and the composition +of his improvised couch kept him sufficiently warm. His cares, however, +had rendered his spirit restless. They were vivid enough to act even +upon his dreams--which several times during the night awoke him, and +again, finally, just after the break of day. + +This time, on opening his eyes, he perceived that the glade was filled +with soft blue light; and the quivering fronds of the cabbage-palm--just +visible from where he lay--had caught the first trembling rays of the +sun. + +Only there, and among the summit-branches of the _ceiba_, far +overtopping the _spray_ of the surrounding forest, was the sun yet +visible. Everything else was tinted with the blue grey of the morning +twilight. + +He could sleep no longer; and rose from his forest lair, intending to +make an immediate departure from the spot. + +He had no toilet to trouble him--nothing to do, further than brush off +the silken floss of the tree-cotton, shoulder his gun, and go. + +He felt hunger, even more than on the preceding night; and, although the +raw mountain-cabbage offered no very tempting _dejeuner_, he determined +before starting, to make another meal upon it--remembering, and very +wisely acting upon, the adage of "a bird in the hand." + +There was plenty left from the supper to serve him for breakfast; and, +once more making a vigorous onslaught on the _chou de palmiste_, he +succeeded in appeasing his hunger. + +But another appetite, far more unpleasant to bear, now assailed him. In +truth, it had assailed him long before, but had been gradually growing +stronger; until it was now almost unendurable. + +It was the kindred appetite, thirst; which the cabbage-palm, instead of +relieving, had, from a certain acridity in its juice, only sharpened-- +till the pain amounted almost to torture. + +The sufferer would have struck off into the woods in search of water. +He had seen none in his wanderings; still he had hopes of being able to +find the river. He would have started at once, but for an idea he had +conceived that there was water near the spot where he had slept. + +Where? He had observed neither stream nor spring, pond nor river; and +yet he fancied he had seen water--in fact, he felt sure of it! + +In a very singular situation he had seen it--so thought he at the time-- +since it was over his head in the cotton-tree! + +On the previous evening, while upon the crown of the cabbage-palm, he +had glanced slantingly across, among the branches of the _ceiba_. This, +as with all great trees in the tropical forests, was loaded with +parasites--_vriesias_, long ragged-looking cacti, bromelias, epiphytical +orchids, and the like. _Tillandsias_ too, of the kind known as "wild +pines," grew in the forks, or on the upper surface of the great limbs, +flourishing as luxuriantly as if their roots rested in the richest soil. +Among them was conspicuous the most magnificent of the genus, the noble +_Tillandsia lingulata_, with its spike of gorgeous crimson flowers +projecting from the midst of its broad sheathing leaves. It was in the +concavities of these huge leaves that Herbert had observed something +which did not belong to the plant--something he believed to be _water_. + +It would cost but a few seconds' time to confirm or refute this belief-- +a climb among the branches of the _ceiba_. Another huge parasite, from +the same root as the former, trended tortuously up to the limbs of the +silk-cotton-tree--here and there touching and twisting around them. Its +diagonal direction rendered it easy of ascent; and Herbert, impelled by +his desire to drink, commenced climbing it. + +Ere long, he had succeeded in reaching a main fork of the _ceiba_, where +nestled one of the largest of the wild pines. + +He had not been deceived. In a hollow formed by one of its huge +ventricose leaves was the natural reservoir he had noticed--the +gathering of dew and rain, which the rays of the sun could never reach. + +At his approach, the green _hyla_ sprang out from this aerial pool; and +leaping, frog-like, from leaf to leaf--guarded against falling by the +clammy sponge-disks of its feet--soon disappeared amid the foliage. It +was this singular creature whose voice Herbert had been hearing +throughout the livelong night; and which, in constant chorus with others +of its kind, had recalled to his memory the groaning and working of the +_Sea Nymph_ in a storm. + +The presence of the tree-toad in this its natural haunt, did not deter +the young man from drinking. Raging thirst has no scruples; and, +bending over one of the leaves of the _tillandsia_, he placed his lips +to the cool water, and freely quaffed it. + +The labour of scrambling up the _lliana_ had taken away his breath, and +to some extent fatigued him. Instead, therefore, of descending at +once--which he knew would cost him an effort equal to that of the +ascent--he determined to rest for a few minutes upon the large limb of +the _ceiba_ on which he had seated himself. + +"Well!" muttered he, in satisfied soliloquy, "if the people of this +island have proved inhospitable, I can't say the same of its trees. +Here are two of them--almost the first I have encountered. They have +yielded me the three necessaries of life--meat, drink, and lodging-- +lodging, too, with an excellent bed, a thing not so common in many a +human hostelry. What more is wanted? Under such a sky as this, who +need care to have walls around, or a roof over him? Verily, to sleep +here, _sub Jove_, is rather a luxury than an inconvenience! And, +verily," continued he, "were it not that I should feel rather lonely, +and that man is designed to be a social animal, I might pass my whole +life in these glorious woods, without work or care of any kind. No +doubt there is game; and I was told at home there are no game laws--so I +might poach at pleasure. Ha! game? What do I see? A deer? No! a hog! +Yes, hog it is; but such a singular fellow--prick ears, red bristles, +long legs, and tusks. A boar! and why not a wild boar?" + +There was no reason why it should not be, since it _was_ one--a wild +boar of the Jamaica forest--a true descendant of the Canarian hog, +transported thither by the Spaniards. + +The young Englishman, never having seen a wild boar in its native +haunts, put the question conjecturally; but a moment's observation of +the animal convinced him that his conjecture was correct. The short +upright ears, the long head, hams, and legs, the shaggy neck and +frontlet, the foxy red colour, the quick short step as it moved onward-- +all these _points_, combined with a certain savage air which Herbert +noticed at a glance, satisfied him that the animal under his eyes was +not one of the domestic breed, but a genuine wild hog of the woods. The +grunt, too, which the creature uttered as it moved across the glade-- +short, sharp and fierce--had but slight resemblance to the squeaking +sounds of the farm-yard. A wild boar beyond a doubt! + +On perceiving this noble head of game, and so near him, Herbert's first +reflection was one of extreme regret. How unlucky that he should be up +in the tree, with his gun upon the ground! + +It was very tantalising; but the young man saw it would be impossible to +get possession of his gun without giving the alarm. To attempt +descending from the tree, or even make a movement upon the branch, would +be sufficient to send the boar scampering from the spot: of course never +to be seen more. + +Conscious of this, Herbert preferred remaining upon his perch--the +silent spectator of a scene of wild Nature, to which chance had so oddly +introduced him. + +Volume One, Chapter XXIV. + +THE HOG-HUNTER. + +The boar had stopped over the _debris_ of Herbert's breakfast--some +fragments of the mountain-cabbage which had been left upon the ground. +Switching his feathered tail, and uttering a short grunt, expressive of +satisfaction, the animal proceeded to snap up the scattered pieces, +crunching them between his formidable grinders. + +All of a sudden, the tranquil tableau became transformed into a scene of +a more exciting nature. As Herbert continued to gaze, he saw the boar +suddenly make a start, jerk his muzzle high in the air, at the same +instant uttering a peculiar cry. It was a cry of alarm, mingled with +angry menace--as testified by the bristles upon his back, which had +suddenly shot up into an erect spinous mane. + +Herbert looked for the enemy. None was in sight--at least to his eyes. +The boar, however, had either seen or heard something: for he was +evidently upon the strain to spring off. + +Just then, a loud report reverberated through the glade, a bullet hissed +through the air, and the animal, with a shrill scream, turned over upon +its back, the blood spouting from a wound in its thigh. + +In an instant it was on its feet again; but rage appeared to hinder it +from attempting flight! It retreated only a few paces, taking its stand +between two of the buttresses of the _ceiba_--on the very spot where the +young Englishman had passed the night. There--protected on both flanks +and in the rear--and uttering fierce grunts of defiance--it stood, as if +awaiting an enemy. + +Soon after a man emerged from the underwood, armed with what appeared to +be a straight sword or cutlass. + +In a dozen quick strides he crossed the glade; and, having reached the +roots of the cotton-tree, became engaged in a deadly struggle with the +wounded boar. + +Notwithstanding the damage done to it, the creature was still a +formidable antagonist; and it required all the address of the hunter-- +habile though he appeared to be--to avoid contact with his terrible +tusks. + +Each alternatively charged upon the other--the hunter endeavouring to +thrust the quadruped with his long blade, while the boar in its turn +would repeatedly rush towards its antagonist, suddenly rear itself upon +its hind legs, and strike upwards with its armed and grinning muzzle. + +It was one of the fore-legs of the animal that had been broken by the +shot; but the wound, although greatly disabling it, did not hinder it +from making a protracted and desperate defence. The spurs of the +cotton-tree rising on each side proved its best protectors--hindering +its assailant from turning its flanks and piercing it in the side. The +combat, therefore, was face to face; and the blade of the hunter, +repeatedly thrust forward, as often glanced harmlessly from the hard +skull, or glinted with a metallic ring against the tusks of the boar. + +For several minutes did this singular contest continue--the young +Englishman all the while watching it with lively interest; but without +giving the slightest signs of his being a spectator. Indeed, the scene +was so exciting, and had come under his eyes so unexpectedly, that he +was for a time held speechless by sheer surprise. + +After a while the struggle between biped and quadruped was brought to a +termination. The former--who appeared to possess all the craft of his +calling--put in practice a _ruse_ that enabled him to give his +antagonist the _coup de grace_. + +It was a feat, however, accompanied by no slight danger: and so adroitly +did the hunter perform it, as to create within the mind of his +spectator--himself a sportsman--both surprise and admiration. + +Thus was the feat accomplished. In charging forward upon his human +adversary, the boar had incautiously ventured beyond the flanking +buttresses of the tree. In fact, the hunter had enticed the animal +outward--by making a feint of retreating from the contest. + +Just then--and before the brute could divine his intention--the hunter +rushed forward, and, throwing all his strength into the effort, sprang +high into the air. Quite clearing the quadruped, he alighted in the +angle formed by the converging spurs of the tree. + +The boar had now lost his position of defence; though that of the hunter +for the moment appeared desperate. He had calculated his chances, +however: for before the enraged animal--hindered by its hanging limb-- +could face round to assail him, he had lunged out with his long blade, +and buried it up to the hilt between the creature's ribs. + +With a shrill scream the boar fell prostrate to the earth--the red +stream from his side spurting over and spoiling the improvised mattress +of cotton-tree flock upon which the young Englishman had passed the +night. + +Up to this moment the latter had done nothing, either by word or +gesture, to make known his presence. He was about to descend and +congratulate the hunter for the performance of a feat that had filled +him with admiration. A fancy, passing through his mind at the moment, +determined him to remain where he was a little longer; and, in obedience +to this fancy, he sat gazing down upon the successful sportsman at the +bottom of the tree. + +To say the least, the appearance presented by this individual was +singular--especially so in the eyes of an Englishman unacquainted with +West Indian characters and costumes. But, in addition to +picturesqueness of attire, there was something in the carriage and +features of the man that could not fail to make a remarkable impression +upon the beholder. + +This impression was decidedly pleasing, though the face that produced it +was not that of a _white_ man. Neither was it the face of a black man; +nor yet the yellow countenance of the mulatto. It was a shade lighter +than the last, with a dash of crimson in the cheeks. It was this +colouring of the cheeks, perhaps, combined with a well-rounded, +sparkling iris, that imparted the agreeable expression. + +The man was young. Herbert Vaughan might have guessed him about his own +age without being many months astray; and, in point of size and shape, +there was no great dissimilitude between them. In the colour of their +hair, complexion, and features, there was no resemblance whatever. +While the face of the young Englishman was of the oval type, that of the +West Indian hunter was rotund. A prominent, well-cut chin, however, +hindered it from degenerating into any expression of feebleness. On the +contrary, firmness was the prevailing cast of the features; and the +hold, swelling throat was a true physical index of daring. + +The complexion of the hunter betokened a _sang-mele_ between African and +Caucasian, which was further confirmed by the slight crisping that +appeared among the jet-black curls of hair thickly covering his head. +The luxuriance of these curls was partly kept in check by a head-dress +that Herbert Vaughan would have been less surprised to see in some +country of the East: for, at the first glance, he had mistaken it for a +turban. On closer examination, however, it proved to be a brilliant +kerchief--the Madras check--ingeniously folded around the forehead, so +as to sit coquettishly over the crown, with the knot a little to one +side. It was a _toque_--not a turban. + +The other articles of dress worn by the young hunter were an outer coat, +or shirt, of sky-blue cottonade, cut somewhat blouse-fashion; an +under-shirt of fine white linen, ruffled and open at the breast; +trousers of the same material as the coat; and buff coloured boots of +roughly-cleaned cowskin. There were straps and strings over both +shoulders, all crossing each other on the breast. + +From the two that hung to the right side were suspended a powder-horn +and skin shot-pouch. On the same side hung a large calabash canteen, +covered with a strong network of some forest withe to protect it from +injury. Under the left arm was a carved and curving cow's horn, +evidently not for holding powder, since it was open at both ends. Below +this, against his hip, rested a black leathern sheath--the receptacle of +that long blade still reeking with the blood of the boar. + +This weapon was the _machete_--half sword, half hunting-knife--which, +with its straight, short blade, and haft-like hilt of greyish horn, is +to be found in every cottage of Spanish America, from California to the +"Land of Eire." Even where the Spaniards have been, but _are_ no +longer--as in Jamaica--the universal _machete_ may be seen in the hands +of hunter and peasant--a relic of the conqueror colonists. + +Volume One, Chapter XXV. + +THE RUNAWAY. + +Up to the moment that the boar was laid prostrate upon the ground, he in +the _toque_ had been kept too well employed with his fierce game to find +time for looking at anything else. It was only after dealing the +deathblow to his adversary that he was able to stand erect and take a +survey around him. + +In an instant his eye fell upon the gun of the young Englishman, and +then the white pieces of palm-cabbage upon which the boar had been +browsing. + +"Hoh!" exclaimed he, still gasping for breath, but with a look that +betrayed surprise; "A gun! Whose? Some runaway slave who has stolen +his master's fowling-piece? Nothing more likely. But why has he left +the piece behind him? And what has started him away from here? Surely +not the boar? He must have been gone before the animal got up? +_Crambo_! a richer prize than the porker, if I could only have set eyes +on him! I wonder in which direction he has tracked it? Hish! what do I +see? The runaway! yes--yes, it is he! Coming back for his gun? +_Crambo_! This is unexpected luck, so early in the morning--a slave +capture--a _bounty_!" + +As the hunter hurriedly muttered these concluding phrases, he glided +with stealthy tread between the two buttresses; and, having placed +himself in the extreme angle of their convergence, remained perfectly +still--as if to await the approach of some one who was advancing towards +the tree. + +Herbert, from his perch, had a full view of the new comer thus +announced. + +A young man of a copper red colour, with straight black hair, shaggily +tossed and pulled over his forehead, as if some one had been tearing it +from his head! His face, too--a fine one, notwithstanding its mahogany +colour--appeared freshly lacerated; and his whole body bore the marks of +inhuman abuse. The coarse cotton shirt that covered his shoulders was +blotched with blood; and long, crimson-coloured stripes running across +his back, looked like the imprints of an ensanguined lash! + +The attitude in which he was advancing was as peculiar as his costume. +When Herbert first set eyes on him he was _crawling_ upon his hands and +knees, yet going with considerable speed. This led to the belief that +his bent position was assumed rather with a view towards concealment, +than from the inability to walk erect. + +This belief was soon after confirmed: for on entering the glade the +young man rose to his feet, and trotted on--but still with body bent-- +towards the _ceiba_. + +What could he want there? + +Was he making for the huge tree as a haven of safety from some deadly +pursuers? Herbert fancied so. + +The hunter believed he was coming back for his gun--having no suspicion +that the real owner of the piece was just over his head. + +Both remained silent; though from motives having no similitude to each +other. + +In a few seconds' time, the fugitive--for his actions proved him one-- +had reached the bottom of the tree. + +"Halt!" cried the hunter, showing himself round the buttress, and +stepping in front of the new comer. "You are a runaway, and my +prisoner!" + +The fugitive dropped upon his knees, crossed his arms over his breast, +and uttered some phrases in an unknown tongue--amongst which Herbert +could distinguish the word "Allah." + +His captor appeared equally at fault about the meaning of the words; but +neither the attitude of the speaker, nor the expression upon his +countenance, could be mistaken: it was an appeal for mercy. + +"_Crambo_!" exclaimed the hunter, bending forward, and gazing for a +moment at the breast of the runaway--on which the letters "J.J." were +conspicuously branded--"with that tattoo on your skin, I don't wonder +you've given leg-bail to your master. Poor devil! they've tattooed you +still more brutally upon the back." + +As he said this--speaking rather to himself than to the wretched +creature that knelt before him--the hunter stretched forth his hand, +raised the shirt from the shoulders of the runaway, and gazed for a +while upon his naked back. The skin was covered with purple wales, +crossing each other like the arteries in an anatomic plate! + +"God of the Christian!" exclaimed the yellow hunter, with evident +indignation at the sight, "if this be your decree, then give me the +fetish of my African ancestors. But no," added he, after a pause, "J.J. +is _not_ a Christian--he cares for no God." + +The soliloquy of the hunter was here interrupted by a second speech from +the suppliant, spoken in the same unknown tongue. + +This time the gesture signified that it was an appeal for protection +against some enemy in the rear: for the sympathetic looks of his captor +had evidently won the confidence of the fugitive. + +"They are after you--no doubt of it," said the hunter. "Well, let them +come--whoever are your pursuers. This time they have lost their chance; +and the bounty is mine, not theirs. Poor devil! it goes against my +grain to deliver you up; and were it not for the law that binds me, I +should scorn their paltry reward. Hark! yonder they come! Dogs, as I'm +a man! Yes, it's the bay of a bloodhound! Those villainous man-hunters +of Batabano--I knew old Jessuron had them in his pay. Here, _my_ poor +fellow, in here!" and the hunter half-led, half-dragged the fugitive +over the carcass of the wild boar, placing him between the buttresses of +the _ceiba_. "Stand close in to the angle," he continued. "Leave me to +guard the front. Here's your gun; I see it's loaded. I hope you know +how to use it? Don't fire till you're sure of hitting! We'll need both +blade and shot to save ourselves from these Spanish dogs, that will make +no distinction between you and me. Not they! _Crambo_! there they +come!" + +The words had scarce issued from the speaker's lips, when two large dogs +broke, with a swishing noise, out of the bushes on the opposite side of +the glade--evidently running on the trail of the fugitive. + +The crimson colour of their muzzles showed that they had been baited +with blood--which, darkening as it dried, rendered more conspicuous the +white fang-like teeth within their jaws. + +They were half-hound, half-mastiff; but ran as true-bred hounds on a +fresh trail. + +No trail could have been fresher than that of the flogged fugitive; and, +in a few seconds after entering the glade, the hounds had got up to the +_ceiba_, in front of the triangular chamber in which stood the runaway +and his protector. + +These dogs have no instinct of self-preservation--only an instinct to +discover and destroy. Without stopping to bark or bay--without even +slackening their pace--both dashed onward, bounding into the air as they +launched themselves upon the supposed objects of their pursuit. + +The first only impaled himself upon the outstretched _machete_ of the +yellow hunter; and as the animal came down to the earth, it was to utter +the last howl of his existence. + +The other, springing towards the naked fugitive, received the contents +of the fowling-piece, and, like the first, rolled lifeless upon the +earth. + +Volume One, Chapter XXVI. + +A COMBAT DECLINED. + +The spectator in the tree began to fancy that he was dreaming. Within +the short space of twenty minutes he had been the witness of a greater +number of exciting events than he might have seen, in his own land, +during the same number of years! + +And yet he had not witnessed the _finale_ of the drama. The gestures of +the runaway, and the speeches of his captor, had already warned him that +there was another act to come; and, from the attitudes of both, it was +evident that this act would be performed on the same stage, without any +change of scene. + +As yet the young Englishman saw no particular reason why he should cease +to be a spectator, and become an actor, in this West Indian drama. That +the yellow hunter should kill a wild boar, capture a runaway slave, and +afterwards shield both his captive and himself from a brace of +bloodhounds, by killing the fierce brutes, was no affair of his. The +only thine: that concerned him was the unceremonious use that had been +made of his fowling-piece; but it is scarce necessary to say that +Herbert Vaughan, had he been asked, would have freely lent the piece for +such a purpose. + +Nothing, however, had yet transpired to tempt him from a strict +neutrality; and, until something should, he determined to preserve the +passive attitude he had hitherto held. + +Scarce had he come to this determination, when three new actors appeared +upon the scene. + +One, the foremost, and apparently the leader, was a tall, black-bearded +man in a red plush waistcoat, and high-topped horse-skin boots. The +other two were lean, lithe-looking fellows in striped shirt and +trousers, each wearing broad-brimmed palm-leaf hats that shadowed their +sharp Spanish physiognomies. + +The bearded man was armed with gun and pistols. The others appeared to +be without firearms of any kind; but each carried in his hand a long +rapier-like blade, the sheath of which hung dangling from his hip. It +was the _machete_--the same kind of weapon as that which the yellow +hunter had but the moment before so skilfully wielded. + +On perceiving the tableau under the tree, the three new comers halted-- +and with no slight surprise depicted in their looks. The men of Spanish +face appeared more especially astonished--indignation mingling with +their surprise--when they beheld in that grouping of figures the bodies +of their own bloodhounds stretched dead upon the sward! + +The bearded man, who, as we have said, appeared to be the leader, was +the first to give speech to the sentiment that animated all three. + +"What game's this?" he cried, his face turning purple with rage. "Who +are you that has dared to interfere with our pursuit?" + +"_Carajo_! he's killed our dogs?" vociferated one of the Spaniards. + +"_Demonios_! you'll pay for this with your lives!" added the other, +raising his _machete_ in menace. + +"And what if I have killed your dogs?" rejoined the yellow hunter, with +an air of _sang froid_, which won the silent applause of the spectator. +"What if I have? If I had not killed _them_, they would have killed +_me_!" + +"No," said one of the Spaniards; "they would not have touched you. +_Carrambo_! they were too well trained for that--they were after _him_. +Why did you put yourself in the way to protect him? It's no business of +yours." + +"There, my worthy friend, you are mistaken," replied he in the _toque_, +with a significant sneer. "It _is_ my business to protect him--my +_interest_ too: since he is my captive." + +"_Your_ captive!" exclaimed one of the men, with a glance of concern. + +"Certainly, he is my captive; and it was my interest not to let the dogs +destroy him. Dead, I should only have got two pounds currency for his +head. Living, he is worth twice that, and mileage money to boot; though +I'm sorry to see by the `J.J.' on his breast that the mileage money +won't amount to much. Now, what more have you to say, my worthy +gentlemen?" + +"Only this," cried the man with the black beard; "that we listen to no +such nonsense as that there. Whoever you may be, I don't care. I +suspect who you are; but that don't hinder me from telling you, you've +no business to meddle in this affair. This runaway slave belongs to +Jacob Jessuron. I'm his overseer. He's been taken on Jessuron's own +ground: therefore you can't claim the captive, nor yet the bounty. So +you'll have to give him up to _us_." + +"_Carrambo, si_!" vociferated both the Spaniards in a breath, at the +same time that the three advanced towards the runaway--the bearded +overseer pistol in hand, and his two comrades with their _machetes_ +drawn, and ready to be used. + +"Come on, then!" cried the hunter, in a taunting tone--as he spoke +making signs to the runaway to stand to his defence. "Come on! but, +remember! the first that lays hand upon him is a dead man. There are +three of you, and we are but two--one already half-dead with your +inhuman cruelty." + +"Three against two! that's not a fair fight!" cried the young +Englishman, dropping down from the tree, and ranging himself on the +weaker side. "Perhaps it'll be a better match now," added he, taking a +pistol from under the breast of his coat, and cocking it as he did so-- +evidently with the intention of using it, should the affair be carried +further. + +"And who are you, sir?" demanded the overseer, with as much arrogance as +he could throw into his manner. "Who, sir, may I inquire, is the white +man who thus places himself in opposition to the laws of the island? +You know the penalty, sir; and by _my_ word, you shall pay it!" + +"If I have committed a breach of the laws," replied Herbert, "I presume +I shall have to answer for it. But I have yet to learn what law I have +broken; and I don't choose that you shall be my judge." + +"You are aiding in the escape of a slave!" + +"That's not true," interrupted the yellow hunter. "The slave is already +captured; he could not have escaped; and this young gentleman--who is as +much a stranger to me as to you--I am sure, had no intention of +assisting him to escape." + +"Bah!" exclaimed the overseer; "we care not for your talk--we deny your +right to capture him; and you had no business to interfere. We had +already tracked him down with the dogs; and should have had him without +any help from you. He is _our_ prize, therefore; and I again demand of +you to give him up!" + +"Indeed!" sneeringly responded the yellow hunter. + +"I make the demand," continued the other, without noticing the sneer, +"in the name of Jacob Jessuron--whose overseer I've told you I am." + +"Perhaps, were you Jacob Jessuron himself, I might resist your demand," +rejoined the hunter, coolly, and without any appearance of braggadocio. + +"You refuse to surrender him, then?" said the overseer, as if making his +final overture. + +"I do," was the firm reply. + +"Enough--you shall repent this; and you, sir," continued the deputy of +Jessuron, turning a fierce look upon Herbert, "you shall answer before a +magistrate for the part it has pleased you to play in this transaction. +A pretty white man you for the island of Jamaica! A few more of your +sort, and we'd have a nice time with our niggers. Don't fear, mister; +you'll see me again." + +"I have no particular desire," rejoined Herbert; "for, certainly," +continued he, with provoking jocularity, "an uglier-looking face than +yours I have never set eyes upon; and it could be no pleasure to me to +look upon it again." + +"Confusion!" cried the overseer. "You'll repent that insult before +you're a month older--curse me if you don't!" + +And with this characteristic menace, the ruffian turned and walked +sullenly away. + +"_Caspita_!" cried one of the Spaniards, as the two hastened to follow +their leader. "My brave dogs! Ah, _demonio_! you shall pay dearly for +them. Two hundred _pesos_ each--not a _cuartito_ less!" + +"Not a _cuartito_ for either!" responded the yellow hunter, with a +mocking laugh. "Haven't I proved that they are not worth it? With all +your boasting of what your bloodhounds could do, look at them now. +_Vaya_! my fine fellows! Go back to your own country, and hunt runaway +negroes there. Here you must leave that game to those who know how to +manage it--_the Maroons_!" + +Herbert observed that the hunter, on pronouncing these last words, drew +himself up with an air of majestic pride--as he did so, glancing +scornfully towards the crestfallen _cacadores_. + +An angry "_Carrai_!" simultaneously hissed from the lips of both, was +the only reply made by the two Spaniards; who, at the same instant, +turned their backs upon the _ceiba_, and followed their leader across +the glade. + +Volume One, Chapter XXVII. + +THE MAROONS. + +As soon as they were gone out of sight, the hunter turned towards +Herbert, his eyes sparkling with gratitude. + +"Master!" said he, making a low obeisance as he spoke, "after that, +words are but a poor way of offering thanks. If the brave white +gentleman who has risked his life for a coloured outcast will let me +know his name, it will not be forgotten by _Cubina, the Maroon_." + +"Cubina, the Maroon!" Struck by the oddness of the name and title--as +he had already been by the appearance and behaviour of him who bore +them--Herbert repeated the phrase mechanically, rather than otherwise. + +"Yes, that is my name, master." The young Englishman, though not yet +enlightened as to the odd appellation, was too well-bred to press for an +explanation. + +"Pardon me," said he, "for not directly replying to your request. I am +an Englishman; my name Vaughan--Herbert Vaughan." + +"By that name, master, I take it you have relatives in the island. The +owner of Mount Welcome estate--" + +"Is my uncle." + +"Ah! then, sir, anything a poor Maroon hunter could do for you would not +be much. All the same, you have my thanks; and if--; but, master," +continued the speaker, suddenly changing his tone, as if in obedience to +some instinct of curiosity, "may I make bold to ask why you are afoot so +early? The sun is not yet ten minutes above the trees, and Mount +Welcome is three miles distant. You must have tracked it here in the +dark--no easy matter, through these tangled woods?" + +"I passed the night here," replied the Englishman, smiling; "that was +_my_ bed, where the boar is now sleeping." + +"Then the gun is yours, not his?" + +The hunter nodded interrogatively towards the runaway, who, standing +some paces off, was regarding both the speakers with glances of +gratitude, not, however, unmingled with some signs of uneasiness. + +"Yes, it is my gun. I am very glad the piece was not empty: since it +enabled him to destroy the fierce brute that would otherwise have had +him by the throat. Wretched as the poor fellow appears, he handled his +weapon well. What is he, and what have they been doing to him?" + +"Ah, Master Vaughan; by those two questions, it is easy to tell you are +a stranger to the island. I think I can answer both--though I never saw +the young man before. Poor wretch! The answers are written out upon +his skin, in letters that don't require much scholarship to read. Those +upon his breast tell that he's a slave--the slave of J.J.: Jacob +Jessuron. You'll excuse me from giving my opinion of _him_." + +"What have they done to you, my poor fellow?" asked Herbert of the +runaway--his compassion hindering him from waiting for the more +roundabout explanation of the Maroon. + +The blood-bedaubed creature, perceiving that the speech was addressed to +him, made a long rejoinder; but in a tongue unknown both to the hunter +and Herbert. The latter could distinguish two words that he had heard +before--"Foolah" and "Allah"--both of which occurred repeatedly in the +speech. + +"It's no use asking him, Master Vaughan. Like yourself, he's a stranger +to the island; though, as you see, they've already initiated him into +some of its ways. Those brands upon his breast are nearly fresh--as you +may tell by the red skin around the letters. He's just been landed from +Africa, it appears. As for the marks upon his back--those have been +made by a plaything, the white planters and their overseers in these +parts are rather too fond of using--the cart-whip! They've been +flogging the poor devil; and, _Crambo_! they've given it to him thick +and sharp." + +As the Maroon made this remark, he raised the blood-stained shirt, +exposing to view that back so terribly reticulated. The sight was +sickening. Herbert could not bear to gaze upon it; but averted his eyes +on the instant. + +"From Africa, you say? He has not got negro features!" + +"As to his features, that don't signify. There are many African tribes +who are not negro-featured. I can tell from his that he is a Foolah. I +hear him use the word as he talks." + +"Yoy--Foolah! Foolah!" cried the runaway on hearing pronounced the name +of his people; and then he continued in a strain of the same language, +accompanied by much gesticulation. + +"I wish I knew his lingo," said the hunter. "I know he's a Foolah. It +is some reason why I should take an interest in him; and may be, if only +for that, I might--" + +The speaker paused, as if he had been talking to himself; and then +continued the soliloquy only in thought. After a pause he resumed +speech. + +"_Crambo_! very little would tempt me _not_ to restore him to his +master." + +"And must you?" + +"I must. We Maroons are bound by a treaty to deliver up all runaways we +may take; and if we fail to do so--that is, _when it is known_; but +these villains of old Jessuron know I have him--" + +"You will receive a bounty, you say?" + +"Yes. They will try to deprive me of that; but it isn't the bounty +would tempt me in this case. There is something about this young +fellow.--My word! he _is_ like her!--ay, as if he were her brother." + +This last speech was delivered in soliloquy. + +"Like her! Like whom?" demanded Herbert with a puzzled look. + +"Your pardon," replied the hunter. "I was struck with a resemblance +between this poor fellow and one whom I know; but, Master Vaughan," he +continued, as if wishing to change the subject, "you have not said how +you came to be all night in the woods? You were hunting yesterday and +lost your way?" + +"True, I lost my way, but not exactly while hunting." + +"Perhaps that is all the sort of breakfast you have had?" and the Maroon +pointed to some pieces of the palm-cabbage that still lay on the turf. + +"I have both supped and breakfasted upon it," replied Herbert. "I had +climbed the tree for water, when the boar came up to break his fast upon +what remained of it." + +The Maroon smiled at this explanation of some circumstances by which +even he had been mystified. + +"Well," said he, "if you are not anxious to return at once to Mount +Welcome, and will give me five minutes' time, I think I can provide you +something better than raw cabbage." + +"I am not particularly in a hurry about getting back to Mount Welcome. +Perhaps I may never go back!" + +These words, combined with the air of the young Englishman as he uttered +them, did not escape the notice of the intelligent Maroon. + +"Something strange in this young man's history!" said he to himself, +though he had the delicacy not to demand an explanation of the ambiguous +speech just made. "Well, it's not my affair, I suppose!" + +Then, addressing himself to Herbert, he said aloud-- + +"Do you agree, Master Vaughan, to eat a forest breakfast of my +providing?" + +"Indeed, with pleasure," answered Herbert. "Then I must ring for my +servants." As he said this, the hunter raised his curved horn to his +lips and blew a long, tremulous blast. + +"That should procure us company and something to eat, master," said he, +allowing the horn to drop back to its place. + +"Hark!" he continued, the instant after, "there are some of my fellows. +I thought they could not be far off." + +As he spoke the sound of a horn was heard reverberating through the +woods; and then another, and another--until nearly a dozen could be +distinguished, yet all in different directions. They were evidently +answers to the signal he had sounded. + +"So, Master Vaughan," he resumed, with an air expressive of triumph, +though in a restrained and modest way, "you see these vultures would not +have had it all their own way? My hawks were too near for that. Not +the less am I beholden to you, Master Vaughan. I did not think it worth +while to call my people. I knew the poltroons would not venture beyond +a little swaggering talk. See! they come!" + +"Who?" + +"The Maroons!" + +Herbert heard a rustling among the bushes on the opposite side of the +glade; and, at the same time, about a dozen armed men emerged from the +underwood, and advanced rapidly towards the _ceiba_. + +Volume One, Chapter XXVIII. + +A FOREST BREAKFAST. + +The young Englishman gazed upon the advancing troop with keen curiosity. +There were about a dozen of them, all black men, or nearly all--only +one or two of them showing any admixture of colour. There was not a +dwarfish or deformed figure in the party. On the contrary, every man of +them possessed a tall stalwart form, strong muscular limbs, a skin +shining with health, and eyes sparkling with a vigorous brilliance that +betokened an innate sense of freedom and independence. + +Their erect, upright carriage and free, forward step confirmed the +belief, which Herbert had already formed, that these black men were not +_bondsmen_. There was nothing of the slave either in their looks or +gestures. But for the colour of their skins, he would never have +thought of associating such men with the idea of slavery. Armed as they +were with long knives and guns, some of them with stout spears, they +could not be slaves. Besides, their equipments told that they were +hunters--and warriors, if need he. All of them had horns, with pouches +suspended over their shoulders; and each was provided with a netted +calabash for water, like that of the yellow hunter, already described. + +A few carried an equipment altogether different--consisting of a small +pannier of withe-work, or palm-fibre neatly woven. It rested upon the +back, where it was held in place by a band of palm sinnet, crossing the +breast, and another brought over the forehead, which thus sustained a +portion of the weight. This pannier was the _cutacoo_--the depository +of their provisions, and of such articles as were required in their wild +forest rambles. + +With regard to their costume, that was _bizarre_, though not +unpicturesque. No two were dressed alike, though there was a certain +idiosyncrasy in their attire, which proclaimed them all of one +following. The _toqued_ "bandanna" was the most common head-dress--a +few having palm-leaf hats. Only some of them had a shirt with sleeves; +others wanted a complete pair of trousers; and one or two were naked +from the waist upward, and from the thighs downwards--the white cotton +loin-cloth being the unique and only garment! All of them had their +feet and ankles covered: as the stony and thorny paths they were +accustomed to tread rendered necessary. The _chaussure_ was the same +with all; and appeared to be a tight-fitting jack-boot, of some species +of raw hide, without seam or stitching of any kind. The reddish +bristles standing thinly over its surface, proclaimed the character of +the material. It was the skin of the wild hog: the hind leg of a boar, +drawn upon the foot while fresh and warm, as it dries tightening over +the instep and ankle like an elastic stocking. A little trimming with +the knife is all that is necessary for this ready-made mocassin; and +once on, it is never taken off till the wearing of the sole renders +necessary a refit. Drawing on his boots, therefore, is no part of the +diurnal duties of a Jamaica hog-hunter. + +I have said that Herbert Vaughan regarded the new comers with a feeling +of curiosity as well as surprise. It was no wonder he did so. The mode +in which they had been summoned into his presence, their echo-like +answers to the horn signal, and their prompt, almost instantaneous +appearance, formed a series of incidents that more resembled what might +have been witnessed upon the stage of a theatre than in real life; and +had the yellow hunter been a white man, and he and his followers clad in +Lincoln green, the young Englishman might have fancied himself in +Sherwood Forest, with bold Robin _redivivus_, and his merry men +mustering around him! + +"This white gentleman has not eaten breakfast," said Cubina to his +followers as they came up. "Well, Quaco! what have you got in your +cutacoos?" + +The individual thus appealed to was a jet-black negro of large +dimensions, with a grave yet quizzical cast of countenance. He appeared +to be a sort of lieutenant: perhaps the "Little John" of the party. + +"Well, worthy capten," answered he, saluting the yellow hunter with a +somewhat awkward grace; "I believe there's enough, one thing with +another--that be, if the gen'lman has got a good appetite, and's not too +nice about what he eats." + +"What is there? Let me see!" interrupted Cubina, as he proceeded to +inspect the panniers. "A ham of wild hog barbecued," continued he, +turning out the contents of a cutacoo. "Well, that to begin with--the +white gentry are rather partial to our barbecued hog! What else? a +brace of soldier-crabs. So far good. Ah! better still, a pair of +ramier pigeons, and a wild guinea-fowl. Who carries the coffee and +sugar?" + +"Here, captain," cried another of the cutacoo men, throwing his pannier +to the ground, and drawing out several bags which contained the +necessary materials for coffee-making. + +"A fire, and be quick!" commanded Cubina. + +At the word given a tinder was struck, dry leaves and branches quickly +collected, and a sparkling, crackling fire soon blazed upon the ground. +Over this was erected a crane--resting horizontally on two forked +sticks--which soon carried a brace of iron pots suspended in the blaze. + +With so many cooks, the process of preparing the meat for the pots was +very short and quick. The pigeons and guinea-fowl were singed as fast +as feathers would burn; and then being "drawn and quartered," were flung +in torn fragments into the largest of the pots. + +The soldier-crabs shared the same fate; and some pieces of the wild hog +ham. A handful of salt was added, water, a few slices of plantain, +eddoes, calalue, and red capsicum--all of which ingredients were +supplied from the cutacoos. + +A strong fire of dried faggots soon brought the pot to a furious boil; +and the lieutenant Quaco--who appeared also to act as _chef de +cuisine_--after repeatedly testing the contents, at length declared that +the _pepper-pot_ was ready for serving up. + +Dishes, bowls, cups, and platters made their appearance--all being +shells of the calabash, of different shapes; and as soon as Herbert and +the captain were helped to the choicest portions of the savoury stew, +the remainder was distributed among the men: who, seating themselves in +groups over the ground, proceeded to discuss the well-known viand with +an avidity that showed it was also their breakfast. + +The _pepper-pot_ was not the sole dish of the _dejeuner_. Pork steaks, +cut from the carcass of the freshly-slain boar, were added; while +plantains and "cocoa-fingers," roasted in the ashes, contributed a +substitute for bread not to be despisingly spoken of. + +The second pot boiling over the fire contained the coffee; which, +quaffed from the calabashes, tasted as fine as if sipped out of cups of +the purest Sevres porcelain. + +In this "al-fresco" feast the poor captive was not forgotten, but was +supplied among the rest--the colossal Quaco administering to his wants +with an air of quizzical compassion. + +The young Englishman desired enlightenment about the character of his +hosts; but delicacy forbade any direct inquiries. Could they be +robbers--brigands with black skins? Their arms and accoutrements gave +colour to the supposition. _Maroons_ they called themselves, but the +name was new, and helped not Herbert in his perplexity. "If robbers," +thought he, "they are the gentlest of their calling." + +Breakfast over, the Maroons gathered up their traps, and prepared to +depart from the spot. + +Already the wild boar had been butchered, cut up into portable flitches, +and packed away in the cutacoos. + +The wales upon the back of the runaway had been anointed by the hand of +Quaco with some balsamic cerate; and by gestures the unfortunate youth +was made to understand that he was to accompany the party. Instead of +objecting to this, his eyes sparkled with a vivid joy. From the +courtesy he had already received at their hands, he could not augur +evil. + +The Maroons, out of respect to their chief--whom they appeared to treat +with submissive deference--had moved some distance away, leaving Captain +Cubina alone with his English guest. The latter, with his gun +shouldered, stood ready to depart. + +"You are a stranger in the island?" said the Maroon, half +interrogatively. "I fancy you have not been living long with your +uncle?" + +"No," answered Herbert. "I never saw my uncle before yesterday +afternoon." + +"_Crambo_!" exclaimed the hunter-captain in some surprise; "you have +just arrived, then? In that case, Master Vaughan--and that is why I +have made bold to ask you--you will scarce be able to find your way back +to Mount Welcome. One of my people will go with you?" + +"No, thank you. I think I can manage it alone." + +Herbert hesitated to say that he was not going to Mount Welcome. + +"It is a crooked path," urged the Maroon; "though straight enough to one +who knows it. You need not take the guide so far as the great house; +though Mr Vaughan, I believe, does not object to our people going on +his grounds, as some other planters do. You can leave the man when you +get within sight of the place. Without a guide, I fear you will not be +able to find the path." + +"In truth, Captain Cubina," said Herbert, no longer caring what idea his +words might communicate to his Maroon acquaintance, "I don't wish to +find the path you speak of. I'm not going that way." + +"Not to Mount Welcome?" + +"No." + +The Maroon remained for a moment silent, while a puzzled expression +played over his features. "Only arrived yesterday--out all night in the +woods--not going back! Something strange in all this." + +Such were the quick reflections that passed through his mind. + +He had already noticed an air of distraction--of dejection, too--in the +countenance of the stranger. What could it mean? The gay ribbon +knotted in the button-hole of his coat--what could that mean? + +Captain Cubina was of the age--and perhaps just then in the very +temper--to observe all matters that appeared indications of a certain +soft sentiment; and both the blue ribbon and the thoughtful attitude +were of that signification. He knew something of the white denizens of +Mount Welcome--more, perhaps, of those with a coloured skin. Could the +odd behaviour of the young Englishman be attributed to some family +difficulty that might have arisen there? + +The Maroon mentally answered this interrogatory for himself: with the +reflection that something of the kind had occurred. + +Perhaps Captain Cubina was not merely guessing! Perhaps he had already +listened to some whisper of plantation gossip: for electricity itself +can scarce travel faster than news in the negro _quarter_! + +If the hunter-captain had any suspicions as to the real position of his +woodland guest, he was polite enough not to express them. On the +contrary, he waived the opportunity given him by Herbert's ambiguous +rejoinder, and simply said-- + +"If you are going elsewhere, you will need a guide all the same. This +glade is surrounded by a wide stretch of tangled woods. There is no +good path leading anywhere." + +"You are very kind," answered Herbert, touched by the delicate +solicitude of this man with a coloured skin. "I wish to reach Montego +Bay; and if one of your men would set me on the main road, I should +certainly feel under great obligations. As to rewarding him for his +trouble, beyond thanking him, I am sorry to say that circumstances just +now have placed it out of my power." + +"Master Vaughan!" said the Maroon, smiling courteously as he spoke, +"were you not a stranger to us and our customs, I should feel offended. +You speak as if you expected me to present you with a bill for your +breakfast. You seem to forget that, scarce an hour ago, you threw +yourself before the muzzle of a pistol to protect the life of a Maroon-- +a poor outcast mulatto of the mountains! And now--but I forgive you. +You know me not--" + +"Pardon me, Captain Cubina; I assure you--" + +"Say no more! I know your English heart, master--still uncorrupted by +vile prejudices of caste and colour. Long may it remain so; and whether +Captain Cubina may ever see you again, remember! that up yonder in the +Blue Mountain,"--the Maroon pointed as he spoke to the purple outline of +a mountain ridge, just visible over the tops of the trees--"up yonder +dwells a man--a coloured man, it is true, but one whose heart beats with +gratitude perhaps as truly as that of the whitest; and should you ever +feel the fancy to honour that man with a visit, under his humble roof +you will find both a friend and a welcome." + +"Thanks!" cried the young Englishman, stirred to enthusiasm by the free +friendship of the yellow hunter. "I may some day avail myself of your +hospitable offer. Farewell!" + +"Farewell!" responded the Maroon, eagerly grasping the hand which +Herbert had held out to him. "Quaco!" he cried, calling to his +lieutenant, "conduct this gentleman to the main road that leads to the +Bay. Farewell, Master Vaughan, and may fortune favour you!" + +Volume One, Chapter XXIX. + +QUACO. + +It was not without regret that Herbert parted with this new friend; and +long time was he following upon the heels of Quaco, before he ceased to +reflect on the circumstances that had led to his making so singular an +acquaintance. + +Quaco, being one of the taciturn sort, made no attempt to interrupt +Herbert's meditations until the two had walked together for more than a +mile. Then, however, some matter upon his mind brought the guide to a +halt, and the commencement of a conversation. + +"Two tracks from here, buckra. We can follow either; but dis to the +right am the shortest--the best road, too." + +"Why not take it, then?" + +"O--a master; there may be reasons." + +"What! for avoiding it?" + +"Ya--a!" replied Quaco, in a thoughtful, drawling tone. + +"What reasons, friend?" + +"Don't you see the roof of a house--just over the tops of them pawpaws?" + +"Yes--what of that?" + +"That's the baracoon." + +"The baracoon?" + +"Ya--the penn of de Jew Jess'ron." + +"And what if it be?" + +"Ah, buckra, what if it be? If we take the path to the right we must +pass the Jew's house, and some of his people are sure see us. That John +Crow's a justice of the peace, and we may get into trouble." + +"Oh! about the affair of the runaway, you mean? Your captain said he +belonged to a Mr Jessuron." + +"As much 'bout the dogs as the man. Captain had a right to claim the +runaway as his catch; but these Spanish cusses'll make a muss 'bout thar +dogs. They'll say our captain killed them out o' spite--that they'll +swar to; since it's well-known we mountainee men don't like such +interlopers here, meddlin' with our business." + +"But neither you nor I killed the dogs?" + +"All, buckra, all the same--you helped--your gun helped kill them. +Besides, you hindered the John-Crows from pecking the hawk." + +"For what I have done I am not afraid to answer before a justice,--be it +this Mr Jessuron, or any other," said the young Englishman; conscious +of having acted rightly in the part he had taken in the quarrel. + +"Not much justice to be expected from Justice Jess'ron, master. My +advice be to keep out of the hands of justice as long's we can; and that +we can only do by taking the road to the left." + +"Will it be much out of our way?" asked Herbert; not caring to greatly +inconvenience himself for the reasons set forth by his sable guide. + +"Nothing to signify," answered Quaco, though not speaking very +truthfully: for the path he intended to take was really much longer than +the one leading by Jessuron's house. + +"In that case," assented Herbert, "take which way you please!" + +Without further parley, Quaco strode forward on the path branching to +the left--as before, silently followed by him whom he was guiding. + +The track they had taken ran entirely through woods--in some places very +difficult to traverse on account of the thorny thickets as well as the +unevenness of the ground, which caused the path to be constantly +ascending, or trending rapidly downward. At length, however, they +arrived at the summit of a high ridge, and were moving onwards amidst +groves of pimento, more open than the forest from which they had +emerged. + +From the top of the ridge, Herbert saw a large house shining against the +verdant background of the landscape, which he at once recognised as the +mansion of Mount Welcome. + +They were not going towards the house, but in a diagonal direction, +which would bring them out on the avenue near the entrance-gate. + +Herbert called out to his guide to make halt. The young man did not +like the idea of entering upon the avenue, lest he might encounter some +of his uncle's people--a circumstance which he should not wish to have +reported at the great house. He therefore requested Quaco to conduct +him by some way lying more to the right--so that he might reach the main +road without being seen from Mount Welcome. + +The guide yielded compliance, though not without a little grumbling +reluctance--as he turned off, muttering some words about giving "as wide +a berth as possible to the ole Jew penn." + +He obliqued, however, into a new direction; and after another traverse +through the woods, Herbert had the satisfaction of finding himself on +the main road leading to Montego Bay. + +The young Englishman had no farther need of a guide, and Quaco was just +on the point of taking leave of him, when at that moment a party of +horsemen suddenly made appearance round a bend in the road. There were +six or seven in all; and they were riding forward at a rapid pace, as if +bent upon some serious business. + +At the first sight of these strangers, Quaco shot like an arrow into the +underwood--calling upon the buckra to follow his example. + +Herbert, however, disdaining to hide himself, remained standing in the +middle of the road. + +Seeing his determination, Quaco returned to his side; as he did so, +clamorously protesting against the imprudence of his _protege_. + +"Don't like their looks," muttered the Maroon, as he glanced +apprehensively towards the horsemen. "It might be--by the Great +Accompong it is!--that harpy Ravener, the overseer of Jess'ron. Golly! +buckra, we's in for it! No use tryin' to 'scape 'em now." + +As Quaco finished speaking, the horsemen rode forward on the ground--one +and all halting as they came to the spot where the pedestrians were +standing. + +"Here's our fellow!" cried the bearded man at their head, whom Herbert +easily identified. "Just dropped upon him, like a duck upon a June bug. +Now, Mr Tharpey, do your duty! We'll hear what this young gentleman's +got to say before the justice." + +"I arrest you, sir," said the person appealed to as Mr Tharpey. "I am +head constable of the parish--I arrest you in the name of the law." + +"On what charge?" demanded Herbert, indignantly. + +"Mr Ravener here will bring the charge. I've got nothing to do with +that part of it. You must come before the nearest justice. I reckon +the nighest justice from here is the Custos Vaughan?" + +This half-interrogatory of the constable was addressed, not to Herbert, +but to his own followers. Though it was spoken rather in an undertone, +the young man heard it with sufficient distinctness, and with very +little complacency. To be carried back into the presence of his uncle-- +whom he had so lately defied--and in the character of a felon; to be +brought, under such humiliating circumstances, before the eyes of his +fair cousin--before the eye-glass of his late fellow-passenger--was a +prospect that could not fail to be unpleasant. + +It was a sort of relief, therefore, when Ravener--who appeared to use +some guiding influence over the constable and his _posse comitatus_-- +overruled the suggestion that Mr Vaughan was the nearest magistrate, +and claimed that honour for Jacob Jessuron, Esquire, of the Happy +Valley. + +After some discussion between the parties upon this moot legal point, +the overseer's opinion was adopted: and it was determined that the case +should be carried before Justice Jessuron. + +Both Herbert and his guide were then formally arrested in the name of +the king, and marched off in custody--not without some very vociferous +protestations on the part of Quaco, with a long string of threats that +he would some day make both constable and overseer pay for this outrage +upon the person of a free Maroon. + +Volume One, Chapter XXX. + +A JAMAICA JUSTICE. + +Jessuron, Esquire, held court in the verandah of his dingy +dwelling-house, where we have already seen him assisting at a different +spectacle. + +He was now seated, with a small table before him, covered with a piece +of green baize, and carrying a gold snuff-box, an inkstand, pens, and +some sheets of paper. + +A book or two lay upon the table, one of which, by the lettering upon +its cover, proclaimed its title and character--_The Jamaica Justice_. +It was bound in black leather--a colour sufficiently emblematic of the +chief subject on which it treated: for more than four-fifths of the laws +and regulations it contained, related to creatures with black skins. + +The Justice was in full costume, as the occasion required--that is, he +wore his best blue body-coat with gilt buttons, his drab small-clothes +and top-boots. The brownish beaver had been laid aside: as the sanctity +of justice requires even the judge's head to be uncovered; but the white +cotton skull-cap still remained upon his cranium; justice in Jamaica not +being so rigorous as to exact its removal. + +With the spectacles well set upon his nose, and his thin face screwed +into an expression of pompous importance, Squire Jessuron sate behind +his bench, waiting till the parties to the suit should get well into +their places. + +He was sole justice present; but, of course, it was merely a +"preliminary inquiry before a magistrate." To have tried a white +criminal on the serious charge brought against Herbert Vaughan, would +have required a fuller bench--at least three magistrates, and one of +them a custos. + +Jessuron's power could go no farther than to _commit_ the presumed +criminal to prison, until a more formal process should be organised +against him. + +Herbert had been brought up in front of the table--his captor, the +constable, and one or two of the _posse_ standing behind him. On the +right side appeared Ravener, backed by the two Spanish _cacadores_; the +last-mentioned worthies no longer--as had formerly been their constant +custom--attended by their canine companions. + +Quaco had been left in the yard below--unguarded--since there was, in +reality, no charge against _him_. + +There was one other witness to this magisterial trial--the daughter of +the Justice himself. Yes, the fair Judith was present--as on all +important occasions; but this time not conspicuously so. On the +contrary, she was seated in a window that opened on the verandah, her +beautiful face half-concealed behind the netted fringe-work of the +curtains. The position enabled her to observe what was passing, without +formally exposing her own person to view. + +Her face was not altogether hidden; and her white shining forehead and +dark lustrous eyes, gleaming through the gauzy muslin that veiled them, +only appeared more piquantly attractive. + +It was evident, from her actions, that the gentle Judith had no +intention of remaining unseen. There were several rather good-looking +men in the party that accompanied the constable--young planters he had +picked up by the way--and who desired nothing better than a lark of this +kind. From the moment that these had entered the courtyard, the fair +mistress of the mansion had remained almost constantly by the window. + +It was only, however, after the people had got grouped in the gallery, +that she took her seat behind the curtain, and entered upon a more +minute inspection of their faces and persons. + +She was not long engaged in this game, when a change might have been +observed passing over her countenance. + +At first her eyes had wandered from face to face with rather a sneering, +cynical expression--such as the Jewess well knew how to put on. All at +once, however, her gaze became fixed; and the contemptuous smile +gradually gave place to a look of more serious regard. + +By following the direction of her eyes, the object of this regard could +easily be discovered. It was the "prisoner at the bar!" + +What was the meaning of that gaze? Sympathy for the accused? + +She knew why the young man was there. Ravener had already informed her +father of all that had transpired, and the daughter had heard the tale. +Was it a generous pity for the position in which this unknown youth was +placed, that was now stirring within the breast of the fair Judith, and +had produced that sudden change in the expression of her countenance? +Hers was hardly the soul for such a sentiment. + +Certainly, however, she was actuated by some motive different from the +common: for as the trial progressed she no longer looked stealthily from +behind the curtain; but having drawn it to one side, she directed her +full glance on the stranger, and kept her eyes fixed upon him, +apparently regardless of any observation which her conduct might call +forth! + +Her father, whose back was towards her, saw nothing of this; though it +was not unnoticed by the others. + +The young Englishman--though little disposed at that moment to the +contemplation of aught beyond his own unpleasant position--could not +help observing the beautiful face directly opposite to where he stood; +nor did he fail to notice the peculiar glances with which he was being +regarded. + +Was the old man, before whom he stood on trial, the father of that fair +creature at the window? Such was his interrogative reflection, as he +glanced inquiringly from one to the other. + +Some time had been occupied by the overseer in telling his story--to +substantiate the charge he had made. That done, the prisoner was put +upon his defence. + +"Young man!" said the Justice, "you have heard what thish witness +alleges against you. What hash you to say in your defence? And first +tell ush what's your name?" + +"Herbert Vaughan." + +Jessuron re-adjusted his spectacles, and looked at the prisoner with +some show of surprise. The bystanders--stolid constable and all--seemed +a little startled. Quaco, whose colossal form rose above the railings +in the background, uttered a grunt of satisfaction on hearing the young +man's name--which he had not known before--a name all-powerful in the +district, being that of the mighty Custos himself! + +There was one upon whom the words appeared to produce an impression +different from that of mere surprise. A glance of anger shot from the +dark eyes of the Jewess as she heard it pronounced, and the look of +sympathy for the moment disappeared. Evidently, to her the name was +distasteful. + +"Herbert Vochan?" repeated the Justice. "Might you be any kinshman of +Mishter Vochan of Mount Welcome?" + +"His nephew," was the laconic reply. + +"Ah! hish nephew! Bless me! ish that true?" + +This announcement, as testified by his speech, produced a sudden +commotion in the mind of the Jew-justice. From some little that was +known of his secret hostility towards his neighbour of Mount Welcome-- +Ravener knew more than a little--it might have been expected that the +discovery of the relationship of the prisoner would have put him in high +glee. To be sitting in judgment upon the near kinsman of the Custos-- +accused of a serious crime, too--was a proud position for Jacob +Jessuron, who could remember many a slight he had received from the +haughty lord of Mount Welcome. What a splendid _revanche_! + +Certainly the manner of the Justice, on learning who was before him, +seemed to indicate that such were his reflections. He rubbed his skinny +hands together; helped himself from his gold snuff-box; gleefully smiled +from behind his glasses, which were once more shifted upon the sharp +ridge of his nose; and then, bending his face forward over the table, he +remained for some moments smiling, but silent and thoughtful, as if +considering how he should proceed. + +After a time he raised his eyes, and freshly scrutinised the prisoner-- +who had already returned an affirmative answer to his last query. + +"Blesh my soul!--I never knew that Mishter Vochan had a nephew! You are +from England, young man? Hash your uncle any more English nephews?" + +"Not that I am aware of," replied Herbert, frankly. "I believe I am his +only relative of that kind--in England, at least." + +The proviso in this reply betrayed a significant fact: that the young +man was not very well acquainted with the family affairs of his colonial +kinsman. + +The astute Justice did not fail to notice this deficiency in the +nephew's knowledge. + +"How long hash you been in Shamaica?" asked he, as if endeavouring to +arrive at an explanation of some point that was puzzling him. + +"A night, and part of two days--in all, about twenty-four hours," +replied Herbert, with scrupulous exactness. + +"Blesh my soul!" again exclaimed the Justice; "only twenty-four hours! +It'sh a wonder you're not at your uncle's house? You hash been there?" + +"Oh, yes," answered Herbert, carelessly. + +"You come to shtay at Mount Welcome, I supposhe?" + +Herbert made no reply to this interrogatory. "You shleep there lash +night? Excushe me young man, for ashking the question, but ash a +magistrate--" + +"You are perfectly welcome to the answer, _your worship_," said Herbert, +laying a satirical emphasis on the titular phrase; "I did _not_ sleep +there last night." + +"Where did you shleep then?" + +"In the woods," answered Herbert. + +"Moshesh!" exclaimed the Jew-justice, raising his spectacles in +surprise. "In the woods, you shay?" + +"In the woods," re-affirmed the young man; "under a tree; and a very +good bed I found it," he added, jocosely. + +"And did your uncle know of thish?" + +"I suppose my uncle knew nothing about it, and as little did he care," +replied Herbert, with a reckless indifference as to what answer he gave. + +The bitter emphasis on the last words, with the tone in which they were +delivered, did not escape the observation of Jessuron. A suspicion had +arisen in his mind, that there was something amiss in the relationship +between the young man and his uncle; to the comprehension of which the +answer of the former, aided by a knowledge of the character and affairs +of the latter, was gradually giving him a clue. A secret joy sparkled +in his sunken eyes, as he listened to the last answer given. + +All at once he discontinued the direct examination of the prisoner; and, +signing to Ravener and the constable to come near, he became engaged +with these two worthies in a whispering conversation. + +What passed between the trio, the young Englishman could not tell--nor +indeed any one else who chanced to be present. The result, however, was +to Herbert as pleasant as unexpected. + +When Jessuron again returned to address him, a complete change appeared +to have taken place in his manner; and, instead of the frowning Justice, +Herbert now saw before him a man who appeared more in the character of a +friendly protector--bland, smiling, almost obsequious! + +"Mashter Vochan," said he--rising from his magisterial seat, and +extending his hand to the prisoner--"you will excushe the rough +treatment you hash had from theshe people. It ish a great crime in +thish country--helping a runaway shlave to eshcape; but as you hash +joosh landed, and cannot be ekshpected to know our shtatutes, the law +deals mershifully with a firsht offence. Besides, in thish instance, +the runaway--who ish one of my own shlaves--did not eshcape. He ish in +the hands of the Maroons, and will soon be brought in. The punishment I +inflict upon you--and I shall inshist upon its being carried out--ish, +that you eats your dinner with me, and--I think that ish punishment +enough. Mishter Ravener," added he, calling to his overseer, and at the +same time, pointing to Quaco, "take that good fellow and see that he ish +cared for. Now, Mashter Vochan! pleashe to step inside, and allow me to +introshuce you to my daughter Shoodith." + +It would have been contrary to all human nature had Herbert Vaughan not +felt gratified at the pleasant turn which this disagreeable affair had +taken; and perhaps this gratification was enhanced at the prospect of +the proposed introduction. Indeed, no man, however cold his nature, +could have looked upon those lovely eyes--so long wistfully watching him +from the window--without wishing a nearer acquaintance with their owner. + +The angry glance had been evanescent. It was gone long before the +conclusion of the trial scene; and as the young Englishman--in obedience +to the invitation of his _ci-devant_ judge--stepped across the verandah, +the fair face, retreating from the window, was suffused with the +sweetest and most sympathetic of smiles. + +Volume One, Chapter XXXI. + +AN UNEXPECTED PATRON. + +Thus had the chapter of accidents that conducted Herbert Vaughan to the +penn of Jacob Jessuron been brought to a very unexpected termination. + +But the end was not yet. There was more to come--much more. + +Herbert was surprised at the turn things had taken. The only +explanation he could think of was, that it was to his uncle's name he +was indebted for the honours that were being done to him--a mere +neighbourly feeling of the penn-keeper for the great sugar-planter. + +"They are friends," thought Herbert, "and this kindness to me is the +offspring of that friendship." + +The reflection did not give him pleasure, but the contrary. He felt +himself in an awkward position--the recipient of a hospitality not meant +for himself, but rather for one who had injured him; and who, although +his own relative, he now regarded as his enemy. + +His uncle would hear of it--no doubt, soon--and would be able to accuse +him of taking advantage of his name. The thought caused Herbert a +feeling of uneasiness. + +Perhaps he would have cared less had there been no one but his uncle to +be cognisant of the false position. But there was. His short and +troubled visit to Mount Welcome had made Herbert Vaughan acquainted with +one whose remembrance was likely for a long time to exert an influence +over his thoughts--even though lips as red, and eyes, perhaps, as +brilliant as hers, were now smiling courteously upon him. + +The memory of his cousin Kate was still mellow. He could fancy her +soft, sweet voice yet ringing in his ears; the warm glow of her virgin +presence seemed hanging like a halo around him: all urging him to +preserve the heroism of his character, if only for the sake of standing +well in her estimation. + +Influenced by these considerations, he resolved to throw off the mask +with which circumstances had momentarily invested him, and declare the +true position in which he stood to his haughty relative. + +It was not until the conclusion of the dinner--after the daughter of his +host had retired smilingly from the table--that the young Englishman +unburdened himself. Then--perhaps a little prompted by the wine--he +made a full confession of the disagreeable circumstances existing +between himself and the master of Mount Welcome. + +Was it the wine--somewhat freely pressed upon him--that hindered him +from perceiving the displeasure which his communication had produced +upon his hearer? Was there any show of displeasure? + +If there was, Herbert did not perceive it. + +On the contrary, had the young man been closely observant, he might have +noticed an effect of altogether an opposite character. Behind the green +goggles, he might have seen those deep dark Israelitish eyes sparkling +with joy at the revelation he had made. + +"I'm exsheedingly sorry, young Mashter Vochan," said the Jew, after his +surprise at Herbert's revelations had apparently subsided--"exsheedingly +sorry I ish--to hear that you and your uncle are not on good terms. Ah! +well; we mush hope for the besht; and ash I am one of Mishter Vochan's +humble friendsh, possibly I might do somethingsh to reconshile your +little quarrel. Doosh you not intend going back to Mount Welcome?" + +"Never. After what has passed, never!" + +"Ach! yoush musht not be too revengeful. Mishter Vochan ish a proud +man; and I musht say he hash behaved badly--very badly; but still he ish +your uncle." + +"He has not acted as such." + +"That ish true--very true--thish fine gentleman you shpeak of--shtill, +that ish no reason why Mishter Vochan should treat hish own nephew so +shabby. Well, well--I am sorry--exsheedingly sorry. But, Mashter +Herbert," continued the penn-keeper, interrogating his guest with +evident interest, "what _dosh_ you intend to do? I supposhe you hash +monish of your own?" + +"I am sorry to say, Mr Jessuron, I have not." + +"No monish at all!" + +"Not a shilling," affirmed Herbert, with a careless laugh. + +"That _ish_ bad. Where dosh you think of going--since you shay you will +not return to Mount Welcome?" + +"Well," said Herbert, still preserving his air of jocularity, "I was +making for the port again, when your worthy overseer and his friends +intercepted me--luckily, I may say: since, but for their intervention, I +should in all likelihood have gone without dinner to-day--at all events, +I should not have dined so sumptuously." + +"A wretched dinner, Mashter Vochan--a misherable dinner to what your +uncle could have given you. I'm but a poor humble man compared with the +Cushtos; but what I hash ish at your service any time." + +"Thanks!" said Herbert. "I know not, Mr Jessuron, how I shall ever +repay you for your hospitality. I must not tax it any longer, however. +I see, by the sun, it is time I should be making for the Bay." + +As Herbert spoke, he was rising to take his departure. + +"Shtop, shtop!" cried his host, pushing him back into his chair; "not +to-night, Mashter Vochan, not thish night. I can't promish you ash fine +a bed as yoush might get at Mount Welcome, but I think I can give you a +better ash you shleep in lash night--ha, ha! You musht stay with ush +thish night; and Shoodith will make you some music. Don't shay a word; +I takesh no refushal." + +The offer was a tempting one; and, after some further pressure, Herbert +acquiesced in it. He was partly influenced to stay where he was, by the +poor prospect of a lodging which the Bay afforded him; and, perhaps, a +little from a desire to hear the promised music. + +The conversation was continued, by his host putting some further +interrogatories:--How did Herbert intend to employ himself in the Bay? +What prospect had he of employment; and in what line? + +"I fear not much in any _line_," replied the young man, answering both +questions in one, and in a tone of sarcastic despondence. + +"Hash you no profeshion?" + +"Alas, no!" replied Herbert. "It was intended by my father I should +have one; but he died before my education was completed; and my +college--as is too often the case--has taught me little more than a +knowledge of dead languages." + +"No ushe--no ushe whatever," rejoined the intelligent Israelite. + +"I can draw a landscape," pursued the young man, modestly, "or paint a +portrait tolerably well, I believe--my father himself taught me these +accomplishments." + +"Ah! Mashter Vochan, neither ish of the shlightest ushe here in +Shamaica. If you could paint a house, or a waggon, or a shopkeeper'sh +sign, it would bring you more monish than to make the likeneshes of +every face in the island. What saysh you to the situation of +book-keeper?" + +"Unfortunately, I know nothing of accounts. The very useful science of +book-keeping I have not been taught." + +"Ha! ha! ha!" replied Jessuron, with an encouraging chuckle, "you ish +what we, in Shamaica, call _green_, Mashter Vochan. You musht know that +a book-keeper here hash no books to keep. He doesh not even put a pen +to paper." + +"How is that, Mr Jessuron? I have heard the statement before, though I +did not comprehend what was meant by it." + +"Then I musht explain, Mashter Vochan. There ish a law here which makes +all proprietors of shlaves keep a white man on hish estate for every +fifty blacksh. A very shilly law it ish; but it ish a law. Theesh +white supernumeraries are called book-keepers: though, ash I've told +you, they keepsh no books. Now you understand what it meansh." + +"Then, what duties do they perform?" + +"Oh! that depends on circumshtances. Some look after the shlaves, and +some do thish and some that. But, egad! now I think of it, Mashter +Vochan, I am myshelf in need of a book-keeper. I have joosh bought a +new lot of blacksh, and I musht not break the law. I am ushed to give +my book-keepers fifty poundsh a-year, currenshy; but if you would be +content to accept such a berth, I would make the salary--on account of +your uncle--a hundred poundsh a-year. You would also be found in +everything elshe. What dosh you shay, Mashter Vochan?" + +This unexpected proposal on the part of the penn-keeper, caused his +guest to hesitate and reflect. + +Not long, however. His forlorn, homeless situation presented itself too +forcibly to his mind, to keep him long in doubt as to what answer he +should make. + +Suffice it to say, that the offer--which to the young Englishman +appeared only too generous--was accepted; and from that hour the Happy +Valley became his home. + +Volume One, Chapter XXXII. + +A PLOTTING PARENT. + +Jacob Jessuron was never known to be generous without expecting some +reward. Never did he fling out a sprat without the expectation of +catching a salmon. + +What object had he in view in thus becoming the patron and protector of +the young Englishman--an outcast adventurer, apparently incapable of +making him any return? Why such liberal conditions unasked, and to all +appearance unmerited--for, to say the truth, Herbert Vaughan was not the +stuff for a _slave-driver_, a term almost synonymous with that of +_book-keeper_. + +No doubt the Jew had some deep scheme; but in this, as in most other +matters, he kept his counsel to himself. Even his "precious Shoodith" +was but half-initiated into his designs upon this special subject: +though a conversation, which occurred between father and daughter, had +placed before the latter some data calculated to assist her in guessing +at them. + +The date of this dialogue was upon the morning after Herbert's arrival +at the penn. + +"Show the young man every kindness, Shoodith dear! Don't shpare pains +to pleashe him." + +"Why particularly _him_, my worthy parent?" + +"Hush! mine Shoodith! Shpeak low, for the luf of Gott! Don't let him +hear you talk in that shtyle. Theesh young Englishmen are not ushed to +our ways. I hash a reason for being friendly to him." + +"What! because he is the nephew of Vanity Vaughan? Is that your reason, +rabbi?" + +"I shay, shpeak low! He's in his shleeping room, and may hear you. A +single word like that you shay might shpoil all my plans." + +"Well, father, I'll talk in whispers, if you like. But what _are_ your +plans? You'll let _me_ know them, I suppose?" + +"I will, Shoodith, but not shoost now. I hash an idea, mine daughter--a +grand idea, it ish! And if all goes right, you, Shoodith, will be the +richest woman in Shamaica." + +"Oh, I have no objection to that--to be the richest woman in Jamaica, +with a prince for my footman! Who won't envy Judith Jessuron, the +daughter of the slave-merchant?" + +"Shtay! a word about that, Shoodith dear. In hish presence we musht say +as little ash possible upon the subject of shlaves. He musht see no +shlave-whipping here--at leasht till he gets ushed to it. Ravener musht +be told to behave himshelf. I knowsh of more than one young Englishmans +who left his place joosh for that very thing. He needn't go among the +field handsh at all. I'll take care of that. But, dearest Shoodith! +everything depends on you; and I knowsh you can, if you will." + +"Can what, worthy father?" + +"Make this young fellow satishfied to shtay with ush." + +The look which accompanied these words betokened some other meaning, +than what they might have literally conveyed. + +"Well," replied Judith, affecting to understand them literally, "I fancy +there will not be much difficulty about that. If he's as poor as you +say, he'll only be too well pleased to get a good situation, and keep +it, too, I should think." + +"I'sh not so sure about that. He'sh a young man of a proud spirit. +That ish proved by hish leaving his uncle ash he has done--without a +shilling in hish pocket--and then to defy the Cushtos faysh to faysh! +Blesh my soul! what a foolish young fellow he ish! He must be managed, +Shoodith, dear--he must be managed; and you're shoost the one to do it." + +"Why, father, to hear you talk, one would think that this poor young +Englishman was a rich sugar estate--to be managed for some grand +profit--" + +"Aha!" exclaimed the other, interrupting her; "maybe yesh--maybe he +_ish_ a rich sugar estate. We shee--we shee." + +"Now, had it been the grand guest of Mount Welcome," continued Judith, +without heeding the interruption; "had it been this lord of Montagu +Castle that you wished me to _manage_,"--at the word the Jewess smiled +significantly--"I might have come nearer comprehending you." + +"Ah! there is no schance there--no schance whatever, Shoodith." + +"No chance of what?" abruptly inquired the Jewess. + +"Why, no schance of--that ish--" + +"Come, worthy rabbi, speak out! You needn't be afraid to tell me of +what you're thinking: I know it already." + +"Of what wash I thinking, Shoodith?" The father put this question +rather with a view to escape from an explanation. The daughter +instantaneously answered, + +"You were thinking, and I suppose still are, that I--your daughter, the +child of an old nigger-dealer as you are--would have no chance with this +aristocratic stranger who has arrived--this Mr Montagu Smythje. That's +your thought, Jacob Jessuron?" + +"Well, Shoodith, dear! you know he ish to be the guesht of the Cushtos; +and the Cushtos, ash I hash reason to know, hash an eye on him for his +own daughter. Miss Vochan is thought a great belle, and it would be no +ushe for ush to ashpire--" + +"She a belle!" exclaimed the Jewess, with a proud toss of her head, and +a slight upturning of her beautiful spiral nostril; "she was not the +belle of the last ball at the Bay--not she, indeed; and as for +_aspiring_, the daughter of a slave-dealer is at least equal to the +daughter of a slave--maybe a slave herself--" + +"Hush, Shoodith! not a word about that--not a whisper in the hearing of +thish young man. You know he ish her cousin. Hush!" + +"I don't care if he was her brother," rejoined the Jewess, still +speaking in a tone of spiteful indignation--for Kate Vaughan's beauty +was Judith Jessuron's especial fiend; "and if he were her brother," +continued she, "I'd treat him worse than I intend to do. Fortunately +for him, he's only her cousin; and as he has quarrelled with them all, I +suppose--has he said anything of _her_?" + +The interrogatory was put as if suggested by some sudden thought--and +the questioner seemed to wait with considerable anxiety for the answer. + +"Of hish cousin Kate, you mean?" + +"Why, who should I mean!" demanded Judith, bluntly. "There is no other +_she_ in Mount Welcome the young fellow is likely to be talking about; +nor _you_ either--unless, indeed, you've still got that copper-coloured +wench in your head. Of course, it's Kate Vaughan I mean. What says he +of her? He must have seen her--short as his visit seems to have been; +and, if so, you must have talked about her last night--since you sat +late enough to have discussed the whole scandal of the island." + +With all this freedom of verbiage, the Jewess seemed not to lose sight +of the original interrogatory; and her frequent repetition of it was +rather intended to conceal the interest with which she looked for the +answer. If her words did not betray that interest, her looks certainly +did: for, as she bent forward to listen, a skilled observer might have +detected in her eyes that sort of solicitude which springs from a heart +where the love-passion is just beginning to develop itself--budding, but +not yet blooming. + +"True, Shoodith, true," admitted the slave-merchant, thus bantered by +his own bold offspring. "The young man did shpeak of hish cousin; for I +hash a wish to know what wash hish opinion of her, and ashked him. I +wash in hopes he had quarrelled with her too; but, ach! no--he hashn't-- +he hashn't." + +"What might that signify to you?" + +"Moch, moch, daughter Shoodith; a great deal." + +"You're a mysterious old man, father Jacob; and, though I've been +studying you for nearly a score of years, I don't half understand you +yet. But what did he say of Kate Vaughan? He saw her, I suppose?" + +"Yesh. He had an interview with her. He saysh she behaved very kind to +him. He'sh not angry with _her_. S'help me, no!" + +This information appeared to produce no very pleasant impression upon +the Jewess; who, with her eyes downcast upon the floor, remained for +some moments in a thoughtful attitude. + +"Father," she said, in a tone half serious, half in simplicity, "the +young fellow has got a bit of blue ribbon in his button-hole. You have +noticed it, I suppose? I am curious to know what he means by wearing +that. Is it an order, or what? Did he tell you?" + +"No. I notished it; but, ash he shayed nothings about it, I did not +ashk him. It'sh no order--nothing of the kind. His father was only a +poor artisht." + +"I wonder where he procured that piece of ribbon?" said Judith, speaking +in a low tone, and half in soliloquy. + +"You can ashk him for yourself, Shoodith. There ish no harm in that." + +"No, not I," answered Judith, suddenly changing countenance, as if +ashamed of having shown the weakness of curiosity. "What care I for +him, or his ribbon?" + +"No matter for that, Shoodith, dear; no matter for that, if yoush can +make him _care for you_." + +"Care for _me_! What, father! do you want him to fall in love with me?" + +"Joosh that--joosh so." + +"For what reason, pray?" + +"Don't ash know. I hash a purpose. You shall know it in good time, +Shoodith. You make him in luff with you--over head and earsh, if you +like." + +The counsel did not appear averse to her who received it. Anything but +displeasure was in her looks as she listened to it. + +"But what," asked she, after a reflective pause, and laughing as she +spake, "what if, in luring him, I should myself fall into the lure? +They say that the tarantula is sometimes taken in its own trap." + +"If you succeed in catching your fly, mine goot shpider Shoodith, that +won't signify. So much the better ish that. But fusht catch your fly. +Don't let go the shtrings of your heart, till you hash secured hish; and +then you may do as you pleashe about falling in luff with him. Hush! I +hear him coming from hish shamber. Now, Shoodith dear, show him every +reshpect. Shower on him your sweetest of shmiles!" + +And terminating the dialogue with this parental injunction, Jacob +Jessuron walked off to conduct his guest into the great hall. + +"Ah! worthy father!" said Judith, looking after him with a singular +expression upon her countenance, "for once, you may find me a dutiful +daughter; though not for you or your purpose--whatever that may be. I +have my suspicion of what it is. No: not for that either--grand destiny +as it might be deemed. There is something grander still--a passion +perilous to play with; and just for that peril shall I play with it. +Ha--he comes! How proud his step! He looks the master, and yon old +Israelite his overseer--his book-keeper--ha! ha! ha!" + +"Ach!" she exclaimed, suddenly checking her laughter, and changing her +smile to a frown; "the ribbon! he wears it still! What can it mean? No +matter now! Ere long I shall unravel the skein of its silken mystery-- +even if this heart should be torn in the attempt!" + +Volume One, Chapter XXXIII. + +ANOTHER OF THE SAME. + +On that same morning, and about the same hour, a scene of remarkable +parallelism was passing at Mount Welcome. Loftus Vaughan was holding +dialogue with his daughter, as Jacob Jessuron with Judith--the subject +very similar--the motives of planter and penn-keeper equally mean. + +"You have sent for me, papa?" said Kate, entering the great hall in +obedience to a summons from her father. + +"Yes, Catherine," replied Mr Vaughan, in a tone of unwonted gravity. + +The grave tone was not needed. The "Catherine" was enough to tell Kate +that her father was in one of his serious moods: for it was only when in +this vein, that he ever pronounced her baptismal name in full. + +"Sit down there," he proceeded, pointing to a fauteuil in front of where +he was himself seated. "Sit down, my daughter, and listen: I have +something of importance to say to you." + +The young lady obeyed in silence, and not without a little of that +reluctant _gaucherie_ which patients display when seating themselves in +front of a physician, or a naughty child composing itself to listen to +the parental lecture. + +The natural gaiety of "Lilly Quasheba" was not easily restrained; and +though the unusual gravity depicted in her father's face might have +checked it, the formality with which he was initiating the interview had +an opposite effect. At the corners of her pretty little mouth might +have been observed something that resembled a smile. + +Her father did observe something that resembled it. + +"Come, Catherine!" said he, reprovingly, "I have called you out to talk +over a serious matter. I expect you to listen seriously, as becomes the +subject." + +"Oh! papa, how can I be serious, till I know the subject? You are not +ill, I hope?" + +"Tut, no--no. It has nothing to do with my health--which, thank +Providence, is good enough--nor yours neither. It is our wealth, not +our health, that is concerned--our wealth, Catherine!" + +The last phrase was uttered with emphasis, and in a confidential way, as +if to enlist his daughter's sympathies upon the subject. + +"Our wealth, papa? I hope nothing has happened? You have had no +losses?" + +"No, child," replied Mr Vaughan, now speaking in a fond, parental tone; +"nothing of the sort, thanks to fortune, and perhaps a little to my own +prudence. It is not losses I am thinking about, but gains." + +"Gains!" + +"Ay, gains--gains, Catherine, which you can assist me in obtaining." + +"I, papa? How could I assist you? I know nothing of business--I am +sure I know nothing." + +"Business! ha! ha! It's not business, Kate. The part which you will +have to play will be one of pleasure--I hope so, at least." + +"Pray tell me what it is, papa! I am sure I'm fond of pleasure at all +times--everybody knows that." + +"Catherine!" said her father, once more adopting the grave tone, "do you +know how old you are?" + +"Certainly, papa! at least, what I have been told. Eighteen--just past +last birthday." + +"And do you know what young girls should, and generally do, think about, +when they come to be of that age?" + +Kate either affected or felt profound ignorance of the answer she was +expected to make. + +"Come!" said Mr Vaughan, banteringly, "you know what I mean, +Catherine?" + +"Indeed, papa, I do not. You know I keep no secrets from you; you +taught me not. If I had any, I would tell them to you." + +"I know you're a good girl, Kate. I know you would. But that is a sort +of secret I should hardly expect you to declare--even to me, your +father." + +"Pray what is it, papa?" + +"Why, at your age, Kate, most girls--and it is but right and natural +they should--take to thinking about a young man." + +"Oh! that is what you mean! Then I can answer you, papa, that I _have_ +taken to thinking about one." + +"Ha!" ejaculated Mr Vaughan, in a tone of pleased surprise; "you have, +have you?" + +"Yes, indeed," answered Kate, with an air of the most innocent +_naivete_. "I have been thinking of one--and so much, that he is scarce +ever out of my mind." + +"Ha!" said the Custos, repeating his exclamation of surprise, and rather +taken aback by a confession so unexpectedly candid. "Since how long has +this been, my child?" + +"Since how long?" rejoined Kate, musingly. + +"Yes. When did you first begin to think of this young man?" + +"Oh! the day before yesterday, after dinner--ever since I first saw him, +father." + +"_At_ dinner you first saw him," said Mr Vaughan, correcting his +daughter. "But, no matter for that," he continued, gleefully rubbing +his hands together, and not noticing the puzzled expression upon Kate's +countenance. "It might be, that you did not think of him in the first +moments of your introduction. It's not often people do. A little +bashfulness has to be got over. And so then, Kate, you like him now-- +you think you like him now?" + +"Oh! father, you may be sure I do--better than any one I ever saw-- +excepting yourself, dear papa." + +"Ah! my little chit, that's a different sort of liking--altogether +different. The one's love--the other is but filial affection--each very +well in its place. Now, as you're a good girl, Kate, I have a bit of +pleasant news for you." + +"What is it, papa?" + +"I don't know whether I should tell you or not," said the Custos, +playfully patting his daughter upon the cheek; "at least, not now, I +think. It might make you too happy." + +"Oh, papa! I have told you what you wished me; and I see it has made +you happy. Surely you will not conceal what you say will do the same +for me? What is the news?" + +"Listen, then, Kate!" + +Mr Vaughan bending forward, as if to make his communication more +impressive, pronounced in a whisper:-- + +"He reciprocates your feeling--_he likes you_!" + +"Father, I fear he does not," said the young Creole, with a serious air. + +"He does--I tell you so, girl. He's over head and ears in love with +you. I know it. In fact, I saw it from the first minute. A blind man +might have perceived it; but then a blind man can see better than a +young lady that's in love. Ha! ha! ha!" + +Loftus Vaughan laughed long and loudly at the jest he had so +unexpectedly perpetrated: for at that moment he was in the very mood for +merriment. His dearest dream was about to be realised. Montagu Smythje +was in love with his daughter. That he knew before. Now his daughter +had more than half admitted--in fact, quite confessed--that she liked +Smythje; and what was _liking_ but _love_? + +"Yes, Kate," said he, as soon as his exultation had to some extent +subsided, "you are blind, you little silly--else you might have seen it +before. His behaviour would show how much he cares for you." + +"Ah! father, I think that his behaviour would rather show that he cares +not for either of us. He is too proud to care for any one." + +"What! too proud? Nonsense! it's only his way. Surely he has not shown +anything of that to you, Kate?" + +"I cannot blame him," continued the young girl, still speaking in a +serious tone. "The fault was not his. Your treatment of him, father-- +you must not be angry at me for telling you of it--now that I know all, +dear papa--was it not enough to make him act as he has done?" + +"My treatment of him!" cried the Custos, with a self-justifying, but +puzzled look. "Why, child, you rave! I could not treat him better, if +I was to try ever so. I have done everything to entertain him, and make +him feel at home here. As to what _he_ has done, it's all nonsense +about his pride: at least, with us he has shown nothing of the kind. On +the contrary, he is acting admirably throughout the whole matter. +Certainly, no man could behave with more politeness to you than Mr +Smythje is doing?" + +"Mr Smythje!" + +The entrance of this gentleman at the moment prevented Mr Vaughan from +noticing the effect which the mention of his name had produced: an +unexpected effect, as might have been seen by the expression which +Kate's features had suddenly assumed. + +But for that interruption--hindering the _eclaircissement_ which, no +doubt, his daughter would on the instant have made--Mr Vaughan might +have sat down to breakfast with his appetite considerably impaired. + +His guest requiring all his attention, caused him to withdraw suddenly +from the dialogue; and he appeared neither to have heard the exclamatory +repetition of Smythje's name, nor the words uttered by Kate in a lower +tone, as she turned towards the table:-- + +"_I thought it was Herbert_!" + +Volume One, Chapter XXXIV. + +A SWEETHEART EXPECTED. + +The departure of the young Englishman, under the conduct of Quaco, was a +signal for the black band to disperse. + +At a word from their chief, they broke up into knots of two or three +individuals each; and went off in different directions--disappearing +amid the underwood as silently as they had emerged from it. + +Cubina alone remained in the glade, the captured runaway cowering upon a +log beside him. + +For some minutes, the Maroon captain stood resting upon his gun--which +one of his followers had brought up--his eyes fixed upon the captive. +He appeared to be meditating what course he should pursue in relation to +the unfortunate slave; and the shadow upon his countenance told that +some thought was troubling him. + +The Maroon captain felt himself in a dilemma. His duty was in conflict +with his desires. From the first, the face of the captive had +interested him; and now that he had time to scan it more narrowly, and +observe its noble features, the idea of delivering him up to such a +cruel master, as he whose initials he bore upon his breast, became all +the more repugnant. + +Duty demanded him to do so. It was the law of the land--one of the +terms of the treaty by which the Maroons were bound--and disobedience to +that law would be certain to meet with punishment stringent and severe. + +True, there was a time when a Maroon captain would have held obedience +to this law more lightly; but that was before the conquest of Trelawney +town--or rather its traitorous betrayal--followed by the basest +banishment recorded among men. + +That betrayal had brought about a change. The Maroons who had avoided +the forced exile, and still remained in the mountain fastnesses, though +preserving their independence, were no longer a powerful people--only a +mere remnant, whose weakness rendered them amenable, not only to the +laws of the island, but to the tyranny and caprice of such +planter-justices as might choose to persecute them. + +Such was the position of Cubina and his little band, who had established +themselves in the mountains of Trelawney. + +With the Maroon captain, therefore, it was a necessity as well as a +duty, to deliver up the runaway captive. Failing to do so, he would +place his own liberty in peril. He knew this, without the threat which +Ravener had fulminated in such positive terms. + +His interest also lay in the line of his duty. This also he could +understand. The captive was a prize for which he would be entitled to +claim a reward--the _bounty_. + +Not for a moment was he detained by this last consideration. The +prospect of the reward would have had no weight with him whatever; it +would not even have cost him a reflection, but that, just then, and for +a very singular purpose, Cubina required money. + +This purpose was revealed in a soliloquy that at that moment escaped +from his lips. + +"_Crambo_!" he muttered, using an exclamation of the Spanish tongue, +still found in a corrupted form among the Maroons; "if it wasn't that I +have to make up the purchase-money of Yola--_Por Dios_! he is as like to +Yola as if he was her brother! I warrant he is of the same nation-- +perhaps of her tribe. Two or three times he has pronounced the word +_Foolah_. Besides, his colour, his shape, his hair--all like hers. No +doubt of it, he's a Foolah." + +The last word was uttered so loud as to reach the ear of the runaway. + +"Yah! Foolah, Foolah!" he exclaimed, turning his eyes appealingly upon +his captor. "No slave--no slave!" added he, striking his hand upon his +breast as he repeated the words. + +"Slave! no slave!" echoed the Maroon, with a start of surprise; "that's +English enough. They've taught him the ugly word." + +"Foolah me--no slave!" again exclaimed the youth, with a similar gesture +to that he had already made. + +"Something curious in this," muttered the Maroon, musingly. "What can +he mean by saying he is no slave--for that is certainly what he is +trying to say? Slave he must be; else how did he get here? I've heard +that a cargo has been just landed, and that the old Jew got most or all +of them. This young fellow must be one of that lot. Very likely he's +picked up the words aboard ship. Perhaps he is speaking of what he was +in his own country. Ah, poor devil! he'll soon find the difference +here! + +"_Santos Dios_!" continued the Maroon, after a pause, in which he had +been silently regarding the countenance of the newly-arrived African. +"It's a shame to make a slave of such as he--a hundred times more like a +freeman than his master. Poor fellow! it's a hard row he'll have to +hoe. I feel more than half-tempted to risk it, and save him from such a +fate." + +As this half-determination passed through the mind of the Maroon, a +noble and proud expression came over his features. + +"If they had not seen him in my possession;" he continued to reflect; +"but the overseer and those Spanish poltroons know all, and will--Well, +let them!