"I am tired," he replied; "the air in that jungle stifles one; my eyes, besides, have grown accustomed to its gloom, and the strong sunshine pierces them like knives. A moment, Teresa, give me but a moment. All shall yet be well. I have buried the h.o.a.rd under a cypress, immediately beyond the bayou, on the left-hand margin of the path; beautiful, bright things, they now lie whelmed in slime; you shall find them there, if needful. But come, let us to the house; it is time to eat against our journey of the night: to eat and then to sleep, my poor Teresa: then to sleep." And he looked upon me out of bloodshot eyes, shaking his head as if in pity.
We went hurriedly, for he kept murmuring that he had been gone too long, and that the servants might suspect; pa.s.sed through the airy stretch of the verandah; and came at length into the grateful twilight of the shuttered house. The meal was spread; the house servants, already informed by the boatmen of the master"s return, were all back at their posts, and terrified, as I could see, to face me. My father still murmuring of haste with weary and feverish pertinacity, I hurried at once to take my place at table; but I had no sooner left his arm than he paused and thrust forth both his hands with a strange gesture of groping.
"How is this?" he cried, in a sharp, unhuman voice. "Am I blind?" I ran to him and tried to lead him to the table; but he resisted and stood stiffly where he was, opening and shutting his jaws, as if in a painful effort after breath. Then suddenly he raised both hands to his temples, cried out, "My head, my head!" and reeled and fell against the wall.
I knew too well what it must be. I turned and begged the servants to relieve him. But they, with one accord, denied the possibility of hope; the master had gone into the swamp, they said, the master must die; all help was idle. Why should I dwell upon his sufferings? I had him carried to a bed, and watched beside him. He lay still, and at times ground his teeth, and talked at times unintelligibly, only that one word of hurry, hurry, coming distinctly to my ears, and telling me that, even in the last struggle with the powers of death, his mind was still tortured by his daughter"s peril. The sun had gone down, the darkness had fallen, when I perceived that I was alone on this unhappy earth.
What thought had I of flight, of safety, of the impending dangers of my situation? Beside the body of my last friend, I had forgotten all except the natural pangs of my bereavement.
The sun was some four hours above the eastern line, when I was recalled to a knowledge of the things of earth, by the entrance of the slave-girl to whom I have already referred. The poor soul was indeed devotedly attached to me; and it was with streaming tears that she broke to me the import of her coming. With the first light of dawn a boat had reached our landing-place, and set on sh.o.r.e upon our isle (till now so fortunate) a party of officers bearing a warrant to arrest my father"s person, and a man of a gross body and low manners, who declared the island, the plantation, and all its human chattels, to be now his own. "I think,"
said my slave-girl, "he must be a politician or some very powerful sorcerer; for Madam Mendizabal had no sooner seen them coming, than she took to the woods."
"Fool," said I, "it was the officers she feared; and at any rate why does that beldam still dare to pollute the island with her presence? And O Cora," I exclaimed, remembering my grief, "what matter all these troubles to an orphan?"
"Mistress," said she, "I must remind you of two things. Never speak as you do now of Madam Mendizabal; or never to a person of colour; for she is the most powerful woman in this world, and her real name even, if one durst p.r.o.nounce it, were a spell to raise the dead. And whatever you do, speak no more of her to your unhappy Cora; for though it is possible she may be afraid of the police (and indeed I think that I have heard she is in hiding), and though I know that you will laugh and not believe, yet it is true, and proved, and known that she hears every word that people utter in this whole vast world; and your poor Cora is already deep enough in her black books. She looks at me, mistress, till my blood turns ice.
That is the first I had to say; and now for the second: do, pray, for Heaven"s sake, bear in mind that you are no longer the poor Senor"s daughter. He is gone, dear gentleman; and now you are no more than a common slave-girl like myself. The man to whom you belong calls for you; oh, my dear mistress, go at once! With your youth and beauty, you may still, if you are winning and obedient, secure yourself an easy life."
For a moment I looked on the creature with the indignation you may conceive; the next, it was gone: she did but speak after her kind, as the bird sings or cattle bellow. "Go," said I. "Go, Cora. I thank you for your kind intentions. Leave me alone one moment with my dead father; and tell this man that I will come at once."
She went: and I, turning to the bed of death, addressed to those deaf ears the last appeal and defence of my beleaguered innocence. "Father,"
I said, "it was your last thought, even in the pangs of dissolution, that your daughter should escape disgrace. Here, at your side, I swear to you that purpose shall be carried out; by what means, I know not; by crime, if need be; and Heaven forgive both you and me and our oppressors, and Heaven help my helplessness!" Thereupon I felt strengthened as by long repose; stepped to the mirror, ay, even in that chamber of the dead; hastily arranged my hair, refreshed my tear-worn eyes, breathed a dumb farewell to the originator of my days and sorrows; and composing my features to a smile, went forth to meet my master.
