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diff --git a/3713-h/3713-h.htm b/3713-h/3713-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fdb973f --- /dev/null +++ b/3713-h/3713-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1612 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>Aaron Trow, by Anthony Trollope</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Aaron Trow, by Anthony Trollope + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + + + + +Title: Aaron Trow + + +Author: Anthony Trollope + + + +Release Date: January 16, 2015 [eBook #3713] +[This file was first posted on July 31, 2001] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AARON TROW*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1864 Chapman and Hall “Tales of All +Countries” edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>AARON TROW.</h1> +<p>I <span class="smcap">would</span> wish to declare, at the +beginning of this story, that I shall never regard that cluster +of islets which we call Bermuda as the Fortunate Islands of the +ancients. Do not let professional geographers take me up, +and say that no one has so accounted them, and that the ancients +have never been supposed to have gotten themselves so far +westwards. What I mean to assert is this—that, had +any ancient been carried thither by enterprise or stress of +weather, he would not have given those islands so good a +name. That the Neapolitan sailors of King Alonzo should +have been wrecked here, I consider to be more likely. The +vexed Bermoothes is a good name for them. There is no +getting in or out of them without the greatest difficulty, and a +patient, slow navigation, which is very heart-rending. That +Caliban should have lived here I can imagine; that Ariel would +have been sick of the place is certain; and that Governor +Prospero should have been willing to abandon his governorship, I +conceive to have been only natural. When one regards the +present state of the place, one is tempted to doubt whether any +of the governors have been conjurors since his days.</p> +<p>Bermuda, as all the world knows, is a British colony at which +we maintain a convict establishment. Most of our outlying +convict establishments have been sent back upon our hands from +our colonies, but here one is still maintained. There is +also in the islands a strong military fortress, though not a +fortress looking magnificent to the eyes of civilians, as do +Malta and Gibraltar. There are also here some six thousand +white people and some six thousand black people, eating, +drinking, sleeping, and dying.</p> +<p>The convict establishment is the most notable feature of +Bermuda to a stranger, but it does not seem to attract much +attention from the regular inhabitants of the place. There +is no intercourse between the prisoners and the Bermudians. +The convicts are rarely seen by them, and the convict islands are +rarely visited. As to the prisoners themselves, of course +it is not open to them—or should not be open to +them—to have intercourse with any but the prison +authorities.</p> +<p>There have, however, been instances in which convicts have +escaped from their confinement, and made their way out among the +islands. Poor wretches! As a rule, there is but +little chance for any that can so escape. The whole length +of the cluster is but twenty miles, and the breadth is under +four. The prisoners are, of course, white men, and the +lower orders of Bermuda, among whom alone could a runagate have +any chance of hiding himself, are all negroes; so that such a one +would be known at once. Their clothes are all marked. +Their only chance of a permanent escape would be in the hold of +an American ship; but what captain of an American or other ship +would willingly encumber himself with an escaped convict? +But, nevertheless, men have escaped; and in one instance, I +believe, a convict got away, so that of him no farther tidings +were ever heard.</p> +<p>For the truth of the following tale I will not by any means +vouch. If one were to inquire on the spot one might +probably find that the ladies all believe it, and the old men; +that all the young men know exactly how much of it is false and +how much true; and that the steady, middle-aged, well-to-do +islanders are quite convinced that it is romance from beginning +to end. My readers may range themselves with the ladies, +the young men, or the steady, well-to-do, middle-aged islanders, +as they please.</p> +<p>Some years ago, soon after the prison was first established on +its present footing, three men did escape from it, and among them +a certain notorious prisoner named Aaron Trow. Trow’s +antecedents in England had not been so villanously bad as those +of many of his fellow-convicts, though the one offence for which +he was punished had been of a deep dye: he had shed man’s +blood. At a period of great distress in a manufacturing +town he had led men on to riot, and with his own hand had slain +the first constable who had endeavoured to do his duty against +him. There had been courage in the doing of the deed, and +probably no malice; but the deed, let its moral blackness have +been what it might, had sent him to Bermuda, with a sentence +against him of penal servitude for life. Had he been then +amenable to prison discipline,—even then, with such a +sentence against him as that,—he might have won his way +back, after the lapse of years, to the children, and perhaps, to +the wife, that he had left behind him; but he was amenable to no +rules—to no discipline. His heart was sore to death +with an idea of injury, and he lashed himself against the bars of +his cage with a feeling that it would be well if he could so lash +himself till he might perish in his fury.</p> +<p>And then a day came in which an attempt was made by a large +body of convicts, under his leadership, to get the better of the +officers of the prison. It is hardly necessary to say that +the attempt failed. Such attempts always fail. It +failed on this occasion signally, and Trow, with two other men, +were condemned to be scourged terribly, and then kept in solitary +confinement for some lengthened term of months. Before, +however, the day of scourging came, Trow and his two associates +had escaped.</p> +<p>I have not the space to tell how this was effected, nor the +power to describe the manner. They did escape from the +establishment into the islands, and though two of them were taken +after a single day’s run at liberty, Aaron Trow had not +been yet retaken even when a week was over. When a month +was over he had not been retaken, and the officers of the prison +began to say that he had got away from them in a vessel to the +States. It was impossible, they said, that he should have +remained in the islands and not been discovered. It was not +impossible that he might have destroyed himself, leaving his body +where it had not yet been found. But he could not have +lived on in Bermuda during that month’s search. So, +at least, said the officers of the prison. There was, +however, a report through the islands that he had been seen from +time to time; that he had gotten bread from the negroes at night, +threatening them with death if they told of his whereabouts; and +that all the clothes of the mate of a vessel had been stolen +while the man was bathing, including a suit of dark blue cloth, +in which suit of clothes, or in one of such a nature, a stranger +had been seen skulking about the rocks near St. George. All +this the governor of the prison affected to disbelieve, but the +opinion was becoming very rife in the islands that Aaron Trow was +still there.</p> +<p>A vigilant search, however, is a task of great labour, and +cannot be kept up for ever. By degrees it was +relaxed. The warders and gaolers ceased to patrol the +island roads by night, and it was agreed that Aaron Trow was +gone, or that he would be starved to death, or that he would in +time be driven to leave such traces of his whereabouts as must +lead to his discovery; and this at last did turn out to be the +fact.