--at all events I shall not take him back till I've seen Yola. +No doubt she can talk to him. If he's Foolah she can. We'll hear what +he's got to say, and what this `no slave' means." + +On saying this, the speaker turned his eyes upward; and appeared for +some moments to scan the sun. + +"Good," he exclaimed. "It is near the hour. I may expect her at any +moment. Oh! I must have him out of sight, and these dead dogs, too, or +my timid pet will be frayed. There's been so much doing about here-- +blood and fire--she will scarcely know the old trysting-place. Hark +you, Foolah! Come this way, and squat yourself in here till I call you +out again." + +To the runaway the gestures of his captor were more intelligible than +his words. He understood by them that he was required to conceal +himself between the buttresses of the _ceiba_; and, rising from the log, +he readily obeyed the requisition. + +The Maroon captain seized the tail of one of the dead bloodhounds; and, +after trailing the carcase for some distance across the glade, flung it +into a covert of bushes. + +Returning to the _ceiba_, in a similar manner he removed the other; and +then, once more cautioning the runaway to remain silent in his +concealment, he awaited the approach of her who had given him +assignation. + +Volume One, Chapter XXXV. + +A LOVE SCENE UNDER THE CEIBA. + +The lover who is beloved need never fear disappointment. True to her +tryst, and punctual to the time, did the expected sweetheart make her +appearance within the glade. + +With shy but graceful mien, she advanced towards the _ceiba_, and with +sufficient firmness of step to show that she came not in doubt. A +smile, confident and slightly coquettish, dancing in her dark eyes, and +playing upon her prettily-curved lips, told of a love already plighted-- +at the same time betokening full faith in the vows that had been +exchanged. + +Cubina stepped forth to receive her; and the lovers met in the open +ground, at some distance from the tree. Their demeanour at meeting told +that it was not their first assignation; but that ofttimes before had +they been together in that same rendezvous. + +The presence of the runaway--not seen, however, from the spot--did not +hinder Cubina from saluting his sweetheart with a kiss, nor prevent him +from folding her for a short moment in his arms. + +That spasm of exquisite pleasure passed, the dialogue began. + +The girl spoke first. + +"Oh, Cubina! news I have tell." + +"Come, my love--what news? Ah! you are looking grave, Yola; your news +is not very joyful, I fear?" + +"No, not joyful--bad news." + +"Let me hear them, love. Something Cynthy has been saying to you? You +shouldn't heed what that girl says." + +"No, Cubina, I no care what her me tell. I her know, wicked, bad girl. +Not Cynthy say that thing me trouble now. Missa Kate me tell." + +"Ah! something Miss Vaughan has told you? I wouldn't look for bad news +from her. But what is it, dear Yola? Maybe, after all, it's nothing?" + +"Ah! yes, Cubina, something. I fear me keep from you long, long time." + +"Keep you from me! Surely Miss Vaughan don't object to your meeting +me?" + +"No--not that. Something I fear me hinder from be--." + +"Be what?" inquired the lover, seeing that his sweetheart hesitated to +pronounce some word, the thought of which was causing her to blush. +"Come, dear Yola, don't fear to tell _me_. You know we're engaged. +There should be no secret between us. What were you going to say?" + +In a low, murmured voice, and looking lovingly in his eyes as she spoke, +the girl pronounced the word "marry." + +"Ho! ho!" exclaimed the lover, in a confident tone. "I think nothing +can occur to hinder that--at least, for a very long time. I have now +nearly a hundred pounds laid by, and a lucky capture I've just made this +morning will help still further to make up that sum. Surely the Custos +will not require more than a hundred pounds; though if you were once +mine," continued the speaker, casting a look of smiling fondness upon +his sweetheart's face, "all the money in the world wouldn't tempt me to +part with you. I hope," added he, speaking in a jocular air, "a hundred +pounds will be enough to make you _my slave_?" + +"You slave, Cubina?" + +"Yes, Yola, as I am yours now." + +"Ah--that way, Yola yours; yours ever--evermore." + +"I will believe you, dear girl," rejoined the lover, gazing, with a +gratified look, in the face of his beloved. "I am very happy to think +that in that way you are mine; and that I have, as you assure me, your +heart and soul. But, dearest Yola, so long as another is the owner of +your body--not with the right, but the powder to do, ay--indeed, almost +as he might please--for who can hinder these proud planters from +committing crimes of which they are their own judges? Ah! Yola, girl, +it is fearful to reflect on their wicked doings. This very morning I +have come across a sample of their cruelty; and when I think of you +being in the power of one, it makes me feel as if every hour was a day +until I can obtain your freedom. I am always in fear lest something may +happen to hinder me. + +"Just to-day I am in high hopes," continued the lover, evincing the +truth of his words by a pleasant smile. "I have succeeded in raising +nearly the hundred pounds; and the bounty I expect to receive for the +runaway I have caught will make it quite that." + +The girl returned no reply to this speech of her lover, but stood gazing +upon him silently, and as if half reproachfully. Something of this kind +he read, or fancied he read, in her looks. + +"What, Yola, you are not satisfied with what I have said? You reproach +me? Ah! true. I confess it is not a very creditable way of procuring +your purchase-money. _Maldito_! what can I do? We Maroons have no +other way of raising money, except by hunting the wild hogs, and selling +their barbecued flesh. But that barely gives us a living. _Crambo_! I +could never have got together a hundred pounds in that way. So do not +reproach me, dear Yola, for what I've done. I assure you it goes +against my grain, this man-hunting business. As for the young fellow I +caught this morning, I'd risk a good real rather than give him up--if it +wasn't for the purpose of procuring your freedom. For that I must have +the hundred pounds, which it is to be hoped will be enough to satisfy +your master." + +"All, Cubina!" replied his slave-love, with a sigh, "that the bad news I +you bring. Hundred pound no more enough. Only two days go, he have him +offer twice so much for poor slave Yola." + +"Two hundred pounds offered for _you_!" exclaimed the Maroon, with a +start of surprise, his brow becoming suddenly clouded. "Is that what +you mean, Yola?" + +"Ah, yes!" answered the slave, repeating her sad sigh. + +"And who--who is he?" demanded the lover, in a quick earnest tone, at +the same time that a gleam of jealous thought flashed from his dark +eyes, like forked lightning across a clouded sky. + +He knew that no man would have bid two hundred pounds for a slave--even +for Yola--without some wicked motive. The girl's beauty, combined with +the extravagant offer, would have suggested the motive to one +disinterested in her fate. How much more was it calculated to arouse +the suspicions of a lover! + +"A white man," continued he, without waiting for the reply to his first +question. "I need not ask that. But tell me, Yola, who is he that's so +desirous of becoming your owner. You know, I suppose." + +"Missa Kate me tell all. He Jew--wicked white man! Same who me take +from big ship; and me first sell Massa Vaughan." + +"Ha!" sharply ejaculated the lover, "that old wretch it is? Wicked +white man you may well call him. I know the old villain well. +_Crambo_! what can he want with her?" muttered the Maroon, musingly, but +with a troubled mien. "Some vile purpose, to a certainty? Oh, sure!" +Then once more addressing himself to his slave sweetheart-- + +"You are certain, Yola, the old Jew made this offer?" + +"So me say young missa." + +"Two hundred pounds! And Mr Vaughan refused it?" + +"Missa Kate no allow Massa Vaughan me sell. She say `Never!' Ah! young +missa! she good for say so! No matter what money he give, she never let +wicked white man buy Yola. She so say many time." + +"Miss Kate said this? Then she is good, she is generous! It must have +been her doing, else the Custos would never have refused such a tempting +offer. Two hundred pounds! It is a large sum. Well, I must begin +again. I must work night and day to get it. And then, if they should +refuse _me_! Ha! what then?" + +The speaker paused, not as if expecting a reply from her who stood by +his side, but rather from his own thoughts. + +"Never mind!" continued he, his countenance assuming an expression +partly hopeful, partly reckless. "Have no fear of the future, Yola. +Worst come worst, you shall yet be mine. Ay, dearest, you shall share +my mountain home, though I may have to make it the home of an outlaw!" + +"Oh!" exclaimed the young girl, slightly frayed by the wild look and +words of her lover, her _eye_ at the same instant falling upon the red +pool where the hounds had been slain. "Blood, Cubina?" + +"Only that of some animals--a wild boar and two dogs--just killed there. +Don't let that frighten you, pet. You must be brave, my Yola; since +you are to be the wife of a Maroon! Ours is a life of many dangers." + +"With you Yola no fear. She go any where--far over the mountains--to +Jumbe Rock--anywhere you her take, Cubina." + +"Thanks, dearest! Maybe, some day, we may be forced to go far over the +mountains--in _flight, too_, Yola. But we shall try to avoid that. If +your master will only act right, there will be no need. If not, then +you will fly with me--will you not?" + +"What Cubina do, Yola do same; where he go, she go." + +The passionate promise was sealed by a kiss, followed by an interval of +sacred silence. + +"Enough, then!" said the lover, after the pause had passed. "As a last +resource, we can do that. But we shall hope for the best; and, maybe, +some good fortune may befall. My followers are true, and would help me; +but, alas! all are poor hunters, like myself. Well, it may take some +time before I can call you my own fearlessly, in the face of the world-- +longer, maybe, than I expected. Never mind for that; we can meet often. +And now, dear Yola, listen to what I am going to say to you--listen, +and keep it in your mind! If ever a white man insults you--you know +what I mean?--if you are in danger of such a thing--as you would have +been, were old Jessuron to become your master--ay, and who knows how, +where, or when?--well, then, fly to this glade, and wait here for me. +If I do not come, some one will. Every day I shall send one of my +people to this place. Don't fear to run away. Though I may not care to +get into trouble about a common slave, I shall risk all to protect you-- +yes, my life, dearest Yola!" + +"Oh, Cubina!" exclaimed the girl, in passionate admiration. "Oh, brave, +beauty Cubina! you not fear danger?" + +"There is no great danger in it," returned the Maroon, in a confident +tone. "If I had made up my mind to run away with you, I could soon take +you beyond the reach of pursuit. In the _Black Grounds_ we could live +without fear of the tyranny of white men. But I don't want to be hunted +like a wild hog. I would rather you should become mine by honest +means--that is, I would rather buy you, as I intend to do; and then we +may settle down near the plantations, and live without apprehension. +Perhaps, after all, the Custos may not be so hard with me as with the +old Jew--who knows? Your young mistress is kind, you have told me: she +may do something to favour our plans." + +"True, Cubina--she me love; she say never me part." + +"That is well; she means, she would not part with you against your will. +But if I offer to buy you, it would be a different thing. Perhaps you +might let her know all, after a while. But I have something to learn +first, and I don't wish you to tell her till then. So keep our secret, +dear Yola, for a little longer. + +"And now," continued the Maroon, changing his tone, and turning towards +the _ceiba_ as he spoke, "I've got something to show you. Did you ever +see a runaway?" + +"Runaway!" said the girl; "no, Cubina--never." + +"Well, my love, there's one not far off; he that I said I had captured +this morning--only a little while ago. And I'll tell you why I've kept +him here: because I fancied that he was like yourself, Yola." + +"Like me?" + +"Yes; and that is why I felt for the poor fellow something like pity: +since it is to this cruel old Jew he belongs. From what I can make out, +he must be one of your people; and I'm curious to know what account he +will give of himself." + +"He Foolah, you think?" inquired the African maiden, her eyes sparkling +with pleasure at the anticipation of seeing one of her own race. + +"Yes; I am as good as sure of that. In fact, he has called himself a +Foolah several times, though I can't make out what he says. If he is +one of your tribe, you will be able to talk to him. There he is!" + +Cubina had by this time conducted his sweetheart round the tree, to that +side on which the runaway was concealed between the two spurs. + +The young man was still crouching within the angle, close up to the +trunk of the _ceiba_. The moment the two figures came in front of him, +and his eyes fell upon the face of the girl, he sprang to his feet, +uttering a cry of wild joy. Like an echo, Yola repeated the cry; and +then both pronouncing some hurried phrases in an unknown tongue, rushed +together, and became folded in a mutual embrace! + +Cubina stood transfixed to the spot. Surprise--something more--held him +speechless. He could only think:-- + +"She knows him! Perhaps her lover in her own land!" + +A keen pang of jealousy accompanied the thought. + +Rankling it remained in the breast of the Maroon, till Yola, untwining +her arms from the fond embrace, and pointing to him who had received it, +pronounced the tranquillising words:-- + +"_My brother_!" + +END OF VOLUME ONE. + +Volume Two, Chapter I. + +SMYTHJE IN SHOOTING COSTUME. + +Several days had elapsed since that on which Mr Montagu Smythje became +the guest of Mount Welcome; and during the time neither pains nor +expense had been spared in his entertainment. Horses were kept for his +riding--a carriage for his driving--dinners had been got up--and company +invited to meet him. The best society of the Bay and the neighbouring +plantations had been already introduced to the rich English exquisite-- +the owner of one great sugar estate, and, as society began to hear it +whispered, the prospective possessor of another. + +The matrimonial projects of the worthy Custos--that had been suspected +from the first--soon became the subject of much discussion. + +It may be mentioned--though it is scarce necessary--that in his designs +upon Smythje, Mr Vaughan was not left all the field to himself. There +were other parents in the planter fraternity of the neighbourhood +blessed with good-looking daughters; and many of them, both fathers and +mothers, had fixed their eyes on the lord of Montagu Castle as a very +eligible sample for a son-in-law. Each of these aspiring couples gave a +grand dinner; and, in turn, trotted out their innocent lambs in presence +of the British "lion." + +The exquisite smiled amiably upon all their efforts--adopting his +distinguished position as a matter of course. + +Thus merrily passed the first fortnight of Smythje's sojourn in Jamaica. + +On a pleasant morning near the end of this fortnight, in one of the +largest bed-chambers of Mount Welcome house--that consecrated to the +reception of distinguished strangers--Mr Smythje might have been seen +in front of his mirror. He was engaged in the occupation of dressing +himself--or, to speak more correctly, permitting himself to be dressed +by his _valet de chambre_. + +In the extensive wardrobe of the London exquisite there were dresses for +all purposes and every occasion: suits for morning, dinner, and evening; +one for riding, and one for driving; a shooting dress, and one for the +nobler sport of the _chasse au cheval_; a dress for boating, _a la +matelot_; and a grand _costume de bal_. + +On the occasion in question, Mr Smythje's august person was being +enveloped in his shooting dress; and, although a West India sportsman or +an English squire would have smiled derisively at such a "rig," the +Cockney regarded it with complacency as being "just the thing." + +It consisted of a French tunic-shaped coatee of green silk velvet, +trimmed with fur; a helmet-shaped hunting-cap to match; and a purple +waistcoat underneath, embroidered with cord of gold bullion. + +Instead of breeches and top-boots, Mr Smythje fancied he had improved +upon the costume, by encasing his limbs in long trousers. These were of +dressed fawn-skin, of a straw colour, and soft as the finest chamois +leather. They fitted tightly around the legs, notwithstanding that the +wearer was rather deficient in that quarter. Moreover, they were +strapped at the bottoms, over a pair of brightly-shining lacquered +boots--another error at which a true sportsman would have smiled. + +Mr Smythje, however, was well satisfied with the style of his dress: as +appeared from the conversation carried on between him and his valet +Thoms, while the latter was making him ready for the field. + +"'Pon honaw! a demmed becoming costume!" exclaimed he, surveying himself +from head to foot in the mirror. "Dawnt yaw think so, Thoms?" + +"Pe Cod! it's all that, yer honner!" replied Thoms, with just enough of +an Irish accent to show that he was a Welshman. + +The object, for which Mr Smythje was thus having his person apparelled, +was a shooting excursion to the hills, which he designed making, in +order to vary his pleasures by committing havoc among the ramier pigeons +and wild guinea-fowl which, he had been told, abounded there. + +The projected expedition was not any grand affair by appointment--merely +an ordinary, improvised thing. The sportsman intended going alone--as +the Custos on that day had some important business at the Bay; and Mr +Smythje, by a ramble through the neighbouring woods, fancied he might +kill the time between breakfast and dinner pleasantly enough. This was +all that was intended; and a darkey to guide him all that was needed. + +"Weally!" resumed the exquisite, after some moments spent in +enthusiastic admiration of his person, "weally, Thoms, these Queeole +queetyaws are chawming--positively chawming! Nothing in the theataw or +opwa at all to compare with them. Such lovely eyes! such divine figaws! +and such easy conquests! Ba Jawve! I can count a dozen alweady! Haw, +haw!" added he, with a self-gratulatory giggle, "it's but natywal that-- +dawnt yaw think so, Thoms?" + +"Parfectly natyeral, your honner," replied Thoms, "considherin' yer +honner's good looks." + +"Aw haw! that's it, Thoms--that's it. They can't wesist." + +Either the lady-killer was not content with his twelve easy conquests, +and wished to have the number more complete by making it "the baker's +dozen"--either this, or he was uncertain about his victory over one of +the twelve--as would appear by the dialogue that followed between him +and his confidential man. + +"Hark yaw, Thoms!" said he, approaching the valet in a more serious way; +"yaw are an exceedingly intelligent fellaw--yaw are, 'pon honnaw." + +"Thank yer honner. It's keepin' yer honner's company has made me so." + +"Nevaw mind--nevaw mind what--but I have observed yaw intelligence." + +"It's at yer honner's humble sendee." + +"Ve-well, Thoms; ve-well! I want you to employ it." + +"In what way, yer honner? anything yer honner may desire me to do." + +"Yaw know the niggaw girl--the bwown girl with the tawban, I mean?" + +"Miss Vaghan's waitin'-maid?" + +"Exactly--ya-as. Yolaw, or something of the sawt, is the queetyaw's +name." + +"Yis--Yowla; that's her name, yer honner." + +"Well, Thoms, I pwesume you have excellent oppwotunities of holding +convawsation with haw--the niggaw, I mean?" + +"Plenty of oppurtunity, yer honner. I've talked with her scores of +times." + +"Good. Now, the next time yaw talk with haw, Thoms, I want you to pump +haw." + +"Pump her! what's that, yer honner?" + +"Why, dwaw something out of haw!" + +"Feth! I don't understan' yer honner." + +"Not undawstand! yaw are stoopid, Thoms." + +"Keeping yer honner's company--" + +"What, fellaw? keeping my company make yaw stoopid?" + +"No, yer honner; ye didn't hear me out. I was goin' to say, that +keeping yer honner's company would soon take that out o' me." + +"Haw--haw--that's diffwent altogethaw. Well, listen now, and I'll make +yaw undawstand me. I want you to talk with this Yolaw, and dwaw some +seek wets out of haw." + +"Oah!" answered Thoms, dwelling a long time upon the syllable, and +placing his forefinger along the side of his nose. "_Now_ I comprehend +yer honner." + +"All wight--all wight." + +"I'll manage that, don't fear me; but what sort of saycrets does yer +honner want me to draw out af her?" + +"I want yaw to find out what she says about _me_--not the niggaw, but +haw mistwess." + +"What the negur says about her mistress?" + +"Thoms, yaw are intolawably stoopid this mawning. Not at all--not at +all; but what haw mistress says about _me--me_." + +"Oh! fwhat Miss Vaghan says about yer honner?" + +"Pwecisely." + +"Faith! I'll find that out--ivery word af it." + +"If yaw do, Thoms, I shall be your debtaw faw a guinea." + +"A guinea, yer honner!" + +"Ya-as; and if yaw execute yaw commission clevawly, I shall make it +two--two guineas, do yaw heaw?" + +"Never fear, yer honner. I'll get it out of the negur, if I should have +to pull the tongue from between thim shinin' teeth af hers!" + +"No, Thoms--no, my good fellaw! There must be no woodness. Wemember, +we are guests heaw, and Mount Welcome is not an hotel. Yaw must work by +stwategy, not stwength, as Shakespeaw or some other of those skwibbling +fellaws has said. No doubt stwategy will win the day." + +And with this ambiguous observation--ambiguous as to whether it referred +to the issue of Thoms's embassy, or his own success in the wooing of +Miss Vaughan--Mr Montagu Smythje closed the conversation. + +Thoms now gave the last touch to the sportsman's toilet, by setting the +hunting-cap on his head, and hanging numerous belts over his shoulders-- +among which were included a shot-pouch, a copper powder-horn, a pewter +drinking flask with its cup, and a hunting-knife in its leathern sheath. + +Thus equipped, the sportsman strode stiffly from the apartment; and +wended his way towards the great hall, evidently with the design of +encountering the fair Kate, and exhibiting himself in his killing +costume. + +Volume Two, Chapter II. + +A COCKNEY SPORTSMAN. + +That he had obtained the interview he sought, and that its result had +gratified him, might be inferred from the complacent smile that played +upon his countenance as he sallied forth from the house. Moreover, in +crossing the two or three hundred yards of open ground which separated +the dwelling from the wooded slope of the ridge, he walked with an +exalted, gingerly step--occasionally glancing back over his shoulder, as +if conscious of being observed. + +He _was_ observed. Two faces could be seen at a window, one of which +Mr Smythje knew to be that of Kate Vaughan. The other, of darker hue, +was the face of the maid Yola. + +Both were set in smiles. It did not matter to Mr Smythje whether the +maid smiled or not; but he fondly fancied he could distinguish a pleased +expression on the countenance of the mistress. He was at too great a +distance to be certain; but he had little doubt of its being a look of +intense admiration that was following him through his fine paces. + +Had he been near enough to translate the expression more truly, he might +have doubted whether he was the object of so much admiration; and had +the remark made by Yola to her mistress reached his ear, with the clear +ringing laughter it called forth, his doubts would have had a melancholy +confirmation. + +"He berry gran', missa!" said the maid. "He like cock-a-benny turned +yellow-tail!"--a plantation proverb, which, translated into plain +English, means, that the coarse and despised little fish, the +"cock-a-benny," had become metamorphosed into the splendid and esteemed +species known among the negroes as the "yellow-tail." + +As the sportsman neither heard the remark nor the laugh it elicited, he +was enabled to carry his self-esteem into the woods unhurt and +undiminished. + +At his heels walked an attendant--a negro boy, whose sole costume +consisted of an Osnaburgh shirt, with a huge game-bag slung over his +shoulders, and hanging down to his hams. It was the veritable Quashie, +post-boy, horseboy, and factotum. + +Quashie's duties on the present occasion were to guide the English +buckra to the best shooting ground among the hills, and carry the game +when killed. As there was no dog--pigeon and pintado shooting not +requiring the aid of this sagacious animal--Quashie was to act also as +finder and retriever. + +For a full mile over hill and dale, through "brake, brush, and scaur," +tramped the ardent sportsman--his Ethiopian attendant, keeping like a +shadow at his heels. Still not a head of game had as yet been bagged. +Ramiers were scarce and shy, and as for the beautiful speckled hen--the +exotic _Numida meleagris_--not as much as the crest of one could be +seen. Their shrill skreek, like the filing of a frame saw, could be +occasionally heard afar off; and the hope of getting sight of one +enticed the sportsman still further into the forest. + +Another mile was passed over, and another hour spent, almost equally +unfruitful in events. A few ramiers had been sighted and shot at; but +the thick corselet of feathers, that covers the bold breasts of these +beautiful birds, seemed impenetrable to the shot of a gun; at least, +they proved so to the double-barrelled "Manton" of the London sportsman. + +Another mile traversed--another hour spent--still nothing bagged! + +His want of success did not hinder the sportsman from growing hungry; +and, at the end of his third mile, he began to feel a certain void about +the epigastric region that called for viands. He knew that the bag +which Quashie carried contained a luncheon that had been carefully +provided and packed by the major-domo of Mount Welcome. It was time to +examine this luncheon; and, seating himself under the shadow of a +spreading tree, he directed the darkey to draw it forth. + +Nothing loth was Quashie to respond to this request; for the weight of +the bag, which he had been wincing under for some hours, and its +distended sides, promised pickings for himself--after the grand buckra +should satisfy his hunger. + +Certainly, there appeared enough for both, and to spare: for on +"gutting" the game-bag, a whole capon was turned out upon the grass, +with sundry slices of bread, ham, and tongue, and all the paraphernalia +of salt, pepper, and mustard. + +A bottle of--claret was found at the bottom of the bag; which, in +addition to the flask of _eau de vie_ that the sportsman himself +carried, and which he now laid aside to disencumber him, was liquid +enough to wash down the savoury solids which the thoughtful steward had +provided. + +A knife and fork were also turned out; and, as Mr Montagu Smythje was +more habile in the handling of these weapons than he was in the use of a +gun, in a trice the capon was cut into convenient pieces. In an equally +short space of time, many of these pieces had disappeared between his +teeth, in company with sundry slices of the ham and tongue. + +Quashie was not invited to partake; but sat near the grand buckra's +feet, wistfully watching his movements, as a dog would his master +similarly occupied. + +As the masticatory powers of the Cockney sportsman appeared to be of no +mean order, Quashie's look began to betray astonishment, mingled with a +growing dread that the "oughts" he might be called upon to eat would be +neither very numerous nor very bulky. Half the capon had already +disappeared, with a large proportion of the odd slices of ham and +tongue! + +"I b'lieve de dam buckra glutton za gwine eat 'um all up--ebbery bit!" +was Quashie's mental, and not very good-humoured, soliloquy. "Ay, an' +drink 'um up too--ebbery drop!" continued he, in thought, as he saw Mr +Smythje quaff off a full cup of the claret without taking the vessel +from his lips. + +Shortly after, another cup was poured into the same capacious funnel: +for the exercise he had undergone, combined with the warmth of the day, +had rendered the sportsman _drouthy_. + +To the great chagrin of Quashie, and the no small mortification of +Smythje himself, a worse misfortune than that of its being drunk befell +the remainder of the claret. On setting down the bottle, after filling +his cup for the second time, the sportsman had performed the act in an +unskilful manner. The consequence was that the bottle, losing its +balance, toppled over; and the _balance_ of the claret trickled out upon +the grass. + +Both Quashie's temper and patience were put to a severe test; but the +buckra's appetite being at length appeased, the _debris_ of the feast-- +still a considerable quantity--remained to Quashie's share; and he was +directed to fall to and make his best of it. + +The darkey was not slow in complying with the order; and, from the +manner in which he went to work, it was evident, that unless Mr Smythje +should make better shooting after luncheon than he had done before it, +the game-bag would go back to the house much lighter than it had left +it. + +While Quashie was masticating his meal, the refreshed sportsman--his +spirits elevated by the claret he had quaffed--bethought him of taking a +stroll by himself. There was no time to be wasted--as the contingency +of having to return to Mount Welcome with an empty bag had already begun +to suggest itself; and after the sanguine expectations which his grand +sporting costume must have given rise to--assisted by some little +bravado he had indulged in while leave-taking--his failing to fulfil +these expectations could not be otherwise than humiliating. + +He resolved, therefore, to return to his shooting with a more serious +earnestness, and, if possible, make up for the deficiencies of the +morning. + +Slinging on his horn and pouch, and laying hold of his gun, the +sportsman once more started off, leaving his retriever busily employed +in polishing off the "drumsticks" of the capon. + +Volume Two, Chapter III. + +STALKING A TURKEY. + +It almost seemed as if the divine patron of the chase--the good Saint +Hubert--had regarded the spilt wine as an oblation to himself, and, in +return, had consented to give the sportsman success. + +Scarce had the latter advanced two hundred yards from the spot where he +had lunched, when his eyes were gratified by the spectacle of a large, +fine-looking bird, perched upon the top of a tree stump. + +At first he believed it to be a guinea-hen, but its dusk colour--it was +brownish-black--forbade that supposition. It had a naked head and neck, +just like a turkey; and in several other respects it resembled this +well-known bird. + +"A tawkey it is!" exclaimed Smythje, after scanning it a little. "A +wild tawkey, by Jawve!" + +The London exquisite had heard, somehow or somewhere, that the wild +turkey was indigenous to America, and, of course, also to Jamaica--since +Jamaica is part of America. + +However erroneous the deduction, the reasoning satisfied Smythje; and, +firmly convinced that he saw before him a wild turkey, he determined on +taking measures to _circumvent_ it. + +The stump upon which the bird was perched, stood upon the edge of an +opening, about a hundred yards from the spot where Smythje first came in +sight of it. + +To insure success, the sportsman dropped upon his knees, and crawled +forward impressively, but with due caution. If he could only make +thirty yards in advance, he knew his gun was good for the other seventy. + +In fine, after considerable damage done to his fawn-skin trousers, the +thirty yards were accomplished, and still the turkey remained upon its +perch. + +The gun was brought to bear upon the bird; Joe Manton did the work; and, +simultaneously with the "bang," the turkey was seen to tumble over, +disappearing as it did so from the top of the stump. + +The overjoyed sportsman hastened forward to secure his game; and soon +arrived at the spot where he expected to find it. + +To his surprise it was not there! + +Had it taken to wing and escaped? + +Impossible! He had seen it fall, and without a flutter. It must have +been shot quite dead? It could not have come to life again? + +He searched all about--going round the stump at least a dozen times, and +carefully scrutinising every inch of the ground for a score of yards on +each side--but no turkey could be found! + +Had the unlucky sportsman been at all doubtful of the fact of his having +killed the bird, he would have given up the search in despair. But upon +this point he was as certain as of his own existence; and it was that +which rendered him so pertinacious in his endeavours to find it. He was +determined to leave neither stick nor stone unturned; and, to aid him in +the prosecution of his search, he called loudly for his retriever +Quashie. + +But to his repeated calls no Quashie came; and Mr Smythje was forced to +the conclusion that the darkey had either gone to sleep, or had strayed +away from the spot where he had left him. + +He had some thoughts of going back to look for Quashie; but, while he +was meditating on the matter, an idea occurred to him, which promised to +explain the mysterious disappearance of the bird. + +The stump upon which the "turkey" had been perched could scarcely have +been termed a _stump_. It was rather the trunk of a large tree, that +had been abruptly broken off below the limbs, and still stood some +fifteen or twenty feet in height, erect and massive as the tower of some +ruined castle. Though quite a dead-wood, and without any branches of +its own, it was, nevertheless, garnished with verdure. A complete +matting of vines that grew around its roots, and parasites that sprang +from its decaying sides, inclosed it with a tortuous trellis-work--so +that only near its top could the shape of the old tree be distinguished. + +At first the sportsman supposed that his game had dropped down among the +ragged shrubbery; and he searched the whole of this with elaborate +minuteness, but in vain. + +It now occurred to him--and this was the idea that promised the +_eclaircissement_ spoken of--that the bird had _not_ fallen from the +stump, but had dropped dead upon the top of it, and there might still be +lying! + +The dead-wood, which, at its broken summit, appeared to be some five or +six feet in diameter, rendered this conjecture probable enough; and +Smythje resolved upon putting it to the proof, by climbing to the top. +He would have appointed Quashie to the performance of this feat; but +Quashie _non esset inventus_. + +Several thick, cable-like vines, that struggled up to the summit, +promised an easy means of ascent; and, although the Cockney could climb +about as dexterously as a shod cat, he fancied there could be no great +difficulty in attaining the top of the dead-wood. + +Throwing aside his gun, he entered enthusiastically upon the attempt. + +The feat was not so easy of performance but that it cost him an +exertion. Stimulated, however, by the desire to _retrieve_ his game and +the reflections about the game-bag, already alluded to, he put forth his +utmost energies, and succeeded in reaching the summit. + +His conjecture proved correct. There lay the bird--not _on_ the stump, +but _in_ it--at the bottom of a large cylinder-shaped concavity, which +opened several feet down into the heart of the dead-wood. There it was, +dead as the tree itself. + +The sportsman could not restrain himself from uttering a cry of joy--as +he saw his fine game at length secure within his reach. + +It proved not exactly within his reach, however: as, upon kneeling down +and stretching his arm to its full length, he found that he could not +touch the bird, even with the tips of his fingers. + +That signified little. It would only be necessary for him to descend +into the cavity, and this he could easily do: as it was wide enough, and +not over four feet in depth. + +Without further reflection, he rose to his feet again and leaped down +into the hole. + +It would have been a wiser act if he had remembered the prudent counsel +of the paternal frog, and looked before leaping. That was one of the +most unfortunate leaps Mr Smythje had ever made in his life. The brown +surface upon which the bird lay, and which looked so deceptively solid, +was nothing more than a mass of rotten heartwood, honeycombed with long +decay. So flimsy was it in structure, that though supporting a dead +bird, it gave way under the weight of a living man; and the lord of +Montagu Castle shot as rapidly out of sight as if he had leaped feet +foremost from the mainyard of the _Sea Nymph_ into the deepest soundings +of the Atlantic! + +Volume Two, Chapter IV. + +SMYTHJE EMBARRASSED BY HIS BOOTS. + +Rapid as was the pitch, and dark the abyss into which it was made, the +sportsman was not killed. Neither was he much hurt: for the "punk" +through which he had pitched, though not firm enough to support him, had +offered some resistance to the velocity of his descent; and towards the +bottom he had settled down more gradually. + +But though neither killed nor yet stunned by the fall, he was for awhile +as completely deprived of his senses as if he had been both. Surprise +had bereft him not only of the power of speech, but of thought as well; +and for some moments he was as quiet as Jack, after being jerked into +his box. + +After a time, however, feeling that, though badly scared, he was not +much hurt, his consciousness began to return to him; and he made a +scramble to recover his legs: for in going down, he had somehow got +doubled up in a sort of tailor-fashion. + +He found his feet after an effort; and, as he saw that light came from +above, he raised his eyes in that direction. + +It took him some time to make out the exact character of the place in +which he was: for a thick "stoor" was swimming around him, that not only +impeded his sight, but having entered his mouth and nostrils, had +inducted him into a violent fit of sneezing. + +The dust however gradually thinned away; and Smythje was enabled to +"define his position." + +Above his head was a clear circular patch, which he knew to be the sky; +whilst all around him was a dark brown wall, rising many feet beyond the +reach of his outstretched arms. He became conscious that he was +standing in the concavity of a huge upright cylinder, with a surface of +corrugated rotten wood circling all around him. + +As his senses grew clearer--along with the atmosphere--he arrived at a +better understanding of the mishap that had befallen him. He did not, +at first, regard it in the light of a _misfortune_--at least, not a very +heavy one--and he was rather disposed to laugh at it as a ludicrous +adventure. + +It was not till he began to think of climbing out, and had actually made +the attempt, that he became aware of a difficulty hitherto unsuspected; +and the contemplation of which at once inspired him with a feeling of +alarm. + +A second attempt to get out was unsuccessful as the first; a third +equally so; a fourth had no better issue; a fifth was alike a failure; +and after the sixth, he sank down upon the rotten rubbish in a state +bordering on despair. + +Well might he have exclaimed, + +"_Facilis descensus Averni, sed revocare gradum_." + +But the mind of Mr Smythje was now under the influence of an +indescribable awe, which excluded all thoughts of the classic. + +When reflection came to his aid, it was only to make more certain the +fearful reality of his situation. The more he reflected upon it, the +more he became convinced of the peril into which his rash leap had +precipitated him. + +It was not simply a slight mishap--a ludicrous adventure--he no longer +saw it in that light. Neither was it a mere misfortune; but a positive +danger--the danger of his life. + +Yes, his life was most certainly in danger; and he was not slow in +arriving at this knowledge. The chain of inductive reasoning that led +to it was but too palpably clear--every link of it--from premisses to +conclusion. If he could not help himself out of the prison, in which by +his unlucky leap he had incarcerated himself, who was to help him? + +Hope could not long dwell upon Quashie. The darkey had been left some +distance off; and since he had not answered to his calls, he must be +asleep or straying. In either case--or even if awake and still on the +ground of the bivouac--what chances would Quashie have of finding him? + +Who was to find him, if not Quashie? Ah! who else? Who was likely to +come that way? + +Not a soul! The tree that contained him stood in the midst of a wild +tract--a solitary forest all around--no roads, no paths--he had observed +none. He might be there for a month without a human being approaching +the place; and a week would be enough to finish him! Yes, in one week, +perhaps far less, he might expect to die of starvation! The prospect +was appalling. + +And it so appalled him, that again his mind gave way under it, and +relapsed into the stupor of despondence. + +It is not natural that one should sink at once into utter despair, +without making an extreme effort. The instinct of self-preservation-- +common to the lowest animals--will nerve even the weakest spirit of man. +That of Montagu Smythje was none of the strongest, and had given way at +the first shock; but, after a time, a reaction arose, stimulating him to +make a fresh effort for his life. + +Once more starting to his feet, he attempted to scale the steep walls +that encircled him; but the attempt, as before, proved a failure. + +In this last trial, however, he discovered that his exertions were +greatly hindered by three special _impedimenta_--the tight fawn-skin +trousers that, moistened with perspiration, clung closely around his +legs; his boots; but, above all, the straps that bound boots and +trousers together. + +To get rid of these obstacles became his next thought; and the execution +of such a design might appear easy enough. + +On trial, however, it proved a most difficult undertaking. + +From the confined space in which he stood, he could not get into a +stooping attitude, so as to reach down to the straps and unbutton them; +and so long as these remained buttoned, it was impossible to take off +the boots. He could squat down tailor-fashion, as he had already done; +but, in that posture the straps became so tightened, that to unbutton +them was clearly out of the question. The delicate fingers of the dandy +were unequal to the effort. + +"Necessity is the mother of invention." This adage held good in +Smythje's case: for it just then occurred to him to unfasten his +_suspenders_ instead of his straps, and divest himself of his under +garments all at once! + +For this purpose he rose to his feet; but in doing so, a better idea +suggested itself: to cut off his fawn-skin inexpressibles just above the +knees, and thus free boots, straps, and pantaloon bottoms all together! + +He had left his hunting-knife by his brandy-flask, and both on the +ground of the bivouac. Fortunately, however, a penknife, which he +carried in his waistcoat pocket, would answer even better; and, drawing +it forth, he proceeded to execute his design. + +A cross section of the fawn-skins, just above the knees, was at once +made; and then--by the alternate application of toe to heel--boots, +trouser-bottoms, and all, were cast simultaneously, and Smythje stood in +his stockings! + +He did not remain long inactive. Danger urged him to exert himself; and +once more he essayed to scale the walls of his tree-prison. + +Alas! after many efforts--many oft-repeated, but unsuccessful +clamberings--he was forced back to the appalling conviction that the +thing was impossible. + +He could get up within about four feet of the orifice; but there the +surface, which had been long open to the atmosphere, was worn so smooth +by the weather--besides being still wet and slippery from late rains-- +that he could find no holding place upon it; and at every endeavour to +grasp the rotten wood, he lost his balance, and fell backward to the +bottom. + +These falls frequently stunned him, almost knocking the breath out of +his body. They were from a considerable height--ten or twelve feet-- +and, but for the soft rubbish below, that modified the shock as he came +down, one such descent would have been sufficient to cripple him for +life. + +Once more his spirit sank within him. Once more Smythje yielded to +despair. + +Volume Two, Chapter V. + +A TROPIC SHOWER. + +When reflection again favoured the unfortunate man--which it did after a +short time had passed over--his thoughts took a new turn. + +He made no further attempt at climbing out. Repeated trials had fully +convinced him of the impracticability of that; and he was now satisfied +that his only hope lay in the chance of Quashie or some one else coming +that way. + +It is true that this chance appeared grievously doubtful. Even should +one pass near the dead-wood, how was he to know that he, Smythje, was +inside it? Who would suspect that the old tree was hollow? and, least +of all, that a human being was inclosed within its cylindrical cell-- +buried alive, as it were, in this erect wooden sarcophagus? + +A person passing might see the gun lying upon the ground outside; but +that would be no clue to the whereabouts of its owner. + +After all, some one _might_ be passing, and as he could not be _seen_, +his only hope lay in making himself _heard_. + +The moment this thought came into his mind, he commenced crying out at +the highest pitch of his voice. + +He regretted that he had not done so before: since some one might have +passed in the interim. + +After falling in, he had shouted several times during the moments of his +first surprise: but while making his attempts to clamber out, he had +desisted--the earnestness of his exertions having reduced him to +silence. + +Now that he comprehended the necessity of making a noise, he determined +to make up for his former remissness; and he continued to send forth +scream after scream with all the power of his lungs, at intervals +varying his voice from an abrupt sharp screech, to the more prolonged +and dismal monotone of a groan. + +For nearly an hour did he continue this melancholy _cavatina_, without +receiving any response beyond the echoes of his own voice, which +reverberated through the concavity in hollow, sepulchral tones--a +mournful monologue of alternate groanings and howlings, interrupted at +intervals as the utterer paused to listen for a response. + +But none came. No change took place in his situation, except one that +was calculated to make it still more deplorable and forlorn. As if his +lugubrious appeals had invoked the demon of the storm, the sky above +became suddenly overcast with heavy black clouds; from which came +pouring rain, such as might have fallen during the forty days of the +deluge! + +It was one of those tropic showers, where the water gushes from the sky, +not in single, isolated drops, but in long, continuous streams; as if +heavens canopy was one great shower-bath, of which the string had been +jerked and tied down. + +Though well sheltered from wind, the unfortunate Smythje had no roof--no +cover of any kind--to shield him from the rain, which came down upon his +devoted head, as though the spout of a pump had been directed into the +hollow of the dead-wood. Indeed, the funnel-shaped orifice, which was +wider than the rest of the concavity, aided in conducting a larger +quantity of rain into it; and, but that the water found means of escape, +by percolating through the mass of dry rubbish below, Mr Smythje might +have been in danger of a more sudden death than by starvation: since, as +he himself afterwards asserted, there fell sufficient water to have +"dwowned" him. + +If not drowned, however, he was well _douched_. There was not a stitch +of clothing upon his person that was not wetted through and through: the +silk velvet shooting-coat, the purple vest, and what remained of the +fawn-skin trousers, all were alike soaked and saturated. Even his +whiskers had parted with their crisp rigidity; the curls had come out of +the tails of his moustaches; his hair had lost its amplitude; and all-- +hair, whiskers, and moustaches--hung dripping and draggled. + +In that melancholy image of manhood that stood shivering in the hollow +tree, it would have required a quick imagination to have recognised Mr +Montagu Smythje, the _debonnaire_ sportsman of the morning. + +Lugubrious as were his looks, they were nothing to compare with his +thoughts. There were moments when he felt angry--angry at his +ill-fortune--angry at Quashie--angry at Mr Vaughan, for having provided +an attendant so inattentive to his duties. There were moments when he +felt spiteful enough to swear. Yes, in that fearful crisis, Smythje +_swore_--the owner of Mount Welcome and Quashie being alternately the +object of his abjurations. Jamaica, too, came in for a share of his +spite--its pigeons and guinea-hens, its trees, and, above all, its wild +turkeys! + +"The howwid Island!" he cried, in his anguish; "would to ma Makeaw I had +nevaw set foot on its shaws!" + +What, at that moment, would he not have given to be once more in his +"deaw metwopolis?" Gladly would he have exchanged his tree-prison for a +chamber in the King's Bench--for a corner in the meanest cell which the +Old Bailey could have afforded him! + +Poor Smythje! he had not yet reached the climax of his sorrows. A new +suffering was in store for him--one in comparison with which all he had +undergone was but a mild endurance. It was only when that slimy thing +came crawling over his feet, and began to entwine itself round his +ankles--its cold clammy touch painfully perceptible through his silk +stockings--it was only then that he felt something like a sensation of +real horror! + +He was on his legs at the moment; and instantly sprang upward, as if +coals had been suddenly applied to the soles of his feet. But springing +upward did not avail him, since it only resulted in his dropping down +again on the same spot; and, as he did so, he felt writhing beneath his +feet the slippery form of a _serpent_! + +Volume Two, Chapter VI. + +A DANGEROUS DANCE. + +Beyond the shadow of a doubt was Smythje standing upon a snake, or +rather, _dancing_ upon one: for as he felt the scaly creature crawling +and writhing under his feet with a strong muscular action, it was +contrary to human nature that he should remain at rest upon such a +perilous pedestal. + +For some moments he hopped about upon this dangerous _dais_, expecting +every instant to feel the sharp sting of a bite. Any one who could have +looked on him at that crisis would have seen a face white with horror, +eyes starting from their watery sockets, and dripping hair and whiskers +doing their best to stand on end. + +Through his dark sky of dread a gleam of light flashed upon his spirit: +he remembered having heard that in Jamaica there is no _poisonous_ +serpent. + +It was but a spark of consolation. If the reptile could not _sting_, it +could _bite_; and, being such an enormous creature as to cover with its +coils the whole floor of his _cylindric_ chamber, its bite should be a +formidable one. + +Perhaps, after all, it was not a single snake? Perhaps there was a +whole family of serpents, crawling one over another, and wreathing +fantastic figures of eight beneath his feet? + +If so--and this was probable enough--he might be bitten by all; +repeatedly bitten--torn to pieces--devoured! + +What matter whether they were poisonous or not? He might as well perish +from their fangs, as by their teeth! + +Fortunate it was for Smythje that the snakes--for his conjecture that +there were more than one was correct--fortunate for him that they were +still half asleep, else the danger he dreaded might have come to pass. +As it was, the whole band of reptiles had just been aroused from a state +of torpidity--the wash of cold rain having reached them in their crushed +cave, and scattered the mutual coil in which they had been cosily +slumbering. Still only half awakened, in the confusion of their ideas +they could not distinguish friend from foe; and to this was Mr Smythje +indebted for the circumstance that his skin, and even his silk +stockings, still remained intact. + +Notwithstanding this, his dread remained undiminished, and incited him +to a fresh effort at escape. + +Only one mode suggested itself: to clamber up the "chimney" as far as he +could go, and by that means get out of reach of the reptiles. + +On conceiving this new design, he sprang upward, shaking the serpent +coils from his feet; and, after a few seconds of scratching and +scrambling, he arrived at an elevation of some ten feet from the bottom +of the tree. + +Here a slight projection offered a tolerable support for his posteriors; +and, setting his toes well against the opposite side, he did his very +best to sustain himself in position. + +It was an irksome effort, and could not have lasted long--as to his +consternation he soon discovered. + +His strength would soon give way, his toes become cramped and nerveless; +and then, losing his hold, he must inevitably drop down among the +monsters below--who, perhaps, in a second collision with him, would be +less chary about using their teeth? + +The prospect of such a terrible fate stimulated him to put forth all his +energies in preserving his balance and his place--at the same time that +it drew from him cries of the keenest anguish. + +His cries at this crisis proved his salvation. His strength was +well-nigh exhausted; and he was on the point of letting go, when, just +then, an object came before his upturned eyes that determined him to +hold on a little longer--even should his toes be torn out of their +joints. + +Above him, and half filling the orifice of the hollow, appeared an +enormous head, with a face black as Erebus, and two yellowish-white eyes +shining in the midst of it. No other feature was at first seen; but +presently a double row of great white teeth appeared, gleaming between a +pair of freshly-opened purplish lips, of a massive, cartilaginous +structure. + +In the confusion of his senses Smythje was, for the moment, inclined to +believe himself between two demons--one below, in the shape of a +monstrous serpent, and the other above him, in human form: for the +grinning white teeth, and yellow eyeballs rolling in sockets of sable +ground, presented an appearance sufficiently demoniac. + +Of the two demons, however, he preferred the company of the one who bore +something of his own shape; and when a huge black arm--like the trunk of +a young tree--with the hand of a Titan attached to it, was stretched +down to him, he did not decline to take it; but eagerly clutching at the +gigantic paw thus proffered, he felt himself raised upward, as lightly +as if elevated upon the extremity of a "see-saw!" + +In another instant he found himself upon the summit of the dead-wood, +his deliverer standing by his side. + +So much light rushing all at once into the eyes of the rescued Smythje, +instead of enabling him to see distinctly, quite blinded him; and it was +only by the touch that he knew a man was by his side, who, the next +moment, lifting him with one arm carried him down to the bottom of the +tree, with as much apparent facility as if he, Smythje, had been a +little infant! + +On reaching the ground, Smythje's eyes had become sufficiently +strengthened to bear the light; and then he saw, in full length, the +individual who had rescued him from his perilous dilemma. He was a +jet-black negro of colossal size, nearly naked, with a number of straps +and strings passing over his shoulders, to which were suspended horns, +bullet-pouches, and other accoutrements of a more mysterious kind. His +head-dress was equally odd as the rest of his costume, and consisted +simply of the crown of an old beaver hat, with the brim closely trimmed +off just above the ears. This gave a ludicro-comic expression to the +face, which, though black as ebony, was otherwise not disagreeable. + +Still there was a wild look about the man, which, combined with his +gigantic size, was calculated to impress one with the idea of his being +no ordinary character. + +Nor was he, for the deliverer of Mr Smythje was no other than our old +acquaintance Quaco. + +Smythje knew nothing of the Maroon. It might be a robber into whose +hands he had fallen; but even so, the Cockney was no longer in a +condition to be frightened. All fear had been scared out of him by his +adventure with the snakes; and perceiving, from his amiable smiles, that +his deliverer meant him no harm, he proceeded to give the latter a full +account of all that had befallen him. + +As soon as the sportsman had finished his narrative, Quaco, without +saying a word, scrambled back to the summit of the dead-wood. + +Fastening a cord, which he carried up with him, around the top of the +stump, he fearlessly let himself down into the dark, snake-tenanted +chamber, which Mr Smythje had been so glad to get out of! + +He had not been more than half a minute out of sight, when a glittering +object was seen projected above the top of the stump. It was of serpent +form, and bright yellow colour. Wriggling and writhing, it hung, for a +moment, suspended in the air; and then, yielding to the laws of +gravitation, it came down with a thump upon the turf. Its large size, +and its lines of black and gold, rendered it easy of identification as +the "yellow snake" of Jamaica (_chilabothrus inornatus_). + +Scarce had it touched the ground when a second and similar projectile +was ejected from the hollow stump; and then a third--and another, and +yet another, until no less than a dozen of these hideous reptiles lay +scattered over the grass, to the no small consternation of Smythje, who, +however, took care to keep well out of their reach. + +After the dead-wood had been delivered of its last snake, an object of a +far different character was seen to issue forth in a similar manner. It +was a misshapen mass, of a dirty buff colour, and proved, upon +inspection, to be one of Mr Smythje's boots, still incased in its +fawn-skin covering! Its mate soon followed; and then, the "wild +turkey," which had led the sportsman into his deplorable dilemma, and +which now, with half its plumage gone, and the other half "drooked" and +bedraggled, offered but a poor chance for the garnishing of his +game-bag. + +Smythje, however, too well contented at escaping with his life, thought +no more of his game-bag, nor of anything else, but getting back to Mount +Welcome by the shortest route possible. + +His boots being restored to him, he lost no time in drawing them on, +leaving the bottoms of his trousers in the companionship of the +worthless "turkey," which Quaco, better acquainted with the ornithology +of Jamaica, on coming out of the hollow tree, assured him, was, after +all, no turkey, but only a turkey-buzzard--a John Crow--in short, a +stinking vulture! + +Volume Two, Chapter VII. + +QUASHIE IN A QUANDARY. + +During all this time, where was Quashie? + +Mr Smythje did not know, and no longer did he care. Too glad to get +away from the scene of his unpleasant adventure, he made no inquiry +about his negligent squire; nor did he even think of going back to the +place where he had left him. His deliverer had offered himself as a +guide; and the road by which he conducted the sportsman from the +dead-wood led in quite another direction. As to the empty game-bag left +with Quashie, it made no difference what became of that; and, for the +hunting-knife and brandy-flask, no doubt the darkey would see to them. + +In this conjecture Mr Smythje hit the nail upon the head--at least so +far as regarded the brandy-flask. It was by seeing too well to it, that +Quashie had lost all sight of everything else--not only of the duties he +had been appointed to perform, but of the whole earth and everything +upon it. The buckra had not been twenty minutes out of his presence, +when Quashie, by repeated application of the brandy-flask to his lips, +brought his optical organs into such a condition, that he could not have +told the difference between a turkey and a turkey-buzzard any more than +Mr Smythje himself. + +The drinking of the _eau de vie_ had an effect upon the negro the very +reverse of what it would have had upon an Irishman. Instead of making +him noisy and quarrelsome, it produced a tendency towards tranquillity-- +so much so, that Quashie, in less than five minutes after his last suck +at the flask, coggled over upon the grass, and fell fast asleep. + +So soundly slept he, that not only did he fail to hear the report of +Smythje's gun, but the discharge of a whole battery of field-pieces +close to his ear would not, at that moment, have awakened him. + +It is scarce possible to say how long Quashie would have continued in +this state of half-sleep, half-inebriety, had he been left undisturbed; +nor was he restored to consciousness by human agency or living creature +of any kind. That which brought him to himself--waking and, at the same +time, partially sobering him--was the rain; which, descending like a +cold shower-bath on his semi-naked skin, caused him to start to his +feet. + +Quashie, however, had enjoyed more than an hour's sleep, before the rain +began to fall; and this may account for the _eau de vie_ having in some +measure lost its influence when he awoke. + +He was sensible that he had done wrong in drinking the buckra's brandy; +and as the temporary courage with which it had inspired him was now +quite gone, he dreaded an encounter with the white "gemman." He would +have shunned it, had he known how; but he knew very well that to slink +home by himself would bring down upon him the wrath of massa at Mount +Welcome--pretty sure to be accompanied by a couple of dozen from the +cart-whip. + +After a while's reflection, he concluded that his most prudent plan +would be to wait for the young buckra's return and tell him the best +tale he could. + +To say he had been searching for him, and that was how he had spent the +time--was the story that suggested itself to the troubled imagination of +Quashie. + +To account for the disappearance of the cognac--for he had drunk every +drop of it--the darkey had bethought him of another little bit of +fabrication--suggested, no doubt, by the mischance that had befallen the +bottle of claret. He intended to tell the grand buckra--and "thrape" it +down his throat if need be--that he, the buckra, had left out the +stopper of the flask, and that the brandy had followed the example set +by the "heel-tap" of wine. + +Thus fortified with a plausible story, Quashie awaited the return of the +sportsman. + +The sky cleared after a time, but no buckra came; nor yet, after a +considerable spell of fine weather had transpired, did he make his +appearance. + +Quashie became impatient, and slightly anxious. Perhaps the English +"gemman" had lost himself in the woods; and if so, what would be done to +him, the guide? Massa Vaughan would be sure to punish him. In fancy he +could hear the crack of the cart-whip resounding afar off over the +hills. + +After waiting a while longer, he determined to put an end to his +anxiety, by going in search of the sportsman; and taking up the empty +bag, along with the equally empty flask, and hunting-knife, he set +forth. + +He had seen Mr Smythje go towards the glade, and so far he could follow +his trail; but once arrived at the open ground, he was completely at +fault. + +He had not the slightest idea of what direction to take. + +After pausing to reflect, he took the right--that which would conduct +him to the dead-wood, which was visible from the point where he had +entered the glade. + +It was not altogether accident that conducted him thither; but rather +that, in that direction, he heard, or fancied he heard, voices. + +As he drew near to the decapitated tree, a glittering object on the +ground caught his eye. He halted, thinking it might be a snake--a +creature of which most plantation negroes have a wholesome dread. + +On scrutinising the object more closely, Quashie was surprised to +perceive that the glittering object was a gun; and, on a still nearer +acquaintance with it, he saw that it was the gun of the buckra +sportsman! + +It was lying upon the grass near the bottom of the dead-wood. What was +it doing there? + +Where was the buckra himself? Had some accident happened to him? Why +had he abandoned his gun? Had he shot himself? Or had somebody else +shot him? + +Just at that moment the most lugubrious of sounds fell upon Quashie's +ear. It was a groan, long-drawn and hollow--as if some tortured spirit +was about taking its departure from the earth! It resembled the voice +of a man, as of some one speaking from the interior of a tomb! + +The darkey stood horrified--his black epidermis turning to an ashy-grey +colour, quick as the change of a chameleon. + +He would have taken to his heels, but a thought restrained him. It +might be the buckra still alive, and in trouble? In that case he, +Quashie, would be punished for deserting him. + +The voice appeared to issue from behind the dead-wood. Whoever uttered +it must be there. Perhaps the sportsman lay wounded upon the other +side? + +Quashie screwed up his courage as high as it would go, and commenced +moving round to the other side of the stump. He proceeded cautiously, +step by step, scrutinising the ground as he went. + +He reached the other side. He looked all over the place. Nobody +there--neither dead nor wounded! + +There were no bushes to conceal an object so large as the body of a +man--at least, not within twenty yards of the stump. The groan could +not have come from a greater distance! + +Nor yet could a man be hidden under the trellis of climbing plants that +clung around the underwood. Quashie had still enough courage left to +peep among them and see. There was nobody there! + +At this moment, a second groan sounded in the darkey's ear, increasing +his terror. It was just such a one as the first--long, protracted, and +sepulchral, as if issuing from the bottom of a well. + +Again it came from behind the stump; but this time from the side which +he had just left, and where he had seen no one! + +Had the wounded man crawled round to the other side, while he, Quashie, +was proceeding in the opposite direction? + +This was the thought that occurred to him; and to determine the point, +he passed back to the side whence he had come--this time going more +rapidly, lest the mysterious moaner might again escape him. + +On reaching the spot from which he had originally set out, he was more +surprised than ever. Not a soul was to be seen. The gun still lay in +its place as he had left it. No one appeared to have touched it--no one +was there! + +Again the voice--this time, however, in a shrill treble, and more +resembling a shriek! It gave Quashie a fresh start; while the +perspiration spurted out from his forehead, and ran down his cheeks like +huge tears. + +The shriek, however, was more human-like--more in the voice of a man; +and this gave the darkey sufficient courage to stand his ground a little +longer. He had no doubt but that the voice came from the other side of +the dead-wood; and once more he essayed to get his eyes upon the +utterer. + +Still in the belief that the individual, whoever it was, and for +whatever purpose, was dodging round the tree, Quashie now started +forward with a determination not to stop till he had run the dodger to +earth. For this purpose he commenced circling around the stump, going +first at a trot; but hearing now and then the groans and shrieks--and +always on the opposite side--he increased his pace, until he ran with +all the speed in his power. + +He kept up this exercise, till he had made several turns around the +tree; when, at length, he became convinced that no human being could be +running before him without his seeing him. + +The conviction brought him to an abrupt halt, followed by a quick +reflection. If not a human being, it must be a "duppy, or de debbil +hisself!" + +The evidence that it was one or the other had now become overpowering. +Quashie could resist it no longer. + +"Duppy! Jumbe! de debbil!" cried he, as with chattering teeth, and +eyeballs protruding from their sockets, he shot off from the stump, and +"streaked it" in the direction of Mount Welcome, as fast as a pair of +trembling limbs were capable of carrying him. + +Volume Two, Chapter VIII. + +A SCARCITY OF TROUSERS. + +Following his gigantic guide, Mr Smythje trudged unhappily homeward. + +How different his craven, crestfallen look, from the swell, swaggering +sportsman of the morning! while the condition of his person was not more +dilapidated than that of his spirit. + +It was no longer the disgrace of returning with an empty game-bag, but +the chagrin which he expected to have to undergo, presenting himself at +Mount Welcome in the "pickle" in which his adventure had left him. + +He was now even in a more ludicrous plight than when Quaco had extracted +him from the hollow tree: for the rain, that had long since ceased, had +been succeeded by a blazing hot sun, and the atmosphere acting upon what +remained of his wet fawn-skin trousers, caused them to shrink until the +ragged edges had crept up to mid-thigh; thus leaving a large section of +thin knock-kneed legs between them and the tops of his boots! + +In truth, the sportsman had become the _beau ideal_ of a "guy"; and, +more than half conscious of this fact, he would at that moment have +given the situation of book-keeper on his estate to any individual who +should have presented him with a pair of pantaloons. + +His guide could do nothing for him. In the line of inexpressibles Quaco +was no better provided than himself. + +Verily, the prospect was appalling! + +Could he reach the house, and steal to his own chamber unseen? What +chance was there of his doing so? + +On reflection, not much. Mount Welcome, like all other mansions in +Jamaica, was a cage--open on every side. It was almost beyond the +bounds of probability that he could enter the house unobserved. + +Still, he could try, and on the success of that trial rested his only +hope. Oh, for that grand secret known only to the jealous Juno--the +secret of rendering one's-self invisible! What would Smythje not have +given for a ten minutes' hire of that Carthaginian cloud? + +The thought was really in his mind; for Smythje, like all young +Englishmen of good family, had studied the classics. + +The idea, moreover, proved suggestive. If there was no probability of +being provided with the nimbus of Juno, there was the possibility of +shadowing himself under the nimbus of night. Darkness once on, he might +enter the house, reach his chamber unperceived, and thus escape the +unpleasant exposure he so much dreaded. + +Smythje stopped, looked at his guide, looked at the sun, and lastly at +his naked knees--now, from the enfeebled state of his limbs, oscillating +towards each other. + +Mount Welcome was in sight. The guide was about to leave him; and, +therefore, in whatever way he might choose to act, there would be no +witness. + +Just then the Maroon made his adieus, and the _ci-devant_ sportsman was +left to himself. + +Once more he scanned the sun, and consulted his watch. In two hours it +would be twilight. The crepusculous interval would enable him to +approach the house; and in the first moments of darkness--before the +lamps were lit--he _might_ enter unobserved--or, at all events, his +plight might not very plainly be perceived. + +The scheme was feasible, and having determined to adopt it, Smythje +cowered down in the covert, and awaited the setting of the sun. + +He counted the hours, the half-hours, and minutes--he listened to the +voices coming up from the negro village--he watched the bright-winged +birds that fluttered among the branches overhead, and envied them their +_complete_ plumage. + +Notwithstanding many rare sights and sweet sounds that reached him, the +two hours spent in his secret lair were not passed pleasantly-- +solicitude about the success of his scheme robbing him of all zest for +the enjoyment of that fair scene that surrounded him. + +The hour of action drew nigh. The sun went down over the opposite +ridge, where lay Montagu Castle, his own domain. The twilight, like a +purple curtain, was gently drawn over the valley of Mount Welcome. It +was time to start. + +Smythje rose to his feet; and, after making a _reconnoissance_ of the +ground before him, set off in the direction of the house. + +He aimed at keeping as much as possible under cover of the woods; and +this he was enabled to do--the pimento groves on that side stretching +down to the shrubbery that surrounded the dwelling. + +He had got past the negro village--keeping it upon his right--without +being observed. To both the "quarter" and the sugar works he gave as +wide a berth as the nature of the ground would permit. + +He succeeded in reaching the platform on which the house stood--so far +unperceived. + +But the moment of peril was not yet past. The dangerous ground still +lay before him, and had still to be traversed. This was the open +_parterre_ in front of the house: for it was to the front that the path +had conducted him. + +It was dusk; and no one appeared--at least he could see no one--either +on the stair-landing or in the windows of the great hall. So far good. + +A rush for the open doorway, and then on to his own chamber, where Thoms +would soon clothe him in a more becoming costume. + +He started to make the rush, and had succeeded in getting half-way +across the _parterre_, when, all at once, a crowd of people, carrying +large flaming torches above their heads, appeared, coming from the rear +of the dwelling. + +They were the domestics and some field hands of the plantation, with +Trusty, the overseer, at their head. + +One might have fancied that they were setting out upon some ceremonious +procession; but their hurried advance, and the presence of Quashie +trotting in the lead, proclaimed a different purpose. + +Smythje divined their errand. They were going in search of himself! + +The sight filled him with despair. The torch-bearers had anticipated +him. They had already reached the front of the house, and the glare of +their great flambeaux illuminated every object, as if a new sun had +suddenly shot up athwart the sky! + +There was no chance of successfully running the gauntlet under that +bright flame: Smythje saw not the slightest. + +He stopped in his tracks. He would have retreated back among the +bushes, and there awaited the departure of the torch-bearers, but he +feared that his retrograde movement would attract their eyes upon him; +and then all would be over--his adventure terminating in the most +undesirable manner. + +Instead of retreating, therefore, he stood where he had stopped--fixed +and immobile, as if pinned to the spot. + +At that moment two figures appeared on the top of the stairway--in the +brilliant light easily recognisable as the planter and his daughter. +The maid Yola was behind them. Mr Vaughan had come out to give some +directions about the search. + +All three stood facing the crowd of torch-bearers, and, of course, +fronting towards Smythje. + +The planter was just opening his lips to speak, when a cry from the +maid, echoed by her young mistress, interrupted him. The sharp eyes of +the Foolah had fallen upon Smythje, whose wan, white face, shining under +the light of the links, resembled those of the statues that were set +over the _parterre_. + +Smythje was among the shrubbery; and as the girl knew that no statue +stood there, the unexpected apparition had elicited her cry of alarm. + +All eyes were instantly turned upon the spot, while the torch-bearers, +with Trusty at their head, hurried towards it. + +There was no chance of escape. The unfortunate sportsman was discovered +and brought broadly into the light, under the fierce battery of eyes-- +among others, the eyes of his lady-love, that, instead of expressing +sympathy for his forlorn condition, appeared rather to sparkle with +satirical delight! + +It was a terrible catastrophe--to be contemplated in such a plight; and +Smythje, hurrying through the crowd, lost no time in withdrawing from +observation by betaking himself to his chamber; where, under the +consolatory encouragement of the sympathising Thoms, he was soon +rendered presentable. + +Volume Two, Chapter IX. + +HERBERT IN THE HAPPY VALLEY. + +Inappropriate as Jacob Jessuron's neighbours may have deemed the title +of his estate--the Happy Valley--Herbert Vaughan had no reason to regard +it as a misnomer. From the hour in which he entered upon his situation +of book-keeper, it was a round of pleasures, rather than duties, that he +found himself called upon to fulfil; and his new life, so far from being +laboriously spent, was one continued scene, or series of scenes, of +positive pastime. + +Instead of keeping books, or looking after slaves--or, in short, doing +anything that might be deemed useful--most of his time was spent in +excursions, that had no other object than recreation or amusement. +Drives to the Bay--in which he was accompanied by Jessuron himself, and +introduced to his mercantile acquaintances; visits to neighbouring penns +and plantations with the beautiful Judith--in which he was made +acquainted with her circle; fishing parties upon the water, and picnics +in the woods: all these were afforded him without stint. + +He was furnished with a fine horse to ride; dogs and equipments for the +chase; everything, in short, calculated to afford him the life of a +gentleman of elegant leisure. A half-year's salary had been advanced to +him unasked--thus delicately giving him the means of replenishing his +wardrobe, and enabling him to appear in proper costume for every +occasion. + +Certainly, the prospects of the poor steerage-passenger seemed to have +undergone a change for the better. Through the generosity of his +unexpected patron, he was playing a role at the Jew's penn not unlike +that which his fellow-voyager was, at that very time, performing at +Mount Welcome; and as there was not much difference in the social rank +of the respective circles in which they were each revolving, it was by +no means improbable that the two might meet again, and upon a more equal +footing than formerly. + +To do Herbert Vaughan justice, it should be stated that he was more +surprised than gratified by the luxurious life he was leading. There +was something rather extraordinary in the generous patronage of the +Jew--something that puzzled him not a little. How was he to account for +such kind hospitality? + +Thus for days after Herbert Vaughan had made the Happy Valley his home, +matters moved on smoothly enough to the superficial observer. Slight +incongruities that did occur from time to time, were ingeniously +explained; and the young Englishman, unsuspicious of any evil design, +with the exception of the unwonted hospitality that was being bestowed +upon himself, saw nothing extraordinary in the circumstances that +surrounded him. + +Had he been less the honoured guest of his Israelitish host, perhaps his +perceptions might have been more scrupulous and discriminative. But the +Arabs have a proverb--"It is not in human nature to speak ill of the +horse that has borne one out of danger;" and human nature in the East is +but the counterpart of its homonym in the West. Noble as was the nature +of the young Englishman, still was it human; and to have "spoken ill of +the bridge that had carried him safely over"--and from that desolate +shore on which he had late been stranded--would have argued a nature +something more than human. + +If he entertained any suspicion of his patron's integrity, he zealously +kept it to himself--not with any idea of surrendering either his +independence or self-respect; but to await the development of the +somewhat inexplicable courtesy of which he was the recipient. + +This courtesy was not confined to his Hebrew host. As Herbert had long +been aware, his daughter exercised it in an equal degree, and far more +gracefully. Indeed, among other transformations that had been remarked +as occurring in the Happy Valley, the spirit of the fair Jewess seemed +also to have sustained a remarkable change. Though upon occasions the +proud, imperious temper would manifest itself, more generally now was +Judith in a sentimental vein--at times approaching to sadness. There +were other times when the old spitefulness would show itself. Then the +spiral nostrils would curl with contempt, and the dark Israelitish eyes +flash with malignant fire. + +Happily, these rather ungraceful exhibitions--like the tornadoes of her +native land--were rare: for a certain name--the cause that called them +forth--was but rarely pronounced in her hearing. Kate Vaughan was the +name. + +Judith's dislike for the young Creole had originated in a mere rivalry +of charms. Both enjoyed a wide-spread reputation for beauty--oft +descanted upon, and often compared, by the idle gallants of the Bay. +These discussions and comparisons reached the ears of the Jewess; and, +to her chagrin, the decisions were not always in her favour. Hence the +origin of her enmity. + +Hitherto it had been only _envy_; and, with a toss of the head, and a +slight curl of the nostril, the unpleasant theme would be dismissed. Of +late, however, a stronger emotion than envy had begun to exhibit itself; +and, whenever the name of Kate Vaughan was introduced into the +conversation--no matter how incidentally or undesigned--the eye of the +Jewess would light up with a jealous fire, her lip quiver as if +muttering curses, and she, who but the moment before seemed a very +angel, would become all at once transformed into the semblance of a +demon! + +The behaviour of the Jewess admits of easy explanation. _She was in +love, and with Herbert Vaughan_. + +At first the motive had been part vanity, part coquetry--blended, +however, with some serious admiration. Mingled also with this was a +desire to vex Kate Vaughan: for, from the first, she had suspected +rivalry in that quarter. Even though she had been made aware of the +very short interview between the cousins, she could not feel satisfied +but that something had passed between them; and there was that bit of +ribbon, which Herbert still cherished, and of the symbolism of which she +had vainly endeavoured to obtain a solution. + +Her suspicions did not die out, as it might be supposed they would, in +the absence of any demonstration on Herbert's part towards his cousin. +On the contrary, they only grew stronger as her own interest in the +young Englishman increased, for then she could not understand how a +young girl--Kate Vaughan, or any other--could have looked upon the man +who had impressed her, without being herself impressed. + +And she had become impressed by him, not gradually, but rapidly and +profoundly; until her love had grown into a fierce passion--such as a +tigress might be suspected of conceiving for her tawny mate. + +Herbert Vaughan had passed scarce a week under the roof of the Jew's +mansion when its mistress was in love with him--to the ends of her +fingers--to the very extreme of jealousy! + +As for the object of this fervent passion, the young man was at this +time altogether unable to analyse his own feelings. + +It is true that the imperious spirit of the Jewess, aided by her endless +wiles, had gained a certain ascendancy over him; but not so as to +obliterate the image that had recently become impressed upon his heart. + +In the short interview which he had had with his cousin Kate, Herbert +Vaughan had looked, for the first time in his life, on one whom to look +at was to love. The blue-eyed belle of his native village, the pretty +barmaid at the inn, the sweet-faced chorister in the church--with other +boyish fancies, already half obliterated by two months of absence--were +swept instantaneously into the dustbin of oblivion by that lovely +apparition. He was face to face with a woman worthy of his love--one +who deserved every aspiration of his soul. Intuitively and at the first +glance he had felt this; and still more was he impressed with it, as he +pronounced those warm words on his painful parting. Hence the ardent +proffer of the strong arm and the stout heart--hence the chivalric +refusal of the purse, and the preference of a piece of ribbon. + +Not that he had any reason to regard the latter as a love-token. He +knew that the kind words that had been spoken in that short but stormy +interview--as well as the offer of gold that had ended it--were but the +promptings of a pitying heart; and rather a negation of love, than a +sign of its existence. Glad as he might have been to have regarded the +piece of ribbon as a _guage d'amour_, he could only prize it as a +_souvenir_ of friendship--of no higher signification than the purse to +which it had belonged, or the gold treasure which that purse had +contained. + +Though sensible that he had no claim upon his cousin beyond that of +kinship--though not a word had been spoken by her to show that she felt +for him any other kind of regard, Herbert, strange enough, had conceived +a hope, that some day or other, a more endearing relationship might +exist between them. + +Not for long was he cheered by this sweet expectancy. It was too +transitory to stand the test of time. As day succeeded day, rumours +reached him of the gay scenes that were transpiring at Mount Welcome. +Especially was he informed of the contentedness of his cousin Kate in +the society of the new companion which her father had provided for her. + +The effect of this information was a gradual but grievous extinction of +the slight hope which Herbert had conceived. + +The circumstances with which chance had now surrounded him may have +rendered these regrets less painful. Though his cousin cared not for +him, he had no reason to feel forsaken or forlorn. By his side--and +almost constantly by his side--was beauty of no common brilliance, +showering smiles upon him of no ordinary attractiveness. + +Had he been the recipient of those smiles only one day sooner--before +the image of Kate Vaughan had made that slight impression upon his +heart--he might the more readily have yielded to their influence. And, +perhaps, on the other hand, could he have known how _his_ image had +fallen upon her heart, and made lodgment there, he might have offered a +sterner resistance to the syren seductions with which he was now beset. + +But lovers' hearts are not things of glass; and though at times they +resemble mirrors, mentally reflecting each other, too often, by the +ruling of contrarieties, do the mirrors become reversed and with the +reflecting images facing darkly inward. + +In such a dilemma was the heart of Herbert Vaughan. No wonder he found +a difficulty in effecting its analysis! + +In a condition somewhat similar to Herbert's was the heart of his +cousin: though hers was easier to analyse. It was simply trembling +under the influence of a first and virgin love. Two forms had been +presented to it in the same hour, both in the blush of youthful +manhood--one, a distinguished gentleman, the other, an humble +adventurer. + +The former had the additional advantage in priority of introduction; the +latter was not even introduced. But the favourite does not always win. +The earliest on the course may be the latest in the race; and though the +heart of the young Creole, on its pure virgin page, had received love's +image at first sight, it was not that of him who first presented himself +to make the impression. + +Nor was she kept in ignorance of outward events. Her maid Yola was the +medium by which she was acquainted with them. Through this medium she +had heard of Herbert's proximity--of his happiness and prosperity. The +news would have given her joy, but that she had heard he was _too +happy_. Strange that this should be a cause of bitterness! + +The thoughts that succeeded--the hopes and fears--the dark doubts by day +and by night--the dreams, often delusively bright--need not be detailed. +There are none who have not known a first love; few who have not felt +this chequered alternation of emotions. + +As for the distinguished Smythje, he was not always in one mind. He, +too, was troubled with an alternation of hopes and fears. The former, +however, generally predominated; and, for the most part, he felt in his +spirit the proud confidence of a conqueror. Often, with Thoms as his +audience, might Smythje be heard exultingly repeating the despatch of +Caesar:--"_Veni, vidi, vici_!" + +Volume Two, Chapter X. + +IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE. + +The mutual spite between planter and penn-keeper was of old standing-- +dating, in fact, from their first acquaintance with each other. Some +sharp practice between them, in the sale and purchase of slaves, had +given origin to it; and circumstances were always occurring to hinder it +from dying out. This was more especially the case since the Jew, by the +purchase of the Happy Valley estate, had become the contiguous +neighbour--and, in point of wealth, almost the rival--of the proprietor +of Mount Welcome. + +On the side of the Custos there had been for some time past another +feeling mixed up with his antipathy to his Israelitish neighbour--a +vague sense of fear. This was of modern origin--dating from a period +subsequent to the execution of Chakra, the myal-man--and begotten of +some remarks which, as reported to Mr Vaughan, the Jew had made in +connection with that ugly incident. + +If nothing had of late transpired to increase this fear on the part of +the Custos, a circumstance had arisen to strengthen his hostility. The +protection which had been given to his discarded nephew, and the parade +which his neighbour was making of him, had proved to the Custos a +scandal of the most irksome kind; and almost every day was he made aware +of some unpleasant bit of gossip connected with the affair. So +irritated had he become with rumours, constantly reaching him, that his +hatred for the Jew had grown stronger than ever before; and he would +have given a dozen hogsheads of his best _muscovado_ to any one who +would have provided him with the means of humiliating the detested +penn-keeper. + +Just at this crisis, chance or fortune stepped in to favour him, +apparently offering the very opportunity he desired; and in a way that, +instead of costing him a dozen hogsheads of sugar, was likely to put far +more than that amount of property into his pocket. + +It was the day before that on which Smythje had dropped into the +dead-wood. The Custos was in his kiosk alone, smoking a plantation +cigar, and conning over the statutes of the "black code"--a favourite +study with him. Just at that moment Mr Trusty's shadow was projected +into the summer-house. "Well, Trusty, what is it?" + +"There's a man below wants to see your worship." + +"On what business, pray?" + +"Don't know," answered the laconic overseer; "he won't tell. Says it's +important, and can only communicate to yourself." + +"What sort of a man is he? Negro or white?" + +"Neither, your worship. He's a clear mulatto. I've seen him about +before. He's one of the Maroons that have their settlement over among +the Trelawney Hills. He calls himself Cubina." + +"Ah!" said the Custos, showing a slight emotion as the name was +pronounced; "Cubina! Cubina! I've heard the name. I fancy I've seen +the man--at a distance. A young fellow, isn't he?" + +"Very young; though they say he's the captain of the Trelawney band." + +"What on earth can the Maroon want with me?" muttered Mr Vaughan, half +to himself. "He hasn't brought in any runaways, has he?" + +"No," answered the overseer. "Thanks to your worship's good management, +we haven't any of late--not since that old schemer Chakra was put out of +the way." + +"Thanks to _your_ good management, Mr Trusty," said the planter, +returning his overseer's compliment, not without a show of nervous +uneasiness, which the reference to Chakra had called forth. "Then it's +nothing of that kind, you think?" he hastily added, as if desirous of +changing the theme. + +"No, your worship. It cannot be: there's not a runaway upon my list;" +replied Trusty, with an air of triumph. + +"Gad! I'm glad to hear it," said the Custos, rubbing his hands together +as an expression of his contentment. "Well; I suppose the young fellow +has come to consult me in my magisterial capacity. In some scrape, no +doubt? These Maroons are always getting themselves into trouble with +our planters. I wonder who he's come to complain about?" + +"Well, that much I think I can tell you," rejoined the overseer, +evidently knowing more of the Maroon's errand than he had yet admitted-- +for Mr Trusty was a true disciple of the secretive school. "If I +should be allowed to make a guess, your worship, I should say it is +something relating to our neighbour of the Happy Valley." + +"What! the Jew?" + +"Jacob Jessuron, Esquire." + +"You think so, Trusty?" inquired Mr Vaughan, with an earnest and +gratified look. "Has the young fellow said anything?" + +"No," answered the overseer; "it's not anything _he_ has said. I heard +something a day or two ago about a runaway the Maroons have got among +them--a slave belonging to the Jew. It appears they don't want to give +him up." + +"Whom did you hear it from?" + +"Why, not exactly from any one, your worship. I should rather say I +_overheard_ it, quite by accident. One of the Trelawney Maroons--a big +fellow that comes down here occasionally after Black Bet--was telling +her something. I was passing Bet's cabin, and heard him talking about +this runaway." + +"Don't want to give him up! And for what reason do they refuse?" + +"Can't tell, your worship. I could only make out part of the +conversation." + +"So you think it's about that the young fellow has come?" + +"I think it likely, your worship. He's close, however, and I couldn't +get a word out of him about his business. He says he must see you." + +"All right, then! You can show him in here. And hark ye, Mr Trusty! +See Black Bet, and get what you can out of her. This is an interesting +matter. A Maroon refusing to deliver up a runaway! There must be +something in it. Perhaps the mulatto will tell me all about it; but +whether he does or not, you may see Bet. You can promise her a new +gown, or whatever you like. Show the young fellow up at once. I am +ready to receive him." + +Mr Trusty bowed, and walked off in the direction of the works, where +the Maroon had remained in waiting; while the Custos, composing himself +into an official attitude, awaited the approach of his visitor. + +"I'd give a good round sum," soliloquised he, "to learn that the old +rascal has got into some scrape with these Maroon fellows. I shouldn't +wonder," he added, in gleeful anticipation, "I shouldn't wonder! I know +they don't much like him--less since he's taken the Spaniards into his +pay--and I suspect he's been engaged in some underhand transactions of +late. He's been growing grander every day, and nobody knows where all +the money comes from. Maybe Master Maroon has a tale to tell; and, if +it's against Jessuron, I'll take care he has an opportunity of telling +it. Ah, here he comes! Egad, a fine-looking fellow! So, so! This is +the young man that my daughter jokes Yola about! Well, I don't wonder +the Foolah should have taken a fancy to him; but I must see that he +doesn't make a fool of her. These Maroons are dangerous dogs among the +women of the plantations; and Yola, whether a princess or not in her own +country-princess, ha! ha! Well, at all events the wench is no common +nigger; and it won't do for Master Maroon to be humbugging her. I shall +lecture him about it, now that I've got him here." + +By this time the Maroon captain--equipped just as we have seen him in +the forest--had arrived in front of the kiosk; and, making a deferential +bow, though without taking off his hat--which, being the _toqued +kerchief_, could not conveniently be removed--stood waiting for the +Custos to address him. + +The planter remained for a considerable time without vouchsafing further +speech than the mechanical salutation, "Good morning." + +There was something in the physiognomy of his visitor that had evidently +made an unpleasant impression upon him; and the gaze, with which he +regarded the latter, was one which bespoke some feeling different from +that of mere curiosity or admiration. + +Whatever the feeling was, he seemed desirous of suppressing it; and, +making an effort to that effect, appeared to succeed: for the shadow, +that for an instant had shown itself on his countenance, cleared away; +and, with a magisterial but courteous smile, he commenced the +conversation. + +Volume Two, Chapter XI. + +MAGISTRATE AND MAROON. + +"Well, young man," continued the Custos, in an affable tone, "you, I +believe, are one of the Maroons of Trelawney?" + +"Yes, worship," bluntly rejoined Cubina. "The captain of a town, are +you not?" + +"Only a few families, worship. Ours is a small settlement." + +"And your name is--?" + +"Cubina." + +"Ah! I've heard the name," said the Custos. "I think," added he, with +a significant smile, "we have a young girl here on the plantation who +knows you?" + +Cubina blushed, as he stammered out an affirmative. + +"Oh! that's all right," said the planter, encouragingly. "So long as +there's no harm meant, there's no harm done. Mr Trusty tells me you +have business with me. Is it about that?" + +"About what, your worship?" inquired the Maroon, a little taken by +surprise at the question so unexpectedly put to him. "About your +sweetheart!" + +"My sweetheart, worship?" + +"Ay, Yola. Is she not your sweetheart?" + +"Well, Mr Vaughan," rejoined the Maroon, "I'm not going to deny that +something has passed between me and the young girl; but it wasn't +exactly about her I've come to see you, though now, bein' here, I might +as well talk about that matter, too, if it so please your worship." + +"Very good, Captain Cubina. I'm ready to hear what you have to say. Go +on!" + +"Well, then, your worship, the truth is, I want to buy Yola." + +"What? Buy your own sweetheart?" + +"Just so, worship. Of course, as soon as she would be mine, I'd set her +free." + +"That is, you would change the bonds she now wears for the bonds of +matrimony?