He was in a great, hot bustle, reviewing that house, once ours, to which he had but now succeeded; a corpulent, sanguine man of middle age, sensual, vulgar, humorous, and, if I judged rightly, not ill-disposed by nature. But the sparkle that came into his eye as he observed me enter, warned me to expect the worst.
"Is this your late mistress?" he inquired of the slaves; and when he had learnt it was so, instantly dismissed them. "Now, my dear," said he, "I am a plain man: none of your d.a.m.ned Spaniards, but a true blue, hard-working, honest Englishman. My name is Caulder."
"Thank you, sir," said I, and curtsied very smartly as I had seen the servants.
"Come," said he, "this is better than I had expected; and if you choose to be dutiful in the station to which it has pleased G.o.d to call you, you will find me a very kind old fellow. I like your looks," he added, calling me by my name, which he scandalously misp.r.o.nounced. "Is your hair all your own?" he then inquired with a certain sharpness, and coming up to me, as though I were a horse, he grossly satisfied his doubts. I was all one flame from head to foot, but I contained my righteous anger and submitted. "That is very well," he continued, chucking me good humouredly under the chin. "You will have no cause to regret coming to old Caulder, eh? But that is by the way. What is more to the point is this: your late master was a most dishonest rogue, and levanted with some valuable property that belonged of rights to me. Now, considering your relation to him, I regard you as the likeliest person to know what has become of it; and I warn you, before you answer, that my whole future kindness will depend upon your honesty. I am an honest man myself, and expect the same in my servants."
"Do you mean the jewels?" said I, sinking my voice into a whisper.
"That is just precisely what I do," said he, and chuckled.
"Hush!" said I.
"Hush?" he repeated. "And why hush? I am on my own place, I would have you to know, and surrounded by my own lawful servants."
"Are the officers gone?" I asked; and oh! how my hopes hung upon the answer!
"They are," said he, looking somewhat disconcerted. "Why do you ask?"
"I wish you had kept them," I answered, solemnly enough, although my heart at that same moment leaped with exultation. "Master, I must not conceal from you the truth. The servants on this estate are in a dangerous condition, and mutiny has long been brewing."
"Why," he cried, "I never saw a milder-looking lot of n.i.g.g.e.rs in my life." But for all that he turned somewhat pale.
"Did they tell you," I continued, "that Madam Mendizabal is on the island? that, since her coming, they obey none but her? that if, this morning, they have received you with even decent civility, it was only by her orders-issued with what after-thought I leave you to consider?"
"Madam Jezebel?" said he. "Well, she is a dangerous devil; the police are after her, besides, for a whole series of murders; but after all, what then? To be sure, she has a great influence with you coloured folk.
But what in fortune"s name can be her errand here?"
"The jewels," I replied. "Ah, sir, had you seen that treasure, sapphire and emerald and opal, and the golden topaz, and rubies red as the sunset-of what incalculable worth, of what unequalled beauty to the eye!-had you seen it, as I have, and alas! as _she_ has-you would understand and tremble at your danger."
"She has seen them!" he cried, and I could see by his face, that my audacity was justified by its success.
I caught his hand in mine. "My master," said I, "I am now yours; it is my duty, it should be my pleasure, to defend your interests and life.
Hear my advice, then; and, I conjure you, be guided by my prudence.
Follow me privily; let none see where we are going; I will lead you to the place where the treasure has been buried; that once disinterred, let us make straight for the boat, escape to the mainland, and not return to this dangerous isle without the countenance of soldiers."
What free man in a free land would have credited so sudden a devotion?
But this oppressor, through the very arts and sophistries he had abused, to quiet the rebellion of his conscience and to convince himself that slavery was natural, fell like a child into the trap I laid for him. He praised and thanked me; told me I had all the qualities he valued in a servant; and when he had questioned me further as to the nature and value of the treasure, and I had once more artfully inflamed his greed, bade me without delay proceed to carry out my plan of action.
From a shed in the garden, I took a pick and shovel; and thence, by devious paths among the magnolias, led my master to the entrance of the swamp. I walked first, carrying, as I was now in duty bound, the tools, and glancing continually behind me, lest we should be spied upon and followed. When we were come as far as the beginning of the path, it flashed into my mind I had forgotten meat; and leaving Mr. Caulder in the shadow of a tree, I returned alone to the house for a basket of provisions. Were they for him? I asked myself. And a voice within me answered, No. While we were face to face, while I still saw before my eyes the man to whom I belonged as the hand belongs to the body, my indignation held me bravely up. But now that I was alone, I conceived a sickness at myself and my designs that I could scarce endure; I longed to throw myself at his feet, avow my intended treachery, and warn him from that pestilential swamp, to which I was decoying him to die; but my vow to my dead father, my duty to my innocent youth, prevailed upon these scruples; and though my face was pale and must have reflected the horror that oppressed my spirits, it was with a firm step that I returned to the borders of the swamp, and with smiling lips that I bade him rise and follow me.
