It was not a cheerful pa.s.sage, this from island to island. Even Ray had been caught in the general gloom. We had time, each severally, during these two days, to come, by reflection, to a realization of the apparent hopelessness of our task. Beyond the almost haphazard selection of this one large port as our first point of contact, we had no plan. While the query,--what next? was uppermost in the minds of each, he dreaded to hear another--every other--confess that he did not know. For of necessity he _could_ not know. And so, when we moved in, in that late afternoon, seeking a suitable anchorage, every eye--independently--sought out every sail within view, only half daring to hope for a sight of a vessel that should appear to be the _Josephine_.
When everything had been made snug above deck, and the harbor officials had made their visit, dusk was on. No move could be made until morning.
And then came supper. All lingered at the table, knowing that the time had come for a council of war. It was Norris who volunteered to open the ball.
"Well comrades," he began, seeking to be cheerful, "I suppose we"ll now have to decide on a fresh start. How are we going to find out if the _Josephine_ is here?"
"Well," said Captain Marat, "If she have not change her name, that will be easy."
Captain Marat had hit on the thing that was troubling us all. The man Mordaunt, we knew, had at one time changed the name of his vessel to honor her whom he had hoped to make his wife, and now he might have two reasons for making another change in name: He had been disappointed in his hope, and there was the criminal reason--for concealment. None had taken any note of the schooner, and Monsieur Cambon"s description of the vessel made a picture that answered for almost any schooner yacht of dimensions a little greater than the _Pearl_.
It was also unfortunate that none of us had set eyes on this man Mordaunt. But Monsieur Cambon had been able to give us one characteristic of the man that might go far toward identifying him, should we be fortunate enough to encounter him under favorable conditions. Cambon described him as of medium though strong build; of finely chiseled, rather handsome features; black eyes, black hair, which he wore a little long and which was disposed to curl. His manners Cambon described as studiously polished, if self-a.s.sertive. But the single characteristic that interested me most was a certain mannerism.
"Sometimes," M. Cambon had said, "when he is unconscious of his surroundings, deeply cogitating on something, he will take the lobe of his ear between thumb and finger, pulling or stroking--like when others scratch the head when they are puzzled."
It took us but a short time to determine on a course. Some were to go in a small boat among the many ships of the harbor, while others should visit the city. We spent an hour on deck, breathing the balmy air, and watching the many lights of the ships and the city. There, too, was the revolving red light on Point Lomentin, and the green light, set in by the city.
We were early astir, all eager to be doing. Ray and Julian went with Grant Norris to sail about the harbor, to seek news of the _Josephine_; Robert and myself, with Captain Marat, rowed to a wharf of the city. It was verily a city of blacks. Mulattoes were few, and we walked up and down numerous streets before we found a white man whose appearance encouraged us. He was a Frenchman, seated before an apothecary shop. The smile on his thin smooth-shaven face invited us to stop. He and Captain Marat were directly in conversation, in the tongue they knew best.
The Frenchman gave us his name--Jules Sevier--and had us into his shop, with its many bottles of patent medicines, in rows. He and Marat sipped French wine while they continued their talk. At last the apothecary turned to Robert and myself.
"Ah," he said, "I am "fraid you have one ver" deeficult task. But I am glad you fin" your way to me. I will help you all I can."
It developed that he knew nothing of either the schooner _Josephine_ or M. Mordaunt, or anyone to fit the description Marat was able to give him. But after listening to the recital of the circ.u.mstances (set about the disappearance of little Marie Cambon) he said,--"Oui, oui! it was thad man. Such things like thad have happen more times than the world think. You have come to the right place."
Jules Sevier at the last told us that he would make some private inquiries, and advised that we come back on the following day to learn the results.
We were soon in our boat, somewhat cheered by the bit of encouragement we"d got, alloyed as it was.
"I think it"s a good sign," declared Robert, "that we went so straight to that man. He can help us if anybody can."
Robert was something of a fatalist you see.
"Yes, he know ver" much about the voodoo," said Jean Marat.
We boarded the _Pearl_, to wait several hours before the others showed up. When they drew near we could see that they had been unsuccessful.
They had found no schooner of the name sought, nor any with a newly painted name.
"Of course," said Norris, "she might be lying hid behind some small island, or point, miles away, and it will take anyway a week to find out."
CHAPTER IV
WE PICK UP THE TRAIL
In the morning all but Rufe went to sh.o.r.e. Rufe would have none of it.
"Say," he said, when Ray offered to remain aboard in his place, "say, you-all, you ain"t guine git dis n.i.g.g.ah in dat town to be voodooed by dem heathen n.i.g.g.ahs. Hum-n! An" I ain"t got no rabbit-fut, nor nuthing."
Julian, Ray, and Norris went sight-seeing, while Marat, Robert, and I made our way to the apothecary shop.
Jules Sevier greeted us.
"I ver" sorry I have no news for you," he said. "There is one, I could not find, who have a son who carry the mail, and know ver" much of thees country. Maybe tomorrow she weel be home, and we can learn sometheeng."
He ushered us into the shop, where there awaited us a black woman of middle age, who, Sevier said, would tell us a tale that we would travel far to find a match for. She could speak only in the French; so Jean Marat got her tale, which he interpreted for Robert and myself.