--ha! ha! ha! Is that it, Captain Cubina?" and the Custos +laughed at the conceit he had so neatly expressed. + +"Something of that sort, your worship," replied the Maroon, slightly +participating in the worthy magistrate's mirth. + +"And do you think Yola desires to become Mrs Cubina?" + +"If I didn't think so, your worship, I wouldn't propose to buy her. It +would be nothing to me to own the girl, if she wasn't agreeable." + +"She _is_ agreeable, then?" + +"Well, worship, I think so. Not that she don't like the young mistress +that owns her at present; but, you see, your worship--but--" + +"But there's somebody she likes better than her mistress; and that's +yourself, Master Cubina?" + +"Well, you see, worship, that's a different sort of liking, and--" + +"True enough--true enough!" interrupted Mr Vaughan, as if wishing to +come to the end of the conversation--at least, upon that particular +topic. + +"Well, Captain Cubina," he added, "suppose I was willing to part with +Yola, how much could you afford to give for her? Mind you, I don't say +I am willing: for, after all, the girl belongs to my daughter; and _she_ +would have something to say in the matter." + +"Ah, sir!" exclaimed Cubina, in a tone of tender confidence, "Miss +Vaughan is good and generous. I've often heard say so. I am sure she +would never stand in the way of Yola's being happy." + +"Oh, you think it would make Yola happy, do you?" + +"I hope so, your worship," answered the Maroon, modestly dropping his +eyelids as he made the reply. + +"After all," said the planter, "it would be a matter of business. My +daughter, even if she wished it, could not afford to part with the girl +for less than the market price; which in Yola's case would be a large +one. How much do you suppose I have been offered for her?" + +"I've heard two hundred pounds, your worship." + +"Just so; and I refused that, too." + +"Maybe, Mr Vaughan, you would not have refused it from another--from +me, for instance?" + +"Ah, I don't know about that! But could _you_ raise that large sum?" + +"Not just now, your worship. I am sorry to say I could not. I had +scraped together as good as a hundred--thinking that would be enough-- +when, to my sorrow, I learnt I had only got half-way. But, if your +worship will only allow me time, I think I can manage--in a month or +two--to get the other hundred, and then--" + +"Then, worthy captain, it will be time to talk about buying Yola. +Meanwhile, I can promise you that she shan't be sold to anybody else. +Will that satisfy you?" + +"Oh, thank your worship! It is very kind of you, Mr Vaughan: I'll not +fail to be grateful. So long as Yola--" + +"Yola will be safe enough in my daughter's keeping. But now, my young +fellow, since you say this was not exactly the business that brought you +here, you have some other, I suppose? Pray tell me what it is." + +The Custos, as he made this request, set himself to listen, in a more +attentive attitude than he had yet assumed. + +"Well, your worship!" proceeded Cubina, "I've come over to ask you for +some advice about a matter I have with Mr Jessuron--he as keeps penn +close by here." + +Mr Vaughan became doubly attentive. + +"What matter?" asked he, in a simple phrase--lest any circumlocution +might distract the speaker from his voluntary declaration. + +"It's an ugly business, your worship; and I wouldn't bother about it, +but that the poor young fellow who's been robbed out of his rights, +turns out to be neyther more nor less than the brother of Yola herself. +It's a queer story altogether; and if it wasn't the old Jew that's done +the thing, one could hardly believe it." + +"What thing? Pray be explicit, my friend." + +"Well, your worship, if you'll have patience to hear me, I'll tell you +the whole story from beginning to end--that is, as far as it has gone: +for it ain't ended yet." + +"Go on!" commanded the Custos. "I'll hear it patiently. And don't be +afraid, Captain Cubina," added he, encouragingly. "Tell me all you +know--every circumstance. If it's a case for justice, I promise you +justice shall be done." + +And with this magisterial commonplace, the Custos resumed his attitude +of extreme attention. + +"I'll make no secrets, your worship, whether it gets me into trouble or +no. I'll tell you all--leastwise, all that's come to my knowledge." + +And with this proviso, the Maroon captain proceeded to detail the +circumstances connected with the capture of the runaway; the singular +encounter between brother and sister; and the mutual recognition that +followed. Then afterwards the disclosures made by the young man: how he +was an African prince; how he had been sent in search of his sister; the +ransom he had brought with him; his landing from the ship, consigned by +Captain Jowler to the care of Jessuron; his treatment and betrayal by +the Jew; the branding of his person, and robbing him of his property; +his escape from the penn; his capture by Cubina, already described; and, +finally, his detention by the latter, in spite of several messages and +menaces, sent by the Jew, to deliver him up. + +"Good!" cried Loftus Vaughan, starting from his chair, and evidently +delighted by the recital, somewhat dramatically delivered by the Maroon. +"A melodrama, I declare! wanting only one act to complete it. Egad, I +shall feel inclined to be one of the actors before it's played out. +Ho!" exclaimed he, as if some thought had suddenly struck him; "this may +explain why the old rascal wanted to buy the wench--though I don't +clearly see his purpose in that. It'll come clear yet, no doubt." + +Then addressing himself once more to the Maroon:-- + +"Twenty-four Mandingoes, you say--twenty-four belonged to the prince?" + +"Yes, your worship. Twenty regular slaves, and four others that were +his personal attendants. There were more of the slaves; but these were +the lawful property of the captain, the price paid for bringing him +over." + +"And they were all carried to the Jew's penn?" + +"All of them, with the others: the whole cargo was taken there. The Jew +bought all. There were some Coromantees among them; and one of my men, +Quaco, who had talk with these, heard enough to confirm the young man's +story." + +"Ha! what a pity, now, that black tongues can't wag to any purpose! +_Their_ talk goes for nothing. But I'll see what may be done without +it." + +"Did your prince ascertain the name of the captain that brought him +over?" inquired the magistrate, after considering a minute. + +"Oh yes, your worship; Jowler, he was called. He trades upon the +Gambia, where the prince's father lives. The young man knows him well." + +"I think I know something of him, too--that same Jowler. I should like +to lay my hands upon him, for something else than this--a precious +scamp! After all, it wouldn't help our case if we had him. No doubt, +the two set their heads together in the business, and there's only one +story between them. + +"Humph! what are we to do for a _white_ witness?" continued the +magistrate, speaking rather to himself than his visitor. "That, I fear, +will be a fatal difficulty. Stay! Ravener, you say, Jessuron's +overseer, was at the landing of the cargo?" + +"Oh, yes, your worship. That individual took an active part in the +whole transaction. It was he who stripped the prince of his clothes, +and took all his jewellery away from him." + +"Jewellery, too?" + +"_Crambo_, yes! He had many valuable things. Jowler kept most of his +plunder aboard ship." + +"A robbery! Egad, a wholesale robbery!" + +"Well, Captain Cubina," proceeded the Custos, changing his tone to one +of more business-like import, "I promise you that this shall not be +passed over. I don't yet clearly see what course we may have to take. +There are many difficulties in a prosecution of this kind. We'll have +trouble about the testimony--especially since Mr Jessuron is a +magistrate himself. Never mind about that. Justice shall be done, even +were he the highest in the land. But there can be no move made just +yet. It will be a month before the assize court meets at Savannah; and +that is where we must go with it. Meanwhile, not a word to any one--not +a whisper of what you know!" + +"I promise that, your worship." + +"You must keep the Foolah prince where you have him. Don't on any +account deliver him up. I'll see that you're protected in holding him. +Considering the case, it's not likely the Jew will go to extremities +with you. _He_ has a glass house over his head, and will 'ware to throw +stones--so you've not much to fear. + +"And now, young man!" added the Custos, changing his tone to one that +showed how friendly he could be to him who had imparted such gratifying +intelligence, "if all goes well, you'll not have much difficulty in +making up the hundred pounds for the purchase of your sweetheart. +_Remember that_!" + +"Thanks, worthy Custos," said Cubina, bowing gratefully; "I shall depend +upon your promise." + +"You may. And now--go quietly home, and wait till I send for you. I +shall see my lawyer to-morrow. We may want you soon." + +Volume Two, Chapter XII. + +THE SMYTHJE ECLIPSE. + +The celebrated eclipse of Columbus, by which that shrewd navigator so +advantageously deluded the simple savages of Don Christopher's Cove, is +not the only one for which the island of Jamaica _should_ be famous. It +is my duty to introduce another: which, if not worthy of being recorded +upon the page of history, deserves at least a chapter in our romance. + +The eclipse in question, though not so important in its results as that +which favoured the great world-finder, was nevertheless of considerable +interest--more especially to some of the _dramatis personae_ of our +tale, whose fortunes it influenced in no slight degree. + +Occurring about two weeks after the arrival of the distinguished +Smythje, it seemed as if the sun had specially extinguished himself for +the occasion: as a sort of appropriate climax to the round of brilliant +_fetes_ and entertainments, of which the lord of Montagu Castle had been +the recipient. It deserves, therefore, to be designated the "Smythje +eclipse." + +On the day before that on which the obscuration of the sun was expected +to take place, the Cockney had conceived a brilliant design--that of +viewing the eclipse from the top of the mountain--from the summit of the +Jumbe Rock! + +There was something daringly original in this design; and for that had +Smythje adopted it. Kate Vaughan was to be his companion. He had +asked, and of course obtained, Mr Vaughan's consent, and hers also of +course--for Kate had found of late, more than ever, that her father's +will was to be her law. + +Smythje was not without a purpose in the proposed ascent to the natural +observatory of the Jumbe Rock. In that hour when all the earth would be +in _chiaro-oscuro_--as if shrouded under the pall of infinity--in that +dark and solemn hour, Smythje had determined upon _popping the +question_! + +Why he had selected such a place and time--both pre-eminently sombre-- +must for ever remain a mystery. He may have been under an impression +that the poetical reputation of the place, combined with the romantic +solemnity of the scene and the hour, might exercise a dissolving +influence over the heart of the young Creole, and incline her to an +affirmative answer. Or, perhaps, _au fait_ as he was to theatrical +contrivances, he may have drawn his idea from something he had seen upon +the stage, and chosen his climax accordingly. + +Some two hours before the expected contact between the limbs of the two +great luminaries--in time to allow of leisurely walking--Smythje started +out for the Jumbe Rock, of course accompanied by Kate Vaughan. + +Attendants there were none; for the exquisite, on such an occasion, +preferred being alone; and had so signified--declining the sable escort +which his host had provided. + +The morning was one of the fairest. The sun was still shining brightly. +Not a speck could be distinguished upon the azure arch of a West-Indian +sky; and the scenes through which the path conducted Mr Smythje and his +fair companion were among the loveliest to be found in the domain of +Nature. + +Around the dwelling of Mount Welcome--in its gardens and _parterres_-- +the eye delighted to dwell upon a variety of vegetable forms, both +indigenous and exotic--some planted for shade; some for the beauty of +their blossoms; and others for their fruit. There could be seen the +genip, the tamarind of Oriental fame, palms of several species, the +native pawpaw, and the curious trumpet-tree. Distinguished for their +floral beauties, were the cordia, the oleander, and South-Sea rose, the +grand magnolia, and the perfumed Persian lilac. Bearing luscious +fruits, were the cashew, the mango, and Malay apple; the sop, the guava, +with every variety of the citron tribe--as oranges, lemons, limes, and +the huge shaddock. + +Climbing the standard trunks, and twining around the branches, were +parasites of many species--rare and beautiful flowering plants: as the +wax-like _hoya carnosa_, the crimson quamoclit, _barsavolas_, _ipomeas_, +and other magnificent orchids. + +It was a scene to stir the soul of a botanist to enthusiastic +admiration; resembling a vast botanical garden--some grand house of +palms, having for its roof the azure canopy of heaven. + +To the eyes of the young creole--all her life accustomed to look upon +those fair vegetable forms--there was nothing in the sight of them to +beget astonishment; and the Cockney cared but little for trees. His +late adventure had cured him of all inclination for a forest life; and, +in his eyes, a cabbage-palm was of no more interest than a cabbage. + +Smythje, however, was not unmusical. Constant attendance at the opera +had, to some extent, attuned his soul to song; and he could not help +expressing some surprise at the melody of the Western songsters--so much +misrepresented and maligned. + +In truth, upon that morning they appeared to be giving one of their +grandest concerts. In the garden groves could be heard the clear voice +of the banana-bird, like the tones of a clarionet, mingled with the +warbling tones of the blue quit. There, too, could be seen the tiny +vervain humming-bird, seated upon the summit of a tall mango-tree, +trilling out its attenuated and fairy-like lay, with as much +enthusiastic energy as if its little soul was poured forth in the song. + +In the dark mountain woods could be heard other songsters--the glass-eye +merle singing his rich and long-continued strain; and, at intervals, the +wild, plaintive cry of the solitaire, littered in sweet but solemn +notes, like the cadenced chaunting of a psalm--in perfect keeping with +the solitude which this singular songster affects. + +Above all could be distinguished the powerful voice of the New World +nightingale--the far-famed mock-bird--excelling all the other music of +the groves; except when at intervals the rare May-bird condescended to +fling his melody upon the breeze, when the mock-bird himself would +instantly interrupt his lay, and become a listener. + +Add to these sounds the humming of bees, the continuous "skirling" of +grasshoppers, lizards, and cicadas--the metallic cluckling of +tree-frogs, the rustling of the breeze among the lanceolate leaves of +the tall bamboos, and the sighing of a cascade among the distant hills-- +add these, and you may have some idea of the commingling of sounds that +saluted the ear of Mr Montagu Smythje, as, with his fair companion, he +ascended the mountain slope. + +Cheerful as were the birds and brisk the bees, Smythje appeared cheerful +and brisk as they. He was gay both in spirits and costume. Thoms had +equipped him in one of his favourite suits; and his spirits were +elevated by the prospect of his grand love triumph. + +On arriving at the bottom of the ravine which conducted to the summit of +the rock, Smythje showed his courage by boldly advancing to scale the +steep path. He would have offered a hand to assist his companion; but +in the difficult ascent he found full occupation for both; and in this +ungallant manner was he compelled to climb upward. + +Kate, however--who was accustomed to the path, and could possibly have +given him assistance--found no difficulty in following; and in a few +seconds both had arrived on the summit of the rock, and stood under the +shadow of the palm. + +The skeleton form, once chained to the tree, was no longer there to fray +them. It had been mysteriously removed. + +Mr Smythje consulted his repeater. They had arrived just in the nick +of time. In five minutes the eclipse would commence; and the discs of +the two great heavenly orbs would appear in contact. + +It was not this crisis, however, that Smythje had chosen for the cue to +his important speech. Nor yet the moment of deepest darkness; but just +when the sun should begin to re-appear, and, by his renewed brightening +symbolise the state of the lover's own feelings. + +He had prepared some pretty speeches which he meant to repeat by way of +ushering in the declaration: how his own heart might be compared to the +sun--now burning with passion--now darkened by deep despair; then once +more brightening up, with rekindled hope, at the prospect of Kate making +him the happiest of mortals. + +He had prepared them pit-a-pat the night before, and gone over them with +Thoms in the morning. He had rehearsed them more than a dozen times-- +ending with a dress rehearsal just before starting out. + +Unless the eclipse should in some way deprive him of the use of his +tongue, there could be no danger of his breaking down. + +With perfect confidence, therefore, in his speech-making, and equally +confident of the issue, the romantic Smythje restored his repeater to +its fob; and, with sun-glass in hand, awaited the coming on of the +eclipse. + +Volume Two, Chapter XIII. + +A PROPOSAL POSTPONED. + +Slowly, silently, and still unseen, stole the soft luminary of night +towards her burning god--till a slight shadow on his lower limb +betokened the contact. + +"The ekwipse is commencing," said Smythje, holding the glass to his eye. +"The sun and moon are just kissing, like two lovers. How pwetty it is! +Dawn't yaw think so, fayaw Kate?" + +"Rather a distant kiss for lovers, I should say--some ninety odd +millions of miles between them!" + +"Haw, haw! veway good, veway good indeed! And in that sawt of thing, +distance dawn't lend enchantment to the view. Much bettaw to be near, +just as yaw and I are at this moment. Dawn't yaw think so, fayaw Kate?" + +"That depends upon circumstances--whether the love be reciprocal." + +"Wecipwocal!--yas, twoo enough--thaw is something in that." + +"A great deal, I should think, Mr Smythje. For instance, were I a man, +and my sweetheart was frowning on me--as yonder moon seems to be upon +his majesty the sun--I should keep my distance, though it were ninety +millions of miles." + +Had Mr Smythje at that moment only removed the glass from his eye, and +turned towards _his_ sweetheart, he might have read in her looks that +the speech just made possessed a significance, altogether different from +the interpretation which it pleased him to put upon it. + +"Haw, haw! veway pwetty of yaw, 'pon honaw! But yaw must wemember that +yondaw moon has two faces. In that she wesembles the queetyaw called +woman. Her bwight face is turned towards the sun, and no doubt she is +at this moment smiling upawn the fellaw. Her frowns, yaw see, are faw +us, and all the west of mankind; thawfo' she wesembles a devoted +queetyaw. Dawn't yaw think so, fayaw Kate?" + +Kate was compelled to smile, and for a short moment regarded Smythje +with a glance which might have been mistaken for admiration. In the +analogy which the exquisite had drawn there was a scintillation of +intellect--the more striking that it was not expected from such a +source. Withal, the glance was rather indicative of surprise than +admiration, though Smythje evidently interpreted it for the latter--his +self-esteem assisting him to the interpretation. + +Before she could make reply, he repeated the interrogatory. + +"Oh, yes!" answered she, the smile disappearing from her countenance; "I +can well imagine, Mr Smythje, that your simile is just. I should think +that a woman who loves devotedly, would not bestow her smiles on any +other than him she loves; and though he were distant as yonder sun, in +her heart she would smile on him all the same." + +The young Creole as she spoke lowered her eyes, no longer regarding the +eclipse, but as if involuntarily directing her glance downward. + +"Ah, yes!" continued she in thought, "and even if alike impossible for +them ever to meet, still would her smiles be his! Ah, yes!" + +For some seconds she remained silent and abstracted. Smythje, attracted +by the altered tone of her voice, had taken the telescope from his eye, +and turned towards her. + +Observing this abstracted air, which he had often before remarked, he +did not think of attributing it to any other cause than that which his +vanity had already divined. Kate Vaughan was in love; and with whom but +himself? + +His sympathetic soul was ready to give way; and he was almost on the +point of departing from the programme which he had so ingeniously traced +out. But the remembrance of the pretty speeches he had rehearsed with +Thoms--and the thought that any deviation from the original design would +deprive him of the pleasure of witnessing the effects which they must +undoubtedly produce--restrained him from a premature declaration, and he +remained silent. + +It did not hinder him from some unspoken reflections. + +"Poor queetyaw! evidently suffwing! Neithaw distance nor absence can +make the slightest impwession upon her love--not the slightest. Ba +Jawve! I feel more than half-inclined to bweak the spell, and reweive +her fwom her miseway. But no--it would nevaw do. I must wesist the +temptation. A little more suffwing can do no harm, since the situation +of the queetyaw wesembles the pwoverb: `The darkest hour is that which +is neawest the day.' Haw! haw!" + +And with this fanciful similitude before his mind, the sympathetic and +self-denying lover concluded his string of complacent reflections; and +returning the glass to his eye, once more occupied himself in ogling the +eclipse. + +The young Creole, seeing him thus engaged, withdrew to one side; and +placing herself on the very edge of the cliff, stood gazing outward and +downward. It was evident that the grand celestial phenomenon had no +attraction for her. She cared neither to look upon the sun, nor the +moon, nor the stars that would soon be visible in the fast-darkening +sky. Her eyes, like her thoughts, were turned upon the earth; and as +the penumbra began to cast its purple shadow over the fair face of +Nature, so could a cloud be seen overspreading her beautiful +countenance. + +There was now deep silence below and around. In a few seconds of time a +complete change had taken place. The uttering of the forest was no +longer heard. The birds had suddenly ceased their songs, and if their +voices came up at intervals, it was in screams and cries that denoted +fear. Insects and reptiles had become silent, under the influence of a +like alarm. The more melancholy sounds alone continued--the sighing of +the trees, and the sough of the distant waterfall. This transformation +reminded Kate Vaughan of the change which had taken place in her own +heart. Almost equally rapid had it been--the result of only a few days, +or perhaps only hours: for the once gay girl had become, of late, +habitually grave and taciturn. Well might she compare her thoughts to +the forest sounds! The cheerful and musical were gone--those that were +melancholy alone remained! + +For this change there was a cause, not very different from that which +Smythje had divined. He was right in assigning it to that passion--the +most powerful that can dwell in a woman's heart. + +Only as to its object did Mr Smythje labour under a misconception. His +self-conceit had guided him to a very erroneous conjecture. Could he +have divined the thoughts at that moment passing in the mind of his +companion, it would have completely cured him of the conceit that he was +the maker of that melancholy. + +The mansion of Mount Welcome was in sight, gaily glittering amidst +gorgeous groves. It was not upon it that the eyes of Kate Vaughan were +bent; but upon a sombre pile, shadowed by great cotton-trees, that lay +in the adjoining valley. Her heart was with her eyes. + +"Happy Valley!" soliloquised she, her thoughts occasionally escaping in +low murmur from her lips. "Happy for _him_, no doubt! There has he +found a welcome and a home denied him by those whose duty it was to have +offered both. There has he found hospitality among strangers; and +there, too--" + +The young girl paused, as if unwilling to give words to the thought that +had shaped itself in her mind. + +"No," continued she, unable to avoid the painful reflection; "I need not +shut my eyes upon the truth. It is true what I have been told--very +true, I am sure. There has he found one to whom he has given his +heart!" + +A sigh of deep anguish succeeded the thought. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, resuming the sad soliloquy; "he promised me a +strong arm and a stout heart, if I should ever need them. Ah, me! +promise now bitter to be remembered--no longer possible to be kept! And +the ribbon he was to prize so highly--which gave me such joy as he said +it. Only another promise broken! Poor little souvenir! no doubt, long +ere this, cast aside and forgotten! ah, me!" + +Again the sigh interrupted the soliloquy. After a time it proceeded:-- + +"`We may never meet more!' These were almost his last words. Alas! too +prophetic! Better, now, we never should. Better this than to meet +him--with her by his side--Judith Jessuron--his wife--his wife--oh!" + +The last exclamation was uttered aloud, and with an undisguised accent +of anguish. + +Smythje heard it, and started as he did so--letting the sun-glass fall +from his fingers. + +Looking around, he perceived his companion standing apart--unheeding as +she was unheeded--with head slightly drooping, and eyes turned downward +upon the rock--her face still bearing the expression of a profound +anguish which her thoughts had called forth. + +The heart of Smythje melted within him. He knew her complaint--he knew +its cure. The remedy was in his hands. Was it right any longer to +withhold it? A word from him, and that sad face would be instantly +suffused with smiles! Should that word be spoken or postponed? + +Spoken! prompted humanity. Spoken! echoed Smythje's sympathetic heart. +Yes! perish the cue and the climax! Perish the fine speech and the +rehearsal with Thoms--perish everything to "relieve the deaw queetyaw +fwom the agony she is suffwing!" + +With this noble resolve, the confident lover stepped up to the side of +his beloved, leaving a distance of some three feet between them. His +movements were those of a man about entering upon the performance of +some ceremonial of the grandest importance; and to Mr Smythje, in +reality, it was so. + +The look of surprise with which the young Creole regarded him, neither +deterred him from proceeding, nor in anywise interfered with the air of +solemn gravity which his countenance had all at once assumed. + +Bending one knee down upon the rock--where he had dropped the glass--and +placing his left hand over the region of his heart, while with the right +he had raised his hat some six inches above his perfumed curls, there +and then he was about to unburden himself of that speech, studied for +the occasion--committed to Smythje's memory, and more than a dozen times +delivered in the hearing of Thoms--there and then was he on the eve of +offering to Kate Vaughan his hand--his heart--his whole love and +estate--when just at this formidable crisis, the head and shoulders of a +man appeared above the edge of the rock, and behind, a black-plumed +beaver hat, shadowing the face of a beautiful woman! + +Herbert Vaughan!--Judith Jessuron! + +Volume Two, Chapter XIV. + +THE OBSCURATION. + +"Intawupted!" exclaimed Smythje, briskly restoring his person to its +erect position. "What an infawnal haw!" he continued, drawing out his +handkerchief, and dusting the knee on which he had been kneeling. "I +wondaw who are the intwoodaws? Aw! ah! It's the young fellaw, yaw +cousin! Shawly it is; and--a--a pwetty girl with him--a dooced pwetty +girl, ba Jawve!" + +A satirical titter, loud enough to be termed a laugh, was heard issuing +from between the white teeth of the Jewess. It somewhat discomfited +Smythje: since he knew that the satire could only be pointed at the +ridiculous _tableau_ just broken up, and of which he had himself been +the conspicuous figure. His _sang froid_, however, did not quite +forsake him, for the Cockney possessed considerable presence of mind-- +the offspring of an infinite superciliousness. This at the moment came +to his relief, bringing with it an idea that promised to rescue him from +his embarrassment. The spy-glass lying upon the rock suggested the +idea. + +Dropping back upon his knee--in an attitude similar to that from which +he had just arisen--he took up the telescope, and, once more rising to +his feet, presented it to Kate Vaughan, as she stood bent and blushing. + +The _ruse_ was well intended, and not badly executed; but Mr Smythje +had to deal with one as cunning as himself. It was of no use +endeavouring to throw dust in the keen, quick eyes of Judith Jessuron; +and the laugh was repeated, only in a louder and more quizzical tone. + +It ended in Smythje himself joining in the laughter, which, under the +circumstances, was the very best course he could have pursued. + +Notwithstanding the absurdity of the situation, Herbert did not seem to +share in his companion's mirth. On the contrary, a shadow was visible +upon his brow--not that produced by the gradually deepening twilight of +the eclipse--but one that had spread suddenly over his face at sight of +the kneeling Smythje. + +"Miss Vaughan!" pronounced the Jewess, springing lightly upon the rock, +and, with a nod of recognition, advancing towards the young Creole and +her companion; "an unexpected pleasure this! I hope we are not +intruding?" + +"Not at all--nothing of the sawt, I ashaw yaw," replied Smythje, with +one of his profoundest bows. + +"Mr Smythje--Miss Jessuron," interposed Kate, performing the duty of +introduction with dignified but courteous politeness. + +"We have climbed up to view this eclipse," continued Judith. "The same +errand as yourselves, I presume?" added she, with a glance of quizzical +malignity directed towards Kate. + +"Aw, yes! sawtinly!" stammered out Smythje, as if slightly confused by +the innuendo of the interrogative. "That is pwecisely the pawpose which +bwought us heaw--to view this cewestial phenomenon fwom the Jumbe Wock. +A spwendid observatowy it is, ba Jawve!" + +"You have had the advantage of us," rejoined Judith. "I feared we +should arrive too late. Perhaps, we are soon enough?" + +The satirical tone and glance were reiterated. + +Perhaps Kate Vaughan did not perceive the meaning of this ambiguous +interrogatory, though addressed to her even more pointedly than the +former; at all events, she did not reply to it. Her eyes and thoughts +were elsewhere. + +"Quite in time, Miss Jessuwon!" answered Smythje. "The ekwipse is fawst +assuming a most intewesting phase. In a few minutes the sun will be in +penumbwa. If yaw will step this way, yaw may get a bettaw +standing-place. Pawmit me to offaw yaw the tewescope? Aw, haw!" +continued he, addressing himself to Herbert, who had just come forward, +"aw, how do, ma fwiend? Happy to have the pwesyaw of meeting you +again!" + +As he said this, he held out his hand, with a single finger projecting +beyond the others. + +Herbert, though declining the proffered finger, returned the salutation +with sufficient courtesy; and Smythje, turning aside to attend upon +Judith, escorted her to that edge of the platform facing towards the +eclipse. + +By this withdrawal--perhaps little regretted by either of the cousins-- +they were left alone. + +A bow, somewhat stiff and formal, was the only salutation that had yet +passed between them; and even for some seconds after the others had gone +aside, they remained without speaking to each other. + +Herbert was the first to break the embarrassing silence. + +"Miss Vaughan!" said he, endeavouring to conceal the emotion which, +however, his trembling voice betrayed, "I fear our presence here will be +considered an intrusion? I would have retired, but that my companion +willed it otherwise." + +"_Miss_ Vaughan!" mentally repeated the young creole, as the phrase fell +strangely upon her ear, prompting her, perhaps, to a very different +rejoinder from that she would otherwise have made. + +"Since you could not follow your _own_ inclination, perhaps it was wiser +for you to remain. Your presence here, so far as I am concerned, is no +intrusion, I assure you. As for _my_ companion, he appears satisfied +enough, does he not?" + +The rapid exchange of words, with an occasional cachinnation, heard from +the other side of the rock, told that a gay conversation was going on +between Smythje and the Jewess. + +"I regret that our arrival should have led even to your temporary +separation. Shall I take Mr Smythje's place and permit him to rejoin +you?" + +The reply was calculated to widen the breach between the two cousins. + +It was indebted for its character to the interpretation which Herbert +had placed upon Kate's last interrogatory. + +"Certainly, if it would be more agreeable to you to do so," retorted +Kate, in a tone of defiant bitterness. + +Here a pause occurred in the conversation, which from the first had been +carried on defiance against defiance. It was Herbert's turn to speak; +but the challenge conveyed in Kate's last words placed him in a position +where it was not easy to make an appropriate rejoinder, and he remained +silent. + +It was now the crisis of the eclipse--the moment of deepest darkness. +The sun's disc had become completely obscured by the opaque orb of the +night, and the earth lay lurid under the sombre shadow. Stars appeared +in the sky, to show that the universe still existed; and those voices of +the forest heard only in nocturnal hours, came pealing up to the summit +of the rock--a testimony that terrestrial nature was not yet extinct. + +It was equally a crisis between two loving hearts. Though standing +near, those wild words had outlawed them from each other, far more than +if ten thousand miles extended between them. The darkness without was +naught to the darkness within. In the sky there were stars to delight +the eye; from the forest came sounds to solace the soul; but no star +illumined the horizon of their hearts with its ray of hope--no sound of +joy cheered the silent gloom that bitterly embraced them. + +For some minutes not a word was exchanged between the cousins, nor +spoken either to those who were their sharers in the spectacle. These, +too, were silent. The solemnity of the scene had made its impression +upon all; and, against the dark background of the sky, the figures of +all four appeared in sombre _silhouette_--motionless as the rock on +which they stood. + +Thus for some minutes stood Herbert and Kate without exchanging word or +thought. Side by side they were, so near and so silent, that each might +have heard the breathing of the other. + +The situation was one of painful embarrassment, and might have been +still more so, but for the eclipse; which, just then complete, shrouded +both in the deep obscurity of its shadow, and hindered them from +observing one another. + +Only for a short while did the darkness continue; the eclipse soon +re-assuming the character of a penumbra. + +One by one the stars disappeared from the canopy of the sky--now +hastening to recover its azure hue. The creatures of darkness, +wondering at the premature return of day, sank cowering into a terrified +silence; and the god of the heavens, coming forth triumphantly from the +cloud that had for a short while concealed him, once more poured his +joyous effulgence upon the earth. + +The re-dawning of the light showed the cousins still standing in the +same relative position--unchanged even as to their attitudes. + +During the interval of darkness Herbert had neither stirred nor spoken; +and after the harsh rejoinder to which, in the bitterness of her pique, +the young Creole had given words, it was not her place to continue the +conversation. + +Pained though Herbert was by his cousin's reply, he nevertheless +remembered his indebtedness to her--the vows he had made--the proud +proffer at parting. Was he now to repudiate the debt of gratitude and +prove faithless to his promise? Was he to pluck from his breast that +silken _souvenir_, still sheltering there, though in secret and unseen? + +True, it was but the memorial of an act of friendship--of mere cousinly +kindness. He had never had reason to regard it in any other light; and +now, more than ever, was he sure it had no higher signification. + +She had never said she loved him--never said a word that could give him +the right to reproach her. On her side there was no repudiation, since +there had been no compromise. It was unjust to condemn her--cruel to +defy her, as he had done. + +That she loved another--was that a crime? + +Herbert now knew that she loved another--was as sure of it as that he +stood upon the Jumbe Rock. That interrupted _tableau_ had left him no +loop to hang a doubt on. The relative position of the parties +proclaimed the purpose--a proposal. + +The kneeling lover may not have obtained his answer; but who could doubt +what that answer was to have been? The situation itself proclaimed +consent. + +Bitter as were these reflections, Herbert made an effort to subdue them. +He resolved, if possible, to stifle his spleen; and, upon the ruin of +his hopes, restore that relationship--the only one that could now exist +between himself and his cousin--friendship. + +With a superhuman effort he succeeded; and this triumph of virtue over +spite, backed by the strongest inclinings of the heart, for a moment +solaced his spirit, and rendered it calmer. + +Alas! that such triumph can be only temporary. The struggle upon which +he was entering was one in which no man has ever succeeded. Love +undenied, may end in friendship; but love thwarted or unreciprocated, +never! + + "Now, where the swift Rhone cleaves its way between + Heights, that appear as lovers who have parted + In hate, whose mining depths so intervene, + That they can meet no more, though broken-hearted; + Though in their souls, which thus each other thwarted, + Love was the very root of the fond rage + Which blighted their life's bloom--" + +Herbert Vaughan was perhaps too young--too inexperienced in the affairs +of the heart--to have ever realised the sentiment so expressed; else +would he have desisted from his idle attempt, and surrendered himself at +once to the despair that was certain to succeed it. + +Innocent--perhaps happily so--of the knowledge of these recondite +truths, he yielded to the nobler resolve--ignorant of the utter +impracticability of its execution. + +Volume Two, Chapter XV. + +AN ENCOUNTER OF EYES. + +While Herbert Vaughan was making these reflections, the light began to +re-dawn--gradually, as it were, raising the veil from the face of his +cousin. He could not resist turning to gaze upon it. During the +interval of the obscurity, a change had passed over the countenance of +the young girl, both in its hue and expression. Herbert noticed the +change. It even startled him. Before, and during the unhappy dialogue, +he had looked upon a flushed cheek, a fiery eye, an air proud and +haughty, with all the indices of defiant indifference. + +All were gone: Kate's eye still sparkled, but with a milder light; a +uniform pallor overspread her cheeks, as if the eclipse had robbed them +of their roses; and the proud expression had entirely disappeared, +replaced by one of sadness, or rather of pain. + +Withal, the face was lovely as ever--lovelier, thought Herbert. + +Why that sudden transformation? What had caused it? Whence sprang that +painful thought, that was betraying itself in the pale cheek and lips +compressed and quivering? Was it the happiness of another that was +making that misery? Smythje seemed happy--very happy, to judge from his +oft-repeated "Haw! haw!" + +Was this the cause of that expression of extreme sadness that displayed +itself on the countenance of his cousin? + +So did Herbert interpret it. + +Making a fresh effort to subdue within himself the same spirit which he +believed to be actuating her, he remained silent--though unable to +withdraw his glance from that lorn but lovely face. + +While still gazing upon it, a sigh escaped him. It could scarce have +been heard by her who stood nearest; nor hers by him: for she had also +sighed, and at the same instant of time! Perhaps both were moved by +some secret sympathetic instinct? + +Herbert had succeeded in obtaining another momentary triumph over his +emotions: and was once more on the eve of uttering words of friendship, +when the young girl looked up and reciprocated his gaze. It was the +first time during the interview their eyes had met: for up to that +moment Kate had only regarded her cousin with furtive glances. + +For some seconds they stood face to face--each gazing into the eyes of +the other, as if both were the victims of some irresistible fascination. + +Not a word passed between them--their very breathing was stilled. Both +seemed to consider the time too important for speech: for they were +seeking in one another's eyes--those faithful mirrors of the soul--those +truest interpreters of the heart--the solution of that, the most +interesting enigma of their existence. + +This silent interrogation was instinctive as mutual--uncorrupted by a +shadow of coquetry. It was bold and reckless as innocence itself-- +unregarding outward observation. What cared they for the eclipse? What +for the sun or the moon, or the waning stars? What for the universe +itself? Less--far less for those human forms that chanced to be so near +them! + +Drew they gratification from that mutual gaze? They must--else why did +they continue it? + +Not for long: not for long were they allowed. An eye was upon them--the +eye of that beautiful demon. + +Ah! fair Judith, thy flirtation has proved a failure! The _ruse_ has +recoiled upon thyself! + +The golden sunlight once more fell upon the Jumbe Rock, revealing the +forms of four individuals--all youthful--all in love, though two only +were beloved! + +The returning light brought no joy to Judith Jessuron. + +It revealed to her that glance of mutual fascination, which, with a +quick, sharp cry, she had interrupted. + +A bitter embarrassment seemed all at once to have seized upon her proud +spirit, and dragged it into the dust. + +Skilled in the silent language of the eyes, she had read in those of +Herbert Vaughan, as he bent them upon his cousin, an expression that +stung her, even to the utterance of a scream! + +From that moment the flirtation with Smythje ceased; and the Cockney +exquisite was forsaken in the most unceremonious manner left to continue +his telescopic observations alone. + +The conversation was no longer _dos y dos_, but at once changed to a +_trio_; and finally restored to its original _quartette_ form--soon, +however, to be broken up by an abrupt separation of the parties. + +The Jewess was the first to propose departure--the first to make it. +She descended from the Jumbe Rock in a less lively mood than that in +which she had climbed up to it; inwardly anathematising the eclipse, and +the fortune that had guided her to the choice of such an ill-starred +observatory. + +Perhaps, had the interview been prolonged, the cousins might have +separated with a better understanding of each other than was expressed +in that cold, ceremonious adieu with which they parted. + +Smythje and Kate Vaughan were once more alone upon the summit of the +rock; and the supercilious lover was now free to continue the +declaration. + +One might suppose that he would have instantly dropped back upon his +knees, and finished the performance so vexatiously interrupted. + +Not so, however. The spirit of Smythje's dream seemed equally to have +undergone a change; as if he, too, _had seen something_. + +His air of high confidence had departed, as also the climax on which he +had counted: for the sun's disc was now quite clear of the eclipse, and +the pretty speeches, intended for an anterior time, would now have been +pointless and inappropriate. + +Whether it was this that influenced him, or a presentiment that the +offer of his heart and hand might just then stand some chance of a +rejection, can never be known: since Smythje, who alone could divulge +it, has left no record of the reason. + +Certain it is, however, that the proposal did not take place on the +Jumbe Rock on the day of the eclipse; but was postponed, _sine die_, to +some future occasion. + +Volume Two, Chapter XVI. + +THE SMYTHJE BALL. + +As if the eclipse had not been a sufficient climax to the round of +_fetes_ got up for the express amusement of Mr Smythje, only a few +days--or, rather, nights--after, still another was inaugurated, to do +honour to this young British lion. + +Unlike the eclipse, it was a terrestrial phenomenon--one of the most +popular of sublunary entertainments--a ball--a complimentary ball--Mr +Smythje the recipient of the compliment. + +Montego Bay was to be the place; which, notwithstanding its +_provinciality_, had long been celebrated for its brilliant assemblies-- +from the time that fandangoes were danced by the old Spanish +pork-butchers, down to that hour when Mr Montagu Smythje had +condescended to honour its _salons_ by the introduction of some very +fashionable steps from the world's metropolis. + +The hall was to be a grand affair--one of the grandest ever given in the +Bay--and all Planterdom was expected to be present. + +Of course, Kate Vaughan would be there; and so, too, the Custos himself. + +Mr Smythje would be the hero of the night; and, as such, surrounded by +the fairest of the fair--hedged in by a galaxy of beautiful belles, and +beset by an army of matchmaking parents, all seeking success with as +much eagerness as Loftus Vaughan himself. + +Under these circumstances, it would be but simple prudence that Kate +should be there to look after him: for the worthy Custos was not +unacquainted with the adage, that "the sweetest smelling flower is that +nearest the nose." + +Mr Vaughan would have rejoiced at the opportunity thus offered, of +letting all the _monde_ of Jamaica know the relationship in which he +stood, and was likely to stand, to the distinguished individual to whom +the entertainment was dedicated. He had no doubt but that Kate would be +chosen as the conspicuous partner: for well knew he the condition of Mr +Smythje's mind upon that subject. To him the latter had made no secret +of his affections; and the cunning Custos, who had been all along warily +watching the development of the passion, now knew to a certainty that +the heart of Montagu's lord was not only smitten with his daughter, but +was irretrievably lost--so far as such a heart could suffer love's +perdition. + +No doubt, then, Mr Vaughan would have looked forward to the Smythje +ball with pleasant anticipation--as likely to afford him a social +triumph--but for a little circumstance that had lately come to his +knowledge. It was the incident which had transpired on the Jumbe Rock-- +the meeting between his daughter and nephew on the day of the eclipse. + +The Custos had been the more particular in obtaining the details of that +interview from his presumptive son-in-law, on account of a suspicion +that had arisen in his mind as to the inclinings of his daughter's +heart. Something she had said--during the first days after Herbert's +_brusque_ dismissal from Mount Welcome--some sympathetic expressions she +had made use of--unguarded and overheard, had given rise to this +suspicion of her father. + +He was sufficiently annoyed about Kate having met Herbert on the Jumbe +Rock; and believed it quite possible that the latter had come there in +the hope of encountering his cousin. + +In Mount Welcome the name of Herbert Vaughan was no longer heard. Even +Kate--whether it was that she had grown more sage--for she had been +chided more than once for introducing it into the conversation--or +whether she had ceased to think of him--even she never pronounced his +name. + +For all that, Mr Vaughan was still vexed with some lingering suspicion +that in that direction lurked danger; and this determined him to +prevent, as far as possible, any further interview between his daughter +and nephew. + +After the encounter on the Jumbe Rock, he had taken his daughter to task +upon this subject; and, using the full stretch of parental authority, +compelled her to a solemn promise, that she was not again to speak to +her cousin, nor even acknowledge his presence! + +It was a hard promise for the poor girl to make. Perhaps it would have +been still harder, had she known Herbert's disposition towards her. + +There can be no doubt that her father, in extracting this promise, had +in view the event about to take place--the grand Smythje ball. There an +encounter between the cousins was not only possible, but probable; so +much so as to render Mr Vaughan apprehensive. Judith Jessuron was sure +to be present--perhaps the Jew himself; and Herbert, of course. + +The nephew was now cordially disliked. Stung by the defiant speeches +which the young man had made on the day of his arrival, his uncle even +detested him: for the proud planter was himself too poor in spirit to +admire this quality in any one else. + +The Custos had heard all about the hospitality which his neighbour was +extending to Herbert, and the kindnesses which the patron was lavishing +upon his protege. Though not a little mystified by what was going on, +he availed himself of the ordinary explanation--that it was done to vex +himself; and, if so, the stratagem of the Jew was proving perfectly +successful: for vexed was Mr Vaughan to his very heart's core. + +The night of the Smythje ball came round in due course. The grand +ball-room of the Bay was decorated as became the occasion. Flags, +festoons, and devices hung around the walls; and over the doorway a +large transparency--supported by the loyal emblems of the Union Jack and +banner of Saint George, and surmounted by the colonial colours-- +proclaimed, in letters of eighteen inches diameter:-- + +"Welcome to Smythje!" + +The hour arrived; the band shortly after; close followed by strings of +carriages of every kind current in the Island, containing scores--ay, +hundreds of dancers. Twenty miles was nothing to go to a Jamaica ball. + +The grand barouche of Loftus Vaughan arrived with the rest, only +fashionably behind time, bringing the Custos himself, his truly +beautiful daughter, but, above all--as before all perhaps should have +been mentioned--the hero of the night. + +"Welcome to Smythje!" + +How his proud heart swelled with triumph under the magnificent ruffles +of his shirt, as he caught sight of the flattering transparency! How +conquering his smile, as he turned towards Kate Vaughan, to note the +effect which it could not fail to produce! + +"Welcome to Smythje!" pealed from a hundred pairs of lips, as the +carriage drove up to the door; and then a loud cheer followed the words +of greeting; and then the distinguished stranger was ushered into the +hall-room; and, after remaining a few moments in a conspicuous +position--the cynosure of at least two hundred pairs of eyes--the great +man set the example by pairing off with a partner. + +The hand struck up, and the dancing began. + +It need scarce be said who was Smythje's first partner--Kate Vaughan, of +course. The Custos had taken care of that. + +Smythje looked superb. Thoms had been at him all the afternoon. His +hay-coloured hair was in full curl--his whiskers in amplest bush--his +moustache crimped spirally at the points; and his cheek pinked with just +the slightest tinting of vermillion. + +Arrived a little late, the Jewess had not appeared in the first set. In +the waltz she was conspicuous: not from her dress of rich purple +velvet--not from the splendid tiara of pearls that glistened against the +background of her glossy raven hair--not from the dazzling whiteness of +her teeth, that gleamed between lips like curved and parted +rose-leaves--not from the damask tinting of her cheeks; nor the liquid +light that flashed incessantly from her black, Israelitish eyes--not +from any of these was she conspicuous; but from all combined into one, +and composing a grand and imperious picture. + +It was a picture upon which more than one eye gazed with admiration; and +more than one continued to gaze. + +The partner of Judith was not unworthy to embrace such beauty. + +She was in the arms of a young man, a stranger to most in the room; but +the glances bestowed upon him by bright eyes--some interrogative, some +furtive, some openly admiring--promised him an easy introduction to any +one he might fancy to know. + +Not that this stranger appeared to be conceitedly conscious of the +graces which nature had so lavishly bestowed upon him; or even sensible +of the good fortune that had given him such a partner. + +On the contrary, he was dancing with despondency in his look, and a +cloud upon his brow that even the exciting whirl of the waltz was +failing to dissipate! + +The partner of Judith Jessuron was Herbert Vaughan. + +A ball-room may be likened to a kaleidoscope: the personages are the +same, their relative positions constantly changing. Design it or not, +either during the dance or the interregnum--one time or another--you +will find yourself face to face, or side by side, with every individual +in the room. + +So in the ball-room of Montego Bay came face to face two sets of +waltzers--Smythje and Kate, Herbert and Judith. + +The situation arose as they were resting from the dizzy whirl of a +waltz. + +Smythje bent profoundly towards the floor--Judith, with an imperious +sweep, returned the salutation--Herbert bowed to his cousin, with a +half-doubting, half-appealing glance; but the nod received in return was +so slight, so distant, that even the keen-eyed Custos, closely watching +every movement of the quartette, failed to perceive it! + +Poor Kate! She knew that the paternal eye, severely set, was upon her. +She remembered that painful promise. + +Not a word passed between the parties. Scarce a moment stood they +together. Herbert, stung by Kate's salutation--unexpectedly cold, +almost insultingly distant--warped his arm around the waist of his +willing partner, and spun off through the unobservant crowd. + +Though often again upon that same night Smythje and Kate, Herbert and +the Jewess were respectively partners--so often as to lead to general +observation--never again did the four stand _vis-a-vis_ or side by side. +Whenever chance threatened to bring them together, design, or something +like it, stepped in to thwart the approximation! + +Almost all the night did Herbert dance with the Jewess--no longer with +despondency in his look, but with the semblance of a gay and reckless +joy. Never had Judith received from the young Englishman such ardent +attention; and for the first time since their introduction to each other +did she feel conscious of something like a correspondence to her own +fierce love. For the moment her proud, cruel heart became dissolved to +a true feminine tenderness; and in the spiral undulations of the waltz, +as she coiled round the robust form of her partner, her cheek rested +upon his shoulder, as if laid there to expire in the agony of an +exquisite bliss. + +She stayed not to question the cause of Herbert's devotedness. Her own +heart, blinded by love, and yearning for reciprocity, threw open its +portals to receive the passion without challenge or scrutiny--without +knowing whether it was real or only apparent. + +A wild anguish would she have experienced at that moment, could she have +divined what was passing in Herbert's mind. Little did she suspect that +his devotedness to her was only a demonstration intended to act upon +another. Little dreamt she that real love for another was the cause and +origin of that counterfeit that was deceiving herself. Happily for her +heart's peace she knew not this. + +Herbert alone knew it. As the kaleidoscope evolved the dazzling dancers +one after another, often did the face of Kate Vaughan flit before the +eyes of her cousin, and his before her eyes. On such occasions, the +glance hastily exchanged was one of defiant indifference: for both were +playing at piques! The cold salutation had given _him_ the cue, +ignorant as he was of its cause. _She_ had begun the game only a little +later--on observing the attitude of extreme contentment which Herbert +had assumed towards his companion. She knew not that it was studied. +Her skill in coquetry, although sufficient for the pretence of +indifference, was not deep enough to discern it in him; and both were +now behaving as if each believed the love of the other beyond all hope. + +Before abandoning the ball-room, this belief--erroneous as it might be +on both sides--received further confirmation. A circumstance arose that +strengthened it to a full and perfect conviction. + +From the gossip of a crowded ball-room many a secret may be learnt. In +those late hours, when the supper champagne has untied the tongue, and +dancers begin to fancy each other deaf, he who silently threads his way +or stands still among the crowd, may catch many a sentence not intended +to be overheard, and often least of all by himself. Many an involuntary +eavesdropper has fallen into this catastrophe. At least two instances +occurred at the Smythje hall; and to the two individuals in whom, +perhaps, we are most interested--Herbert and Kate Vaughan. + +Herbert for a moment was alone. Judith, not that she had tired of her +partner, but perhaps only to save appearances, was dancing with another. +It was not Smythje, whom all the evening she had studiously avoided. +She remembered the incident on the Jumbe Rock; and feared that dancing +with him might conduct to a similar disposition of partners as that +which had occurred on the day of the eclipse. + +It was not flirtation in any way. On that night Judith had no need. +Confident in her success with Herbert, she was contented; and cared not +to do anything that might hazard a rupture of the blissful chain she +believed she had woven around him. + +Herbert was standing alone in the crowd. Two young planters were near +him, engaged in conversation. They had mixed their liquor, and +therefore talked loud. + +Herbert could not help hearing what they talked of; and, having heard, +could not help heeding it. He was interested in the subject, though not +from its singularity; for it was the common topic of the ball-room, and +had been throughout the night. The theme was Smythje; and coupled with +his name was that of Kate Vaughan. + +On hearing these names, Herbert was no longer an involuntary listener. +He strained his ears to catch every word. He had not heard the +beginning of the dialogue, but the introduction was easily inferred. + +"When is it to come off?" inquired the least knowing of the planters, +from him who was imparting the information. + +"No time fixed yet," was the reply; "at least, none has been mentioned. +Soon, I suppose." + +"There'll be a grand spread upon the occasion--breakfast, dinner, +supper, and ball, no doubt?" + +"Sure to be all that. The Custos is not the man to let the ceremony +pass without all the _eclat_." + +"Honeymoon tour afterwards?" + +"Of course. He takes her to London. I believe they are to reside +there. Mr Smythje don't much relish our colonial life: he misses the +opera. A pity: since it'll make one beautiful woman less in the +Island!" + +"Well, all I've got to say is, that Loff Vaughan has sold his nigger +well." + +"Oh, for shame! to use such a word in speaking of the beautiful--the +accomplished Miss Vaughan. Come, Thorndyke! I'm shocked at you." + +Thorndyke, by the expression, had hazarded the punching of his head--not +by his companion, but by a stranger who stood near. + +Herbert curbed his indignation. Kate cared not for him! Perhaps she +would not have accepted him even as her champion! + +Almost at that same moment Kate, too, was listening to a dialogue +painfully analogous. Smythje could not dance all the night with her. +Too many claimed the honour of his partnership; and for a set or two she +had been forsaken by him--left under the guardianship of the watchful +Custos. + +"Who can he be?" inquired one of two gentle gossips within earshot of +Kate. + +"A young Englishman, I have heard: a relative of Vaughans of Mount +Welcome; though, for some reason, not acknowledged by the Custos." + +"That bold girl appears willing enough to acknowledge him. Who is she?" + +"A Miss Jessuron. She is the daughter of the old Jew penn-keeper, who +used to deal largely in blacks." + +"Faugh! she is behaving as if she belonged to a--" + +The last word was whispered, and Kate did not hear it. + +"True enough!" asserted the other; "but, as they are engaged, that, I +take it, is nobody's business but their own. He's a stranger in the +Island; and don't know much about certain people's position, I suppose. +A pity! He seems a nice sort of a young fellow; but as he makes his +bed, so let him lie. Ha! ha! If report speaks true of Miss Judith +Jessuron, he'll find no bed of roses there. Ha! ha! ha!" + +What causes merriment to one may make another miserable. This was true +of the words last spoken. From the speaker and her companion they +elicited a laugh--from Kate Vaughan they drew a sigh, deep and sad. + +She left the ball with a bleeding heart. + +"Lost! lost for ever!" murmured she, as she laid her cheek upon a +sleepless pillow. + +"Won!" triumphantly exclaimed Judith Jessuron, flinging her majestic +form on a couch. "Herbert Vaughan is mine!" + +"Lost! lost for ever!" soliloquised Herbert, as he closed the door of +his solitary sleeping-room. + +"Won!" cried the victorious Smythje, entering his elegant bed-chamber, +and, in the fervour of his enthusiasm, dropping his metropolitan +_patois_. "Kate Vaughan is mine!" + +Volume Two, Chapter XVII. + +AFTER THE BALL. + +The time was rapidly drawing nigh when the ambitious scheme of the +Custos Vaughan was either to be crowned with success, or end in failure. + +Of the latter he had little apprehension. Though Smythje, having lost +the opportunity of the eclipse, had not yet declared himself, Mr +Vaughan knew it was his intention to do so on an early occasion. +Indeed, the declaration was only postponed by the advice of the Custos +himself, whose counsel had been sought by his intended son-in-law. + +Not that Mr Vaughan had any fear of Kate's giving a negative answer. +The stern father knew that he had his daughter too well in hand for +that. His wish would be her will--on that point was he determined; and +it was less the fear of a refusal than some other circumstances that had +hindered him from bringing the matter earlier to a crisis. + +As for Smythje, he never dreamt of a rejection. Kate's behaviour at the +ball had confirmed him in the belief that she was entirely his own; and +that without him her future existence would be one of misery. Her pale +cheek, and sad, thoughtful air, as she appeared next morning at the +breakfast-table, told him too plainly that she would never be happy +under any other name than that of Mrs Smythje. + +Again, upon that morning, it occurred to him that the proposal should be +made. It would be an appropriate _finale_ to the _fete_ of the +preceding night. + +His brow still glowing with the laurels that had bedecked it, like a +second Antony he would approach his Cleopatra, triumphantly +irresistible. + +After breakfast, Mr Smythje drew the Custos into a corner, and once +more expressed his solicitude to become his son-in-law. + +Whether, because Kate's behaviour at the ball had also impressed Mr +Vaughan with the appropriateness of the time, or for some other reason, +Smythje found him agreeable. Only first, the father desired to have a +few words with his daughter, in order to prepare her for the +distinguished honour of which she was so soon to be the recipient. + +Kate had gone out into the kiosk. There Mr Vaughan sought her, to +bring about the proposed preliminary interview. Smythje also stepped +into the garden; but, instead of going near the summer-house, he +sauntered along the walks at a distance, occasionally plucking a flower, +or chasing the butterflies, bright and gay as his own thoughts. + +Kate's countenance still preserved the air of melancholy that had +clouded it all the morning; and the approach of the Custos did nothing +to dissipate it. On the contrary, its shadows became deeper, as if the +ponderous presence of her father, coming between her and the sun, was +about to shut out the little light left shining in her heart. + +From what she had heard that morning, she presumed that the time had +arrived when she must either submit to the wishes of her father, and +resign herself to an unhappy fate; or, by disobedience, brave his anger, +and perhaps--she knew not what. + +She only knew that she did not like Mr Smythje, and never could. She +did not hate the man--she did not detest him. Her feeling towards him +was that of indifference, slightly tinctured with contempt. Harmless +she deemed him; and, no doubt, a harmless husband he would make; but +that was not the sort to suit the taste of the young Creole. Far +different was the hero of her heart. + +Neither the lover nor his prospective father-in-law could have chosen a +time more opportune for making their approaches. Although at that time +Kate Vaughan felt towards Smythje more indifference--perhaps more +contempt--than she had ever done, at that very hour was she wavering in +the intention, hitherto cherished, of refusing him. + +Though both lover and father had erroneously interpreted her air of +dejection, it was nevertheless in their favour. It was not love for +Smythje under which she was suffering; but despair of this passion for +another; and in that despair lay the hope--the only hope--of the lord of +Montagu Castle. + +It was a despair not unmingled with pique--with anger; that proud rage, +which painfully wringing the heart, prompts it to desperate resolves: +even to the utter annihilation of all future hope--as if happiness could +be obtained by destroying the happiness of the one only being who could +give it! + +Yes, the heart of Kate Vaughan had reached, or almost reached, that +fearful phase of our moral nature, when love, convinced of its +unrequital, seeks solace in revenge! + +The Smythje ball, which had crowned the hopes of him to whom the +compliment was given, had been fatal to those of Kate Vaughan. + +Certain it was that she had conceived hopes that pointed to Herbert +Vaughan. Love could scarce have been kindled without them. They were +founded upon those fond words spoken at their first parting. Slight as +was the foundation, up to that night had they endured: for she had +treasured and cherished them in spite of absence, and calumny, and false +report. + +True, as time passed they had waxed fainter, with longer intervals of +doubt, until the day in which had occurred the unexpected incident of +their meeting upon the Jumbe Rock. + +Then they had become revived, and since then they had lived with more or +less intermission until that fatal night--the night of the Smythje +ball--when they were doomed to utter extinction. + +All night long he had come but once near her--only that once by the mere +chance of changing positions. And that bow--that single salutation, +friendly as it might have been deemed, she could only remember as being +cold--almost cynical! + +She did not think how cold and distant had been her own--at least, how +much so it must have appeared to him. Though her eyes had often sought +him in the crowd, and often found him, she did not know that his were +equally following her, and equally as often fixed upon her. Both were +ignorant of this mutual espionage: for each had studiously declined +responding to the glance of the other. + +Never more that night had he come near--never again had he shown a +desire or made an attempt to address her; though opportunities there +were--many--when no paternal eye was upon her to prevent an interview. + +All night long had his attentions been occupied by another--apparently +engrossed--and that other, a bold, beautiful woman--just such an one as +Herbert might love. + +"He loves her! I am sure he loves her!" was the reflection that passed +often and painfully through the thoughts of Kate Vaughan, as she swept +her eye across that crowded ball-room. + +And then came the climax--that half-whispered gossip that reached her +ear, falling upon it like a knell of death. They were to be married: +they were already betrothed! + +It needed no more. In that moment the hopes of the young creole were +crushed--so cruelly, so completely, that, in the dark future before her, +no gleam of light arose to resuscitate them. + +No wonder the morning sun shone upon a pale cheek--no wonder that an air +of deep dejection sate upon the countenance of Kate Vaughan. + +In this melancholy mood did the father find his daughter on entering the +kiosk. + +She made no attempt to conceal it--not even with a counterfeit of a +smile. Rather with a frown did she receive him; and in her eyes might +have been detected the slightest scintillation of anger, whether or not +he was its object. + +It is possible that just then the thought was passing through her mind +that but for him her destiny might have been different; but for him, +Herbert Vaughan, not Montagu Smythje, might have been on the eve of +offering for her hand, which would then have gone with her heart. Now, +in the contingency of her consenting to the proposal she expected, would +she and Herbert be separated, and for ever! + +Never more was she to experience that supreme happiness--the supremest +known upon earth, and perhaps, equalling the joys of heaven itself-- +never more could she indulge in that sweet delicious dream--a virgin's +love--with the hope of its being returned. Her love might remain like a +flower that had lost its perfume, only to shed it on the solitary air; +no more a sweet passion, but a barren, bitter thought, without hope to +cheer it till the end of time. + +Ah, Custos Vaughan! proud, foolish parent! Could you have known how you +were aiding to destroy the happiness of your child--how you were +contributing to crush that young heart--you would have approached less +cheerfully to complete the ceremony of its sacrifice! + +Volume Two, Chapter XVIII. + +PAVING THE WAY. + +"Katherine!" gravely began the father, on stepping inside the kiosk. + +"Father!" + +The parental appellative was pronounced in a low murmur, the speaker not +uplifting her eyes from the object upon which she had been gazing. + +That object was a small silken purse that lay upon the table. +Stringless it was, though the broken strands of a blue ribbon attached +to it showed that it had not always been so. + +Loftus Vaughan knew not the history of that purse, neither why it lay +there, what had stripped it of its string, or why his daughter was so +sadly gazing upon it. This last circumstance he noticed on entering the +kiosk. + +"Ah, your pretty purse!" said he, taking it up, and examining it more +minutely. + +"Some one has torn the string from it--a pity! who can have done it?" + +Little did he care for an answer. As little did he suspect that the +rape of that bit of ribbon had aught to do with his daughter's +dejection, which he had observed throughout the morning. The surprise +he had expressed, and the question put, were only intended to initiate +the more serious conversation he was about to introduce. + +"Oh, papa! it don't signify," said Kate, avoiding a direct answer; "'tis +but a bit of ribbon. I can easily replace it by another." + +Ah, Kate! you may easily replace the ribbon upon the purse, but not so +easily that peace of mind which parted from your bosom at the same time. +When that string was torn, torn, too, were the strings of your heart! + +Some such reflection must have passed through her mind as she made the +reply; for the shadow visibly deepened over her countenance. + +Mr Vaughan pursued the subject of the purse no further, but looking +through the lattice-work and perceiving Smythje in chase of the +butterflies, endeavoured to draw his daughter's attention to that +sportive gentleman. + +This was the more easily done as Mr Smythje was at the moment humming a +tune, and could be heard as well as seen. + + "`I'd be a butterfly,'--" + sang Smythje-- + "`born in a bower, + Where lilies, and roses, and violets meet; + Sporting for ever, from flower to flower; + And--'" + +And then, as if to contradict this pleasant routine of insect life, he +was at that instant seen seizing a splendid _vanessa_, and crushing the +frail creature between his kid-gloved fingers! + +"Isn't he a superb fellow?" said Mr Vaughan, first gazing +enthusiastically on Smythje, and then fixing his eyes upon his daughter, +to note the character of the reply. + +"I suppose he must be, papa--since everybody says so." + +There was no enthusiasm in Kate's answer--nothing to encourage the +Custos. + +"Don't _you think so_, Kate?" + +This was coming more directly to the point; but the response proved +equally evasive. + +"_You_ think so, papa--and that should do for both of us." + +The melodious voice of Smythje again interrupted the dialogue, and +turned it into a new channel. + +_Smythje, singing_,-- + + "I'd never languish for wealth nor for power, + I'd never sigh to see slaves at my feet!" + +"Ah, Mr Smythje!" exclaimed the Custos, in a kind of soliloquy, though +meant for the ear of Kate; "you have no need to sigh for them--you have +them; five hundred of them. And beauties, too! Wealth and power, +indeed! You needn't languish for either one or the other. The estate +of Montagu Castle provides you with both, my boy!" + +_Smythje, still chantant_:-- + + "Those who have wealth may be watchful and wary, + Power, alas! nought but misery brings." + +"Do you hear that, Kate? What fine sentiments he utters!" + +"Very fine, and _apropos_ to the occasion," replied Kate, sarcastically. +"They are not his, however; but, no doubt, he feels them; and that's +just as good." + +"A splendid property!" continued Mr Vaughan, returning to what +interested him more than the sentiments of the song, and not heeding the +sarcasm conveyed in the speech of his daughter,--"a splendid property, I +tell you; and, with mine joined to it, will make the grandest +establishment in the Island. The Island, did I say? In the West +Indies--ay, in the Western World! Do you hear that, my daughter?" + +"I do, papa," replied the young Creole. "But you speak as if the two +estates were to be joined together? Does Mr Smythje intend to purchase +Mount Welcome? or you Montagu Castle?" + +These questions were asked with an air of simplicity evidently assumed. +In truth, the interrogator knew well enough to what the conversation was +tending; and, impatient with the ambiguity, every moment growing more +painful to her, desired to bring it to its crisis. + +Mr Vaughan was equally desirous of arriving at the same result, as +testified by his reply. + +"Ah, Kate! you little rogue!" said he, looking gratified at the opening +thus made for him. "Egad! you've just hit the nail on the head. You've +guessed right--only that we are both to be buyers. Mr Smythje is to +purchase Mount Welcome; and what do you suppose he is to pay for it? +Guess that!" + +"Indeed, father, I cannot! How should I know? I am sure I do not. +Only this I know, that I am sorry you should think of parting with Mount +Welcome. I, for one, shall be loth to leave it. Though I do not expect +_now_ ever to be happy here, I think I should not be happier anywhere +else." + +Mr Vaughan was too much wound-up in the thread of his own thoughts to +notice the emphasis on the word "now," or the double meaning of his +daughter's words. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" laughed he; "Mr Smythje's purchase won't dispossess us of +Mount Welcome. Don't be afraid of that, little Kate. But, come, try +and guess the price he is to pay?" + +"Father, I need not try. I am sure I could not guess it--not within +thousands of pounds." + +"Not a thousand pounds! no, not one pound, unless his great big heart +weighs that much, and his generous hand thrown into the scale--for that, +Catherine, that is the price he is to pay." + +Mr Vaughan wound up this speech with a significant glance, and a +triumphant gesture, expressive of astonishment at his own eloquence. + +He looked for a response--one that would reciprocate his smiles and the +joyful intelligence he fancied himself to have communicated. + +He looked in vain. Notwithstanding the perspicuity of his explanation, +Kate obstinately refused to comprehend it. + +Her reply was provokingly a "shirking of the question." + +"His heart and his hand, you say? Neither seem very heavy. But is it +not very little for an estate where there are many hands and many +hearts, too? To whom does he intend to give his? You have not let me +know that, papa!" + +"I shall let you know now," replied the father, his voice changing to a +more serious tone, as if a little nettled by Kate's evident design to +misunderstand him. "I shall let you know, by telling you what I intend +to give him for Montagu Castle. I told you we were both to be buyers in +this transaction. It is a fair exchange, Kate, hand for hand, and heart +for heart. Mr Smythje freely gives his, and I give _yours_." + +"Mine!" + +"Ay, yours. Surely, Kate, I have not made a mistake? Surely you are +agreeable to the exchange?" + +"Father," said the young girl, speaking in a tone of womanly gravity, +"there can be no exchange of hearts between Mr Smythje and myself. He +may have given his to me. I know not, nor do I care. But I will not +deceive you, father. My heart he can never have. It is not in my power +to give it to him." + +"Nonsense!" exclaimed Mr Vaughan, startled by this unexpected +declaration; "you are deceiving yourself, my child, when you talk thus. +I do not see how you can fail to like Mr Smythje--so generous, so +accomplished, so handsome as he is! Come, you are only jesting, Kate? +You do like him? You do not hate him?" + +"No, no! I do not hate him! Why should I? Mr Smythje has done +nothing to offend me. I believe he is very honourable." + +"Why, that is almost saying that you like him!" rejoined the father, in +a tone of returning gratification. + +"Liking is not love," murmured Kate, as if speaking to herself. + +"It may turn to it," said the Custos, encouragingly. "It often does-- +especially when two people become man and wife. Besides, it's not +always best for young married folks to be too fond of each other at +first. As my old spelling book used to say, `Hot love soon grows cold.' +Never fear, Kate! you'll get to like Mr Smythje well enough, when you +come to be the mistress of Montagu Castle, and take rank as the grandest +lady of the Island. Won't that be happiness, little Kate?" + +"Ah!" thought the young Creole, "a cabin shared with _him_ would be +greater happiness--far, far greater!" + +It is needless to say that the "him" to whom the thought pointed was not +Smythje. + +"As Mrs Montagu Smythje," proceeded the Custos, with a design of +painting the future prospects of his daughter in still more glowing +tints, "you will have troops of friends--the highest in the land. _And +remember, my child, it is not so note_. You know it, Catherine?" + +These last words were pronounced in a tone suggestive of some secret +understanding between father and daughter. + +Whether the speech produced the desired effect, he who made it did not +stay to perceive; but continued on in the same breath to finish the +rose-coloured picture he had essayed to paint. + +"Yes, my little Kate! you will be the observed of all observers--the +_cynosure_ of every eye, as the poets say. Horses, slaves, dresses, +carriages at will. You will make a grand tour to London--egad! I feel +like going myself! In the great metropolis you will hob-nob with lords +and ladies; visit the operas and balls, where you will be a belle, my +girl--a belle, do you hear? Every one will be talking of Mrs Montagu +Smythje! How do you like it now?" + +"Ah, papa!" replied the young Creole, evidently unmoved by these +promises of pomp and grandeur, "I should not like it at all. I am sure +I should not. I never cared for such things--you know I do not. They +cannot give happiness--at least, not to me. I should never be happy +away from our own home. What pleasure should I have in a great city? +None, I am sure; but quite the contrary. I should miss our grand +mountains and woods--our beautiful trees with their gay, perfumed +blossoms--our bright-winged birds with their sweet songs! Operas and +balls! I dislike balls; and to be the belle of one--papa, I detest the +word!" + +Kate, at that moment, was thinking of the Smythje ball, and its +disagreeable souvenirs--perhaps the more disagreeable that, oftener than +once, during the night she had heard the phrase "belle of the ball" +applied to one who had aided in the desolation of her heart. + +"Oh! you will get over that dislike," returned Mr Vaughan, "once you go +into fashionable society. Most young ladies do. There is no harm in +balls--after a girl gets married, and her husband goes with her, to take +care of her--no harm whatever. But now, Kate," continued the Custos, +betraying a certain degree of nervous impatience, "we must come to an +understanding. Mr Smythje is waiting." + +"For what is he waiting, papa?" + +"Tut! tut! child," said Mr Vaughan, slightly irritated by his +daughter's apparent incapacity to comprehend him. "Surely you know! +Have I not as good as told you? Mr Smythje is going to--to offer you +his heart and hand; and--and to ask yours in return. That is what he is +waiting to do. You will not refuse him?--you cannot: you _must_ not!" + +Loftus Vaughan would have spoken more gracefully had he omitted the last +phrase. It had the sound of a command, with an implied threat; and, +jarring upon the ear of her to whom it was addressed, might have roused +a spirit of rebellion. It is just possible that such would have been +its effect, had it been spoken on the evening before the Smythje ball, +instead of the morning after. + +The incidents occurring there had extinguished all hope in the breast of +the young Creole that she should ever share happiness with Herbert +Vaughan--had, at the same time, destroyed any thought of resistance to +the will of her father; and, with a sort of apathetic despair, she +submitted herself to the sacrifice which her father had determined she +should make. + +"I have told you the truth," said she, gazing fixedly in his face, as if +to impress him with the idleness of the arguments he had been using. "I +cannot give Mr Smythje my heart; I shall tell _him_ the same." + +"No--no!" hastily rejoined the importunate parent; "you must do nothing +of the kind. Give him your hand; and say nothing about your heart. +That you can bestow afterwards--when you are safe married." + +"Never, never!" said the young girl, sighing sadly as she spoke. "I +cannot practise that deception. No, father, not even for you. Mr +Smythje shall know all; and, if he choose to accept my hand without my +heart--" + +"Then you promise to give him your hand?" interrupted the Custos, +overjoyed at this hypothetical consent. + +"It is _you_ who give it; not _I_, father." + +"Enough!" cried Mr Vaughan, hastily turning his eyes to the garden, as +if to search for the insect-hunter. "I _shall_ give it," continued he, +"and this very minute. Mr Smythje!" + +Smythje, standing close by the kiosk, on the _qui vive_ of expectation, +promptly responded to the summons; and in two seconds of time appeared +in the open doorway. + +"Mr Smythje--sir!" said the Custos, putting on an air of pompous +solemnity befitting the occasion; "you have asked for my daughter's hand +in marriage; and, sir, I am happy to inform you that she has consented +to your becoming my son-in-law. I am proud of the honour, sir." + +Here Mr Vaughan paused to get breath. + +"Aw, aw!" stammered Smythje. "This is a gweat happiness--veway gweat, +indeed! Quite unexpected!--aw, aw!--I am shure, Miss Vawn, I never +dweamt such happiness was in store faw me." + +"Now, my children," playfully interrupted the Custos--covering Smythje's +embarrassment by the interruption--"I have bestowed you upon one +another; and, with my blessing, I leave you to yourselves." + +So saying, the gratified father stepped forth from the kiosk; and, +wending his way along the walk, disappeared around an angle of the +house. + +We shall not intrude upon the lovers thus left alone, nor repeat a +single word of what passed between them. + +Suffice it to say, that when Smythje came out of that same kiosk, his +air was rather tranquil than triumphant. A portion of the shadow that +had been observed upon Kate's countenance seemed to have been +transmitted to his. + +"Well?" anxiously inquired the intended father-in-law. + +"Aw! all wight; betwothed. Yewy stwange, thaw--inexpwicably stwange!" + +"How, strange?" demanded Mr Vaughan. + +"Aw, vewy mild. I expected haw to go into hystewics. Ba Jawve! naw: +she weceived ma declawation as cool as a cucumbaw!" + +She had done more than that; she had given him a hand without a heart. + +And Smythje knew it: for Kate Vaughan had kept her promise. + +Volume Two, Chapter XIX. + +THE DUPPY'S HOLE. + +On the flank of the "Mountain" that frowned towards the Happy Valley, +and not far from the Jumbe Rock, a spring gushed forth. So copious was +it as to merit the name of fountain. In its descent down the slope it +was joined by others, and soon became a torrent--leaping from ledge to +ledge, and foaming as it followed its onward course. + +About half-way between the summit and base of the mountain, a deep +longitudinal hollow lay in its track--into which the stream was +precipitated, in a clear, curving cascade. + +This singular hollow resembled the crater of an extinct volcano--in the +circumstance that on all sides it was surrounded by a precipice facing +inward, and rising two hundred feet sheer from the level below. It was +not of circular shape, however--as craters generally are--but of the +form of a ship, the stream falling in over the poop, and afterwards +escaping through a narrow cleft at the bow. + +Preserving the simile of a ship, it may be stated that the channel ran +directly fore and aft, bisecting the bottom of the valley, an area of +several acres, into two equal parts--but in consequence of an +obstruction at its exit, the stream formed a lagoon, or dam, flooding +the whole of the fore-deck, while the main and quarter-decks were +covered with a growth of indigenous timber-trees, of appearance +primeval. + +The water, on leaving the lagoon, made its escape below, through a gorge +black and narrow, bounded on each side by the same beetling cliffs that +surrounded the valley. At the lower end of this gorge was a second +waterfall, where the stream again pitched over a precipice of several +hundred feet in height; and thence traversing the slope of the mountain, +ended in becoming a tributary of the Montego River. + +The upper cascade precipitated itself upon a bed of grim black boulders; +through the midst of which the froth-crested water seethed swiftly +onward to the lagoon below. + +Above these boulders hung continuously a cloud of white vapour, like +steam ascending out of some gigantic cauldron. + +When the sun was upon that side of the mountain, an iris might be seen +shining amidst the fleece-like vapour. But rare was the eye that beheld +this beautiful phenomenon: for the Duppy's Hole--in negro parlance, the +appellation of the place--shared the reputation of the Jumbe Rock; and +few were the negroes who would have ventured to approach, even to the +edge of this cavernous abysm: fewer those who would have dared to +descend into it. + +Indeed, something more than superstitious terror might have hindered the +execution of this last project: since a descent into the Duppy's Hole +appeared an impossibility. Down the beetling cliffs that encompassed +it, there was neither path nor pass--not a ledge on which the foot might +have rested with safety. Only at one point--and that where the +precipice rose over the lagoon--might a descent have been made: by means +of some stunted trees that, rooting in the clefts of the rock, formed a +straggling screen up the face of the cliff. At this point an agile +individual might possibly have scrambled down; but the dammed water-- +dark and deep--would have hindered him from reaching the quarter-deck of +this ship-shaped ravine, unless by swimming; and this, the suck of the +current towards the gorge below would have rendered a most perilous +performance. + +It was evident that some one had tempted this peril: for on scrutinising +the straggling trees upon the cliff, a sort of stairway could be +distinguished--the outstanding stems serving as steps, with the +parasitical creepers connecting them together. + +Moreover, at certain times, a tiny string of smoke might have been seen +ascending out of the Duppy's Hole; which, after curling diffusely over +the tops of the tall trees, would dissolve itself, and become invisible. +Only one standing upon the cliff above, and parting the foliage that +screened it to its very brink, could have seen this smoke; and, if only +superficially observed, it might easily have been mistaken for a stray +waif of the fog that floated above the waterfall near which it rose. +Closely scrutinised, however, its blue colour and soft filmy haze +rendered it recognisable as the smoke of a wood fire, and one that must +have been made by human hands. + +Any day might it have been seen, and three times a-day--at morning, +noon, and evening--as if the fire had been kindled for the purposes of +cooking the three regular meals of breakfast, dinner, and supper. + +The diurnal appearance of this smoke proved the presence of a human +being within the Duppy's Hole. One, at least, disregarding the +superstitious terror attached to the place, had made it his home. + +By exploring the valley, other evidences of human presence might have +been found. Under the branches of a large tree, standing by the edge of +the lagoon, and from which the silvery tillandsia fell in festoons to +the surface of the water, a small canoe of rude construction could be +seen, a foot or two of its stem protruding from the moss. A piece of +twisted withe, attaching it to the tree, told that it had not drifted +there by accident, but was moored by some one who meant to return to it. + +From the edge of the lagoon to the upper end of the valley, the ground, +as already stated, was covered with a thick growth of forest timber-- +where the eye of the botanical observer might distinguish, by their +forms and foliage, many of those magnificent indigenous trees for which +the _sylva_ of Jamaica has long been celebrated. + +There stood the gigantic cedrela, and its kindred the bastard cedar, +with elm-like leaves; the mountain mahoe; the "tropic birch;" and the +world-known mahogany. + +Here and there, the lance-like culms of bamboos might be seen shooting +up over the tops of the dicotyledons, or forming a fringe along the +cliffs above, intermingled with trumpet-trees, with their singular +peltate leaves, and tall tree-ferns, whose delicate lace-like fronds +formed a netted tracery against the blue background of the sky. In the +rich soil of the valley flourished luxuriantly the noble cabbage-palm-- +the _prince_ of the Jamaica forest--while, by its side, claiming +admiration for the massive grandeur of its form, stood the _patriarch_ +of West-Indian trees--the grand _ceiba_; the hoary Spanish moss that +drooped from its spreading branches forming an appropriate beard for +this venerable giant. + +Every tree had its parasites--not a single species, but in hundreds, and +of as many grotesque shapes; some twining around the trunks and boughs +like huge snakes or cables--some seated upon the limbs or in the forking +of the branches; and others hanging suspended from the topmost twigs, +like streamers from the rigging of a ship. Many of these, trailing from +tree to tree, were loaded with clusters of the most brilliant flowers, +thus uniting the forest into one continuous arbour. + +Close under the cliff, and near where the cascade came tumbling down +from the rocks, stood a tree that deserves particular mention. It was a +_ceiba_ of enormous dimensions, with a buttressed trunk, that covered a +surface of more than fifty feet in diameter. Its vast bole, rising +nearly to the brow of the cliff, extended horizontally over an area on +which five hundred men could have conveniently encamped; while the +profuse growth of Spanish moss clustering upon its branches, rather than +its own sparse foliage, would have shaded them from the sun, completely +shutting out the view overhead. + +Not from any of these circumstances was the tree distinguished from +others of its kind frequently met with in the mountain forests of +Jamaica. What rendered it distinct from those around was, that between +two of the great spurs extending outwards from its trunk, an object +appeared which indicated the presence of man. + +This object was a hut constructed in the most simple fashion--having for +its side walls the plate-like buttresses already mentioned, while in +front a stockade of bamboo stems completed the inclosure. In the centre +of the stockade a narrow space had been left open for the entrance-- +which could be closed, when occasion required, by a door of split +bamboos that hung lightly upon its hinges of withe. + +In front, the roof trended downward from the main trunk of the tree-- +following the slope of the spurs to a height of some six feet from the +ground. Its construction was of the simplest kind--being only a few +poles laid transversely, and over these a thatch of the long pinnate +leaves of the cabbage-palm. + +The hut inside was of triangular shape, and of no inconsiderable size-- +since the converging spurs forming its side walls extended full twelve +feet outwards from the tree. No doubt it was large enough for whoever +occupied it; and the platform of bamboo canes, intended as a bedstead, +from its narrowness showed that only one person was accustomed to pass +the night under the shelter of its roof. + +That this person was a man could be told by the presence of some +articles of male attire lying upon this rude couch--where also lay a +strip of coarse rush matting, and an old, tattered blanket--evidently +the sole stock of bedding which the hut contained. + +The furniture was scanty as simple. The cane platform already mentioned +appeared to do duty also as a table and chair; and, with the exception +of an old tin kettle, some calabash bowls and platters, nothing else +could be seen that might be termed an "utensil." + +There were articles, however, of a different character, and plenty of +them; but these were neither simple nor their uses easily understood. + +Against the walls hung a variety of singular objects--some of them of +ludicrous and some of horrid aspect. Among the latter could be observed +the skin of the dreaded galliwasp; the two-headed snake; the skull and +tusks of a savage boar; dried specimens of the ugly gecko lizard; +enormous bats, with human-like faces; and other like hideous creatures. + +Little bags, suspended from the rafters, contained articles of still +more mysterious import. Balls of whitish-coloured clay; the claws of +the great-eared owl; parrots' beaks and feathers; the teeth of cats, +alligators, and the native agouti; pieces of rag and broken glass; with +a score of like odds and ends, forming a medley as miscellaneous as +unintelligible. + +In one corner was a wicker basket--the cutacoo--filled with roots and +plants of several different species, among which might be identified the +dangerous dumb-cane; the savanna flower; and other "simples" of a +suspicious character. + +Entering this hut, and observing the singular collection of specimens +which it contained, a stranger to the Island of Jamaica would have been +puzzled to explain their presence and purpose. Not so, one acquainted +with the forms of the serpent worship of Ethiopia--the creed of the +Coromantees. The grotesque objects were but symbols of the African +_fetish_. The hut was a temple of Obi: in plainer terms, the dwelling +of an _Obeah-man_. + +Volume Two, Chapter XX. + +CHAKRA, THE MYAL-MAN. + +The sun was just going down to his bed in the blue Caribbean, and +tinting with a carmine-coloured light the glistening surface of the +Jumbe Rock, when a human figure was seen ascending the mountain path +that led to that noted summit. + +Notwithstanding the gloom of the indigenous forest--every moment +becoming more obscure under the fast-deepening twilight--it could be +easily seen that the figure was that of a woman; while the buff +complexion of her face and naked throat, of her gloveless hands, and +shoeless and stockingless feet and ankles, proclaimed her a woman of +colour--a mulatta. + +Her costume was in keeping with her caste. A frock of cotton print of +flaunting pattern, half-open at the breast: a toque of Madras kerchief +of gaudy hues--these were all she wore, excepting the chemise of +scarcely white calico, whose embroidered border showed through the +opening of her dress. + +She was a woman of large form, and bold, passionate physiognomy; +possessing a countenance not altogether unlovely, though lacking in +delicacy of feature--its beauty, such as it was, being of a purely +sensual character. + +Whatever errand she was on, both her step and glance bespoke courageous +resolve. It argued courage--her being upon the "Mountain," and so near +the Jumbe Rock, at that unusual hour. + +But there are passions stronger than fear. Even the terror of the +supernatural fades from the heart that is benighted with love, or wrung +by jealousy. Perhaps this lone wanderer of the forest path was the +victim of one or the other? + +A certain expression of nervous anxiety--at times becoming more +anguished--would have argued the latter to be the passion which was +uppermost in her mind. Love should have looked more gentle and hopeful. + +Though it was evident that her errand was not one of ordinary business, +there was nothing about her to betray its exact purpose. A basket of +palm wickerwork, suspended over her wrist, appeared to be filled with +provisions: the half-closed lid permitting to be seen inside a congeries +of yams, plantains, tomatoes, and capsicums; while the legs of a +guinea-fowl protruded from the opening. + +This might have argued a certain purpose--an errand to market; but the +unusual hour, the direction taken, and, above all, the air and bearing +of the mulatta, as she strode up the mountain path, forbade the +supposition that she was going to market. The Jumbe Rock was not a +likely place to find sale for a basket of provisions. + +After all, she was not bound thither. On arriving within sight of the +summit, she paused upon the path; and, after looking around for a minute +or two--as if making a reconnoissance--she faced to the left, and +advanced diagonally across the flank of the mountain. + +Her turning aside from the Jumbe Rock could not have been from fear: for +the direction she was now following would carry her to a place equally +dreaded by the superstitious--the Duppy's Hole. + +That she was proceeding to this place was evident. There was no +distinct path leading thither, but the directness of her course, and the +confidence with which she kept it, told that she must have gone over the +ground before. + +Forcing her way through the tangle of vines and branches, she strode +courageously onward--until at length she arrived on the edge of the +cliff that hemmed in the cavernous hollow. + +The point where she reached it was just above the gorge--the place where +the tree stairway led down to the lagoon. + +From her actions, it was evident that the way was known to her; and that +she meditated a descent into the bottom of the valley. + +That she knew she could accomplish this feat of herself, and expected +some one to come to her assistance, was also evident from her proceeding +to make a signal as soon as she arrived upon the edge of the cliff. + +Drawing from the bosom of her dress a small white kerchief, she spread +it open upon the branch of a tree that grew conspicuously over the +precipice; and then, resting her hand against the trunk, she stood +gazing with a fixed and earnest look upon the water below. + +In the twilight, now fast-darkening down, even the white kerchief might +have remained unnoticed. The woman, however, appeared to have no +apprehension upon this head. Her gaze was expectant and full of +confidence: as if the signal had been a preconcerted one, and she was +conscious that the individual for whom it was intended would be on the +look-out. + +Forewarned or not, she was not disappointed. Scarce five minutes had +transpired from the hanging out of the handkerchief, when a canoe was +seen shooting out from under the moss-garnished trees that fringed the +upper edge of the lagoon, and making for the bottom of the cliff beneath +the spot where she stood. + +A single individual occupied the canoe; who, even under the sombre +shadow of the twilight, appeared to be a man of dread aspect. + +He was a negro of gigantic size; though that might not have appeared as +he sat squatted in the canoe but for the extreme breadth of his +shoulders, between which was set a huge head, almost neckless. His back +was bent like a bow, presenting an enormous hunch--partly the effect of +advanced age, and partly from natural malformation. His attitude in the +canoe gave him a double stoop: so that, as he leant forward to the +paddle, his face was turned downward, as if he was regarding some object +in the bottom of the craft. His long, ape-like arms enabled him to +reach over the gunwale without bending much to either side; and only +with these did he appear to make any exertion--his body remaining +perfectly immobile. + +The dress of this individual was at the same time grotesque and savage. +The only part of it which belonged to civilised fashion was a pair of +wide trousers or drawers, of coarse Osnaburgh linen--such as are worn by +the field hands on a sugar plantation. Their dirty yellowish hue told +that they had long been strangers to the laundry: while several +crimson-coloured blotches upon them proclaimed that their last wetting +had been with blood, not water. + +A sort of _kaross_, or cloak, made out of the skins of the _utia_, and +hung over his shoulders, was the only other garment he wore. This, +fastened round his thick, short neck by a piece of leathern thong, +covered the whole of his body down to the hams--the Osnaburgh drawers +continuing the costume thence to his ankles. + +His feet were bare. Nor needed they any protection from shoes--the +soles being thickly covered with a horn-like callosity, which extended +from the ball of the great toe to the broad heel, far protruding +backward. + +The head-dress was equally _bizarre_. It was a sort of cap, constructed +out of the skin of some wild animal; and fitting closely, exhibited, in +all its phrenological fulness, the huge negro cranium which it covered. +There was no brim; but, in its place, the dried and stuffed skin of the +great yellow snake was wreathed around the temples--with the head of the +reptile in front, and two sparkling pebbles set in the sockets of its +eyes to give it the appearance of life! + +The countenance of the negro did not need this terrific adornment to +inspire those who beheld it with fear. The sullen glare of his deep-set +eye balls; the broad, gaping nostrils; the teeth, filed to a point, and +gleaming, sharklike, behind his purple lips; the red tattooing upon his +cheeks and broad breast--the latter exposed by the action of his arms-- +all combined in making a picture that needed no reptiliform addition to +render it hideous enough for the most horrid of purposes. It seemed to +terrify even the wild denizens of the Duppy's Hole. The heron, couching +in the sedge, flapped up with an affrighted cry; and the flamingo, +spreading her scarlet wings, rose screaming over the cliffs, and flew +far away. + +Even the woman who awaited him--hold as she may have been, and voluntary +as her rendezvous appeared to be--could not help shuddering as the canoe +drew near; and for a moment she appeared irresolute, as to whether she +should trust herself in such uncanny company. + +Her resolution, however, stimulated by some strong passion, soon +returned; and as the canoe swept in among the bushes at the bottom of +the cliff, and she heard the voice of its occupant summoning her to +descend, she plucked the signal from the tree, fixed the basket firmly +over her arm, and commenced letting herself down through the tangle of +branches. + +The canoe re-appeared upon the open water, returning across the lagoon. +The mulatta woman was seated in the stern, the man, as before, plying +the paddle, but now exerting all his strength to prevent the light craft +from being carried down by the current, that could be heard hissing and +groaning through the gorge below. + +On getting back under the tree from which he had started, the negro +corded the canoe to one of the branches; and then, scrambling upon +shore, followed by the woman, he walked on towards the temple of Obi--of +which he was himself both oracle and priest. