"League the h----! I tell you I"m going to blow the whole thing to nothing, cave and all!"
"What!"
"When I leave this region there will be no League here. This cave will be in ruins, and the whole order scattered to the four winds of heaven!"
"Are you crazy, Bill Mitchel!"
"No, I am just coming to my senses. Here we have been these many years, doing all the most dangerous and daring work of the order--work that others were too chicken-hearted to undertake--and what is our reward? We are esteemed as the meanest of the Clan, and as being hardly fit to a.s.sociate with those who claim to be the gentlemen of the League. Why, I believe the officers would cut our throats at any time to save themselves. See what Duffel is after at this very time. Never was a man served more faithfully than we have served him, and now that we have rendered him all the aid he needs or desires at our hands, he would cut us off; aye, worse, he would murder us--murder us as we have murdered for him. Do you think I would let an opportunity to be revenged on him pa.s.s unimproved? _Never!_"
"But how are you goin" to do all this mighty work?"
"I"ll tell you. The captain is away; I intend that Duffel shall be secured by the officers of the law; the rest of the members I will take measures to frighten; and when they resort to this infernal cave for refuge, counsel, or concert of action, they will find it in ruins."
"How in ruins?"
"Isn"t there powder enough in the magazine to blow it to atoms?"
"Powder!"
"Yes, _powder_! Is there anything in that explosive material that need cause you to look so wild? I thought you were better acquainted with its properties."
"I believe I begin to understand your intentions; but they don"t exactly chime with your plans of yesterday."
"Yesterday! I tell you I was only half awake then. I hadn"t considered all the sides to the question; and the more I think, the madder I get. I tell you we have been imposed upon; and I am going to pay back the debt with interest. I had another idea yesterday; but my plans were then immature and unsettled, now they are arranged even to the details. I tell you I have been thinking for the last twenty-four hours; and it has been to some purpose, as you and the rest of these fellows, and Duffel in particular, will find out."
"Very well; if the order is to be destroyed, then there is no need of fearing to let the girl go home, as she could do us no harm if she _did_ reveal our secrets."
"I tell you I have taken a fancy to the girl myself and have set my heart on possessing her, _and I will do it_. It"s true I don"t care for the order now. I defy all its members; but that makes no difference about the girl.
She goes with us."
"I don"t believe any good will come of takin" her, but there is a plaguy good chance for evil to come of it."
"Let it come, then, and we"ll face it like men! I tell you I am desperate; I have fixed my stakes and I don"t intend to be driven from them. The more I think, the more determined I become."
"But it looks so mean and cowardly to abuse a woman."
"Who said I was going to abuse her?"
"I say so."
"You"d better be a little careful of your speech, my good fellow!"
"I"ll say what I please; and you know what I have said is the truth. Haint you goin" to deceive the gal? Didn"t you jist tell her that you was her friend? and that we"d liberate her? And don"t she expect us to take her home, instead of away off to that cave in Virginny, where she"ll be no better off than she is here? And haint it cowardly to lie and deceive them as trust in your word and honor?"
"Honor! a pretty word that for such a fellow as you to use! How long have you entertained such high notions, pray?"
"Allers, sir, allers! Did you ever hear me tell a lie? Did you ever see me betray any one that put themselves under my care? Say, sir, have you?"
"Well, no, I don"t know as I have; but what of that?"
"A great deal, sir; a great deal! It means that I"m not a mean, cowardly dog; that I don"t go to a woman with a lie in my mouth, and sneakingly deceive her! No, sir, I am above such work."
"That will do, I can"t bear everything, even from you, and I warn you not to go too far!"
"Warn away, then; I"m not the man to be skeered by any woman-stealer that ever walked the earth. No, sir, I"m not! And I say ag"in, the man that"ll impose on a woman is a coward, and a mean one at that."
"Come, come, d.i.c.k, it"s no use to be talking in that manner. You know I am no more of a coward than yourself; and so what"s the use of such an ado about nothing. Didn"t you tell me yesterday you would stand by me in this affair? Come, now, keep your word, and don"t prove yourself a liar after such a boast of truthfulness, just a moment ago?"
"Yes, there it is ag"in. You told me it was for our personal safety, and such like stuff, that you were goin" to take the gal along; and now you defy the whole order, and are goin" to blow them all to atoms! I take it that makes quite a difference."
"Didn"t I tell you the girl was to go any how? And didn"t you say it would hardly be fair to help an enemy and not a friend? Come, where is your honor now?"
"That promise, I tell you, was obtained under false pretenses, and is not binding!"
"A pretty excuse, indeed!--Well to bring the matter to a point at once, I now state distinctly that I am going to take the girl with me, because I wish to do so, and for that reason alone; and I want you to help me. Will you do it? That"s the question, and I want a positive answer, yea or nay, and no more palaver on the subject. Say, will you stand by your old friend in this last great hour of need?"
"I s"pose I"ll have to; but it goes mightily ag"in" the grain, to be mixed up in these women affairs, and I feel as mean as a kill-sheep dog, when I find myself at such a dirty work.
"Well, that matter is settled, then, and I hope we shall have peace and agreement between us hereafter. I know when you say you"ll do a thing, you"ll do it, and I want a reliable companion to stand by me just now. Once we get into our new quarters, in old Virginia, I shall feel safe, as we can bid defiance to our enemies."