</p> +<p>There is a sort of prettiness about these islands which, +though it never rises to the loveliness of romantic scenery, is +nevertheless attractive in its way. The land breaks itself +into little knolls, and the sea runs up, hither and thither, in a +thousand creeks and inlets; and then, too, when the oleanders are +in bloom, they give a wonderfully bright colour to the +landscape. Oleanders seem to be the roses of Bermuda, and +are cultivated round all the villages of the better class through +the islands. There are two towns, St. George and Hamilton, +and one main high-road, which connects them; but even this +high-road is broken by a ferry, over which every vehicle going +from St. George to Hamilton must be conveyed. Most of the +locomotion in these parts is done by boats, and the residents +look to the sea, with its narrow creeks, as their best highway +from their farms to their best market. In those +days—and those days were not very long since—the +building of small ships was their chief trade, and they valued +their land mostly for the small scrubby cedar-trees with which +this trade was carried on.</p> +<p>As one goes from St. George to Hamilton the road runs between +two seas; that to the right is the ocean; that on the left is an +inland creek, which runs up through a large portion of the +islands, so that the land on the other side of it is near to the +traveller. For a considerable portion of the way there are +no houses lying near the road, and, there is one residence, some +way from the road, so secluded that no other house lies within a +mile of it by land. By water it might probably be reached +within half a mile. This place was called Crump Island, and +here lived, and had lived for many years, an old gentleman, a +native of Bermuda, whose business it had been to buy up cedar +wood and sell it to the ship-builders at Hamilton. In our +story we shall not have very much to do with old Mr. Bergen, but +it will be necessary to say a word or two about his house.</p> +<p>It stood upon what would have been an island in the creek, had +not a narrow causeway, barely broad enough for a road, joined it +to that larger island on which stands the town of St. +George. As the main road approaches the ferry it runs +through some rough, hilly, open ground, which on the right side +towards the ocean has never been cultivated. The distance +from the ocean here may, perhaps, be a quarter of a mile, and the +ground is for the most part covered with low furze. On the +left of the road the land is cultivated in patches, and here, +some half mile or more from the ferry, a path turns away to Crump +Island. The house cannot be seen from the road, and, +indeed, can hardly be seen at all, except from the sea. It +lies, perhaps, three furlongs from the high road, and the path to +it is but little used, as the passage to and from it is chiefly +made by water.</p> +<p>Here, at the time of our story, lived Mr. Bergen, and here +lived Mr. Bergen’s daughter. Miss Bergen was well +known at St. George’s as a steady, good girl, who spent her +time in looking after her father’s household matters, in +managing his two black maid-servants and the black gardener, and +who did her duty in that sphere of life to which she had been +called. She was a comely, well-shaped young woman, with a +sweet countenance, rather large in size, and very quiet in +demeanour. In her earlier years, when young girls usually +first bud forth into womanly beauty, the neighbours had not +thought much of Anastasia Bergen, nor had the young men of St. +George been wont to stay their boats under the window of Crump +Cottage in order that they might listen to her voice or feel the +light of her eye; but slowly, as years went by, Anastasia Bergen +became a woman that a man might well love; and a man learned to +love her who was well worthy of a woman’s heart. This +was Caleb Morton, the Presbyterian minister of St. George; and +Caleb Morton had been engaged to marry Miss Bergen for the last +two years past, at the period of Aaron Trow’s escape from +prison.</p> +<p>Caleb Morton was not a native of Bermuda, but had been sent +thither by the synod of his church from Nova Scotia. He was +a tall, handsome man, at this time of some thirty years of age, +of a presence which might almost have been called +commanding. He was very strong, but of a temperament which +did not often give him opportunity to put forth his strength; and +his life had been such that neither he nor others knew of what +nature might be his courage. The greater part of his life +was spent in preaching to some few of the white people around +him, and in teaching as many of the blacks as he could get to +hear him. His days were very quiet, and had been altogether +without excitement until he had met with Anastasia Bergen. +It will suffice for us to say that he did meet her, and that now, +for two years past, they had been engaged as man and wife.</p> +<p>Old Mr. Bergen, when he heard of the engagement, was not well +pleased at the information. In the first place, his +daughter was very necessary to him, and the idea of her marrying +and going away had hardly as yet occurred to him; and then he was +by no means inclined to part with any of his money. It must +not be presumed that he had amassed a fortune by his trade in +cedar wood. Few tradesmen in Bermuda do, as I imagine, +amass fortunes. Of some few hundred pounds he was +possessed, and these, in the course of nature, would go to his +daughter when he died; but he had no inclination to hand any +portion of them over to his daughter before they did go to her in +the course of nature. Now, the income which Caleb Morton +earned as a Presbyterian clergyman was not large, and, therefore, +no day had been fixed as yet for his marriage with Anastasia.</p> +<p>But, though the old man had been from the first averse to the +match, his hostility had not been active. He had not +forbidden Mr. Morton his house, or affected to be in any degree +angry because his daughter had a lover. He had merely +grumbled forth an intimation that those who marry in haste repent +at leisure,—that love kept nobody warm if the pot did not +boil; and that, as for him, it was as much as he could do to keep +his own pot boiling at Crump Cottage. In answer to this +Anastasia said nothing. She asked him for no money, but +still kept his accounts, managed his household, and looked +patiently forward for better days.</p> +<p>Old Mr. Bergen himself spent much of his time at Hamilton, +where he had a woodyard with a couple of rooms attached to +it. It was his custom to remain here three nights of the +week, during which Anastasia was left alone at the cottage; and +it happened by no means seldom that she was altogether alone, for +the negro whom they called the gardener would go to her +father’s place at Hamilton, and the two black girls would +crawl away up to the road, tired with the monotony of the sea at +the cottage. Caleb had more than once told her that she was +too much alone, but she had laughed at him, saying that solitude +in Bermuda was not dangerous. Nor, indeed, was it; for the +people are quiet and well-mannered, lacking much energy, but +being, in the same degree, free from any propensity to +violence.</p> +<p>“So you are going,” she said to her lover, one +evening, as he rose from the chair on which he had been swinging +himself at the door of the cottage which looks down over the +creek of the sea. He had sat there for an hour talking to +her as she worked, or watching her as she moved about the +place. It was a beautiful evening, and the sun had been +falling to rest with almost tropical glory before his feet. +The bright oleanders were red with their blossoms all around him, +and he had thoroughly enjoyed his hour of easy rest. +“So you are going,” she said to him, not putting her +work out of her hand as he rose to depart.</p> +<p>“Yes; and it is time for me to go. I have still +work to do before I can get to bed. Ah, well; I suppose the +day will come at last when I need not leave you as soon as my +hour of rest is over.”</p> +<p>“Come; of course it will come. That is, if your +reverence should choose to wait for it another ten years or +so.”</p> +<p>“I believe you would not mind waiting twenty +years.”</p> +<p>“Not if a certain friend of mine would come down and see +me of evenings when I’m alone after the day. It seems +to me that I shouldn’t mind waiting as long as I had that +to look for.”