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXI. + +THE RESURRECTION. + +Arrived at the cotton-tree hut, the myal-man--for such was the negro-- +dived at once into the open door, his broad and hunched shoulders scarce +clearing the aperture. + +In a tone rather of command than request he directed the woman to enter. + +The mulatta appeared to hesitate. Inside, the place was dark as Erebus: +though without it was not very different. The shadow of the _ceiba_, +with its dense shrouding of moss, interrupted every ray of the moonlight +now glistening among the tops of the trees. + +The negro noticed her hesitation. + +"Come in!" cried he, repeating his command in the same gruff voice. +"You me sabbey--what fo' you fear?" + +"I'se not afraid, Chakra," replied the woman, though the trembling of +her voice contradicted the assertion; "only," she added, still +hesitating, "it's so dark in there." + +"Well, den--you 'tay outside," said the other, relenting; "you 'tay dar +wha you is; a soon 'trike a light." + +A fumbling was heard, and then the chink of steel against flint, +followed by fiery sparks. + +A piece of punk was set a-blaze, and from this the flame was +communicated to a sort of lamp, composed of the _carapace_ of a turtle, +filled with wild-hog's lard, and having a wick twisted out of the down +of the cotton-tree. + +"Now you come in, Cynthy," resumed the negro, placing the lamp upon the +floor. "Wha! you 'till afeard! You de dauter ob Juno Vagh'n--you +modder no fear ole Chakra. Whugh! she no fear de Debbil!" + +Cynthia, thus addressed, might have thought that between the dread of +these two personages there was not much to choose: for the Devil himself +could hardly have appeared in more hideous guise than the human being +who stood before her. + +"O Chakra!" said she, as she stepped inside the door, and caught sight +of the weird-looking garniture of the walls; "woman may well be 'fraid. +Dis am a fearful place!" + +"Not so fearful as de Jumbe Rock," was the reply of the myal-man, +accompanied by a significant glance, and something between a smile and a +grin. + +"True!" said the mulatta, gradually recovering her self-possession; +"true: you hab cause say so, Chakra." + +"Das a fac', Cynthy." + +"But tell me, good Chakra," continued the mulatta, giving way to a +woman's feeling--curiosity, "how did you ebber 'scape from the Jumbe +Rock? The folks said it was your skeleton dat was up there--chain to de +palm-tree!" + +"De folk 'peek da troof. My 'keleton it was, jess as dey say." + +The woman turned upon the speaker a glance in which astonishment was +mingled with fear, the latter predominating. + +"_Your_ skeleton?" she muttered, interrogatively. + +"Dem same old bones--de 'kull, de ribs, de jeints, drumticks, an' all. +Golly, gal Cynthy! dat ere 'pears 'stonish you. Wha fo'? Nuffin in +daat. You sabbey ole Chakra? You know he _myal-man_? Doan care who +know _now_--so long dey b'lieve um dead. Wha for myal-man, ef he no +bring de dead to life 'gain? Be shoo Chakra no die hisseff, so long he +knows how bring dead body to de life. Ole Chakra know all dat. Dey no +kill _him_, nebber! Neider de white folk nor de brack folk. Dey may +shoot 'im wid gun--dey may hang 'im by de neck--dey may cut off 'im +head--he come to life 'gain, like de blue lizard and de glass snake. +Dey _did_ try kill 'im, you know. Dey 'tarve him till he die ob hunger +and thuss. De John Crow pick out him eyes, and tear de flesh from de +old nigga's body--leab nuffin but de bare bones! Ha! Chakra 'lib yet-- +he hab new bones, new flesh! Golly! you him see? he 'trong--he fat as +ebber he wa'! Ha! ha! ha!" + +And as the hideous negro uttered his exulting laugh, he threw up his +arms and turned his eyes towards his own person, as if appealing to it +for proof of the resurrection he professed to have accomplished! + +The woman looked as if petrified by the recital; every word of which she +appeared implicitly to believe. She was too much terrified to speak, +and remained silent, apparently cowering under the influence of a +supernatural awe. + +The myal-man perceived the advantage he had gained; and seeing that the +curiosity of his listener was satisfied--for she had not the slightest +desire to hear more about that matter--he adroitly changed the subject +to one of a more natural character. + +"You've brought de basket ob wittle, Cynthy?" + +"Yes, Chakra--there." + +"Golly! um's berry good--guinea-hen an' plenty ob vegable fo' de +pepperpot. Anything fo' drink, gal? Habent forgot daat, a hope? De +drink am da mose partickla ob all." + +"I have not forgotten it, Chakra. There's a bottle of rum. You'll find +it in the bottom of the basket. I had a deal trouble steal it." + +"Who you 'teal 'im from?" + +"Why, master: who else? He have grown berry partickler of late--carries +all de keys himself; and won't let us coloured folk go near de +storeroom, as if we were all teevin' cats!" + +"Nebba mind--nebba you mind, Cynthy--maybe Chakra watch _him_ by'm-bye. +Wa, now!" added he, drawing the bottle of rum out of the basket, and +holding it up to the light. "De buckra preacher he say dat 'tolen water +am sweet. A 'pose dat 'tolen rum folla de same excepshun. A see ef um +do." + +So saying, the negro drew out the stopper; raised the bottle to his +lips; and buried the neck up to the swell between his capacious jaws. + +A series of "clucks" proclaimed the passage of the liquor over his +palate; and not until he had swallowed half a pint of the fiery fluid, +did he withdraw the neck of the bottle from between his teeth. + +"Whugh!" he exclaimed, with an aspirate that resembled the snort of a +startled hog. "Whugh!" he repeated, stroking his abdomen with his huge +paw. "De buckra preacher may talk 'bout him 'tolen water, but gib me de +'tolen rum. You good gal, Cynthy--you berry good gal, fo' fetch ole +Chakra dis nice basket o' wittle--he sometime berry hungry--he need um +all." + +"I promise to bring more--whenebber I can get away from the Buff." + +"Das right, my piccaninny! An' now, gal," continued he, changing his +tone, and regarding the mulatta with a look of interrogation, "wha fo' +you want see me dis night? You hab some puppos partickla? Dat so--eh, +gal?" + +The mulatta stood hesitating. There are certain secrets which woman +avows with reluctance--often with repugnance. Her love is one; and of +this she cares to make confession only to him who has the right to hear +it. Hence Cynthia's silent and hesitating attitude. + +"Wha fo' you no 'peak?" asked the grim confessor. "Shoo' you no hah +fear ob ole Chakra? You no need fo' tell 'im--he know you secret +a'ready--you lub Cubina, de capen ob Maroon? Dat troof, eh?" + +"It is true, Chakra. I shall conceal nothing from you." + +"Better not, 'cause you can't 'ceal nuffin from ole Chakra--he know +ebbery ting--little bird tell um. Wa now, wha nex'? You tink Cubina no +lub you?" + +"Ah! I am sure of it," replied the mulatta, her bold countenance +relaxing into an anguished expression. "I once thought he love me. Now +I no think so." + +"You tink him lub some odder gal?" + +"I am sure of it--Oh, I have reason!" + +"Who am dis odder?" + +"Yola." + +"Yola? Dat ere name sound new to me. Whar d's she 'long to?" + +"She belongs to Mount Welcome--she Missa Kate's maid." + +"Lilly Quasheba, _I_ call dat young lady," muttered the myal-man, with a +knowing grin. "But dis Yola?" he added; "whar she come from? A nebber +hear de name afo'." + +"Oh, true, Chakra! I did not think of tellin' you. She was bought from +the Jew, and fetched home since you--that is, after you left the +plantation." + +"Arter I lef' de plantation to die on de Jumbe Rock; ha! ha! ha! Dat's +wha you mean, Cynthy?" + +"Yes--she came soon after." + +"So you tink Cubina lub _her_?" + +"I do." + +"An' she 'ciprocate de fekshun?" + +"Ah, surely! How could she help do that?" + +The interrogatory betrayed the speaker's belief that the Maroon captain +was irresistible. + +"Wa, then--wha you want me do, gal? You want rebbenge on Cubina, 'cause +he hab 'trayed you? You want me put de _death-pell_ on him?" + +"Oh! no--no! not that, Chakra, for the love of Heaven!--not that!" + +"Den you want de _lub-spell_?" + +"Ah! if he could be make love me 'gain--he did once. That is--I thought +he did. Is it possible, good Chakra, to make him love me again?" + +"All ting possble to old Chakra; an' to prove dat," continued he, with a +determined air, "he promise put de lub-spell on Cubina." + +"Oh, thanks! thanks!" cried the woman, stretching out her hands, and +speaking in a tone of fervent gratitude. "What can I do for you, +Chakra? I bring you everything you ask. I steal rum--I steal wine--I +come every night with something you like eat." + +"Wa, Cynthy--dat berry kind ob you; but you muss do more dan all dat." + +"Anything you ask me--what more?" + +"You must yourseff help in de spell. It take bof you an' me to bring +dat 'bout." + +"Only me tell what to do; and trust me, Chakra, I shall follow your +advice." + +"Wa, den--lissen--I tell you all 'bout it. But sit down on da bedsed +dar. It take some time." + +The woman, thus directed, took her seat upon the bamboo couch, and +remained silent and attentive--watching every movement of her hideous +companion, and not without some misgivings as to the compact which was +about to be entered into between them. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXII. + +THE LOVE-SPELL. + +The countenance of the myal-man had assumed an air of solemnity that +betokened serious determination; and the mulatta felt a presentiment +that, in return for his services, something was about to be demanded of +her--something more than a payment in meat and drink. + +His mysterious behaviour as he passed around the hut; now stopping +before one of the grotesque objects that adorned the wall,--now fumbling +among the little bags and baskets, as if in search of some particular +charm--his movements made in solemn silence only broken by the +melancholy sighing of the cataract without; all this was producing on +the mind of the mulatta an unpleasant impression; and, despite her +natural courage, sustained as it was by the burning passion that +devoured her, she was fast giving way to an indefinable fear. + +The priest of Obi, after appearing to have worshipped each _fetish_ in +turn, at length transferred his devotions to the rum-bottle--perhaps the +most potent god in his whole Pantheon. Taking another long-protracted +potation, followed by the customary "Whugh!" he restored the bottle to +its place; and then, seating himself upon a huge turtle-shell, that +formed part of the plenishing of his temple, he commenced giving his +devotee her lesson of instructions. + +"Fuss, den," said he, "to put de lub-spell on anybody--eider a man or a +woman--it am nessary, at de same time, to hab de _obeah_-spell go 'long +wi' it." + +"What!" exclaimed his listener, exhibiting a degree of alarm; "the +_obeah_-spell?--on Cubina, do you mean?" + +"No, not on _him_--dat's not a nessary consarquence. But 'fore Cubina +be made lub you, someb'dy else muss be made _sick_." + +"Who?" quickly inquired the mulatta, her mind at the moment reverting to +one whom she might have wished to be the invalid. + +"Who you tink fo'? who you greatest enemy you wish make sick?" + +"Yola," answered the woman, in a low muttered voice, and with only a +moment of hesitation. + +"Woan do--woman woan do--muss he man; an' more dan dat, muss be free +man. Nigga slave woan do. Obi god tell me so jess now. Buckra man, +too, it muss be. If buckra man hab de obeah-'pell, Cubina he take de +lub-spell 'trong--he lub you hard as a ole mule can kick." + +"Oh! if he would!" exclaimed the passionate mulatta, in an ecstasy of +delightful expectation; "I shall do anything for that--anything!" + +"Den you muss help put de obeah-spell on some ob de white folk. You hab +buckra enemy?--Chakra hab de same." + +"Who?" inquired the woman, reflectingly. + +"Who! No need tell who Chakra enemy--you enemy too. Who fooled you +long time 'go? who 'bused you when you wa young gal? No need tell you +dat, Cynthy Vagh'n?" + +The mulatta turned her eyes upon the speaker with a significant +expression. Some old memory seemed resuscitated by his words,-- +evidently anything but a pleasant one. + +"Massa Loftus?" she said, in a half-whisper. + +"Sartin shoo, Massa Loftus--dat ere buckra you enemy an' mine boaf." + +"And you would--?" + +"Set de obeah fo' him," said the negro, finishing the interrogatory, +which the other had hesitated to pronounce. + +The woman remained without making answer, and as if buried in +reflection. The expression upon her features was not one of repentance. + +"Muss be him!" continued the tempter, as if to win her more completely +to his dark project; "no odder do so well. Obi god say so--muss be de +planter ob Moun' Welc'm." + +"If Cubina will but love me, I care not who," rejoined the mulatta, with +an air of reckless determination. + +"'Nuff sed," resumed the myal-man. "De obeah-spell sha' be set on de +proud buckra, Loftus Vagh'n; an' you, Cynthy, muss 'sist in de workin' +ob de charm." + +"How can I assist?" inquired the woman, in a voice whose trembling told +of a slight irresolution. "How, Chakra?" + +"Dat you be tole by'm-bye--not dis night. De 'pell take time. God Obi +he no act all at once, not eben fo' ole Chakra. You come 'gain when I +leab de signal fo' yon on de trumpet-tree. Till den you keep dark 'bout +all dese ting. You one ob de few dat know ole Chakra still 'live. +Odders know ob de ole myal-man in de mask, but berry few ebber see um +face, an' nebba suspeck who um be. Das all right. You tell who de +myal-man am, den--" + +"Oh, never, Chakra," interrupted his listener, "never!" + +"No, berra not. You tell dat, Cynthy, you soon feel de obeah-spell on +youseff. + +"Now, gal," continued the negro, rising from his seat, and motioning the +mulatta to do the same, "time fo' you go. I specks one odder soon: no +do fo' you to be cotch hya when dat odder come. Take you basket, an' +folla me." + +So saying, he emptied the basket of its heterogeneous contents; and, +handing it to its owner, conducted her out of the hut. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXIII. + +CHAKRA REDIVIVUS. + +The scene that had thus transpired in the depths of the Duppy's Hole +requires some explanation. The dialogue which Cynthia had held with the +hideous Coromantee, though couched in ambiguous phrase, clearly +indicated an intention to assassinate the Custos Vaughan; and by a mode +which these arch-conspirators figuratively--almost facetiously--termed +the _obeah-spell_! + +In the diabolical design, the woman appeared to be acting rather as +coadjutor than conspirator; and her motive for taking part in the plot, +though wicked enough, presents, in the language of French law, one or +two "extenuating circumstances." + +A word or two of the mulatta's history will make her motive understood, +though her conversation may have already declared it with sufficient +distinctness. + +Cynthia was a slave on the plantation of Mount Welcome--one of the +house-wenches, or domestics belonging to the mansion; and of which, in a +large establishment like that of Custos Vaughan, there is usually a +numerous troop. + +The girl, in earlier life, had been gifted with good looks. Nor could +it be said that they were yet gone; though hers was a beauty that no +longer presented the charm of innocent girlhood, but rather the +sensualistic attractions of a bold and abandoned woman. + +Had Cynthia been other than a slave--that is, had she lived in other +lands--her story might have been different. But in that, her native +country--and under conditions of bondage that extended alike to body and +soul--her fair looks had proved only a fatal gift. + +With no motive to tread the paths of virtue--with a thousand temptations +to stray from it--Cynthia, like, it is sad to think, too many of her +race, had wandered into ways of wantonness. It might be, as Chakra had +obscurely hinted, that the slave had been abused. Wherever lay the +blame, she had, at all events, become abandoned. + +Whether loving them or not, Cynthia had, in her time, been honoured with +more than one admirer. But there was one on whom she had at length +fixed her affections--or, more properly, her passions--to a degree of +permanence that promised to end only with her life. This one was the +young Maroon captain, Cubina; and although it was a love of +comparatively recent origin, it had already reached the extreme of +passion. So fierce and reckless had it grown, on the part of the +wretched woman, that she was ready for anything that promised to procure +her its requital--ready even for the nefarious purpose of Chakra. + +To do Cubina justice, this love of the slave Cynthia was not +reciprocated. To the levities and light speeches habitually indulged in +by the Maroons, in their intercourse with the plantation people, Cubina +was a singular exception; and Cynthia's statement that he had once +returned her love--somewhat doubtingly delivered--had no other +foundation than her own groundless conjectures, in which the wish was +father to the thought. + +Some friendly words may have passed between the Maroon and mulatta--for +they had often met upon their mutual wanderings; but the latter, in +mistaking them for words of love, had, sadly for herself, misconceived +their meaning. + +Of late her passion had become fiercer than ever--since jealousy had +arisen to stimulate it--jealousy of Cubina with Yola. The meeting and +subsequent correspondence of the Maroon with the Foolah maiden were +events of still more recent date; but already had Cynthia seen or heard +enough to produce the conviction that in Yola she had found a rival. +With the passionate _sang-mele_, jealousy pointed to revenge; and she +had begun to indulge in dark projects of this nature just at that time +when Chakra chanced to throw his shadow across her path. + +Cynthia was one of those slaves known as _night-rangers_. She was in +the habit of making occasional and nocturnal excursions through the +woods for many purposes; but of late, principally in the hope of meeting +Cubina, and satisfying herself in regard to a suspicion she had +conceived of meetings occurring between him and Yola. + +In one of these expeditions she had encountered a man whose appearance +filled her with terror; and very naturally: since, as she at first +supposed, it was not a _man_, but a _ghost_ that she saw--the ghost of +Chakra, the myal-man! + +That it was the "duppy" of old Chakra, Cynthia on sight firmly believed; +and might have continued longer in that belief, had she been permitted +to make her escape from the spot--as she was fast hastening to do. But +the long, ape-like arms of the myal-man, flung around her on the +instant, restrained her flight until she became convinced that it was +not Chakra's ghost, but Chakra himself, who had so rudely embraced her! + +It was not altogether by chance this encounter had occurred--at least, +on the part of Chakra. He had been looking out for Cynthia for some +time before. He wanted her for a purpose. + +The mulatta made no revelation of what she had seen. With all his +ugliness, the myal-man had been the friend of her mother--had often +dandled her, Cynthia, upon his knees. But the tongue of Juno's daughter +was held silent by stronger ties than those of affection. Fear was one; +but there was also another. If Chakra wanted Cynthia for a purpose, a +quick instinct told her she might stand in need of _him_. He was just +the instrument by which to accomplish that revenge of which she was +already dreaming. + +On the instant, mulatta and myal-man became allies. + +This mutual confidence had been but very recently established--only a +few days, or rather nights, before that on which Cynthia had given +Chakra this, her first _seance_ in the temple of Obi. + +The purpose for which the myal-man wanted the mulatta--or one purpose, +at least--has been sufficiently set forth in the dialogues occurring +between them. He required her assistance to put the obeah-spell upon +the planter, Loftus Vaughan. The character of Cynthia, which Chakra +well understood--with the opportunities she had, in her capacity of +housemaid--promised to provide the assassin with an agency of the most +effective kind; and the pretended love-spell he was to work upon Cubina +had given him a talisman, by which his agent was but too easily induced +to undertake the execution of his diabolical design. + +Among many other performances of a like kind, it was part of Chakra's +programme, some day or other, to put the death-spell upon the Maroon +himself; to "obeah" young Cubina--as it was suspected he had the old +Cubina, the father--after twenty years of temptation. It was but the +want of opportunity that had hindered him from having long before +accomplished his nefarious project upon the son, as upon the father--in +satisfaction of a revenue so old as to be anterior to the birth of +Cubina himself, though associated with that event. + +Of course, this design was not revealed to Cynthia. + +His motive for conspiring the death of Loftus Vaughan was without any +mystery whatever; and this--perhaps more than any other of his crimes, +either purposed or committed--might plead "extenuating circumstances." +His cruel condemnation, and subsequent exposure upon the Jumbe Rock, was +a stimulus sufficient to have excited to revenge a gentler nature than +that of Chakra, the Coromantee. It need scarce be said that it had +stimulated his to the deadliest degree. + +The resurrection of the myal-man may appear a mystery--as it did to the +slave, Cynthia. There was one individual, however, who understood its +character. Not to an African god was the priest of Obi indebted for his +resuscitation, but to an Israelitish man--to Jacob Jessuron. + +It was but a simple trick--that of substituting a carcase--afterwards to +become a skeleton--for the presumed dead body of the myal-man. The +baracoon of the slave-merchant generally had such a commodity in stock. +If not, Jessuron would not have scrupled to manufacture one for the +occasion. + +Humanity had nothing to do in the supplying of this proxy. Had there +been no other motive than that to actuate the Jew, Chakra might have +rotted under the shadow of the cabbage-palm. + +But Jessuron had his purpose for saving the life of the condemned +criminal--more than one, perhaps--and he had saved it. + +Since his _resurrection_, Chakra had pursued his iniquitous calling with +even more energy than of old; but now in the most secret and +surreptitious manner. + +He had not been long in re-establishing a system of confederates--under +the auspices of a new name--but only at night, and with disguised form +and masked face, did he give his clients rendezvous. Never in the +Duppy's Hole; for few were sufficiently initiated into the mysteries of +myalism to be introduced to its temple in that secure retreat. + +Although the confederates of the obeah-man rarely reveal the secret of +his whereabouts--even his _victims dreading to divulge it_--Chakra knew +the necessity of keeping as much as possible _en perdu_; and no outlaw, +with halter around his neck, could have been more cautious in his +outgoings and incomings. + +He knew that his life was forfeit on the old judgment; and, though he +had once escaped execution, he might not be so fortunate upon a second +occasion. If recaptured, some surer mode of death would be provided--a +rope, instead of a chain; and in place of being fastened to the trunk of +a tree, he would be pretty certain of being suspended by the neck to the +branch of one. + +Knowing all this, Chakra _redivivus_ trod the forest paths with caution, +and was especially shy of the plantation of Mount Welcome. Around the +sides of the mountain he had little to fear. The reputation of the +Jumbe Rock, as well as that of the Duppy's Hole, kept the proximity of +these noted places clear of all dark-skinned stragglers; and there +Chakra had the heat to himself. + +Upon dark nights, however, like the wolf, he could prowl at pleasure and +with comparative safety--especially upon the outskirts of the more +remote plantations: the little intercourse allowed between the slaves of +distant estates making acquaintanceship among them a rare exception. It +was chiefly upon these distant estates that Chakra held communication +with his confederates and clients. + +It was now more than a year since he had made his pretended +resurrection; and yet so cautiously had he crawled about, that only a +few individuals were aware of the fact of his being still alive. Others +_had seen his ghost_! Several negroes of Mount Welcome plantation would +have sworn to having met the "duppy" of old Chakra, while travelling +through the woods at night, and the sight had cured these witnesses of +their propensity for midnight wandering. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXIV. + +THE BARGAIN OF OBEAH. + +For a while after the departure of Cynthia, the temple of Obi remained +untenanted, except by its dumb deities: its priest having gone to ferry +his neophyte across the lagoon. + +In a few minutes he returned alone--having left the mulatta to make her +way up the cliff, and homeward to Mount Welcome, where she belonged. + +It was evident that the visit of the mulatta had given him +gratification. Even in the dim light of his lard lamp an expression of +demoniac joy could be distinguished upon his ferocious visage, as he +re-entered the hut. + +"One dead!" cried he, in an exulting tone; "anodder upon 'im death-bed; +and now de third, de las' an' wuss ob 'em all--ha! ha! ha!--he soon feel +de vengeance ob Chakra, de myal-man!" + +Thrice did the wild, maniac-like laugh peal from under the spreading +limbs of the _ceiba_--reverberating with an unearthly echo against the +cliffs that hemmed in the Duppy's Hole. It startled the denizens of the +dark lagoon; and, like echoes, came ringing up the ravine the scream of +the crane, and the piercing cry of the wood-ibis. + +These sounds had scarce died away, when one of a somewhat different +intonation was heard from above. It resembled a shriek; or rather as if +some one had whistled through his fingers. Whoever gave utterance to +the sound was upon the top of the cliff--just over the hut. + +Chakra was not startled. He knew it was a signal; and that it was given +by the guest he was expecting. + +"Das de ole Jew!" muttered he, taking the rum-bottle, and concealing it +under the bedstead. "You stay dar till I wants ye 'gain," added he, +addressing himself in a confidential tone to this, the object of his +greatest adoration. "Now for de nigga-dealer! I'se hab news fo' him +'ll tickle 'im in de ribs like a ole guana lizzard. Not dat Chakra care +fo' him. No--only, on dis voyage, boaf am sailin' in de same boat. Da +he go 'gain!" + +This last exclamation referred to a repetition of the signal heard +further down: as if he who was sounding it was advancing along the +cliff, towards the gorge at the lower end. + +A third call proceeded from that point where the tree stairway scaled +the precipice--indicating to Chakra that his visitor was there awaiting +him. + +Without further delay, the ferryman--grim as Charon himself--returned to +his canoe; and once more paddled it across the lagoon. + +While Chakra was thus occupied, a man could be seen descending the +cliff, through the tangle of climbing plants, who, on the arrival of the +canoe at the bottom, was standing, half concealed among the bushes, +ready to step into it. The moon shone upon a blue body-coat, with +bright buttons; upon a brown beaver hat and white skull-cap; upon +tarnished top-boots, green goggles, and an enormous umbrella. + +Chakra did not need to scan the sharp Israelitish features of the man to +ascertain who he was. + +Jacob Jessuron was there by appointment; and the myal-man knew both his +presence and his purpose. + +Not a word of recognition passed between the two, nor sign. Only a +caution from Chakra--as the Jew, swinging by a branch, let himself down +into the canoe. + +"'Tep in lightly, Massr Jake, an' doan' push da canoe down 'tream. 'T +am jess' as much as I kin do to keep de ole craff out ob de eddy. Ef +she get down da, den it 'ud be all up wifh boaf o' us." + +"Blesh my soul! D'you shay so?" rejoined the Jew, glancing towards the +gorge, and shivering as he listened to the hoarse groaning of the water +among the grim rocks. "S'help me, I didn't know it was dangerous. +Don't fear, Shakra! I shtep in ash light ash a feather." + +So saying, the Jew dropped his umbrella into the bottom of the boat; and +then let himself down upon the top of it, with as much gentleness as if +he was descending upon a basket of eggs. + +The ferryman, seeing his freight safely aboard, paddled back to the +mooring-place; and, having secured his craft as before, conducted his +visitor up the valley in the direction of the hut. + +On entering the temple of Obi, Jessuron--unlike the devotee who had just +left it--showed no signs either of surprise or fear at its fantastic +adornments. It was evident he had worshipped there before. + +Nor did he evince a special veneration for the shrine; but, seating +himself familiarly on the bamboo bedstead, uttered as he did so a +sonorous "Ach!" which appeared as if intended to express satisfaction. + +At the same time he drew from the ample pocket of his coat a shining +object, which, when held before the lamp, appeared to be a bottle. The +label seen upon its side, with the symbolical bunch of grapes, proved it +to be a bottle of cognac. + +The exclamation of the myal-man, which the sight of the label had +instantaneously elicited, proved that on his side equal satisfaction +existed at this mode of initiating an interview. + +"Hash you a glass among your belongingsh?" inquired the Jew, looking +around the hovel. + +"No; dis yeer do?" asked his host, presenting a small calabash with a +handle. + +"Fush rate. Thish liquor drinksh goot out of anything. I had it from +Capten Showler on hish lasht voyage. Jesh taste it, good Shakra, before +we begins bishness." + +A grunt from the negro announced his willing assent to the proposal. + +"Whugh!" he ejaculated, after swallowing the allowance poured out for +him into the calabash. + +"Ach! goot it ish!" said his guest, on quaffing off a like quantity; and +then the bottle and gourd being set on one side, the two queer +characters entered into the field of free conversation. + +In this the Jew took the initiative. + +"I hash news for you," said he, "very shtrange news, if you hashn't +already heard it, Shakra? Who dosh you think ish dead?" + +"Ha!" exclaimed the myal-man, his eye suddenly lighting up with a gleam +of ferocious joy; "he gone dead, am he?" + +"Who? I hashen't told you," rejoined the Jew, his features assuming an +expression of mock surprise. "But true," he continued, after a pause; +"true, you knew he wash sick--you knew Justish Bailey wash sick, an' +_not likely to get over it_. Well--he hashen't, poor man!--he's dead +and in hish coffin by thish time: he breathed hish lasht yesterdays." + +A loud and highly-aspirated "Whugh!" was the only answer made by the +myal-man. The utterance was not meant to convey any melancholy +impression. On the contrary, by its peculiar intonation, it indicated +as much satisfaction as any amount of words could have expressed. + +"It ish very shtrange," continued the penn-keeper, in the same tone of +affected simplicity; "so short a time shince Mishter Ridgely died. Two +of the three shustices that sat on your trial, goot Shakra. It looksh +ash if Providensh had a hand in it--it dosh!" + +"Or de Dibbil, mo' like, maybe?" rejoined Chakra, with a significant +leer. + +"Yesh--Gott or the Devil--one or t'other. Well, Shakra, you hash had +your refenge, whichever hash helped you to it. Two of your enemies ish +not likely to trouble you again; and ash for the third--" + +"Nor he berry long, I'se speck'," interrupted the negro, with a +significant grin. + +"What you shay?" exclaimed the Jew, in an earnest undertone. "Hash you +heard anythings? Hash the wench been to see you?" + +"All right 'bout her, Massr Jake." + +"Goot--she _hash_ been?" + +"Jess leab dis place 'bout quar'r ob an hour 'go." + +"And she saysh she will help you to set the obeah-shpell for him?" + +"Hab no fear--she do all dat. Obi had spell oba her, dat make her do +mose anythin--ah! any thin' in de worl'--satin shoo. Obi all-powerful +wi' dat gal." + +"Yesh, yesh!" assented the Jew; "I knowsh all that. And if Obi wash to +fail," added he, doubtingly, "you hash a drink, goot Shakra--I know you +hash a drink, ash potent as Obi or any other of your gotsh." + +A glance of mutual intelligence passed between the two. + +"How long dosh it take your shpell to work?" inquired the penn-keeper, +after an interval of silence, in which he seemed to be making some +calculation. + +"Dat," replied the negro, "dat depend altogedder on de saccomstance ob +how long de spell am _wanted_ to work. Ef 'im wanted, Chakra make 'im +in tree day fotch de 'trongest indiwiddible cla out o' 'im boots; or in +tree hour he do same--but ob coorse dat ud be too soon fo' be safe. A +spell of tree hours too 'trong. Dat not Obi work--'im look berry like +pisen." + +"Poison--yesh, yesh, it would." + +"Tree day too short--tree week am de correct time. Den de spell work +'zackly like fever ob de typos. Nobody had s'picion 'bout 'um." + +"Three weeks, you shay? And no symptoms to make schandal? You're shure +that ish sufficient? Remember, Shakra; the Cushtos ish a strong man-- +strong ash a bull." + +"No mar'r 'bout dat. Ef he 'trong as de bull, in dat period ob time he +grow weak as de new-drop calf--I'se be boun' he 'taggering Bob long +'fore dat. You say de word, Massr Jake. Obi no like to nigga. Nigga +only brack man: he no get pay fo' 'im work. Obi 'zemble buckra man. He +no work 'less him pay." + +"Yesh--yesh! dat ish only shust and fair. Obi should be paid; but shay, +goot Shakra! how much ish his prishe for a shpell of thish kind?" + +"Ef he hab no interest hisseff in de workin' ob de 'pell, he want a +hunder poun'. When he hab interest, das different--den he take fifty." + +"Fifty poundsh! That ish big monish, good Shakra! In thish case Obi +hash an interest--more ash anybody elshe. He hash an enemy, and wants +refenge. Ish that not true, goot Shakra!" + +"Das da troof. Chakra no go fo' deny 'im. But das jess why Obi 'sent +do dat leetle _chore_ fo' fifty poun'. Obi enemy big buckra--'trong as +you hab jess say--berry diff'cult fo' 'pell 'im. Any odder myal-man +charge de full hunder poun'. Fack, no odder able do de job--no odder +but ole Chakra hab dat power." + +"Shay no more about the prishe. Fifty poundsh be it. Here'sh half +down." The tempter tossed a purse containing coin into the outstretched +palm of the obeah-man. "All I shtipulate for ish, that in three weeks +you earn the other half; and then we shall both be shquare with the +Cushtos Vochan--for I hash my refenge to shatisfy ash well as you, +Shakra." + +"Nuff sed, Massr Jake. 'Fore tree day de 'pell sha' be put on. You +back come to de Duppy Hole tree night from dis, you hear how 'im work. +Whugh!" + +The gourd shell was again brought into requisition; and, after a parting +"kiss" at the cognac, the "heel-tap" of which remained in the hut, the +precious pair emerged into the open air. + +The priest of Obi having conducted his fellow-conspirator across the +lagoon, returned to his temple, and set himself assiduously to finish +what was left of the liquor. + +"Whugh!" ejaculated he, in one of the pauses that occurred between two +vigorous pulls at the bottle; "ole villum Jew wuss dan Chakra--wuss dan +de Debbil hisseff! Doan' know why _he_ want rebbenge. Das nuffin' to +me. _I_ want rebbenge, an', by de great Accompong! I'se a g'wine to +hab it! Ef dis gal proob true, as de odder's did--she _muss_ proob +true--in tree week de proud, fat buckra jussis dat condemn me to dat +Jumbe Rock--`Cussos rodelorum,' as de call 'im--won't hab no more flesh +on 'im bones dan de 'keleton he tink wa' myen. And den, when 'im die-- +ah! den, affer 'im die, de daughter ob dat Quasheba dat twenty year 'go +'corn de lub ob de Coromantee for dat ob de yellow Maroon--maybe her +dauter, de Lilly Quasheba, sleep in de arms ob Chakra de myal-man! +Whugh!" + +As the minister of Obi gave utterance to this hypothetical threat, a +lurid light glared un in his sunken eyes, while his white, sharklike +teeth were displayed in an exulting grin--hideous as if the Demon +himself were smiling over some monstrous menace! + +Both cognac and rum-bottle were repeatedly tasted, until the strong +frame of the Coromantee gave way to the stronger spirit of the alcohol; +and, muttering fearful threats in his gumbo jargon, he at length sank +unconscious on the floor. + +There, under the light of the lard lamp--now flickering feebly--he lay +like some hideous satyr, whom Bacchus, by an angry blow, had felled +prostrate to the earth! + +Volume Two, Chapter XXV. + +THE MYSTERIOUS MOTIVE. + +The original motive of the myal-man, in conspiring the death of the +Custos Vaughan, would have been strong enough to urge him on without +this new instigation. As we have seen, it was one of deadly revenge-- +simple, and easily understood. + +Not so easily understood was that which actuated the Jew. On the +contrary, so secretly had he conceived his purposes, that no living +man--not even Chakra himself--had been made privy to them. Up to this +moment they may have appeared mysterious; and the time has arrived when +it becomes necessary to reveal them. The explanation will show them to +be only natural--only in keeping with the character of this crooked and +cruel old man. + +It is scarce necessary to say that Jacob Jessuron was no type of his +race; nor, indeed, of any race. A German Jew by birth, it was not +necessarily this that made him either slave-dealer or slave-stealer. +Christians have taken their full share in both branches of the nefarious +trade; and equally with Jews and Mohammedans have they been guilty of +its most hideous enormities. It was not, therefore, because Jacob +Jessuron chanced to be a Jew that he was a trafficker in human flesh and +blood--any more than that he was a villainous man; but because he was +Jacob Jessuron--a representative of neither race nor nation, but simply +a character _sui generis_. + +Without dwelling upon his general demerits, let us return to the more +particular theme of the motives which were instigating him to make a +victim of his neighbour Vaughan--a death victim: for his conversation +with Chakra showed that this was the very starting-point of his +intentions. + +In the first place, he was well acquainted with the domestic history of +the planter--at least, with that portion of it that had transpired +subsequent to the latter's coming into possession of Mount Welcome. He +knew something of Mr Vaughan previously--while the latter was manager +of the Montagu Castle estate--but it was only after the Custos had +become his nearer neighbour, by removal to his present residence, that +the Jew's knowledge of him and his private affairs had become intimate +and accurate. + +This knowledge he had obtained in various ways: partly by the +opportunities of social intercourse, never very cordial; partly through +business transactions; and, perhaps, more than all--at least, as +regarded some of the more secret passages of Mr Vaughan's history--from +the myal-man, Chakra. + +Notwithstanding his grotesque hideousness, the Coromantee was gifted +with a rare though dangerous intelligence. He was _au fait_ to +everything that had occurred upon the plantation of Mount Welcome for a +past period of nearly forty years. As already hinted, he knew too much; +and it was this inconvenient omniscience that had caused him to be +consigned to the Jumbe Rock. + +For more than one purpose had the Jew made use of the myal-man; and if +the latter was at present assisting him in his dark design, it was not +the first by many, both deep and dark, in which Chakra had lent him a +hand. Their secret partnership had been of long duration. + +The Jew's knowledge of the affairs of Loftus Vaughan extended to many +facts unknown even to Chakra. One of these was, that his neighbour was +blessed with an English brother, who had an only son. + +An artist was the English brother, without fortune--almost without name. +Many other circumstances relating to him had come to the knowledge of +Jessuron; among the rest, that the proud Custos knew little about his +poor English relatives, cared less, and scarcely kept up correspondence +with them. + +In what way could this knowledge interest Jacob Jessuron?--for it did. + +Thus, then: it was known to him that Loftus Vaughan had never been +married to the quadroon Quasheba. That circumstance, however, would +have signified little, had Quasheba been a white woman, or even a +"quinteroon"--in Jamaica termed a _mustee_, and by some fanciful +plagiarists, of late, pedantically styled "octoroon"--a title which, it +may here be stated, has no existence except in the romantic brains of +these second-hand _litterateurs_. + +We repeat it--had the slave Quasheba been either a white woman, or even +a _mustee_, the fact of a marriage, or no marriage, would have signified +little--so far as regarded the succession of her offspring to the +estates of the father. It is true that, if not married, the daughter +would, by the laws of Jamaica--as by those of other lands--still have +been _illegitimate_; but for all that, she could have inherited her +father's property, _if left to her by will_: since in Jamaica no +_entail_ existed. + +As things stood, however, the case was widely, and for the Lilly +Quasheba--Kate Vaughan--dangerously different. Her mother was _only a +quadroon_; and, married or unmarried, she, the daughter, could not +inherit--_even by will_--beyond the paltry legacy of 2000 pounds +currency, or 1500 pounds sterling! + +Kate Vaughan was herself only a _mustee_--still wanting one step farther +from slavery to bring her within the protecting pale of freedom and the +enjoyment of its favours. + +No will that Loftus Vaughan could decree, no testamentary disposition he +might make, could render his daughter his devisee--his heiress. + +He might will his property to anybody he pleased: so long as that +anybody was a so-called _white_; but, failing to make such testament, +his estate of Mount Welcome, with all he possessed besides, must fall to +the next of his own kin--in short, to his nephew Herbert. + +Was there no remedy for this unspeakable dilemma? No means by which his +own daughter might be saved from disinheritance? + +There was. A special act might be obtained from the Assembly of the +Island. + +Loftus Vaughan knew the remedy, and fully intended to adopt it. Every +day was he designing to set out for Spanish Town--the capital--to obtain +the _special act_; and every day was the journey put off. + +It was the execution of this design that the Jew Jessuron of all things +dreaded most; and to prevent it was the object of his visit to the +temple of Obi. + +Why he dreaded it scarce needs explanation. + +Should Loftus Vaughan fail in his intent, Herbert Vaughan would be the +heir of Mount Welcome; and Herbert's heart was in the keeping of Judith +Jessuron. + +So fondly believed the Jewess; and, with her assurance of the fact, so +also the Jew. + +The _love-spell_ woven by Judith had been the first step towards +securing the grand inheritance. The second was to be the _death-spell_, +administered by Chakra and his acolyte. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXVI. + +THE DEATH-SPELL. + +On the night after that on which Chakra had given reception to Jessuron, +and about the same hour, the Coromantee was at home in his hut, engaged +in some operation of a nature apparently important: since it engrossed +his whole attention. + +A fire was burning in the middle of the floor, in a rude, extemporised +furnace, constructed with four large stones, so placed as to inclose a +small quadrangle. + +The fuel with which this fire was fed, although giving out a great +quantity of smoke, burnt also with a bright, clear flame. It was not +wood, but consisted of a number of black agglutinated masses, bearing a +resemblance to peat or coal. + +A stranger to Jamaica might have been puzzled to make out what it was; +though a denizen of the Island could have told at a glance, that the +dark-coloured pieces piled upon the fire were fragments detached from +the nests of the Duck-ants; which, often as large as hogsheads, may be +seen adhering to the trees of a tropical forest. + +As the smoke emitted by this fuel is less painful to the eyes than that +of a wood fire, and yet more efficacious in clearing out the +mosquitoes--that plague of a southern clime--it may be supposed that the +Coromantee had chosen it on that account. Whether or not, it served his +purpose well. + +A small iron pot, without crook or crane, rested upon the stones of the +furnace; and the anxious glances with which the negro regarded its +simmering contents--now stirring them a little, now lifting a portion in +his wooden spoon, and carefully scrutinising it under the light of the +lamp--told that the concoction in which he was engaged was of a +_chemical_, rather than _culinary_ nature. As he bent over the fire-- +like a he-Hecate stirring her witches' cauldron--his earnest yet +stealthy manner, combined with his cat-like movements and furtive +glances, betrayed some devilish design. + +This idea was strengthened on looking at the objects that lay near to +his hand--some portions of which had been already consigned to the pot. +A cutacoo rested upon the floor, containing plants of several species; +among which a botanist could have recognised the branched _calalue_, the +dumb-cane, and various other herbs and roots of noxious fame. +Conspicuous was the "Savannah flower," with its tortuous stem and golden +corolla--a true dogbane, and one of the most potent of vegetable +poisons. + +By its side could be seen its antidote--the curious nuts of the +"nhandiroba": for the myal-man could _cure_ as well as _kill_, whenever +it became his interest to do so. + +Drawing from such a larder, it was plain that he was not engaged in the +preparation of his supper. Poisons, not provisions, were the +ingredients of the pot. + +The specific he was now concocting was from various sources, but chiefly +from the sap of the Savannah flower. It was the _spell of Obeah_! + +For whom was the Coromantee preparing this precious hell-broth? + +His mutterings as he stooped over the pot revealed the name of his +intended victim. + +"You may be 'trong, Cussus Vaugh'n--dat I doan deny; but, by de power ob +Obeah, you soon shake in you shoes. Obeah! Ha! ha! ha! Dat do fo' de +know-nuffin' niggas. My Obeah am de Sabbana flower, de branch calalue, +and the allimgator apple--dem's de 'pell mo' powerful dan Obi hisseff-- +dem's de stuff dat gib de shibberin' body and de staggerin' limbs to de +enemies ob Chakra. Whugh!" + +Once more dipping the spoon into the pot, and skimming up a portion of +the boiling liquid, he bent forward to examine it. + +"'T am done!" he exclaimed. "Jess de right colour--jess de right +tickness. Now fo' bottle de licka!" + +Saying this, he lifted the pot from the fire; and after first pouring +the "liquor" into a calabash, and leaving it for some moments to cool, +he transferred it to the rum-bottle--long since emptied of its original +contents. + +Having carefully pressed in the cork, he set the bottle to one side--not +in concealment, but as if intended for use at no very distant time. + +Then, having gathered up his scattered pharmacopoeia, and deposited the +whole collection in the cutacoo, he stepped into the door way of the +hut, and, with a hand on each post, stood in an attitude to listen. + +It was evident he expected some visitor; and who it was to be was +revealed by the muttered soliloquy in which he continued to indulge. +The slave Cynthia was to give him another _seance_. + +"Time dat yella wench wa' come. Muss be nigh twelve ob de night. Maybe +she hab call, an' a no hear her, fo' de noise ob dat catrack? A bess go +down b'low. Like nuf a fine her da!" + +As he was stepping across the threshold to put this design into +execution, a cry, uttered in the shrill treble of a woman's voice--and +just audible through the soughing sound of the cataract--came from the +cliff above. + +"Da's de wench!" muttered the myal-man, as he heard it. "A make sartin +shoo she'd come. Lub lead woman troo fire an' water--lead um to de +Debbil. Seed de time dat ar' yella' gal temp' dis chile. No care now. +But one Chakra ebber care 'brace in dese arms. Her he clasp only once, +he content--he willen' den fo' die. Augh!" + +As the Coromantee uttered the impassioned ejaculation, he strode outward +from the door, and walked with nervous and hurried step--like one urged +on by the prospect of soon achieving some horrible but heartfelt purpose +he had been long contemplating from a distance. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXVII. + +THE INVOCATION OF ACCOMPONG. + +The canoe soon made its trip, and returned with Cynthia seated in the +stern. As upon the occasion of her former visit, she carried a basket +upon her arm filled with comestibles, and not forgetting the precious +bottle of rum. + +As before, she followed the myal-man to his hut--this time entering with +more confidence, and seating herself unbidden upon the side of the +bamboo bedstead. + +Still, she was not without some feeling of fear; as testified by a +slight trembling that might be observed when her eyes rested upon the +freshly-filled bottle, that stood in a conspicuous place. The look +which she turned upon it told that she possessed some previous +information as to the nature of its contents--or perhaps she had only a +suspicion. + +"Da's de bottle fo' you," said the myal-man, noticing her glance, "and +dis hya," continued he, drawing the other out of Cynthia's basket, "dis +hya am de one fo'--" + +He was about to add "me," but before he could pass the word out of his +mouth, he had got the neck of the rum-bottle into it; and the +"gluck-gluck" of the descending fluid was substituted for the personal +pronoun. + +The usual "Whugh!" wound up the operation, clearing the Coromantee's +throat; and then, by a gesture, he gave Cynthia to understand that he +was ready to proceed with the more serious business of the interview. + +"Dat bottle," said he, pointing to the one that contained his decoction, +"am de obeah-'pell. It make Cubina lub you while dar's a tuff ob wool +on de top o' 'im head. Dat long 'nuf, I reck'n; fo' when 'im go bald, +you no care fo' 'im lub." + +"Is that the love-spell you spoke of?" inquired the mulatta, with an +ambiguous expression of countenance, in which hope appeared struggling +with doubt. + +"De lub-spell? No--not 'zackly dat. De lub-spell am different. _It_ +am ob de nature ob an ointment. Hya! I'se got 'im in dis coco-shell." + +As Chakra said this he raised his hand, and drew out from a cranny in +the thatch about three-quarters of the shell of a cocoa-nut; inside +which, instead of its white coagulum, appeared a carrot-coloured paste, +resembling the pulp of the _sapotamammee_--for this, in reality, it was. + +"Da's de lub mixture!" continued the obeah-man, in a triumphant tone; +"da's for Cubina!" + +"Ah! Cubina is to take that?" + +"Shoo he am. He mus' take 'im. A gib it him, and den he go mad fo' +you. You he lub, an' he lub you, like two turtle dove in de 'pring +time. Whugh!" + +"Good Chakra--you are sure it will do Cubina no harm?" + +The query proved that the jealousy of the mulatta had not yet reached +the point of revenge. + +"No," responded the negro; "do 'im good--do 'im good, an' nuffin else. +Now, Cynthy, gal," continued he, turning his eyes upon the bottle; "das +for de ole Cussus ob Moun' Welc'm--take um--put 'im in you basket." + +The woman obeyed, though her fingers trembled as she touched the bottle +that contained the mysterious medicine. + +"And what am I to do with it, Chakra?" she asked, irresolutely. + +"Wha you do? I tole you arready wha you do. You gib to massr--you +enemy and myen." + +"But what is it?" + +"Why you ask daat? I tole you it am de obeah-'pell." + +"Oh, Chakra! is it poison?" + +"No, you fool--ef 'twa pizen, den it kill de buckra right off. It no +kill 'im. It only make um sick, an' den, preehap, it make 'im die long +time atterward. Daz no pizen! You 'fuse gib 'im?" + +The woman appeared to hesitate, as if some sparks of a better nature +were rising within her soul. If there were such sparks, only for a +short while were they allowed to shine. + +"You 'fuse gib 'im?" repeated the tempter, hastening to extinguish them. +"If you 'fuse, I no put de lub-spell on Cubina. Mor'n dat--I set de +obeah fo' you--you youseff!" + +"Oh, no--no, Chakra!" cried she, cowering before the Coromantee; "I not +refuse--I give it--anything you command me." + +"Dere, now--das sensible ob you, Cynthy. Now I gib you de instrukshin +how fo' 'minister de 'pell. Lissen, an' 'member ebbery ting I go 'peak +you." + +As the hideous sorcerer said this, he sat down in front of his +neophyte--fixing his eyes upon hers, as if the better to impress his +words upon her memory. + +"Fuss an' formoss, den, de grand buckra ob Moun' Welcome, ebbery night +'fore he go bed, hab glass ob rum punch. I know he used hab--he so +'till, eh?" + +"Yes--he does," mechanically answered the mulatta. + +"Berry likely--dat ere am one ob de habits neider buckra nor brack man +am like break off. Ebbery night, shoo?" + +"Yes--every night--one glass--sometimes two." + +"Gorry! ef twa me, me hab two--not sometime, but alway--'cept when a +make um tree, ha! ha! Berry well, das all right; and now, gal, who mix +de punch fo' 'im? You use do dat youseff, Cynthy!" + +"It is still my business. I make it for him every night." + +"Good--das jess de ting. Whugh! now we know how set de 'pell ob de +obeah. You see dis hya? It am de claw of de mountain crab. You see de +'cratch--dar--inside ob de machine? Well--up to dat mark it holds jess +de 'zack quantum. Ebbery night you make de punch, you fill up dar out +ob dis bottle. You pour in de glass--fuss de sugar an' lemon--den de +water--den de rum, which am 'tronger dan de water; an' affer dat de +'pell out of dis bottle, which am de 'trongest ob dem all. You 'member +all a hab tell you?" + +"I shall remember it," rejoined the woman, with a firmness of voice, +partly assumed--for she dreaded to show any sign of irresolution. + +"Ef you no do, den de spell turn roun' an' he work 'gin youseff. When +de Obi once 'gins he no 'top till he hab 'im victim. Now a go fo' 'voke +de god Accompong. He come whenebba Chakra call. He make 'im 'pearance +in de foam ob de catrack out yonner. Affer dat no mortal him lay not +till one be promise fo' de sacrafize. You 'tay in hya--De god muss not +see _no woman_--you lissen--you hear um voice." + +Rising with a mysterious air, and taking down from its peg an old +palm-leaf wallet, that appeared to contain some heavy article, the +myal-man stepped out of the hut, closing the door behind him, lest--as +he informed the mulatta, in _sotto voce_--the god might set his eyes on +her, and get into a rage. + +Cynthia seemed to consider the precaution scarce sufficient; for the +moment the door was closed, in order to make herself still more secure +against being seen, she glided up to the light and extinguished it. +Then, groping her way back to the bedstead, she staggered down upon it, +and sate shivering with apprehension. + +As the myal-man had enjoined upon her, she listened; and, as he had +promised her, she heard--if not the voice of Accompong--sounds that were +worthy of having proceed from the throat of that Ethiopian divinity. + +At first a voice reached her which she knew to be human: since it was +the voice of Chakra himself. It was uttered, nevertheless, in strange +and unnatural tones, that at each moment kept changing. Now it came +ringing through the interstices of the bamboos, in a kind of long-drawn +solo, as if the myal-man was initiating his ceremonies with the verse of +a psalm. Then the chaunt became quicker, by a sort of _crescendo_ +movement, and the song appeared transformed to a _recitative_. Next +were heard sounds of a very different intonation, resembling the shrill, +harsh call of a cow-horn or conch-shell, and gradually dying off into a +prolonged bass, like the groaning of a cracked trombone. + +After this had continued for some moments, there ensued a dialogue--in +which the listener could recognise only one of the voices as that of +Chakra. + +Whose could be the other? It could only be that of Accompong. The god +was upon the ground! + +Cynthia trembled as she thought how very near he was. How lucky she had +blown out the light! With the lamp still burning, she must have been +seen: for both Chakra and the deity were just outside the door, and so +near that she could not only hear their voices with distinctness, but +the very words that were spoken. + +Some of these were in an unknown tongue, and she could not understand +them. Others were in English, or rather its synonym in the form of a +negro _patois_. These last she comprehended; and their signification +was not of a character to tranquillise her thoughts, but the contrary. + +_Chakra, chantant_:-- + + "Open de bottle--draw de cork, + De 'pell he work--de 'pell he work; + De buckra man muss die!" + +"_Muss die_!" repeated Accompong, in a voice that sounded as if from the +interior of an empty hogshead. + + "De yella gal she gib 'im drink; + It make 'im sick--it make 'im sr'ink, + It send 'im to 'im grave!" + +"_Him grave_!" came the response of Accompong. + + "An' if de yella gal refuse, + She 'tep into de buckra's shoes, + An' fill de buckra's tomb." + +"_Buckra's tomb_!" echoed the African god, in a sonorous and emphatic +voice, that told there was no alternative to the fate thus +hypothetically proclaimed. + +There was a short interval of silence, and then the shrill, conch-like +sound was again heard--as before, followed by the long-drawn bass. + +This was the exorcism of the god--as the same sounds, previously heard, +had been his invocation. + +It was also the _finale_ of the ceremony: since the moment after Chakra +pushed open the door, and stood in the entrance of the hut. + +"Cynthy, gal," said he, with a look of mysterious gravity, "why you blow +out de light? But no matter for light. It's all oba. Did you hear the +god 'peak?" + +"I did," murmured the mulatta, still trembling at what she had heard. + +"You hear wha him say?" + +"Yes--yes." + +"Den he 'peak de troof. Nuffin mor'n dat. You take heed--I 'vise you, +as you friend. You go troo wif de 'pell now 'im 'gun, else you life not +worth so much trash ob de sugar-cane. A say no more. Ebbery night, in +um fuss glass, de full ob de crab-claw, up to de mark. Now, gal, come +'lon'." + +The last command was the more readily obeyed since Cynthia was but too +glad to get away from a place whose terrors had so severely tested her +courage. + +Taking up the basket--in which the bottle containing the dangerous +decoction had been already placed--she glided out of the hut, and once +more followed the Coromantee to his canoe. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXVIII. + +MIDNIGHT WANDERERS. + +Once more under the _ceiba_, that gigantic trysting tree, stood the +Maroon and his mistress. Not, as before, in the bright noonday sun, but +near the mid-hour of the night. The Foolah had dared the dangers of the +forest to meet her beloved Cubina. + +And there were dangers in that forest, more to be dreaded than fierce +beasts or ravenous reptiles--more to be dreaded than the tusks of the +wild boar, or the teeth of the scaly alligator. There were monsters in +human form far more fearful to be encountered; and at that moment not +very distant from the spot where the lovers had made their rendezvous. + +Love recks little of dangers. Cubina knew of none; and, in Yola's +belief, there was no danger while Cubina was near. + +The moon was in high heaven, full, calm, and clear. Her beams filled +the glade with a silvery effulgence. It was a moonlight that almost +rivalled the brightness of day. The flowers over the earth, and the +blossoms upon the trees, appeared full blown: as if they had opened +their petals to drink in the delightful dew. Borne upon the soft, +silent breeze, the nocturnal sounds of the forest fell with a tremulous +cadence upon the ear; while the nightingale of the West, as if proud of +the superiority of her counterfeit notes, in turns imitated them all. + +The lovers stood in shadow--but it was the shadow of the _ceiba_. There +was none in their hearts; and had the moonlight at that moment fallen +upon their faces, no trace of a cloud could have been detected there. + +It was a happy meeting--one of the happiest they had yet enjoyed. Each +had brought good news to the other. Cubina, that the brother of his +beloved was still safe under his protection--safe and well; Yola, that +her young mistress had promised to bestow upon her her freedom. + +Within the few days since they had last met, many things had transpired +to interest both. Each had a tale to tell. + +Yola related how the story of her brother's misfortunes, though strictly +kept from the servants at Mount Welcome, had been told to her mistress; +how Miss Vaughan, on hearing it, had requested her father to grant her +(Yola's) manumission; and how the Custos had consented to the request. +Conditionally, however. Her "free papers" were to be dated from a +certain day--that on which Kate Vaughan was to become a bride, but that +day was supposed not to be far distant. + +It was joyous news for the Maroon. He might keep his hundred pounds for +the plenishing of his mountain home! + +This piece of intelligence might have taken Cubina more by surprise, but +for the understanding that now existed between him and the Custos--whom +he had of late frequently visited. Certain conditions had become +established between the magistrate and the Maroon, which rendered the +latter less apprehensive about the future. Mr Vaughan had made some +promises to himself in regard to the manumission of Yola. It is true, +these had also been _conditional_; and their performance was to depend, +to a great degree, on the success of the prosecution to be instituted +against the Jew. But, with the Custos himself as a prosecutor, Cubina +felt sanguine that the conditions would be accomplished. + +These were circumstances to be kept secret. Even to his sweetheart the +lover was not permitted to impart the knowledge of this affair. Only +did he make known to her that steps were being taken to cause the +restitution of her brother's property; but how, where, and when, could +not be divulged until that day when war should be openly declared +against the enemy. So had the Custos commanded. + +Cubina, nevertheless, could not help being gratified by the intelligence +which Yola had conveyed to him. The promise of Miss Vaughan had but one +condition--her bridal day; and that was definite and certain. + +"Ah!" said Cubina, turning with a proud look towards his sweetheart, "it +will be a happy day for all. No, not for all," added he, his face +suddenly assuming an expression of sadness; "not for all. There is one, +I fear, to whom that day will not bring happiness!" + +"I know one, too, Cubina," rejoined the girl, her countenance appearing +to reflect the expression that had come over his. + +"Oh, you know it, too? Miss Vaughan has told you then, I suppose? I +hope she does not boast of it?" + +"What she boast of, Cubina?" + +"Why, of breaking his heart, as you would do mine, if you were to marry +somebody else. Poor young fellow! _Crambo_! If I'm not mistaken, it +will be a sad day for him!" + +The girl looked up, in puzzled surprise. "Sad day for him! No, Cubina; +he very happy. For her--poor missa--that day be sad." + +"_Vayate_! What do you mean, Yola?" + +"No more dan I say, Cubina. Missa Kate be very unhappy that day she +marry Mr Mongew--she very so now." + +"What!" exclaimed Cubina, suddenly placing himself in an attitude of +unusual attention; "do I understand you to say that Miss Vaughan don't +wish to marry this Mr Smythje?" + +"She no love him, Cubina. Why she wish marry him, then?" + +"Ha!" significantly ejaculated the Maroon, while an expression of joy +came over his countenance; "what makes you think she don't love him? +Have you a reason, Yola?" + +"Missa me say so. She me tell everything, Cubina." + +"You are sure she has said that she don't love him?" + +"She laugh at him--she no care for him. Girl no love one she laugh at-- +never." + +"_Vaya_! I hope you will never laugh at me, then! But say, dearest; do +you know why she is going to marry Mr Smythje?" + +"Massa her make marry. He Mr Mongew very, very rich--he great planter. +That why she him go to marry." + +"Ho!--ho!" thoughtfully ejaculated the captain of Maroons. "I suspected +there was some compulsion," continued he, not speaking to his companion, +but muttering the words to himself. + +"Can you tell me, Yola," he asked, turning again to his sweetheart; "do +you know _why_ your mistress does not like this grand gentleman? Has +she told you any reason?" + +"Very good reason, Cubina. She another love; that why she Mongew not +like." + +"Ah! she's in love with somebody else! Have you heard who it is, Yola?" + +"Oh, yes; you know him youself. He Missa Kate's cousin; she _him_ +love." + +"Her cousin, Herbert Vaughan?" + +"Yes, he name Herber'; he come once--never more come. No matter, she +love him first time--she him love ever more! Same I you, Cubina; I you +love first time, all the same for ever." + +"You are sure of all this?" inquired Cubina, in his anxiety to know +more, resisting the temptation to reciprocate the endearing speech; "you +are sure Miss Vaughan loves her cousin Herbert?" + +"Sure, Cubina; missa say so many, many time. She have very much grief +for him. She hear he marry one fine, bad lady. You know old Jew +Jess'ron--his daughter he go marry." + +"I have heard so," rejoined Cubina, evidently keeping back from his +sweetheart a more definite knowledge of the subject which he himself +possessed; "I have heard so. After all," he continued, speaking +reflectingly, "it might not happen--neither of these marriages. There's +a proverb, Yola, I've heard among the white folks--`_Many a slip between +the cup and the lip_.' I hope it won't be true of you and me; but it +might come to pass between young Master Vaughan and Miss Jessuron. Who +knows? I know something. _Por Dios_! you've given me good news, I +think, for somebody. But tell me, Yola; have you heard them say _when_ +your mistress and this great gentleman are to be married?" + +"Massa he say soon. He tell Missa Kate he go great journey. When he +come back they get marry; he Missa Kate say so yesterday." + +"The Custos going a journey? Have you heard where?" + +"Spanish Town, missa me tell--a great big city far away." + +"I wonder what that can be for," said Cubina to himself, in a +conjectural way. "Well, Yola," he added, after a pause, and speaking +more earnestly, "listen to me. As soon as Mr Vaughan has set out on +this journey, you come to me. Perhaps I may have a message for your +mistress. Have you heard when he intends to take the road?" + +"He go morrow morning." + +"Ha! so soon! Well, so much the better for us, and maybe for somebody +else. You must meet me here to-morrow night. Tell your mistress it +concerns herself. No, don't tell her," he added, correcting himself, +"she will let you come without that excuse; besides, it might be that-- +never mind! Come, anyhow. I shall be waiting for you at this same +hour." + +Yola gave her willing promise to keep an appointment so accordant to her +inclinations. + +For some time longer the lovers conversed, imparting to each other the +ordinary news of life--the details of common things--to be at length +succeeded by words only of love, of far, far deeper interest. + +Cubina swore eternal truth--by the trees around--by the sky above--by +the bright moon, and the blue heavens. + +He had done the same a score of times; and as often had he been +believed. But lovers never tire of such vows--neither of hearing nor +repeating them. + +The African maiden answered with promises of faithfulness, alike free, +alike fervent. She no longer sighed for her far Gambian home--no more +mourned the fate that had torn her from a court to consign her to +slavery. The dark hours of her life seemed to have ended; and her +future, as her present, was full of hope and bliss! + +For more than an hour did the enamoured pair indulge in this sweet +converse. They were about to close it with a parting kiss. + +The Maroon stood with his strong arms tenderly entwined around the waist +of his mistress, who willingly yielded to the embrace. Her slender +form, under the shadow of the _ceiba_, looked like the statue of some +Egyptian maiden in bronze antique. + +The adieu had been spoken more than once; but still the lovers lingered, +as if loth to give the parting kiss. There had been more than one, but +not that which was to end the interview. + +Ere their lips had met to achieve it, the design was interrupted. +Voices fell upon their ears, and two forms emerging into the moonlight +at the lower end of the glade, rapidly advanced in the direction of the +_ceiba_. + +As if by a common instinct, Cubina and his mistress stepped silently and +simultaneously back, retiring together between the buttresses of the +tree. There it was dark enough for concealment. Only an eye bent on +purposed scrutiny could have detected their presence. + +The forms drew near. They were those of a man and a woman. The +moonlight shining full upon them, rendered them easy of recognition; but +their voices had already declared their identity. Both the intruders +were known to both the lovers. They were the Jew Jessuron and the slave +Cynthia. + +"_Crambo_!" muttered the Maroon, as he saw who they were. "What on +earth can _they_ be doing together, at this time of the night, and +here--so far away from any house? _Maldito_! some wicked business, I +warrant." + +By this time the brace of midnight strollers had got opposite to the +tree, and the Jew was delivering himself of a speech, which was plainly +heard by those who stood concealed in its shadow. + +"Now, Cynthy--goot wench!--you hashn't said yet why he hash sent for me! +Do you know what it ish for?" + +"I don't, Mass Jess'ron, unless it be--" + +"Unlesh what, wench?" + +"Somethin' 'bout the news I took him afore I come to you, when I went +with his basket of provisions--" + +"Ah-ha! you took him some newsh--what newsh, girl?" + +"Only that Massr Vagh'n am a-goin' away in the mornin'." + +"Blesh my soul!" exclaimed the Jew, suddenly stopping in his tracks, and +turning towards the mulatta with a look of troubled surprise. "Blesh my +soul! You don't shay that, dosh you?" + +"Dey say so at the Buff, Massr Jess'ron. Besides, I know m'self he's +a-goin'. I help pack up him shirts in de trabbelin' valise. He's +a-goin' a hossaback." + +"But where, wench? where?" gasped the Jew, in hurried and anxious +speech. + +"Dey say to 'Panish Town--odder side ob de Island." + +"Spanish Town! ach!" cried the penn-keeper, in a tone betokening that +the words had conveyed some very unwelcome intelligence. "Spanish Town! +S'help me, it ish! I knew it! I knew it! ach!" + +And, as he repeated the aspirated ejaculation, he struck his umbrella +fiercely into the ground--as if to render more emphatic the chagrin that +had been communicated by the answer. + +Only for a few seconds did he make pause upon the spot. + +"Come on!" cried he to his companion, hurriedly moving off from the +tree; "come on, wench! If that'sh the case, ash you shay, there'sh no +time to be losht--not a minute, s'help me!" + +And with this elegant reflection, he ended the brief dialogue, and +strode swiftly and silently onward across the glade--the woman following +close upon his heels. + +"_Demonios_!" muttered the Maroon, as they went off. "That John Crow +and his pretty partner are on some ugly errand, I fear! It appears to +be the Custos they're conspiring against. _Crambo_! I wonder what they +are after with him! What can the old Jew have to do with his going to +Spanish Town? I must follow them, and see if I can discover. There +appears to be some scheme brewing, that bodes no good to Mr Vaughan. +Where can they be gadding to at this time of night? _From_ the Jew's +penn, instead of _towards_ it!" + +These interrogative reflections the Maroon made to himself. Then, +turning once more to his sweetheart, with a gesture that declared his +intention to be gone, he said:-- + +"We must part, Yola, and this instant, love: else I may lose their +trail. Adieu! adieu!" + +And, with a quick kiss and equally hurried embrace, the lovers +separated--Yola returning to Mount Welcome, by a path well-known to her; +while the Maroon glided off on the track taken by the penn-keeper and +his female companion. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXIX. + +TRACKING THE STROLLERS. + +The Maroon was but a few moments in recovering the "spoor" of the two +nocturnal strollers. + +At the point where they had gone out of the glade, there was a path that +led up the hills in the direction of the Jumbe Rock. It was a mere +cattle track--used only very occasionally by bipeds. Being the only +path that went that way, and judging, moreover, that neither the Jew nor +his follower would be likely to traverse the thicket at random, Cubina +concluded that they had gone by this path. + +Throwing himself upon it, and advancing with a quick but silent step, he +soon recovered sight of them. + +The shade of the gigantic trees--it was a primeval forest through which +they were passing--was favourable to his design; and without much risk +of being seen, he was able to keep them in view, and almost within +earshot. + +At that moment, the mind of the Jew was too pre-occupied to be +suspicious; and the mulatta was not likely to trouble her thoughts about +whether they were followed or not. Had she known, however--had she even +suspected--that her steps were dogged, and by Cubina, the Maroon, it +would, no doubt, have sharpened her senses. + +"They appear to be making for the Jumbe Rock?" mentally soliloquised +Cubina, as they commenced ascending the slope of the mountain. +"_Crambo_! That is odd enough! What do they intend to do there at this +hour of the night--or at any hour, I might say? And who's the _he_ +that's been sending for Jessuron? She took _him_ a provision basket! +By that, it ought to be some runaway. But what has the old Jew to do +with a runaway? To get out of his bed at this time of the night, and +tramp it three miles through the woods! For that matter, they say he +don't sleep much anyhow; and, like the owl, night's his favourite time, +I suppose. Something's being cooked for the Custos: for that girl's a +very devil! Not that I should care about _him_, or what happened to +him, at any other time. He's not much; and is only helping me in that +matter because he hates the other. No matter for him; but from what +Yola's told me, I'd go to the world's end for his daughter. Ha! I may +do her a service yet. _Valga me Dios_! what's up now? They've +stopped!" + +The Jew and his companion, about a hundred yards ahead, had suddenly +come to a stand. They appeared to be scrutinising the path. + +Cubina, crouching in the shadow of the bushes, stopped likewise; and +waited for the others to advance. + +They did so after a short interval--hastening on as before; but in a +slightly divergent direction. + +"Ho, ho!" muttered the Maroon; "not for the Jumbe Rock, but the Duppy's +Hole! I remember now. The path forks up yonder. They've taken that +which goes to the Hole. Well! it don't help me to comprehend their +purpose a bit clearer. _Carrai_! that Duppy's Hole! Didn't some of my +fellows tell me they've heard strange noises there lately? Quaco is +ready to swear he saw the ghost of the old myal-man, Chakra, standing +upon the edge of the cliff! They're going there, as sure as my name's +Cubina!" + +And with this conjectural reflection the Maroon forsook the shadow under +which he had been sheltering, and flitted forward along the path. + +Another five hundred yards further on, his conjecture was confirmed. +The parties dogged by him had reached the edge of the precipice that +frowned down upon the Duppy's Hole, and there halted. + +Cubina also made stop--as before concealing himself within the black +shadow of the bushes. + +He had scarcely crouched down, when his ears were saluted by a shrill +whistle--not made by the lips, but proceeding from some instrument, as a +reed or a common dog-call. It was plainly a signal, sounded either by +Cynthia or the Jew, Cubina could not tell which. + +Only once was it given. And there was no answer--for that similar +sound, that came like an echo from the far forest, was a counterfeit. +It was the mimic-note of the mock-bird. + +Cubina, skilled in these voices of the night, knew this, and paid no +heed to the distant sound. His whole attention was absorbed in watching +the movements of the two individuals still standing upon the edge of the +cliff. The white sky was beyond them, against which he could see their +dark _silhouettes_ outlined with perfect distinctness. + +After about a minute's time, he saw them once more in motion; and then +both appeared to vanish from his view--not wasting into the air, but +sinking into the ground, as if a trap-door had admitted them to the +interior of the earth. + +He saw this without much surprise. He knew they must have gone down the +precipice, but how they had performed this feat was something that did +surprise him a little. + +It was but a short spell of astonishment. In a score of seconds he +stood upon the edge of the precipice, at the spot where they had +disappeared. + +He looked down. He could trace, though dimly, a means of descent among +the wattle of boughs and corrugated creepers that clasped the _facade_ +of the cliff. Even under the fantastic gleam of the moon, he could see +that human hands had helped the construction of this natural ladder. + +He stayed not to scrutinise it. An object of greater interest +challenged his glance. On the disc of the lagoon--in the moonlight, a +sheet of silver, like a mirror in its frame of dark mahogany--moved a +thing of sharp, elliptical shape--a canoe. + +Midships of the craft, a form was crouching. Was it human or demon? + +The aspect was demon--the shape scarce human. Long, ape-like arms; a +hunched back; teeth gleaming in the moonlight like the incisors of a +shark; features everything but human to one who had not seen them +before! + +Cubina had seen them before. To him, though not familiar, they were +known. If not the ghost of Chakra, he saw Chakra himself! + +Volume Two, Chapter XXX. + +CYNTHIA IN THE WAY. + +The heart of the young Maroon, though by nature bold and brave, was for +a moment impressed with fear. He had known the myal-man of Mount +Welcome--never very intimately--but enough to identify his person. +Indeed, once seen, Chakra was a man to be remembered. + +Cubina had, like every one else for miles around, heard of the trial of +the Coromantee conjuror, and his condemnation to exposure on the Jumbe +Rock. The peculiar mode of his execution--the cruel sentence--the +celebrity of the scene where the criminal had been compelled to pass the +last miserable hours of his existence--all combined to render his death +even more notorious than his life; and few there were in the western end +of the Island who had not heard of the myal-man of Mount Welcome, and +the singular mode of atonement that justice had demanded him to make for +his crimes. + +In common with others, Cubina believed him dead. No wonder, then, that +the heart of the Maroon should for a moment misgive him on seeing Chakra +seated in a canoe, and paddling himself across the calm surface of the +lagoon! + +Under any circumstances, the sight of the Coromantee was not calculated +to beget confidence in the beholder; but his unexpected appearance just +then produced within the mind of the Maroon a feeling somewhat stronger +than astonishment, and for some seconds he stood upon the cliff overcome +by a feeling of awe. + +Very soon, however, he remembered the statement which his lieutenant had +made, and which Quaco had put in the form of an asseveration. + +Quaco, like most of his colour, a firm believer in "Duppy" and "Jumbe," +had believed it to be Chakra's ghost he had seen; and under the terror +with which the sight had inspired him, instead of making an attempt to +pursue the apparition, and prove whether it was flesh and blood, or only +"empty air," he had used his utmost speed to get away from the spot, +leaving the myal-man's ghost full master of the ground. + +Cubina, less given to superstitious inclinings, only for a moment +permitted himself to be mystified with the idea of a "Duppy." Quaco's +experience, along with the presence of the penn-keeper and his +companion--there evidently for a purpose--guided him to the conclusion +that what he saw in the canoe was no spiritual Chakra, but Chakra in the +flesh. + +How the Coromantee came to be still living and moving, the Maroon could +not so easily comprehend; but Cubina possessed acute reasoning powers, +and the presence of the Jew, evidently _en rapport_ with the restored +conjuror, went far towards explaining the mystery of the latter's +resurrection. + +Satisfied that he saw Chakra himself, the Maroon placed himself in a +position to watch the movements both of the men in the canoe, and those +who had summoned him across the lagoon. + +In another moment the canoe was lost sight of. It had passed under the +bushes at the bottom of the cliff, where it was not visible from above. + +Voices now ascended, which could be heard, but not distinctly. + +Cubina could distinguish three voices taking part in the conversation-- +Chakra's, the Jew's, and, at longer intervals, the shrill treble of the +slave Cynthia. + +He bent his ear, and listened with keen attention--in hopes of hearing +what they said. He could only catch an occasional word. The roar of +the cascade rising along with the voices hindered him from hearing them +distinctly; and, notwithstanding his earnest desire to do so, he was +unable to make out the matter of the conversation. + +Only for a short while was he kept waiting. The _trialogue_ came to a +close, followed by a brief interval of silence--at the end of which the +canoe once more made its appearance upon the open water of the lagoon. + +Two persons only were in it, Chakra and the Jew. Cynthia had stayed by +the bottom of the cliff. + +Cubina made this observation with some chagrin. It was a circumstance +that promised to frustrate the design he had suddenly conceived: of +following the myal-man to his lair. This he desired to do, in order to +make himself acquainted with the hiding-place of the remarkable runaway. + +That it was down in the Duppy's Hole there could be no doubt; and +therefore the Maroon might at any time find him there. + +This reflection would have contented him; but, on seeing the Jew ferried +across the lagoon, he conjectured that he and Chakra were bent upon the +completion of some horrid plot, which, by following, he, Cubina, might +overhear, and, perhaps, be enabled to counteract. + +The Maroon was aware of the difficulty of descending into the Duppy's +Hole. He knew there was but one way--by the bushes that clustered along +the face of the cliff at his feet. Once, while on the chase, he and his +followers, aided by a rope-ladder, had gone down; and, in search of +game, had explored the wooded covert beyond. At that time, however, +Chakra had not been _executed_; and the hunter had found no trace of +human presence in the solitary place. + +He knew that he could follow the canoe by swimming; as in this way he +had crossed before, but now that Cynthia barred the way, it would be +impossible for him to reach the water unobserved. + +To follow the conspirators further was out of the question. His chance +was cut off by the interposition of the mulatta. He could only remain +on the cliff and await their return. + +He was reflecting upon what course to pursue, when a rustling sound +reached him from below. It was made by some one moving among the bushes +that grew against the face of the precipice. + +He caught one of the branches; and, supporting himself by it, craned his +neck over the cliff. His eye fell upon the brilliant chequer of a +_bandanna_, visible among the leaves. It was the toque upon the head of +Cynthia. It was in motion; and he could see that she was ascending by +the tree stairway he had already observed. + +Without staying to witness the ascent, he turned back into the underwood +by the side of the path; and, crouching down, he waited to see what the +woman intended doing. Perhaps her part in the performance had been +played out--at least, for that night--and she was on her way homeward? + +That was what Cubina conjectured, as well as just what he would have +wished. + +His conjecture proved correct. The mulatta, on mounting to the crest of +the cliff, stopped only for a moment, to adjust upon her arm a basket +she had brought up--from the half-open lid of which protruded the neck +of a bottle. Then, casting her eyes forward, she struck off into the +shadowy forest path, and was soon out of sight. + +The moment after she had passed him, the Maroon glided silently forward +to the edge of the cliff, and commenced descending the stair. Such feat +was nothing to him; and in a few seconds he had reached the edge of the +lagoon. + +Here he paused--to make sure that the canoe had arrived at its +destination, and that its late occupants had disembarked from it. + +After a moment spent in this _reconnoissance_--looking sharply, and +listening with all his ears--he became satisfied that the coast was +clear; and, letting himself stealthily into the water, he swam for the +opposite shore of the lagoon. + +Upon only about two-thirds of the surface of the lagoon did the +moonlight fall--the cliff casting its shadow upon the other third. +Keeping within the boundaries of this shadow, and swimming as silently +as a fish, Cubina succeeded in reaching the opposite shore, without +perceiving any sign that he had been observed. + +Under the heavy timber, with which the upper half of the ravine was +covered, the darkness was as deep as if not a ray of moonlight came down +from the sky. Only on the stream itself, and here and there through a +break in the umbrageous forest, could the moonbeams reach the surface of +the earth. Elsewhere, from cliff to cliff, the obscurity was complete. + +Cubina conjectured, and correctly, that there was a path leading from +the anchorage of the canoe; and to find this was his first purpose. + +Keeping around the edge of the lagoon, he soon came upon the craft-- +empty, and anchored under a tree. + +The moonlight, entering here from the open water, showed him the +_embouchure_ of the path, where it entered the underwood; and, without +losing a moment's time, he commenced moving along it. + +Silently as a cat he stole onward, at intervals pausing to listen; but +he could only bear the hissing sound of the upper cascade--to which he +was now making approach. + +There was a space in front of the waterfall, where the trees stood +thinly, and this opening was soon reached. + +On arriving at its edge the Maroon again stopped to reconnoitre. + +Scarcely a second of time did he need to pause. Light flashed in his +eyes through the interstices of what appeared to be a sort of grating. +It was the bamboo door of the obeah hut. Voices, too, reverberated +through the bars. + +Within were the men upon whom it was his purpose to play eavesdropper. + +In another instant Cubina was cowering under the cotton-tree, close up +to the doorpost. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXXI. + +STRANGE DISCLOSURES. + +The two plotters were palavering loud enough. In that place there was +no need--at least, so thought they--for restrained speech; and the +listener could have heard every word, but for the hoarse hissing of the +cataract. This, at times, hindered him from distinguishing what was +said; and only in detached portions could he pick up the thread of the +discourse. Enough, however, heard he to cause him astonishment--the +greatest of all, that in the Island of Jamaica, or upon the earth, +existed two such villains as Chakra, the Coromantee, and Jessuron, the +Jew! + +He could see the conspirators as well as hear them. The chinks between +the bamboos enabled him to obtain a view of both. + +The Jew, slightly blown with his long walk against the hill, had dropped +into a sitting attitude upon the truck-like bedstead; while the +Coromantee stood before him, leaning against the buttress of the tree +which formed one side of his dwelling. + +The conversation had commenced before Cubina came up. It could not have +proceeded far. The lard lamp seemed recently lit. Besides, the Maroon +knew that he had been only a few minutes behind them. The plot, +therefore, whatever it was, had not yet made much progress. + +So reasoned the listener; but it soon appeared that it was the +continuation of a plot, and not its first conception, to which he was to +become privy--a plot so demoniac as to include _murder_ in its design! + +The Jew, when Cubina first got eyes on him, appeared as if he had just +given utterance to some angry speech. His dark, weasel-like orbs were +sparkling in their sunken sockets, with a fiendish light. The goggles +were off, and the eyes could be seen. In his right hand the eternal +umbrella was grasped, with a firm clutch, as if held in menace! + +Chakra, on the other hand, appeared cowed and pleading. Though almost +twice the size, and apparently twice the strength of the old Israelite, +he looked at that moment as if in fear of him! + +"Gorry, Massr Jake!" said he, in an appealing tone; "how ebber wa' _I_ +to know de Cussus warn a gwine so soon? A nebber speered ob dat; an' +you nebber tole me you wanted de obeah-spell to work fasser dan war +safe. Ef a'd a know'd dat, a kud a fotch de dam Cussus out o' him boots +in de shake ob a cat's tail--dat cud a a' did!" + +"Ach!" exclaimed the Jew, with an air of unmistakable chagrin; "he's +going to shlip us. S'help me, he will! And now, when I wants more ash +ever the shpell upon him. I'sh heard something from thish girl Cynthy +of a conshpiracy against myshelf. Sheesh heard them plotting in the +summer-house in the Cushtos's garden." + +"Wha' dey plot 'gain you, Massr Jake? Who am dey dat go plottin'?" + +"The Cushtos is one, the other ish that scamp son of Cubina, the +Maroon--the young Cubina. You knowsh him?" + +"Dat same a know well 'nuf." + +"Ah! the proud Cushtos don't know--though he hash his sushpicions--that +hish wife Quasheba wash the mishtress of a Maroon. Ha! ha! ha! And she +luffed the mulatto better as ever she luffed Vanities Vochan! Ha! ha! +ha!" + +"Dat am berry near de troof," observed the negro, with a thoughtful air. + +"Little dosh the Cushtos think," continued Jessuron, without heeding the +interpolation, "that thish young fellow, whosh a-helpin' him to +conshpire againsht me, is a sort of a son to hish consheited worship. +Ha! ha! ha!" + +It was startling intelligence for the listener outside the door. It was +the first intimation the young Maroon ever had as to who was his mother. + +Some vague hints had been conveyed to him in early childhood; but his +memory recalled them only as dreams; and he himself had never allowed +them expression. His father he had known well--called, as himself, +Cubina, the Maroon. But his mother, who or what she had been, he had +never known. + +Was it possible, then, that the quadroon, Quasheba--of whose fame he, +too, had heard--was it true she was his own mother? That "Lilly +Quasheba," the beautiful, the accomplished daughter of the Custos +Vaughan, was his half-sister? + +He could not doubt it. The conversation that followed put him in +possession of further details, and more ample proofs. Besides, such +relationships were too common in the Island of Jamaica, to make them +matter either of singularity or surprise. + +Notwithstanding, the listener was filled with astonishment--far more +than that--for the revelation was one to stir his soul to emotions of +the strangest and strongest kind. New thoughts sprang up at the +announcement; new vistas opened before the horoscope of his future; new +ties were established within his heart, hitherto unfelt and unknown. + +Stifling his new-sprung emotions as well as he was able--promising them +indulgence at some other time--he re-bent his ear to listen. + +He heard enough to satisfy him that he had a sister--a half-sister, it +is true--but still a sister. + +The next point determined on between the conspirators was equally +calculated to startle and astonish him. It was no less than a design to +render that sister _brotherless_! + +"You musht put the shpell on _him_, too," said the Jew; "for heesh the +principal in thish plot againsht me. Even if the Cushtos wash out of +the way, thish Captain Cubina will go to some other magistrate to carry +out hish design. There will be plenty to help him. You musht shpell +_him_, and soon ash you can, Shakra. There'sh no time to lose--not a +minnit, s'help me!" + +"A do wha a can, Massr Jake; but a mout's well tell ye, that it a'nt so +easy to put de spell on a Maroon. It coss me more'n twenty year to put +de obeah on him ole fadder, and I'se a been tryin' um on dis young +Cubina fo' some time--ebber since him fadder die. A hate de young un, +same a hated de ole un. You knows why a hate boaf." + +"I knowsh all that--I knowsh all that." + +"Wa, den! a do ma bess. Dat ar m'latta gib me no hope. She soon +'dminster de spell ef she hab chance--kase she think um de lub drink. +She no hab chance, fo' Cubina he no let her come nigh o' him. Nebba +mind: Chakra he find oppotunity some day; 'fore long he put de +death-spell on de son ob dat quaderoom." + +"Perhaps not so soon!" was the mental rejoinder of him who listened to +this confident declaration. + +"It'sh less matter about him than the other!" cried the Jew, giving way +to a fresh burst of rage. "S'help me! the Cushtos is going to shlip out +of my fingers--the eshtate--all! Ach!" he ejaculated, as his +disappointment came more palpably before him, "you hash played me false, +Shakra! I b'lief you've been playin' me false!" + +As the Jew gave utterance to this conjectural speech, he started to his +feet--taking a tighter hold upon his umbrella, and standing before his +_vis-a-vis_ in a threatening attitude. + +"No, Massr Jake," replied the myal-man, without altering the air of +obeisance he had hitherto assumed,--"no--nuffin ob dat--anyhow, I'se can +say dar's nuffin ob dat. You yaseff sabbey well 'nuff a hab as good +reezun as you to make de spell work, an' I tell you _it shall work_!" + +"Yesh! when too late--too late! I don't care then. If the Cushtos get +to Spanish Town--if he procuresh the shpecial act, I'm a ruined Shew! I +don't care a shtraw if the death-shpell wash put on myshelf! I don't!" + +This speech was rather a soliloquy than addressed to Chakra, who +listened to it without clearly comprehending its import: for the chief +motive which was stimulating the Jew was still unknown to his +fellow-conspirator. + +"I tell you," resumed Jessuron, still in threatening speech, "I believe +you hash been fooling me, Shakra! You hash some interest of your own-- +perhaps, with thish Lilly Quasheba. Ha! never mind! I tell you thish +time--I tell you, Shakra, if the shpell dosh fail--yesh, if it fail, and +the Cushtos reach the capital--where he ish going--I tell you, Shakra, +you may look out for shqualls! You loosh your monish I promised you. +Ay, you may loosh your life ash well. I hash only to shay a word, and +the Duppy's Hole will be searched by the houndsh of the law. Now will +you do your besht to keep the Cushtos from reaching the capital of the +Island?" + +As Jessuron finished the speech containing this conditional threat, he +moved in the direction of the door, apparently with the intention of +taking his departure. + +The Maroon, perceiving the movement, stepped further back into the +shadow of the cotton-tree--taking care to conceal himself effectually. + +This change of position prevented him from hearing what subsequently +passed between the two conspirators. Some more conversation there was +on both sides--an interchange of it--which lasted for several minutes; +but although the listener could hear the sound of their voices, he was +unable to make out the words spoken by either. + +What was said by the Jew was principally a repetition of his menace--in +terms the most emphatic he could employ; while Chakra, with equal +emphasis, repeated his promises to accomplish the nefarious purpose +already agreed upon between them. + +"A promise, Massr Jake," said the myal-man, in conclusion, "by de great +Accompong, a do ma bess. Ef de Cussus 'trive 'scape, den you do wid ole +Chakra whasomediver you hab mind to. 