They are the local authorities of the district; the sheriff of Natchitoches with his _posse_ of constables, and a crowd of people accompanying. Among them are Colonel Armstrong and the Creole, Dupre; these instigating the movement; indeed, directing it.
Ah knew, from yesterday"s newspaper, of the murder committed near Natchez, as also of the murderer having broken jail. Only this morning have they learnt that the escaped criminal has been seen in the streets of their town. From an early hour they have been scouring these in search of him; and, at length, reached the Choctaw Chief--the place where he should be found, if found at all.
On its doors being opened, they discover traces of him. No man named Darke has been there, but one calling himself Quantrell, with another, who went by the name of Walsh.
As, in this case, neither the landlord nor bar-keeper have any interest in screening that particular pair of their late guests, they make no attempt to do so; but, on the contrary, tell all they know about them; adding, how both went away with a number of other gentlemen, who paid their tavern bills, and took departure at an early hour of the morning.
The description of the other "gentlemen" is not so particularly given, because not so specially called for. In that of Quantrell and Walsh, Colonel Armstrong, without difficulty, identifies Richard Darke and the jailer, Joe Harkness.
He, sheriff, constables, crowd, stand with countenances expressing defeat--disappointment. They have reached the Choctaw Chief a little too late. They know nothing of Borla.s.se, or how he has baffled them.
They but believe, that, for the second time, the a.s.sa.s.sin of Charles Clancy has eluded the grasp of justice.
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.
A GHOST GOING ITS ROUNDS.
It is nearly a month since the day of Clancy"s death; still the excitement caused by it, though to some extent subsided, has not died out. Curiosity and speculation are kept alive by the fact of the body not having been found. For it has not. Search has been made everywhere for miles around. Field and forest, creeks, ponds, swamp, and river, have all been traversed and interrogated, in vain. All have refused to surrender up the dead.
That Clancy is dead no one has a doubt. To say nothing of the blood spilt beside his abandoned hat and gun, with the other circ.u.mstances attendant, there is testimony of a moral nature, to many quite as convincing.
Alive he would long since have returned home, at thought of what his mother must be suffering. He was just the man to do that, as all who knew him are aware. Even wounded and crippled, if able to crawl, it would be to the side of the only woman at such a crisis he should care for.
Though it is now known that he cared for another, no one entertains a thought of his having gone off after _her_. It would not be in keeping with his character, any more than with the incidents and events that have conspired to make the mystery. Days pa.s.s, and it still remains one.
The sun rises and sets, without throwing any light upon it. Conjecture can do nothing to clear it up; and search, over and over unsuccessful, is at length abandoned.
If people still speculate upon how the body of the murdered man has been disposed of, there is no speculation as to who was his murderer, or how the latter made escape.
The treason of the jail-keeper explains this--itself accounted for by Ephraim Darke having on the previous day paid a visit to his son in the cell, and left with him a key that ere now has opened many a prison door. Joe Harkness, a weak-witted fellow, long suspected of faithlessness, was not the man to resist the temptation with which his palm had been touched.
Since that day some changes have taken place in the settlement. The plantation late Armstrong"s has pa.s.sed into the hands of a new proprietor--Darke having disposed of it--while the cottage of the Clancys, now ownerless, stays untenanted. Unfurnished too: for the bailiff has been there, and a bill of sale, which covered its scant plenishing, farm-stock, implements and utensils, has swept all away.
For a single day there was a stir about the place, with noise corresponding, when the chattels were being disposed of by public auction. Then the household G.o.ds of the decayed Irish gentleman were knocked down to the highest bidder, and scattered throughout the district. Rare books, pictures, and other articles, telling of refined taste, with some slight remnants of _bijouterie_, were carried off to log-cabins, there to be esteemed in proportion to the prices paid for them. In fine, the Clancy cottage, stripped of everything, has been left untenanted. Lone as to the situation in which it stands, it is yet lonelier in its desolation. Even the dog, that did such service in pointing out the criminality of him who caused all the ruin, no longer guards its enclosures, or cheers them with his familiar bark. The faithful animal, adopted by Simeon Woodley, has found a home in the cabin of the hunter.
It is midnight; an hour still and voiceless in Northern climes, but not so in the Southern. Far from it in the State of Mississippi. There the sun"s excessive heat keeps Nature alert and alive, even at night, and in days of December.
Though night, it is not December, but a date nearer Spring. February is written on the heading of letters, and this, a Spring month on the Lower Mississippi, has commenced making its imprint on the forest trees.
Their buds have already burst, some showing leaves fully expanded, others of still earlier habit bedecked with blossoms. Birds, too, awaking from a short winter"s silence, pour forth their amorous lays, filling glade and grove with music, that does not end with the day; for the mock-bird, taking up the strain, carries it on through the hours of night; so well counterfeiting the notes of his fellow-songsters, one might fancy them awake--still singing.
Not so melodious are other voices disturbing the stillness of the Southern night. Quite the opposite are the croaking of frogs, the screeching of owls, the jerking call of tree-crickets, and the bellowing of the alligator. Still, the ear accustomed to such sounds is not jarred by them. They are but the ba.s.s notes, needed to complete the symphony of Nature"s concert.