</p> +<p>“You are right not to be impatient,” he said to +her, after a pause, as he held her hand before he went. +“Quite right. I only wish I could school myself to be +as easy about it.”</p> +<p>“I did not say I was easy,” said Anastasia. +“People are seldom easy in this world, I take it. I +said I could be patient. Do not look in that way, as though +you pretended that you were dissatisfied with me. You know +that I am true to you, and you ought to be very proud of +me.”</p> +<p>“I am proud of you, Anastasia—” on hearing +which she got up and courtesied to him. “I am proud +of you; so proud of you that I feel you should not be left here +all alone, with no one to help you if you were in +trouble.”</p> +<p>“Women don’t get into trouble as men do, and do +not want any one to help them. If you were alone in the +house you would have to go to bed without your supper, because +you could not make a basin of boiled milk ready for your own +meal. Now, when your reverence has gone, I shall go to work +and have my tea comfortably.” And then he did go, +bidding God bless her as he left her. Three hours after +that he was disturbed in his own lodgings by one of the negro +girls from the cottage rushing to his door, and begging him in +Heaven’s name to come down to the assistance of her +mistress.</p> +<p>When Morton left her, Anastasia did not proceed to do as she +had said, and seemed to have forgotten her evening meal. +She had been working sedulously with her needle during all that +last conversation; but when her lover was gone, she allowed the +work to fall from her hands, and sat motionless for awhile, +gazing at the last streak of colour left by the setting sun; but +there was no longer a sign of its glory to be traced in the +heavens around her. The twilight in Bermuda is not long and +enduring as it is with us, though the daylight does not depart +suddenly, leaving the darkness of night behind it without any +intermediate time of warning, as is the case farther south, down +among the islands of the tropics. But the soft, sweet light +of the evening had waned and gone, and night had absolutely come +upon her, while Anastasia was still seated before the cottage +with her eyes fixed upon the white streak of motionless sea which +was still visible through the gloom. She was thinking of +him, of his ways of life, of his happiness, and of her duty +towards him. She had told him, with her pretty feminine +falseness, that she could wait without impatience; but now she +said to herself that it would not be good for him to wait +longer. He lived alone and without comfort, working very +hard for his poor pittance, and she could see, and feel, and +understand that a companion in his life was to him almost a +necessity. She would tell her father that all this must be +brought to an end. She would not ask him for money, but she +would make him understand that her services must, at any rate in +part, be transferred. Why should not she and Morton still +live at the cottage when they were married? And so +thinking, and at last resolving, she sat there till the dark +night fell upon her.</p> +<p>She was at last disturbed by feeling a man’s hand upon +her shoulder. She jumped from her chair and faced +him,—not screaming, for it was especially within her power +to control herself, and to make no utterance except with +forethought. Perhaps it might have been better for her had +she screamed, and sent a shrill shriek down the shore of that +inland sea. She was silent, however, and with awe-struck +face and outstretched hands gazed into the face of him who still +held her by the shoulder. The night was dark; but her eyes +were now accustomed to the darkness, and she could see +indistinctly something of his features. He was a low-sized +man, dressed in a suit of sailor’s blue clothing, with a +rough cap of hair on his head, and a beard that had not been +clipped for many weeks. His eyes were large, and hollow, +and frightfully bright, so that she seemed to see nothing else of +him; but she felt the strength of his fingers as he grasped her +tighter and more tightly by the arm.</p> +<p>“Who are you?” she said, after a moment’s +pause.</p> +<p>“Do you know me?” he asked.</p> +<p>“Know you! No.” But the words were +hardly out of her mouth before it struck her that the man was +Aaron Trow, of whom every one in Bermuda had been talking.</p> +<p>“Come into the house,” he said, “and give me +food.” And he still held her with his hand as though +he would compel her to follow him.</p> +<p>She stood for a moment thinking what she would say to him; for +even then, with that terrible man standing close to her in the +darkness, her presence of mind did not desert her. +“Surely,” she said, “I will give you food if +you are hungry. But take your hand from me. No man +would lay his hands on a woman.”</p> +<p>“A woman!” said the stranger. “What +does the starved wolf care for that? A woman’s blood +is as sweet to him as that of a man. Come into the house, I +tell you.” And then she preceded him through the open +door into the narrow passage, and thence to the kitchen. +There she saw that the back door, leading out on the other side +of the house, was open, and she knew that he had come down from +the road and entered on that side. She threw her eyes +around, looking for the negro girls; but they were away, and she +remembered that there was no human being within sound of her +voice but this man who had told her that he was as a wolf thirsty +after her blood!</p> +<p>“Give me food at once,” he said.</p> +<p>“And will you go if I give it you?” she asked.</p> +<p>“I will knock out your brains if you do not,” he +replied, lifting from the grate a short, thick poker which lay +there. “Do as I bid you at once. You also would +be like a tiger if you had fasted for two days, as I have +done.”</p> +<p>She could see, as she moved across the kitchen, that he had +already searched there for something that he might eat, but that +he had searched in vain. With the close economy common +among his class in the islands, all comestibles were kept under +close lock and key in the house of Mr. Bergen. Their daily +allowance was given day by day to the negro servants, and even +the fragments were then gathered up and locked away in +safety. She moved across the kitchen to the accustomed +cupboard, taking the keys from her pocket, and he followed close +upon her. There was a small oil lamp hanging from the low +ceiling which just gave them light to see each other. She +lifted her hand to this to take it from its hook, but he +prevented her. “No, by Heaven!” he said, +“you don’t touch that till I’ve done with +it. There’s light enough for you to drag out your +scraps.”</p> +<p>She did drag out her scraps and a bowl of milk, which might +hold perhaps a quart. There was a fragment of bread, a +morsel of cold potato-cake, and the bone of a leg of kid. +“And is that all?” said he. But as he spoke he +fleshed his teeth against the bone as a dog would have done.</p> +<p>“It is the best I have,” she said; “I wish +it were better, and you should have had it without violence, as +you have suffered so long from hunger.”</p> +<p>“Bah! Better; yes! You would give the best +no doubt, and set the hell hounds on my track the moment I am +gone. I know how much I might expect from your +charity.”</p> +<p>“I would have fed you for pity’s sake,” she +answered.</p> +<p>“Pity! Who are you, that you should dare to pity +me! By —, my young woman, it is I that pity +you. I must cut your throat unless you give me money. +Do you know that?”</p> +<p>“Money! I have got no money.”</p> +<p>“I’ll make you have some before I go. Come; +don’t move till I have done.” And as he spoke +to her he went on tugging at the bone, and swallowing the lumps +of stale bread. He had already finished the bowl of +milk. “And, now,” said he, “tell me who I +am.”