'Liver him up, ef you like! Ha! +de Cussus no 'scape. Dis night Cynthy hab take bottle in her basket of +de 'trongest kind. It do de bizness in 'bout twenty-fo' hour. _Daat am +de true death-spell_. Whugh!" + +"In twenty-four hours? You ish shure, Shakra? you ish shure?" + +"Shoo' as a 'm now in de Duppy Hole, Massr Jake. Doan' you hab no mo' +doubt ob ole Chakra. He hab no lub fo' Cussus Va'ghan mo' dan youseff. +P'raps he lub de Cussus' dau'ter, but dat am berry diffrent sort ob +'fecshun. Whugh!" + +With this speech of fiendish signification the dialogue ended; and the +Jew was seen stepping outside, followed by his confederate. + +Both walked away from the spot, Chakra taking the lead, the Maroon +closely watching their movements. + +On reaching the canoe the conspirators stepped aboard, and the craft was +paddled over the lagoon. + +Cubina waited for its return; and then, seeing Chakra safe within his +hut, he hastened back to the water; and, as before, swimming under the +shadow of the rock, he re-ascended the tree stairway, and stood once +more on the summit of the cliff. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXXII. + +A STORMY SCENE. + +On emerging from the Duppy's Hole, the penn-keeper tracked it, as +straight as the path would permit him, towards his own home. He walked +with hurried steps, as if he had some purpose before him beyond that of +going to bed. Late as was the hour--or early, it should rather be said, +since it was getting on for daybreak--in the eye of the old Israelite +there was no sign of sleepiness; but, on the contrary, a wide-awake +expression that betokened his intention to accomplish some desired +object before retiring to rest. + +The mutterings which fell from his lips, as he moved onward among the +trees, told that his discontent still continued. Chakra's assurances, +that had, for the moment, partially removed his ill-humour, on +reflection failed to satisfy him. More than once before, the myal-man +had given him promises which he had failed in keeping; and so might it +be with the promise of the death-spell. With this thought was revived +in full vigour the apprehension that his enemy might escape; and, +consequently, his deep-conceived scheme would result in ignominious +failure. + +The measures which the myal-man had taken for administering the +_spell-medicine_--that bottle of strong waters which Cynthia carried +home in her basket--had been revealed to the Jew. The revelation had +been made--as suited the subject--in a low tone of voice; and it was +this part of the dialogue between the two conspirators which Cubina had +not heard. + +But the Coromantee might be mistaken in his skill? The prescription +might fail in producing the desired effect? The slave might not find +the opportunity to administer it? + +Considering the early hour at which the traveller was to start--Jessuron +knew the hour--Cynthia might not have a chance to give the _medicine_? +Or, frayed by contemplation of the fearful consequence, which she now +knew would follow almost instantaneously upon the act, she might in the +end shy from the dangerous duty? The intended victim might, in the +meantime, have become suspicious of the mixtures prepared by the +mulatta, and decline to drink the deadly draught? + +There were many chances that the Custos might escape. + +"`There ish many a shlip between the cup and the lipsh'!" muttered the +wicked old man, quoting one of his favourite proverbs. "Ach! that ish +true," he added, with bitter emphasis, as the probabilities of failure +passed more palpably before his mind. + +"S'help me!" continued he, with an attempt at self-consolation; "I shall +not be deprived of my refenge--that ish certain--whether he goesh to +Spanish Town, or shtays at home. Ach!" he exclaimed, again changing his +tone to one of chagrin, "what dosh that signify, beshide the other? If +he could be shtopped, it wash a grand destiny for mine Shoodith, for +myshelf--me, old Shacob Shessuron! Mount Welcome wash mine! It musht +belong to this young fellow--he belongs to Shoodith--Shoodith belongsh +to me! Ach! what a pity if my shkeme ish to fail--after all I hash done +to make it succeed! + +"If it fail," he continued, the probabilities of failure presenting a +new phase to him, "if it fail, I'm a ruined man!--I am! Shoodith may +want to marry this young fellow. I believe she luffs him--I'm afeerd +she doesh--and he hasn't the worth of the shoosh he shstands in. Blesh +my shoul! I musht try to prevent it. It musht go no further till I'm +sure of the Cushtos. Not a shtep--not a shtep. She musht be seen, and +thish very night. Yesh; I musht see Shoodith before I shleep." + +Urged on by the desire of the interview thus announced, the Jew hastened +his steps; and soon arrived under the shadow of the dark pile that +constituted his dwelling. + +Admitted by the black porter at the gate--for that of the courtyard, or +slave inclosure, was always kept locked--he mounted the wooden steps, +and stole as silently along the verandah, as if he had been a stranger +in the house instead of its owner. His object, in this stealthy +movement, appeared to be to avoid disturbing some one who slept in a +hammock near one end of the long gallery. + +It was towards the other end, however, that he went--in the direction of +a chamber through the lattice-window of which a light was streaming. It +was the sleeping apartment of the Jewess. + +On arriving opposite the door, he knocked, not loudly--at the same time +pronouncing, in a half-whisper, the name "Shoodith!" + +"That you, rabbi?" inquired a voice from within; while a footstep +passing across the floor told either that the Jewess had not yet sought +her couch, or had sought, and again forsaken it. + +The door was opened; and the worthy father of this wakeful daughter +passed inside. + +"Well," said she, as he entered, "I won't inquire what errand you've +been on, my good papa Jessuron: some slave speculation, I suppose? But +what have I to do with it, that you should compel me to sit up for you +till this time of the night? It's now near morning; and I am precious +sleepy, I can tell you!" + +"Ach! Shoodith, dear," replied the father, "everything ish goin' wrong! +s'help me, everything!" + +"Well, one might think so, from that doleful phiz of yours. What's +troubling you now, my worthy parent?" + +"Ach! Shoodith! Don't dishtress me by your speeches. I hash something +of importance to shay to you, before I go to shleep." + +"Say it quick, then: for I want to go to sleep myself. What is it, +pray?" + +"Well, Shoodith, dear, it ish this: you mushn't trifle any more with +thish young fellow." + +"What young fellow do you mean, my good man?" + +"Vochan, of coursh--Mashter Vochan." + +"Ho! ho! you've changed your tune. What's this about?" + +"I hash reason, Shoodith; I hash reason." + +"Who said I was trifling with him? Not I, father! Anything but that, I +can assure you." + +"That ish not what I mean, Shoodith." + +"Well, then, what do you mean, old gentleman? Come now! make yourself +intelligible!" + +"I mean thish, Shoodith: you mushn't let things go any further with the +young fellow--that ish, shoost now--till I knowsh something more about +him. I thought he wash going to be lich--you know I thought that, mine +daughter--but I hash found out, thish very night, that--perhaps--he may +never be worth a shingle shilling; and therefore, Shoodith, you couldn't +think of marrying him--and mushn't think of it till we knowsh more about +him!" + +"Father!" replied the Jewess, at once throwing aside her habitual +badinage, and assuming a serious tone, "it is too late! Did I not tell +you that the tarantula might get caught in its own trap? The proverb +has proved true; _I_ am that unhappy spider!" + +"You don't say so, Shoodith?" inquired the father, with a look of alarm. + +"O do! Yonder sleeps the fly,"--and the speaker pointed along the +gallery in the direction of the hammock--"secure from any harm I can +ever do him. And were he as poor as he appears to be--as humble as the +lowest slave on your estate--he is rich enough for me. Ah! it will be +_his_ fault, not _mine_, if he do not become my husband!" + +The proud, determined tone in which the Jewess spoke, was only modified +as she uttered the last words. The conjunctive form of the closing +speech, with a certain duplexity of expression upon her countenance +showed that she was not yet sure of the heart of Herbert Vaughan. +Notwithstanding his attentions at the ball--notwithstanding much that +had since occurred, there appeared to be a doubt--a trace of distrust +that still lingered. + +"Never, Shoodith!" cried the father, in a tone of determined authority. +"You mushn't think of it! You shall never marry a pauper--never!" + +"Pauper him as much as you like, father; he won't care for that, any +more than I do." + +"I shall disinherit you, Shoodith!" said the Jew, giving way to a +feeling of spiteful resentment. + +"As you like about that, too. Disinherit me at your pleasure. But +remember, old man, it was you who began this game--you who set me to +playing it; and if you are in danger of losing your stake--whatever it +may be--I tell you you're in danger of losing _me_--that is, if he--" + +The hypothetic thought--whatever it was--that at this crisis crossed the +mind of the Jewess, was evidently one that caused her pain: as could be +seen by the dark shadow that came mantling over her beautiful brow. + +Whether or not she would have finished the speech is uncertain. She was +not permitted to proceed. The angry father interrupted her:-- + +"I won't argue with you now, Shoodith. Go to your bed, girl! go to +shleep! Thish I promish you--and, s'help me, I keepsh my promish!--if +thish pauper ish to be a pauper, he never marries you with my conshent; +and without my conshent he never touches a shilling of my monish. You +understand that, Shoodith?" + +And without waiting to hear the reply--which was quite as defiant as his +own declaration--the Jew hurried out of his daughter's chamber, and +shuffled off along the verandah. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXXIII. + +WHERE NEXT? + +The Maroon, after mounting to the summit of the cliff, paused for some +moments to reflect upon a course of action. + +In his bosom were many new emotions, springing from the strange +revelations to which he had just listened. His mind was in such a state +of chaotic confusion, that it required some time to determine what he +ought to do next, or whither he should go. + +The thought that thrilled him most, was that which related to the +discovery of his maternal relationship to Miss Vaughan. But this +matter, however strange it was, required no immediate action to be taken +on his part; and though the semi-fraternal affection, now felt for the +first time, strengthened the romantic friendship which he had conceived +for the young lady--whom he had now seen several times--still, from what +he had overheard of the scheme of the conspirators, his new-discovered +sister did not appear to be in any danger. At least, not just then: +though some horrid hints darkly thrown out by Chakra pointed to a +probable peril at some future time. + +That her father was in danger, Cubina could not doubt. Some demoniac +plot had been prepared for the Custos, which was to deprive him even of +life; and from what the Maroon could make out of the half-heard +conversation of the conspirators, action was to be taken upon it, so +early as the following morning. + +Mr Vaughan intended a journey. Yola had herself told him so; and the +confabulation between Jessuron and Chakra confirmed it. Cynthia had +been their informant; and it was evident that upon that very night she +had brought the news from Mount Welcome. Evident, also, that the piece +of intelligence thus conveyed had taken both the conspirators by +surprise--causing them to hasten the _denouement_ of some devilish plan +that before that night had not been quite ripe for execution. + +All this was clear enough to the mind of the Maroon. + +Equally clear was it, that the plan was no other than an atrocious plot +to murder the proprietor of Mount Welcome; and that poison was the safe, +silent weapon to be used--for Cubina was not unacquainted with the +signification of the _death-spell of Obeah_. Before that night he had +reason to believe that his own father had fallen by that secret shaft, +and reasons to suspect that Chakra had shot it. What he had just heard +confirmed his belief; and but that he saw the necessity of hastening to +the rescue of the threatened Custos--and knew, moreover, that he could +now find Chakra at any time--he would, in all probability, have avenged +his father's death before leaving the Duppy's Hole. + +The young Maroon, however, was a man of mild character--combining +prudence with an extreme _sang froid_--that hindered him from bringing +any event to a hasty or ambiguous ending. Though leaving Chakra for the +time, he had determined soon to return to him. + +The resurrection of the myal-man, though it at first very naturally +astonished him, had soon ceased to be a mystery to the mind of the +Maroon. In fact, the presence of the Jew had at once explained the +whole thing. Cubina conjectured, and correctly, that Jessuron had +released the condemned criminal from his chains, and substituted the +body of some dead negro--afterwards to become the representative of +Chakra's skeleton. + +For this the Jew, well-known for wickedness, might have many motives. + +The Maroon did not stay to speculate upon them. His thoughts were +directed to the present and future rather than the past--to the rescue +of the Custos, over whom a fearful fate seemed to impend. + +It need not be denied that Cubina felt a certain friendship for the +planter of Mount Welcome. Heretofore it had not been of a very ardent +character; but the relations lately established between him and the +Custos--in prospect of the process to be taken against their common +enemy, the penn-keeper--had, of course, occasioned a fellow-feeling +between them. The revelations of that night had strengthened the +interest which the Maroon had begun to feel for Mr Vaughan; and it is +not to be wondered at that he now felt an honest desire to save the +father of her, whom he was henceforth to regard as his own sister. To +this end, then, were his thoughts directed. + +He stayed not long to speculate upon the motives either of Chakra or +Jessuron. Those of the myal-man he could guess to a certainty. Revenge +for the sentence that exposed him to that fearful fate on the Jumbe +Rock. + +The motives of the Jew were less transparent. His deepest did not +appear in the confabulation Cubina had overheard. Even Chakra did not +know it. It might be fear of the approaching trial: which by some means +the Jew had become apprised of. + +But no. On reflection, Cubina saw it could not be that: for the +conversation of the conspirators betrayed that their plot had been +anterior to any information which the Jew could have had of the design +of the Custos. It could not be that. + +No matter what. Mr Vaughan, the father of the generous young lady--she +who had promised to make him a present of his beloved bride, and who now +proved to be his own stepsister--her father was in danger! + +Not a moment was to be lost. Without regard to motives, measures must +be taken to avert that danger, and punish the miscreants who designed +it. + +For some minutes Cubina remained on the spot, reflecting upon what step +should be first taken. + +Should he go direct to Mount Welcome and warn the Custos, by reporting +to him what he had heard? + +That was the first idea that presented itself to his mind; but at that +hour Mr Vaughan would be abed, and he--a Maroon--might not be admitted, +unless, indeed, he could show, by pleading the urgency of his errand, +good cause for arousing the Custos from his slumber. + +This, undoubtedly, would he have done, had he known that the scheme of +the conspirators had been definitely arranged. But, as already stated, +he had not heard Chakra's concluding speech--referring to Cynthia and +the bottle of strong medicine; and all the rest only pointed vaguely at +some measures to be taken for frustrating the expedition to Spanish +Town. + +It would be time enough, thought he, to meet these measures by going to +Mount Welcome in the morning. He could get there before Mr Vaughan +should start upon his journey. He could go at an early hour, but one +when his appearance would not give cause for any unnecessary remark. + +It did not occur to him to reflect, that the time of the traveller's +departure from Mount Welcome--of which Cubina had not been apprised-- +might be anterior to that of his arrival there. The Maroon, thinking +that the great Custos was not likely to inconvenience himself by early +rising, had no apprehension of missing him by being himself too late. + +With this confidence, then, he resolved to postpone his visit to Mount +Welcome until some hour after daybreak; and, in the meantime, to carry +out the preliminaries of a programme, referring to a very different +affair, and which had been traced out the day before. + +The first scene in this programme was to be a meeting with Herbert +Vaughan. It had been appointed to take place between them on the +following morning; and on the same spot where the two young men had +first encountered one another--in the glade, under the great _ceiba_. + +The interview was of Herbert's own seeking, for, although neither had +seen the other since the day on which the runaway had been rescued, some +items of intelligence had passed between them--Quaco acting as the +medium of their correspondence. + +Herbert had an object in seeking the interview. He desired a conference +with Cubina, in hopes of obtaining from him an explanation of more than +one circumstance that had lately arisen to puzzle and perplex him. + +His patron's suspicious story about the red runaway was one of these +circumstances. Herbert had heard from Quaco that the slave was still +staying with the Maroons in their mountain town; and had been adopted +into their little community--in fact, had himself become a Maroon. + +This did not correspond with the account given by Jessuron. Of course, +Quaco could not state the reasons. The secrecy enjoined by the Custos +kept Cubina's tongue tied upon that theme; and his own men knew nothing +of the design which their captain had conceived against the Jew. + +This was not the only matter which mystified the young Englishman, and +which he was in hopes of having cleared up by Cubina. His own position +at the penn--of late developing itself in a manner to surprise and +startle him--also needed elucidation. There was no one near of whom he +could ask a question in regard to it, and never in his life did he stand +more in need of a confidant. + +In this dilemma he had thought of his old acquaintance, the Maroon +captain. The intelligent mulatto appeared to be the very man. Herbert +remembered the promise made at parting, his own conditional acceptance +of it, which now appeared prophetic; since the contingency then +expressed had come to pass. + +He had need to avail himself of the friendly proffer; and for that +purpose had he made the appointment under the _ceiba_. + +Equally desirous was the Maroon to meet with the young Englishman. He +had preserved a grateful recollection of his generous interference in +what appeared a very unequal combat; and, so far from having lost sight +of his noble ally, he had been keeping him in mind--after a fashion that +was calculated to show the deep gratitude with which Herbert's conduct +had inspired him. + +He longed for an opportunity of giving renewed expression to this +gratitude; but he had other reasons for wishing to see the young +Englishman just then; and the meeting with. Yola on that same night had +an object some what different from the mere repetition of love vows-- +already pronounced over and over again, upon a score of distinct +occasions. + +Now that the night had nearly passed, and that the morning was nigh, the +Maroon, instead of returning to his mountain home, decided on going back +to the glen, and spending the few hours of interval under the shadow of +the _ceiba_. + +Indeed, the time would not allow of his returning home. The sun would +be up in three or four hours. A little after sunrise was the appointed +time for the meeting with Herbert Vaughan. Before that hour should +arrive, he could scarce reach his own "town" and get back again. The +thing, therefore, was not to be thought of. + +To sleep under a tree, or _on_ one, was no new thing for Cubina. It +would never occur to him to consider such a couch as inconvenient. In +his hog-hunting excursions--often continuing for days and even weeks--he +was accustomed to repose upon the cold ground--upon the swirl of +withered leaves--upon the naked rock--anywhere. Not much did it matter +to a Maroon to be sheltered by a roof--not much, whether a tree shadowed +his slumbers, or whether on his grassy couch she saw shining over him +the starry canopy of the sky. These were but the circumstances of his +every-day life. + +Having come to the conclusion that his best plan would be to pass the +remaining hours of the night under the _ceiba_, he made no further delay +by the Duppy's Hole; but turning into the path that led down the slope +he proceeded back towards the glade. + +He moved down the mountain road, slowly, and with some degree of +circumspection. He went slowly, because there was no need for haste. +It would be several hours before the young Englishman should be abroad. +As already stated, a little after sunrise was the time agreed upon, +through the messenger Quaco. There was no particular reason for +Cubina's being in a hurry to get to the glade--unless he wished to have +more time for his nap under the tree. + +For sleep, however, he had but little relish just then. Wild thoughts, +consequent on the strange disclosures he had listened to, were passing +through his mind; and these were sufficient to deprive him even of the +power of sleep. + +He moved onward with circumspection from a different motive. He knew +that Jessuron, in returning to his penn, must have taken the same path. +Should the latter be loitering--since he had only started but a few +minutes before--Cubina might overtake him; and he had no wish to see any +more of the Jew for that night--or, at all events, to be himself seen by +the latter. To avoid all chance of an encounter, he stopped at +intervals, and reconnoitred the wood ahead of him. + +He arrived in the glade without seeing either Jew, Christian, or living +being of any kind. The penn-keeper had passed through a good while +before. Cubina could tell this by an observation which he made on +coming out into the open ground. A mock-bird, perched on a low tree +that stood directly by the path, was singing with all its might. The +Maroon had heard its melody long before entering the glade. Had any one +passed recently, the bird would have forsaken its perch--as it did on +the approach of Cubina himself. + +On reaching the rendezvous, his first concern was to kindle a fire. +Sleep in a wet shirt was not to be thought of; and every stitch upon his +body had been soaked in swimming the lagoon. Otherwise, it would not +have mattered about a fire. He had nothing to cook upon it; nor was he +hungry--having already eaten his supper. + +Kindled by a woodman's skill, a fire soon blazed up; and the hunter +stood erect beside it, turning himself at intervals to dry his garments, +still dripping with water. + +He was soon smoking all over, like freshly-slaked lime; and, in order to +pass the time more pleasantly, he commenced smoking in another sense-- +the _nicotian_--his pipe and tobacco-pouch affording him an opportunity +for this indulgence. + +Possibly the nicotine may have stimulated his reflective powers: for he +had not taken more than a dozen puffs at his pipe, when a sudden and +somewhat uneasy movement seemed to say that some new reflection had +occurred to him. Simultaneous with the movement, a muttered soliloquy +escaped from his lips. + +"_Crambo_!" exclaimed he, giving utterance to his favourite shibboleth; +"say he should come an hour after sunrise--at least another we should be +in getting to Mount Welcome. _Por Dios_! it may be too late then! Who +knows what time the Custos may fancy to set out?" he added, after a +pause; "I did not think of that. How stupid of me not to have asked +Yola! + +"_Crambo_!" he again exclaimed, after another interval passed in silent +reflection. "It won't do to leave things to chance, where a man's life +is in danger. Who knows what scheme these John Crows have contrived? I +couldn't hear the whole of their palaver. If Master Vaughan was only +here, we might go to Mount Welcome at once. Whatever quarrel he may +have with the uncle, he won't wish to let him be murdered--no likelihood +of that. Besides, the young fellow's interference in this matter, if I +mistake not, would be likely to make all right between them--I'd like +that, both for his sake and hers--ah! hers especially, after what Yola's +told me. _Santa Virgen_! wouldn't that be a disappointment to the old +dog of a Jew! Never mind! I'll put a spark in his powder before he's +many days older! The young Englishman must know all. I'll tell him +all; and after that, if he consents to become the son-in-law of Jacob +Jessuron, he would deserve a dog's--. Bah! it cannot be! I won't +believe it till he tells me so himself; and then--. + +"_Por Dios_!" exclaimed he, suddenly interrupting the above train of +reflections and passing to another. "It won't do for me to stay here +till he comes. Two hours after sunrise, and the Custos might be cold. +I'll go down to the Jew's penn at once, and hang about till I see young +Vaughan. He'll be stirring about daybreak, and that'll save an hour, +anyhow. A word with him, and we can soon cross to Mount Welcome." + +In obedience to the thought, and without staying to complete the drying +of his habiliments, the Maroon stepped out from the glade; and turning +into the track--little used--that led towards the Happy Valley, +proceeded in that direction. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXXIV. + +A DARK COMPACT. + +On closing so abruptly the stormy dialogue with his daughter, Jessuron +proceeded to his own sleeping apartment--like the others, opening upon +the verandah. + +Before entering the room, he glanced along the gallery, towards the +suspended hammock. + +In that hammock slept Herbert Vaughan. His long sea-voyage had +accustomed him to the use of a swing couch--even to a liking for it; and +as the night was warm, he had preferred the hammock to his bed in the +contiguous chamber. + +Jessuron had a fear that the angry conversation might have been +overheard by the occupant of the hammock; for, in the excitement of +temper, neither he nor Judith had observed the precaution of speaking +low. + +The hammock hung motionless, oscillating scarce an inch; and this only +under the influence of the night breeze that blew gently along the +verandah. Its occupant appeared to be in the middle of a profound +slumber. + +Satisfied of this, the Jew returned to his own chamber. There was no +light, and on entering, he sat down in the darkness. The moon shining +in through the window gave him light enough to discover a chair; and +into that he had flung himself, instead of seeking his couch. + +For a time he displayed no intention either of undressing or betaking +himself to bed; but remained in the high-backed chair in which he had +seated himself, buried in some reflection, silent as profound. We are +permitted to know his thoughts. + +"S'help me, she'll marry him!" was that which came uppermost. "She +will, s'help me!" continued he, repeating the reflection in an altered +form, "shpite of all I can shay or do to prevent her! She ish a very +deffil when raished--and she'll have her own way, she will. Ach! what +ish to be done?--what ish to be done?" + +Here a pause occurred in the reflections, while the Jew, with puzzled +brain, was groping for an answer to his mental interrogatory. + +"It ish of no ushe!" he continued, after a time, the expression on his +face showing that he had not yet received a definite reply. "It'sh no +ushe to opposhe her. She'd run away with thish young man to a +certainty!" + +"I might lock her up, but that ish no good. She'd contrive to escape +some time. I couldn't alwaysh keep her under lock and key? No--no, it +ish imposhible! + +"And if she marriesh him without the monish--without the great shugar +eshtate! Blesh me! that ish ruin! + +"It musht not be. If she marriesh him, she musht marry Mount Welcome. +She musht! she musht! + +"But how ish it to be? How ish he to be made the heir?" + +Again the Jew appeared to puzzle his brains for an answer to this last +interrogatory. + +"Ha!" he exclaimed aloud, at the same time starting from his chair, as +if the solution had discovered itself; "I hash it! I hash it!--the +Spaniards! I hash it! + +"Yesh," he continued, striking the ferrule of his umbrella against the +floor, "theesh are the very fellows for the shob--worth a shcore of +Shakra's shpells, and hish bottles to boot! There ish no fear that +their medishin will fail. S'help me, no! Now, ash I think of it," +continued he, "that ish the plan--the very besht. There ish no other +safe and sure, like that ish. Ha! Cushtos! you shan't eshcape yet. +Ha! Shoodith, mine girl, you ish welcome to your way; you shall have +the young man after all!" + +On giving utterance to these ambiguous speeches, the Jew dropped back +into his chair, and sat for some minutes in silent but earnest +meditation. + +The matter of his meditation may be known by the act that followed. + +"There ishn't an hour to be losht!" muttered he, starting to his feet, +and hurriedly making for the door; "no, not ash much ash a minute. I +musht see them now. The Cushtos ish to shtart at sunrishe. The wench +hash said it. They'll joosht have time to get upon hish track. S'help +me," he added, opening the door, and glancing up at the sky, "ash I +live, it'sh mosht sunrishe now!" + +Sticking his beaver firmly upon his head, and taking a fresh clutch of +the everlasting umbrella, he rushed rapidly out of the verandah, crossed +the courtyard, re-passed the porter at his own gate, and then traversing +the little enclosure outside, stood in the open fields. + +He did not stand long--only to look around him, and see that the ground +was clear of stragglers. + +Satisfied on this head, he proceeded onward. + +At the distance of some three or four hundred yards from the outside +stockade stood a detached cabin, more than half hidden among the trees. + +Towards this he directed his steps. + +Five minutes sufficed for him to reach it; and, on arriving at the door, +he knocked upon it with the butt of his umbrella. + +"_Quien es_?" spoke a voice from within. + +"It'sh me, Manuel--me--Shessuron!" replied the Jew. + +"It's the _Dueno_," (master), was heard muttering one of the Spaniards +to the other--for the cabin was the dwelling of these notable +negro-hunters. + +"_Carajo_! what does the old _ladron_ want at this hour?" interrogated +the first speaker, in his own tongue, which he knew was not understood +by the Jew. "_Maldito_!" added he, in a grumbling voice; "it's not very +pleasant to be waked up in this fashion. Besides, I was dreaming of +that yellow-skin that killed my dogs. I thought I had my _machete_ up +to the hilt in his carcase. What a pity I was only dreaming it!" + +"_Ta-ta_!" interrupted the other; "be silent, Andres. The old +_ganadero_ is impatient. _Vamos_! I'm coming, Senor Don Jacob!" + +"Make hashte, then!" answered the Jew from without. "I hash important +bishness with both of yoush." + +At this moment the door opened; and he who answered to the name of +Manuel appeared in the doorway. + +Without waiting for an invitation, Jessuron stepped inside the cabin. + +"Does your business require a candle, senor?" inquired the Spaniard. + +"No--no!" answered the Jew, quickly and impressively, as if to prevent +the striking of a light. "It ish only talk; we can do it in the +darknesh." + +And darkness, black and profound, was most appropriate to the +conversation that followed. Its theme was _murder_--the murder of +Loftus Vaughan! + +The plan proposed was for the two Spaniards--fit instruments for such +purpose--to waylay the Custos upon the road--in some dark defile of the +forest--anywhere--it mattered not, so long as it was on this side of +Spanish Town. + +"Fifty poundsh apeesh; goot Island currenshy," was the reward promised-- +offered and accepted. + +Jessuron instructed his brace of _entrepreneurs_ in all the details of +the plan. He had learnt from Cynthia that the Custos intended to take +the southern road, calling at Savanna-le-Mer. It was a roundabout way +to the capital; but Jessuron had his suspicions why that route had been +chosen. He knew that Savanna was the assize town of Cornwall; and the +Custos might have business there relating to himself, Prince Cingues, +and his two dozen Mandingoes! + +It was not necessary to instruct the _cacadores_ in these multifarious +matters. There was no time to spend on any other than the details of +their murderous plan; and these were made known to them with the +rapidity of rapine itself. + +In less than twenty minutes from the time he had entered the cabin the +Jew issued out again, and walked back, with joyous mien and agile step, +towards his dark dwelling. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXXV. + +STALKING THE SLEEPER. + +Cubina, on arriving near the precincts of the penn, moved forward with +increased caution. He knew that the penn-keeper was accustomed to keep +dogs and night-watchers around his enclosure, not only to prevent the +cattle and other quadrupeds from straying, but also the black bipeds +that filled his baracoons. + +The Maroon was conscious, moreover, that his own attitude towards the +slave-merchant was, at this time, one of extreme hostility. His refusal +to restore the runaway had been a declaration of open war between them; +and the steps he had since taken in conjunction with the Custos--which +he now knew to be no longer a secret to the slave-stealer--could not +otherwise than render him an object of the Jew's most bitter hatred. + +Knowing all this, he felt the necessity of caution in approaching the +place: for should the penn-keeper's people find him prowling about the +premises, they would be certain to capture him, if they could, and carry +him before Jacob Jessuron, J.P., where he might expect to be treated to +a little "justice's justice." + +With this prospect before him, in the event of being detected, he +approached the Jew's dwelling as cautiously as if he had been a burglar +about to break into it. + +It was towards the back of the house that he was advancing from the +fields--or rather, the side of it, opposite to that on which lay the +cattle and slave enclosures. + +He had made a short circuit to approach by this side, conjecturing that +the others would be more likely to be guarded by the slave and cattle +watchers. + +The fields, half returned to the condition of a forest, rendered it easy +to advance under cover. A thick, second growth of logwood, bread-nut, +and calabash trees covered the ground; and nearer the walls the old +garden, now ruinate, still displayed a profusion of fruit-trees growing +in wild luxuriance, such as guavas, mangoes, paw-paws, orange and lemon, +sops, custard-apples, the akee, and avocada pear. Here and there a +cocoa-palm raised its tufted crown far above the topmost spray of the +humbler fruit-trees, its long, feathery fronds gently oscillating under +the silent zephyrs of the night. + +On getting within about a hundred yards of the house Cubina formed the +intention not to go any nearer just then. The plan he had traced out +was to station himself in some position where he could command a view of +the verandah--or as much of it as it was possible to see from one place. +There he would remain until daybreak. + +His conjecture was, that Herbert Vaughan would make his appearance as +soon as the day broke, and this was all the more probable on account of +his engagement with the Maroon himself. + +The _protege_ of Jessuron would show himself in the verandah on leaving +his chamber. He could not do otherwise, since all the sleeping-rooms-- +and Cubina knew this--opened outward upon the gallery. + +Once seen, a signal by some means--by Cubina showing himself outside, or +calling the young Englishman by name--would bring about the desired +interview, and hasten the execution of the project which the Maroon had +conceived. + +A slight elevation of the ground, caused by the crumbling ruins of an +old wall, furnished the _vidette_ station desired; and the Maroon +mounting upon this, took his stand to watch the verandah. He could see +the long gallery from end to end on two sides of the dwelling, and he +knew that it extended no farther. + +Though the house glistened under a clear moonlight, the verandah itself +was in shade; as was also the courtyard in front--the old grey pile +projecting its sombre shadow beyond the walls that surrounded it. At +the end, however, the moonbeams, slanting diagonally from the sky, +poured their light upon the floor of the verandah, there duplicating the +strong bar-like railing with which the gallery was inclosed. + +The Maroon had not been many minutes upon the stand he had taken, when +an object in the verandah arrested his attention. As his eye became +more accustomed to the shadowy darkness inside, he was able to make out +something that resembled a hammock, suspended crosswise, and at some +height above the balustrade of the verandah. It was near that end where +the moonlight fell upon the floor. + +As the moon continued to sink lower in the sky, her beams were flung +farther along the gallery; and the object which had attracted the +attention of Cubina came more into the light. It was a hammock, and +evidently occupied. The taut cordage told that some one was inside it. + +"If it should be the young Englishman himself!" was the conjectural +reflection of Cubina. + +If so, it might be possible to communicate with him at once, and save +the necessity of waiting till daybreak. + +How was the Maroon to be satisfied that it was he? It might be some one +else! It might be Ravener, the overseer; and Cubina desired no +conversation with him. What step could he take to solve this +uncertainty? + +As the Maroon was casting about for some scheme that would enable him to +discover who was the occupant of the hammock, he noticed that the +moonbeams had now crept nearly up to it, and in a few minutes more would +be shining full upon it. He could already perceive, though very dimly, +the face and part of the form of the sleeper inside. Could he only get +to some elevated position a little nearer to the house, he might be able +to make out who it was. + +He scanned the ground with a quick glance. A position sufficiently +elevated presented itself, but one not so easy to be reached. A +cocoa-nut palm stood near the wall, whose crest of radiating fronds +overlooked the verandah, drooping towards it. Could he but reach this +tree unobserved, and climb up to its crown, he might command a close +view of him who slept in the swinging couch. + +A second sufficed to determine him; and, crawling silently forward, he +clasped the stem of the cocoa-tree, and "swarmed" upward. The feat was +nothing to Cubina, who could climb like a squirrel. + +On reaching the summit of the palm, he placed himself in the centre of +its leafy crown--where he had the verandah directly under his eyes, and +so near that he could almost have sprung into it. + +The hammock was within ten feet of him; in a downward direction. He +could have pitched his tobacco-pipe upon the face of the sleeper. The +moonlight was now full upon it. It was the face of Herbert Vaughan! + +Cubina recognised it at the first glance; and he was reflecting how he +could awake the young Englishman without causing an alarm, when he heard +a door turn upon its hinges. The sound came up from the courtyard; and +on looking in that direction, Cubina saw that the gate leading out to +the cattle enclosure was in the act of being opened. + +Presently a man passed through, entering from the outside; and the gate, +by some other person unseen, was closed behind him. + +He who had entered walked directly towards the dwelling; and, mounting +the steps, made his way into the verandah. + +While crossing the courtyard, the moonlight, for a moment, fell upon his +face, discovering to Cubina the sinister countenance of the Jew. + +"I must have passed him on the path!" reflected the Maroon. "But no, +that couldn't be," he added, correcting himself; "I saw his return track +in the mud-hole just by. He must have got here before me. Like enough, +he's been back, and out again on some other dark business. _Crambo_! +it's true enough what I've heard say of him: that he hardly ever goes to +sleep. Our people have met him in the woods at all hours of the night. +I can understand it now that I know the partner he's got up there. _For +Dios_! to think of Chakra being still alive!" + +The Maroon paused in his reflections; and kept his eye sharply bent upon +the shadowy form that, like a spirit of darkness, was silently flitting +through the corridor. He was in hopes that the Jew would soon retire to +his chamber. + +So long as the latter remained outside, there was not the slightest +chance for Cubina to communicate with the occupant of the hammock +without being observed. Worse than that, the Maroon was now in danger +of being himself seen. Exposed as he was upon the cocoa--with nothing +to shelter him from observation but its few straggling fronds--he ran +every risk of his presence being detected. It was just a question of +whether the Jew might have occasion to look upwards; if so, he could +scarce fail to perceive the dark _silhouette_ of a man, outlined, as it +was, against the light blue of the sky. + +That would be a discovery of which Cubina dreaded the consequences, and +with reason. It might not only frustrate the intended interview with +the young Englishman, but might end in his own capture and detention-- +the last a contingency especially to be avoided. + +Under this apprehension the Maroon stirred neither hand nor foot; but +kept himself silent and rigid. In this attitude of immobility he looked +like some statue, placed in a sedentary posture upon the summit of a +Corinthian column--the crushed crocus represented by the fronds of the +palm-tree. + +Volume Two, Chapter XXXVI. + +A MISSION FOR THE MAN-HUNTERS. + +Cubina for some time preserved his constrained position. He dared not +derange it; since the Jew still stayed in the shadowy corridor-- +sometimes moving about; but more generally standing at the head of the +wooden stairway, and looking across the courtyard, towards the gate +through which he had come in. It seemed as if he was expecting some one +to enter after him. + +This conjecture of Cubina's proved correct. The great gate was heard +once more turning on its hinges; and, after a word or two spoken by the +black porter outside, and answered by a voice of different tone, two men +were seen stepping inside the court. + +As they passed under the moonlight, Cubina recognised them. Their +lithe, supple forms, and swarthy angular lineaments, enabled him to +identify the Cuban _cacadores_. + +They walked straight up to the stairway, at the bottom of which both +stopped. + +The Jew, on seeing them inside the gate, had gone back into a room that +opened upon the verandah. + +He was gone but for an instant; and, coming out again, he returned to +the top of the stairway. + +One of the Spaniards, stepping up, reached out, and received something +from his hand. What it was Cubina could not have told, but for the +words of the Jew that accompanied the action. + +"There'sh the flashk," said he; "it ish the besht brandy in Shamaica. +And now," he continued, in an accent of earnest appeal, "my goot +fellish! you hashn't a minute to shpare. Remember the big monish you're +to gain; and don't let thish runaway eshcape!" + +"No fear about that, Senor Don Jacob," replied he who received the +flask. "_Carrai_! he'll have long legs to get out of our way--once +we're well on the trail of him." + +And without further dialogue or delay, the _cacador_ descended the +stair, rejoined his comrade, and both hurriedly re-crossing the +courtyard, disappeared through the door by which they had entered. + +"An expedition after some poor slave!" muttered Cubina to himself. "I +hope the scoundrels won't catch him, anyhow, and I pity him if they do. +After all, they're no great hands at the business, spite of their +braggadocio." + +With this professional reflection, the Maroon once more bent his eyes +upon the form that remained in the shadow of the verandah. + +"Surely," conjectured he, "the old John Crow will now go to his roost? +Or has he more of the like business on hand? Till he's out of that I +can't make a move. I durstn't stir, not for the life of me!" + +To the joy of Cubina, the Jew at that moment stepped back into his +chamber--the door of which had been left standing open. + +"Good!" mentally ejaculated the Maroon; "I hope he'll stay in his hole, +now that he's in it. I don't want to see any more of him this night. +_Crambo_!" + +As the exclamation indicated, the congratulatory speech was cut short by +the re-appearance of the Jew; not in his blue body-coat, as before, but +wrapped in a sort of gabardine, or ample dressing-gown, the skirts of +which fell down to his feet. His hat had been removed--though the +skull-cap, of dirty whitish hue, still clung around his temples; for it +was never doffed. + +To the consternation of Cubina he came out, dragging a chair after him: +as if he meant to place it in the verandah and take a seat upon it. + +And this was precisely his intention, for, after drawing the chair--a +high-backed one--out into the middle of the gallery, he planted it +firmly upon the floor, and then dropped down into it. + +The moment after, Cubina saw sparks, accompanied by a sound that +indicated the concussion of flint and steel. The Jew was striking a +light! + +For what purpose? + +The smell of burning tobacco borne along the gallery, and ascending to +Cubina's nostrils upon the summit of the palm, answered that question. +A red coal could be seen gleaming between the nose and chin of the +Israelite. He was smoking a cigar! + +Cubina saw this with chagrin. How long would the operation last? +Half-an-hour--an hour, perhaps? Ay, maybe till daybreak--now not very +distant. + +The situation had changed for the worse. The Maroon could not make the +slightest move towards the awakening of Herbert. He dared not shift his +own position, lest his presence should be betrayed to the Jew. He dared +not stir upon the tree, much less come down from it! + +He saw that he was in a fix; but there was no help for it. He must wait +till the Jew had finished his cigar: though there was no certainty that +even that would bring the _seance_ to a termination. + +Summoning all the patience he could command, he kept his perch, silent +and motionless, though anxious, and suffering from chagrin. + +For a long hour, at least, did he continue in this desperate dilemma-- +until his limbs ached underneath him, and his composure was well-nigh +exhausted. Still the Jew stuck to his chair, as if glued to the seat-- +silent and motionless as Cubina himself. + +The latter fancied that not only a first cigar, but a second, and, +perhaps, a third, had been lighted and smoked; but in the sombre shadow, +in which the smoker sat, he could not be certain how many. More than +one, however, from the time spent in the operation; for during the full +period of an hour a red coal could be seen glowing at the tip of that +aquiline proboscis. + +Cubina now perceived what troubled him exceedingly--the blue dawn +breaking over the tops of the trees! By slightly turning his head he +could see the golden gleam of sunlight tinting the summit of the Jumbe +Rock! + +"_Crambo_! what was to be done?" so ran his reflections. + +If he stayed there much longer he might be sure of being discovered. +The slaves would soon be starting to their work--the overseer and +drivers would soon be out and about. One or other could not fail to see +him upon the tree! He would be lucky now to escape himself, without +thinking any longer of the hammock or him who slept within its +tight-drawn meshes. + +While considering how he might slip unperceived from the tree he glanced +once more towards the occupant of the chair. The gradually brightening +dawn, which had been filling him with apprehension, now favoured him. +It enabled him to perceive that the Jew was asleep! + +With his head thrown back against the sloping upholstery, Jessuron had +at last surrendered to the powerful divinity of dreams. His goggles +were off; and Cubina could see that the wrinkled lids were closed over +his sunken orbs. + +Undoubtedly he was asleep. His whole attitude confirmed it. His legs +lay loosely over the front of the chair--his arms hung down at the +sides: and the blue umbrella rested upon the floor at his feet. This +last evidence of somnolency was not even counterbalanced by the stump of +a cigar, burnt close, and still sticking between his teeth! + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +END OF VOLUME TWO. + +Volume Three, Chapter I. + +A STARTLING SUMMONS. + +On the part of Cubina it was now a struggle between prudence and a +desire to carry out his original programme--whether he should not go off +alone, or still try to communicate with the sleeper in the hammock. + +In the former case he could return to the glade, and there await the +coming of Herbert Vaughan as at first fixed. But, by so doing, at least +two hours would be lost; and even then, would the young Englishman be +punctual to his appointment? + +Even against his inclination something might occur to cause delay--a +thing all the more probable, considering the circumstances that +surrounded him; considering the irregularity of events in the domicile +where he dwelt. + +But even a delay of two hours! In that interval, Loftus Vaughan might +have ceased to live! + +These thoughts coursed quickly through the mind of the Maroon-- +accustomed as it was to perceptions almost intuitive. He saw that he +must either go by himself to Mount Welcome, or awake the sleeper at +once. + +Perhaps he would have decided on the former course, but that he had +other motives for an interview with Herbert Vaughan, almost as immediate +in their necessity as that which related to the safety of the Custos. +He had as yet no reason to believe that the peril in which the planter +stood was so proximate as it really was: for it never occurred to him +that the departure of the two Spaniards had any other object than that +which related to their calling--the capture of some runaway slave. + +Had he suspected the design of the two ruffians--had he known the +mission of murder on which the slave-merchant had dispatched them--he +would scarce have stayed for aught else than to have provided the means +of intercepting their design. + +In the dark about all this, he did not believe there was such necessity +for extreme haste; though he knew something was on foot against the +Custos which would not allow of much loss of time. + +At that moment the occupant of the hammock turned over with a yawn. + +"He is going to awake!" thought Cubina; "now is my time." + +To the disappointment of the Maroon, the limbs of the speaker again +became relaxed; and he returned to a slumber profound as before. + +"What a pity!" murmured the Maroon; "if I could only speak a word. But +no. Yonder John Crow is more like to hear it than he. I shall throw +something down into the hammock. Maybe that will awake him?" + +Cubina drew out his tobacco-pipe. It was the only thing he could think +of at the moment; and, guiding his arm with a good aim, he pitched it +into the hammock. + +It fell upon the breast of the sleeper. It was too light. It awoke him +not. + +"_Crambo_! he sleeps like an owl at noontide! What can I do to make him +feel me? If I throw down my _machete_, I shall lose the weapon; and who +knows I may not need it before I'm out of this scrape? Ha! one of these +cocoa-nuts will do. That, I dare say, will be heavy enough to startle +him." + +Saying this, the Maroon bent downward; and extending his arm through the +fronds beneath him, detached one of the gigantic nuts from the tree. + +Poising it for a moment to secure the proper direction, he flung the +ponderous fruit upon the breast of Herbert. Fortunately the sides of +the hammock hindered it from falling upon the floor, else the concussion +might also have awakened the sleeper in the chair. + +With a start, the young Englishman awoke, at the same time raising +himself upon his elbow. Herbert Vaughan was not one of the exclamatory +kind, or he might have cried out. He did not, however; though the sight +of the huge brown pericarp, lying between his legs, caused him +considerable surprise. + +"Where, in the name of Ceres and Pomona, did you rain down from?" +muttered he, at the same time turning his eyes up for an answer to his +classical interrogatory. + +In the grey light he perceived the palm, its tall column rising +majestically above him. He knew the tree well, every inch of its +outlines; but the dark _silhouette_ on its top--the form of a human +being _couchant_, and crouching--that was strange to him. + +The light, however, was now sufficiently strong to enable him to +distinguish, not only the form, but the face and features of his +_ci-devant_ entertainer under the greenwood tree--the Maroon captain, +Cubina! + +Before he could say a word to express his astonishment, a gesture, +followed by a muttered speech from the Maroon, enjoined him to silence. + +"Hush! not a word, Master Vaughan!" spoke the latter, in a half whisper, +at the same time that he glanced significantly along the corridor. +"Slip out of your hammock, get your hat, and follow me into the forest. +I have news for you--important! Life and death! Steal out; and, for +your life, don't let _him_ see you!" + +"Who?" inquired Herbert, also speaking in a whisper. + +"Look yonder!" said the Maroon, pointing to the sleeper in the chair. + +"All right! Well?" + +"Meet me in the glade. Come at once--not a minute to be lost! _Those +who should be dear to you are in danger_!" + +"I shall come," said Herbert, making a motion to extricate himself from +the hammock. + +"Enough! I must be gone. You will find me under the cotton-tree." + +As he said this, the Maroon forsook his seat, so long and irksomely +preserved--and, sliding down the slender trunk of the palm, like a +sailor descending the mainstay of his ship, he struck off at a trot, and +soon disappeared amid the second growth of the old sugar plantation. + +Herbert Vaughan was not slow to follow upon his track. Some disclosures +of recent occurrence--so recent as the day preceding--had prepared him +for a somewhat _bizarre finale_ to the fine life he had of late been +leading; and he looked to the Maroon for enlightenment. But that +strange speech of Cubina stimulated him more than all. "_Those who +should be dear to you are in danger_!" + +There was but one being in the world entitled to this description. Kate +Vaughan! Could it be she? + +Herbert stayed not to reflect. His hat and cloak hung in the chamber +close by; and in two seconds of time both were upon him. Another second +sufficed to give him possession of his gun. + +He was too active, too reckless, to care for a stairway at that moment, +or at that height from the ground--too prudent to descend by that which +there was in front, though guarded only by a sleeper! + +Laying his leg over the balustrade, he leaped to the earth below; and, +following the path taken by the Maroon, like him was soon lost among the +second growth of the ruinate garden. + +Volume Three, Chapter II. + +BLUE DICK. + +In making his hurried departure from the Happy Valley, Herbert Vaughan +narrowly escaped observation. A delay of ten minutes longer would have +led to his design being interrupted; or, at all events, to his being +questioned as to the object of his early excursion; and, in all +probability, followed and watched. + +He had scarce passed out of sight of the penn, when he heard the +jangling tones of a swing bell--harshly reverberating upon the still air +of the morning. + +The sounds did not startle him. He knew it was not an alarm; only the +plantation bell, summoning the slaves to enter upon their daily toil. + +Knowing that it must have awakened the sleeper in the chair, he +congratulated himself on his good luck at getting away, before the +signal had been sounded--at the same time that it caused him to quicken +his steps towards the _rendezvous_ given by the Maroon. + +Cubina, though from a greater distance, had also heard the bell, and had +in a similar manner interpreted the signal, though with a greater degree +of uneasiness as to the effect it might have produced. He, too, had +conjectured that the sounds must have awakened the sleeper in the chair. + +Both had reasoned correctly. At the first "ding-dong" of the bell, the +Jew had been startled from his cat-like slumber, and, rising erect in +his seat, he glanced uneasily around him. + +"Blesh my soul!" he exclaimed, spitting out the bit of burnt cigar that +clung adheringly to his lips. "It ish broad daylight. I musht have +been ashleep more ash two hours. Ach! theesh are times for a man to +keep awake. The Cushtos should be on his road by thish; and if theesh +Spanish hunters do their bishness as clefferly as they hash promise, +he'll shleep sounder thish night ash effer he hash done before. Blesh +my soul!" he again exclaimed, with an accent that betokened a change in +the tenor of his thoughts. "Supposhe they make bungle of the bishness? +Supposhe they should get caught in the act? Ha! what would be the +reshult of that? There ish danger--shtrike me dead if there ishn't! +Blesh me! I neffer thought of it," continued he, after some moments +spent in reflection of an apparently anxious kind. "They might turn +King'sh evidence, and implicate me--me, a shustice! To save themselves, +they'd be likely to do ash much ash that. Yesh; and eefen if they +didn't get taken in the act, still there ish danger. That Manuel hash a +tongue ash long ash his _machete_. He'sh a prattling fool. I musht +take care to get him out of the Island--both of them--ash soon ash I +can." + +In his apprehensions the Jew no longer included Chakra: for he was now +under the belief that the dark deed would be accomplished by the Spanish +assassins; and that to _steel_, not _poison_, would the Custos yield up +his life. + +Even should Cynthia have succeeded in administering the deadly dose--a +probability on which he no longer needed to rely--even should the Custos +succumb to poison, the myal-man was not to be feared. There was no +danger of such a confederate declaring himself. As for Cynthia, the Jew +had never dealt directly with her; and therefore she was without power +to implicate him in the hellish contract. + +"I musht take some shteps," said he, rising from his chair, and making a +feint towards retiring to his chamber, as if to adjust his dress. "What +ish besht to be done? Let me think," he added, pausing near the door, +and standing in an attitude of reflection; "yesh! yesh! that's it! I +musht send a messensher to Mount Welcome. Some one can go on an excushe +of bishness. It will look strange, since we're such bad neighboursh of +late? No matter for that. The Cushtos is gone, I hope; and Rafener can +send the message to Mishter Trusty. That will bring ush newsh. Here, +Rafener!" continued he, calling to his overseer, who, cart-whip in hand, +was moving through the court below, "I wan't ye, Mishter Rafener!" + +Ravener, uttering a grunt to signify that he had heard the summons, +stepped up to the stairway of the verandah; and stood silently waiting +to know for what he was wanted. + +"Hash you any bishness about which you could send a messenger to Mishter +Trusty--to Mount Welcome, I mean?" + +"Humph! There's business a plenty for that. Them consarned hogs of the +Custos has got into our corn-patch up the valley, and played pitch and +toss with the young plants. Ye must get damages for it." + +"That ish right--that ish right." + +"Humph! You won't say it's right when once you've seen the mess they've +made. We'll have a sorry show at crop time, I tell ye." + +"Neffer mind that--we'll have an action. Ishe not let it pass; but +joosh now I hash other bishness on hand. You send a messensher to +Mishter Trusty, and tell him about it. And, harksh you, Mishter +Rafener! I want this messensher to be dishcreet. I want him to find +out whether the Cushtos ish at home--without making a direct ashking +about it. I have heard that he ish going on a shourney; and I want to +know if he hash set out yet. You undershtands me?" + +"All right," replied Ravener, with an air that betokened comprehension, +"All right! I'll send a fellow that'll get an answer to that question +without asking it. Blue Dick can do that." + +"Ah! true, Blue Dick ish the one! And, harksh you, Mishter Rafener! +tell him to try if he can see the mulatta wench, Cynthy." + +"What is he to say to her?" + +"He ish to tell her to come ofer here, if she hash an opportunity. I +wants to shpeak with _her_. But, mind ye, Mishter Rafener! Dick ish to +be careful what he saysh and doesh. He musht talk with the girl _only +in whishpers_." + +"I'll instruct him in all that," replied the overseer, in a tone of +confidence. "You want him to go now?" + +"Thish minute--thish very minute. I hash a reason for being in a hurry. +Send him off as soon ash you can." + +Ravener, without further parley, walked off to dispatch his messenger; +and a few minutes after he had gone out of the court, that yellow +"complected" Mercury, known by the _sobriquet_ of "Blue Dick," was seen +"streaking" it along the path which conducted from the Jew's penn to the +mansion of Mount Welcome. + +Volume Three, Chapter III. + +THE MYSTERIOUS ABSENCE. + +The brief conversation between Jessuron and his overseer had taken place +_sotto voce_: as it was not desirable that it should be overheard by any +one--much less by the nephew of him who was its chief subject, and who +was supposed to be suspended in a hammock not ten paces from the spot. + +The hammock, however, was not visible from the front stairway--being +hung in that part of the verandah that extended along the other side of +the house. + +On the departure of Ravener from his presence, the Jew proceeded with +his original intention--to put his person in order for the day. + +His toilette did not take long. After a very brief absence within his +room, he reappeared on the gallery in the same pocketed blue coat, +breeches, and tops, that served him for all purposes and occasions. The +coat was buttoned over his breast, the whitey-brown beaver once more +upon his head, and the goggles adjusted on the knife-back ridge of his +nose. It was evident he intended a stroll. This was all the more +certain as he had regained the umbrella--which had dropped from him +during sleep--and, holding it in his grasp, stood by the top of the +stairway, as if on the eve of setting forth. + +Whither was he going? For what purpose, so early? + +His muttered soliloquy declared his design. + +"It musht be to-day--yesh, I musht get them married thish very day; and +before any newsh can come. The report of the Cushtos' death might +shpoil all my plans. Who knowsh what the young man might do, if he hash +only a hint of hish goot luck? After all, may be, Shoodith ish not so +shure of him? She hash said something last night. Ha! it musht be +thish day. It is no ushe going to the rector of the parish. He ish the +Cushtos' friend, and might make some obsheckshun. That won't do--s'help +me, no! I musht go to the other. Hee'sh poor, and won't sthand +shilly-shally. Besides, hish knot would be shoost as hard to looshe as +if it wash tied by the Bishop of Shamaica. He'll do; and if _he_ won't, +then I knowsh one who will--for monish; ay, anything for monish!" + +After this soliloquy he was about setting foot upon one of the steps +with the intention of descending, when a thought appeared to strike him; +and turning away from the stair, he walked with shuffling gentleness +along the gallery, towards that part of the verandah where the hammock +was suspended. + +"I supposhe the young shentleman is shtill ashleep. Shentleman, indeed! +_now_ he ish all that, or will be the next time he goesh to shleep. +Well, if he ish, I mushn't dishturb him. Rich shentlemen mushn't have +their shlumbers interrupted. _Ach_!" + +The exclamation escaped from his lips, as, on rounding the angle of the +verandah, he came within sight of the hammock. + +"'Tish empty, I declare! He'sh early astir! In hish room, I supposhe?" + +_Sans ceremonie_, the Jew kept on along the gallery, until he had +arrived in front of his book-keeper's private apartment. There he +stopped, looking inward. + +The door was ajar--almost wide open. He could see the greater portion +of the interior through the door; the rest of it through the jalousies. +There was no one in the room--either sitting, standing, or moving about! + +"Mashter Vochan! Are you there?" + +The interrogatory was put rather by way of confirming his observation: +for he saw there was no one inside. + +"Where are you, Mashter Herbert?" continued he, repeating the +interrogatory in an altered form--at the same time craning his neck into +the apartment, and glancing all around it. "Ash I live, it'sh empty, +like the hammock! He musht have gone out. Yesh. Hish hat's not here-- +his cloak ish not here; and I see no gun. He alwaysh kept hish gun +joosh there. How hash he passed me without my hearing his foot? I +shleeps so ash I can hear a cat shtealin' over the floor! Hash he gone +by the shtairway at all? Ash I live, no! Blesh my soul! there is a +track where somebody musht have shumped over the railing down into the +garden! S'help me, it ish his track! There'sh no other but him to have +made it. What the deffil ish the young fellow after this morning? I +hope there ish nothing wrong in it." + +On missing the young Englishman out of his hammock and room, the +penn-keeper felt at first no particular uneasiness. His _protege_ had, +no doubt, gone out for a stroll in the woods. He had taken his gun +along with him, to have a shot at some early bird looking for the early +worm. He had done so many a time before--though never at so early an +hour. + +The hour, however, was not enough of itself to cause any surprise to his +patron; nor even the fact of his having leaped over the verandah +railing. He might have seen the owner of the house asleep in his chair +near the head of the stairway; and, not wishing to disturb him, had +chosen the other mode of exit. There was nothing in all this to cause +uneasiness. + +Nor would the Jew have thought anything of it had it not been for some +other circumstances which quickly came under his notice--guiding him to +the suspicion that something _might be amiss_. + +The first of these circumstances was that Herbert, although having taken +his gun along with him, had left behind his shot-belt and powder-flask! +Both were there in his room, hanging upon their peg. They did not +escape the sharp glance of the Jew, who at once began to draw +conclusions from their presence. + +If the young man had gone out on a shooting excursion, it was strange +that he did not take his ammunition along with him! + +Perhaps, however, he had seen some sort of game near the house, and, in +his hurry to get a shot at it, had gone off hastily--trusting to the two +charges which his gun contained. In that case he would not go far, and +in a few minutes might be expected back. + +A few minutes passed, and a great many minutes--until a full hour had +transpired--and still nothing was heard or seen of the book-keeper, +though messengers had been dispatched in search of him, and had +quartered all the ground for half a mile around the precincts of the +penn. + +Jessuron--whose matutinal visit to the minister had been postponed by +the occurrence--began to look grave. + +"It ish shtrange," said he, speaking to his daughter, who had now +arisen, and was far from appearing cheerful; "shtrange he should go +abroad in thish fashion, without shaying a word to either of ush!" + +Judith made no reply: though her silence could not conceal a certain +degree of chagrin, from which she was evidently suffering. Perhaps she +had even more reason than the "rabbi" to suspect there was something +amiss? + +Certainly, something disagreeable--a misunderstanding at least, had +arisen between her and Herbert on the preceding day. Her speech had +already given some slight hint of it; but much more her manner, which, +on the night before, and now unmistakably in the morning, betrayed a +mixture of melancholy and suppressed indignation. + +It did not add to the equanimity of her temper, when the house wench-- +who was unslinging the hammock in which Herbert had slept--announced it +to contain two articles scarce to be expected in such a place--a +cocoa-nut and a tobacco-pipe! + +The pipe could not have belonged to Herbert Vaughan: he never smoked a +pipe; and as for the cocoa-nut, it had evidently been plucked from the +tree standing near. The trunk of the palm exhibited scratches as if +some one had climbed up it, and above could be seen the freshly-torn +peduncle, where the fruit had been wrenched from its stalk! + +What should Herbert Vaughan have been doing up the palm-tree, flinging +cocoa-nuts into his own couch? + +His unaccountable absence was becoming surrounded by circumstances still +more mysterious. One of the cattle-herds, who had been sent in search +of him, now coming in, announced a new fact, of further significance. +In the patch of muddy soil, outside the garden wall, the herd had +discovered the book-keepers track, going up towards the hills; and near +it, on the same path, the footprint of another man, who must have gone +over the ground twice, returning as he had come! + +This cattle-herd, though of sable skin, was a skilled tracker. His word +might be trusted. + +It was trusted, and produced an unpleasant impression both on Jessuron +and Judith--an impression more unpleasant as time passed, and the +book-keeper was still unreturned. + +The father fumed and fretted; he did more--he threatened. The young +Englishman was his debtor, not only for a profuse hospitality, but for +_money advanced_. Was he going to prove ungrateful? A defaulter? + +Ah! little had that pecuniary obligation to do with the chagrin that was +vexing the Jew Jessuron--far less with those emotions, like the waves of +a stormy sea, that had begun to agitate the breast of his daughter; and +which every slight circumstance, like a strong wind, was lashing into +fury and foam. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Blue Dick came back. He had executed his errand adroitly. The Custos +was gone upon a journey; he had started exactly at the hour of daybreak. + +"Goot!" said Jessuron; "but where is hish nephew?" + +Blue Dick had seen Cynthia; and whispered a word in her ear, as the +overseer had instructed him. She would come over to the penn, as soon +as she could find an opportunity for absence from Mount Welcome. + +"Goot!" answered the Jew. "But where is Mashter Vochan? where hash he +betaken himshelf?" + +"Where?" mentally interrogated Judith, as the noonday sun saw the black +clouds coursing over her brow. + +Volume Three, Chapter IV. + +A SHADOWED SPIRIT. + +The sun was just beginning to re-gild the glittering flanks of the Jumbe +Rock, his rays not yet having reached the valley below, when lights +streaming through the jalousied windows of Mount Welcome proclaimed that +the inmates of the mansion were already astir. + +Lights shone through the lattices of several distinct windows--one from +the Custos' sleeping room, another from the apartment of Lilly Quasheba, +while a brilliant stream, pouring through the jalousies in front, +betokened that the chandelier was burning in the great hall. + +From Smythje's chamber alone came no sign either of light or life. The +windows were dark, the curtains close drawn. Its occupant was asleep. + +Yes, though others were stirring around him, the aristocratic Smythje +was still sleeping as soundly and silently as if dead, perhaps dreaming +of the fair "cweeole queetyaws," and his twelve conquests now happily +extended to the desired baker's dozen, by the successful declaration of +yesterday. + +Though a light still burned in the sleeping apartment of the Custos, and +also in that of Kate, neither father nor daughter were in their own +rooms. Both were in the great hall, seated by a table, on which, even +at this early hour, breakfast had been spread. It was not the regular +matutinal meal, as certain circumstances showed. Mr Vaughan only was +eating; while Kate appeared to be present merely for the purpose of +pouring out his coffee, and otherwise attending upon him. + +The costume in which the Custos appeared differed from his every-day +wear. It was that of a man about to set forth upon a journey--in short, +a travelling costume. A surtout, of strong material, with ample outside +pockets; boots reaching above his knees; a belt, with pistol holsters, +around his waist--a guard against any chance encounter with runaway +negroes; a felt hat, lying on a chair beside him, and a camlet cloak, +hanging over the back of the same chair--all proclaimed the purpose of a +journey, and one about to be entered upon within a few minutes of time. + +A pair of large silver spurs buckled over his boots, told also the mode +of travel intended. It was to be on horseback. + +This was further manifested by the fact that two horses were at that +moment standing at the bottom of the stone stairs outside, their forms +dimly visible through the blue dawn. Both were saddled, bridled, and +equipped, with a black groom by their side, holding them in hand-- +himself in travelling toggery. + +Valises, buckled upon the croup, and saddlebags suspended across the +cantle, showed that the travellers were to carry their luggage along +with them. + +The object of the intended journey is already known. Mr Vaughan was +about to put into execution a design long delayed--to perform a duty +which he owed to his daughter, and which, if left unaccomplished, would +seriously imperil the prosperity and happiness of her future life. He +was about proceeding to the capital of the Island, to obtain from the +Assembly that special act of grace, which they alone could give; and +which would free his daughter from those degrading disabilities the +Black Code had inflicted upon all of her unfortunate race. Six lines +from the Assembly, with the governors signature attached, though it +might not extinguish the _taint_, nor the _taunt_ of malevolent lips, +would, nevertheless, remove all obstacles to hereditament; and Kate +Vaughan could then become the heiress to her own father's property, +without fear of failure. + +To sue for this act and obtain it was the purpose of that journey upon +which Loftus Vaughan was on the eve of setting forth. He had no +apprehension of a failure. Had he been only a book-keeper or small +tradesman, he might have been less sanguine of success; but, Custos of +an important precinct, with scores of friends in the Assembly, he knew +that he would only have to ask and it would be given him. + +For all that, he was not setting out in very high spirits. The +unpleasant prospect of having such a long and arduous journey to make +was a source of vexation to him: for the Custos liked an easy life, and +hated the fatigue of travel. + +But there was something besides that dispirited him. For some days past +he had found his health giving way. He had lost appetite, and was +rapidly losing flesh. A constant and burning thirst had seized upon +him, which, from morning to night, he was continually trying to quench. + +The plantation doctor was puzzled with the symptoms, and his +prescriptions had failed in giving relief. Indeed, so obstinate and +_death-like_ was the disease becoming, that the sufferer would have +given up his intention of going to Spanish Town--at least, till a more +fitting time--but for a hope that, in the capital, some experienced +physician might be found who would comprehend his malady and cure it. + +Indulging in this hope, he was determined to set forth at all hazards. + +There was still another incubus upon his spirits, and one, perhaps, that +weighed upon them more heavily than aught else. Ever since the death of +Chakra--or rather, since the glimpse he had got of Chakra's ghost--a +sort of supernatural dread had taken possession of the mind of Loftus +Vaughan. Often had he speculated on that fearful phenomenon, and +wondered what it could have been. Had he alone witnessed the +apparition, he might have got over the awe it had occasioned him: for +then could he have attributed it to an illusion of the senses--a mere +freak of his imagination, excited, as it was at the time, by the +spectacle on the Jumbe Rock. But Trusty had seen the ghost, too! and +Trusty's mind was not one of the imaginative kind. Besides, how could +both be deluded by the same fancy, and at the same instant of time? + +Turn the thing in his own mind as he might, there was something that +still remained inexplicable--something that caused the heart of the +Custos to tingle with fear every time that he thought of Chakra and his +ghost. + +This intermittent awe had oppressed him ever since the day of his visit +to the Jumbe Rock--that day described; for he never went a second time. +Nor yet did he afterwards care to venture alone upon the wooded +mountain. He dreaded a second encounter with that weird apparition. + +In time, perhaps, the fear would have died out, and, in fact, was dying +out--the intervals during which it was not felt becoming gradually more +extended. Loftus Vaughan, though he could never have forgotten the +myal-man, nor the terrible incidents of his death, might have ceased to +trouble himself with the oughts about Chakra's ghost, but for a +circumstance that was reported to him on the day that Smythje sank into +the dead-wood. + +On the afternoon of that day, as Quashie was making his way homeward +through the forest and over the hills, the darkey declared that, on +passing near a noted spot called the Duppy's Hole, he had "see'd de gose +ob ole Chakra!" + +Quashie, on reaching home, announced the fact, with chattering teeth, +and eyes rolling wildly in their sockets; and, though the loutish boy +was only laughed at by his fellow-slaves, the statement made a most +painful impression on the mind of his master--restoring it to the state +of habitual terror that had formerly held possession of it, and from +which it had become only partially relieved. + +The circumstance related by Quashie--still fresh in the thoughts of the +Custos--had contributed not a little to increase that feeling of +dejection and discouragement, under which he suffered at the moment of +setting out upon his proposed expedition. + +Volume Three, Chapter V. + +THE STIRRUP-CUP. + +If Loftus Vaughan was in low spirits, not more joyful seemed his +daughter, as she assisted at that early _dejeuner_. + +On the contrary, a certain sadness overspread the countenance of the +young Creole; as if reflected from the spirit of her father. + +A stranger to the circumstances that surrounded her might have fancied +that it was sympathy--at seeing him so dull and downcast--mingled with +the natural regret she might have at his leaving home, and fop so lone: +an absence. But one who scrutinised more closely could not fail to note +in those fair features an expression of sadness that must have sprung +from a different and deeper source. + +The purpose of her father's journey may, in part, explain the melancholy +that marked the manner of the young Creole. She knew that purpose. She +had learnt it from her father's lips, though only on the evening before. + +Then, for the first time in her life, was she made acquainted with those +adverse circumstances that related to her birth and parentage: for up to +that hour she had remained ignorant of her position, socially as well as +legally. Then, for the first time, was fully explained to her her own +true status in the social scale--the disabilities and degradation under +which she suffered. + +It was to remove these disabilities--and wipe out, as it were, the +degradation--that her father was now going forth. + +The young girl did not fail to feel gratitude; but perhaps the feeling +might have been stronger had her father taken less trouble to make her +sensible of the service he was about to perform--using it as a lever to +remove that reluctance to the union with Smythje which still lingered. + +During the few minutes that Mr Vaughan was engaged in eating his +breakfast, not many words passed between them. The viands, luxurious +enough, were scarce more than tasted. The intended traveller had no +appetite for the solids with which the table was spread, and seemed to +care only for drink. + +After quaffing off several cups of coffee, solely from a desire to +quench thirst, and without eating bread or anything else along with it, +he rose from the table, and prepared to take his departure. + +Mr Trusty entering, announced that the horses and the attendant groom +were ready, and waiting outside. + +The Custos donned his travelling hat, and with the assistance of Kate +and her maid Yola, put on his sleeved cloak: as the air of the early +morning was raw and cold. + +While these final preparations were being made, a mulatta woman was seen +moving about the room--at times acting as an attendant upon the table, +at other times standing silently in the background. She was the slave +Cynthia. + +In the behaviour of this woman there was something peculiar. There was +a certain amount of nervous agitation in her manner as she moved about; +and ever and anon she was seen to make short traverses to different +parts of the room--apparently without errand or object. Her steps, too, +were stealthy, her glances unsteady and furtive. + +All this would have been apparent enough to a suspicious person; but +none of the three present appeared to notice it. + +The "swizzle" bowl stood on the side-board. While breakfast was being +placed on the table, Cynthia had been seen refilling the bowl with this +delicious drink, which she had mixed in an outside chamber. Some one +asked her why she was performing that, her diurnal duty, at so early an +hour--especially as master would be gone before the time of +swizzle-drinking should arrive: usually during the hotter hours of the +day. + +"P'raps massr like drink ob swizzle 'fore he go," was the explanatory +reply vouchsafed by Cynthy. + +The girl made a successful conjecture. Just as the Custos was about to +step outside for the purpose of descending the stairway, a fit of +choking thirst once more came upon him, and he called for drink. + +"Massr like glass ob swizzle?" inquired Cynthia, stepping up to his +side. "I've mixed for massa some berry good," added she, with +impressive earnestness. + +"Yes, girl," replied her master. "That's the best thing I can take. +Bring me a large goblet of it." + +He had scarce time to turn round, before the goblet was presented to +him, full to the rim. He did not see that the slave's hand trembled as +she held it up, nor yet that her eyes were averted--as if to hinder them +from beholding some fearful sight. + +His thirst prevented him from seeing anything, but that which promised +to assuage it. + +He caught hold of the goblet, and gulped down the whole of its contents, +without once removing it from his lips. + +"You've overrated its quality, girl," said he, returning her the glass. +"It doesn't seem at all good. There's a bitterish taste about it; but I +suppose it's my palate that's out of order, and one shouldn't be +particular about the stirrup-cup." + +With this melancholy attempt at appearing gay, Loftus Vaughan bade adieu +to his daughter, and, climbing into the saddle, rode off upon his +journey. + +Ah! Custos Vaughan! That stirrup-cup was the last you were ever +destined to drink! In the sparkling "swizzle" was an infusion of the +baneful _Savannah flower_. In that deep draught you had introduced into +your veins one of the deadliest of vegetable poisons! + +Chakra's prophecy will soon be fulfilled. The death-spell will now +quickly do its work. In twenty-four hours you will be a corpse! + +Volume Three, Chapter VI. + +THE HORN SIGNAL. + +Cubina, on getting clear of the penn-keeper's precincts, lost little +time in returning to the glade; and, having once more reached the +_ceiba_, seated himself on a log to await the arrival of the young +Englishman. + +For some minutes he remained in this attitude--though every moment +becoming more fidgetty, as he perceived that time was passing, and no +one came. He had not even a pipe to soothe his impatience: for it had +been left in the hammock, into which he had cast it from the cocoa. + +Before many minutes had passed, however, a pipe would have been to +little purpose in restraining his nervous excitement; for the +non-appearance of the young Englishman began to cause him serious +uneasiness. + +What could be detaining him? Had the Jew been awakened? and was he by +some means or other, hindering Herbert from coming out? There was no +reason, that Cubina could think of, why the young man should be ten +minutes later than himself in reaching the _ceiba_. Five minutes--even +the half of it--might have sufficed for him to robe himself in such +garments as were needed; and then, what was to prevent him from +following immediately? Surely, the appeal that had been made to him-- +the danger hinted at to those dear to him, the necessity for haste, +spoken in unmistakable terms--surely, all this would be sufficient to +attract him to the forest, without a moment's hesitation! + +Why, then, was he delaying? + +The Maroon could not make it out: unless under the disagreeable +supposition that the Jew no longer slept, and was intercepting his +egress. + +What if Herbert might have lost his way in proceeding towards the +rendezvous? The path was by no means plain, but the contrary. It was a +mere cattle-track, little used by men. Besides, there were others of +the same--scores of them trending in all directions, crossing and +converging with this very one. The half-wild steers and colts of the +penn-keeper ranged the thickets at will. Their tracks were everywhere; +and it would require a person skilled in woodcraft and acquainted with +the _lay_ of the country, to follow any particular path. It was likely +enough that the young Englishman had strayed. + +Just then these reflections occurred to Cubina. He chided himself for +not thinking of it sooner. He should have stayed by the penn--waited +for Herbert to come out, and then taken the roads along with him. + +"Not to think of that! _Crambo_! how very stupid of me!" muttered the +Maroon, pacing nervously to and fro: for his impatience had long since +started him up from the log. + +"Like enough, he's lost his way? + +"I shall go back along the path. Perhaps I may find him. At all +events, if he's taken the right road, I must meet him." + +And as he said this, he glided rapidly across the glade, taking the back +track towards the penn. + +The conjecture that Herbert had strayed was perfectly correct. The +young Englishman had never revisited the scene of his singular +adventure, since the day that introduced him to the acquaintance of so +many queer people. Not but that he had felt the inclination, amounting +almost to a desire, to do so; and more than once had he been upon the +eve of satisfying this inclination, but, otherwise occupied, the +opportunity had not offered itself. + +Not greatly proficient in forest lore--as Cubina had also rightly +conjectured--especially in that of a West-Indian forest, he had strayed +from the true path almost upon the instant of entering upon it; and was +at that very moment wandering through the woods in search of the glade +where grew the gigantic cotton-tree! + +No doubt, in the course of time, he might have found it, or perhaps +stumbled upon it by chance, for--made aware, by the earnest invitation +he had received, that time was of consequence--he was quartering the +ground in every direction, with the rapidity of a young pointer in his +first season with the gun. + +Meanwhile the Maroon glided rapidly back, along the path leading to the +penn, without seeing aught either of the Englishman or his track. + +He re-entered the ruinate fields of the old sugar estate, and continued +on till within sight of the house, still unsuccessful in his search. + +Proceeding with caution, he stepped over the dilapidated wall of the old +orchard. Caution was now of extreme necessity. It was broad day; and, +but for the cover which the undergrowth afforded him, he could not have +gone a step further without the risk of being seen from the house. + +He reached the ruin from which he had before commanded a view of the +verandah; and, once more stealing a glance over its top, he obtained a +full view of the long rambling corridor. + +Jessuron was in it--not as when last seen, asleep in his armchair, but +on foot, and hurrying to and fro, with quick step and excited mien. + +His black-bearded overseer was standing by the stair, as if listening to +some orders which the Jew was issuing. + +The hammock was still hanging in its place, but its collapsed sides +showed that it was empty. Cubina could see that, but no signs of its +late occupant--neither in the gallery nor about the buildings. + +If still there, he must be in some of the rooms? But that one which +opened nearest the hammock, and which Cubina conjectured to be his +bedroom, appeared to be unoccupied. Its door stood ajar, and no one +seemed to be inside. + +The Maroon was considering whether he should stay a while longer upon +the spot, and watch the movements of the two men, when it occurred to +him that if the young man had gone out, and up the right path, he must +have crossed a track of muddy ground, just outside the garden wall. + +Being so near the house--and in the expectation of seeing something +there to explain Herbert's delay--he had not stayed to examine this on +his second approach. + +Crouching cautiously among the trees, he now returned to it; and, almost +at the first glance, his eye revealed to him the truth. + +A fresh footprint was in the mud, with its heel to the house, and its +toe pointing to the path! It was not his own: it must be that of the +young Englishman! + +He traced the tracks as far as they could be distinguished; but that was +only to the edge of the damp earth. Beyond, the ground was dry and +firm--covered with a close-cropped carpet of grass, upon which the hoof +of a horse would scarcely have left an impression. + +The tracks, however, on leaving the moist ground, appeared as if +trending towards the proper path; and Cubina felt convinced that, for +some distance at least, the young Englishman had gone towards the glade. + +That he was no longer by the house was sufficiently certain; and equally +so that he had kept his promise and followed Cubina into the woods. But +where was he now? + +"He may have reached the glade in my absence, and be now waiting for +me!" was the reflection of the Maroon. + +Stimulated by this, as well as by the chagrin which his mischances or +mismanagement were causing him, he started back along the path at a +run--as if struggling in a match against time. + +Far quicker than before he reached the glade, but, as before, he found +it untenanted! _No_ Englishman was under the _ceiba_--no human being in +sight. + +As soon as he had fairly recovered breath, he bethought him of shouting. +His voice might be of avail in guiding the wanderer to the glade; for +Cubina now felt convinced that the young Englishman was straying-- +perhaps wandering through the woods at no great distance from the spot. +His shouts might be heard; and although the stranger might not recognise +the voice, the circumstances were such that he might understand the +object for which it was put forth. + +Cubina shouted, first at a moderate pitch, then hallooed with all the +strength of his lungs. + +No answer, save the wood echoes. + +Again and again: still no response. + +"_Crambo_!" exclaimed he, suddenly thinking of a better means of making +his presence known. "He may hear my horn! He may remember that, and +know it. If he's anywhere within a mile, I'll make him hear it." + +The Maroon raised the horn to his lips and blew a long, loud blast--then +another, and another. + +There was a response to that signal; but not such as the young +Englishman might have been expected to make. Three shrill bugle blasts, +borne back upon the breeze, seemed the echoes of his own. + +But the Maroon knew they were not. On hearing them, he let the horn +drop to his side, and stood in an attitude to listen. + +Another--this time a single wind--came from the direction of the former. + +"Three and one," muttered the Maroon; "it's Quaco. He needn't have +sounded the last, for I could tell his _tongue_ from a thousand. He's +on his way back from Savanna-la-Mer--though I didn't expect him to +return so soon. So much the better--I may want him." + +On finishing the muttered soliloquy, the Maroon captain stood as if +considering. + +"_Crambo_!" he muttered after a pause, and in a tone of vexation. "What +has become of this young fellow? I must sound again--lest Quaco's horn +may have misled him. This time, lieutenant, hold your tongue!" + +So saying, and speaking as if the "lieutenant" was by his side, he +raised the horn once more to his lips, and blew a single blast--giving +it an intonation quite different from the others. + +After an interval of silence, he repeated the call in notes exactly +similar, and then, after another pause, once again. + +To none of these signals did the "tongue" of Quaco make reply; but +shortly after, that worthy responded to the original summons by +presenting himself _in propria persona_. + +Volume Three, Chapter VII. + +QUACO'S QUEER ENCOUNTER. + +Quaco came into the glade carrying a large bundle upon his back--under +which he had trudged all the way from Savanna-la-Mer. + +He was naked to the breech-cloth--excepting the hog-skin greaves upon +his shanks, and the old brimless hat upon his head. This, however, was +all the costume Quaco ever wore--all, indeed, that he owned; for, +notwithstanding that he was the lieutenant, his uniform was no better +than that of the meanest private of the band. + +His captain, therefore, exhibited no surprise at the scantiness of +Quaco's clothing; but what did surprise Cubina was the air with which he +entered the glade, and some other circumstances that at once arrested +his attention. + +The skin of the colossus was covered with a white sweat that appeared to +be oozing from every pore of his dark epidermis. This might have been +occasioned by his long walk--the last hour of it under a broiling sun, +and carrying weight, as he was: for the bag upon his back appeared a +fifty-pounder, at least, to say nothing of a large musket balanced upon +the top of it. + +None of these circumstances, however, would account for that +inexplicable expression upon his countenance--the wild rolling of his +yellow eyeballs--the quick, hurried step, and uncouth gesticulations by +which he was signalising his approach. + +Though, as already stated, they had arrested the attention of his +superior, the latter, accustomed to a certain reserve in the presence of +his followers, pretended not to notice them. As his lieutenant came up, +he simply said:-- + +"I am glad you are come, Quaco." + +"An' a'm glad, Cappin Cubina, I've foun' ye har. War hurryin' home fass +as my legs cud carry me, 'spectin' to find ye thar." + +"Ha!" said Cubina; "some news, I suppose. Have you met anyone in the +woods--that young Englishman from the Jew's penn? I'm expecting him +here. He appears to have missed the way." + +"Han't met no Englishman, Cappin. Cussos Vaughan am that--I'se a met +_him_!" + +"_Crambo_!" cried Cubina, starting as he uttered the exclamation. +"You've met Custos Vaughan? When and where?" + +"When--dis mornin'. Where--'bout fo' mile b'yond the crossin' on the +Carrion Crow road. That's where I met _him_." + +The emphasis upon the last word struck upon the ear of Cubina. It +seemed to imply that Quaco, on his route, had encountered others. + +"Anybody else, did you meet?" he inquired, hurriedly, and with evident +anxiety as to the answer. + +"Ya-as, Cappin," drawled out the lieutenant, with a coolness strongly in +contrast with his excited manner on entering the glade. But Quaco saw +that his superior was waiting for the coming of the young Englishman, +and that he need not hurry the communication he was about to make. +"Ya-as, I met ole Plute, the head driver at Moun' Welcome. He was +ridin' 'longside o' the Cussos, by way o' his escort." + +"Nobody else?" + +"Not jess then," answered Quaco, evidently holding back the most +interesting item of news he had to communicate. "Not jess then, Cappin +Cubina." + +"But afterwards? Speak out, Quaco! Did you meet anyone going on the +same road?" + +The command, with the impatient gesture that accompanied it, brought +Quaco to a quicker confession than he might have volunteered. + +"I met, Cappin Cubina," said he, his cheeks bulging with the importance +of the communication he was about to make, while his eyes rolled like +"twin jelly balls" in their sockets--"I met next, not a _man_, but a +_ghost_!" + +"A ghost?" said Cubina, incredulously. "A duppy, I sw'ar by the great +Accompong--same as I saw before--the ghost of ole Chakra!" + +The Maroon captain again made a start, which his lieutenant attributed +to surprise at the announcement he had made. + +Cubina did not undeceive him as to the cause. + +"And where?" interrogated he, in hurried phrase. "Where did you meet +the ghost?" + +"I didn't zackly meet it," answered Quaco. "I only seed it on the road +afore me--'bout a hundred yards or tharaway. I wor near enuf to be sure +o' it--and it was Chakra's ghost--jess as I seed him t'other day up thar +by the Duppy Hole. The old villain can't sleep in his grave. He's +about these woods yet." + +"How far was it from where you met Mr Vaughan?" + +"Not a great way, Cappin. 