The path on which we now entered was cut, like a tunnel, through the living jungle. On either hand and overhead, the ma.s.s of foliage was continuously joined; the day sparingly filtered through the depth of super-impending wood; and the air was hot like steam, and heady with vegetable odours, and lay like a load upon the lungs and brain.
Underfoot, a great depth of mould received our silent footprints; on each side, mimosas, as tall as a man, shrank from my pa.s.sing skirts with a continuous hissing rustle; and but for these sentient vegetables, all in that den of pestilence was motionless and noiseless.
We had gone but a little way in, when Mr. Caulder was seized with sudden nausea, and must sit down a moment on the path. My heart yearned, as I beheld him; and I seriously begged the doomed mortal to return upon his steps. What were a few jewels in the scales with life? I asked. But no, he said; that witch Madam Jezebel would find them out; he was an honest man, and would not stand to be defrauded, and so forth, panting the while, like a sick dog. Presently he got to his feet again, protesting he had conquered his uneasiness; but as we again began to go forward, I saw in his changed countenance, the first approaches of death.
"Master," said I, "you look pale, deathly pale; your pallor fills me with dread. Your eyes are bloodshot; they are red like the rubies that we seek."
"Wench," he cried, "look before you; look at your steps. I declare to Heaven, if you annoy me once again by looking back, I shall remind you of the change in your position."
A little after, I observed a worm upon the ground, and told, in a whisper, that its touch was death. Presently a great green serpent, vivid as the gra.s.s in spring, wound rapidly across the path; and once again I paused and looked back at my companion, with a horror in my eyes.
"The coffin snake," said I, "the snake that dogs its victim like a hound."
But he was not to be dissuaded. "I am an old traveller," said he. "This is a foul jungle indeed; but we shall soon be at an end."
"Ay," said I, looking at him, with a strange smile, "what end?"
Thereupon he laughed again and again, but not very heartily; and then, perceiving that the path began to widen and grow higher, "There!" said he. "What did I tell you? We are past the worst."
Indeed, we had now come to the bayou, which was in that place very narrow and bridged across by a fallen trunk; but on either hand we could see it broaden out, under a cavern of great arms of trees and hanging creepers: sluggish, putrid, of a horrible and sickly stench, floated on by the flat heads of alligators, and its banks alive with scarlet crabs.
"If we fall from that unsteady bridge," said I, "see, where the caiman lies ready to devour us! If, by the least divergence from the path, we should be snared in a mora.s.s, see, where those myriads of scarlet vermin scour the border of the thicket! Once helpless, how they would swarm together to the a.s.sault! What could man do against a thousand of such mailed a.s.sailants? And what a death were that, to perish alive under their claws."
"Are you mad, girl?" he cried. "I bid you be silent and lead on."
Again I looked upon him, half relenting; and at that he raised the stick that was in his hand and cruelly struck me on the face. "Lead on!" he cried again. "Must I be all day, catching my death in this vile slough, and all for a prating slave-girl?"
I took the blow in silence, I took it smiling; but the blood welled back upon my heart. Something, I know not what, fell at that moment with a dull plunge in the waters of the lagoon, and I told myself it was my pity that had fallen.
On the farther side, to which we now hastily scrambled, the wood was not so dense, the web of creepers not so solidly convolved. It was possible, here and there, to mark a patch of somewhat brighter daylight, or to distinguish, through the lighter web of parasites, the proportions of some soaring tree. The cypress on the left stood very visibly forth, upon the edge of such a clearing; the path in that place widened broadly; and there was a patch of open ground, beset with horrible ant-heaps, thick with their artificers. I laid down the tools and basket by the cypress root, where they were instantly blackened over with the crawling ants; and looked once more in the face of my unconscious victim.
Mosquitoes and foul flies wove so close a veil between us that his features were obscured; and the sound of their flight was like the turning of a mighty wheel.
"Here," I said, "is the spot. I cannot dig, for I have not learned to use such instruments; but, for your own sake, I beseech you to be swift in what you do."
He had sunk once more upon the ground, panting like a fish; and I saw rising in his face the same dusky flush that had mantled on my father"s.
"I feel ill," he gasped, "horribly ill; the swamp turns around me; the drone of these carrion flies confounds me. Have you not wine?"
I gave him a gla.s.s, and he drank greedily. "It is for you to think,"