</p> +<p>“I suppose you are Aaron Trow,” she answered, very +slowly. He said nothing on hearing this, but continued his +meal, standing close to her so that she might not possibly escape +from him out into the darkness. Twice or thrice in those +few minutes she made up her mind to make such an attempt, feeling +that it would be better to leave him in possession of the house, +and make sure, if possible, of her own life. There was no +money there; not a dollar! What money her father kept in +his possession was locked up in his safe at Hamilton. And +might he not keep to his threat, and murder her, when he found +that she could give him nothing? She did not tremble +outwardly, as she stood there watching him as he ate, but she +thought how probable it might be that her last moments were very +near. And yet she could scrutinise his features, form, and +garments, so as to carry away in her mind a perfect picture of +them. Aaron Trow—for of course it was the escaped +convict—was not a man of frightful, hideous aspect. +Had the world used him well, giving him when he was young ample +wages and separating him from turbulent spirits, he also might +have used the world well; and then women would have praised the +brightness of his eye and the manly vigour of his brow. But +things had not gone well with him. He had been separated +from the wife he had loved, and the children who had been raised +at his knee,—separated by his own violence; and now, as he +had said of himself, he was a wolf rather than a man. As he +stood there satisfying the craving of his appetite, breaking up +the large morsels of food, he was an object very sad to be +seen. Hunger had made him gaunt and yellow, he was squalid +with the dirt of his hidden lair, and he had the look of a +beast;—that look to which men fall when they live like the +brutes of prey, as outcasts from their brethren. But still +there was that about his brow which might have redeemed +him,—which might have turned her horror into pity, had he +been willing that it should be so.</p> +<p>“And now give me some brandy,” he said.</p> +<p>There was brandy in the house,—in the sitting-room which +was close at their hand, and the key of the little press which +held it was in her pocket. It was useless, she thought, to +refuse him; and so she told him that there was a bottle partly +full, but that she must go to the next room to fetch it him.</p> +<p>“We’ll go together, my darling,” he +said. “There’s nothing like good +company.” And he again put his hand upon her arm as +they passed into the family sitting-room.</p> +<p>“I must take the light,” she said. But he +unhooked it himself, and carried it in his own hand.</p> +<p>Again she went to work without trembling. She found the +key of the side cupboard, and unlocking the door, handed him a +bottle which might contain about half-a-pint of spirits. +“And is that all?” he said.</p> +<p>“There is a full bottle here,” she answered, +handing him another; “but if you drink it, you will be +drunk, and they will catch you.”</p> +<p>“By Heavens, yes; and you would be the first to help +them; would you not?”</p> +<p>“Look here,” she answered. “If you +will go now, I will not say a word to any one of your coming, nor +set them on your track to follow you. There, take the full +bottle with you. If you will go, you shall be safe from +me.”</p> +<p>“What, and go without money!”</p> +<p>“I have none to give you. You may believe me when +I say so. I have not a dollar in the house.”</p> +<p>Before he spoke again he raised the half empty bottle to his +mouth, and drank as long as there was a drop to drink. +“There,” said he, putting the bottle down, “I +am better after that. As to the other, you are right, and I +will take it with me. And now, young woman, about the +money?”</p> +<p>“I tell you that I have not a dollar.”</p> +<p>“Look here,” said he, and he spoke now in a softer +voice, as though he would be on friendly terms with her. +“Give me ten sovereigns, and I will go. I know you +have it, and with ten sovereigns it is possible that I may save +my life. You are good, and would not wish that a man should +die so horrid a death. I know you are good. Come, +give me the money.” And he put his hands up, +beseeching her, and looked into her face with imploring eyes.</p> +<p>“On the word of a Christian woman I have not got money +to give you,” she replied.</p> +<p>“Nonsense!” And as he spoke he took her by +the arm and shook her. He shook her violently so that he +hurt her, and her breath for a moment was all but gone from +her. “I tell you you must make dollars before I leave +you, or I will so handle you that it would have been better for +you to coin your very blood.”</p> +<p>“May God help me at my need,” she said, “as +I have not above a few penny pieces in the house.”</p> +<p>“And you expect me to believe that! Look +here! I will shake the teeth out of your head, but I will +have it from you.” And he did shake her again, using +both his hands and striking her against the wall.</p> +<p>“Would you—murder me?” she said, hardly able +now to utter the words.</p> +<p>“Murder you, yes; why not? I cannot be worse than +I am, were I to murder you ten times over. But with money I +may possibly be better.”</p> +<p>“I have it not.”</p> +<p>“Then I will do worse than murder you. I will make +you such an object that all the world shall loathe to look on +you.” And so saying he took her by the arm and +dragged her forth from the wall against which she had stood.</p> +<p>Then there came from her a shriek that was heard far down the +shore of that silent sea, and away across to the solitary houses +of those living on the other side,—a shriek, very sad, +sharp, and prolonged,—which told plainly to those who heard +it of woman’s woe when in her extremest peril. That +sound was spoken of in Bermuda for many a day after that, as +something which had been terrible to hear. But then, at +that moment, as it came wailing through the dark, it sounded as +though it were not human. Of those who heard it, not one +guessed from whence it came, nor was the hand of any brother put +forward to help that woman at her need.</p> +<p>“Did you hear that?” said the young wife to her +husband, from the far side of the arm of the sea.</p> +<p>“Hear it! Oh Heaven, yes! Whence did it +come?” The young wife could not say from whence it +came, but clung close to her husband’s breast, comforting +herself with the knowledge that that terrible sorrow was not +hers.</p> +<p>But aid did come at last, or rather that which seemed as +aid. Long and terrible was the fight between that human +beast of prey and the poor victim which had fallen into his +talons. Anastasia Bergen was a strong, well-built woman, +and now that the time had come to her when a struggle was +necessary, a struggle for life, for honour, for the happiness of +him who was more to her than herself, she fought like a tigress +attacked in her own lair. At such a moment as this she also +could become wild and savage as the beast of the forest. +When he pinioned her arms with one of his, as he pressed her down +upon the floor, she caught the first joint of the forefinger of +his other hand between her teeth till he yelled in agony, and +another sound was heard across the silent water. And then, +when one hand was loosed in the struggle, she twisted it through +his long hair, and dragged back his head till his eyes were +nearly starting from their sockets. Anastasia Bergen had +hitherto been a sheer woman, all feminine in her nature. +But now the foam came to her mouth, and fire sprang from her +eyes, and the muscles of her body worked as though she had been +trained to deeds of violence. Of violence, Aaron Trow had +known much in his rough life, but never had he combated with +harder antagonist than her whom he now held beneath his +breast.</p> +<p>“By—I will put an end to you,” he exclaimed, +in his wrath, as he struck her violently across the face with his +elbow. His hand was occupied, and he could not use it for a +blow, but, nevertheless, the violence was so great that the blood +gushed from her nostrils, while the back of her head was driven +with violence against the floor. But she did not lose her +hold of him. Her hand was still twined closely through his +thick hair, and in every move he made she clung to him with all +her might. “Leave go my hair,” he shouted at +her, but she still kept her hold, though he again dashed her head +against the floor.