In the midst of this melange,--the hour, as already stated, midnight--a man, or something bearing man"s semblance, is seen gliding along the edge of the cypress swamp, not far from the place where Charles Clancy fell.
After skirting the mud-flat for a time, the figure--whether ghost or human--turns face toward the tract of lighter woodland, extending between the thick timber and cleared ground of the plantations.
Having traversed this, the nocturnal wayfarer comes within sight of the deserted cottage, late occupied by the Clancys.
The moonlight, falling upon his face, shows it to be white. Also, that his cheeks are pallid, with eyes hollow and sunken, as from sickness-- some malady long-endured, and not yet cured. As he strides over fallen logs, or climbs fences stretching athwart his course, his tottering step tells of a frame enfeebled.
When at length clear of the woods, and within sight of the untenanted dwelling, he stops, and for a time remains contemplating it. That he is aware of its being unoccupied is evident, from the glance with which he regards it.
His familiarity with the place is equally evident. On entering the cottage grounds, which he soon after does, through, some shrubbery at the back, he takes the path leading up to the house, without appearing to have any doubt about its being the right one.
For all this he makes approach with caution, looking suspiciously around--either actually afraid, or not desiring to be observed.
There is little likelihood of his being so. At that hour all in the settlement should be asleep. The house stands remote, more than a mile from its nearest neighbour. It is empty; has been stripped of its furniture, of everything. What should any one be doing there?
What is _he_ doing there? A question which would suggest itself to one seeing him; with interest added on making note of his movements.
There is no one to do either; and he continues on to the house, making for its back door, where there is a porch, as also a covered way, leading to a log-cabin--the kitchen.
Even as within the porch, he tries the handle of the door which at a touch goes open. There is no lock, or if there was, it has not been thought worth while to turn the key in it. There are no burglars in the backwoods. If there were, nothing in that house need tempt them.
Its nocturnal visitor enters under its roof. The ring of his footsteps, though he still treads cautiously, gives out a sad, solemn sound. It is in unison with the sighs that come, deep-drawn, from his breast; at times so sonorous as to be audible all over the house.
He pa.s.ses from room to room. There are not many--only five of them. In each he remains a few moments, gazing dismally around. But in one--that which was the widow"s sleeping chamber--he tarries a longer time; regarding a particular spot--the place formerly occupied by a bed. Then a sigh, louder than any that has preceded it, succeeded by the words, low-muttered:--
"There she must have breathed her last!"
After this speech, more sighing, accompanied by still surer signs of sorrow--sobs and weeping. As the moonbeams, pouring in through the open window, fall upon his face, their pale silvery light sparkles upon tears, streaming from hollow eyes, chasing one another down emaciated cheeks.
After surrendering himself some minutes to what appears a very agony of grief, he turns out of the sleeping chamber; pa.s.ses through the narrow hall-way; and on into the porch. Not now the back one, but that facing front to the road.
On the other side of this is an open tract of ground, half cleared, half woodland; the former sterile, the latter scraggy. It seems to belong to no one, as if not worth claiming, or cultivating. It has been, in fact, an appanage of Colonel Armstrong"s estate, who had granted it to the public as the site for a schoolhouse, and a common burying-ground--free to all desiring to be instructed, or needing to be interred. The schoolhouse has disappeared, but the cemetery is still there--only distinguishable from the surrounding _terrain_ by some oblong elevations, having the well-known configuration of graves. There are in all about a score of them; some having a plain head-board--a piece of painted plank, with letters rudely limned, recording the name and age of him or her resting underneath.
Time and the weather have turned most of them greyish, with dates decayed, and names scarcely legible. But there is one upon which the paint shows fresh and white; in the clear moonlight gleaming like a meteor.
He who has explored the deserted dwelling, stands for a while with eyes directed on this recently erected memorial. Then, stepping down from the porch, he pa.s.ses through the wicket-gate; crosses the road; and goes straight towards it, as though a hand beckoned him thither.
When close up, he sees it to be by a grave upon which the herbage has not yet grown.
The night is a cold one--chill for that Southern clime. The dew upon the withered gra.s.s of the grave turf is almost congealed into h.o.a.r frost, adding to its ghostly aspect.
The lettering upon the head-board is in shadow, the moon being on the opposite side.
But stooping forward, so as to bring his eyes close to the slab, he is enabled to decipher the inscription.
It is the simplest form of memento--only a name, with the date of death--
"Caroline Clancy, Died January 18--"
After reading it, a fresh sob bursts from his bosom, new tears start from his eyes, and he flings himself down upon the grave. Disregarding the dew, thinking nought of the night"s dullness, he stretches his arms over the cold turf, embracing it as though it were the warm body of one beloved!
For several minutes he remains in this att.i.tude. Then, suddenly rising erect, as if impelled by some strong purpose, there comes from his lips, poured forth in wild pa.s.sionate accent, the speeches:--
"Mother! dear mother! I am still living! I am here! And you, dead!