"Well, let us be off, then, as quick as possible; for, to tell the truth, I don"t like this part of the country much; it"s gittin" entirely too hot for our bizness, and is by no means as safe as it might be."
"We must be off to-morrow, if we can finish all our arrangements, which I hope we shall be able to do, if we lose no time. We must have our horses ready to-night, at all events; for it may suit to start in the night, if we fail to get away to-morrow. I am not sure but it will be the best plan to leave in the night, any how."
"Certainly, it will be."
"Well, it"s settled, then, that we leave to-morrow night; and that being the case, I must hasten away to get the key made. You stay here till the sentinel returns, and then meet me at the usual place this afternoon, and we will have everything arranged in order."
With this the villains parted, Bill going out of the pa.s.sage, and d.i.c.k into the cave.
To all this Eveline was an absorbed, but to them unknown, listener. How the great hope of the morning died in her bosom, as the fearful truth was revealed to her, that another snare was laid to entangle her feet--that her newly found friends were but enemies in disguise. Instead of liberators, who would restore her to home and friends, they were vile miscreants, destining her to a fate no better than that which now surrounded her, and removed still further from the possibility of succor. For a little time she clung to the hope that d.i.c.k would hold out in her behalf; but this last prop was taken away, and she felt that there was no help from any quarter, and that self-dependence was her only safeguard.
Ah, how desolate was her heart in that hour! How like a lone reed in the pelting tempest did she feel herself to be! Surrounded by enemies on all hands, a prisoner in a dungeon, with no friendly arm to lean upon, no kind voice of sympathy to encourage and strengthen her, she felt almost like giving over the struggle, and lying down to die where she stood.
But this feeling of despondency was of short duration. Arousing to a lively sense of her situation, this apathy was thrown off, and the native energy of purpose which she had exhibited so strikingly on former occasions, quickened her spirit and restored vigor to her frame. Immediately she began to collect her thoughts, and cast about to see if there was no way of escape from this new danger. At first she thought of making a confidant of Duffel, and throwing herself upon his generosity; but remembering all that he had done, she felt that this would be vain, so far as _she_ was concerned, while it might save _him_ from merited exposure and punishment; and so she at once abandoned the idea.
In the midst of perplexity and doubt, the thought struck her with the vividness of a flash of intelligence, that the pa.s.sage she was in might communicate with the outer world! The very suggestion caused her to heave a sigh of relief. What so probable as this supposition? At any rate she had something to do, a definite object to call forth her energies; and this was no small matter, in the state of mind under which she was laboring at that hour.
Raising her lamp to a level with her face, she pa.s.sed the light close to the wall, scrutinizing every spot, to see if there was no sign indicative of another spring-closed door. But no brilliant fragment of stalact.i.te appeared as a reward for her search, and she turned away with a feeling of disappointment, and heaviness at her heart. As she did so, for the first time her eye fell upon a polished surface, much resembling the face of a mirror, upon the opposite wall. Looking more attentively, she discovered, as it were, trees, shrubs, a running stream of water, and all the accompaniments of a finished landscape painting. Fearful as was her situation, she could not help pausing to admire the beauty, the naturalness, the perfection of the scene. She had never beheld any thing half so vivid, so truthful, from the pencil of the artist. It actually seemed as if water was running over its gravelly bed, as if the bushes moved in the breeze; in a word, the whole looked far more like a reality than a cold painting. As she was gazing in admiration upon this singular appearance, a bird actually flew over the scene! She could hardly believe her senses; but soon another one followed, and she knew there was no deception in her eyes this time.
Philosophy was not universally taught in those days, as it is now, and Eveline did not know how to solve this mystery as well as many a school girl could do at the present day; but she had read of the tricks of the magicians of Egypt and India, and what seeming wonders they could show in their magic mirrors; and she came to the conclusion that the robbers of the cave had learned the same art, and that before her was one of the soothsayers" gla.s.ses.
But what was the design had in view in placing it in that obscure and unfrequented place? As this query suggested itself to her mind, a man pa.s.sed along on the bank of the stream! and in a few minutes another in the opposite direction; and in the last one she recognized one of her captors!
She at once comprehended the design of the apparatus; it was to reveal what was pa.s.sing without to the eye of the individual within, who had doubtless adopted this method of informing himself of pa.s.sing external events, as a means of personal safety in case of need. It was, she supposed, a device of the captain of the thieves, to save himself, either from the ministers of the law or from the violence of those under him, in case of revolt.
It is not our design to enter into an elaborate description of this piece of mechanism, as every student of philosophy, who is well acquainted with the reflection and refraction of rays of light, will understand how an ingenious contrivance produced the results spoken of. The same principle enters into the arrangement of the _camera obscura_. There was an aperture very artfully cut through the wall, and so guarded on the outside as to escape notice; and in this a tube was placed with a set of happily contrived fixtures, by the aid of which the scene without was accurately depicted on the polished surface within. It was the work of the captain, as Eveline supposed.
As this contrivance was evidently intended to give information of danger from without, it must certainly be connected in some manner with the means of escape; else what was it worth? Such was the conclusion to which Eveline arrived, as she philosophized upon the matter. And she reflected further, what other method of escape was there, save a secret medium of communication with the outer world? None at all, except it be a quiet waiting within the pa.s.sage she now herself occupied, which she could not bring herself to believe was the case; so she renewed her search for the door of egress.