</p> +<p>There was still light in the room, for when he first grasped +her with both his hands, he had put the lamp down on a small +table. Now they were rolling on the floor together, and +twice he had essayed to kneel on her that he might thus crush the +breath from her body, and deprive her altogether of her strength; +but she had been too active for him, moving herself along the +ground, though in doing so she dragged him with her. But by +degrees he got one hand at liberty, and with that he pulled a +clasp knife out of his pocket and opened it. “I will +cut your head off if you do not let go my hair,” he +said. But still she held fast by him. He then stabbed +at her arm, using his left hand and making short, ineffectual +blows. Her dress partly saved her, and partly also the +continual movement of all her limbs; but, nevertheless, the knife +wounded her. It wounded her in several places about the +arm, covering them both with blood;—but still she hung +on. So close was her grasp in her agony, that, as she +afterwards found, she cut the skin of her own hands with her own +nails. Had the man’s hair been less thick or strong, +or her own tenacity less steadfast, he would have murdered her +before any interruption could have saved her.</p> +<p>And yet he had not purposed to murder her, or even, in the +first instance, to inflict on her any bodily harm. But he +had been determined to get money. With such a sum of money +as he had named, it might, he thought, be possible for him to win +his way across to America. He might bribe men to hide him +in the hold of a ship, and thus there might be for him, at any +rate, a possibility of escape. That there must be money in +the house he had still thought when first he laid hands on the +poor woman; and then, when the struggle had once begun, when he +had felt her muscles contending with his, the passion of the +beast was aroused within him, and he strove against her as he +would have striven against a dog. But yet, when the knife +was in his hand, he had not driven it against her heart.</p> +<p>Then suddenly, while they were yet rolling on the floor, there +was a sound of footsteps in the passage. Aaron Trow +instantly leaped to his feet, leaving his victim on the ground, +with huge lumps of his thick clotted hair in her hand. +Thus, and thus only, could he have liberated himself from her +grasp. He rushed at the door, and there he came against the +two negro servant-girls who had returned down to their kitchen +from the road on which they had been straying. Trow, as he +half saw them in the dark, not knowing how many there might be, +or whether there was a man among them, rushed through them, +upsetting one scared girl in his passage. With the instinct +and with the timidity of a beast, his impulse now was to escape, +and he hurried away back to the road and to his lair, leaving the +three women together in the cottage. Poor wretch! As +he crossed the road, not skulking in his impotent haste, but +running at his best, another pair of eyes saw him, and when the +search became hot after him, it was known that his hiding-place +was not distant.</p> +<p>It was some time before any of the women were able to act, and +when some step was taken, Anastasia was the first to take +it. She had not absolutely swooned, but the reaction, after +the violence of her efforts, was so great, that for some minutes +she had been unable to speak. She had risen from the floor +when Trow left her, and had even followed him to the door; but +since that she had fallen back into her father’s old +arm-chair, and there sat gasping not only for words, but for +breath also.</p> +<p>At last she bade one of the girls to run into St. George, and +beg Mr. Morton to come to her aid. The girl would not stir +without her companion; and even then, Anastasia, covered as she +was with blood, with dishevelled hair, and her clothes half torn +from her body, accompanied them as far as the road. There +they found a negro lad still hanging about the place, and he told +them that he had seen the man cross the road, and run down over +the open ground towards the rocks of the sea-coast. +“He must be there,” said the lad, pointing in the +direction of a corner of the rocks; “unless he swim across +the mouth of the ferry.” But the mouth of that ferry +is an arm of the sea, and it was not probable that a man would do +that when he might have taken the narrow water by keeping on the +other side of the road.</p> +<p>At about one that night Caleb Morton reached the cottage +breathless with running, and before a word was spoken between +them, Anastasia had fallen on his shoulder and had fainted. +As soon as she was in the arms of her lover, all her power had +gone from her. The spirit and passion of the tiger had +gone, and she was again a weak woman shuddering at the thought of +what she had suffered. She remembered that she had had the +man’s hand between her teeth, and by degrees she found his +hair still clinging to her fingers; but even then she could +hardly call to mind the nature of the struggle she had +undergone. His hot breath close to her own cheek she did +remember, and his glaring eyes, and even the roughness of his +beard as he pressed his face against her own; but she could not +say whence had come the blood, nor till her arm became stiff and +motionless did she know that she had been wounded.</p> +<p>It was all joy with her now, as she sat motionless without +speaking, while he administered to her wants and spoke words of +love into her ears. She remembered the man’s horrid +threat, and knew that by God’s mercy she had been +saved. And he was there caressing her, loving her, +comforting her! As she thought of the fate that had +threatened her, of the evil that had been so imminent, she fell +forward on her knees, and with incoherent sobs uttered her +thanksgivings, while her head was still supported on his +arms.</p> +<p>It was almost morning before she could induce herself to leave +him and lie down. With him she seemed to be so perfectly +safe; but the moment he was away she could see Aaron Trow’s +eyes gleaming at her across the room. At last, however, she +slept; and when he saw that she was at rest, he told himself that +his work must then begin. Hitherto Caleb Morton had lived +in all respects the life of a man of peace; but now, asking +himself no questions as to the propriety of what he would do, +using no inward arguments as to this or that line of conduct, he +girded the sword on his loins, and prepared himself for +war. The wretch who had thus treated the woman whom he +loved should be hunted down like a wild beast, as long as he had +arms and legs with which to carry on the hunt. He would +pursue the miscreant with any weapons that might come to his +hands; and might Heaven help him at his need as he dealt forth +punishment to that man, if he caught him within his grasp. +Those who had hitherto known Morton in the island, could not +recognise the man as he came forth on that day, thirsty after +blood, and desirous to thrust himself into personal conflict with +the wild ruffian who had injured him. The meek Presbyterian +minister had been a preacher, preaching ways of peace, and living +in accordance with his own doctrines. The world had been +very quiet for him, and he had walked quietly in his appointed +path. But now the world was quiet no longer, nor was there +any preaching of peace. His cry was for blood; for the +blood of the untamed savage brute who had come upon his young doe +in her solitude, and striven with such brutal violence to tear +her heart from her bosom.</p> +<p>He got to his assistance early in the morning some of the +constables from St. George, and before the day was over, he was +joined by two or three of the warders from the convict +establishment. There was with him also a friend or two, and +thus a party was formed, numbering together ten or twelve +persons. They were of course all armed, and therefore it +might be thought that there would be but small chance for the +wretched man if they should come upon his track. At first +they all searched together, thinking from the tidings which had +reached them that he must be near to them; but gradually they +spread themselves along the rocks between St. George and the +ferry, keeping watchman on the road, so that he should not escape +unnoticed into the island.