He stood at a halt. He was standing, as Zeb first came in sight of him.
He was fronting towards the cliff, evidently intending to go down into the gorge. His rider appeared to have pulled him up as a measure of precaution; or he may have heard the hunter scrambling up the ravine; or, what was more likely, scented him.
For whatever reason, he was standing, front face to the spectator.
On seeing him thus, Zeb Stump also came to a stand. Had it been many another man, the same might have been said of his hair; and it is not to be denied, that the old hunter was at that moment, as he acknowledged himself, "a spell shaky "beout the narves."
He was firm enough, however, to carry out the purpose that had prompted him to seek that singular interview; which was, to discover whether he had to deal with a human being, or the devil!
In an instant his rifle was at his shoulder, his eye glancing along the barrel; the sights, by the help of a brilliant moonlight, bearing upon the heart of the Headless Horseman.
In another, a bullet would have been through it; but for a thought that just then flashed across the brain of the backwoodsman.
Maybe he was about to commit _murder_?
At the thought he lowered the muzzle of his piece, and remained for a time undecided.
"It mout be a man?" muttered he, "though it don"t look like it air.
Thur ain"t room enuf for a head under that ere Mexikin blanket, no how.
Ef it be a human critter he hev got a tongue I reck"n, though he ain"t much o" a head to hold it in. Hilloo stronger! Ye"re out for a putty lateish ride, ain"t ye? Hain"t yo forgot to fetch yur head wi ye?"
There was no reply. The horse snorted, on hearing the voice. That was all.
"Lookee hyur, strenger! Ole Zeb Stump from the State o" Kintucky, air the individooal who"s now speakin" to ye. He ain"t one o" thet sort ter be trifled wi". Don"t try to k.u.m none o" yer damfoolery over this hyur c.o.o.n. I warn ye to declur yur game. If ye"re playin possum, ye"d better throw up yur hand; or by the jumpin" Geehosophat, ye may lose both yur stake an yur curds! Speak out now, afore ye gits plugged wi" a piece o" lead!"
Less response than before. This time the horse, becoming accustomed to the voice, only tossed up his head.
"Then dog-gone ye!" shouted the hunter, exasperated by what he deemed an insulting silence. "Six seconds more--I"ll gie ye six more; an ef ye don"t show speech by that time, I"ll let drive at yur guts. Ef ye"re but a dummy it won"t do ye any harm. No more will it, I reckun, ef ye _air_ the devil. But ef ye"re a man playin" possum, durn me ef ye don"t desarve to be shot for bein" sech a d.a.m.ned fool. Sing out!" he continued with increasing anger, "sing out, I tell ye! Ye won"t? Then hyur goes! One--two--three--four--five--six!"
Where "seven" should have come in, had the count been continued, was heard the sharp crack of a rifle, followed by the sibillation of a spinning bullet; then the dull "thud" as the deadly missile buried itself in some solid body.
The only effect produced by the shot, appeared to be the frightening of the horse. The rider still kept his seat in the saddle!
It was not even certain the horse was scared. The clear neigh that responded to the detonation of the rifle, had something in it that sounded derisive!
For all that, the animal went off at a tearing gallop; leaving Zeb Stump a prey to the profoundest surprise he had ever experienced.
After discharging his rifle, he remained upon his knees, for a period of several seconds.
If his nerves were unsteady before the shot, they had become doubly so now. He was not only surprised at the result, but terrified. He was certain that his bullet had pa.s.sed through the man"s heart--or where it should be--as sure as if his muzzle had been held close to the ribs.
It could not be a man? He did not believe it to be one; and this thought might have rea.s.sured him, but for the behaviour of the horse.
It was that wild unearthly neigh, that was now chilling his blood, and causing his limbs to shake, as if under an ague.
He would have retreated; but, for a time, he felt absolutely unable to rise to his feet; and he remained kneeling, in a sort of stupefied terror--watching the weird form till it receded out of sight far off over the moonlit plain. Not till then did he recover sufficient courage, to enable him to glide back down the gorge, and on towards the _jacale_.
And not till he was under its roof, did he feel sufficiently himself, to reflect with any calmness on the odd encounter that had occurred to him.