'Bout a quarrer o' a mile, I shed think. +Soon as it spied me, it tuk to the bushes, and I seed no more on it. It +was atter daylight, and the cocks had crowed. I heard 'em crowing at +ole Jobson's plantation close by, and, maybe, that sent the duppy +a-scuttlin' into the river." + +"We must wait no longer for this young man--we must be gone from here, +Quaco." + +And as Cubina expressed this intention, he appeared about to move away +from the spot. + +"Stop, Cappin," said Quaco, interrupting with a gesture that showed he +had something more to communicate; "you han't heard all. I met more of +'em." + +"More of whom?" + +"That same queer sort. But two mile atter I'd passed the place where I +seed the duppy o' the ole myal-man, who dye think I met nex'?" + +"Who?" inquired Cubina, half guessing at the answer. + +"Them debbil's kind--like enough company for the duppy--them dam' +Spaniards of de Jew's penn." + +"Ah! _maldito_!" cried the Maroon captain, in a voice of alarm, at the +same time making a gesture as if a light had suddenly broken upon him. +"The Spaniards, you say! They, too, after him! Come, Quaco, down with +that bundle! throw it in the bush--anywhere! there's not a moment to be +lost. I understand the series of encounters you have had upon the road. +Luckily, I've brought my gun, and you yours. We may need them both +before night. Down with the bundle, and follow me!" + +"Stop and take me with you," cried a voice from the edge of the glade; +"I have a gun, too." + +And at the same moment the young Englishman, with his gun upon his +shoulder, was seen emerging from the underwood and making towards the +_ceiba_. + +Volume Three, Chapter VIII. + +AN UNCLE IN DANGER. + +"You appear to be in great haste, Captain Cubina," said Herbert, +advancing in double-quick time. "May I know what's the matter? +Anything amiss?" + +"Amiss, Master Vaughan? Much, indeed. But we shouldn't stand to talk. +We must take the road to Savannah, and at once." + +"What! you want me to go to Savannah? I'm with you for any reasonable +adventure; but my time's not exactly my own, and I must first have a +reason for such a journey." + +"A good reason, Master Vaughan. Your uncle, the Custos, is in trouble." + +"Ah!" exclaimed the young Englishman, with an air of disappointment. +"Not so good a reason as you may think, Captain. Was it he you meant +when you said, just now, one who _should be_ dear to me was in danger?" + +"It was," answered Cubina. + +"Captain Cubina," said Herbert, speaking with a certain air of +indifference, "this uncle of mine but little deserves my interference." + +"But his life's in danger!" urged the Maroon, interrupting Herbert in +his explanation. + +"Ah!" ejaculated the nephew, "do you say that? If his life's in danger, +then--" + +"Yes," said the Maroon, again interrupting him, "and _others_, too, may +be in peril from the same enemy--yourself, perhaps, Master Vaughan. Ay, +and maybe those that might be dear to you as yourself." + +"Ha!" exclaimed Herbert--this time in a very different tone of voice, +"you have some evil tidings, Captain! pray tell me all at once." + +"Not now, Master Vaughan, not now! There's not a moment to be wasted in +talk; we must take the route at once. I shall tell you as we go along." + +"Agreed, then," cried Herbert. "If it's a life and death matter, I'm +with you--even to Savannah! No _book-keeping_ to-day, Master Jessuron, +and--" (the speaker only mentally pronounced the name) "Judith may well +spare me for one day--especially for such a purpose as the saving of +lives. All right; I'm with you, Captain Cubina." + +"_Vamos_!" cried the Maroon, hastily moving off. "For want of horses we +must make our legs do double-quick time. These skulking scoundrels have +sadly got the start of us." + +And saying this, he struck into the up-hill path, followed by Herbert-- +the taciturn lieutenant, no longer embarrassed by his bundle, keeping +close in the rear. + +The path Cubina had chosen appeared to conduct to Mount Welcome. + +"You are not going _there_?" inquired Herbert, in a significant way, at +the same time stopping, and appealing to his conductor for an answer. + +It had just occurred to the nephew that a visit to his uncle's house +might place him in a position both unpleasant and embarrassing. + +"No!" answered the Maroon; "there is no longer any need for us to go to +the house: since the Custos has left it long hours ago. We could learn +nothing there more than I know already. Besides, it's half a mile out +of our way. We should lose time; and that's the most important of all. +We shall presently turn out of this path, into one that leads over the +mountain by the Jumbe Rock. That's the shortest way to the Savannah +road. _Vamos_!" + +With this wind-up to his speech, the Maroon again moved on; and Herbert, +his mind now at rest, strode silently after. + +Up to this time the young Englishman had received no explanation of the +object of the journey he was in the act of undertaking; nor had he asked +any. The information, though as yet only covertly conveyed--that those +dear to him were in danger--was motive enough for trusting the Maroon. + +Before long, however, it occurred to him that he ought to be informed of +the nature of that danger; over whom it impended; and what was the +signification of the step they were now taking to avert it. + +These questions he put to his conductor, as they hastened together along +the path. + +In hurried phrase the Maroon made known to him much, though not all, of +what he himself knew of the position of affairs--more especially of the +peril in which the Custos appeared to be placed. He gave an account of +his own descent into the Duppy's Hole; of the conversation he had +overheard there; and, though still ignorant of the motives, stated his +suspicions of the murderous plot in which Herbert's own employer was +playing a principal part. + +It is needless to say that the young Englishman was astounded by these +revelations. + +Perhaps he would have been still more astonished, but that the +development of these wicked dealings was only a confirmation of a whole +series of suspicious circumstances that for some days before had been +constantly coming under his notice, and for which he had been vainly +seeking an explanation. + +From that moment all thoughts of returning to dwell under the roof of +Jacob Jessuron vanished from his mind. To partake of the hospitality of +such a man--a murderer, at least by intent--was completely out of the +question. He at once perceived that his fine sinecure situation must be +given up; and, despite the scandal his desertion might bring about, he +could never again make his home in the Happy Valley. Even the +fascinations of the fair Judith would not be strong enough to attract +him thither. + +Cubina listened to these resolves, and apparently with great +satisfaction. But the Maroon had not yet made known to Herbert many +other secrets, of which he had become the depository; and some of which +might be to the young Englishman of extremest interest. The +communication of these he reserved to a future opportunity--when time +might not be so pressing. + +Herbert Vaughan, now apprised of the peril in which his uncle stood, for +the time forgot all else, and only thought of pressing onward to his +aid. Injuries and insults appeared alike forgotten and forgiven--even +that which had stung him more sharply than all--the cold, chilling bow +at the Smythje ball. + +Beyond the Jumbe Rock, and at no great distance from the by-path by +which they were travelling, lay the proper country of the Maroons. By +winding a horn, it might have been heard by some of the band; who at +that hour would, no doubt, be engaged in their usual occupation--hunting +the wild hog. + +Cubina knew this; and, on arriving at that point on the path nearest to +his town, he halted, and stood for a moment reflecting. + +Then, as if deeming himself sufficiently strong in the companionship of +the robust young Englishman and the redoubtable lieutenant, he gave up +the idea of calling any of them to his assistance; and once more moved +forward along the route towards the Savannah road. + +Volume Three, Chapter IX. + +AN EQUESTRIAN EXCURSION. + +Throughout the day the penn-keeper kept to his penn. The unexplained +absence of his protege rendered it prudent to postpone his proposed +visit to the minister: besides, Cynthia was expected. + +From the mulatta he hoped to obtain much information. Her knowledge of +events must be fresher than even that of Chakra--else would he have gone +up to the Duppy's Hole to consult the oracle of Obi. Cynthia would be +likely to know all. She could at least tell him whether the spell had +been administered--how, and when. + +These were facts worth knowing, and Jessuron stayed at home to await the +advent of Cynthia. + +Not so Judith. Devoured by spleen, inaction was too irksome. She could +not content herself in the house; and resolved to seek outside, if not +solace, at least distraction to her thoughts. Shortly after breakfast +she ordered her steed to be saddled, and prepared to set forth. + +Strange it was that he should absent himself on that day above any +other! Just after his uncle had departed on a journey! That was +strange! + +Judith summoned the herdsman who had discovered the tracks in the mud. + +"You are sure it was the track of young Master Vaughan you saw?" + +"Sartin sure, Missa Jessuron--one ob 'em war." + +"And the other? What was _it_ like? Was it also the track of a man?" + +"Ya, missa; 'twar a man's track--leastwise, I nebber seed a woman track +big as dat 'ere. Sartin de sole dat make it wor de fut ob a man, though +it wa'n't the boot ob a gen'l'man like young Massa Vaughan." + +Whip in hand, the Jewess stood reflecting. + +A messenger might it be? From whom, if not from Kate Vaughan? With +whom else was he acquainted? Such strange conditions of relationship! +The mysterious mode by which the messenger must have approached him: for +fresh mud upon the bark of the tree told that he who had climbed up must +have been the same who had made the footmarks by the garden wall. The +articles found in the hammock had been flung down to awake and warn the +sleeper. + +Clearly a secret message, delivered by a crafty messenger! Clearly a +surreptitious departure! + +And the motive for all this? No common one?--it could not be. No +errand after game. The fowling-piece was gone; but that was no evidence +of an intention to spend the day in sporting. Herbert was in the habit +of taking his gun, whenever he strolled out into the fields or forest. +But the other and necessary paraphernalia had been left behind! A +shooting excursion? Nothing of the sort! + +A messenger with a love message--a summons willingly accepted--promptly +responded to! + +"Oh, if it be!" cried the proud, passionate woman, as she sprang upon +the back of her steed; "if it be, I shall know it! I shall have +revenge!" + +The horse came in for a share of this jealous indignation. A spiteful +cut of the whip, and a fierce "dig" from her spurred heel, set the +animal in rapid motion--his head towards the hills. + +Judith Jessuron was a splendid equestrian, and could manage a horse as +well as the best breaker about her father's penn. + +In the saddle she was something to be seen and admired: her brilliant +beauty, enhanced by the charm of excitement, exhibiting itself in the +heightened colour of her cheeks, and the stronger flashing of her dark +Jewish eyes. The outline of her form was equally attractive. Of full +womanly development, and poised in the saddle with an air of piquant +_abandon_, it illustrated the curve of Hogarth in all its luxuriant +gracefulness. Such a spectacle was calculated to elicit something more +than ordinary admiration; and it required a heart already pre-occupied +to resist its fascinations. If Herbert Vaughan had escaped them, it +could only have been from having his heart thus defended from a danger +that few men might have tempted with a chance of safety! + +Galloping across the old garden, with a single leap she cleared the +ruined wall; and, arriving at the spot where were still to be seen those +tell-tale tracks, she reined up, and leaned over to examine them. + +Yes--that was his track--his small foot was easily distinguished! The +other? There it was--the footprint of a negro--pegged brogans! White +men do not wear them. Some of the slave people of Mount Welcome? But +why twice back and forward? Was not once sufficient? Had there been a +double message? There might have been--a warning, and afterwards an +appointment! + +Perhaps, to meet in the forest? Ha! perhaps at that moment! + +The bitter conjecture brought her reflections to an abrupt ending; and, +once more plying whip and spur, the jealous equestrian dashed rapidly +on, up the sloping path that trended towards the hills. + +The purpose of this expedition, on the part of the Jewess, was +altogether indefinite. It simply sprang from that nervous impatience +that would not permit her to rest--a faint hope that during her ride she +might discover some clue to the mysterious disappearance. Wretchedness +might be the reward of that ride. No matter! Uncertainty was +unendurable. + +She did not go exactly in the direction of Mount Welcome, though thither +went her thoughts. She had never been a guest of the Custos, and +therefore had no colourable excuse for presenting herself at the +mansion--else she would have ridden direct to it. + +Her design was different. + +Though she might not approach the house, she could reconnoitre it from a +distance; and this had she determined upon doing. + +She had fixed upon the Jumbe Rock as the best point of observation. She +knew that its summit commanded a bird's-eye view of Mount Welcome +estate, lying under the mountain like a spread map, and that any +movement by the mansion, or in the surrounding inclosures, might be +minutely marked--especially with the aid of a powerful _lorgnette_, with +which she had taken the precaution to provide herself. + +With this intent did she head her horse towards the Jumbe Rock--urging +the animal with fierce, fearless energy up the difficult acclivity of +the mountain. + +Volume Three, Chapter X. + +SMYTHJE AMONG THE STATUES. + +At that hour, when the heart of Judith Jessuron was alternately torn by +the passions of love and jealousy, a passion equally profound, though +apparently more tranquil, was burning in the breast of Lilly Quasheba, +inspired by the same object--Herbert Vaughan. + +In vain had the young creole endeavoured to think indifferently of her +cousin: in vain had she striven to reconcile her love with what her +father had taught her to deem her duty, and think differently of Mr +Smythje--in vain. The effort only ended in a result the very opposite +to that intended--in strengthening her passion for the former, and +weakening her regard for the latter. And thus must it ever be with the +heart's inclinings, as well as its disinclinings. Curbed or opposed, it +is but its instinct in both cases to rebel. + +From that hour in which Kate had yielded to the will of her father, and +consented to become the wife of Montagu Smythje, she felt more sensibly +than ever the sacrifice she was about to make. But there were none to +step forth and save her--no strong hand and stout heart to rescue her +from her painful position. It had now become a compromise; and, +summoning all the strength of her soul, she awaited the unhappy issue +with such resignation as she could command. + +She had but one thought to cheer her, if cheer it could be called--she +had not sacrificed her _filial_ affection. She had performed the wishes +of her father--that father who, however harsh he might be to others, had +been ever kind and affectionate to her. Now, more than ever, did she +feel impressed with his kindness, when she considered the errand on +which he had gone forth. + +Though thus resigned, or trying to feel so, she could neither stifle her +passion for Herbert, nor conceal the melancholy which its hopelessness +occasioned; and during all that morning, after her father had left her, +the shadow appeared upon her countenance with more than its wonted +darkness. + +Her lover--that is, her _fiance_--for Smythje now stood to her in that +relationship--did not fail to observe her unusual melancholy, though +failing to attribute it to the true cause. + +It was natural that the young lady should feel sad at the absence of her +worthy parent, who for many years had never been separated from her +beyond the period of a few hours' duration, or, at most, a single day. +She would soon get used to it, and then all would be right again. + +With some such reflections did Smythje account for the abstraction which +he had observed in the behaviour of his betrothed. + +During all the morning he had been assiduous in his attentions--more +than wontedly so. He had been left by the Custos in a proud position-- +that of _protector_--and he was desirous of showing how worthy he was of +the trust reposed in him. + +Alas! in the opinion of Kate he was by far too assiduous. + +The _protegee_ felt importuned; and his most well-meant attentions had +the effect only to weary her. Too glad would she have been to be left +alone to her sighs and her sadness. + +Shortly after breakfast, Smythje proposed a stroll--a short one. He had +no zest for toilsome excursions; and, since the day of his shooting +adventure, no zeal again to attempt any distant traverse of the forest. + +The stroll was only to extend to the shrubbery and among the statues set +there. The weather was temptingly fine. There was no reason why Kate +Vaughan should refuse; and, with a mechanical air, she acceded to the +proposal. + +Smythje discussed the statues, drawing largely from the stock of classic +lore which his University had afforded him--dilating more especially on +those of Venus, Cupid, and Cleopatra, all suggestive of the tender +sentiments that were stirring within his own romantic bosom, and to +which, more than once, he took occasion to allude. Though narrowly did +he watch to see what effect his fine speeches were producing, he failed +to perceive any that gave him gratification. The countenance of his +companion obstinately preserved that air of pre-occupation that had been +visible upon it all the morning. + +In the midst of one of his scholastic dissertations, the classical +exquisite was interrupted by the advent of his valet, Thoms--who +appeared coming from the house with the air of a servant who brings a +message for his master. + +The message was declared: a gentleman friend of Mr Smythje--for he had +now many such in the Island--had called to see him. No particular +business--merely a call of compliment. + +The name was given. It was one which should be honoured by a polite +reception; else the proud owner of Montagu Castle might have declined +leaving the company in which he was upon so trivial a purpose. But the +visitor was one of note--a particular friend, too. Miss Vaughan would +not deem him rude, leaving her only for a moment? + +"By no means," said Kate, with a free haste that almost said as much as +that she was only too glad to get quit of him. + +Smythje followed his valet into the house; and the young Creole was left +among the statues alone--herself the fairest shape in all that classical +collection. + +Volume Three, Chapter XI. + +A STRANGE DETERMINATION. + +For some moments after Smythje was gone, Kate Vaughan remained where he +had left her--silent and motionless as the sculptured marbles by her +side. Niobe was near; and, as if by accident, the eyes of the young +Creole turned upon the statue of the weeping daughter of Dione. + +"Ah!" muttered she, struck with a strange thought; "unhappy mother of a +murdered offspring! If thy sadness was hard to endure as mine, thy +punishment must have been a pleasure. Would that I, like thee, were +suddenly turned into stone. Ah, me!" + +And finishing her apostrophe with a profound sigh, she stood for some +time silently gazing upon the statue. + +After a while her thoughts underwent some change; and along with it her +eyes wandered away from the statues and the shrubbery. Her glance was +turned upward towards the mountain, and rested upon its summit--the +Jumbe Rock now glittering gaily under the full sheen of the sunlight. + +"There," soliloquised she, in a low murmur, "upon that rock, and there +only, have I felt one hour of true happiness--that happiness of which I +have read in books of romance, without believing in; but which I now +know to be real--to gaze into the eyes of him you love, and think, as I +then thought, that you are loved in return. Oh! it was bliss! it was +bliss!" + +The remembrance of that brief interview with her cousin--for it was to +that her words referred--came so forcibly before the mind of the +impassioned young Creole as to stifle her utterance, and for a moment or +two she was silent. + +Again she continued--"An hour, have I said? Ah! scarce a minute did the +sweet delusion last; but had I my choice I would rather live that minute +over again, than all the rest of my past life--certainly, than all of it +that is to come!" Again she paused in her speech, still gazing upon the +rock--whose sparkling surface seemed purposely presented to her eyes, as +if to cheer her heart with the sweet _souvenir_ it recalled. + +"Oh! I wonder," she exclaimed at length, "I wonder how it would be, +were I but up there again! To stand on the spot where I stood! Could I +fancy him, as then, beside me? Could I recall the look he gave me, and +my own sweet thoughts as I returned it? Oh! it would be like some +delicious dream!" + +Passion again called for a pause; but soon after, her reflections found +speech. + +"And why should I not indulge in it? why not? What harm can it do me? +Even if the _souvenir_ should bring sadness, it cannot add to that which +now overwhelms me. No; I need not fear to tempt the trial; and I shall. +This very hour shall I go up and stand upon that same spot. There +shall I invoke the past, and give to memory, to fancy, its fullest play. +I need not fear. There will be no witness but the heaven above and the +God who dwells in it--alike witness to the sacrifice of a broken heart +made in the fulfilment of my duty." + +On completing this impassioned speech, the young girl raised a kerchief +of white cambric which she carried in her hand, and hastily adjusting it +over the luxuriant plaits of her hair, glided towards the rear of the +mansion. + +She did not turn aside to enter the house, nor even to warn any one of +her sudden determination, but, hastening on, soon reached the back of +the garden. + +There a small wicket-gate gave her egress into the woods--a path from +that point trending in traverses, zigzag fashion, up the mountain slope. + +It was the same path she had followed upon the day of the eclipse; but +how different were the thoughts that now agitated her bosom from those +she had indulged in upon that memorable occasion! Even then, it is +true, her spirits were far from being cheerful; but still there was hope +ahead. She had not then arrived at the full knowledge of Herbert's +indifference towards her--of his determination towards her more +fortunate rival. The circumstances that had since transpired--the +scenes that had come under her own observation--the rumours heard and +too substantially confirmed--all had combined to extinguish that little +gleam of hope so faint and feebly flickering. + +Indeed, there was upon that very morning a new thought in her mind, +calculated still further to render her sad and humiliated. + +The revelations which her father had made before starting on his +journey--the admissions as to the inferiority of her race, and +contingently of her social rank, which he had been compelled to make-- +had produced, and no wonder, a painful impression upon the spirits of +the quinteroon. + +She could not help asking herself whether Herbert's disregard of her had +aught to do with this? Was it possible that her own cousin was +slighting her on account of this social distinction? Did he, too, feel +shy of the _taint_? More than once during that day had she mentally put +these interrogatories without being able to determine whether they +merited a negative or affirmative answer. + +And what was her errand now? To resuscitate within her soul the memory +of one moment of bliss--to weave still more inextricably around her +heart the spell that was threatening to strangle it--to stifle the +happiness of her whole life. + +But that was already gone. There could be no daring now--no danger +worth dread. + +The zigzag path she ascended with free step and air undaunted--her fair, +bright form gleaming, meteor-like, amid the dark-green foliage of the +forest. + +Volume Three, Chapter XII. + +A JEALOUS RECONNOISSANCE. + +The ravine leading up the rear of the Jumbe Rock--the only way by which +its summit could be reached--though easily scaled by a pedestrian, was +not practicable for a person on horseback. + +On reaching the base of the cliff the jealous equestrian dismounted, +made fast her bridle to the branch of a tree, and, after unbuckling the +little spur and removing it from her heel, continued the ascent _a +pied_. + +Arrived at the summit she took her stand near the edge of the platform, +in a position that commanded an unbroken view of the mansion of Mount +Welcome, its shrubberies and surroundings. + +Satisfied with the situation, she instantly commenced her +_reconnoissance_. + +She did not at first make use of her _lorgnette_. + +Any human figures that might be moving around the house could be seen by +the naked eye. It would be time enough to use the magnifying lens +should there be a difficulty of identifying them. + +For some moments after she had taken her stand no one made appearance +near or around the dwelling. A complete tranquillity reigned over the +spot. A pet _axis_ deer skipping over the lawn, some pea-fowl moving +amidst the shrubbery of the _parterre_--their purple gorgets gaily +glittering in the sun--were the only objects animate that could be seen +near the house. + +Farther off in the fields gangs of negroes were at work among the cane, +with what appeared to be a white overseer moving in their midst. These +had no interest for the observer upon the rock; and her eye, scarce +resting on them for a second, returned to scan the inclosed space +approximate to the dwelling, in the hope of there seeing something-- +form, incident, or scene--that might give her some clue to the mystery +of the morning. + +In respect to the former, she was not disappointed. Forms, scenes, and +incidents were all offered in succession; and though they did but little +to elucidate the enigma which had carried her to that aerial post of +observation, they had the effect of calming, to some extent, the jealous +thought that was distressing her. + +First she saw a gentleman and lady step out from the house and take +their stand among the statues. At the sight she felt a slight flutter +of uneasiness; until through the _lorgnette_ she looked upon +hay-coloured hair and whiskers, enabling her to identify the owner as +Smythje. This gave her a species of contentment; and her jealous spirit +was still further tranquillised when the glass revealed to her the +features of Kate Vaughan overspread with an expression of extreme +sadness. + +"Good!" muttered the delighted spy; "that tells a tale. She cannot have +seen him? Surely not, or she would not be looking so woe-begone?" + +At this moment another figure was seen approaching across the _parterre_ +towards the two who stood among the statues. It was that of a man in a +dark dress. Herbert Vaughan wore that colour. + +With a fresh flutter of uneasiness, the _lorgnette_ was carried back to +the eye. + +"Bah! it is not he. A fellow with a common face--a servant, I suppose. +Very likely the valet I've heard of! He has brought some message from +the house. Ha! they're going in again. No, only the master. She +stays. Odd enough he should leave her alone! So much for your +politeness, Mr Montagu Smeithjay!" + +And, with a sneering laugh as she pronounced the name, the fair spy +again took the glass from her eye, and appeared for a moment to give way +to the gratification which she had drawn from what she had succeeded in +observing. + +Certainly there were no signs of the presence of Herbert Vaughan about +the precincts of Mount Welcome, nor anything to indicate that he had had +an interview with his cousin. If so, it must have ended just as the +Jewess might have wished: since the expression observable on the +countenance of Kate showed anything but the traces of a reconciliation. + +Pleased to contemplate her in this melancholy mood, her jealous rival +again raised the glass to her eye. + +"Ha!" she exclaimed on the instant. "Whatever is the nigger doing in +front of the statue? She appears to be talking to it. An interesting +dialogue, I do declare! Ha! ha! ha! Perhaps she is worshipping it? +Ha! ha! She seems as much statue as it. `Patience upon a monument, +smiling'--Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Ah, now," resumed the hilarious observer, still gazing through the +glass, "she turns from the statue. As I live, she is looking up this +way! She cannot see me? No, not with the naked eye. Besides, there is +only my head and hat above the edge of the rock. She won't make them +out. How steadfastly she looks this way! A smile upon her face! That, +or something like it! One might fancy she was thinking of that pretty +scene up here, the interesting tableau--Smythje on his knee. Ha! ha! +ha!" + +"Ah! what now?" she continued, interrogatively; at the same time +suddenly ceasing from her laughter, as she saw the young creole adjust +the scarf over her head, and glide towards the back of the house. "What +can it mean? She appears bent on an excursion! Alone, too! Yes, +alone, as if she intended it! See! she passes the house with stealthy +step--looks towards it, as if fearing some one to come forth and +interrupt her! Through the garden!--through the gate in the wall! Ha! +she's coming up the mountain!" + +As the Jewess made this observation, she stepped a pace forward upon the +rock, to gain a better view. The _lorgnette_ trembled as she held it to +her eye: her whole frame was quivering with emotion. + +"Up the mountain!" muttered she. "Yes, up the mountain! And for what +purpose? To meet--Herbert Vaughan?" + +A half-suppressed scream accompanied the thought: while the glass, +lowered by her side, seemed ready to fall from her fingers. + +Volume Three, Chapter XIII. + +A SPY IN AMBUSH. + +You have seen a proud bird, whose wing has been broken by the fatal +bullet, drop helpless to the earth? + +So fell the heart of Judith Jessuron from the high confidence that but +the moment before had been buoying it up. + +The sight of Kate Vaughan coming up the mountain path at once robbed it +of exultation--even of contentment. + +What errand could the young Creole have up there, unless that of an +assignation? And with whom, but the man who was so mysteriously +missing? + +Her surreptitious departure from the dwelling--the time chosen, when +Smythje was out of the way--her quick gait and backward glances as she +stole through the shrubbery: all indicated a fear of being seen and +followed. + +And why should she fear either, if bent upon an ordinary errand? Mr +Smythje was not her father, nor, as yet, her husband. Why should she +care to conceal her intentions from him: unless indeed they were +clandestine, and pointing to that very purpose which the jealous Jewess +had conjectured--a rendezvous with Herbert Vaughan? + +Judith felt convinced of it--so fully that, as soon as she saw the young +Creole fairly started up the sloping path, she glided to the rear edge +of the platform, and looked down, expecting to see the other party to +the assignation. + +True, she saw no one; but this did little to still the agitation now +vibrating through every nerve of her body. _He_ was not in sight, but +that signified not. Perhaps he was at that moment within hearing, and +might be seen, but for the forest screen that covered the _facade_ of +the mountain? + +Where was it their design to meet? Where had they named their +appointment? + +Judith did not doubt that there was design--jealousy did not stay to ask +the question. She was convinced that an arrangement had been made, and +on that very morning. What else could be the meaning of the double +message? First, to demand a meeting; secondly to appoint the place. +Yes, that would explain the repetition of those footmarks--that had gone +twice to and fro. + +What spot had they chosen for the scene of their clandestine encounter? + +A sudden apprehension seized upon the spy. She might lose sight of +them; and then they would enjoy their meeting in secret and +uninterrupted. By Heavens, that must not be! Her spirit, now roused to +the extreme pitch of jealousy, cared not for consequences. End as the +scene might, she was resolved on its interruption. + +The only chance of discovering the place of assignation would be to keep +Kate Vaughan in sight. Perhaps Herbert was already there waiting for +her? He would be there. The lover is always first upon the ground! + +Obedient to this thought, the Jewess rushed back across the platform; +and once more directed her glance down the mountain. + +She saw what she looked for: the snow-white snood, easily +distinguishable among the dark-green foliage--now hidden as the wearer +walked under the tall trees--again appearing at the open angles where +the road zigzagged. + +Most of the path could be seen from the summit of the rock: for, +although rarely used, it had once been cleared by the axe, and formed an +open tract through the timber, narrow, but perceptible from above. + +Judith, still marking the movements of the kerchief, swept the path with +her glance and her glass--up to the point where it reached the base of +the rock and ran round to the rear. Repeatedly she scanned the track, +far in advance of the climber, expecting to see some one appear--Herbert +Vaughan, of course. + +If aught showed among the trees--a bird fluttering in the foliage, +frayed by the approach of the gentle intruder--the heart of the jealous +Jewess experienced a fresh spasm of pain. Though certain she was soon +to see it, she dreaded to behold the first blush of that clandestine +encounter. To see them come together, perhaps rush into each other's +arms, their lips meeting in the kiss of mutual love--oh, agony +unendurable! + +As she surmised the scene before her fancy, for a moment her proud +spirit shrank, quailed, and cowed within her, and her form of bold, +noble development shook like a fragile reed. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Up the steep, with springy step, climbed the young Creole, lightly as a +bird upon the wing, unconscious that she was observed, and, of all +others, by the rival she had most reason to dread. + +After completing the numerous windings of the path, she at length +arrived within some twenty paces of the rock--where the road turned +round to the rear. She knew the way; and, without pausing, kept on till +she stood within the _embouchure_ of the sloping ravine. + +Up to this point the Jewess had marked her every movement, watching her +along the way. Not without some surprise had she perceived her +intention to climb the Jumbe Rock--which by the direction she had taken +was now evident. + +The surprise soon passed, however, with a quick reflection. The summit +of the rock--that place already hallowed by a love scene--was the spot +chosen for the meeting! + +On discovering Kate's determination to ascend the rock, which she had +now divined by seeing her pass round to the rear, the Jewess stayed no +longer upon the platform. That would have necessarily led to an +encounter between the two. Not that Judith would have shunned it, +however awkward, however _contra-tiempo_. + +It was not from any feeling of delicacy that she determined on leaving +the place; on the contrary, the action that followed betrayed a motive +of a very opposite character. + +Just where the ravine debouched upward on the platform, a lateral cleft +opened to one side. Its bottom was but a few feet below the summit +level; covered with a thick growth of evergreen bushes, whose tops, +rising to an equal height with the table above, completely filled the +hollow with their dense frondage. + +The quick eye of Judith Jessuron at once detected the convenience of +this covert. There concealed, she could see without being seen. From +under the grim shadow of those dark evergreens, she could behold what +was like enough to wring her heart: though she was now reckless of the +result. + +Watching her opportunity--when the eyes of the young Creole were turned +downwards--she glided into the lateral ravine, and concealed herself +behind the curtain of leaves. Cowering within the covert, she awaited +the ascent of her rival. + +Amidst the tumult of her emotions, there was no chance to reason calmly. +Suspicion of Herbert's perfidy--for it is not to be denied that the +young man had shown her attentions, or, at all events, had passively +permitted her to think so--suspicion of his faithlessness had now become +certainty. There could be no mistake about the intended meeting between +him and his cousin--at least, so Judith, blinded by her passions, +believed. + +There was Kate coming upon the ground, and Herbert--he would soon be +after! Strange, he had not arrived first! But that had not much +significance. He could not be far off; and, no doubt, would be there in +good time--perhaps, overtake his sweetheart ere she could reach the +summit of the rock? + +Thus ran the reflections of the rival. + +She listened for Herbert's voice--expecting every moment to hear him +hailing from below. + +She cast listless glances down the ravine, in the belief she should +presently see him following frantically upon the footsteps of his +cousin, and chiding himself for not being foremost at the tryst. + +Volume Three, Chapter XIV. + +A FELL PURPOSE DEFEATED. + +Judith had as yet traced out no definite plan of action--trusting to +circumstances to suggest what course she should pursue. + +Only on one thing had she come to a determination--to permit both to +pass up on the rock before showing herself. + +She resolved, as long as possible, to restrain her instinct of revenge. +She would see them meet--be witness of their mutual endearments--be sure +of it; and then would be her time to launch forth into the full torrent +of recrimination. + +Something of this kind was the course she had shaped out for herself-- +still but vaguely, still dependent on chance. + +The young Creole, little suspecting the proximity of her spiteful rival, +ascended the ravine--close passing the spot where the latter was +concealed. Altogether unconscious of being observed, she stepped +lightly upon the platform; and, crossing over, stopped near the opposite +edge--precisely upon the spot where she had stood during the eclipse, +hallowed by such sweet remembrance. + +Undoing the slight knot that had confined the kerchief under her chin, +and holding it in both hands, so as to shade her eyes from the sun, she +stood for some time gazing into the valley below--not the one where lay +the mansion of her father, but that in which dwelt a relative still +dearer. As before, her eyes were bent upon the penn--that sombre pile +which, despite the dim shadows that surrounded it, seemed to her the +brightest spot upon the earth. The sun in the sky above was nothing in +brightness to the light that circled there--the light of Herbert's love. +What would she not have given to have lived in that light? What to +have been that favourite who now basked in it? + +"Would that I could see him once again," she murmured, "before that hour +when we must meet no more: for then even the thought would be a crime! +If I could only see him once--only speak with him, I feel as if I should +tell him all. Though he cannot love me, I am sure he would pity me. +Even that, it seems to me, would soothe--it could not cure. Oh! why did +he, upon this very spot--why those glances I can never forget? I can +see them now--his eyes as they were then, gazing into mine, as if +something passed between us--something that sank into the very depths of +my soul. Oh! Herbert! why did you so regard me? But for that it might +have passed. But now--never! Ah, Herbert! Herbert!" + +In her anguish the young Creole pronounced the last words aloud. + +Only the name was heard by Judith Jessuron; but they fell upon her ear +with fearful effect, piercing through her heart like a poisoned arrow. +If she had any doubts about the purpose of Kate's presence, that word +had decided them. The Creole had now declared it with her own tongue! + +On the instant a thought, dread and dire, commenced taking shape in the +heart of the jealous woman. She felt her bosom stirred to a purpose +bold and black as hell itself. + +That purpose was nothing less than the destruction of her rival--the +death of Kate Vaughan! + +The circumstances suggested the mode. The young Creole was standing +upon the escarpment of the cliff--scarce three feet from its edge. A +slight push from behind would project her into eternity! + +Not much risk either in the committal of the crime. The bushes below +would conceal her body--at least, for a length of time; and, when found, +what would be the verdict? What could it be, but _felo-de-se_? + +The circumstances would give colour to this surmise. Even her own +father might fancy it, as the consequence of his forcing her to be +wedded against her will. Besides, had she not stolen surreptitiously +from the house, taking advantage of an opportunity when no eye was upon +her? + +Other circumstances equally favoured the chances of safety. No one +seemed to know that Kate had come up to the Jumbe Rock; and not a soul +could be aware that she, Judith, was there: for she had neither passed +nor met anyone by the way. + +No eye was likely to be witness of the act. Even though the forms of +the actors might be descried from the valley below, it would be at too +great a distance for anyone to distinguish the character of the +proceeding. Besides, it was one chance in a thousand if any eye should +be accidentally turned towards the summit of the mountain. At that hour +the black labourers in the fields were too busy with their task to be +allowed the freedom of gazing idly upon the Jumbe Rock. + +With a fearful rapidity coursed these thoughts through the mind of the +intending murderess--each adding fresh strength to her horrible purpose, +and causing it to culminate towards the point of execution. + +Her jealousy had long since become a strong passion, to which she had +freely abandoned her soul. Already was it yearning for revenge; and now +that an opportunity seemed to offer for gratifying it, she could no +longer restrain herself. The chance was too tempting--the demoniac +desire became uncontrollable. + +Casting a glance down the ravine to make sure that no one came that way, +and another towards Kate to see that her face was still turned away, +Judith stole softly out of the bushes and mounted upon the rock. + +Silently, as treads the tigress approaching her prey, did she advance +across the platform towards the spot where stood her intended victim, +utterly unconscious of the dread danger that was so nigh. + +Was there no voice to warn her? + +There was--the voice of Smythje! + +"Aw-haw, deaw Kate! that yaw up there on the wock! Aw, ba Jawve! what a +pwecious chase aw've had aftaw yaw! There isn't a bweath left in my +body! Haw! haw!" + +Judith heard the voice, and, like a cheated tigress, was about to +retreat to her lair, when Kate, half facing about, compelled her to keep +her ground. With the suddenness of a thought she had changed her +terrific attitude, and, as the eyes of the Creole rested upon her, she +was standing with her arms hanging negligently downward, in the position +of one who had just stepped forward upon the spot. + +Kate beheld her with surprise, not unmixed with alarm; for the wild look +that still lingered in the eye of the disappointed and balked murderess +could not escape observation. + +Before either could say a word, the voice of Smythje was again heard +speaking from below. + +"Deaw queetyaw, I am coming! Aw shall pwesently be up," continued he; +his voice, constantly changing its direction, proclaiming that he +continued to advance round the rock towards the ravine in the rear. + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Vaughan," said the Jewess, with a sweeping +curtsey and a cynical glance towards Kate; "most emphatically I beg your +pardon. The second time I have intruded upon you in this delightful +place! I assure you my presence here is altogether an accident; and, to +prove that I have no desire to interfere, I shall bid you a very good +morning!" + +So saying, the daughter of Jacob Jessuron turned towards the downward +path, and had disappeared from the platform before Kate could command +words to express either her astonishment or indignation. + +"Ba Jaw-aw-ve!" gasped Smythje, breathless, on reaching the platform. +"Had yaw company up heaw? Shawly aw saw some one gawing out fwom the +wavine--a lady in a widing dwess!" + +"Miss Jessuron has been here." + +"Aw, Miss Jessuwon--that veway wemarkable queetyaw! Gawing to be mawied +to the--yaw cousin, 'tis repawted. Ba Jawve, she'll make the young +fellaw a fine wife, if she dawn't want too much of haw awn way. Haw! +haw! what do yaw think about it, deaw Kate?" + +"I have no thoughts about it, Mr Smythje. Pray let us return home." + +Smythje might have noticed, though without comprehending it, the +anguished tone in which these words were uttered. + +"Aw, veway well. A'm weady to go back. But, deaw Kate, what a womp yaw +are, to be shawr! Yaw thought to pway me a twick, like the young bwide +in the `Misletaw Bough.' Haw! haw! veway amusing! Nevaw mind! Yaw are +not so unfawtunate as that fair queetyaw was. I saw yawr white scarf +amid the gween twees, and that guided me to yaw seqwet hiding-place. +Haw! haw!" + +Little suspected Smythje how very near had been his affianced to a fate +as unfortunate as that of the bride of Lovel--as little as Kate that +Smythje had been her preserver. + +Volume Three, Chapter XV. + +CYNTHIA'S REPORT. + +Cynthia was not slow in responding to the summons of the Jew, who +possessed an influence over her which, if not so powerful, was also less +mysterious than that wielded by the myal-man, since it was the power of +_money_. The mulatta liked money, as most people do, and for the same +reason as most--because it afforded the means for indulging in +dissipation, which with Cynthia was a habit. + +Very easily did she find an opportunity for paying a visit to the penn-- +the more easily that her master was absent. But even had he been at +home, she would have had but little difficulty in framing an excuse, or, +rather, she would have gone without one. + +In the days of which we write, slavery had assumed a very altered phase +in the West Indies--more especially in the Island of Jamaica. The +voices of Wilberforce and Clarkson had already reached the remotest +corners of the Island, and the plantation negroes were beginning to hear +the first mutterings of the emancipation. The slave trade was doomed; +and it was expected that the doom of slavery itself would soon be +declared. + +The black bondsmen had become emboldened by the prospect; and there was +no longer that abject submission to the wanton will of the master, and +the whip of the driver, which had existed of yore. It was not uncommon +for slaves to take "leave of absence" without asking it--often remaining +absent for days; returning without fear of chastisement, and sometimes +staying away altogether. Plantation revolts had become common, +frequently ending in incendiarism and other scenes of the most +sanguinary character; and more than one band of "runaways" had +established themselves in the remote fastnesses of the mountains; where, +in defiance of the authorities, and despite the preventive service-- +somewhat negligently performed by their prototypes, the Maroons--they +preserved a rude independence, partly sustained by pilfering, and partly +by freebooting of a bolder kind. These runaways were, in effect, +playing a _role_, in complete imitation of what, at an earlier period, +had been the _metier_ of the original Maroons; while, as already stated, +the Maroons themselves, employed upon the sage but infamous principle of +"set a thief to catch a thief," had now become the detective police of +the Island. + +Under such conditions of slavery, the bold Cynthia was not the woman to +trouble herself about asking leave of absence, nor to be deterred by any +slight circumstance from taking it; therefore, at an early hour of the +day, almost on the heels of Blue Dick, the messenger, she made her +appearance at the penn. + +Her conference with Jessuron, though it threw no light either on the +whereabouts of the missing book-keeper, or on the cause of his absence, +was not without interest to the Jew, since it revealed facts that gave +him some comfort. + +He had already learnt from Blue Dick that the Custos had started on his +journey, and from Cynthia he now ascertained the additional fact, that +before starting he _had taken the spell_. It had been administered in +his _stirrup-cup_ of "swizzle." + +This intelligence was the more gratifying, in view of the apprehensions +which the Jew was beginning to feel in regard to his Spanish _employes_. +If the spell should do its work as quickly as Chakra had said, these +worthies would be anticipated in the performance of their dangerous +duty. + +Another important fact was communicated by Cynthia. She had seen Chakra +that morning--just after her master had taken his departure. There had +been an arrangement between her and the myal-man to meet at their usual +trysting-place--contingent on the setting out of the Custos. As this +contingency had transpired, of course the meeting had taken place--its +object being that Cynthia might inform Chakra of such events as might +occur previous to the departure. + +Cynthia did not know for certain that Chakra had followed the Custos. +The myal-man had not told her of his intention to do so. But she fully +believed he had. Something he had let fall during their conference +guided her to this belief. Besides, on leaving her, Chakra, instead of +returning towards his haunt in the Duppy's Hole, had gone off along the +road in the direction of Savanna. + +This was the substance of Cynthia's report; and having been well +rewarded for the communication, the mulatta returned to Mount Welcome. + +Notwithstanding the gratification which her news afforded, it was far +from tranquillising the spirit of Jacob Jessuron. + +The absence of Herbert Vaughan still continued--still unexplained; and +as the hours passed and night drew near, without any signs of his +return, Jessuron--and it may be said Judith as well--became more and +more uneasy about his disappearance. + +Judith was puzzled as well as pained. Her suspicion that Herbert had +had an appointment with his cousin Kate had been somewhat shaken, by +what she had seen--as well as what she had _not_ seen: for on leaving +the Jumbe Rock she had not ridden directly home. Instead of doing so, +she had lingered for a length of time around the summit of the mountain, +expecting Herbert to show himself. As she had neither encountered him, +nor any traces of him, she was only too happy to conclude that her +surmises about the meeting were, after all, but fancy; and that no +assignation had been intended. Kate's coming up to the Jumbe Rock was a +little queer; but then Smythje had followed her, and Judith had not +heard that part of the conversation which told that _his_ being there +was only an accident--the accident of having discovered the retreat to +which the young Creole had betaken herself. + +These considerations had the effect of soothing the jealous spirit of +the Jewess; but only to a very slight extent: for Herbert's absence was +ominous--the more so, thought Judith, as she remembered a conversation +that had lately passed between them. + +Nor did she feel any repentance for the dark deed she had designed, and +would certainly have executed, but for the well-timed appearance of +Smythje upon the scene. The words which had fallen from the lips of +Kate Vaughan had been a sufficient clue to her reflections; and though +he whose name she had mentioned was not present in person, the Jewess +did not doubt that he, and only he, was the subject of that soliloquy. + +There might have been remorse for the deed, had it been accomplished; +but there was no repentance for the design. Jealousy, bitter as ever in +the breast of Judith, forbade this. + +Judith's return did not make the matter any clearer to Jessuron. She +had no story to tell, except that which she deemed it more prudent to +keep to herself. Her not having encountered Herbert during her ride, +only rendered his absence more difficult of explanation. + +Volume Three, Chapter XVI. + +A DAY OF CONJECTURES. + +Towards sunset a fresh inspection was made of the tracks, Jessuron going +in person to examine them. The skilled herdsman was again questioned; +and on this occasion a fresh fact was elicited; or rather a conjecture, +which the man had not made before, since he had not noticed the +circumstance on which he rested it. + +It was some peculiarity in the sole of the shoe that had made the +strange track, and which guided the herdsman to guess who was the owner. +In scouring the forest paths in search of his cattle, he had observed +that footmark before, or one very like it. + +"If't be de same, massa," remarked he, in reply to the cross-questioning +of the Jew, "den I knows who owns dat fut. It longs to that ere cappen +of Maroons." + +"Cubina?" + +"Ah--that's jest the berry man." + +The Jew listened to this conjecture with marked inquietude; which was +increased as another circumstance was brought to his knowledge: that +Quaco the Maroon--who had been arrested along with Herbert on the day of +his first appearance at the penn--had been lately seen in communication +with the latter, and apparently in a clandestine manner. Blue Dick was +the authority for this piece of incidental intelligence. + +The penn-keeper's suspicions had pointed to Cubina at an earlier hour of +the day. These circumstances strengthened them. + +It needed but another link to complete the chain of evidence, and this +was found in the tobacco-pipe left in the hammock: a rather unique +implement, with an iron bowl, and a stem made out of the shankbone of an +ibis. + +On being shown the pipe, the herdsman recognised it on sight. It was +the "cutty" of Captain Cubina. More than once had he met the Maroon +with the identical instrument between his teeth. + +Jessuron doubted no longer that Cubina had been the abductor of his +book-keeper. Nor Judith, either: for the Jewess had taken part in the +analytical process that guided to this conclusion. + +Judith was rather gratified at the result. She was glad it was no +worse. Perhaps, after all, the young Englishman had only gone on a +visit to the Maroon, with whom she knew him to be acquainted: for Judith +had been informed of all the circumstances connected with their first +encounter. What was more natural than a sort of attachment between +them, resulting from such an odd introduction? Curiosity may have +induced Herbert to accompany the Maroon to his mountain home; and this +was sufficient to explain his absence. + +True, there were circumstances not so easily explained. The presence of +the Maroon at the penn--his track twice to and fro--the hurried +departure of Herbert, without any previous notice either to herself or +to her father--all these circumstances were suspicious; and the spirit +of the jealous Judith, though partially tranquillised by a knowledge of +the new facts that had come to light, was, nevertheless, not quite +relieved from its perplexity. + +The same knowledge had produced an effect on the spirit of her worthy +parent altogether different. So far from being gratified by the idea +that his book-keeper was in the company of the Maroon captain, he was +exceedingly annoyed by it. He at once remembered how pointedly Herbert +had put certain questions to him, in relation to the fate of the flogged +runaway--the prince. He remembered, also, his own evasive answers; and +he now foresaw, that in the case of the questioner being in the company +of Cubina, the latter would give him a very different account of the +transaction--in fact, such a statement as could not fail to bring about +the most crooked consequences. + +Once in possession of those damning facts, the young Englishman--of +whose good moral principles the old Jew had become cognisant--would be +less likely to relish him, Jessuron, for a father-in-law. Such an +awkward affair coming to his knowledge might have the effect, not only +to alienate his much-coveted friendship--his equally-solicited love--but +to drive him altogether from a house, whose hospitality he might deem +suspicious. + +Was it possible that this very result had already arisen? Was the whole +scheme of the penn-keeper to prove a failure? Had murder--the blackest +of all crimes--been committed in vain? + +There was but little doubt left on the mind of Jacob Jessuron that the +deed was now done. Whether by the poison of Chakra, or the steel of the +_cacadores_, so far as the Custos himself was concerned, that part of +the programme would, by this time, be complete; or so near its +completion, that no act of the instigator could stay its execution. + +How, when, and where was it done? And had it been done in vain? + +During the early part of that same night--and on through the midnight +hours--thus interrogatively reflected the Jew. + +He slept not; or only in short spells of unquiet slumber, taken in his +chair--as on the night before, in the open verandah. It was care, not +conscience, that kept him awake--apprehension of the future, rather than +remorse for the past. + +After midnight, and near morning, a thought became uncontrollable--a +desire to be satisfied, if not about the last of these interrogatories, +at least in relation to the former. + +In all likelihood Chakra would, by that time, have returned?--would be +found in his lair in the Duppy's Hole? + +Why he had followed the Custos, Jessuron could not tell. He could only +guess at the motive. Perhaps he, Chakra, was in fear that his spell +might not be sufficient; and, failing, he might find an opportunity to +strengthen it? Or, was it that he wished to be witness to the final +scene? to exult over his hated enemy in the last hour of life? + +Knowing, as the Jew did, the circumstances that had long existed between +the two men--their mutual malice--Chakra's deadly purposes of +vengeance--this conjecture was far from improbable. + +It was the true one; though he also gave thought to another--that +perhaps the myal-man had followed his victim for the purpose of +_tendering him_. + +To ascertain that he had succeeded in the preliminary step--that of +murdering him--the Jew forsook his chair couch; and, having habited +himself for a nocturnal excursion, proceeded in the direction of the +Duppy's Hole. + +Volume Three, Chapter XVII. + +THE SICK TRAVELLER. + +After passing beyond the precincts of his own plantation, and traversing +for some distance a by-road known as the Carrion Crow, Mr Vaughan at +length reached the main highway, which runs between Montego Bay on the +north and Savanna-la-Mer on the southern side of the Island. + +Here, facing southward, he continued his route--Savanna-la-Mer being the +place where he intended to terminate his journey on horseback. Thence +he could proceed by sea to the harbour of Kingston, or the Old Harbour, +or some other of the ports having easy communication with the capital. + +The more common route of travel from the neighbourhood of Montego Bay to +Spanish Town, when it is desired to make the journey by land, is by the +northern road to Falmouth Harbour, and thence by Saint Ann's, and across +the Island. The southern road is also travelled at times, without the +necessity of going to the port of Savanna, by Lacovia, and the parish of +Saint Elizabeth. But Mr Vaughan preferred the easier mode of transit-- +on board ship; and knowing that coasting vessels were at all times +trading from Savanna to the ports on the southern side, he anticipated +no difficulty in obtaining a passage to Kingston. This was one reason +why he directed his course to the seaport of Savanna. + +He had another motive for visiting this place, and one that influenced +him to an equal or greater extent. Savanna-la-Mer, as already stated, +was the _assize town_ of the western district of the Island--otherwise +the county of Cornwall--including under its jurisdiction the five great +parishes of Saint James, Hanover, Westmoreland, Trelawney, and Saint +Elizabeth, and consequently the town of Montego Bay. Thus constituted, +Savanna was the seat of justice, where all plaints of importance must be +preferred. The process which Mr Vaughan was about to institute against +the Jew was one for the consideration of a full court of assize. A +surreptitious seizure of twenty-four slaves was no small matter; and the +charge would amount to something more than that of mere malversation. + +Loftus Vaughan had not yet decided on the exact terms in which the +accusation was to be made; but the assize town being not only the seat +of justice, but the head-quarters of the legal knowledge of the county, +he anticipated finding there the counsel he required. + +This, then, was his chief reason for travelling to Spanish Town _via_ +Savanna-la-Mer. + +For such a short distance--a journey that might be done in a day--a +single attendant sufficed. Had he designed taking the land route to the +capital, then it would have been different. Following the fashion of +the Island, a troop of horses, with a numerous escort of servants, would +have accompanied the great Custos. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The day turned out to be one of the hottest, especially after the hour +of noon; and the concentrated rays of the sun, glaring down upon the +white chalky road, over which the traveller was compelled to pass, +rendered the journey not only disagreeable, but irksome. + +Added to this, the Custos, not very well on leaving home, had been +getting worse every hour. Notwithstanding the heat, he was twice +attacked by a severe chill--each time succeeded by its opposite extreme +of burning fever, accompanied by thirst that knew no quenching. These +attacks had also for their concomitants bitter nausea, vomiting, and a +tendency towards cramp, or _tetanus_. + +Long before night, the traveller would have stopped--had he found a +hospitable roof to shelter him. In the early part of the day he had +passed through the more settled districts of the country, where +plantations were numerous; but then, not being so ill, he had declined +making halt--having called only at one or two places to obtain drink, +and replenish the water canteen carried by his attendant. + +It was only late in the afternoon that the symptoms of his disease +became specially alarming; and then he was passing through an +uninhabited portion of the country--a wild corner of Westmoreland +parish, where not a house was to be met with for miles alone: the +highway. + +Beyond this tract, and a few miles further on the road, he would reach +the grand sugar estate of Content. There he might anticipate a +distinguished reception; since the proprietor of the plantation, besides +being noted for his profuse hospitality, was his own personal friend. + +It had been the design of the traveller, before starting out, to make +Content the halfway house of his journey, by stopping there for the +night. Still desirous of carrying out this design, he pushed on, +notwithstanding the extreme debility that had seized upon his frame, and +which rendered riding upon horseback an exceedingly painful operation. +So painful did it become, that every now and then he was compelled to +bring his horse to a halt, and remain at rest, till his nerves acquired +strength for a fresh spell of exertion. + +Thus delayed, it was sunset when he came in sight of Content. He did +get sight of it from a hill, on the top of which he had arrived just as +the sun was sinking into the Caribbean Sea, over the far headland of +Point Negriee. In a broad valley below, filled with the purple haze of +twilight, he could see the planter's dwelling, surrounded by its +extensive sugar-works, and picturesque rows of negro cabins, so near +that he could distinguish the din of industry and the hum of cheerful +voices, borne upward on the buoyant air; and could see the forms of men +and women, clad in their light-coloured costumes, flitting in mazy +movement about the precincts of the place. + +The Custos gazed upon the sight with dizzy glance. The sounds fell +confusedly on his ear. As the shipwrecked sailor who sees land without +the hope of ever reaching it, so looked Loftus Vaughan upon the valley +of Content. For any chance of his reaching it that night, without being +carried thither, there was none: no more than if it had been a hundred +miles distant--at the extreme end of the Island. He could ride no +further. He could no longer keep the saddle; and, slipping out of it, +he tottered into the arms of his attendant! + +Close by the road-side, and half hidden by the trees, appeared a hut-- +surrounded by a kind of rude inclosure, that had once been the garden or +"provision ground" of a negro. Both hut and garden were ruinate--the +former deserted, the latter overgrown with that luxuriant vegetation +which, in tropic soil, a single season suffices to bring forth. + +Into this hovel the Custos was conducted; or rather carried: for he was +now unable even to walk. + +A sort of platform, or _banquette_, of bamboos--the usual couch of the +negro cabin--stood in one corner: a fixture seldom or never removed on +the abandonment of such a dwelling. Upon this the Custos was laid, with +a horse-blanket spread beneath, and his camlet cloak thrown over him. + +More drink was administered; and then the attendant, by command of the +invalid himself, mounted one of the horses, and galloped off to Content. + +Loftus Vaughan was alone! + +Volume Three, Chapter XVIII. + +A HIDEOUS INTRUDER. + +Loftus Vaughan was not long alone, though the company that came first to +intrude on the solitude that surrounded him was such as no man, either +living or dying, would desire to see by his bedside. + +The black groom had galloped off for help; and ere the sound of his +horse's hoofs had ceased to reverberate through the unclayed chinks of +the cabin, the shadow of a human form, projected through the open +doorway, was flung darkly upon the floor. + +The sick man, stretched upon the cane couch, was suffering extreme pain, +and giving way to it by incessant groaning. Nevertheless, he saw the +shadow as it fell upon the floor; and this, with the sudden darkening of +the door, admonished him that someone was outside, and about to enter. + +It might be supposed that the presence of any living being would at that +moment have pleased him--as a relief to that lugubrious loneliness that +surrounded him; and perhaps the presence of a living being would have +produced that effect. But in that shadow which had fallen across the +floor, the sick man saw, or fancied he saw, the form of one who should +have been long since dead--the form of Chakra the myal-man! + +The shadow was defined and distinct. The hut faced westward. There +were no trees before the door--nothing to intercept the rays of the now +sinking sun, that covered the ground with a reddish glare--nothing save +that sinister _silhouette_ which certainly seemed to betray the presence +of Chakra. Only the upper half of a body was seen--a head, shoulders, +and arms. In the shadow, the head was of gigantic size--the mouth open, +displaying a serrature of formidable teeth--the shoulders, surmounted by +the hideous hump--the arms long and ape-like! Beyond doubt was it +either the shadow of Chakra, or a duplication of his ghost--of late so +often seen! + +The sick man was too terrified to speak--too horrified to think. It +scarce added to his agony when, instead of his shadow, the myal-man +himself, in his own proper and hideous aspect, appeared within the +doorway, and without pause stepped forward upon the floor! + +Loftus Vaughan could no longer doubt the identity of the man who had +made this ill-timed intrusion. Dizzy though his sight was, from a +disordered brain, and dim as it had been rapidly becoming, it was yet +clear enough to enable him to see that the form which stood before him +was no phantasy--no spirit of the other world, but one of this--one as +wicked as could well be found amid the phalanx of the fiends of +darkness. + +He had no longer either fancy or fear about Chakra's ghost. It was +Chakra's self he saw--an apparition far more to be dreaded. + +The scream that escaped from the lips of Loftus Vaughan announced the +climax of his horror. On uttering it, he made an effort to rise to his +feet, as if with the intention of escaping from the hut; but finally +overpowered by his own feebleness, and partly yielding to a gesture of +menace made by the myal-man--and which told him that his retreat was +intercepted--he sank back upon the _banquette_ in a paralysis of +despair. + +"Ha!" shouted Chakra, as he placed himself between the dying man and the +door. "No use fo' try 'scape! no use wha'somdever! Ef ye wa able get +'way from hya, you no go fur. 'Fore you walk hunder yard you fall down, +in you track, like new-drop calf. No use, you ole fool. Whugh!" + +Another shriek was the only reply which the enfeebled man could make. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" vociferated Chakra, showing his shark-like teeth in a +fiendish laugh. "Ha! ha! ha! Skreek away, Cussus Va'ghan! Skreek till +you bust you windpipe. Chakra tell you it no use. De death 'pell am +'pon you--it am _in_ you--an' jess when dat ar sun hab cease shine upon +de floor, you go join you two brodder jussuses in de oder world, wha' +you no fine buckra no better dan brack man. Dey gone afore. Boaf go by +de death 'pell. Chakra send you jess de same; only he you keep fo' de +lass, 'kase you de grann Cussus, an' he keep him bess victim fo' de +lass. De Debbil him better like dat way." + +"Mercy, mercy!" shrieked the dying man. "Ha! ha! ha!" scornfully +answered Chakra. + +"Wha' fo' you cry `mercy?' D'you gib mercy to de ole myal-man, when you +'im chain up dar to de cabbage-tree? You show no mercy den--Chakra show +none now. You got die!" + +"Oh! Chakra! good Chakra!" cried the Custos, raising himself upon the +couch, and extending his arms in a passionate appeal. "Save me! save my +life! and I will give you whatever you wish--your freedom--money--" + +"Ha!" interrupted Chakra, in a tone of triumphant exultation. "Gib me +freedom, would you? You gib me dat arready. You money dis hya nigga +doan' care 'bout--not de shell ob a cocoa. He hab plenty money; he get +wha' he want fo' de lub spell and de death 'pell. Whugh! De only ting +you hab dat he care 'bout, you no can gib. Chakra take dat 'ithout you +gibbin." + +"What?" mechanically asked the dying man, fixing his eyes upon the face +of Chakra with a look of dread import. + +"Lilly Quasheba!" cried the monster, in a loud voice, and leering +horridly as he pronounced the name. "Lilly Quasheba!" he repeated, as +if doubly to enjoy the fearful effect which his words were producing. +"De dawter ob de quaderoom! Da's only fair, Cussus," continued he, in a +mocking tone. "You had de modder yourseff--dat is, affer de Maroon! +You know dat! It am only turn an' turn 'bout. Now you go die, Chakra +he come in fo' de dawter. Ha! ha! ha! + +"Whugh!" he exclaimed, suddenly changing his tone, and bending down over +the form of the Custos, now prostrate upon the couch. "Whugh! I +b'lieve de buckra gone dead!" + +He was dead. On hearing the name "Lilly Quasheba," accompanied by such +a fearful threat, a wild cry had escaped from his lips. It was the last +utterance of his life. On giving tongue to it, he had fallen back upon +the bamboo bedstead, mechanically drawing the cloak over his face, as if +to shut out some horrid sight; and while the myal-man, gloating over +him, was endeavouring to procrastinate his pangs, the poison had +completed its purpose. + +Chakra, extending one of his long arms, raised the fold from off his +face; and holding it up, gazed for a moment upon the features of his +hated foe, now rigid, blanched, and bloodless. + +Then, as if himself becoming frightened at the form and presence of +death, the savage miscreant dropped the cover quickly to its place; rose +from his stooping position; and stole stealthily from the hut. + +Volume Three, Chapter XIX. + +TWO SPECULATIVE TRAVELLERS. + +The sun was sinking out of sight into the bosom of the blue Caribbean, +and the twilight, long since extended over the valley below, was now +spreading its purple robe around the summit of the hill, on which stood +the hut. The shadows cast by the huge forest trees were being exchanged +for the more sombre shadows of the coming night; and the outlines of the +hovel--now a house of death--were gradually becoming obliterated in the +crepusculous obscurity. + +Inside that deserted dwelling, tenanted only by the dead, reigned +stillness, solemn and profound--the silence of death itself. + +Outside, were sounds such as suited the solemnity of the scene: the +mournful _loo-who-ah_ of the eared owl, who had already commenced +quartering the aisles of the forest; while from the heaven above came +the wild wail of the potoo, as the bird went across the fast-darkening +sky, in search of its insect prey. + +To these lugubrious utterances there was one solitary exception. More +cheerful was the champing of the steel bit--proceeding from the horse +that had been left tied to the tree--and the quick, impatient stroke of +his hoof, as the animal fretted under the stings of the musquitoes, +becoming more bitter as the darkness descended. + +The body of Loftus Vaughan lay upon the bamboo bedstead, just as Chakra +had left it. No hand had been there to smooth that rude pillow--no +friendly finger to close those eyes that were open, and saw not--those +orbs glassed and coldly glaring from their sunken sockets! + +As yet the attendant had not returned with that succour which would come +too late. + +Nor was it possible for him to get back in much less than an hour. +Content, though in actual distance scarcely a mile from the hut, was +full five in point of time. The slope of the mountain road was at an +angle with the horizon of at least fifty degrees. There could be no +rapid riding on that road--neither up nor down, upon the most urgent +errand; and the black groom was not going to risk life by a broken neck, +even to save the life of a Custos. + +It would be a full hour, then, before the man would return. As yet only +twenty minutes had passed, and forty more were to come. + +But it was not fated that even for those forty minutes the body of the +Custos Vaughan should be permitted to rest in peace. + +Twenty minutes had scarcely elapsed after Chakra had stolen away from +the side of the corpse, when there came others to disturb it, and with a +rude violence almost sufficient to arouse it from the slumber of death! + +Had Chakra, on leaving the hut, only taken the main road back to Montego +Bay--and that was the direction in which he intended going--he would +have met two strange men. Not so strange but that they were known to +him; but strange enough to arrest the attention of an ordinary +traveller. + +But among the proclivities of the myal-man, that of travelling along +_main roads_ was one in which he did not indulge, except under the most +unavoidable circumstances. + +Following his usual practice, as soon as he had cleared the precincts of +the negro cabin, he struck off into a by-path leading through the +bushes; and by so doing lost the opportunity of an encounter with two +individuals, who, although of a different nationality, were as great +villains as himself. + +The brace of worthies thus described are already known. They were the +man-hunters of Jacob Jessuron, Manuel and Andres--_cacadores de +cimmarones_ from the Island of Cuba. + +With the object for which they were journeying along the Savanna road +the reader is equally _au fait_. Jessuron's talk with them, on starting +them off, has plainly proclaimed the vile intent of his two truculent +tools. + +All day long had these human bloodhounds been following upon the track +of the Custos--now nearer to him--now further off--according to the +halts which the traveller had made, and the relative speed of horseman +and pedestrian. + +More than once had they sighted their intended victim afar off on the +white dusty road. But the presence of the stout negro attendant, as +well as the broad open daylight, had deterred them from proceeding in +their nefarious purpose; and they had postponed its execution till that +time which gives opportunity to the assassin--the going down of the sun. + +This hour had at length arrived; and just as the real murderer was +hastening away from the hut, the intending assassins were hurrying +towards it, with all the speed in their power! + +"_Carrambo_!" exclaimed he who was the older, and in consequence the +_leader_ of the two, "I shouldn't be surprised, Andres, if the +_ingeniero_ was to slip out of our clutches to-night! Not far beyond +lies Content, and the owner of that _ingenio_ is a friend of his. You +remember Senor Jacob said he would be like to put up there for the +night?" + +"Yes," replied Andres, "the old Judio was particular about that." + +"Well, if he gets there before we can overhaul him, there'll be nothing +done to-night. We must take our chance on the road between that and +Savanna." + +"_Carajo_!" responded Andres, with somewhat spiteful emphasis; "if it +wasn't for them ugly pistols he carries, and that big buck nigger by his +side, we might have stopped his breath before this. Supposing he gets +to Savanna before we can have a talk with him? what then, _compadre_?" + +"Then," answered he thus godfatherly addressed, "then our lines won't +lie in pleasant places. Savanna's a big city; and it isn't so easy to +murder a man in the street of a town as among these trees. People +prowling about have tongues, where the trees haven't; and fifty pounds, +Jamaica money, a'nt much for killing a man--more especially a _Custos_, +as they call him. _Carajo_! we must take care, or we may get our necks +twisted for this simple trick! These Custoses are like our _alcaldes_-- +kill one, and a dozen others will spring up to prosecute you." + +"But what," inquired Andres, who, although the younger of the two, +appeared to be gifted with a greater degree of prudence than his +companion--"what if we don't find a chance--even in Savanna?" + +"Then," replied the other, "we stand a good chance of losing our fifty +pounds--shabby currency as it is." + +"How that, Manuel?" + +"How that? Why, because the _ingeniero_, once in Savanna, will take +ship and travel by sea. The _dueno_ said so. If he do that, we may bid +adieu to him; for I wouldn't make another sea-voyage for five times +fifty pounds. That we had from Batabano was enough to last me for my +life. _Carajo_! I thought it was the _vomito prieto_ that had seized +upon me. But for the fear of another such puking spell I'd have gone +home with the rest, instead of staying in this nest of Jews and +nigger-drivers; and how I'm ever to get back to Batabano, let alone +making a voyage for the purpose of--" + +The Cubano refrained from finishing his speech--not from any delicacy he +had about declaring the purpose, but because he knew that the +declaration would be supererogatory to an associate who already +comprehended it. + +"In that case," counselled the more sagacious Andres, "we must finish +our business before Savanna comes in sight. Perhaps, _compadre_, by +pushing on rapidly now, we may overtake the party before they get +anchored in Content?" + +"You're right, _hombre_; you're right about that. Let us, as you say, +push on; and, if it suits you as it does me, let our motto be, `_Noche o +nunca_' (this night or never)!" + +"_Vamos_!" rejoined Andres; and the assassins increased their speed, as +if stimulated by the fear of losing their prey. + +Volume Three, Chapter XX. + +NO BLOOD. + +The sun had already hidden his red disc under the sea horizon, when the +man-hunters mounted the hill, and approached the hut where Custos +Vaughan had been compelled to make halt, and in which he was now lying +lifeless. + +"_Mira_, Manuel!" said Andres, as they came within sight of the hovel, +and at the same instant saw the horse standing tied to the tree; "_un +cavallo_! saddled, bridled, and with _alforjas_!" + +"A traveller's horse!" rejoined Manuel, "and that very traveller we've +been tracking. Yes! it's the horse of the great alcalde of Mount +Welcome! Don't you remember, when we saw them before us at mid-day, +that one of the horses was a bay, and the other a grey? There's the +grey, and it was on that very animal the Custos was riding." + +"Quite true, _compadre_; but where's the other?" + +"Maybe among the trees, or tied round the other side of the hut. The +riders must be inside." + +"Both, do you think, Manuel?" + +"Of course, both; though where Blackskin's horse can be is more than I +can say. _Carrambo_! what's halted them here? There's nobody lives in +the ranche. I know that: I came this way about a week ago and it had no +tenant then. Besides, the _ingenio_ where he was to put up for the +night is just below. What, in the name of Saint Mary, has stopped them +here?" + +"_Por Dios, compadre_!" said the younger of the two _cacadores_, looking +significantly at the saddlebags still hanging over the cantle of the +Custos's saddle. "There ought to be something valuable in those +_alforjas_?" + +"_Caval_! you're right; but we mustn't think of that just yet, +_camarado_! After the other's done, then we shall have the +opportunity--I wonder whether they're both inside? It's very odd we +don't see the negro's horse!" + +"Ha!" rejoined Andres, apparently struck with an idea. "What if he's +gone on to the plantation for some purpose? Suppose an accident has +happened to the Custos's steed, or, _carrai_! suppose he's himself taken +sick? You remember the man we met, who told us about them ugly +pistols--he said that one of the travellers--the white man--looked sick. +Didn't the fellow say he saw him puking?" + +"_Por Dios_! he did. As you say, there may be something in it. If +Blackskin's out of the way, now's our time; for there is more to be +feared from that big buck nigger than his master, when it comes to a +struggle. If it should prove that the Custos is sick--I hope it is so-- +he won't be in a condition to make much use of his weapons; and +_carrambo_! we must get hold of them before he knows what we're after!" + +"Hadn't we better go round first?" counselled the sagacious Andres. +"Let us explore the back of the hut, and see whether the other horse is +there. If he's not, then certainly the negro's gone off on some errand! +We can steal through the bushes to the other side, and get right up to +the walls without any danger of being seen!" + +"That's our plan, _camarado_. Let's lose no time, then, for, if it be +so that Blackskin's abroad, we're in luck. We mayn't find such another +chance--not between here and the world's end. Follow me, _hombre_! and +set down your feet as if you were stepping upon eggs with young birds in +them. _Vamos_!" + +So saying, the chief of the two _cacadores_ skulked in among the trees, +closely followed by his companion. + +After making a circuit through the underwood, the assassins stole +silently in towards the back of the hovel. + +They saw no other horse--only the grey, which stood tied to the tree in +front. The bay was gone, and in all probability his rider. Andres +already congratulated himself upon his conjecture being correct: the +negro had ridden off upon some errand. + +This was put beyond all doubt by their perceiving the fresh tracks of a +horse, leading away from the hut along the road towards Content. The +hoof-prints were so plain as to be visible at some distance. The turf +on the road-edge was torn up, and deeply indented--where the negro groom +had urged his horse into a gallop. + +The assassins saw this, even without returning to the road; and were now +satisfied that the attendant was gone away. It only remained to make +sure that the traveller himself was inside the hut. + +Creeping cautiously up to the wall, the _cacadores_ peeped through the +unclayed chinks of the cabin. + +At first the darkness inside hindered them from distinguishing any +object in particular. Presently, as their eyes grew more accustomed to +the obscurity, they succeeded in making out the bamboo bedstead in the +corner, with something that resembled the figure of a man stretched +lengthwise upon it. A dark cloak covered the form, the face as well; +but the feet, booted and spurred, protruding from under the cover, told +that it was a man who was lying in that outstretched attitude--the man +who was to be murdered! + +He appeared to be sound asleep: there was no motion perceptible--not +even as much as would indicate that he breathed! + +Lying on the floor, at some distance from the couch, was a hat, and +beside it a pair of pistols, in their holsters--as if the traveller had +unbuckled them from his belt, and flung them down, before going to +sleep. Even if awake he could scarce get hold of the pistols, before +his assailants could spring upon him. + +The assassins looked towards one another with a significant glance. The +fates appeared to favour their attempt; and, as both on the instant were +actuated by the same sanguinary instinct, they leaped simultaneously to +their feet, drew their sharp _machetes_, and rushed together through the +doorway. + +"_Matelo! matelo_!" (kill him!) cried both, in the same voice, each +with a view of encouraging the other; and, as they uttered the cruel +cry, they buried the blades in the body of the unresisting traveller-- +stabbing it repeatedly through the cloak. + +Convinced that they had finished their bloody work, the murderers were +about to rush out again--probably with an eye to the saddlebags outside, +when it occurred to them as strange that the victim of their hired +villainy should have kept so quiet. In their frenzied excitement--while +dealing what they supposed to be his death-blows--they had not stopped +to notice anything odd in the behaviour of the man whom they were +murdering. Now that the deed was done, and they could reflect more +coolly, a sudden surprise seized upon them--springing from the +circumstance that the wretched man had made not the slightest motion-- +had neither stirred nor cried out! Perhaps the first stab had gone +right through his heart: for it was so intended by Andres, who had given +it. But even that does not produce instantaneous death, and the +man-hunters knew it. Besides, on the blade of Andres' _machete_, as +well as that of his comrade, _there was no blood_! + +It was very strange. Could the cloak or under-garments have wiped it +off? Partially they might, but not altogether! Their blades were wet, +but not with blood--of that they showed scarce a stain! + +"It's a queer thing, comrade," exclaimed Manuel. "I could almost +fancy--_Vaya_! Lift the cloak, and let's have a look at him." + +The other, stepping closer to the couch, stooped forward, and raised the +fold of the camlet from the face of the murdered man. + +As he did so, his hand came in contact with the cold skin, while his +glance fell upon the stiffened features of a corpse--upon eyes whose +dull, blank film showed that the light had long since forsaken them! + +The assassin stayed not for a second look. With a cry of terror he let +go the garment; and rushed towards the door, followed by his equally +terrified companion. + +In another moment both would have escaped outside; and perhaps have +taken the back track, without thinking any more about the saddlebags; +but just as Andres had set foot upon the door-sill, he saw before him +something that caused him to pull up, and with a precipitancy that +brought his comrade with a violent concussion against his back. + +The something which had led to this sudden interruption was the presence +of three men, standing in a triangular row, scarce five paces from the +door. Each was holding a gun, in such position, that its dark, hollow +tube was visible to the eyes of the assassin--pointing directly upon +himself. + +The three men were of three distinct colours--white, yellow, and black; +all three known to the man-hunter and his companion. They were Herbert +Vaughan, Cubina, captain of Maroons, and Quaco, his lieutenant. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXI. + +THE CAPTURE OF THE CACADORES. + +The black, though presumably the lowest in rank, was the first to break +speech. + +"No, ye don't!" cried he, moving his musket up and down, while still +keeping it levelled upon the foremost of the _cacadores_. "No, Mister +Jack Spaniard, not a foot d'you set outside that door till we see what +you've been a-doin' 'ithin there. Steady, now, or thar's an ounce of +lead into yer garlicky inside! Steady!" + +"Surrender!" commanded Cubina, in a firm, authoritative voice, and with +a threatening gesture, which, though less demonstrative than that of his +lieutenant, was equally indicative of determination. "Drop your +_machetes_, and yield at once! Resistance will only cost you your +lives." + +"Come, my Spanish worthies," said Herbert, "you know me! I advise you +to do as you're bid. If there's nothing against you, I promise no +harm--Ha! 'ware heels!" he continued, in sharp haste, observing that the +Spaniards were looking over their shoulders, as if intending to escape +by the back of the hut. "Don't attempt to run away. You'll be caught, +no matter how fast you go. I've got two barrels here; and each is good +for a bird on the wing. Show your backs, and they'll be preciously +peppered, I promise you." + +"_Carajo_!" hissed out the older of the _cacadores_. "What do you want +with us?" + +"Ay!" added the other, in a tone of innocent reproach; "what have we +been doing to make all this _fanfaron_ about?" + +"What have you been doing?" rejoined the Maroon captain: "that's just +what we desire to know, and are determined upon knowing." + +"There is nothing to be known," answered the man, speaking with an air +of assumed simplicity; "at the least, nothing that's very particular. +We were on our way to Savanna--me and my comrade here--" + +"Stach yer palaver!" cried Quaco, becoming impatient, and pushing the +muzzle of his musket within an inch of the Spaniard's ribs. "Did ye +hear the cappen tell ye to drop yer toastin' forks and surrender? Down +with 'em this minnit, I say, an' do yer jaw-waggin' atterwards!" + +Thus threatened, either with a poke in the ribs, or, perhaps, a bullet +between them, Andres sulkily let fall his _machete_ upon the floor--an +action that was instantly imitated by his senior and superior. + +"Now, my braves!" proceeded the black lieutenant, still holding his huge +gun to the Spaniard's breast; "lest ye mout be wantin' to gie us +leg-bail, you muss submit to be trussed a trifle. Down upon yer +behinds, both o' ye; and keep that way till I get the cords and skewers +ready." + +The _cacadores_ perfectly understood the order; and, perceiving that +there was no chance for disobedience, squatted down upon the floor--each +on the spot where he had been standing. + +Quaco now picked up the two _machetes_, placing them beyond the reach of +their _ci-devant_ owners. Then, handing his great gun over to the care +of Cubina--who with Herbert was left to guard the prisoners--he walked +off to a short distance among the trees. + +Presently he returned, trailing after him a long creeping plant that +resembled a piece of cord, and carrying two short sticks, each about +three feet in length. + +All this was accomplished with as much celerity, and in as brief a space +of time, as if he had simply taken the articles from an adjacent +store-room. + +Meanwhile, Cubina and Herbert had kept their guns still pointed upon the +two _cacadores_: for it was evident that the villains were most eager to +get off; and as it was now nearly night, had the least chance been +allowed them, they might have succeeded in escaping through the +darkness. + +Their captors were determined they should have no chance: for although +neither Herbert nor Cubina could see into the obscure interior of the +cabin, and were as yet ignorant of the fearful spectacle that there +awaited them, they had reason to suspect that the Spaniards had either +intended some dark deed, or had already committed it. They had learnt +something along the road of the progress of the _cacadores_, and their +mode of journeying, which, to more than one whom they met, had appeared +mysterious. + +The horse standing tied to the tree--caparisoned as he was for travel-- +that was the most suspicious circumstance of all. Though none of the +three pursuers recognised the animal as belonging to Custos Vaughan, as +soon as they set eyes upon it they had felt a presentiment that they had +arrived too late. + +The wild haste with which the Spaniards were rushing from the cabin when +intercepted at the door, almost confirmed their unpleasant foreboding; +and before any of the three had entered the hut, they were half prepared +to find that it contained a corpse--perhaps more than one, for the +disappearance of Pluto was not yet explained. + +Quaco, habile in handling cordage of all kinds, more especially the many +sorts of supple withes with which the trees of a Jamaica forest are +laced together, soon tied the two Spaniards wrist to wrist, and ankle to +ankle, as tightly as could have been done by the most accomplished +gaoler. A long practice in binding runaway blacks had made Quaco an +expert in that department, which, indeed, constitutes part of the +professional training of a Maroon. + +The captors had already entered within the cabin, now dark as death +itself. For some moments they stood upon the floor, their eyes +endeavouring to read the gloom around them. Silent they stood--so +still, that they could hear their own breathing, with that of the two +prisoners upon the floor. At length, in the corner, they could dimly +make out something like the form of a man lying stretched upon a low +bedstead. + +Quaco, though not without some trepidation, approached it. Stooping +down, he applied his hand to it with cautious touch. + +"A man!" muttered he: "eyther asleep or dead. + +"Dead!" he ejaculated the instant after, as, in groping about, his +fingers chanced to fall upon the chill forehead--"dead and cold!" + +Cubina and Herbert stepping forward, and stooping over the corpse, +verified the assertion of Quaco. + +Whose body was it? It might not be that of Loftus Vaughan! It might be +the black attendant, Pluto! + +No! it was not a black man. It needed no light to show that. The touch +of the hair was sufficient to tell that a white man lay dead upon the +couch. + +"Catch me one of those _cocuyos_!" said the Maroon captain, speaking to +his lieutenant. + +Quaco stepped outside the hut. Low down along the verge of the forest +were flitting little sparks, that appeared to be a galaxy of stars in +motion. These were the _lampyridae_, or small fire-flies. It was not +with these Quaco had to do. Here and there, at longer intervals, could +be seen much larger sparks, of a golden green colour. It was the great +winged beetle--the _cocuyo_ [Pyrophorus Nectilucus.]--that emitted this +lovely light. + +Doffing his old hat-crown, Quaco used it as an insect-net; and, after a +few strokes, succeeded in capturing a _cocuyo_. + +With this he returned into the hut, and, crossing over, held it near the +head of the corpse. + +He did not content himself with the gold green light which the insect +emits from the two eyelike tubercles on its thorax. The forest-craft of +Quaco enabled him to produce a brighter and better. + +Holding open the elytra with his fingers, and bending back the abdomen +with his thumb, he exposed that oval disc of orange light--only seen +when the insect is on the wing. + +A circle of a yard in diameter was illuminated by the phosphoric glow. +In that circle was the face of a dead man; and sufficiently bright was +the lamp of the _cocuyo_, to enable the spectators to identify the +ghastly lineaments as those of the Custos Vaughan. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXII. + +A DOUBLE MURDER. + +None of the three started or felt surprise. That had been gradually +passing: for before this their presentiment had become almost a +conviction. + +Quaco simply uttered one of those exclamations that proclaim a climax; +Cubina felt chagrined--disappointed in more ways than one; while Herbert +gave way to grief--though less than he might have done, had his relative +more deserved his sorrow. + +It was natural they should inquire into the circumstances of the +Custos's death. Now, firmly believing he had been murdered, and by the +_cacadores_, they proceeded to make an examination of the body. + +Mystery of mysteries! a dozen stabs by some sharp instrument, and no +blood! Wounds through the breast, the abdomen, the heart--all clean cut +punctures, and yet no gore--no extravasation! + +"Who gave the stabs? you did this, you wretches!" cried Herbert, turning +fiercely upon the _employes_ of Jessuron. + +"_Carrambo_! why should we do such a thing, master?" innocently inquired +Andres. "The alcalde was dead before we came up." + +"Spanish palaver!" cried Quaco. "Look at these blades!" he continued, +taking up the two _machetes_, "they're wet now! 'Ta'nt blood azzactly; +but somethin'--. See," he exclaimed, holding his _cocuyo_ over the +wounds, and presenting one of the _machetes_ to the light, "they fit to +these holes like a cork to a bottle. 'Twere they that made em, nothin' +but they, an' you did it, ye ugly skinks!" + +"By the Virgin, Senor Quaco!" replied Andres, "you wrong us. I'll swear +on the holy evangelists, _we_ didn't kill the alcalde--Custos, I mean. +_Carrambo_! no. We were as much surprised as any of you, when we came +in here and found him lying dead--just as he is now." + +There was an air of sincerity in the declaration of the wretch that +rendered it difficult to believe in his guilt--that is, the guilt of him +and his companion as the real murderers, though their intention to have +been so was clear enough to Cubina. + +"_Crambo_! why did you stab him?" said he to the two prisoners. "You +need not deny that you did that." + +"Senor capitan," answered the crafty Andres, who in all delicate +questions appeared to be spokesman, "we won't deny that. It is true--I +confess it with shame--that we did run our blades once or twice through +the body." + +"A dozen times, you John Crow!" corrected Quaco. + +"Well, Senor Quaco," continued the Spaniard, "I won't be particular +about the number. There may have been a thrust or two less, or more. +It was all a whim of my comrade, Manuel, here--a little bit of a wager +between us." + +"A wager for what?" asked Herbert. + +"Well, you see, master, we'd been journeying, as I've said already, to +Savanna. We saw the horse tied outside this little rancho, and thought +we would go in and see who was inside. _Carrambo_! what should we see +but the body of a dead man lying stretched out on the bamboos! +_Santissima! Senores_, we were as much startled as you!" + +"Terribly surprised, I suppose?" sarcastically spoke Cubina. + +"Nearly out of our senses, I assure you, senor." + +"Go on, you wretch!" commanded Herbert. "Let us hear what tale you have +to tell." + +"Well!" said the _cacadore_, resuming his narration, "after a while we +got a little over our fright--as one naturally does, you know--and then +Manuel says to me, `Andres!' `What is it, Manuel?' said I. `Do you +think,' said he, `that blood would run out of a dead body?' `Certainly +not,' said I; `not a drop.' `I'll bet you five pesos it will,' +challenged my _camarado_. `Done!' said I; and then, to settle the +thing, we--I acknowledge it--did run our _machetes_ through the body of +the Custos--of course, we could do him no harm then." + +"Monsters!" exclaimed Herbert; "it was almost as bad as killing him! +What a horrid tale! Ha! you wretches, notwithstanding its ingenuity, +it'll not save your necks from a halter!" + +"Oh, senorito," said Andres, appealingly, "we've done nothing to deserve +that. I can assure you we are both right sorry for what we've done. +Ain't you sorry, Manuel?" + +"_Carrai_! that I am," earnestly answered Manuel. + +"We both regretted it afterwards," continued Andres, "and to make up for +what we had done, we took the cloak and spread it decently over the +body--in order that the poor alcalde should rest in peace." + +"Liar!" cried Quaco, throwing the light of his _cocuyo_ on the corpse. +"You did no such thing; you stabbed him _through_ the cloak. Look +there!" + +And as Quaco gave this indignant denial, he pointed to the cuts in the +cloth to prove the falsehood of the Spaniard's statement. + +"_Carrai-ai-i_!" stammered out the confounded Andres. "Sure enough +there's a cut or two. Oh, now I recollect: we first covered him up. It +was after we did that, we then made the bet--didn't we, Manuel?" + +Manuel's reply was not heard: for at that instant the hoof-strokes of +horses were heard in front of the hut; and the shadowy forms of two +horsemen could be distinguished just outside the doorway. + +It was the black groom, who had returned from Content, accompanied by +the overseer of the estate. + +Shortly after a number of negroes appeared on foot, carrying a +stretcher. + +Their purpose was to convey the sick man to Content. + +Circumstances had occurred to make a change in the character of their +duty. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXIII. + +CHAKRA ON THE BACK TRACK. + +Of the three magistrates who condemned the Coromantee, one had been +slumbering in his grave for six months; the second, about that number of +days; and the third--the great Custos himself--was now a corpse! + +Of all three had the myal-man been the murderer; though in the case of +the first two there had been no suspicion of foul play, or, at least, +not enough to challenge inquest or investigation. Both had died of +lingering diseases, bearing a certain resemblance to each other; and +though partaking very much of the nature of a wasting, intermittent +fever, yet exhibiting symptoms that were new and strange--so strange as +to baffle the skill of the Jamaican disciples of Aesculapius. + +About the death of either one Chakra had not felt the slightest +apprehension--nor would he even had an investigation arisen. In neither +murder had his hand appeared. Both had been accomplished by the +invisible agency of Obi, that at this period held mysterious existence +on every plantation in the Island. + +With the assassination of the Custos, however, it was different. +Circumstances had caused that event to be hurried, and there was +danger--as Chakra himself had admitted--that the spell of Obi might be +mistaken for a spell of poison. A death so sudden, and by natural +causes inexplicable, would, undoubtedly, provoke speculation, and lead +to the opening and examining of the body. + +Chakra knew that inside would be found something stronger than even the +sap of the Savanna flower or the branched _calalue_; and that in all +probability the malady to which the Custos had succumbed would be +pronounced _murder_. + +With this upon his mind, he was not without apprehension--his fears +pointing to Cynthia. + +Not that he suspected the _honesty_ of his confederate; but only that +her _consistency_ might be too weak to withstand the cross-questioning +of a coroner. + +Fearing this, he had scarce got out of sight of the Custos's corpse +before he commenced contriving how Cynthia's tongue could be tied--in +other words, how the mulatta was to be made away with. + +Upon this design his thoughts were for the moment bent. + +He had less, if any, apprehension about his other accomplice in the +crime. He fancied that Jessuron was himself too deeply dyed to point +out the spots upon his fellow-conspirator; and this rendered him +confident of secrecy on the part of the Jew. + +Neither did he dwell long upon the danger to be apprehended from +Cynthia, and so trivial a matter as the silencing of her tongue soon +became obliterated or blended with another and far more important +project, to the execution of which he was now hastening. + +On leaving the hut where lay the dead body of his victim, he had taken +to by-paths and bushes. Only for a short time did he keep to these. +The twilight rapidly darkening into night left the highway free to him; +and, availing himself of this privilege, he returned to it--showing by +his hurried steps, as he regained the road, that he was glad to escape +from a circuitous path. + +His face once more set towards the Trelawney hills, he walked in +silence, and with a rapidity scarce credible--his long, ape-like legs, +split trestle fashion to the centre of his body, enabling him to glide +over the ground almost as fast as a mule could mince. + +Whenever anyone appeared upon the road before him, he adopted his +customary plan of betaking himself to the bushes until they had passed; +but when travellers chanced to be going the same way--which more than +once did happen--he avoided an encounter by making a circuit through the +woods, and coming out far ahead of them. + +The trouble thus taken to gain time, as well as the earnest manner with +which the myal-man was hastening forward, proved that the crime just +committed was not the crisis of Chakra's villainies; but that some other +evil purpose--to him of equal or greater import--was yet before him; and +soon to be achieved, or, at least, attempted. + +Following back the main route between Savanna-la-Mer and the Bay, he at +length arrived at the Carrion Crow Road, and, after traversing this for +some distance, came within view of the Jumbe Rock, now glancing with +vitreous sheen in the clear moonlight. + +Almost as soon as he had caught sight of the well-known land-mark, he +forsook the road; and struck off into a by-path that led through the +woods. + +This path, trending diagonally up the side of the Jumbe mountain, and +passing near the base of the rock, was the same which Herbert Vaughan +and the two Maroons had traversed on their way from the Happy Valley on +that same morning. + +Chakra, however, knew nothing of this; nor aught either of the design or +expedition of Cubina and his comrades. Equally ignorant was he of the +errand on which Jessuron had dispatched his Cuban emissaries--by way of +having his bow twice stringed. + +The Coromantee, fancying himself the only player in that game of murder, +had no idea that there were others interested in it as much as he; and +although once or twice during the day he had seen men moving +suspiciously behind him along the road, it had never occurred to him who +they were--much less that they had been deputed to complete his own job, +should the "spell" fail to prove sufficiently potent. + +A somewhat long _detour_--which he had taken after leaving the hut--had +brought him out on the main road behind both parties; and thus had he +remained ignorant of their proximity, at the same time that he had +himself escaped the observation both of the villains who intended to +assassinate the Custos, and of the men who were pressing forward to save +him. + +Still continuing his rapid stride, Chakra climbed the mountain slope, +with the agility of one accustomed to the most difficult paths. + +On arriving under the Jumbe Rock, he halted--not with any intention of +remaining there, but only to consider. + +He looked up towards the summit of the cliff, in whose dark shadow he +was standing; and then, raising his eyes still higher, he gazed for a +short while upon the sky. His glance betrayed that interrogative +scrutiny characteristic of one who, not being furnished with a watch, +endeavours to ascertain the time. Chakra needed no watch. By day, the +sun was sufficient to inform him of the hour; by night the stars, which +were old and familiar acquaintances. + +The sinking of Orion towards the silvered surface of the sea told him +that in two hours, or thereabout, no stars would be seen. + +"Kupple ob hour!" muttered he, after making the observation; "woan do-- +woan do. By de time I get to de Duppy Hole fo' de lamp, an' den back to +de rock fo' fix um--It woan do! Adam an' his men de better part ob an +hour 'fore dey ked climb up hya; an' den it be daylight. _Daat_ woan do +nohow. Muss be done in de night, else we git follered, an' de Duppy +Hole no longer safe 'treat fo' Chakra. Mussent risk dat, whasomebber a +do. + +"Whugh!" he continued, after reflecting a moment, and with a look of +villainous chagrin overspreading his countenance; "'tam a piece of cuss +crooked luck fo' me no' be hya 'bout two hour soona. Dat 'ud 'a been +s'fishint to got 'em all up in time; an' dar wud den a been gobs o' time +to 'complish de whole bizness. + +"Nebba mind!" cried he, after a pause, and rousing himself from the +attitude of reflection; "nebba mind, ye old Coromantee fool! 'morra +night do jess as well. Den dar be plenty ob time. 'Taint like dey get +de dead corpus ob de Cussus back to de Buff afore two, tree day; an' ef +dat ere nigga fotch de news, it do no harm. Maybe do good, in de +'fusion it make 'bout de place. Nebba mind. It be all right fo' 'morr' +night. 'Fore dis time ob de mornin' de Lilly Quasheba--de beau'ful +dauter ob dat proud quaderoom--she sleep in de 'brace o' ole Chakra de +myal-man. Whugh! + +"Two hour 'fore day," added he, after a longer pause, in which he +appeared to gloat over his fiendish expectations; "two hour. I'se jess +hab time go down to de Jew penn, an' den back to de Duppy Hole 'fore +daylight. Dat ole sinner, he want know what's a been done; an' a want +get de balance ob dat fifty poun'. A mout stan' need ob de money, now +a's a-gwine ta hab a wife, an' take to de keepin' ob a 'tablishment. +Ha! ha! ha!" + +And as he gave utterance to the laugh, the prospective bridegroom once +more put his hideous form in motion, and followed the path leading to +the Jew's penn. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXIV. + +THE VIGIL OF LOVE AND THE VIGIL OF JEALOUSY. + +Yola, true to her tryst, set forth to meet her beloved Maroon. The hour +of midnight was the time that had been appointed; but, in order to +secure punctuality, she took her departure from Mount Welcome long +before that hour--leaving herself ample time to reach the rendezvous. + +Of late these after-night expeditions had become known to Miss Vaughan, +and their object as well. To her young mistress, the Foolah maiden had +confessed her _penchant_ for Cubina--her belief of its being +reciprocated; in short, had told the whole story of her love. + +Common report spoke well of the young Maroon captain--Yola warmly; and +as everything contributed to proclaim his intentions honourable, Miss +Vaughan made no objection to his meetings with her maid. + +There was something in her own sentiments to incline her to this liberal +line of conduct. The young creole could sympathise with hearts that +truly loved--all the better that, by experience, her own heart had +learnt the bitterness of being thwarted. + +At all times, therefore--so far as she was concerned--the brown-skinned +sweetheart of Cubina had free leave to meet her lover. + +On that particular night permission was granted to the maid more freely +than ever, since, for a certain reason, the mistress herself desired the +interview to take place. + +The reason may be guessed without difficulty. On the previous night +Cubina had thrown out a hint, which his sweetheart had communicated to +her mistress. + +She had spoken of some news he might have that would interest the +latter; and although there was nothing definite in that, still the hint +had led to an indulgence in speculations--vague as dreams, it is true, +but tinged with a certain sweetness. + +Kate knew something of the romantic friendship that had been established +between Herbert and Cubina. Yola had long ago told her of this--as well +as the incident that had given origin to it. Perhaps that knowledge may +explain the interest, almost amounting to anxiety, she now felt to +ascertain the nature of the communication which the Maroon had +hypothetically promised to make. + +It was only in the afternoon of the day--after the excursion to the +Jumbe Rock--that the maid had imparted this piece of intelligence to her +mistress: and the altered demeanour of the latter during the rest of the +evening proved how interesting it must have been to her. Her anxiety +was scarce of the sorrowful kind, but rather tinged with an air of +cheerfulness--as if some secret instinct had infused into her spirit a +certain buoyancy--as if on the dark horizon of her future there was +still lingering, or had suddenly arisen, a faint ray of hope. + +Yola had not told all she knew. She said nothing of certain surmises +that had escaped the lips of Cubina. With a woman's tact, she perceived +that these, being only conjectural, might excite false hopes in the +breast of her young mistress: for whom the girl felt a true affection. +In fear of this, she kept back the allusion to the marriage of Herbert +and Judith, and its probable failure, which Cubina had so emphatically +illustrated by a proverb. + +Yola intended this reserve to be only temporary--only until after her +next meeting with her lover--from which she hoped to return with a +fuller power of explaining it. + +Neither had she made known to her mistress the circumstance of having +seen Cynthia in company with the Jew, and the conference that had +occurred between them, overheard by herself and Cubina--much less the +suspicions to which the latter had given expression. + +Under the apprehension that a knowledge of these strange facts and +suspicions might trouble her young mistress, she had withheld them. + +The young Creole had not retired to rest when Yola took her departure +from the house, nor yet for long after. Anxious to know the result of +the interview between her maid and the Maroon, she remained awake within +her chamber--burning the midnight lamp far into the hours of morning. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +Notwithstanding the more than permission that had been accorded to her, +the princess-slave stole softly from the house--passing the precincts of +the mansion, and traversing the grounds outside with considerable +caution. This partly arose from the habit of that half-barbaric life, +to which, in her own country and from earliest childhood, she had been +accustomed. But there was also, perhaps, some suspicion of present +danger, or, at all events, that fear of interruption natural to one on +the way to keep an appointment of the kind towards which she was now +betaking herself. + +From whatever motive sprung her cautious behaviour, it was not +sufficient to prevent her departure from being observed; nor did it +enable her to perceive that thing of woman's shape that, like an evil +shadow, flitted after her across the fields, and went following her +along the forest path. + +Whenever she turned it also turned, only not preserving an erect +bearing, nor going in the same continuous gait; but every now and then +pausing upon the path, sometimes in crouched attitude, as if seeking +concealment under the shadow of the bushes--then gliding rapidly onward +to make stop as before. + +After having got beyond the surroundings of the house, and some distance +into the pimento forest, the Foolah walked with more freedom--as if no +longer fearing interruption. She was, therefore, less likely to +perceive that ill-omened shadow, that still continued on her track-- +following, as before, by a series of progressive traverses, and in +death-like silence. + +On reaching the glade, the young girl advanced towards the _ceiba_, and +took her stand within its shadow--on a spot, in her eyes, "hallowed down +to earth's profound, and up to heaven." + +She merely glanced round to satisfy herself that Cubina was not there. +She scarce expected him yet. The hour, though late, was earlier than +the time appointed. It had not yet gone twelve--else she would have +heard the plantation clock announcing it. + +Allowing her eyes to drop to the ground at her feet, she stood for some +minutes buried in a reverie of reflection--a sweet reverie, as befitted +her situation of pleasant expectancy. + +She was startled from this abstraction by the behaviour of a bird--a +scarlet tanager, that rose, fluttering and frightened, out of a small +clump of bushes about ten paces from the _ceiba_, and in which it had +been reposing. + +The bird, uttering a cry of alarm, forsook the shelter, and flew off +into the forest. + +Yola could see nothing that should have caused the creature to make so +abrupt a departure from its roosting-place. Her own presence could +scarce have been the cause: since she had been some minutes upon the +ground, and standing in tranquil _pose_. Some of its natural enemies +had frayed the bird? Perhaps a rat, an owl, or a serpent? Thus +reasoned she; and was so satisfied. + +If, instead of contenting herself with this conjecture, she had stepped +ten paces forward, and looked into the little copse, she would have seen +there something very different from any of the three creatures her fancy +had conjured up. She would have seen the form of a woman crouching +within the shadow, with features set in suppressed rage, and eyes +glowing indignantly upon herself. Easily, too, would she have +recognised the face as that of her fellow-slave, Cynthia! + +But she saw it not, though Cynthia saw her--though for hours did the two +remain in this singular juxtaposition--one occupied with the vigil of +love, the other absorbed in the vigil of jealousy. + +For long hours did the Foolah maid wait for the coming of her beloved +Cubina--her ear keenly bent to catch any sound that might announce his +approach; her bosom every moment becoming more and more a prey to +painful impatience. + +Equally long stayed the spy in her place of concealment--equally +suffering torture from jealous imaginings. + +To both it was a relief, when a footstep upon the path, and a rustling +of branches, proclaimed the approach of some one towards the spot. It +was but a momentary relief, mocking the anticipations of both--thwarting +the joy of the one, and the vengeful design of the other. + +Instead of the expected lover, a very different personage made his +appearance; and almost at the same instant another, coming from the +opposite side. + +Both, at the same time, advanced towards the middle of the glade; and, +without exchanging a word, stopped face to face near the _ceiba_, as if +they had met by appointment. + +They were out in the open ground, and under the full light of the moon. +Both were men, and the faces of both could be distinctly seen. + +Yola knew only one of them, and the sight of him hindered her from +staying to look upon the other. She merely glanced at a countenance +that was fearful--though not more fearful to her than the one she had +already recognised, and which had at once determined her to get away +from the ground. + +Keeping the great trunk between herself and the new comers, and +retreating silently under its shadow, she glided back into the underwood +of the forest, and was soon far from the presence of the two intruders, +who had brought her long and vain vigil to such an unsatisfactory +termination. + +Cynthia could not have followed her example, even had she been so +inclined. The two men had stopped within six paces of the spot in which +she lay concealed. On every side of it the ground was clear of cover, +with the moon shining full upon it. A cat could not have crept out of +the copse without attracting the attention of one or the other. + +Cynthia knew both the men--was the confederate of both--though not +without fearing them. + +At first sight of them she would have discovered herself, but disliked +to come under the observation of her rival. Afterwards, when the two +men had entered into conversation, she was held in her place by a dread +of a different kind. She had already overheard part of what they were +saying; and she feared they might punish her for eavesdropping, +involuntary though it was. + +Better for Cynthia had she then declared herself; but dreaming not of +discovery, or the fearful fate that might be involved in it, she +determined to be still, and listen to the dark dialogue to its ending. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXV. + +CYNTHIA IN TROUBLE. + +The two men who had thus interrupted the silent tableau by the _ceiba_ +tree were Jacob Jessuron and Chakra the Coromantee. + +Just at the time that Chakra departed from the Jumbe Rock to pay his +nocturnal visit to the Jew, the latter was leaving his penn to honour +the Coromantee with a similar call. + +As both were travelling the same path, and in adverse directions, it was +more than probable--a necessity, in fact--that each should meet the +other before reaching the end of his journey. Also, as the glade, where +stood the great _ceiba_, was on the same path, and midway between the +Jumbe Rock and the Jew's penn, it was natural this encounter should take +place not far from that noted trysting-place. In effect, it occurred +within the glade: the two men having entered it almost at the same +instant of time. + +The Jew had got first into the open ground, and was first seen. The +myal-man might have had these advantages had he wished: he had been the +first to arrive on the edge of the opening; but, true to his instinct of +caution, he had kept under cover until making a reconnoissance, in which +he saw and recognised his advancing _vis-a-vis_. + +They met near the middle of the glade, just outside the shadow of the +great tree, stopping face to face when within a pace or two of each +other. Not the slightest salutation was exchanged between the two men-- +any more than if they had been two tigers who had just come together in +the jungle. The secret compact between them precluded the necessity for +compliment or palaver. Each understood the other; and not a word was +spoken to introduce the dialogue except that which was pertinent to the +business between them. + +"Well, goot Shakra! you hash news for me?" interrogated the Jew, taking +the initiative in the conversation. "You hash been in the direction of +Savanna? Ish all right on the road?" + +"Whugh!" vociferated the myal-man, throwing out his breast and jerking +up his shoulders with an air of triumphant importance. "All right, eh? +Well, not azzackly on de road, but by de side ob daat same, dar lie a +corp', wich by dis time oughter be as cold as de heart ob a +water-millyum, an' 'tiff as--'tiff as--as--de 'keleton ob ole Chakra. +Ha! ha! ha!" + +And the speaker uttered a peal of fierce laughter at the simile he had +had so much difficulty in conceiving; but which, when found, recalled +the sweet triumph of his vengeance. + +"Blesh my soul! Then it ish all over?" + +"Daat's all ober--Ise be boun'." + +"And the shpell did it? There wash no need--" + +With a start the Jew paused in his speech, as if about to say something +he had not intended; and which had been very near escaping him. + +"There wash no need--no need for you to haf gone after?" + +This was evidently not the question originally upon his tongue. + +"No need!" repeated Chakra, a little puzzled at the interrogatory; "no +need, so far as dat war consarned. Ob coos de 'pell did de work, as a +knowd it wud, an' jess as a told you it wud. 'Twan't fo' dat a went +arter, but a puppos ob my own. Who tole ye, Massr Jake, dat I wor gone +arter?" + +"Goot Shakra, I washn't quite sure till now. The wench Cynthy thought +ash how you had followed the Cushtos." + +"Whugh! dat 'ere gal talk too much. She hab her tongue 'topped 'fore +long. She _muss_ hab her tongue 'topp, else she gess boaf o' us in +trouble. Nebba mind! A make dat all right too--by-'m-bye. Now, Massr +Jake, a want dat odder twenty-five pound. De job am finish, an' de work +am done. Now's de time fo' de pay." + +"That ish right, Shakra. I hash the monish here in red gold. There it +ish." + +As the Jew said this, he passed a bag containing gold into the hands of +Chakra. + +"You'll find it ish all counted correct. Twenty-five poundsh currenshy. +Fifty pounsh altogether, ash agreed. A deal of monish--a deal of +monish, s' help me!" + +Chakra made no reply to this significant insinuation; but, taking the +bag, deposited it in the lining of his skin _kaross_, as he did so +giving utterance to his favourite ejaculation, "Whugh!" the meaning of +which varied according to the accentuation given to it. + +"And now, goot Shakra!" continued the Jew: "I hash more work for you. +There ish another shpell wanted, for which you shall have another fifty +poundsh; but firsht tell me, hash you seen anyone to-day on your +travels?" + +"Seed any one, eh? Well, dat am a quessin, Massr Jake. A seed a good +wheen on my trabbels: more'n seed me, I'se be boun'." + +"But ash you seen anyone ash you know?" + +"Sartin a did--de Cussus fo' one, tho', by de gollies! a hardly wud a +knowd him, he wa' so fur gone--moas to de bone! He am almos' as much a +'keleton as ole Chakra hisself. Ha! ha! ha!" + +"Anybody elshe that you hash a knowledge of?" + +"No--nob'dy--neery one as a know anythin' bout 'ceppin' de Cussus' +'tendant. A seed odder men on de road, but dey wur fur off, and a keep +dem fur off as a kud. Oa! yes, dar wa' one who comed near--mose too +near--him I knowd. Dat wa' one ob dem 'ere Trelawney Maroon--Quaco dey +call um." + +"Only Quaco, you shay? You hash seen nothing of hish capt'in, Cubina, +nor of a young white gentlemansh along with him?" + +"Neider de one nor de todder ob dem two people. Wha fo' you ask dat, +Massr Jake?" + +"I hash a good reason, Shakra. The young fellow I speaksh of ish a +book-keeper of mine. He hash left the penn thish very morning. I don't +know for why, or whither he ish gone; but I hash a reason to think he +ish in company with Capt'in Cubina. Maybe not, and maybe he'll be back +again; but it looksh suspicious. If he'sh gone for goot, the shpell +will be all for nothingsh. 'S'help me, for nothingsh!" + +"Dat's a pity! I'm sorry fo' dat, Massr Jake. A hope he no gone." + +"Whether or not, I mushn't go to shleep about it. There ish another +shpell that will be more needed now ash ever." + +"De Obi am ready. Who d'ye want um set fo' nex'?" + +"For this rashcal Cubina." + +"Ah, dat ere in welkum. De god do him bess to 'pell _him_." + +"He hash trouble for me. It ish not like to come so soon now, ash the +Cushtos ish out of the way. But who knowsh how soon? And better ash +the shpell should be set at once. So, good Shakra, if you can manish to +do for Cubina in as short a time ash you hash done the Cushtos, there +ish another fifty poundsh ready for you." + +"A'll do ma bess, Massr Jake, to earn you money. All do ma bess--de +bess can do no mo." + +"That ish true, goot Shakra! Don't you think this wench, Cynthy, can +help you?" + +"Not a bit ob help from dat quar'r--not worth a 'traw for 'pelling +Cubina. He no let de m'latta come nigh o' 'im fo' no considerashun. He +sick ob de sight o' her. Besides, dat gal, she know too much now. She +one ob dese days fotch de white folk to de Duppy Hole. Dat nebba do. +No furrer use now. She hab serb her turn, an' mus' be got rid ob--muss +go 'long wi' de odders--long wi' de Cussus. Da's my way--de only way +keep a woman tongue tied, am to 'top 'um waggin' altogedder. Whugh!" + +After uttering the implied threat, the monster stood silent a moment, as +if reflecting upon some mode by which he could make away with the life +of the mulatta. + +"You think, Shakra, you ish likely to find somebody elshe to assist +you?" + +"Nebba fear, Massr Jake. Leab dat to ole Chakra--ole Chakra an' ole +Obi. Dey do de bizness widout help from any odder." + +"Fifty poundsh, then, Shakra. Ach! I'd give twice the monish--yes, +s'help me, ten times the monish--if I knew it wash all right with young +Vochan. Ach! where ish he gone?" + +The expression of bitter chagrin, almost anguish, with which the +villainous old Jew, for at least the tenth time on that day, repeated +this interrogative formula, told that, of all the matters upon his mind, +the absence of his book-keeper was the one uppermost, and deemed by him +of most importance. + +"Blesh my soul!" continued he, lifting his umbrella high in air, and +continuing to hold it up, "Blesh my soul! if he ish gone for goot, I +shall have all thish trouble for nothing--all the cr-r--inconvenience!" + +It was "crime" he was about to have said; but he changed the word--not +from any delicacy in the presence of Chakra, but rather to still a +shuddering within himself, to which the thought had given rise. + +"Nebba mind, Massr Jake," said his confederate, encouragingly; "you hab +got rid ob an enemy--same's masseff. Dat am someting, anyhow; an' a +promise you soon get shot ob one odder. A go at once 'bout dat berry +bizness." + +"Yesh! yesh! soon, goot Shakra, soon ash you can! I won't keep yoush +any longer. It ish near daylight. I musht go back, and get some +shleep. S'help me! I hash not had a wink thish night. Ach! I can't +shleep so long ash he'sh not found. I musht go home, and see if there +ish any newsh of him." + +So saying, and turning on his heel, without "good night," or any other +parting salutation, the Jew strode abstractedly off, leaving Chakra +where he stood. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXVI. + +A FATAL SNEEZE. + +"Whugh!" ejaculated the Coromantee, as soon as his confederate was out +of hearing; "dar's someting heavy on de mind ob dat ere ole Jew-- +someting wuss dan de death ob de Cussus Va'gh'n. Wonder now wha' em be +all 'bout? 'Bout dis yar book-keeper a knows it am. But wha' 'bout +him? A'll find out 'fore a'm many hour older. Daat a'll do. Gollies! +A muss go an' git some sleep too. A'm jess like de Jew masseff--han't +had ne'er a wink dis night, nor de night afore neider; nor doan expeck +get de half ob a wink morrer night! Dat will be night ob all odder! +Morrer night, if all ting go well, Chakra he no sleep him 'lone--he +sleep no more by hisseff--he hab for him bedfellow de beauty ob all de +Island ob Jamaica. He sleep wi' de Lilly--." + +Ere the full name of the victim threatened with this horrid fate had +passed from his lips, the menace of the myal-man was interrupted. + +The interruption was caused by a sound proceeding from the little clump +of bushes close to where Chakra stood. + +It sounded exactly as if some one had sneezed--for it was that in +reality. Cynthia had sneezed. + +She had not done so intentionally--far from it. After what she had +heard, it was not likely she would have uttered any sound to proclaim +her presence. + +At that instant she would have given all she possessed in the world--all +she ever hoped to possess, even the love of Cubina--to have been miles +from the spot, within the safe kitchen of Mount Welcome--anywhere but +where she then was. + +Long before the conversation between the Jew and Chakra had come to a +close, she had made up her mind never to see the myal-man again--never +willingly. Now an encounter appeared inevitable: he must have heard the +sneeze! + +The wretched woman reasoned aright--he had heard it. + +A fierce "whugh!" was the ejaculation it called forth in response; and +then the myal-man, turning suddenly in the direction whence it appeared +to have proceeded, stood for a short time silent, and listening. + +"By golly!" said he, speaking aloud; "dat 'ere soun' berry like a +'neeze! Some ob dem 'ere trees ha' been a-takin' snuff. A'd jess like +know wha' sort ob varmint made dat obstropolus noise. It wan't a bush-- +dat's sartin. Nor yet wa' it a bird. What den? It wan't 't all onlike +de 'neeze ob a nigga wench! But what wud a wench be a-doin' in tha? +Da's what puzzles me. Lookee hya!" added he, raising his voice, and +addressing himself to whoever or whatever might have produced the noise; +"les's hear dat ag'in, whosomebber you be! Take anodder pince ob de +snuff--louder dis time, so a can tell whedder you am a man or whedder +you be femmynine." + +He waited for a while, to see if his speech would elicit a response; but +none came. Within the copse all remained silent, as if no living thing +was sheltered under its sombre shadows. + +"You wan't 'neeze agin," continued he, seeing there was no reply; "den, +by golly, a make you, ef you am what a 'speck you is--someb'dy hid in +dar to lissen. No snake can't a 'neeze dat way, no' yet a lizzart. You +muss be eyder man, woman, or chile; an' ef you be, an' hab heerd wha's +been say, by de great Accompong! you life no be worth--Ha! ha!" + +As he entered upon this last paragraph of his apostrophe he had +commenced moving towards the copse, which was only six paces from his +starting-point. Before the speech was completed he had passed in among +the bushes; and, bending them over with his long, ape-like arms, was +scrutinising the ground underneath. + +The exclamation was called forth by his perceiving the form of a woman +in a crouching attitude within the shadow. + +In another instant he had seized the woman by the shoulder, and with a +quick wrench jerked her into an erect position. + +"Cynthy!" he exclaimed, as the light fell upon the countenance of the +mulatta. + +"Yes, Chakra!" cried the woman, screaming ere she spoke; "it's me, it's +me!" + +"Whugh! Wha' you do hya? Youb been lissenin'. Wha' fo' you lissen?" + +"Oh, Chakra! I did not intend it. I came here--" + +"How long you been hya? Tell dat quick!" + +"Oh, Chakra--I came--" + +"You hya 'fore we came in' de glade. Needn't axe dat. You no kud git +hya atterwad. You heer all been said? You muss hab heer it." + +"Oh, Chakra, I couldn't help it. I would have gone--" + +"Den you nebba hear nodder word more. Won't do let you go now. You +come hya; you stay hya. You nebba go out ob dis 'pot. Whugh!" + +And giving to the monosyllable an aspirate of fierceness, that caused it +to sound more like the utterance of a wild beast than a human being, the +monster threw out his long dark arms, and rushed towards his intended +victim. + +In another instant his long muscular fingers were clutched round the +throat of the mulatta, clamping it with the tightness and tenacity of an +iron garotte. + +The wretched creature could make no resistance against such a formidable +and ferocious antagonist. She tried to speak; she could not even +scream. + +"Chak-r-a, de-ar Chak-r-r-a," came forth in a prolonged thoracic +utterance, and this was the last articulation of her life. + +After that there was a gurgling in her throat--the death-rattle, as the +fingers relaxed their long-continued clutch--and the body, with a sudden +sound, fell back among the bushes. + +"You lie da!" said the murderer, on seeing that his horrid work was +complete. "Dar you tell no tale. Now for de Duppy Hole; an' a good +long sleep to 'fresh me fo' de work of de morrer night. Whugh!" + +And turning away from the image of death he had just finished +fashioning, the fearful Coromantee pulled the skirts of his skin mantle +around him, and strode out of the glade, with as much composure as if +meditating upon some abstruse chapter in the ethics of Obi. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXVII. + +CHAKRA TRIMMING HIS LAMP. + +Day was dawning when the tiger Chakra returned to his lair in the +Duppy's Hole. With him night was day, and the dawn of the morn the +twilight of evening. + +He was hungry: having eaten only a morsel of food since starting out on +his awful errand, just twenty-four hours ago. + +The remains of a pepper-pot, still unemptied from the iron skillet in +which it had been cooked, stood in a corner of the hut. + +To warm it up would require time, and the kindling of a fire. He was +too much fatigued to be fastidious; and, drawing the skillet from its +corner, he scooped up the stew, and ate it cold. + +Finally, before retiring to rest, he introduced into his stomach +something calculated to warm the cold pepper-pot--the "heel-tap" of a +bottle of rum that remained over from the preceding night; and then, +flinging himself upon the bamboo bedstead, so heavily that the frail +reeds "scrunched" under his weight, he sank into a profound slumber. + +He lay upon his hunched back, his face turned upward. A protuberance on +the trunk of the tree, of larger dimensions than that upon his own +person, served him for a bolster--a few handfuls of the silk cotton laid +loosely upon it constituting his pillow. + +With his long arms extended loosely by his side--one of them hanging +over until the murderous fingers rested upon the floor--and his large +mouth, widely agape, displaying a double serrature of pointed, shining +teeth, he looked more like some slumbering ogre than a human being. + +His sleep could not be sweet. It was far from being silent. From his +broad, compressed nostrils came a sonorous snoring, causing the +cartilage to heave outward, accompanied by a gurgling emission through +his throat that resembled the breathing of a hippopotamus. + +Thus slumbered Chakra throughout the livelong day, dreaming of many +crimes committed, or, perhaps, only of that--the sweetest crime of all-- +which was yet in abeyance. + +It was near night when he awoke. The sun had gone down--at least, he +was no longer visible from the bottom of the Duppy's Hole--though some +red rays, tinting the tops of the trees upon the summit of the cliff, +told that the orb of day was still above the horizon. + +Extended on his couch, Chakra saw not this. His hut was dark, the door +being shut close; but through the interstices of the bamboos he could +see to some distance outside, and perceived that twilight was fast +deepening among the trees. The cry of the bittern, coming up from the +lagoon, the shriek of the _potoo_, heard through the sough of the +cataract, and the hoot of the great-eared owl--all three true voices of +the night--reaching his ears, admonished him that his hour of action had +arrived. + +Springing from his couch, and giving utterance to his favourite +ejaculation, he set about preparing himself for the adventure of the +night. + +His first thought was about something to eat, and his eyes fell upon the +skillet, standing where he had left it, near the middle of the floor. +It still contained a quantity of the miscellaneous stew--enough for a +meal. + +"Woan do eat um cold," he muttered, proceeding to kindle a fire, "not +fo' de second time. Gib me de ager chills, it wud. Mus' fortify de +belly wi' someting warm--else a no be fit to do de work dat am to be +done." + +The kindling of the fire, the warming up of the pepper-pot, and its +subsequent consumption, were three operations that did not take Chakra +any very great amount of time. They were all over just as the darkness +of night descended over the earth. + +"Now fo' get ready de signal," soliloquised he, moving about over the +floor of his hut, and looking into crannies and corners, as if in search +of some object. + +"As de good luck hab it, dar be no moon to-night--leastways, till atter +midnight. Atter den a doan care she shine as bright as de sun hisseff. +Dare be plenty ob dark fo' Adam to see de signal, and plenty fo' de +odder bizzness at Moun' Welc'm'. Dar'll be light 'nuf 'bout dat ere +'fore we takes leab o' de place. Won't dat be a blaze? Whugh! + +"Wha hab a put dat ere tellemgraff lamp?" said he, still searching +around the hut. "I'se fo'got all 'bout wha it am, so long since a use +de darned ting. Muss be un'er de bed. Ya--hya it am!" + +As he said this, he drew from under the bamboo bedstead a gourd shell, +of nearly egg shape, but of the dimensions of a large melon. It had a +long, tapering shank--part of the fruit itself, where the pericarp +narrowed towards its peduncle--and through this a string had been +passed, by which the gourd could be suspended upon a peg. + +Holding it by the handle, he raised the shell to the light of his lard +lamp, already kindled, and stood for some time silently inspecting it. + +The gourd was not perfect--that is, it was no longer a mere empty shell, +but a manufactured article, containing within a most singular apparatus. +On one side appeared a hole, several inches in diameter, and cut in a +shape nearly pyramidal, the base being above the thick end of the oval, +and the apex, somewhat blunt, or truncated, extending towards the shank. + +Up to the level of the opening the shell was filled with lard, in the +middle of which appeared a wick of silk cotton staple; and behind this +were two hits of broken looking-glass, set slanting to each other. + +The whole apparatus bore some resemblance to a reflecting lamp; and that +was in reality the purpose for which the rude contrivance had been +constructed. + +After a careful examination, its owner appeared to be satisfied that it +was in good order; and having "trimmed" it, by adding a little fresh +lard, and straightening up the wick, he set the lamp aside, and +proceeded with the preparation of some other paraphernalia necessary for +the night's expedition. + +A stick, some four feet in length, and a piece of strong cord, were the +next articles procured; and these were also put on one side. + +To these succeeded a long-bladed knife, and a stout pistol, with flint +lock, which the Coromantee loaded and primed with great care. Both were +stuck behind a belt which he had already buckled around his ribs, under +the skin kaross. + +"A doan 'ticipate," said he, as he armed himself with these formidable +weapons, "dar a-gwine be much need fo' eider ob 'em. Dar ain't nob'dy +down dar am like show fight. Dat ere gran' buckra ob late come to Moun' +Welc'm' de say he be 'fraid ob de shadda ob danger; an' as fo' de brack +folks, de look ob dese weapon be suffishient fo' dem. Ef dat woan do, +den a trow off my mask. De sight ob ole Chakra, dat dribe 'em into +fits. Dat send ebbery nigga on de plantashun into de middle ob next +week. Whugh!" + +Another weapon appeared to be wanting, in the shape of a large black +bottle, containing rum. With this the Coromantee soon supplied himself, +drawing one out from its secret hiding-place, and holding it before the +light, to make sure that it was full. + +"Dis bottle," said he, as he thrust it into a pouch in his kaross, "I +hab kep fo' dis 'pecial 'casion; it am de bess weapon fo' my puppos. +When dem fellas get dar dose ob de rum, dar'll be no back out in 'em +den. Golly!" he added, glancing out, and seeing that it was now quite +dark, "a muss be gone fro' hya. By de time ole Adam sees de +tellemgraff, an' gets 'cross dem 'ere mountains, it be late 'nuf for de +bizness to begin." + +Finishing with this reflection, the sable conjuror took up his +"telegraphic apparatus," and, stepping over the threshold, hurried away +from the hut. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXVIII. + +SETTING THE SIGNAL. + +The short tropic twilight had passed, and night had descended upon the +Island of Jamaica. It promised to be a night of deepest darkness. The +moon would not rise before midnight; and even then she might not be +seen, as the canopy was covered with a thick curtain of black cumulus +clouds, through which neither star nor speck of blue sky was visible. + +Alike lay valleys and mountains shrouded in amorphous darkness; and even +the Jumbe Rock--the highest and most conspicuous summit for miles +around--was wrapped in complete obscurity. Its vitreous flanks no +longer sparkled in the light, since there was none; and its dark mass +was so dimly outlined against the equally sombre background of the sky, +as to be invisible from the valley below. + +The form of a man, groping his way up the narrow ravine that debouched +upon the summit of the rock, could not have been distinguished, much +less the black hue of his skin, the deformity that marked his figure, or +the hideous aspect of his countenance. And yet a man so characterised +climbed up there, about half-an-hour after the going down of the sun. + +It need scarce be said that that man was Chakra, the Coromantee. Who +else would be seeking the Jumbe Rock at that hour? + +What was his errand up there? Let the sequel declare. + +On setting foot upon the platform, he undid the knot that fastened the +skin mantle over his shoulders; and then taking off the garment, he +spread it out upon the rock. + +The stick he had brought up with him he placed along one edge, and there +made it fast with some pieces of string. When this was accomplished, he +lifted both stick and cloak from the rock, and, proceeding to the palm, +he laid the stick transversely across the stem, at about the height of +his own hand, and then lashed it fast to the tree. + +The kaross now hung down the stem, in a spread position, the transverse +stick keeping it extended to its full width. + +While arranging it thus, Chakra evidently had an eye to the direction-- +that is, the plane represented by the spread garment had one face +fronting the valley of Mount Welcome and the cultivated lowlands between +that and Montego Bay, while the reverse side was turned towards the +"black grounds" of Trelawney--a tract of wild country in which not a +single estate, plantation, or penn had been established, and where no +such thing as a white settlement existed. In this solitude, however, +there were _black_ colonies of a peculiar kind; for that was the +favourite haunt of the absconded slave--the lurking-place of the +outlaw--the retreat of the runaway. + +There, even might the assassin find an asylum, secure from the pursuit +of justice. There had he found it: for among those dark, forest-clad +mountains more than one murderer made his dwelling. + +Robbers there were many--even existing in organised bands, and holding +the authorities of the Island at defiance. + +All these circumstances were known to Chakra; and some of the robbers, +too, were known to him--some of the fiercest who followed that free +calling. + +It was to communicate with one of these bands that the preparations of +the myal-man were being made. Chakra was preparing the signal. + +Satisfied that the skin cloak was extended in the proper direction, the +Coromantee next took up his reflector-lamp; and having attached it +against that side of the kaross facing towards the mountains, he took +out his flint, steel, and tinder, and, after striking a light, set the +wick on fire. + +In an instant the lamp burned brightly, and the light, reflected from +the bits of looking-glass, might have been seen from the back country to +the distance of many miles; while, at the same time, it was completely +screened from any eye looking from the side of the plantations. The +projecting edges of the calabash hindered the rays from passing to +either side; while the interposed disc of the spread kaross further +prevented the "sheen" that otherwise might have betrayed the presence of +the signal. + +It was not meant for the eyes of honest men in the direction of Montego +Bay, but for those of the robbers among the far hills of Trelawney. + +"Jess de sort ob night fo' dem see it," muttered the myal-man, as with +folded arms foe stood contemplating the light. "De sky brack as de +Debbil's pitch-pot. Ole Adam, he sure hab some 'un on de look-out. De +sure see 'im soon." + +Chakra never looked more hideous than at that moment. + +Stripped of the ample garment, that to some extent aided in concealing +his deformity a scant shirt, of coarse crimson flannel, alone covering +the hunch; most part of his body naked, exposing to the strong light of +the reflector his black corrugated skin; the aspect of his ferocious +features compressed by the snake-encircled turban upon his temples, the +long-bladed knife and pistol appearing in his waist-belt--all combined +to produce a fearful picture, that could not fail to strike terror into +whoever should have the misfortune to behold it. + +Standing immovable under the glare of the lamp, his misshapen figure +projected across the surface of the summit platform, he might easily +have been mistaken for a personification of the fiend--that African +fiend--after whom the rock had been named. + +In this situation he remained, observing perfect silence, and with his +eyes eagerly bent upon the distant mountains, dimly discernible through +the deep obscurity of the night. Only for a few minutes was this +silence preserved, and the attitude of repose in which he had placed +himself. + +"Whugh!" he exclaimed, dropping his arms out of their fold, as if to set +about some action. "I know'd dey wud soon see um. Yonner go' de +answer!" + +As he spoke, a bright light was seen suddenly blazing up on the top of a +distant eminence, which was suddenly extinguished. + +After a short interval another, exactly similar, appeared in the same +place, and in a similar manner went out again; and then, when an equal +interval had elapsed, a third. + +All three resembled flashes produced by powder ignited in a loose heap. + +The moment the third response had been given to his signal, the +Coromantee stepped up to his reflector and blew out the light. + +"Dar's no use fo' you any mo'," said he, apostrophising the lamp; "dar +_am_ some danger keepin' you dar. B'side, it am a gettin' cold up hya. +A want my ole cloak." + +So saying, he took down the reflector, and after it the kaross; and, +separating the latter from the piece of stick, he once more suspended +the garment around his shoulders. This done, he moved forward to the +front of the platform; and dropping his legs over, sat down upon the +edge of the rock. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXIX. + +THE CRY OF THE SOLITAIRE. + +From the spot where he had seated himself, the mansion of Mount Welcome +was in view--that is, it would have been, had it been daytime, or even a +moonlight night. As it was, however, darkness veiled the whole valley +under its opaque shadows; and the situation of the house could only have +been guessed at, had it not been for the light streaming through the +jalousied windows. These revealed its position to the eyes of the +Coromantee. + +More than one window showed light--several that were side by side giving +out a strong glare. These Chakra knew to be the side windows of the +great hall, or drawing-room. Its front windows could not be seen from +the Jumbe Rock: since they faced towards the valley and not to the +mountain. + +The myal-man knew all this. A forty years' residence on the estate of +Mount Welcome had rendered perfectly accurate his knowledge of the +topography of the place. + +So much light shining out suggested the idea of cheerfulness, as if +company were entertained within. + +"Whugh!" ejaculated Chakra, as his eye caught the lights. "Doan look +berry much like dey war grievin'. Dey can't hab heer'd o' dat 'fair +yet. P'raps de hab take de body to de plantashun ob Content? Leetle +dey know down dar wha's been done. Leetle dey dream dat de proud masser +ob dat ere Buff am jess at dis minnit a cold corpus. Da's no house ob +mournin'. Dar's feas'in a-gwine on da', a be boun'? Nebba mind! Nebba +mind! Patience, ole nigga! maybe you come in fo' share ob dem wittle +'fore he gits cold; and maybe you hab share of the dishes on which de +wittle am sa'v'd up--de forks, an' de 'poons, and de silber plate +generumly. Daat _will_ be a haul. Whugh! + +"But wha' care I fo' de forks an' de 'poons? Nuffin! Dar's but one +ting a care fo', an' dat am more dan silber, more na gold, more na Moun' +Wele'm, itseff! Dat am de Lilly Quasheba. Whugh! A hab lub her fo' +many long year--lub her more'n ebba; yes, a lub her wi' de whole +'trength ob my soul. Once a git dat bewfu' gal in dese arms, a no care +for de forks and de 'poons. Ole Adam be welc'm take all dem rubbish. + +"No," continued he, after a pause, apparently relenting of his +liberality; "dat no do, neider. A soon need boaf de forks and de +'poons. A'll want him fo' de housekeepin'. A'll want de silber an' de +gold to buy odder ting. Muss hab m' share 'long wi' de ress. + +"Wha am de bess place take my wife to?" muttered the intended husband, +continuing the same strain of reflections. "Muss leab de Duppy Hole. +Dat place no longer safe. Too near de ole plantashun. Boun' to be a +debbil ob a rumpus atter she carried 'way--daat are ef dey b'lieve she +_am_ carried away. Guess a know de way make um b'lieve diff'rent. +Nebba mind. A know how manage dat!" + +At this moment the reflections of the Coromantee were interrupted by a +sound that caused him to draw his legs up on the rock, and assume an +attitude as if about to spring to his feet. + +At the repetition of the sound, he started up, and rapidly re-crossed to +the opposite side. + +At the point where the upward path debouched upon the platform, he +stopped to listen. + +For the third time the sound was repeated. + +There was nothing strange in it--at least, to ears familiar with the +voices of a Jamaica forest. It was the call of a common yet peculiar +bird--the _solitaire_. The only thing strange was to hear it at that +hour of the night. It was not the time when the soft and flute-like +note of the _solitaire_ should fall upon the ear of the forest wanderer. +Hearing it at that hour was by no means strange to Chakra. It was not +that which had startled him from his seat, and caused him to cross +quickly to the other side of the platform. On the contrary, it was +because he knew that what he had heard was _not_ the note of the +_solitaire_, but a counterfeit call from his confederate, Adam! + +Chakra's private slogan was different--more mournful and less musical. +It was an imitation of that melancholy utterance heard at night from the +sedgy shores of the dark lagoon--the cry of the wailing bittern. + +With a small reed applied to his lips, the Coromantee produced an exact +imitation of this cry, and then remained silent, awaiting the result. + +At the bottom of the ravine could be heard a murmur of voices, as if +several men were together, talking in guarded tones. Following this +came a sound of scratching against the stones, and a rustling of +branches, each moment becoming more distinct. Shortly after, the form +of a man emerged out of the shadowy cleft, stepping cautiously upon the +platform. Another followed, and another, until six in all stood upon +the summit of the rock. + +"Dat you, brodder Adam?" said Chakra, stepping forward to receive the +first who presented himself at the head of the sloping path. + +"Ya--ya! Am it Chakra?" + +"Dat same ole nigga." + +"All right, kommarade. We've see yar signal as soon as it war hoisted. +We wan't long a comin', war we?" + +"Berry quick. A didn't 'speck ye fo' half an hour mo'." + +"Well, now we're hya, what's the game? I hope dar's a good big stake to +play for! Our stock of stuff wants remplenishin' berry badly. We +haven't had de chance of a job fo' more dan a month. We're a'most in +want o' wittles!" + +"Wittles!" exclaimed the myal-man, laying a scornful emphasis on the +word. "Dar's a ting for ye do dis night dat'll gib ye mo' dan wittle-- +it gib you wealth--ebbery one ob ye. Whugh!" + +"Good!" ejaculated Adam, simultaneously with a chorus of like +exclamations; "glad to hear dat ere bit o' intelligence. Am it dat ere +little job you speak me 'bout last time I see you? Dat it, ole humpy?" + +"Dat same," laconically answered Chakra, "only wi' dis diffurence," +added he; "dat a call um de big job in'tead of de little un." + +"Big or little," rejoined the other, "we've come ready to do it--you see +we hab?" + +The speaker, who appeared to be the leader of the party who accompanied +him, pointed to the others as he made this remark. + +The hint was scarce regarded by Chakra. Notwithstanding the murky gloom +that enveloped the forms of Adam and his companions, the myal-man could +see that they were all armed and equipped, though in the most varied and +uncouth fashions. The weapons of no two were alike. One carried an old +musket, red with rust; another a fowling-piece, in like condition. +Others were provided with pistols, and nearly all had long knives, or +_machetes_. Thus provided, it was scarce probable that the job for +whose execution Chakra had summoned them could be one of a pacific +character. + +Had a light been thrown upon the group that surrounded Chakra, it would +have revealed a collection of faces, each provided with a set of +features but little less sinister than those of Chakra himself. In not +one of them would have been found a line indicative of either peace or +mercy--for it was the band of the black robber Adam, celebrated as the +most notorious cut-throats in the Island. + +Chakra expressed no surprise at seeing them armed, nor felt any. He had +expected it; and the flourish which their leader had made of this fact +was only intended to make manifest that they were ready for the ordinary +requirements of their vocation. + +Eagerly willing were they for the extremest action; but, in order to +make more certain of their compliance, Chakra thought it prudent to ply +them with a little rum. + +"Ma frien's," said he, in an affectionate tone, "you hab had de fatigue +ob a long walk troo de darkness ob de night. A hab got hya a leetle +drop ob someting dat's berry good fo' keep de cold out ob you. 'Pose we +all take a wet from dis bottle?" + +To this proposition there was a general assent, expressed in varied +phraseology. There was no teetotaller in that crowd of worthies. + +Chakra had not thought of providing himself with either drinking-cup or +calabash; but the want was scarcely felt. The robbers each in turn +refreshed himself directly from the neck of the bottle, until the rum +ran out. + +"Well, ole humpy," said Adam, drawing Chakra aside, and speaking in that +familiar phrase that betokened a thickness of thieves between them. "I +suppose the chance you spoke 'bout hab come round at las'?" + +"Da's a fack, brodder Adam. It hab come now." + +"De great buckra gone from home?" + +"He gone from home, and gone _to_ home, ha! ha!" + +"Come, dat's a riddle. What you mean by gone _to_ home?" + +"To 'im long home. Da's wha' I mean." + +"Ha!" exclaimed Adam; "you don't say the Cussos--" + +"Nebber mind 'bout the Cussus now, brodder Adam. Dat you know all 'bout +atter wards. It am the Cussus' silber plate dat consarn you now; and +dar's no time to was'e in p'laverin'. By de time we gets down da, an' +puts on de masks, dey'll be a-gwine to bed. Better dey wa' gone to bed; +but by dat time, you see, de moon 'ud be up, an' fo' all dese clouds +mout shine out. Dat, as you know, won't nebba do. We must 'ticipate de +risin' ob de moon." + +"True enuf. All right! I'm ready, and so are de rest." + +"Den foller me, all ob you. We can plan de mode ob 'tack as we trabbel +'long. Plenty ob time fo' dat, when we find out how de land lie down +below. Foller me!" + +And with this injunction, the Coromantee commenced descending the +ravine, followed by Adam and his band of burglars. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXX. + +A SAD PROCESSION. + +On that same evening, about half-an-hour before sunset, a singular +procession was seen moving along the Carrion Crow Road, in the direction +of Mount Welcome. Its slow progress, with the staid looks and gestures +of those who composed the procession, betokened it to be one of a +melancholy character. + +A rude litter, carried upon the shoulders of four men, confirmed this +impression; more especially when the eye rested upon a human form +stretched along the litter, and which could easily be identified as a +dead body, notwithstanding the camlet cloak that covered it. + +There were ten individuals forming this funeral _cortege_; though all +were not mourners. Two were on horseback, a little in advance of the +rest. Four followed, carrying the litter; while close behind these came +four others, two and two--the foremost pair being lashed arm and arm to +one another--each also with his hands tied behind his back, and both +evidently prisoners. The two that brought up the rear appeared to be +guarding them. + +The individuals composing this mournful procession may be easily +identified. + +The two riding in advance were Herbert Vaughan and the Maroon captain; +the horses they bestrode being the same that had passed over that road +the day before, carrying the Custos and his negro attendant. The +prisoners were the Spanish _cacadores_--their guards, Quaco and the +before-mentioned attendant; while the four men bearing the body were +slaves belonging to the plantation of Content. + +It need scarce be added that the corpse, stretched stark and stiff upon +the litter, was all that remained of the grand Custos Vaughan. + +Strictly describing them, not one of the procession party could be +called a mourner. None of them had any reason to be greatly aggrieved +by the fate that had befallen the owner of Mount Welcome--not even his +relative. Notwithstanding this absence of a cause for grief, the faces +of all--the prisoners excepted--wore a look of decent gravity becoming +the occasion. + +Perhaps the nephew would have more keenly felt the situation--for now +that his uncle was no more, every spark of hostility had become +extinguished--perhaps he might even have mourned, but for certain +circumstances that had just come to his knowledge; and which had the +effect not only to counteract within his heart all tendency towards +sorrow, but almost to overpower it with joy. + +It was only with an effort, therefore, that he could preserve upon his +features that expression of sadness, due to the melancholy position in +which he was placed. + +Despite the presence of death, his heart was at that moment filled with +a secret satisfaction--so sweet that he could not deny himself its +indulgence. The source of this satisfaction may be easily traced. It +will be found in the information communicated to him by the Maroon +captain. During their journey of the preceding day, their vigil of the +night, and, still further, their long, slow march of that morning, +Cubina had made known to him many circumstances of which he had been +hitherto ignorant; among other items of intelligence, one of the most +interesting that language could have imparted. + +It need scarce be said what this was. It may be guessed at by recalling +the conversation between the Maroon and his mistress Yola, occurring at +the last tryst under the _ceiba_--that part of it which related to the +Lilly Quasheba. Though Cubina's knowledge was only second-hand, it was +sufficiently definite to inspire Herbert with hope--something more than +hope; and hence that secret joy whose outward manifestation he found it +difficult to suppress. + +Every word of the conversation that had passed between the Maroon and +his mistress--every word that referred to _her_ mistress--Cubina had +been compelled to repeat over and over again; till Herbert knew it as +well as if he had been present during the dialogue. No wonder he was +not in a condition to feel very profoundly for the sad fate that had +befallen his uncle--hitherto only known to him as a relative harsh and +hostile. + +Other secrets had Cubina disclosed to him--among the rest, the true +character of his patron, Jessuron--which Herbert had already begun to +suspect, and which was now revealed to him in all its hideous +wickedness. The history of the Foolah prince--hitherto unknown to +Herbert--besides his own experiences during the last twenty-four hours, +was sufficient to confirm any suspicion that might point to Jacob +Jessuron. Though it was plain that the two prisoners in the custody of +Quaco had not actually assassinated the Custos, it was equally clear +that such had been their intention, anticipated by a death of another +kind. This both Cubina and Herbert conjectured to have proceeded from +the same hand--the hand of Herbert's _ci-devant_ host. + +The phrase is appropriate. Long before Herbert had heard one half of +Cubina's disclosures, he had resolved never more voluntarily to set foot +in the Happy Valley--much less return to seek shelter under the roof of +Jessuron. + +If he should hereafter have aught to do with the Israelite, it would be +in the course of justice; as avenger of the death of his murdered +relative. That Loftus Vaughan was the victim of assassination neither +he nor the Maroon for a moment doubted. The conversation which the +latter had listened to between Chakra and the Jew--and which, +unfortunately, at the time he had not clearly comprehended--was no +longer mysterious; only its motive remained so. The deed itself had now +furnished the terrible interpretation. + +Neither Herbert nor Cubina had any idea of permitting the matter to +drop. An event of such fearful significance called for the fullest +investigation; and they were now proceeding with the preliminary step-- +carrying the body to Mount Welcome, in order that the authorities might +be called together, and an inquest instituted. + +How different were the feelings of Herbert from those he experienced on +his former and first approach to the mansion of his haughty relative! +He was now the victim of emotions so varied and mingled as to defy +description! + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXI. + +THE ABDUCTION. + +To Chakra, viewing them from the summit of the Jumbe Rock, the +well-lighted windows of Mount Welcome had proclaimed the presence of +company within the mansion. In this, however, the Coromantee was +mistaken. In the past such an appearance might have had that +signification, or up to a very late period--that is, up to the date of +the arrival of the distinguished Smythje. Since the latter had become +the guest of Mount Welcome, however, the illumination of the mansion +with chandelier and candelabra was not only not unusual, but had been +the nightly practice. + +This was Mr Vaughan's pleasure; which, in his absence, the house +steward had injunctions to carry out. The grand hall was only lit up as +usual, its lustrous floor glistening in the brilliant light, while the +profusion of cut glass and silver plate sparkled upon the sideboards, +loudly proclaiming the opulence of the planter. There was no strange +company present--none expected--no one who did not belong to the family, +except Mr Smythje; and he could scarcely be considered a stranger. +Rather might he be regarded--for the time at least--as the master of the +mansion: since in that charge had the Custos left him. + +The only individuals occupying this splendid apartment were Smythje and +the young mistress of Mount Welcome--both yet ignorant of what had +occurred upon the Savanna Road--that fearful event which had left Kate +Vaughan a fatherless orphan, at the same time depriving her of the proud +title we have just bestowed upon her. + +Yola, her attendant, went and came at intervals, and Thoms occasionally +presented himself in the apartment, in obedience to a summons from his +master. + +Notwithstanding the absence of company, Smythje was in full evening +dress--body-coat, breeches, silk stockings, and pumps, with silver +buckles. It was his custom to dress, or be dressed, every evening--a +custom so scrupulously observed, that had there been no one in the house +except the negro domestics of the establishment, Smythje would have +appeared in full fashionable costume all the same. With him the +exigencies of fashion were as rigorous as to a holy friar would be the +observances of his religion. + +The gentleman was in high spirits--merry, indeed; and, strange to say, +his companion was less melancholy than of late. No doubt this had given +him his cue for mirth. + +Why she had been enabled to escape from her habitual dejection was not +known to Smythje; but he was fain to attribute the improvement in her +spirits to the near prospect of that pleasant ceremony which in a few +days must indubitably take place. In a week, or a fortnight at most, +Mr Vaughan might be expected back; and then it was understood by all-- +tacitly by the young lady herself--that the union of Mount Welcome and +Montagu Castle should be no longer delayed. + +Smythje had even begun to talk of the wedding _trousseau_; of the +honeymoon tour--which was to extend to the grand metropolis; and as +Kate, at his request, seated herself to the harp, suggesting a musical +conversation, he commenced enlarging upon the theme of the grand "opwa," +and its attractions--so dear and delightful to himself. + +This sort of talk, upon other occasions, had invariably the effect of +making his listener more sad; but, strange to say, on that evening, it +produced no such a disagreeable consequence. Kate's fingers flitted +over the strings of the instrument, drawing music from them that was far +from melancholy. + +In truth, the young creole was not listening to the _couleur de rose_ +descriptions of the "metwopolis," and its "opwa," which Smythje was so +strenuously endeavouring to impart to her. + +Though seated by the harp, and striking mechanically upon its trings, +she was dwelling upon thoughts of a far different character--thoughts +suggested by some further intelligence which Yola had communicated to +her, and which was the true source of that joy--perhaps but a transitory +gleam--that overspread her countenance. + +Little did Kate Vaughan suspect that the corpse of her father--lying +cold and lifeless upon a stretcher, and surrounded by strange mourners-- +was at that moment scarce five miles distant from where she sat, and +slowly approaching the now masterless mansion of Mount Welcome! + +Little did she suspect, while making that music for Smythje, that, from +another direction, monsters in human form were moving towards that +mansion--their dark shadows projected across the glare of the +window-lights--now stationary, now flitting stealthily onward--at each +progressive movement drawing nearer and nearer to the walls! + +She saw not these shadowy, demon-like men--had no suspicion either of +their approach or intent--an intent which comprehended robbery, rapine +of a far more fearful kind--murder, if need be. + +Neither its mistress, neither Smythje, nor any one else of Mount +Welcome, saw or suspected this mysterious circumvallation, until the +movement had been successfully executed. + +Not a word of warning, not a sign or gesture, was given to the occupants +of the apartment, until, with wild, unearthly yells, half-a-dozen +fiend-like forms--men of horrid aspect--some with black masks, others +with naked visage even more hideous to behold--burst into the grand +hall, and commenced the work of pillage. + +One, of gigantic size, masked from crown to throat, and wrapped in an +ample covering of skin--though not sufficient to conceal the deformity +of a hunched back--rushed directly up to where the fair musician was +seated; and, dashing the harp to one side, seized upon her wrist before +she could disengage herself from her chair. + +"Whugh!" came the ejaculation, in loud aspirate, from behind the mask, +"I'se got ye at lass, ma Lilly Quasheba--atter many's de yea' ob longin' +fo' hab ye. Ef de quaderoom, ya mudder, she 'cape an' 'corn me, I'se +take care de dauter doan' get de same chance. You come 'long wi' me!" + +And as the ravisher pronounced these words, he commenced dragging his +shrieking victim across the room towards the stair entrance. + +Smythje's half irresolute interposition was of no avail. With one sweep +of his long, flail-like arm, he in the skin cloak sent the exquisite +sprawling upon the floor. + +The terrified Cockney no longer thought of resistance; but after +scrambling awhile over the polished planks at length succeeded in +gaining his feet. Then, without waiting to receive a second knock-down, +he shot out through the open doorway, and, descending the stone stairs, +in a couple of skips, disappeared in the darkness below. + +Meanwhile the alarm had been communicated to the kitchen and all over +the house. Shouts of surprise were succeeded by screams of terror. The +domestics came running in from all directions; but a shot or two from +the muskets and pistols of the black burglars, fired for the purpose of +increasing the confusion, scattered the whole establishment of servants, +Thoms among the rest, and sent them in full flight towards the +sugar-works and negro village beyond. + +In less than a score of seconds, Adam and his confederates had the +mansion to themselves. + +It was but the work of a few minutes to fling, open the buffets and +sideboards, and plunder them of their most valuable contents. In less +than a quarter of an hour the black burglars had finished their "job," +and were ready to depart. + +While his confederates were thus engaged, Chakra had secured his victim +at the bottom of the front stairway, where he was impatiently awaiting +the completion of the pillage. Though determined upon having his share +of the booty, he cared less for that than for the gratification of that +wicked desire that had so long possessed his savage soul--so long by +circumstances restrained. + +Notwithstanding his eagerness for this demoniac indulgence, he still +possessed a certain degree of prudence. As soon as Adam and his +associates made their appearance, loaded with spoils, he placed his +prisoner under the charge of one of the robbers, and, commanding the +others to follow him, rapidly re-ascended the stairway, and once more +entered the plundered apartment. + +In an incredibly short space of time the harp, the chairs, the ottomans, +and other articles of light furniture, were piled up in the middle of +the floor; the jalousies were wrenched from their fastenings, flung upon +the heap, and then set on fire. + +Quick as tinder the dry wood blazed up; and in five minutes the noble +mansion of Mount Welcome was in flames! + +In five minutes more, under the red glare, flung far out into the +distant fields, the robbers were seen, slowly and laboriously seeking +concealment within the shadows beyond--six of them burdened with shining +utensils that gave back the gleam of the blazing mansion; while the +seventh, the most formidable figure of all, carried in his arms an +object of a far different kind--the body of a beautiful woman--the +fainting form of Lilly Quasheba! + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXII. + +BURGLARS! ROBBERS! MURDERERS! + +In solemn pace the procession which accompanied the corpse of Custos +Vaughan moved silently on along the lonely road. The Jumbe Rock was now +in sight, encarmined by the last rays of the sinking sun. Beyond lay +Mount Welcome--a house to which the sad _cortege_ was about to carry the +cue for wailing and desolation. + +Ah! little dreamt they who composed it that the demon was already there +before them--if not of death, of a doom equally as dark! + +Could Herbert only have known that at that moment the beautiful being he +loved with his whole heart, and now more than ever--she who loved him, +was struggling in the arms! + +No matter. The terrible truth will reach him but too soon. It will +meet him on his way. In another hour the sweet dreams in which, +throughout that long day, he has been indulging, will meet with a dread +dissipation. + +At a turning of the road there stood several gigantic trees, offering a +grand canopy of foliage. Under these the party halted, by the joint +command of Herbert and Cubina, who at the same moment dismounted from +their horses. + +It was not the shade that had tempted them, for the sun had now gone +down; nor yet that the bearers might obtain rest; the men were strong, +and the wasted form was far from being a heavy burden. It was not for +that reason that the halt had been ordered, but on account of a thought +that had suggested itself to Herbert, and which was approved of by +Cubina. + +It was the apprehension of the dread impression which their arrival +might produce at Mount Welcome--of course, on her whose father's corpse +they were carrying. + +They had stopped to consider what was best to be done. + +A plan soon suggested itself. A messenger could be sent forward upon +one of the horses to communicate the sad tidings to Trusty, the +overseer, and through him the melancholy news might be more gradually +made known to her whom it most concerned. + +Herbert would have gone himself, but was hindered by certain delicate +considerations, based on the conflicting emotions that were stirring +within him. + +It mattered little who should bear the melancholy tidings to Trusty; and +the negro attendant was finally chosen. + +The man received his instructions; and, having mounted his own horse, +rode off at such speed as the darkness, now down upon the earth, would +permit. + +For another hour the party remained in the place where they had halted, +to give time for the messenger to execute his commission. Then, once +more taking the road, they moved forward at a slow pace, Herbert +alongside Cubina--now a-foot, and leading the horse upon which he had +hitherto ridden. + +Quaco alone guarded the prisoners; a duty to which the Maroon lieutenant +was quite equal, and which he had rendered the more easy of +accomplishment, by pressing into his service a piece of rope, attached +round the neck of the one that was nearest, and which, held +halter-fashion in his hand, enabled him to prevent either of them from +straying in the darkness. Neither, however, made any attempt to escape, +knowing as both did, that the slightest movement in that direction would +cost them a "thwack" from a stout cudgel--an additional implement +carried in the hands of Quaco. + +In this way the _cortege_ had proceeded for some half-mile or so beyond +its last resting-place, when it was again brought to a halt by the +orders of those in the lead. + +The cause of this interruption was declared to all of the party at once. +All heard the hoof-strokes of a horse coming rapidly along the road, +and _from_ the opposite direction to that in which they were moving. + +Going, as he appeared to be, at full gallop, in five minutes more, or in +half the time, the horseman should be in their midst. + +Was he a stranger? Or could it be their own messenger coming back? He +had not been directed to return. It was deemed sufficient for him to +see Mr Trusty, and make known the news which he had been entrusted to +communicate. + +It was not without a feeling of surprise therefore, as the horseman +dashed forward upon the ground, and pulled up in front of the +procession, that Herbert and Cubina recognised the returned attendant. + +He left them no time to speculate on the mystery of his re-appearance. +The white froth upon the flanks of his steed, shining through the gloom, +told of fast riding; while the stammering and terrified accents in which +the man proclaimed the purpose of his return rendered more startling the +news he had come to communicate. + +Mount Welcome was, at that moment, attacked by a band of burglars, +robbers, and murderers! + +There were men in masks, and men without them--equally terrible to look +upon. They were plundering the great hall, had murdered Mr Smythje, +were ill-treating the young mistress of the mansion, and firing guns and +pistols at every one who came in their way! + +The messenger had not stayed to see Mr Trusty. He had learnt all this +from the domestics, who were hurrying in flight from the mansion. +Confounded by the shouting and shots he had himself heard, and thinking +that the likeliest chance of assistance would be found in the party he +had just left--and which he believed to be much nearer--he had galloped +back along the road. + +These were the main facts of the attendant's story--not communicated, +however, with any regard to sequence, but in the most incoherent manner, +and liberally interspersed with exclamations of alarm. + +It was a fearful tale, and fell with a terrible effect upon the ears of +those to whom it was told--Herbert and Cubina. + +Burglars--robbers--murderers! Mr Smythje killed! The young mistress +of Mount Welcome in the act of being abused! and Yola? she, too-- + +"Quaco!" cried the Maroon captain, rushing to the rear, and addressing +himself to his lieutenant, "think you our men can hear us from here? +Sound your horn on the instant: your blast is stronger than mine. There +is trouble at Mount Welcome. We may need every man of them. Quick-- +quick!" + +"The devil!" cried Quaco, dropping his hold of the halter, and raising +the horn to his mouth, "I'll make them hear, if they're in the Island of +Jamaica. You keep your ground, ye pair of John Crows!" he added, as he +held the horn an inch or two from his lips. "If either of you budge a +foot out of your places, I'll send a brace of bullets through your +stinkin' carcadges, and stop you that away. See if I don't!" + +And with this emphatic admonition, the colossus applied the horn to his +mouth, and blew a blast that might have been heard for miles. + +In echoes it rang from the sides of the Jumbe Rock, and from many a peak +lying far beyond. So loud and shrill rang it, that one might almost +have believed in Quaco's affirmation: that it could be heard to the +extremities of the Island! + +At all events, it was heard by some not so far off: for scarce had its +echoes ceased to reverberate, when half-a-dozen similar sounds, +proceeding from different directions, and apparently from different +distances, came back in response. + +Cubina waited not to hear their repetition. + +"Enough," cried he, "there are half-a-dozen of them anyhow. That will +no doubt be enough. You, Quaco, stay here till they come up, and then +follow to Mount Welcome. Sound again, to direct them; and see that +these two murderous villains don't escape you." + +"Hadn't I better put a brace of bullets through them?" naively inquired +Quaco. "It'll save trouble if I do that! What say you, Capen Cubina?" + +"No, no, Quaco! Justice will settle accounts with them. Bring them on +along with you; and follow as soon as our men get up!" + +Before Quaco could offer any further suggestions, the Maroon captain had +mounted the messenger's horse--Herbert having already leaped into the +saddle of the other--and both, without further speech, rode forward as +fast as their steeds could carry them. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXIII. + +DREAD CONJECTURES. + +Observing a profound silence, the two young men pressed forward. +Neither liked to put question to the other. Each dreaded the answer the +other might make--each was thinking only of the danger of her who was +dearest to him. + +They urged on their steeds with equal eagerness, for both were alike +interested in the _denouement_ of the dreadful drama at that moment +being enacted at the mansion of Mount Welcome. + +Their reflections were similar, and similarly painful. + +They might be too late! Ere they could arrive upon the scene, the stage +might be deserted--the tragedy played out--the players gone! + +It needed not these thoughts to stimulate them to increased speed: they +were already riding as if life or death rested on the issue. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +They had neared the flank of the Jumbe mountain, and were heading for +the ridge that separated the estates of Montagu Castle and Mount +Welcome. + +At this point the road debouched from the forest, and the ridge came in +sight. At the same instant, a cry escaped from the lips of Cubina, as +with a quick wrench he drew his horse to a halt. + +Herbert echoed the cry of his comrade--at the same time imitating his +action. + +Neither thought of questioning the other. Both had halted under the +same impulse. The evil omen had been seen simultaneously by both. + +Over the summit of the ridge a yellow light glared, halo-like, against +the sky. + +"Fire!" exclaimed Cubina. "Just over Mount Welcome! _Santa Madre_! the +mansion is in flames!" + +"Oh, heavens!" cried Herbert; "we shall be too late!" + +Not another word passed between the two horsemen. Stirred by the same +instinct, they renewed their gallop; and silently, side by side, urged +their horses up the hill. + +In a few minutes they had attained the summit of the ridge, whence they +could command a full view of the valley of Mount Welcome. + +The mansion _was_ in flames. + +There was no further utterance of surprise: that was past. It was +scarce a conjecture which Cubina had pronounced, on seeing that glare +against the sky, but a conviction; and the crackling sounds which had +assailed their ears, as they were riding upward to the crest of the +ridge, had fully confirmed the event before their eyes looked on the +fire itself. + +There was no more a mansion of Mount Welcome. In its place a blazing +pile--a broad sheet of flame, rising in gigantic jets to the sky, +crowned with huge sparks and murky smoke, and accompanied by a +continuous roaring and crackling of timbers, as if fiends were firing a +_feu-de-joie_ in the celebration of some terrible holocaust. + +"Too late!--too late!" muttered both the horsemen in the same breath; +and then, with despair on their faces and black fear in their hearts, +they once more gave rein to their steeds; and, riding recklessly down +the slope, galloped on towards the conflagration. + +In a few seconds' time they had crossed the inclosures, and halted in +front of the blazing pile; as near to it as their frayed steeds would +consent to carry them. Both at the same instant sprang from their +saddles; and, with guns grasped and ready to defend themselves against +whatever enemy, approached nearer and nearer to the building. + +No one appeared in front of the house. They hurried round to the rear: +no one was there. Equally deserted were the grounds and the garden. +Not a soul was to be seen anywhere--not a voice to be heard, except +their own, as they called aloud; and this only feebly, through the +hissing and roaring of the flames. + +Back and forth rushed the two men in eager haste, going round and round +the house, and exploring every spot that might be expected to conceal +either friend or foe. But in spite of their most eager search, and the +constant summons of their shouts, not a creature appeared, and no +response reached them. + +For a moment they paused to consider. + +It was evident the conflagration had been going on for some time. The +upper storey--which was but a framework of light timber--was now nearly +consumed, and only the stonework below left standing. Over this the +larger beams had fallen--no longer emitting flame, but lying +transversely upon each other, charred, red, and smouldering. + +On finding no one near the dwelling, Cubina and Herbert made for the +works. These were all standing untouched; and it was evident that no +attempt had been made to fire them. Only the mansion had been given to +the flames. + +On arriving among the out-buildings, the two men again raised their +voices; but as before, without receiving a reply. + +Here everything was dark and silent as the tomb--a silence more +impressive by contrast with the awe-inspiring sounds of the +conflagration raging at a distance. Neither in the curing-house, nor +the mill, nor the mash-house, nor the stable, could anyone be +discovered. Not an individual to be seen, not a voice to respond to +their oft-repeated halloos. + +On rushed they to the negro cabins. Surely there someone would be +found? All could not have fled through fear of the robber-band? + +As the two men turned in the direction of the negro village, a figure +started up in the path--having just emerged out of the bushes. In that +semblance to the imp of darkness, seen under the distant glare of the +conflagration, Herbert recognised his old acquaintance Quashie. + +Quashie had already identified him. + +"Oh, young massr!" cried the darkey, as he rose to his feet; "de Buff am +a-blazin'! It be all burn up!" + +"_Crambo_! tell us something we don't know!" impatiently demanded +Cubina. "Who has set it on fire? Do you know that!" + +"Did you see the incendiaries?" hurriedly added Herbert. + +"See who, massr?" + +"Those who set the house on fire?" inquired Herbert, still speaking with +anxious haste. + +"Yes--massr, I seed dem--when dey first rush up de front 'tairway." + +"Well--speak quickly--who and what were they? What were they like?" + +"Law, massr, dey war like so many debbils. Dey were nigga men, an' some +had mask on dar faces. Folks say it war de Maroon ob de mountains. +Black Bet she deny dat, and say no. She say 'twar some robbers of de +mountains, an' dat dey come fo' carry off--" + +"Your young mistress? Miss Vaughan? Where? where?" interrupted +Herbert, gasping out the unfinished interrogatory. + +"And Yola, my lad! have you seen her?" added Cubina. + +"No, genlums," replied Quashie; "I seen neider de young missa, no' de +brown gal Yola. Dey war boaf up in de great hall. I no go up dar +myseff. I'se afeard dey'd kill dis chile ef he go up da. I stayed down +below, till I see Mr 'Mythje a comin' down de stair. Lor--how de did +streak it down dem dere stone step! He run in under de arch below. I +guess he go hide dere. Den I took to ma heels, 'long wif de oder folk; +an' we all go hide in de bushes. Massa Thom an' de house people dey all +run for de woods--dey none o' em nebber come back yet." + +"Oh, heavens!" exclaimed Herbert, in a voice of anguish; "can it be +possible? You are sure," said he, once more appealing to the darkey, +"you are sure you saw nothing of your young mistress?" + +"Nor of Yola?" asked the Maroon, equally as distressed as his companion. + +"I decla' I didn't--neider o' 'em two," emphatically exclaimed Quashie. +"See yonner!" he added, pointing towards the burning pile, and speaking +in an accent of alarm. "Golly! dey a'n't gone 'way yet--de robbers! de +robbers!" + +Herbert and Cubina, who, while in conversation with Quashie, had been +standing with their backs towards the fire, faced suddenly round. As +they did so, they perceived several dark forms moving between them and +the bright background of the flames; their shadows projected in gigantic +outlines up to the spot where the spectators stood. There were about +half-a-dozen in all--just about the number at which Quashie had roughly +estimated the incendiaries. + +Both sprang forward, regardless of consequences, resolved upon knowing +the worst; and, if their apprehensions should prove true, determined +upon death or vengeance. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXIV. + +SMYTHJE STILL LIVING. + +With their pieces cocked, and ready for instant execution, Cubina and +Herbert were pressing to get within range, when the notes of a horn, +sounded by one of the men before the fire, came swelling upon their +ears. + +The sounds were re-assuring. Cubina knew the signal of his lieutenant, +and they were now near enough to recognise the colossal Quaco standing +in the glare of red light, surrounded by some half-dozen of his +comrades. + +Quaco had left the corpse upon the road, and the prisoners well guarded +by a couple of his followers; and, thinking he might be wanted at Mount +Welcome, had hurried forward close upon the heels of the horsemen. + +This accession of strength might have proved useful had the enemy been +upon the ground. Where were the robbers--the incendiaries--perhaps the +murderers? Where was Miss Vaughan? Where the maid Yola? + +Had they escaped among the domestics, or--? + +The alternative thought was too horrible for utterance. Is either +Herbert nor Cubina could trust themselves to give speech to it. Only in +their minds did the interrogatory shape itself: _had they perished in +the flames_? + +Fearful as was the thought, it could not fail to be entertained; and, in +the solemn silence which the reflection produced, all stood hopelessly +gazing upon the ruthless fire that was fast reducing the noble mansion +to a shapeless and smouldering ruin. + +At that moment the stillness was interrupted by a voice proceeding from +an unexpected quarter. It appeared to come from out the great arched +vault under the stone stairway, from a corner shrouded in comparative +darkness. It was partly an exclamation--partly a groan. + +Quaco was the first to seek an explanation. Seizing a faggot that still +flared, he rushed under the archway, regardless of the scorching heat. + +Herbert and Cubina quickly followed, and all three stood within the +vault. + +Quaco waved the torch in front of his body, to illuminate the place. + +The eyes of all three simultaneously rested upon an object that, at any +other time, might have elicited from them peals of laughter. + +In the corner of the vault stood a half-hogshead, or large tub--its head +covered with a heavy lid. Near the upper edge a square hole had been +sawed out; so that a hand containing a quart measure might be inserted, +without the necessity of raising the lid. Inside, and directly opposite +this opening, appeared the face of a man, with ample whiskers and +moustaches; which face, despite the bedaubment of something that +resembled treacle or tar, was at once identified as that of the +aristocratic Smythje! + +"Mr 'Mythje!" cried Quashie, who had followed the others under the +archway. "I seed him--." + +"Fact, ma fwends, it's nawbody else but maself," interrupted the +ludicrous image within the hogshead, as soon as he recognised his +ancient deliverer, Quaco. "Aw took wefuge here fwom those howid +wobbers. Be so good as waise the wid, and pawmit me to get out of this +queeaw situation. Aw was afwaid aw should be dwowned. Ba Jawve! aw +bwieve it's tweakle?" + +Quaco, endeavouring to suppress his laughter, lost no time in throwing +up the lid, and extracting the sufferer from his sweet, though +unpleasant position--for it was, in reality, a hogshead of molasses into +which the terrified Smythje had soused himself, and in which, during the +continuance of the tragedy enacted over his head, he had remained buried +up to the neck! + +Placed upright upon his legs on the flagged floor of the vault, +glistening from neck to heel with a thick coat of the slimy treacle, the +proud proprietor of Montagu Castle presented even a more ludicrous +appearance than when Quaco had last seen him upon the summit of the +hollow stump. + +The latter, recalling this scene to memory, and unrestrained by other +sentiments, could no longer restrain himself from giving way to loud +laughter, in which Quashie, equally free from sorrow, took part. + +With Herbert and Cubina it was not the moment for mirth; and, as soon as +Smythje had been fairly deposited on his feet, both eagerly questioned +him as to the circumstances that had transpired. + +Smythje admitted having fled--at the same time making an awkward attempt +to justify himself. According to his own account, and the statement was +perfectly true, it was not till after he had been overpowered and struck +down, that he betook himself to flight. How could he do otherwise? His +antagonist was a giant, a man of vast magnitude and strength. + +"A howid queetyaw," continued Smythje; "a queetyaw with long arms, and a +defawmity--a pwotubewance upon his shawders, like the haunch of a +dwomedawy!" + +"And what of Kate, my cousin?" cried Herbert, interrupting the +exquisite, with contemptuous impatience. + +"Aw--aw--yes! yaw cousin--ma paw Kate! A feaw the wobbers have bawn her +off. A know she was bwought outside. Aw heard haw scweam out as they +were dwagging' haw down the staiw--aw--aw--." + +"Thank Heaven, then!" exclaimed Herbert; "thank Heaven, she still +lives!" + +Cubina had not waited for the whole of Smythje's explanation. The +description of the robber had given him his cue: and, rushing outside, +he blew a single blast upon his horn--the "assembly" of his band. + +The Maroons, who had scattered around the ruin, instantly obeyed the +signal, and soon stood mustered on the spot. + +"Upon the scent, comrades," cried Cubina. "I know the wild boar that +has been making this havoc. I know where the monster makes his den. +_Crambo_! Ere an hour passes over his head, he shall answer for this +villainy with his accursed life. Follow me!" + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXV. + +ON THE TRACK OF THE DESTROYER. + +As Cubina pronounced this command, he faced towards the mountain, and +was hastening to gain the wicket in the garden wall, when an object came +before his eyes that caused him to halt. Amidst the gloom, it was a +sight that gave him joy. + +He was not the only one to whom it brought gladness. Among the Maroons +that had come with Quaco was one who had been suffering anguish equally +with Herbert and Cubina--one who had equal cause for grief--if not for +the loss of sweetheart or cousin, for that which should be dear as +either--a _sister_. + +A sister for whose sake he had crossed the wide ocean--had been sold +into slavery--robbed by ruthless men--branded as a felon--chastised by +the cruel scourge--had suffered every indignity which man could put on +man. In this individual may be identified the young Foolah prince--the +unfortunate Cingues. + +What was it that gave Cubina joy--shared thus by Cingues? + +It may be easily guessed. It was the sight of a female form, recognised +by both--the sweetheart of the one, the sister of the other--Yola! + +The girl was at that moment seen coming through the wicket-gate. Once +inside, she made no stop, but hastened across the garden towards the +group of men. + +In another instant she was standing between her brother and lover, +sharing the embrace of both. + +Her story was soon told, and by all listened to with breathless +attention--by Herbert Vaughan with emotions that wrung blood-drops from +his heart. It was short, but far too long for the impatience of +apprehension and revenge. + +The girl had been in one of the chambers as the robbers entered the +great hall. Regardless of consequences, she had rushed out among them. +Like Smythje, she had been struck down, and lay for some minutes +insensible, unconscious of what was transpiring. + +When her senses returned, and she could look around her, she perceived +that her young mistress was no longer in the room. The monsters were at +that moment in the act of setting fire to the mansion. + +A scream outside directed her. She recognised the voice of her +mistress. + +Springing to her feet, she glided through the open door, and down the +stairway. The robbers were too much occupied--some with their booty, +others with their scheme of incendiarism; they either did not observe or +did not think it worth while--further to molest her. + +On getting outside, she saw her young mistress borne off in the arms of +a huge, misshapen man. He wore a mask over his face; but, for all this, +she could tell that it was the same individual she had seen upon the +preceding night in company with the Jew. The masked man, whose +attention seemed wholly engrossed by his precious prize, went off alone, +leaving the others to continue their work of plunder and devastation. + +The African maid, in her native land habituated to similar scenes, with +a quick instinct perceived the impossibility of rescuing her mistress at +that moment; and, abandoning the idea of making an idle attempt, she +determined to follow and ascertain to what place the robber was taking +her. She might then return to Mount Welcome, and guide those who would +be sent upon the pursuit. + +Gliding silently along the path, and taking care not to show herself, +she had kept the robber in view, without losing sight of him for a +moment. The darkness was in her favour, as also the sloping path-- +enabling her to see from below, while she was herself in little danger +of being seen. + +In this way had she followed the robber up the declivity of the +mountain, and in an oblique direction across it, still keeping close +behind him; when all at once, and to her astonishment, she saw him +suddenly disappear into the earth--bearing her young mistress upon his +arm--like some monstrous fiend of the other world, who had stolen a +sweet image of this, and was carrying her to his dread home in the +regions of darkness. + +Notwithstanding the supernatural fear with which the sudden +disappearance had inspired her, the bold maiden was not deterred from +proceeding to the spot. + +Both her terror and astonishment were in some degree modified when she +looked over a cliff, and saw the sheen of water at the bottom of a dark +abysm yawning beneath her feet. In the dim light, she could trace +something like a means of descent down the face of the cliff, and this +at once dispelled all idea of the supernatural. + +She made no attempt to follow further. She had seen enough to enable +her to guide the pursuit; and, instantly turning back upon the path, she +hastened down the declivity of the mountain. + +She was thinking of Cubina and his Maroons--how soon her courageous +sweetheart with his brave band would have rescued her unfortunate +mistress--when at that moment, in the light of the flickering fire, she +recognised the very image that was occupying her thoughts. + +Her story was communicated in hurried phrase to Cubina and his comrades, +who, without losing a moment of time, passed through the wicket-gate, +and, with all the speed in their power, commenced ascending the mountain +road. + +Yola remained behind with Quashie and the other domestics, who were now +flocking around the great fire, looking like spectres in the flickering +light. + +Cubina required no guide to conduct him. Forewarned by that wild +conversation he had overheard, as well as by the events of the preceding +day, he had already surmised the author of that hellish deed. More than +surmised it: he was satisfied that, whatever head had planned, the hand +that had perpetrated it was that of Chakra, the Coromantee. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXVI. + +TOO LATE. + +Eager as hounds upon a fresh trail--quick as young, strong limbs could +carry them--pressed the pursuers up the steep path that led to the +Duppy's Hole. + +Words could but feebly express the agony rankling in the heart of +Herbert Vaughan. He knew not Chakra in person; but a full description +of him, morally as well as physically, had been imparted to him by +Cubina on the day before. It was not strange he should tremble with +fear for the fate of her who was now in the power of a monster so fell +and fiend-like--not strange that his soul should be filled with anguish. + +That conditional phrase--"We may be too late!"