</p> +<p>Ten times during the day did Anastasia send from the cottage +up to Morton, begging him to leave the search to others, and come +down to her. But not for a moment would he lose the scent +of his prey. What! should it be said that she had been so +treated, and that others had avenged her? He sent back to +say that her father was with her now, and that he would come when +his work was over. And in that job of work the life-blood +of Aaron Trow was counted up.</p> +<p>Towards evening they were all congregated on the road near to +the spot at which the path turns off towards the cottage, when a +voice was heard hallooing to them from the summit of a little +hill which lies between the road and the sea on the side towards +the ferry, and presently a boy came running down to them full of +news. “Danny Lund has seen him,” said the boy, +“he has seen him plainly in among the rocks.” +And then came Danny Lund himself, a small negro lad about +fourteen years of age, who was known in those parts as the +idlest, most dishonest, and most useless of his race. On +this occasion, however, Danny Lund became important, and every +one listened to him. He had seen, he said, a pair of eyes +moving down in a cave of the rocks which he well knew. He +had been in the cave often, he said, and could get there +again. But not now; not while that pair of eyes was moving +at the bottom of it. And so they all went up over the hill, +Morton leading the way with hot haste. In his waist-band he +held a pistol, and his hand grasped a short iron bar with which +he had armed himself. They ascended the top of the hill, +and when there, the open sea was before them on two sides, and on +the third was the narrow creek over which the ferry passed. +Immediately beneath their feet were the broken rocks; for on that +side, towards the sea, the earth and grass of the hill descended +but a little way towards the water. Down among the rocks +they all went, silently, Caleb Morton leading the way, and Danny +Lund directing him from behind.</p> +<p>“Mr. Morton,” said an elderly man from St. George, +“had you not better let the warders of the gaol go first; +he is a desperate man, and they will best understand his +ways?”</p> +<p>In answer to this Morton said nothing, but he would let no one +put a foot before him. He still pressed forward among the +rocks, and at last came to a spot from whence he might have +sprung at one leap into the ocean. It was a broken cranny +on the sea-shore into which the sea beat, and surrounded on every +side but the one by huge broken fragments of stone, which at +first sight seemed as though they would have admitted of a path +down among them to the water’s edge; but which, when +scanned more closely, were seen to be so large in size, that no +man could climb from one to another. It was a singularly +romantic spot, but now well known to them all there, for they had +visited it over and over again that morning.</p> +<p>“In there,” said Danny Lund, keeping well behind +Morton’s body, and pointing at the same time to a cavern +high up among the rocks, but quite on the opposite side of the +little inlet of the sea. The mouth of the cavern was not +twenty yards from where they stood, but at the first sight it +seemed as though it must be impossible to reach it. The +precipice on the brink of which they all now stood, ran down +sheer into the sea, and the fall from the mouth of the cavern on +the other side was as steep. But Danny solved the mystery +by pointing upwards, and showing them how he had been used to +climb to a projecting rock over their heads, and from thence +creep round by certain vantages of the stone till he was able to +let himself down into the aperture. But now, at the present +moment, he was unwilling to make essay of his prowess as a +cragsman. He had, he said, been up on that projecting rock +thrice, and there had seen the eyes moving in the cavern. +He was quite sure of that fact of the pair of eyes, and declined +to ascend the rock again.</p> +<p>Traces soon became visible to them by which they knew that +some one had passed in and out of the cavern recently. The +stone, when examined, bore those marks of friction which passage +and repassage over it will always give. At the spot from +whence the climber left the platform and commenced his ascent, +the side of the stone had been rubbed by the close friction of a +man’s body. A light boy like Danny Lund might find +his way in and out without leaving such marks behind him, but no +heavy man could do so. Thus before long they all were +satisfied that Aaron Trow was in the cavern before them.</p> +<p>Then there was a long consultation as to what they would do to +carry on the hunt, and how they would drive the tiger from his +lair. That he should not again come out, except to fall +into their hands, was to all of them a matter of course. +They would keep watch and ward there, though it might be for days +and nights. But that was a process which did not satisfy +Morton, and did not indeed well satisfy any of them. It was +not only that they desired to inflict punishment on the miscreant +in accordance with the law, but also that they did not desire +that the miserable man should die in a hole like a starved dog, +and that then they should go after him to take out his wretched +skeleton. There was something in that idea so horrid in +every way, that all agreed that active steps must be taken. +The warders of the prison felt that they would all be disgraced +if they could not take their prisoner alive. Yet who would +get round that perilous ledge in the face of such an +adversary? A touch to any man while climbing there would +send him headlong down among the wave! And then his fancy +told to each what might be the nature of an embrace with such an +animal as that, driven to despair, hopeless of life, armed, as +they knew, at any rate, with a knife! If the first +adventurous spirit should succeed in crawling round that ledge, +what would be the reception which he might expect in the terrible +depth of that cavern?</p> +<p>They called to their prisoner, bidding him come out, and +telling him that they would fire in upon him if he did not show +himself; but not a sound was heard. It was indeed possible +that they should send their bullets to, perhaps, every corner of +the cavern; and if so, in that way they might slaughter him; but +even of this they were not sure. Who could tell that there +might not be some protected nook in which he could lay +secure? And who could tell when the man was struck, or +whether he were wounded?</p> +<p>“I will get to him,” said Morton, speaking with a +low dogged voice, and so saying he clambered up to the rock to +which Danny Lund had pointed. Many voices at once attempted +to restrain him, and one or two put their hands upon him to keep +him back, but he was too quick for them, and now stood upon the +ledge of rock. “Can you see him?” they asked +below.</p> +<p>“I can see nothing within the cavern,” said +Morton.</p> +<p>“Look down very hard, Massa,” said Danny, +“very hard indeed, down in deep dark hole, and then see him +big eyes moving!”</p> +<p>Morton now crept along the ledge, or rather he was beginning +to do so, having put forward his shoulders and arms to make a +first step in advance from the spot on which he was resting, when +a hand was put forth from one corner of the cavern’s +mouth,—a hand armed with a pistol;—and a shot was +fired. There could be no doubt now but that Danny Lund was +right, and no doubt now as to the whereabouts of Aaron Trow.