Her husband had been a voodoo devotee; but twelve years ago he had been induced to renounce the worship, and turn to one of the Christian denominations. One of his old a.s.sociates contrived to introduce into his food one of the poisons so well known to the voodoo.
The man died.
The authorities insisted on his immediate burial. The poor widow had gone to visit his grave on the following day, only to find his empty coffin, beside the opened grave. The body was gone. The remains were found, however, hours later, with the heart and lungs removed. She said she then was convinced poison had been given him to put him in a trance, and that the voodoo worshipers had exhumed him a few hours after burial, and resuscitated him, to obtain the living blood for admixture with the rum, and to take the heart for a voodoo feast.
When the woman had gone, Jules Sevier told us that he was prepared to escort some one of us to witness an actual voodoo ceremonial that very night. He a.s.sured us that by reason of the nearness of the locality to the city, our sensibilities would be subjected to no greater shock than to witness the sacrifice of fowls. We none of us confessed to over much curiosity, even for so mild a show; but in this quest we were on, some more actual knowledge of these practices might stand us in good stead.
It fell to me to be Sevier"s companion on the excursion; and I returned alone, at dusk, to take supper with him, and prepare for the show. The apothecary a.s.sured me that if we were to go as white men, we should see little to our purpose, since it would then be necessary to depart before any important part of the ceremonial should begin. So he brought into a back-room certain grease-paints, and a pair of black, woolly wigs, and two outfits--jackets, trousers, and hats,--of the same nondescript style that I had seen on the streets of the city.
He set to work to help me to smear and rig myself first; and when the operation was complete he set a gla.s.s before me. I was shocked at the spectacle, and I set to, to rubbing my wrist, to see if this black stain might not be permanent, so natural did it appear. It refused to rub off.
Sevier saw my embarra.s.sment, and laughingly a.s.sured me that any tallow would take it off.
We pa.s.sed out at the back, into the dark, and made our way through the streets. The rows of unattractive buildings with their second story balconies, shallow and overhanging, were like the pictures I"d seen of the Chinatown of a great city. The stench from the gutters was nauseating, the heat stifling. We had presently pa.s.sed the outskirts of the city, and were treading a rough road.
For some time I had been c.o.c.king my ear to a distant sound. It began as a scarcely discernible rumble; then it would swell to a roar, as of an approaching storm, and die away, and then swell again, and then fall away again, in a most improper and bewildering fashion. The blackened apothecary at my side informed me that it was the _Ka_--the voodoo drum, and that I should presently see the drummer. When we had covered some above a mile of this road, the drummer seemed to have taken his instrument and gone some considerable distance away, for the rumble had now become scarce audible. But my conductor informed me it was a peculiarity of the thing that it was heard with greater distinctness at a distance than when near by; and so the lesser sound was evidence that we were drawing near our goal. The skin over my spine was becoming a bit creepy. The ghostly palms looked down on us, and seemed to whisper things. If I had been alone I am quite sure I should have turned back.
In an interval between the rumblings of the drum I heard a cricket, and that familiar sound gave me some comfort.
Then at last we made out a great fire ahead, and between us and the leaping flames were many dusky figures, grotesquely capering. As we approached we saw that one or two were already in a frenzy of excitement, and there was constant drinking. Then I made out the drummer. He was sitting astride of what appeared to be a cask, his fingers playing upon the end. The dancers seemed as if they would fly into the tree-tops with ecstacy, at each swelling of the sound.
We two kept well out in the shadows, till all of that hundred or more of blacks seemed to have reached the height of intoxication; then we moved in. Finally the dancing ceased, and an old crone in a red robe mounted a rude platform, taking her place beside the snake-box.
She first addressed the mob; and then each worshiper in turn came forward, spoke words, and lay some offering before the box. My companion whispered me the explanation that they were asking favors. The old crone--the _mamaloi_--set her ear to the box, and gave out the answers, one by one.
All now crowded close, as the _mamaloi_ seized a white rooster by the head in the one hand, flashing a knife in the other. A sweep of the blade, and the black devotees directly were mixing blood with the rum in their cups, which they drank. Fowl after fowl followed the first, and all presently found their way into pots for cooking. And the wild caperings recommenced with the drinking, and the shouting, and all.
I began to sicken of the spectacle; and then I noted suspicious eyes taking us in. It was then Jules Sevier whispered me--"Come, it is time we go now." And so we slipped off in the shadows.
The drum ceased its rumble, and the tree-frogs began their warble; to which music I trod the dark road with a lighter step. "They will keep on," said Sevier, "till they be exhaust", or ver" drunk, and then they fall, and sleep all the day."
Certain odors of the dank vegetation filled my nostrils; similar odors ever after have served to recall the spectacle I had witnessed that night.
The city was quiet; the populace seemed all to be sleeping. The howling of some cats was all the sound we heard as we threaded the streets.
Soon we were busied with removing the black stain from our skins. The operation consumed nearly an hour--with the fats, the soap, and the rubbing. And then I was lighted to my bed by Sevier.
We were at breakfast, when there arrived at the back door the mother of the mail carrier, that Sevier had told us of. The apothecary had her in, and questioned her while we ate. She had no knowledge of any Monsieur Mordaunt, but her son had often made mention of one Duran, a white man, of the north coast, who was much abroad in his schooner yacht, and who had, many years back, come suddenly into untold wealth. It was said the source was wealthy connections in France.