--spoken as he urged his +horse along the road; repeated as he came within sight of the burning +mansion--once more found utterance on his lips; but now more +emphatically and with a far more fearful significance. + +His was a situation to stir the soul to its profoundest depths. Even +had the victim of the vile abduction been no more than his cousin, he +could not have failed to feel keenly the danger that threatened her. + +But now that he viewed Kate Vaughan in another and very different +light--certain, from what Cubina had told him, that she reciprocated his +love--under the influence of this sentiment, his distress was tenfold +greater. So late, too, had he become possessed of that knowledge--so +sweet had been the ecstasy it produced--that the sudden revulsion was +all the more dreadful to endure. + +While murmuring the words "We may be too late," he dare scarce trust +himself to give thought to the form of danger whose dread was thus +hypothetically predicted. + +Cubina, though, perhaps, a little less anxious than before, was equally +earnest in the pursuit; and, indeed, every one of the Maroon band showed +to some extent the feelings of painful apprehension that actuated their +leader, whom they knew to be the friend of the young Englishman. No one +showed a disposition to lag. All were alike eager to aid in the rescue +of the unfortunate young lady, known to most of them, and honoured by +those to whom she was known. + +The horses had been left behind. On the steep and tangled path, they +would have been only an encumbrance. + +Perhaps, never before, by man on foot, had that path been traversed in +so short a space of time. There was no delay on account of the +darkness. As if by Divine favour, the moon had opportunely arisen, just +as they were passing through the wicket-gate, and by her light they were +able to proceed without pause or interruption. No stop was made +anywhere, till the pursuers stood upon the edge of the Duppy cliff, and +looked down into that dark abysm, where they hoped to find the spoiler +and his victim. + +Scarce a moment there, either. One after another they descended the +tree stairway, Cubina going first, Herbert next, the others following, +with like rapidity. + +With the instinct of trained hunters all made the descent in silence. +Only on arriving at the bottom of the cliff did an exclamation escape +from the lips of their chief--Cubina. + +The sight of a canoe, drawn up under the bushes, had elicited this +exclamation--which expressed surprise mingled with disappointment. + +Herbert saw the canoe almost at the same instant of time, but without +drawing the inference that had caused Cubina to utter that cry. He +turned to the latter for an explanation. + +"The canoe!" whispered Cubina, pointing down to the little craft half +hidden under the leafy branches. + +"I see it," said Herbert, also speaking in a whisper. "What does it +signify?" + +"They have gone out again." + +"Oh, heavens!" cried Herbert, in an accent of anguish, the more +expressive from the low tone in which the words were uttered. "If that +be so, then we _are_ too late--she is lost!--lost!" + +"Patience, comrade! Perhaps it is only Chakra himself who has gone out; +or, maybe, some one of the robbers who have been helping him, and who +may be expected to return again. In any case, we must search the valley +and make sure. Step into the canoe! You can't swim in your clothes, +while my fellows are not embarrassed in that way. Here, Quaco! get your +guns aboard this cockle-shell, and all of you take to the water. Swim +silently. No splashing, do you hear? Keep close under the cliff! Swim +within the shadow, and straight for the other side." + +Without more delay the guns were passed from hand to hand, until all +were deposited in the canoe. Cubina and Herbert had already stepped +into the frail craft, the former taking possession of the paddle. + +In another instant the little vessel shot out from the bushes, and +glided silently under the shadow of the cliff. + +Some half-dozen human forms, their heads just appearing above the +surface of the water, followed in its wake--swimming with as little +noise as if they had been a brood of beavers. + +There was no need to direct the canoe to its old landing-place under the +tree. Cubina knew that this had been chosen for concealment. Instead +of going thither, he made for the nearest point of the opposite shore. +On touching land he stepped out, making a sign to his fellow-voyager to +imitate his example. + +The Maroons waded out the moment after; and once more getting hold of +their guns, followed their captain and his companion--already on their +route to the upper cascade. + +There was no path from the point where they had landed; and for some +time they struggled through a thicket almost impervious. There was no +danger, however, of their losing the way. The sound of the falling +water was an infallible guide; for Cubina well remembered the proximity +of the hut to the upper cascade, and it was for this point they were +making. + +As they advanced, the underwood became easier to traverse; and they were +enabled to proceed more rapidly. + +There was something lugubrious in the sound of the cataract. Cubina was +painfully impressed by it, and equally so his companion. It sounded +ominous in the ears of both; and it was easy to fancy sighs of distress, +wild wailings of a woman's voice, mingling with the hoarser tones of the +torrent. + +They reached at length the edge of the opening that extended for some +distance beyond the branches of the cotton-tree. The hut was before +their eyes. A light was shining through the open door. It cast its +reflection across the ground shadowed by the great tree, till it met the +surface silvered by the moon. Though faint, and apparently flickering, +the light gave joy to the eyes that beheld it. It was evidence that the +hut was occupied. + +Who but Chakra could be there? And if Chakra, there too must be his +victim. + +Oh! was she his victim? Had the rescue arrived _too late_? + +Cubina's bosom was filled with sad forebodings. Herbert's heart was on +fire. It was with difficulty that either could control his emotion to +approach with that caution that prudence required. + +Making a sign to his followers to stay among the trees, the Maroon +captain, with Herbert by his side, crept up towards the cotton-tree. + +Having got fairly under its shadow, they rose to their feet, and, with +the silence of disembodied spirits, glided close up to the entrance of +the hut. + +In another instant the silence was broken by both. A simultaneous cry +escaped them as they arrived in front of the open door and looked in. +It was a cry that expressed the extreme of disappointment. The hovel +was empty! + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXVII. + +THE CORPSE OF A COUSIN. + +Yes, the temple of Obi was untenanted, save by those dumb deities that +grinned grotesquely around its walls. + +To ascertain this fact it was not necessary to enter within the shrine +of the Coromantee Pantheon. Nevertheless, Cubina and Herbert, as if +moved by a mechanical impulse, rushed inside the door. + +They looked around with inquiring glances. There were signs of late +occupation. The lighted lamp was of itself sufficient evidence of this. +Who save Chakra could have lit it? It was a lamp of lard, burning in +the carapace of a tortoise. It could not have been loner alight: since +but little of the lard was consumed. + +There was no doubt that Chakra had been there, with his captive. That +added nothing to the knowledge they possessed already: since Yola had +witnessed their descent into the Duppy's Hole. + +But why had the robber so suddenly forsaken this apparently safe +retreat? That the lamp was left burning betokened a hasty departure. +And whither could he have gone? + +"Oh, where?--oh, where?" distractedly interrogated Herbert. + +Cubina could make no answer. He was equally astonished at not finding +the Coromantee within his hut. + +Had he once more gone out from the Duppy's Hole? The position of the +canoe gave colour to this conjecture. But why should he have done so? +Had he caught sight of that agile girl gliding like a shadow after him? +and, becoming suspicious that his retreat might be discovered, had he +forsaken it for some other at a greater distance from the scene of his +crime? + +In any case, why should he have left in such haste, not staying to put +out the light--much less to carry with him his peculiar Penates? + +"After all," thought Cubina, "he may still be in the Duppy's Hole. The +canoe may have been used by some one else--some confederate. Chakra +might have seen his pursuers crossing the lagoon, or heard them +advancing through the thicket, and, taking his captive along with him, +may have hastily retreated into some dark recess among the trees." + +His sudden abandonment of the hovel rendered this view of the case the +more probable. + +Quick as came the thought, Cubina once more rushed out of the hut, and +summoning his men around him, directed them to procure torches and +search every corner of the wood. Quaco was despatched back to the +canoe, with orders to stay by it, and prevent any chance of escape in +that direction. + +While the Maroons proceeded to procure the torchwood, their chief, +accompanied by Herbert, commenced quartering the open ground in search +of any trace which Chakra might have left. By the edge of the water, +where the trees stood thinly, the moon afforded ample light to favour +the investigation. + +On advancing towards the cascade, an object came under the eyes of +Cubina that caused him to utter a quick ejaculation. It was something +white that lay by the side of the cauldron into which the stream was +precipitated. Within the pool itself were broad flakes of white foam +floating upon the water; but this was not in the water, but above it, on +one of the boulders; and all the more conspicuous from the black colour +of the rock. + +Herbert had seen the white object at the same instant of time, and both +simultaneously ran forward to examine it. + +A scarf! + +It bore evidence of ill-usage. It was tossed and torn, as if it had +fallen from someone who had been struggling! + +Neither could identify the scarf, but neither doubted to whom it had +belonged. Its quality declared it to have been the property of a lady. +Who else could have owned it but she for whom they were in search? + +Cubina appeared to pay less attention to the scarf than to the place in +which it lay. It was close up to the cliff, on the very edge of the +pool into which the stream was projected. + +Behind this pool, and under the curved sheets of the falling water, a +sort of ledge ran across, by which one could pass under the cascade. + +Cubina knew this: for, while on his hunting excursions, he had gone +under it. He knew, moreover, that, half way across, there was a large +cave or grotto in the cliff, several feet above the water in the pool. + +As the scarf was found lying upon the ledge that conducted to this +grotto, the circumstance caused the Maroon to remember it, at the same +time that it guided him to the conjecture that Chakra might be there. +Alarmed by their approach, there was nothing more likely than for the +Coromantee to have chosen the cave for his place of retreat--the last +place where anyone, not aware of its existence, would have thought of +looking for him. + +These reflections cost Cubina scarce two seconds of time. Quick as the +conjecture had shaped itself, he ran back to the hut; and, seizing a +torch, which one of his men had prepared, he hurried back towards the +cascade. + +Then, signing to Herbert, and one or two others to follow him, he glided +under the canopy of falling waters. + +He proceeded not rashly, but with due caution. There might be others +within the cave besides Chakra! His robber confederates might be there; +and these the Maroon knew to be desperate characters--men of forfeit +lives, who would die before suffering themselves to be captured. + +With his drawn _machete_ in one hand, and the torch in the other, Cubina +advanced silently and stealthily towards the entrance of the grotto. +Herbert was close behind, grasping his double-barrelled gun, in +readiness to fire, in case resistance should be offered from within. + +Holding the torch in advance of him, Cubina entered first, though +Herbert, anxious and eager, was close upon his heels. + +The glare of the torch was reflected back from a thousand sparkling +stalactites, and for a while the sight of both was bewildered. + +Soon, however, their eyes became accustomed to the dazzling coruscation; +and then a white object, lying along the floor of the cave, seen by both +at the same instant, caused them to utter a simultaneous cry--as they +did so, turning to each other with looks of the most painful despair. + +Between two large masses of stalagmite was the body of a woman, robed in +white. It was lying upon its back, stretched out to its full length-- +motionless; apparently dead! + +They needed not to pass the torch over that pale face to identify it. +It was not necessary to scrutinise those wan, silent features. On first +beholding the prostrate form, too easily had Herbert rushed to the sad +conclusion--that it was the corpse of his cousin! + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXVIII. + +THE SLEEP-SPELL. + +During all this time where was Chakra? + +As soon as he had seen the mansion of Mount Welcome fairly given to the +flames, the Coromantee, bearing its young mistress in his arms, hurried +away from the spot. Outside the garden wicket he made stop: only for a +moment, which was spent in a hasty consultation with the chief of the +black bandits. + +In the brief dialogue which there took place between them, Adam was +enjoined to carry the whole of the booty to his mountain home, where +Chakra promised in due time to join him. The Coromantee had no +intention to resign his share of the spoils; but just then he was in no +mood for making the division. He was at that moment under the influence +of a passion stronger than the love of plunder. + +Adam was only too eager to accede to these terms; and the confederates +parted company--the robber and his followers at once shouldering their +booty, and setting out for their forest dwelling among the far mountains +of Trelawney. + +Like the tiger who has killed his prey--and, not daring to devour it on +the spot, bears it to his jungle covert--so Chakra, half dragging, half +carrying Kate Vaughan, proceeded up the mountain path in the direction +of the Duppy's Hole. + +Lifeless as the victim of the ferocious beast appeared the form of Lilly +Quasheba, hanging supple and unconscious over the arm of the human +monster--equally ferocious. + +Her screams no longer fell upon the ear. Her terror had exhausted her +strength. Syncope, resembling death, had succeeded. + +It continued, happily for her, during the whole of the transit up the +mountain. The wild forest path had no terrors for her: neither the +descent into the dank solitudes of the Duppy's Hole. In the traverse +over that dark lagoon, she was not frightened by the scream of the +startled night bird, nor the threatening roar of the close cataract. +She knew no fear, from the moment she was earned away in the arms of a +hideous monster, on a path lighted by the blaze of the roof under which +she had been born and reared: she experienced no feeling of any kind, +until she awoke to consciousness in a rude triangular hut, lit by a +feeble lamp, whose glare fell upon a face hitherto well-known--the face +of Chakra, the myal-man. + +His mask had been removed. The Coromantee stood before her in all his +deformity--of soul as of person. + +Terror could go no further. It had already produced its ultimate +effect. Under such circumstances reproach would have been idle; +indignation would only have been answered by brutal scorn. + +Though she might not clearly comprehend her situation, the young Creole +did not think she was dreaming. No dream could be so horrid as that! +And yet it was difficult to believe that such a fearful scene could be +real! + +O God! it was real. Chakra stood before her--his harsh voice was +ringing in her ears. Its tone was mocking and exultant. + +She was upon the bamboo bedstead, where the myal-man had placed her. +She had lain there till, on her senses returning, she discovered who was +her companion. Then had she started up--not to her feet, for the +interposition of the Coromantee had hindered her from assuming an erect +position, but to an attitude half reclining, half threatening escape. +In this attitude was she held--partly through fear, partly by the +hopelessness of any attempt to change it. + +The Coromantee stood in front of her. His attitude? Was it one of +menace? No! Not a threat threw out he--neither by word nor gesture. +On the contrary, he was all softness, all suppliance--a wooer! + +He was bending before her, repeating vows of love! Oh, heavens! more +fearful than threats of vengeance! + +It was a terrible tableau--this paraphrase of the Beast on his knees +before Beauty. + +The young girl was too terrified to make reply. She did not even listen +to the disgusting speeches addressed to her. She was scarce more +conscious than during the period of her syncope. + +After a time, the Coromantee appeared to lose patience. His unnatural +passion chafed against restraint. He began to perceive the hopelessness +of his horrid suit. It was in vain to indulge in that delirious dream +of love--in the hope of its being reciprocated--a hope with which even +satyrs are said to have been inspired. The repellent attitude of her, +the object of his demoniac adoration--the evident _degout_ too plainly +expressed in her frightened features--showed Chakra how vain was his +wooing. + +With a sudden gesture he desisted, raising himself into an attitude of +determination that bespoke some dreadful design--who knows what? + +A shrill whistle pealing from without prevented its accomplishment, or, +at all events, stayed it for the time. + +"'Tam de signal ob dat ole Jew!" muttered he, evidently annoyed by the +interruption. "Wha he want dis time ob de night? 'Pose it somethin' +'bout dat ere loss book-keeper? Wa! a know nuffin 'bout him. Dere 'tam +'gain, and fo' de tree time. Dat signify he am in a hurry. Wha's dat? +Foth time! Den da be some trouble, sa'tin. Muss go to him--_muss go_. +He nebba sound de signal fo' time 'less da be some desp'rate 'casion fo' +do so. Wonder what he want!" + +"Nebba mind, Lilly Quasheba!" added he, once more addressing his speech +to his mute companion. "Doan bex yaseff 'bout dis interupshun. De +bisness 'tween you 'n me 'll keep till a gets back, an' den, p'raps, a +no find you so ob'tinate. You come--you 'tay out hya--you muss no be +seen in dis part ob de world." + +As he said this, he seized the unresisting girl by the wrist, and was +about leading her out of the hut. + +"Ha!" he exclaimed, suddenly stopping to reflect; "dat woan do, neider. +De ole Jew mussn't know she hya--no account. She mout run back in de +shanty, darfur she muss be tied. An' den she mout 'cream so he hear +her, darfur she muss be gagged." + +Still holding her wrist in his grasp, he looked around the hut as if in +search of the means to put this design into execution. + +"Ha!" he ejaculated, as if inspired by some new thought, "what hab a +been bodderin' ma brains 'bout? Dar's a better plan dan eider tyin' or +gaggin'--better dan boaf put togedder! De sleepin' draff. Da's de +berry ting keep her quiet. Wha's de bottle, a wonder? Dar um be." + +With this, he stretched forth his disengaged hand, and drew something +out of a sort of pocket cut in the palm-leaf thatch. It appeared to be +a long narrow phial, filled with a dark-coloured fluid, and tightly +corked. + +"Now, young missa!" said he, drawing out the cork with his teeth, and +placing himself as if intending to administer a draught to his terrified +patient; "you take a suck out ob dis hya bottle. Doan be 'feerd. He do +no harm--he do you good--make you feel berry comf'able, I'se be boun'. +Drink!" + +The poor girl instinctively drew back; but the monster, letting go her +wrist, caught hold of her by the hair, and, twisting her luxuriant +tresses around his bony fingers, held her head as firmly as if in a +vice. Then, with the other hand, he inserted the neck of the phial +between her lips, and, forcing it through her teeth, poured a portion of +the liquid down her throat. + +There was no attempt to scream--scarce any at resistance--on the part of +the young creole. Almost freely did she swallow the draught. So +prostrate was her spirit at that moment, that she would scarce have +cared to refuse it, even had she known it to be poison! + +And not unlike to poison was the effect it produced--equally quick in +subduing the senses--for what Chakra had thus administered was the juice +of the _calalue_, the most powerful of narcotics. + +In a few seconds after the fluid had passed her lips, the face of the +young girl became overspread with a death-like pallor--all through her +frame ran a gentle, tremulous quivering, that bespoke the sudden +relaxation of the muscles. Her lithe limbs gave way beneath her; and +she would have sunk down upon the floor, but for the supporting arm of +the weird conjuror who had caused this singular collapse. + +Into his arms she sank--evidently insensible--with the semblance rather +of death than of sleep! + +"Now, den!" muttered the myal-man, with no sign of astonishment at a +phenomenon far from being strange to him--since it was to that same +sleeping-spell he was indebted for his professional reputation--"now, +den, ma sweet Lilly, you sleep quiet 'nuff 'till I want wake you 'gain. +Not hya, howsomedever. You muss take you nap in de open air. A muss +put you wha de ole Jew no see you, or maybe he want you fo' himself. +Come 'long, disaway!" + +And thus idly apostrophising his unconscious victim, he lifted her in +both arms, and carried her out of the hut. + +Outside he paused, looking around, as if searching for some place in +which to deposit his burden. + +The moon was now above the horizon, and her beams were beginning to be +reflected feebly, even through the sombre solitude of the Duppy's Hole. +A clump of low bushes, growing just outside the canopy of the +cotton-tree, appeared to offer a place of concealment; and Chakra was +proceeding towards them, when his eye fell upon the cascade; and, as if +suddenly changing his design, he turned out of his former direction, and +proceeded towards the waterfall. + +On getting close up to the cliff over which the stream was precipitated, +he paused for an instant on the edge of the seething cauldron; then, +taking a fresh hold of the white, wan form that lay helpless over his +arm, he glided behind the sheet of foaming water, and suddenly +disappeared from the sight--like a river-demon of Eld, bearing off to +his subaqueous cavern some beautiful victim, whom he had succeeded in +enticing to his haunt, and entrancing into a slumber more fatal than +death. + +In a few seconds the hideous hunchback reappeared upon the bank, no +longer embarrassed by his burden; and hearing the whistle once more +skirling along the cliffs, he faced down stream, and walked rapidly in +the direction of his canoe. + +Volume Three, Chapter XXXIX. + +A NEW JOB FOR CHAKRA. + +Chakra, on reaching the crest of the cliff, found Jacob Jessuron in a +state of impatience bordering upon torment. The Jew was striding back +and forth among the trees, at intervals striking the ground with his +umbrella, and giving utterance to his favourite exclamatory +phrases--"Blesh my soul!" and "Blesh me!"--with unusual volubility. + +Now and then also could be heard the Teutonic ejaculation, "Ach!" +proving that his soul was under the influence of some unpleasant +passion, that was vexing him even to torture. + +"Wha's de trouble, Massr Jake?" inquired the myal-man, scrambling over +the edge of the rock. "Dar's something go wrong, a 'pose, from de way +you hab soun' de signal? A hear de whissel fo' time." + +"There ish something wrong--a great deal ish wrong--s'help me, there +ish! What hash kept you, Shakra?" he added, with a show of vexation. + +"Golly, Massr Jake, a war asleep; da's wha' d'layed me." + +"How, then, hash you heard the signal four times?" + +The query appeared slightly to puzzle Chakra. + +"O--a--de signal fo' time," stammered he, after a pause of reflection. +"Wa, ye see, a hear de fuss time in ma sleep--den de second time he wake +me--de third a got to ma feet; and when de fo'th--" + +The Jew--either satisfied with the explanation, or too much hurried to +hear the end of it--interrupted Chakra at "de fo'th." + +"It ish no time for talk when Mount Welcome ish in flames. You knowsh +that, I supposhe?" + +Chakra hesitated, as if considering whether to make a negative or +affirmative reply. + +"Of course you knowsh it. I needn't haf ashked. Who wash it? Adam +hash been there. Wash it him?" + +"Ole Adam hab a hand in dat ere bizness, a b'lieve." + +"You knowsh it, Shakra; and I knowsh another that hash had a hand in it. +That ish not my bishness, nor what I hash come here about. There ish +worse than that." + +"Wuss, Massr Jake?" inquired the myal-man, with an air of feigned +surprise. It might have been real. "Wuss dan dat? Hab de young man no +come back?" + +"Ach! that ish nothings. There ish far worse--there ish danger: s'help +me, there ish!" + +"Danger! Wha from, Massr Jake?" + +"Firsh tell me where ish Adam now? I want him, and all his fellish." + +"He am gone back to de mountains." + +"Ach! Gone back, you shay? How long ish he gone? Can you overtake +him, Shakra?" + +"Possab'e a mout; dey won't trabbel fass. Dey am too hebby load fo' +dat. But wha' fo' you want ole Adam, Massr Jake?" + +"Bishness of the greatesht importance. It ish life and death. Blue +Dick hash been over to Mount Welcome. He hash heerd shtrange news--ach! +terrible news! A messhenger who came in from the Saffana road hash +brought the newsh of many dishagreeable things--among the resht that my +Shpaniards haf been made prisoners by Cubina and thish ungrateful +villain of a Vochan. They are accushed of murdering the Cushtos. Blesh +my soul!" + +"What harm dat do you, Massr Jake? Wha's de danger?" + +"Danger! Dosh you not see it, Shakra? If theesh hunters ish brought to +trial, do you supposhe they would hold their tongues? S'help me, no! +They will turn Shtate's efidence; and then I should be exshposed-- +arreshted--ruined! Oh! why hash I ever trushted theesh clumshy fellish +with a bishness of such importance?" + +"Dey am clumsy fellas, jess as you say, Massr Jake." + +"Ach! it ish too late to shpeak of regretsh. It ish necessary to take +some shteps to prevent thish terrible mishfortune. You musht go after +Adam, and find him thish instant--thish instant, Shakra." + +"All right, Massr Jake. A do whatebber you bid me, nebba fear. A soon +track up Adam; but wha d'ye want me say to de ole nigga when a hab foun' +'im?" + +"You needn't shay anything--only bring him back with you to the Shumbe +Rock. I shall wait there for you till you come. Don't keep me long in +sushpense, Shakra. Make all the shpeed in your power. If you don't get +back before sunrishe, all will be losht! I'll be ruined--I will, s'help +me!" + +"Nebba fear, Massr Jake. A woan lose a minnit. A doan tink dat ere ole +nigga's got far 'way jess yet. A soon obertake 'im. A go atter him at +once. Whugh!" + +As Chakra uttered the exclamation, he turned on his heel, and was about +to start up the mountain, in the direction of the Jumbe Rock, near which +he would have to pass on his way towards the haunt of the black robbers. + +"Shtay!" cried the Jew, "I'she going with you ash far ash the Shumbe +Rock. I may ash well wait there ash anywhere elshe. It ish no ushe my +going home now. S'help me! I cannot resht till thish thing ish +settled. And now, when I thinksh of it, you may ash well let Adam know +for what he ish wanted--so ash he may come prepared. Say to him he ish +to go shtraight to Mount Welcome--that ish, where it ushed to be. He'sh +not to show hishelf there, but prosheed along the road, till he meets +the Cushtos' body, and them that ish with it. Then he ish to find some +way to rescue the Shpaniards, an' let them eshcape to me. You musht go +along with Adam and hish men, elshe they may shpoil all. He musht bring +his fellish well armed; you may shtand in need of them all. The +messenger said there were some negroes from the eshtate of Content. +Theesh won't signify. They will all run away ash soon as you show +yourselves; but the others may be inclined to make fight. There ish +Cubina, and the young raschal of an Englishman, besides that giant +Quaco, and the messenger hishself. You thinksh you can manage them, +Shakra?" + +"Sure ob dat." + +"You musht take them by an ambushcade." + +"P'raps we kill some o' dem." + +"Ash many ash you like. Only make shure to get the Shpaniards off." + +"Be no great harm to kill dem too--atter de fool dey hab made ob +demselves, lettin' dem fellas take um pris'ner dat a way. Whugh!" + +"No, no, goot Shakra!--we mushn't kill our friendsh--we may need them +again. You may promish Adam goot pay for the shob. I don't care for +the cosht, so long as it ish clefferly done." + +"All right, Massr Jake; leab dat to me an' Adam. We do de ting +clebberly 'nuf, I'se be boun'." + +And with this assurance Chakra strode off up the mountain, the Jew +having set the example by starting forward in advance of him. + +Volume Three, Chapter XL. + +DEAD, OR ASLEEP? + +On beholding what he believed to be the dead body of his cousin, the +grief of Herbert Vaughan proclaimed itself in a wild cry--in tones of +the bitterest agony. He flung his gun upon the rock--knelt down by the +side of the corpse--raised her head upon his arm, and, gazing upon that +face, in death beautiful as ever, drew it nearer to his own, kissed the +cold, unconscious lips--kissed them again and again, as though he had +hopes that the warmth of his love might re-animate the fair form over +which he was bending. + +For some time his frenzied caresses were continued--their fervour +unchecked by the presence of his rude companions who stood around. +Respecting the sanctity of his grief, all observed a solemn silence. +Nor word nor sound escaped the lips of any one. Sobs alone proceeded +from Cubina. The Maroon had also cause to sorrow at that sad +spectacle--but these were not heard. They were drowned by a more +powerful voice--the melancholy monotone of the cataract--that had been +speaking incessantly since the creation of the world. + +It was a long time before the heart of Herbert consented to his +discontinuing those cold but sweet kisses--the first he had ever had; +the last he was destined to have--from those pale lips; long before he +could withdraw his supporting arm from beneath that beautiful head, +whose shining tresses lay dishevelled along the rock. + +The torch held in the hands of Cubina was burning to its base. Only +when warned by its flickering light, did the chief mourner rise once +more to his feet; and then making a feeble signal to those who stood +around, he moved in solemn silence towards the entrance of the grotto. + +His gesture was understood, and promptly obeyed. By the authority of +his greater grief he had become master of the mournful ceremonies now to +be observed. + +The Maroons, quietly crossing their arms under the inanimate form, +raised it from the rock; and, following him who had given them their +silent direction, they bore it to the hut--there placing it upon the +cane couch. With instinctive delicacy all retired upon the completion +of their task, leaving Herbert and Cubina alone with the body. + +An interval elapsed before either essayed to speak. Both were under the +influence of a profound grief, that almost stifled reflection, Cubina +was the first to have other thoughts, and to give expression to them. + +"_Santa Virgen_!" said he, in a voice husky with emotion, "I know not +how she has died, unless the sight of Chakra has killed her. It was +enough to have done it." + +The suggestive speech received no other answer than a groan. + +"If the monster," continued the Maroon, "has used other violence, I see +no trace of it. There is no wound--no appearance of anything that +should have produced death. Poor young creature!--there's something +dark inside her lips--but it's not blood--" + +"O God!" cried Herbert, interrupting the speaker with a fresh paroxysm +of grief. "Two corpses to be carried home to the same house--father and +daughter on the same day--in the same hour: both the victims of +villainy. O God!" + +"Both victims of the same villain, I have my belief," rejoined Cubina. +"The same hand that has laid low the Custos, if I mistake not, has been +at the bottom of this horrible crime. Chakra is but the weapon. +Another has dealt the blow--you know who, Master Vaughan?" + +Herbert was hindered from making reply. A dark form appearing in the +door, distracted the attention of both from the theme of their +conversation. + +Quaco had heard the melancholy tidings; and, relieved from his duty by +the canoe, had hurried back to the hut. He it was who now appeared in +the doorway, filling it from post to post--from step to lintel. + +Neither his chief nor Herbert offered any remark. Quaco's presence did +not surprise them. It was natural he should come to the hut--if only to +satisfy his curiosity. Weighted with their sorrow, neither took any +notice of his arrival, nor of his movements after he had entered the +hut--which he did without waiting to be invited. + +Having stepped inside, the colossus stood for some moments by the couch, +gazing down upon the sweet, silent face. Even on his features was +depicted an expression of sorrow. + +Gradually this became more subdued, or rather appeared to undergo a +total change--slowly but surely altering to an expression of +cheerfulness. + +Slight at first, and imperceptible on account of the large scale upon +which Quaco's features were formed, the expression was every moment +becoming more pronounced; until at length it attracted the notice of the +others, notwithstanding the abstraction caused by their poignant grief. + +Both observed it at the same instant, and to both it caused a feeling of +annoyance--amounting almost to indignation. + +"Lieutenant," said Cubina, addressing his subaltern in a tone of +reproach, "it is not exactly the time for being gay. May I ask you what +is making you smile, while others around you are overwhelmed with +sorrow?" + +"Why, cappen!" rejoined Quaco, "I can't see what yar all a-grievin' +'bout. Can't be the Custos: since, sartinly, you've got over grievin' +for him long afore this!" + +The reply--grotesque in character, and almost jovial in the manner of +its delivery--could not fail still further to astonish those to whom it +was addressed. Both started on hearing it; and for some moments bent +their _eyes_ on the speaker in an expression of wonder, mingled with +indignation. + +Had Quaco gone mad? + +"In the presence of death, sir," said the young Maroon captain, +directing a severe glance upon his lieutenant, "you might lay aside that +merry mood, too common with you. It ill becomes you--" + +"Death, do ye say, cappen?" interrupted Quaco; "who's gone dead here?" + +There was no reply to this abrupt interrogatory. Those to whom it was +addressed were too much taken by surprise to say a word. + +"If you mean the young buckra lady," continued Quaco, "I'd give all the +barbecued hog I ever owned nebber to be more dead than she jess now. +Dead, i'deed? nonsense dat: she only sleep!" + +Herbert and Cubina started from their seats, each uttering a cry of +astonishment, in which might be detected the accents of hope. + +"Who's got a piece o' lookin'-glass!" continued Quaco, turning his +glance interrogatively around the hut. "Good," he exclaimed, as the +sparkle of a piece of broken mirror came under his eyes; "here's the +thing itself! + +"Now, lookee hyar!" resumed he, taking the bit of glass from the place +where it had been deposited, and rubbing its surface with a piece of +rag: "you see thar's ne'er a speck upon it?" + +The others, still held silent by surprise, made answer only by nodding +their assent. + +"Wal, now," continued Quaco, "watch me a bit." + +Placing the smooth surface of the mirror to the mute lips, he held it +there for a minute or more; and then, turning, he raised it up, and held +it close to the light of the lamp. + +"Ye see," he cried, triumphantly pointing to a white filmy bloom that +appeared upon the glass, partially obscuring its sheen, "that's her +breath! She no gone dead, else how she hab breath?" + +His listeners were too excited to make reply. Only by exclamations did +they signify their assent to the truth of his hypothesis. + +"Ho!" exclaimed Quaco, suddenly dropping the bit of glass, and clutching +hold of a phial that lay upon the floor--now for the first time noticed. + +"What we got here?" continued he, drawing the cork with his teeth, and +thrusting the neck up his wide nostril. "Sleepin' draugh'! I thought +so. So this is the spell that's put the young buckra lady to rest. +Well, there's another that'll wake her, if I can only find it. It's +boun' be hya, somewheres about; and if I can git my claws on it, I'll +make this hya young creatur' talk to ye in less than ten minutes!" + +So saying, the colossus commenced searching around the hut, looking into +the numerous chinks and crannies with which both walls and roof were +provided. + +Restrained by surprise, blended with hopeful anticipation, neither +Herbert nor Cubina offered to interrupt his actions, by word or gesture. +Both remained in their respective places--silently but anxiously +awaiting the event. + +Volume Three, Chapter XLI. + +QUACO TURNED MYAL-MAN. + +To Herbert Vaughan it was a moment of tumultuous emotions--joy springing +up in the midst of utter woe. That his cousin still breathed he could +not doubt; that she lived he was only too ready to believe. Though +mystified beyond measure by what appeared the perfect semblance of +death, the words of Quaco had given him some clue to a remarkable +mystery--at the same time inspiring him with the belief that in that +motionless form the soul was yet present. Her breathing upon the mirror +had made him sure of it. + +The mystery to which Quaco's speeches had introduced him was that of +_myalism_. In this the Maroon lieutenant claimed to have skill almost +equalling the regular professors of the art. In addition to being +Cubina's deputy on all important occasions, Quaco was the doctor of the +band; and in his medical experience he had picked up some knowledge of +the system of Obeah--more especially of the trick by which, in the +belief of the ignorant, a dead body can be brought to life again--that +dread secret of the Coromantee charlatan, known in the West Indies as +_myalism_. + +"Only a sleep-spell," said Quaco, still continuing his search; "nothin' +more than that--a draught given her by the myal-doctor. I know it well +enough; and I knows what'll make all right again; though 'ithout that +she'd come to of herself. A-ha! hyar it is! hyar's the anecdote!" + +A small bottle glistened between his fingers; which in another instant +was uncorked and brought in contact with his nostrils. + +"Yes, dis is the stuff that's a-goin' to countrack that spell. In 'less +'n ten minutes' time you see her wake up, brisk as ebber she been in her +life. Now, young master, if you jess hold up the young lady's head +while I spill a drop or two down her throat--It must go down to do her +good." + +Herbert, with joyful willingness, obeyed the request; and the beautiful +head once more received the support of his arm. + +Quaco, with all the gentleness of which his huge, coarse fingers were +capable, parted the pale lips; and, inserting the neck of the phial, +poured out a portion of its contents into the mouth of the sleeper. +This done, he held the bottle for some minutes to her nostrils; and +then, laying it aside, he commenced chafing her hands between his own +broad, corrugated palms. + +With heart wildly beating, and eyes alternately scanning the face of +Quaco and the countenance of the silent sleeper, Herbert made no effort +to conceal his terrible solicitude. + +It would have been far more terrible, but for the confident manner of +the negro, and the triumphant tone in which he predicted the result. + +Scarce five minutes had elapsed from the time of administering the +antidote--to Herbert they appeared fifty--when the bosom of the sleeper +was seen to swell upward; at the same time that a sigh, just audible, +escaped from her lips! + +Herbert could no longer restrain his emotions. With a cry of supreme +joy, he bent his face nearer to that of the young girl, and pressed his +lips to hers, at the same time gently murmuring her name. + +"Be quiet, young master!" cautioned Quaco, "else you may keep her longer +from wakin' up. Hab patience. Leave the anecdote to do its work. +'Tan't goin' to be very long." + +Herbert, thus counselled, resumed his former attitude; and remained +silently but earnestly gazing upon the beautiful face, already showing +signs of re-animation. + +As Quaco had predicted, the "anecdote" was not long in manifesting its +effects. The bosom of the young girl began to rise and fall in quick +spasmodic motion, showing that respiration was struggling to return; +while, at shorter intervals, sighs escaped her, audible even amidst the +sounds, so similar, heard from without. + +Gradually the undulations of the chest became more regular and +prolonged, and the lips moved in soft murmuring--as when one is +endeavouring to hold converse in a dream! + +Each instant these utterances became more distinct. Words could be +distinguished; and, among others, one that filled the heart of Herbert +with happiness indescribable--his own name! + +Despite the prudent counsel of Quaco, he could no longer restrain +himself; but once more imprinting a fervent kiss upon the lips of his +beloved cousin, responded to her muttering by loudly pronouncing her +name, coupled with words of love and exclamations of encouragement. + +As if his voice had broken the charm--dispelling the morphine from out +her veins--the eyes of the young girl all at once opened. + +The long, crescent-shaped lashes displayed through their parting those +orbs of lovely light, brown as the berry of the _theobroma_, and soft as +the eyes of a dove. + +At first their expression was dreamy--unconscious--as if they shone +without seeing--looked without recognising. + +Gradually this appearance became changed. The spark of recognition +betrayed itself fast spreading over pupil and iris--until at length, it +kindled into the full flame of consciousness. + +Close to hers was the face of which she had been dreaming. Looking into +hers were those eyes she had beheld in her sleep, and with that same +glance with which, in her waking hours, they had once regarded her--that +glance so fondly remembered! + +Again was it fixed upon her; but no longer in silence, and unexplained. +Now it was accompanied by words of love--by phrases of endearment-- +spoken with all the wild _abandon_ of an impassioned heart. + +"Herbert! cousin!" she exclaimed as soon as speech was restored to her. +"It is you? Where am I? No matter, since you are by me. It is your +arm that is around me?" + +"Yes, dearest cousin--never more to part from this sweet embrace. Oh, +speak to me! Tell me that you live!" + +"Live? Ah! you thought me dead? I thought so myself. That horrid +monster! He is gone? I see him not here! Oh! I am saved! It is you, +Herbert? you who have delivered me from worse than death?" + +"Mine is not the merit, cousin. This brave man by my side--it is he to +whom we are both indebted for this deliverance." + +"Cubina! and Yola?--poor Yola? She, too, has escaped? Oh! it is a +fearful thing. I cannot comprehend--" + +"Dearest cousin! think not of it now. In time you shall understand all. +Know that you are safe--that all danger is past." + +"My poor father! if he knew--Chakra alive--that fearful monster!" + +Herbert was silent, Cubina, at the same time, withdrawing from the hut +to give some orders to his followers. + +"Ah, cousin, what is that upon your breast?" inquired the young girl, +innocently touching the object with her fingers. "Is it not the ribbon +you took from my purse? Have you been wearing it all this time?" + +"Ever since that hour! Oh, Kate! no longer can I conceal the truth. I +love you! I love you! I have heard. But tell me, dearest cousin!-- +with your own lips declare it--do you return my love?" + +"I do! I do!" + +Once more Herbert kissed the lips that had given utterance to the +thrilling declaration. + +In that kiss two loving souls were sealed for ever! + +Volume Three, Chapter XLII. + +THE RESCUE. + +On starting off from the Duppy's Hole, it had been the intention of the +Jew to wait by the base of the Jumbe Rock for the return of Chakra with +the robbers. Before arriving at the rock, a better plan presented +itself. + +In the absence of Chakra--which might be a prolonged one--it occurred to +him that he might profitably pass the interval of time by making a +reconnoissance of Mount Welcome and its precincts. + +Before parting from Chakra, therefore, a new place of rendezvous was +arranged between them--at a particular place upon the mountain slope, +only a short distance from the rear of the garden. + +This point being settled, Chakra continued on after the home-returning +bandits; while his fellow-conspirator, facing down the mountain, +proceeded towards the valley of Mount Welcome. + +He soon came upon the path habitually used in the ascent and descent of +the mountain. Only for a short distance did he follow it, however. He +conjectured that a pursuit would be already set on foot; and, +apprehensive of encountering the pursuers, he preferred making his +approach to the house by working his way through the woods, where no +path existed. By this means he should advance more slowly, but with +greater safety. + +Favoured by an occasional flash from the smouldering fires--seen at +intervals through the trees--he had no difficulty in guiding himself in +the right direction; and in due time he arrived at the rearward of the +garden. + +Crouching behind the wall, and looking cautiously over its top, he could +command a full view of the grounds--no longer containing a grand house, +but only a smouldering mass of half-consumed timbers. + +There was still sufficient flame springing up amidst the smoke to reveal +to the eyes of Jessuron a terrible _tableau_. + +Under the light could be seen a number of human figures grouped around +an object resembling a rude bier. On this lay the body of a white man, +whose ghastly visage--ghastlier under the glare of the unnatural light-- +betokened it to be a corpse. + +A white man stood beside it, bent over the body, and looking +thoughtfully on the face. Jessuron recognised in this individual the +overseer of the estate. The others were blacks--both men and women-- +easily known as the domestics and field slaves of the plantation. + +At a short distance from these was another group--smaller in individual +numbers, but equally conspicuous. + +Two men lay along the grass in attitudes that showed them to be fast +bound. They were white men, in colonial phraseology, though their +complexions of dark olive were but a shade or two lighter than those of +the negroes who surrounded them. Jessuron easily identified them as his +own _employes_, the Cuban _cacadores_. + +Some three or four black men stood around them, apparently acting as +guards. The costume, arms, and accoutrements of these last--but quite +as much their bold, upright bearing--proclaimed them to be men of a +different caste from the negroes who encompassed the corpse. They were +the Maroons whom Quaco had left in charge of the prisoners. + +As soon as Jessuron had finished making these observations, he returned +to the place of rendezvous, where he was soon joined by Chakra and the +robbers. The latter, on their homeward route, having halted for a rest +not far beyond the Jumbe Rock, were there overtaken by the myal-man, and +brought instantaneously back. + +The report of Jessuron was delivered to Chakra, who, along with Adam and +his followers, advanced to the garden wall, and became himself a +spectator of the scene already described. + +The circumstances suggested the necessity of immediate action. It was +evident that Cubina and the main body of the Maroons had gone off in +pursuit of the incendiaries at once. No account was made of the +presence of the plantation negroes, and the weak guard of the Maroons +that had been left could be easily overpowered. + +Such were the reflections of Chakra and Adam, acted upon almost as soon +as conceived; and, leaving Jessuron to await their return, they and +their followers crept forward through the shrubbery of the garden. + +A volley from their guns, fired from an ambush, was heard shortly after. +It caused most of the Maroon guard to fall dead by the side of their +prisoners, at the same time putting to flight the people of the +plantation, with their overseer at their head. + +Nothing then remained but to relieve the captives from their cords; and +this being readily accomplished, both robbers and _cacadores_ retreated +up the mountain. + +On nearing the Jumbe Rock, the confederates once more separated. Adam +and his followers continued on towards their mountain home, while +Chakra, accompanied by the Jew, and followed by Manuel and Andres, +proceeded in the direction of the Duppy's Hole. + +It was the design of Jessuron that the two Cubanos should remain in that +safe asylum--as guests of the Coromantee--until such time as he might +find an opportunity for shipping them back to the country whence they +had come. + +Chakra's consent to this arrangement had not yet been obtained, and it +was to this end that the Jew was now on his errand--for the second time +that night--to the sombre solitude of the Duppy's Hole. + +Volume Three, Chapter XLIII. + +DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. + +The midnight hour had passed ere the lovers forsook the solitude of the +Duppy's Hole. + +From mingled motives Herbert had lingered on that wild spot. He feared +the dread development which he knew must take place on their return to +Mount Welcome. What a terrible blow to that young bosom, now in the +full enjoyment of earth's supremest happiness! He knew the fatal truth +could not loner be concealed; nevertheless, he was desirous of keeping +it back as long as possible--at least until his cousin had further +recovered from the shock which her spirit had that night sustained. + +In concert with Cubina, he had spent some time in reflecting how this +temporary concealment might be effected. + +Only one way suggested itself--to conduct his cousin to the house of the +overseer; there to remain until, as she might suppose, her rather could +receive the news of the conflagration that had occurred, and return home +again. + +The young girl knew that the mansion was burnt down. Its blaze was +before her eyes when they ceased to see--lighting her ravisher along the +forest path. The roof that had sheltered her childhood was a ruin. She +knew all that. + +It was therefore but natural that a temporary home should be sought +elsewhere, and in the house of the overseer. She could have no +suspicion of any design in their taking her thither. + +Neither Herbert nor Cubina knew whether the corpse of the Custos had yet +reached its destination. Quaco, on hurriedly parting with it, had given +no orders, either to the bearers or the Maroons left in charge of the +two prisoners, to move forward. + +The funeral _cortege_ might still be upon the road, where it had been +left by Herbert and Cubina. + +If so, it might be possible for them to pass the ruined dwelling, and +reach the house of the overseer, without any news of the assassination +being communicated to her--the only one likely to be profoundly affected +by that dread disaster. + +Once under the roof of Mr Trusty, means could be taken to keep silent +the tongues of those who should be brought in contact with her. + +Such was the scheme, hastily concerted between Herbert and Cubina; and +which they now proceeded to execute, by conducting the young creole out +of the Duppy's Hole and commencing their descent towards the valley of +Mount Welcome. + +Only the two accompanied her. The Maroons, under their lieutenant, +Quaco, remained behind; and for an important purpose--the capturing of +Chakra. + +Cubina would himself have stayed, but for a certain impatience once more +to enjoy the company of his beloved Yola, who had been left among the +other domestics of the desolated establishment. + +The Maroon captain had perfect confidence--both in the skill of his +lieutenant, and the courage of his followers. He could trust them for +an affair like that; and as he parted from the Duppy's Hole he had very +little doubt that by daybreak, or perhaps before that time, Chakra would +be the captive of Quaco. + +Slowly Herbert and his cousin moved down the mountain. The moon, now +shining sweetly upon the perfumed path, favoured their descent; but +there was no need--no desire for haste. Cubina kept ahead, to secure +them from surprise or danger. The young girl walked side by side with +Herbert, leaning upon his arm--that strong arm, once so freely and +affectionately promised. The time had arrived when that offer was +accepted and welcomed--a proud time for the young Englishman--a happy +time, as he walked on, thrilled by the touch of that round arm softly +pressing his own--at times more heavily leaning upon him, not from any +physical weakness on the part of his companion, but rather out of the +pure fondness of her affection. + +The strength of the young Creole had become almost restored--the effects +of the narcotic having completed disappeared. She had also recovered +from the prostration of spirit which it had produced--perhaps all the +sooner from the cheering presence of him who was by her side. + +The terrible sufferings she had endured were succeeded by a happiness +tranquil and profound. She now knew that Herbert loved her: more than +once within the hour had he given her that sweet assurance. + +On her part there was no coyness--not a shadow of coquetry. She had +responded to his vows by a full, free surrender of her heart. + +And her hand? Was it still free? + +Herbert sought an answer to this question as they passed onward--only +indirectly, and with all the delicacy that circumstances would permit. + +Was it true, what he had heard, that a promise had been given to +Smythje? + +With downcast eyes the young girl remained for some moments without +vouchsafing any reply. Her trembling arm betrayed the painful struggle +that was agitating her bosom. + +Presently the storm appeared to have partially subsided. Her features +became fixed, as if she had resolved upon a confession; and in a firm, +but low, murmured voice, she made answer,-- + +"A promise! yes, Herbert, wrung from me in my darkest hour--then, when I +thought _you_ cared not for me--when I heard that you also had made such +promise--to another. Oh, Herbert! oh, cousin! believe me it was against +my will; it was forced from me by threats, by appeals--" + +"Then it is not binding!" eagerly interrupted the lover. "There was no +oath--no betrothal between you? Even if there had been--" + +"Even if there had been!" cried the young girl, repeating his words--the +hot Creole blood mounting suddenly to her cheeks, while her eyes +expressed a certain determination. "There was no oath. Even if there +had been, it could no longer bind me. No! After what has occurred this +night--in the hour of danger deserted by him--no, no! After that, I +could never consent to be the wife of Mr Smythje. Rather suffer the +charge of perjury, from which my own conscience would absolve me, than +to fulfil that promise. Rather shall I submit to the disinheritance +which my father threatens, and which upon his return he will doubtless +execute. Yes, death itself, rather than become the wife of a coward!" + +"How little danger of that disinheritance!" thought Herbert. "How shall +I tell the fearful tidings? How reveal to her that she is at this +moment the mistress of Mount Welcome? Not yet--not yet!" + +For a while the young man remained silent, scarce knowing how to +continue the conversation. + +She noticed his air of thoughtful abstraction. It guided her to +unpleasant conjectures. + +"Cousin! are you angry with me for what I have said? Do you blame me--" + +"No--no!" cried Herbert, impressively; "far from it. By the conduct of +this man--woman, I should call him, were it not for disgracing the +name--by his behaviour to you, you would be released from the most +solemn of oaths--much more a mere promise given against your will. It +was not of that I was thinking." + +"Of what, Herbert?" + +As she put this question she leant towards him, and gazed into his eyes +with a look of troubled inquiry. + +The young man was puzzled for a reply. His thoughtful silence was +evidently causing her uneasiness that each moment increased. Her +glances betokened some painful suspicion. + +She did not wait for his answer; but, in a voice that trembled, put the +additional interrogative,-- + +"Have _you_ made a promise?" + +"To whom?" + +"Oh, Herbert! do not ask me to pronounce the name. You must know to +whom I allude." + +Herbert was relieved by the interrogatory. It changed the current of +his thoughts, at the same time giving him a cue for something to say. + +"Ha! ha!" laughed he; "I think, cousin, I comprehend you. A promise, +indeed! Nothing of the sort, I assure you; though, since _you_ have +been good enough to make confession, neither shall I conceal what has +passed between her to whom you refer and myself. There was no love +between us--at least, none upon my side, I can assure you, cousin. But, +I will confess that, stung by what I fancied was your coldness to me-- +misled by a thousand reports, now happily found to be false--I had +nearly committed myself to the speaking of a word which no doubt I +should have rued throughout all the rest of my life. Thank fortune! +circumstances have saved me--saved us both, may I say?" + +"Oh, happiness! Herbert--Herbert! then you will be mine--mine only?" + +Yielding to the promptings of an all-absorbing passion, the young creole +gave utterance to this bold interrogatory. + +"Dearest Kate!" replied the lover, half delirious with joy, "my heart is +yours--all yours. My hand--oh, cousin, I scarce dare to offer it! You +are rich--grand--and I--I poor--penniless--even without a home!" + +"Alas! Herbert, you know not. Were I rich--ten times as rich as you, +believe me, you would be welcome to all. But no. Perhaps I may be poor +as yourself. Ah me! you do not know; but you shall. I shall conceal +nothing. Know, then, dearest cousin, that my mother was a quadroon, and +I am only a _mustee_. I cannot inherit my father's property, except by +will; and not even that till an act is obtained from the Assembly. That +is the errand upon which my father is gone. But whether he succeed or +not, matters not now. Too surely will he disinherit me; for never shall +I consent to become the wife of the man he has commanded me to many-- +never!" + +"Oh, cousin!" cried Herbert, enraptured by the emphatic tone in which +she had declared her determination, "if you consent to become mine, I +care not for your riches. Your heart is the wealth I covet--that will +be enough for me. What matters it even should we both be poor? I am +young. I can work. I can strive. We may yet find friends, or, if not, +we can do without them. Be mine!" + +"Yours for any fate!--for life, Herbert! for life!" + +Volume Three, Chapter XLIV. + +AN ORPHAN. + +These earnest utterances of love exchanged between the two cousins were +suddenly interrupted. Sounds of woe broke upon the stillness of the +night, and in the same place as before. + +They had arrived within view of what was once the mansion of Mount +Welcome. + +Through the foliage that fringed the path, they could see glancing some +remnants of red light, here and there flickering into a faint blaze. +Now and then, as they descended the slope, they had heard the crash of +falling timbers, as they gave way under the wasting fire. + +A murmur of human voices, too, had reached their ears; but only as of +men engaged in an ordinary conversation; or, at all events, not +exhibiting excitement beyond what might be expected at the _finale_ of +such a scene as had there transpired. + +All at once abruptly breaking upon this comparative tranquillity--at the +same time interrupting the dialogue of the lovers--were heard utterances +of a far different import: the cries of men, the screaming of women, +shots, and loud shouting! + +All these sounds appeared to proceed from the spot that but a few hours +before had echoed to the clangour of a chorus equally diabolical in its +accents. + +Cubina, who had been moving some paces in advance, sprang instantly back +upon the path; and, with troubled look, stopped in front of the lovers. + +"What can it mean?" asked Herbert, equally showing signs of +apprehension. + +"The robbers! Master Vaughan! They have returned; but for what purpose +I cannot guess. It must be they. I know that voice, louder than the +rest. Do you hear it? 'Tis the voice of the brigand Adam! _Crambo_! +I'll silence it some day ere long--maybe, this very night. Hark! +there's another, still louder and wilder. Ho! that, too, I can +distinguish. It's the hellish shriek of Chakra!" + +"But why should they have come again? They took everything a robber +would care for. What can have brought them back? There is nothing--" + +"There _is_!" cried Cubina, with a quick gesture, as though the solution +had just then presented itself to his mind. "_There is Yola_!" As he +said this he faced around, as if about to rush towards the fray, still +strepitant--its noise rather on the increase. + +For an instant he appeared to be undecided; though not from any fear of +going forward. + +No, it was another thought that had caused that indecision; which was +soon made manifest by his words. + +"Master Herbert Vaughan!" he exclaimed, in a tone of appeal; "I have +helped you to rescue _your_ sweetheart. Mine is in danger!" The young +Englishman stood in no need of this appeal. Already he had disengaged +his arm from that of his cousin, and stood ready for action. + +"Oh, Herbert!" cried the young girl, in wild accents of distress; "there +is fearful danger! Oh, you must not go. Oh, do not leave me!" + +Cubina looked as if regretting the challenge he had thrown out. + +"Perhaps you had better not?" said he, with no sarcasm meant by the +words. "There is danger, but you must not share it. Your life now +belongs to another. I did not think of that, Master Vaughan." + +"In the eyes of that other," replied Herbert, "my life would be +worthless, as it would to myself, were I to play the poltroon. Brave +Cubina! I cannot fail you now. Dear Kate! it is Yola who is in +danger--Yola, to whom we are both indebted. But for her I should not +have known that you loved me; and then we should both--" + +"Ah! Yola in danger!" interrupted the young Creole, her affection for +her maid half stifling the fear for her beloved. "Oh, Herbert! go if +you will, but let me go with you. I should die if you returned not. +Yes, yes; if death comes to you, it shall be mine also. Herbert, do not +leave me behind!" + +"Only for a moment, Kate! I shall soon return. Fear not. With right +on our side, the brave Cubina and I can conquer a score of these black +robbers. We shall be back before you can count a hundred. There! +conceal yourself in these bushes, and wait for our coming. I shall call +out for you. Behind the bushes you will be safe. Not a word, not a +movement, till you hear me calling your name." + +As he uttered these admonitions, the brave young man gently guided his +cousin into the thicket. Causing her to kneel down in a shaded covert, +he imprinted a hurried kiss upon her forehead, and then hastily leaving +her, followed Cubina towards the fight. + +In a few seconds they ran down to the garden wall, and passed rapidly +through the wicket-gate, which they found standing open; on through the +garden, and straight towards the place from which they imagined the +sounds had proceeded. + +Strange enough, these had ceased as abruptly as they had risen--the +cries of the men, the screaming of the women, the shots, and the loud +shouting! + +All, as if by a simultaneous signal, had become silent; as though the +earth had opened and swallowed not only the noises, but those who had +been causing them! + +Unheeding the change, Herbert and Cubina kept on; nor came to a stop +until they had passed the smoking remains of the mansion, and stood upon +the platform that fronted it. + +There halted they. + +There was still some fitful light from the burning beams; but the beams +of the moon told a truer tale. They illumined a _tableau_ significant +as terrible. + +Near the spot was a stretcher, on which lay the corpse of a white man, +half uncovered, ghastly as death could make it. Close to it were three +others, corpses like itself, only that they were those of men with a +black epidermis. + +Herbert easily identified the first. It had been his companion on that +day's journey. It was the corpse of his uncle. + +As easily did Cubina recognise the others. They were, or had been, men +of his own band--the Maroons--left by Quaco to guard the prisoners. + +The prisoners! where were they? Escaped? + +It took Cubina but little time to resolve the mystery. To the practised +eye of one who had tied up many a black runaway, there was no difficulty +in interpreting the sign there presented to his view. + +A tangle of ropes and sticks brought to mind the contrivances of Quaco +for securing his captives. They lay upon the trodden ground, cast away, +and forsaken. + +The _cacadores_ had escaped. The affair had been a rescue! + +Rather relieved by this conjecture, which soon assumed the form of a +conviction, Herbert and Cubina were about returning to the place where +they had left the young Creole--whom they supposed to be still awaiting +them. + +But they had not calculated on the bravery of love--much less upon its +recklessness. + +As they faced towards the dark declivity of the mountain, a form like a +white-robed sylph was seen flitting athwart the trunks of the trees, and +descending towards the garden wall. On it glided--on, and downward--as +the snow-plumed gull in its graceful parabola. + +Neither was mystified by this apparition. At a glance both recognised +the form, with its soft, white drapery floating around it. + +Love could no longer endure that anxious suspense. The young Creole had +forsaken her shelter, to share the danger of him she adored. + +Before either could interfere to prevent the catastrophe, she had passed +through the wicket--a way better known to her than to them--and came +gliding across the garden, up to the spot where they stood. + +An exclamation of joy announced her perception that her lover was still +unharmed. + +Quick as an echo, a second exclamation escaped from her lips--but one of +a far different intonation. It was a cry of wildest despair--the +utterance of one who suddenly knew herself to be _an orphan_. Her eyes +had fallen upon the corpse of her father! + +Volume Three, Chapter XLV. + +AN INVOLUNTARY SUICIDE. + +On seeing the dead body of her father, Kate Vaughan sank to the earth +beside it; not unconsciously, but on her knees, and in an agony of +grief. Bending over it, she kissed the cold, speechless lips--her sobs +and wilder ejaculations following each other in rapid succession. + +Only the face of the corpse was uncovered. The camlet cloak still +shrouded the body, and its gaping but bloodless wounds. She saw not +these; and made no inquiry as to the cause of her father's death. The +wasted features, now livid, recalled the disease under which he had been +suffering previous to his departure. It was to that he had succumbed; +so reasoned she. + +Herbert made no attempt to undeceive her. It was not the time to enter +into details of the sad incident that had transpired. The most mournful +chapter of the story was now known--the rest need scarce be told: Kate +Vaughan was fatherless. + +Without uttering a word--not even those phrases of consolation so +customary on such occasions, and withal so idle--the young man wound his +arms round the waist of his cousin, gently raised her to an erect +attitude, and supported her away from the spot. + +He passed slowly towards the rear of the ruined dwelling. + +There was still enough light emitted from the calcined embers to make +plain the path--enough to show that the little summer-house in the +garden still stood there in its shining entirety. Its distance from the +dwelling-house had saved it from the conflagration. + +Into this Herbert conducted his protegee, and, after placing her on a +settee of bamboos, which the kiosk contained, seated himself in a chair +beside her. + +Yola, who had once more appeared upon the scene, followed them, and +flinging herself on the floor, at her young mistress's feet, remained +gazing upon her with sympathetic looks, that evinced the affectionate +devotion of the Foolah maiden. + +Cubina had gone in search of the overseer, and such of the domestics as +might still have concealed themselves within a reasonable distance. + +The Maroon might have acted with more caution, seeing that the second +attack of the robbers had unexpectedly been made. But he had no fear of +their coming again. The escape of the prisoners explained their second +appearance--the sole object of which had been to rescue the _cacadores_. + +For a while the three individuals in the kiosk appeared to be the only +living forms that remained by the desolated mansion of Mount Welcome. +The return of the robbers had produced even a more vivid feeling of +affright than their first appearance; and the people of the plantation-- +white as well as black--had betaken themselves to places of concealment +more permanent than before. The whites--overseer, book-keepers, and +all--believing it to be an insurrection of the slaves, had forsaken the +plantation altogether, and fled towards Montego Bay. + +Among these panic-struck fugitives, or rather at the head of them, was +the late distinguished guest of Mount Welcome--Mr Montagu Smythje. + +On being left alone, after the departure of the pursuing party, he had +made a rapid retreat towards the stables; and there, by the assistance +of Quashie, had succeeded in providing himself with a saddled horse. + +Not even staying to divest himself of his sacchariferous envelope, he +had mounted and ridden at top speed for the port, announcing his fixed +determination to take the first ship that should sail for his "deaw +metwopolis." + +Smythje had seen enough of Jamaica, and its "queeole queetyaws," and +more than enough of "its howid niggaws." + +Cubina, returning with Quashie--who again, imp-like, had started up in +his path--the only living being the Maroon could discover, announced the +fact that Mr Smythje was no longer on the ground. + +From those who occupied the kiosk, the intelligence elicited no +response. Notwithstanding the many jealous pangs he had cost Herbert +Vaughan, and the important part he had played in the history of the +young Creole's life, the great lord of Montagu Castle was no longer +regarded even as a unit in the situation. Neither spoke of him--neither +gave a thought to him. With perfect indifference, both Herbert and his +cousin listened to the report that he was no longer on the ground. + +But there was at that very moment one upon the ground who might have +been better spared--one whose proximity was a thousand times more +perilous than that of the harmless Smythje. + +As we have said, Cubina had no apprehensions about the return of the +robbers; but there was a danger near, and equally to be dreaded--a +danger of which neither he nor any of the others could have had even the +slightest suspicion. + +The Maroon had delivered his report at the kiosk, and with Quashie +attending on him, had gone back to the spot where the dead body still +rested. He had gone thither to ascertain which of his own men had +fallen in the late struggle, and also the better to acquaint himself +with the direction which the robbers might have taken. + +Just as he had turned his back upon the kiosk, a human figure--gliding +so softly that it might have been mistaken for a shadow--passed through +the wicket-gate in the rear of the garden, and, with stealthy step, +advanced in the direction of the summer-house. + +Notwithstanding an ample cloak in which the figure was enveloped, its +_contour_ could be distinguished as that of a woman--one of +boldly-developed form. + +The blaze of the still-burning timbers was no longer constant. At +intervals some piece--losing its equilibrium under the effect of the +consuming fire--would fall with a crushing sound; to be followed by a +fresh glare of light, which would continue for a longer or shorter +period of time, according to the circumstances that created it. + +Just as the silent figure, approaching along the path, had arrived +within a few paces of the summer-house, one of these sudden coruscations +arose, lighting up not only the interior of the summer-house, but the +whole enclosure to its furthest limits. + +Under that light, had anyone been looking rearwards across the garden, +they would have beheld a beautiful face--beautiful, yet disfigured by an +expression of mingled rage and pain, that rendered it even hideous. It +was the face of Judith Jessuron. + +It is not necessary to explain why she was there. The fire of jealousy +was still burning in her breast--more furiously, more bitterly than +ever. + +In another instant she had placed herself in a position that commanded a +view of the interior of the kiosk. + +What she saw there was not calculated to extinguish the fearful fire +that consumed her. On the contrary, like the collision of the falling +timbers, it had the effect of stirring it to increased strength and +fierceness. + +Kate Vaughan had raised herself from her reclining position, and was +sitting upright on the bamboo settee. Herbert was by her side, also +seated. Their bodies were in contact--the arm of the young man softly +encircling the waist of his cousin. It would have been evident to the +most uninterested observer that their hearts were equally _en rapport_; +that between them was a tie--the strongest on earth--the tie of mutual +love! + +It needed no reasoning on the part of Judith Jessuron to arrive at this +conclusion. + +The tableau was typical. It was a picture that required no explanation, +nor did she who looked upon it ask for any. + +She did not even stay to notice the brown-skinned damsel, who seemed to +be guarding the entrance of the kiosk; but, springing past her, she +stood in a defiant attitude in the presence of the lovers. + +"Herbert Vaughan!" cried she, in a tone of bitter abandonment; "traitor! +perjured villain! you have been false to me--" + +"It is not true, Judith Jessuron!" cried the young man, interrupting +her, and, as soon as he had recovered from his surprise, springing to +his feet. "It is not true. I--I never intended--" + +"Ha!" screamed the Jewess, her rage apparently becoming more fierce at +the attempted explanation; "never intended what?" + +"Never intended to marry you. I never gave you promise--" + +"False!" cried Judith, once more interrupting him. "No matter now--it +is all past; and since you never intended to marry me, she at least will +never be your wife!" + +The action that followed rendered the menace of the mad woman too easily +intelligible. + +As she gave utterance to it she passed her hand under the mantle in +which her figure was enveloped; and, as she drew it forth again, a +shining object appeared between her fingers. + +It was a pistol, with silver sheen and ivory handle--small, but large +enough to take life at such close quarters. + +It was presented as soon as drawn, but not at Herbert Vaughan. It was +towards his companion that its muzzle was pointed! + +Scarce a second passed before the report was heard; and, for a time, the +kiosk was filled with smoke. + +When this cleared away, and the shining light once more penetrated the +apartment, a woman was seen extended on the floor, her form quivering in +the last throes of life. In another instant it was motionless--a +corpse! + +The shot had proved fatal; but the victim was not Kate Vaughan, but +Judith Jessuron! + +The transposition was due to the Foolah maid. Seeing the life of her +mistress in such imminent peril, she had sprung up from her seat by the +door; and, bounding forward with the supple quickness of a cheetah, had +seized the wrist of the intended murderess, with the intention of +averting her aim, and, in doing so, had directed it upon herself. + +It was by accident, therefore, and not from design on the part of Yola, +that Judith Jessuron thus terminated her life by an involuntary suicide. + +Volume Three, Chapter XLVI. + +QUACO IN AMBUSH. + +The Maroon captain, before leaving the Duppy's Hole, had given official +orders to his lieutenant about the capture of Chakra. There could no +longer be any question of the absence of the myal-man from his haunt. +The Maroons had continued their search after the discovery in the cave, +still thinking that he might be concealed somewhere in the wood. The +bushes were well beaten--the trees, where it was possible for a man to +have climbed, were all scrutinised; and the search had ended without +their finding any other trace of the Coromantee than what had been +already discovered. + +Beyond doubt, Chakra had gone abroad--though in what direction, no one +could guess; and to have attempted tracking him at night, and through a +pathless forest, would have been labour lost. + +The correct scheme for capturing him was for the Maroons to remain in +the Duppy's Hole, against his return; and, by keeping in ambuscade until +he should have re-crossed the lagoon, they would have him, as it were, +in a trap. + +This was the plan chosen--with the execution of which Quaco was +intrusted. + +Indeed, the initiatory steps had been taken already: for ever since the +search by torchlight had been abandoned, Quaco and his men had been +placed in ambush. + +Cubina perceived the error he had committed in causing the search to be +made. + +Chakra might have been upon the cliff above, where he could not have +failed to see the light of the torches. + +If so, there would not be the slightest hope of his returning for that +night. After witnessing such an invasion of his secret haunt, his +caution would be upon the _qui vive_--enough to hinder him from +venturing down into the Duppy's Hole, notwithstanding the attractive +lure he had there left behind him. + +Cubina thus reflected with regret--with chagrin. The capture of Chakra +had now become an object of primary importance. + +After all, the apprehension that he had seen the torches, or in any way +become aware of the intrusion of strangers upon his solitary domain, may +have been an idle one. If so, then he would be certain to come back. +The presence of his prisoner was earnest of his return, and at no +distant period of time. + +To make sure of his capture, the Maroon captain had himself planned the +ambush. Quaco and his men were placed under the great tree--where the +myal-man was accustomed to moor his craft. Some of them were stationed +on the tree, among its branches, with the design that they should drop +upon the shoulders of the Coromantee, as soon as he should arrive at his +anchorage. + +The canoe itself was to be left at the bottom of the stairway, after +being taken thither by the Maroon captain and his two companions, on +their departure from the place. All this was done as designed. + +Before parting from the canoe, Cubina had taken the precaution to place +it in the exact position in which it had been left by Chakra: so that +the latter could have no suspicions that the craft had been used during +his absence. + +These arrangements having been completed, Quaco and his comrades-- +Cingues among the number--from their station by the edge of the lagoon, +with eyes bent alternately upon the water and the face of the cliff, +awaited the coming of the Coromantee. + +The Maroons were armed with guns, loaded and primed. Not that they +intended to kill Chakra. On the contrary, Cubina's orders were to +capture him. Criminal as was the outlawed myal-man, it was not their +province to decide upon his criminality--at least, not so far as to the +depriving him of his life. Free as was the licence enjoyed by these +mountain rovers, there were laws around them by which even they were +bound to abide. Besides, there would be no danger of his escaping from +the punishment that was his due. They knew that Chakra's capture would +be but the prelude to his execution. + +They had a different reason for being attentive to their arms. It was +just possible the Coromantee might _not return alone_. They knew he had +been in the company of others--Adam and his band of desperate robbers. +These confederates might come back along with him. In that case, the +quiet scheme of their capture might be transformed into a sanguinary +encounter. + +It was not necessary all should keep awake. One-half of the little band +were appointed sentinels, while the others went to sleep. + +The lieutenant himself was among the number of those who were entitled +to the latter privilege: since for two days and nights he had scarce +slept a wink. + +Speedily surrendering himself to the drowsy god, Quaco indulged in a +profound slumber--snoring in such fashion, that, but for the louder +intonation of the waters surging through the gorge below, his huge +nostrils would have betrayed his presence to the expected Chakra--even +before the latter should have set foot in his canoe. + +As it was, however, the roaring of the cataract quite drowned the nasal +music of the sleeping Quaco, and his companions suffered him to snore +on. + +Volume Three, Chapter XLVII. + +THE DOOM OF DESTINY. + +Until daybreak was Quaco permitted to continue his snoring and his +slumber. Up to that time, no Chakra appeared; but just as the red +aurora began to tinge the tops of the forest trees, a dark form was +distinguished upon the summit of the cliff, just over the tree stairway. + +It had scarce made its appearance, when another was seen coming forward +by its side; and, in the rear of both, another--and then a fourth. + +All four halted for a moment upon the brow of the precipice. Whether +they were in conversation could not be told. Likely they were, but +their voices could not be heard above the mutterings of the moving +water. + +Presently, he who had first made his appearance commenced descending the +cliff, followed by the others, apparently in the same order in which +they had arrived upon its edge. + +Cingues had already shaken Quaco from his slumbers. The other sleepers +had also been aroused by their companions; and, perceiving the numbers +of the enemy, had grasped their guns with a firmer hold. + +Though the day had now dawned, none of the four shadowy figures, +outlined against the facade of the cliff, could be identified. The dark +rock and the bramble hindered them from being fairly seen. Not even +when they had reached the bottom of the stair could they be recognised: +for there also the frondage afforded them cover. + +It was only after the two foremost had entered the canoe, and the craft +was seen gliding out into the open water, that Quaco could tell who were +the two individuals thus seeking the solitude of the Duppy's Hole. + +"Chakra!" said he, in a whisper to Cingues. "The t'other? Prince! if +my eyes don't bamboozle me, it's your old acquaintance, the +penn-keeper!" + +To the Fellatah this piece of information was superfluous: he had +already recognised the well-known features of the man who had so deeply +injured him. + +The memory of all his wrongs rushed into his heart, accompanied by a +thirst for vengeance--keen, irresistible. + +With a wild cry--and before Quaco could interpose--he raised his piece +and fired. + +The young African was a marksman of unerring aim; and but for the +upraised arm of Quaco, that had disturbed the level of that deadly tube, +the hours of Jacob Jessuron would have been numbered. + +And numbered they were. Despite the interruption--despite the accident +that guided that leaden missile far wide of its mark--destiny had +determined upon having its victim. + +Neither of the occupants of the canoe appeared to have been wounded; but +as the smoke cleared away, it could be seen that the shot had not passed +them without effect. Chakra's hands were empty; the paddle had been +struck by the bullet; and, carried clean out of them, was now seen on +the surface of the water, fast gliding towards the gorge! + +A shrill cry escaped from the lips of the Coromantee. He alone +understood the danger to which this accident had exposed him. He alone +knew of the whirl that threatened to overwhelm both himself and his +companion. + +Instantly he threw himself upon his knees, and, with an arm extended on +each side of the canoe, and his body bent down to the gunwale, he +commenced heating the water with his broad palms. His aim was to +prevent the craft from being drawn into the centre of the current. + +For some moments this strange struggle was kept up--the canoe just +holding its own--making way neither upwards nor downwards. + +The Maroons watched the movement with mute surprise; and no doubt would +have continued to do so, but that the two men left by the bottom of the +stairway--perhaps stirred by a like curiosity--had rushed forward to the +edge of the water, and thus permitted their faces to be seen. At the +same instant were they recognised by one who had an old account to +settle with them. + +"The jack Spaniards!" cried Quaco, surprised beyond measure at the sight +of his _ci-devant_ prisoners. "They have got loose from our guard. +Fire upon them, comrades! Don't let them escape a second time!" + +The stentorian voice of the Maroon lieutenant, audible above all other +sounds, at once awakened the _cacadores_ to a sense of their dangerous +situation; and, like a brace of baboons, they commenced sprawling up the +tangled stairway. + +Too late had they taken this resolution. Before they had got a third of +the way to the summit, half-a-dozen triggers were pulled; and their +bodies, one after the other, fell with a heavy plunge into the water +below. + +Meanwhile Chakra, in the canoe, had kept up his life and death struggle, +now going against the current--and now the watery element appearing to +prevail. + +For the moment the Maroons could not have decided that strife. They +were engaged in re-loading their guns; and the Coromantee was left free +to continue his struggles without interruption. + +Chakra's bitterest enemies could scarce have desired to bring that scene +to a speedy termination. No avenger need have wished his victim in a +more terrible situation than were he and his confederate at that moment. + +The former, acting under the instinct of self-preservation, had not yet +given way to despair; while the terrified look of the latter, who +appeared to have already succumbed to it, might have restrained his +deadliest foe from interference. + +Between the long, sinewy arms of Chakra and the strength of the current, +it was difficult to decide which would conquer. For many minutes the +forces appeared to be equally balanced. But the strength of the man was +declining, while that of the element remained the same. In the end, the +waters must prevail. Chakra at length appeared to become convinced of +this; and cast round him a glance of mingled inquiry and despair. + +At that moment an idea seemed to strike him--some thought, perhaps, that +promised him a chance of escape. + +All at once he desisted from his hopeless efforts to stay the canoe, as +if some resolution had suddenly become fixed; and, turning towards his +companion, he bent down, apparently with the intention of whispering to +him. His wild, dark look, however, declared his design to be far +different. + +When fairly within reach, he threw out his long arms with a sudden jerk, +and, clutching the Jew by both shoulders, drew him up into his embrace, +like some gigantic spider seizing upon its prey. + +Suddenly changing his hold, he grasped an arm and limb; and, raising the +body high in air, with an immense muscular effort, he projected it clear +over the gunwale of the canoe. + +One shriek from the Jew--emitted in the extremest accent of grief--was +heard simultaneously with the plunge; and then the body of the +unfortunate man disappeared beneath the dark waters of the lagoon. + +His hat and umbrella alone floated on the surface, both rapidly carried +along by the current. + +The wretched creature rose again, but not to discover any chance of +saving himself from destruction. The only gratification he could have +drawn from his temporary emergence was to perceive that his false +confederate must perish as well as himself. + +Chakra had hoped that by lightening the canoe he might contend more +successfully with the current; but it soon became evident that his hopes +would prove vain. + +In disembarrassing himself of his _compagnon du voyage_ he had lost way; +and, before he could recover it, the canoe was sucked into a charybdis, +from which even the power of the paddle could not have extricated it. + +In less than ten seconds the craft entered the embouchure of the gorge, +gliding downward with the velocity of an arrow. + +It was but a despairing effort on the part of its occupant to seize upon +a tree that grew horizontally from the rocks; though in his despair +Chakra clutched it. Even had the bush been firmly rooted, his strength +would not have sustained him against the fierce, resistless flood. + +But it was not. The roots gave way; and, in another instant, the +Coromantee and his canoe were precipitated an hundred feet sheer among +the black rocks below! + +His confederate had preceded him only by two seconds of time; and the +dead bodies of both came once more in close contact--circling round and +round, amidst the frothy spume that creamed over the cauldron below! + +Volume Three, Chapter XLVIII. + +CONCLUSION. + +On the morning that succeeded the occurrence of these tragic events, one +entering at the great gate of Mount Welcome estate, and directing his +eye up the long, palm-shaded avenue, would have beheld but a mass of +black, smoking ruins. + +On any other morning, twelve months after, the eye of a person looking +in the same direction, would have been gladdened by a sight far +different. Smiling in all its splendour, at the end of that vegetable +vista, once more could be seen the proud mansion of Mount +Welcome--_renaissant_ in every respect--its stone stairway still +standing--its white walls and green-jalousied windows looking as if they +had sprung, phoenix-like, from the flames--every item of the +architecture so closely in imitation of the former structure, that even +the eye of an old acquaintance could have detected no trace of the +transformation. + +Outside, everything appeared as before. It was only upon entering the +mansion that you might perceive a change, and this chiefly relating to +its occupancy and ownership. Instead of a stout, red-faced, and +somewhat plebeian personage, of over forty years old, you would see in +the present proprietor of Mount Welcome a youth of noble mien, by age +scarce claiming the privileges of manhood, but in aspect and demeanour +evidently fit for the performance of its duties--deserving to be the +master of that aristocratic mansion. + +Near him--oh! certain to be near him--there is one upon whom the eye +rests with still greater interest; one who had graced the old mansion-- +yet more gracing the new--the daughter of its former proprietor, the +wife of its present one. + +She has not even changed her name--only her condition. Lilly Quasheba +is no longer _Miss_ but _Mrs_ Vaughan! + +Both these personages may be seen seated in that great hall, with floor +as smooth and furniture as resplendent as ever. + +It is the hour after breakfast, and also, as of yore, the hour when the +post may be expected. Not that either cared to look abroad for that +diurnal messenger--more welcome to those around whom Hymen has not yet +wound his golden chain. + +Equally indifferent were these two happy individuals to the actions of +the outside world: neither cared for its news. Their love, still in the +fresh flush of its honeymoon, was world enough for them; and what +interest could either feel in the arrival of the mail? + +But the post has no respect either for indifference or anxiety. It is +transmitted alike to the grave and the gay. It brings joy to the heart +heavy laden, and sorrow to that which the moment before its arrival may +have been bounding with bliss. + +In that great hall in the mansion of Mount Welcome there were two bosoms +brimful of bliss, or a feeling near akin to it. Nay, why should we say +_akin_ to it, since they were two hearts in the enjoyment of a mutual +love? If that be not bliss, there is no other--either on earth or in +heaven. + +Without any attempt at concealment, the eyes of both betrayed their +mutual delight. Gazing on each other, in sweet reciprocal admiration, +they saw not that dark form--rudely centaurean--that approached up the +long avenue. + +Had they seen it, it would have created no surprise. It was only the +post-boy, Quashie, on his shaggy cob, returning from the Bay. + +After this speculative peroration, the reader may be apprehensive of +some dire development springing from the letter-bag slung over the +shoulders of the darkey. + +Nothing of the kind. There was a letter, but not one that might be +unwelcome. But for the post-mark, it might have remained for hours +unopened. + +But the impress was peculiar. It was African. The letter was stamped +with the name of a port near the mouth of the Gambia. It was addressed +to "Herbert Vaughan, Esquire, Mount Welcome, Jamaica." + +The young planter broke the seal, and rapidly ran over the contents of +the letter. + +"From your brother, Cubina," said he, though he knew that he imparted no +information by this. "He writes to say he is coming back again to +Jamaica." + +"Oh! I am so glad of that! I knew he would never live contented among +those wild people, notwithstanding he has been made a prince over them; +but Yola--" + +"She comes with him, of course. It is not likely he would leave her +behind. She longs for her island-home again. I don't wonder, dearest +Kate. There is one spot on the earth hallowed beyond all others--the +spot where heart meets heart in the free confession of a mutual love. +No wonder the African maiden should desire to return to it. Human +nature is everywhere the same. To me this Island is the elysium of +earth!" + +"Ah! to me also!" + +On giving utterance to this mutual confession, the young husband and +wife bent towards each other, and pressed lips as fervently as if they +had never been married! + +After this fond embrace, Herbert continued the reading of the letter. + +"Oh!" exclaimed he, when he had perused another portion of the epistle; +"your brother wants to know whether he can either become our tenant or +purchase that piece of land that lies beyond the Jumbe Rock. The old +king has given him a capital to start with, and he wants to turn +coffee-planter." + +"I am glad he has such intentions. Then he will settle down, and be +near us." + +"He must not be permitted to purchase it. We shall present it to him, +since we have enough without it. What say you, Kate? It is yours, not +mine to give." + +"Ah!" returned the young wife, in a tone of playful reproach, "do not +distress me with those sad _souvenirs_. You know that I gave it to you +when I might have believed myself its mistress; and--" + +"Stay, dearest. Do not you distress _me_ by such an appeal! You were +its rightful owner, and should have been. Even had we not become joint +proprietors, I could never have thought of dispossessing you. Say, +then, that the land shall be Cubina's!" + +A repetition of that sweet embrace pronounced the consent of both to the +proposal of Cubina. + +Herbert resumed the reading of the letter. "Good heavens!" cried he, on +finishing its perusal, "what a singular story! The captain of the +slaver, who brought Yola's brother over to Jamaica, has been back again +to the coast. What a terrible retaliation!" + +"What, dear Herbert?" + +"Only that _they have eaten him_!" + +"Oh, merciful Father!" + +"Sad and terrible though it be, it is true; else Cubina would not have +written it. Hear what he says:-- + +"`Jowler'--that was the name of the slaver's captain--`presented himself +before old Foolah-foota, in search of a fresh cargo of slaves. The +king, already apprised of the skipper's treason to Cingues, instantly +ordered him to be seized; and, without trial or other formality, caused +him to be chopped to pieces upon the spot. He was afterwards cooked and +eaten, at the grand national feast, which was held on the celebration of +my nuptials with the princess Yola. _Crambo_! it was a painful scene; +and one might have felt sympathy for the unfortunate wretch, had he been +anything else than a dealer in human flesh; but, under that reflection, +I stood by without feeling any great desire to interfere in his behalf. +In fact, my Fellatah father-in-law was so furious, I could not have +saved the wretch from a fate which, after all, was perhaps not more than +he deserved; and to which, no doubt, the poor victims he had carried +across the Atlantic would have been only too glad to have seen him +consigned.'" + +"It is well," said Kate, with a thoughtful air, "that Cubina has +determined upon leaving a land where, I fear, such scenes are too +common. I shall be so happy to see them both once more in our dear, +beautiful Island. And you, Herbert, I am sure, will rejoice at their +return." + +"Most certainly I shall. Ah, Kate! did it ever occur to you how much we +are indebted to them?" + +"Often, Herbert--often. And were it not that I am a firm believer in +destiny, I should fancy that but for them--" + +"Nonsense, Kate!" playfully interrupted the young husband. "None of +your Creole superstitions. There is no such thing as destiny. It was +not that which ruled my heart to believe you the fairest thing in +creation--but because you _are_ so. Don't be ungenerous to Cubina and +Yola. Give them all the credit that is due to them. Say frankly, love, +that but for them you might have become Mrs Smythje, and I--I--" + +"Oh, Herbert! speak not of the past. Let that be buried in oblivion, +since our present is everything we can desire!" + +"Agreed! But for all that, dearest, do not let us forget the gratitude +we owe to Cubina and his dark-skinned bride. And to prove it to them, I +propose something more than giving them the piece of land. Let us build +them a house upon it; so that upon their arrival they may have a roof to +shelter them." + +"Oh, that would be a pleasant surprise for them!" + +"Then we shall bring it about. What a lovely morning! Don't you think +so, Kate?" + +As Herbert put this interrogatory, he glanced out through the open +jalousies. + +There was nothing particularly fine about the morning--at least, for +Jamaica, but Kate saw with Herbert's eyes; and just then, to the eyes of +both, everything appeared _couleur-de-rose_. + +"Indeed, a beautiful morning!" answered the young wife, glancing +inquiringly towards her husband. + +"What say you, then, to a little excursion, _a pied_?" + +"I should be delighted, Herbert. Where do you think of going?" + +"Guess now!" + +"No--you must tell me." + +"You forget. According to Creole custom, our honeymoon is to last for +twelve months. Until that be terminated, you are to be master, sweet +Kate. Where would you most like to go?" + +"I have no choice, Herbert. Anywhere. In your company it is all the +same to me. You must decide." + +"Well, then, dearest, since you leave it to me, I declare for the Jumbe +Rock. Its summit overlooks the piece of land we intend presenting to +our brother, Cubina. While we are there we can select the site for his +house. Is it agreeable to you?" + +"Dearest Herbert," replied the young wife, entwining her arm around that +of her husband's, and gazing fondly into his eyes--"the very place I was +thinking of." + +"Why of it? Tell me, Kate!" + +"Shame, Herbert! Must I tell you? You know that I have told you +before." + +"Tell me again. It gives me pleasure to hear you speak of that hour." + +"Hour! scarce a minute was it, and yet a minute worth all the rest of my +life! A minute in which I learnt that the language of your eyes was +truer than that of your tongue! But for that belief, Herbert, I might, +indeed, have yielded to despair. The memory of that sweet glance +haunted me--sustained me through all. Despite all, I continued to +hope!" + +"And I, too, Kate. That remembrance is as dear to me as it can be to +you. Let us seek the hallowed spot." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +An hour after, and they stood upon the Jumbe Rock, on that spot so +consecrated in their hearts. + +Herbert appeared to have forgotten his purpose. Not a word was said +about Cubina or the site of his dwelling. Not a word of the Happy +Valley, or the unpleasant recollections it was calculated to call up. +All the past appeared to be forgotten, except that one sweet scene; and +on this were concentrated the thoughts of both--their words as well. + +"And you loved me then?" inquired he, only to enjoy the luxury of an +affirmative answer. "You loved me then?" + +"Oh, Herbert! how could I help loving you? Your eyes were so beautiful +then!" + +"What! Are they not so now?" + +"How cruel to ask the question! Ah! far more beautiful now! Then I +beheld them only with anticipation; now I look into them with the +consciousness of possession. That moment was pleasure--this is +ecstasy!" + +The last word was perfectly appropriate--not a shade too strong to +express the mutual feeling that existed between Herbert Vaughan and his +cousin-wife. As their rounded arms became entwined, and their young +bosoms pressed fondly together, both believed that even in this unhappy +world ecstasy may exist. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Maroon, by Mayne Reid + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAROON *** + +***** This file should be named 35295.txt or 35295.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/2/9/35295/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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