</p> +<p>A hand was put forth, a pistol was fired, and Caleb Morton +still clinging to a corner of the rock with both his arms was +seen to falter. “He is wounded,” said one of +the voices from below; and then they all expected to see him fall +into the sea. But he did not fall, and after a moment or +two, he proceeded carefully to pick his steps along the +ledge. The ball had touched him, grazing his cheek, and +cutting through the light whiskers that he wore; but he had not +felt it, though the blow had nearly knocked him from his +perch. And then four or five shots were fired from the +rocks into the mouth of the cavern. The man’s arm had +been seen, and indeed one or two declared that they had traced +the dim outline of his figure. But no sound was heard to +come from the cavern, except the sharp crack of the bullets +against the rock, and the echo of the gunpowder. There had +been no groan as of a man wounded, no sound of a body falling, no +voice wailing in despair. For a few seconds all was dark +with the smoke of the gunpowder, and then the empty mouth of the +cave was again yawning before their eyes. Morton was now +near it, still cautiously creeping. The first danger to +which he was exposed was this; that his enemy within the recess +might push him down from the rocks with a touch. But on the +other hand, there were three or four men ready to fire, the +moment that a hand should be put forth; and then Morton could +swim,—was known to be a strong swimmer;—whereas of +Aaron Trow it was already declared by the prison gaolers that he +could not swim. Two of the warders had now followed Morton +on the rocks, so that in the event of his making good his +entrance into the cavern, and holding his enemy at bay for a +minute, he would be joined by aid.</p> +<p>It was strange to see how those different men conducted +themselves as they stood on the opposite platform watching the +attack. The officers from the prison had no other thought +but of their prisoner, and were intent on taking him alive or +dead. To them it was little or nothing what became of +Morton. It was their business to encounter peril, and they +were ready to do so;—feeling, however, by no means sorry to +have such a man as Morton in advance of them. Very little +was said by them. They had their wits about them, and +remembered that every word spoken for the guidance of their ally +would be heard also by the escaped convict. Their prey was +sure, sooner or later, and had not Morton been so eager in his +pursuit, they would have waited till some plan had been devised +of trapping him without danger. But the townsmen from St. +George, of whom some dozen were now standing there, were quick +and eager and loud in their counsels. “Stay where you +are, Mr. Morton,—stay awhile for the love of God—or +he’ll have you down.” “Now’s your +time, Caleb; in on him now, and you’ll have +him.” “Close with him, Morton, close with him +at once; it’s your only chance.” +“There’s four of us here; we’ll fire on him if +he as much as shows a limb.” All of which words as +they were heard by that poor wretch within, must have sounded to +him as the barking of a pack of hounds thirsting for his +blood. For him at any rate there was no longer any hope in +this world.</p> +<p>My reader, when chance has taken you into the hunting-field, +has it ever been your lot to sit by on horseback, and watch the +digging out of a fox? The operation is not an uncommon one, +and in some countries it is held to be in accordance with the +rules of fair sport. For myself, I think that when the +brute has so far saved himself, he should be entitled to the +benefit of his cunning; but I will not now discuss the propriety +or impropriety of that practice in venery. I can never, +however, watch the doing of that work without thinking much of +the agonising struggles of the poor beast whose last refuge is +being torn from over his head. There he lies within a few +yards of his arch enemy, the huntsman. The thick breath of +the hounds make hot the air within his hole. The sound of +their voices is close upon his ears. His breast is nearly +bursting with the violence of that effort which at last has +brought him to his retreat. And then pickaxe and mattock +are plied above his head, and nearer and more near to him press +his foes,—his double foes, human and canine,—till at +last a huge hand grasps him, and he is dragged forth among his +enemies. Almost as soon as his eyes have seen the light the +eager noses of a dozen hounds have moistened themselves in his +entrails. Ah me! I know that he is vermin, the vermin +after whom I have been risking my neck, with a bold ambition that +I might ultimately witness his death-struggles; but, +nevertheless, I would fain have saved him that last half hour of +gradually diminished hope.</p> +<p>And Aaron Trow was now like a hunted fox, doomed to be dug out +from his last refuge, with this addition to his misery, that +these hounds when they caught their prey, would not put him at +once out of his misery. When first he saw that throng of +men coming down from the hill top and resting on the platform; he +knew that his fate was come. When they called to him to +surrender himself he was silent, but he knew that his silence was +of no avail. To them who were so eager to be his captors +the matter seemed to be still one of considerable difficulty; +but, to his thinking, there was no difficulty. There were +there some score of men, fully armed, within twenty yards of +him. If he but showed a trace of his limbs he would become +a mark for their bullets. And then if he were wounded, and +no one would come to him! If they allowed him to lie there +without food till he perished! Would it not be well for him +to yield himself? Then they called again and he was still +silent. That idea of yielding is very terrible to the heart +of a man. And when the worst had come to the worst, did not +the ocean run deep beneath his cavern’s month?</p> +<p>But as they yelled at him and hallooed, making their +preparations for his death, his presence of mind deserted the +poor wretch. He had stolen an old pistol on one of his +marauding expeditions, of which one barrel had been loaded. +That in his mad despair he had fired; and now, as he lay near the +mouth of the cavern, under the cover of the projecting stone, he +had no weapon with him but his hands. He had had a knife, +but that had dropped from him during the struggle on the floor of +the cottage. He had now nothing but his hands, and was +considering how he might best use them in ridding himself of the +first of his pursuers. The man was near him, armed, with +all the power and majesty of right on his side; whereas on his +side, Aaron Trow had nothing,—not a hope. He raised +his head that he might look forth, and a dozen voices shouted as +his face appeared above the aperture. A dozen weapons were +levelled at him, and he could see the gleaming of the muzzles of +the guns. And then the foot of his pursuer was already on +the corner stone at the cavern’s mouth. “Now, +Caleb, on him at once!” shouted a voice. Ah me! it +was a moment in which to pity even such a man as Aaron Trow.</p> +<p>“Now, Caleb, at him at once!” shouted the +voice. No, by heavens; not so, even yet! The sound of +triumph in those words raised the last burst of energy in the +breast of that wretched man; and he sprang forth, head foremost, +from his prison house. Forth he came, manifest enough +before the eyes of them all, and with head well down, and hands +outstretched, but with his wide glaring eyes still turned towards +his pursuers as he fell, he plunged down into the waves beneath +him. Two of those who stood by, almost unconscious of what +they did, fired at his body as it made its rapid way to the +water; but, as they afterwards found, neither of the bullets +struck him. Morton, when his prey thus leaped forth, +escaping him for awhile, was already on the verge of the +cavern,—had even then prepared his foot for that onward +spring which should bring him to the throat of his foe. But +he arrested himself, and for a moment stood there watching the +body as it struck the water, and hid itself at once beneath the +ripple. He stood there for a moment watching the deed and +its effect, and then leaving his hold upon the rock, he once +again followed his quarry. Down he went, head foremost, +right on to the track in the waves which the other had made; and +when the two rose to the surface together, each was struggling in +the grasp of the other.