It was some time before his mind became disabused of the idea that he had been dealing with the devil. Reflection, however, convinced him of the improbability of this; though it gave him no clue as to what the thing really was.
"Shurly," muttered he, his conjectural form of speech showing that he was still undecided, "Shurly arter all it can"t be a thing o" the tother world--else I kedn"t a heern the _cothug_ o" my bullet? Sartin the lead struck agin somethin" solid; an I reck"n thur"s nothin" solid in the karkidge o" a ghost?"
"Wagh!" he concluded, apparently resigning the attempt to obtain a solution of the strange physical phenomenon. "Let the durned thing slide! One o" two things it air boun" to be: eyther a bunnel o" rags, or ole Harry from h.e.l.l?"
As he re-entered the hut, the blue light of morning stole in along with him.
It was time to awaken Phelim, that he might take his turn by the bedside of the invalid.
The Connemara man, now thoroughly restored to sobriety, and under the impression of having been a little derelict in his duty, was ready to undertake the task.
The old hunter, before consigning his charge to the care of his unskilled successor, made a fresh dressing of the scratches--availing himself of the knowledge that a long experience had given him in the pharmacopoeia of the forest.
The _nopal_ was near; and its juice insp.i.s.sated into the fresh wounds would not fail to effect their speedy cure.
Zeb knew that in twenty-four hours after its application, they would be in process of healing; and in three days, entirely cicatrised.
With this confidence--common to every denizen of the cactus-covered land of Mexico--he felt defiant as to doctors; and if a score of them could have been procured upon the instant, he would not have summoned one. He was convinced that Maurice Gerald was in no danger--at least not from his wounds.
There was a danger; but that was of a different kind.
"An" now, Mister Pheelum," said he, on making a finish of his surgical operations; "we hev dud all thet kin be dud for the outard man, an it air full time to look arter the innard. Ye say thur ain"t nuthin to eet?"
"Not so much as a purtaty, Misther Stump. An" what"s worse thare"s nothin" to dhrink--not a dhrap lift in the whole cyabin."
"Durn ye, that"s _yur_ fault," cried Stump, turning upon the Irishman with a savage scowl that showed equal regret at the announcement. "Eft hadn"t a been for you, thur war licker enough to a lasted till the young fellur got roun" agin. What"s to be dud now?"
"Sowl, Misther Stump! yez be wrongin" _me_ althegither intirely. That same yez are. I hadn"t a taste exciptin what came out av the little flask. It wus thim Indyins that imptied the dimmyjan. Trath was it."
"Wagh! ye cudn"t a got drunk on what wur contained i" the flask. I know yur durned guts too well for thet. Ye must a had a good pull at the tother, too."
"Be all the saints--"
"Durn yur stinkin" saints! D"you s"pose any man o" sense believes in sech varmint as them?
"Wal; "tain"t no use talkin" any more beout it. Ye"ve sucked up the corn juice, an thur"s an end o"t. Thur ain"t no more to be hed "ithin twenty mile, an we must go "ithout."
"Be Jaysus, but it"s bad!"
"Shet up yur head, durn ye, an hear what I"ve got to say. We"ll hev to go "ithout drinkin"; but thet air no reezun for sturvin" ourselves for want o" somethin" to eet. The young fellur, I don"t mis...o...b.., air by this time half starved hisself. Thur"s not much on his stummuk, I reck"n, though thur may be on his mind. As for meself, I"m jest hungry enough to eat coyoat; an I ain"t very sure I"d turn away from turkey buzzart; which, as I reck"n, wud be a wusser victual than coyoat. But we ain"t obleeged to eet turkey buzzart, whar thur"s a chance o" gettin"
turkey; an thet ain"t so dewbious along the Alamo. You stay hyur, an take care o" the young fellur, whiles I try up the crik, an see if I kin k.u.m acrosst a gobbler."
"I"ll do that, Misther Stump, an no mistake. Be me trath--"
"Keep yur palaver to yurself, till I"ve finished talkin" to ye."
"Sowl! I won"t say a word."
"Then don"t, but lissen! Thur"s somethin "bout which I don"t wait ye to make any mistake. It air this. Ef there shed anybody stray this way dyurin my absince, ye"ll let me know. You musn"t lose a minnit o" time, but let me know."
"Shure I will--sowl, yis."