</p> +<p>It was a foolish, nay, a mad deed to do. The poor wretch +who had first fallen could not have escaped. He could not +even swim, and had therefore flung himself to certain destruction +when he took that leap from out of the cavern’s +mouth. It would have been sad to see him perish beneath the +waves,—to watch him as he rose, gasping for breath, and +then to see to him sinking again, to rise again, and then to go +for ever. But his life had been fairly forfeit,—and +why should one so much more precious have been flung after +it? It was surely with no view of saving that pitiful life +that Caleb Morton had leaped after his enemy. But the +hound, hot with the chase, will follow the stag over the +precipice and dash himself to pieces against the rocks. The +beast thirsting for blood will rush in even among the weapons of +men. Morton in his fury had felt but one desire, burned +with but one passion. If the Fates would but grant him to +fix his clutches in the throat of the man who had ill-used his +love; for the rest it might all go as it would.</p> +<p>In the earlier part of the morning, while they were all +searching for their victim, they had brought a boat up into this +very inlet among the rocks; and the same boat had been at hand +during the whole day. Unluckily, before they had come +hither, it had been taken round the headland to a place among the +rocks at which a government skiff is always moored. The sea +was still so quiet that there was hardly a ripple on it, and the +boat had been again sent for when first it was supposed that they +had at last traced Aaron Trow to his hiding-place. +Anxiously now were all eyes turned to the headland, but as yet no +boat was there.</p> +<p>The two men rose to the surface, each struggling in the arms +of the other. Trow, though he was in an element to which he +was not used, though he had sprung thither as another suicide +might spring to certain death beneath a railway engine, did not +altogether lose his presence of mind. Prompted by a double +instinct, he had clutched hold of Morton’s body when he +encountered it beneath the waters. He held on to it, as to +his only protection, and he held on to him also as to his only +enemy. If there was a chance for a life struggle, they +would share that chance together; and if not, then together would +they meet that other fate.</p> +<p>Caleb Morton was a very strong man, and though one of his arms +was altogether encumbered by his antagonist, his other arm and +his legs were free. With these he seemed to succeed in +keeping his head above the water, weighted as he was with the +body of his foe. But Trow’s efforts were also used +with the view of keeping himself above the water. Though he +had purposed to destroy himself in taking that leap, and now +hoped for nothing better than that they might both perish +together, he yet struggled to keep his head above the +waves. Bodily power he had none left to him, except that of +holding on to Morton’s arm and plunging with his legs; but +he did hold on, and thus both their heads remained above the +surface.</p> +<p>But this could not last long. It was easy to see that +Trow’s strength was nearly spent, and that when he went +down Morton must go with him. If indeed they could be +separated,—if Morton could once make himself free from that +embrace into which he had been so anxious to leap,—then +indeed there might be a hope. All round that little inlet +the rock fell sheer down into the deep sea, so that there was no +resting-place for a foot; it but round the headlands on either +side, even within forty or fifty yards of that spot, Morton might +rest on the rocks, till a boat should come to his +assistance. To him that distance would have been nothing, +if only his limbs had been at liberty.</p> +<p>Upon the platform of rocks they were all at their wits’ +ends. Many were anxious to fire at Trow; but even if they +hit him, would Morton’s position have been better? +Would not the wounded man have still clung to him who was not +wounded? And then there could be no certainty that any one +of them would hit the right man. The ripple of the waves, +though it was very slight, nevertheless sufficed to keep the +bodies in motion; and then, too, there was not among them any +marksman peculiar for his skill.</p> +<p>Morton’s efforts in the water were too severe to admit +of his speaking, but he could hear and understand the words which +were addressed to him. “Shake him off, +Caleb.” “Strike him from you with your +foot.” “Swim to the right shore; swim for it, +even if you take him with you.” Yes; he could hear +them all; but hearing and obeying were very different. It +was not easy to shake off that dying man; and as for swimming +with him, that was clearly impossible. It was as much as he +could do to keep his head above water, let alone any attempt to +move in one settled direction.</p> +<p>For some four or five minutes they lay thus battling on the +waves before the head of either of them went down. Trow had +been twice below the surface, but it was before he had succeeded +in supporting himself by Morton’s arm. Now it seemed +as though he must sink again,—as though both must +sink. His mouth was barely kept above the water, and as +Morton shook him with his arm, the tide would pass over +him. It was horrid to watch from the shore the glaring +upturned eyes of the dying wretch, as his long streaming hair lay +back upon the wave. “Now, Caleb, hold him down. +Hold him under,” was shouted in the voice of some eager +friend. Rising up on the water, Morton made a last effort +to do as he was bid. He did press the man’s head +down,—well down below the surface,—but still the hand +clung to him, and as he struck out against the water, he was +powerless against that grasp.</p> +<p>Then there came a loud shout along the shore, and all those on +the platform, whose eyes had been fixed so closely on that +terrible struggle beneath them, rushed towards the rocks on the +other coast. The sound of oars was heard close to +them,—an eager pressing stroke, as of men who knew well +that they were rowing for the salvation of a life. On they +came, close under the rocks, obeying with every muscle of their +bodies the behests of those who called to them from the +shore. The boat came with such rapidity,—was so +recklessly urged, that it was driven somewhat beyond the inlet; +but in passing, a blow was struck which made Caleb Morton once +more the master of his own life. The two men had been +carried out in their struggle towards the open sea; and as the +boat curved in, so as to be as close as the rocks would allow, +the bodies of the men were brought within the sweep of the +oars. He in the bow—for there were four pulling in +the boat—had raised his oar as he neared the +rocks,—had raised it high above the water; and now, as they +passed close by the struggling men, he let it fall with all its +force on the upturned face of the wretched convict. It was +a terrible, frightful thing to do,—thus striking one who +was so stricken; but who shall say that the blow was not good and +just? Methinks, however, that the eyes and face of that +dying man will haunt for ever the dreams of him who carried that +oar!</p> +<p>Trow never rose again to the surface. Three days +afterwards his body was found at the ferry, and then they carried +him to the convict island and buried him. Morton was picked +up and taken into the boat. His life was saved; but it may +be a question how the battle might have gone had not that +friendly oar been raised in his behalf. As it was, he lay +at the cottage for days before he was able to be moved, so as to +receive the congratulations of those who had watched that +terrible conflict from the shore. Nor did he feel that +there had been anything in that day’s work of which he +could be proud;—much rather of which it behoved him to be +thoroughly ashamed. Some six months after that he obtained +the hand of Anastasia Bergen, but they did not remain long in +Bermuda. “He went away, back to his own +country,” my informant told me; “because he could not +endure to meet the ghost of Aaron Trow, at that point of the road +which passes near the cottage.” That the ghost of +Aaron Trow may be seen there and round the little rocky inlet of +the sea, is part of the creed of every young woman in +Bermuda.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AARON TROW***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3713-h.htm or 3713-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/7/1/3713 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will +be renamed. + +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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