The Dynamiter Read online

  _STORY OF THE FAIR CUBAN_

  I am not what I seem. My father drew his descent, on the one hand, fromgrandees of Spain, and on the other, through the maternal line, from thepatriot Bruce. My mother, too, was the descendant of a line of kings;but, alas! these kings were African. She was fair as the day: fairerthan I, for I inherited a darker strain of blood from the veins of myEuropean father; her mind was noble, her manners queenly andaccomplished; and seeing her more than the equal of her neighbours, andsurrounded by the most considerate affection and respect, I grew up toadore her, and when the time came, received her last sigh upon my lips,still ignorant that she was a slave, and alas! my father's mistress. Herdeath, which befell me in my sixteenth year, was the first sorrow I hadknown: it left our home bereaved of its attractions, cast a shade ofmelancholy on my youth, and wrought in my father a tragic and durablechange. Months went by; with the elasticity of my years, I regained someof the simple mirth that had before distinguished me; the plantationsmiled with fresh crops; the negroes on the estate had already forgottenmy mother and transferred their simple obedience to myself; but still thecloud only darkened on the brows of Senor Valdevia. His absences fromhome had been frequent even in the old days, for he did business inprecious gems in the city of Havana; they now became almost continuous;and when he returned, it was but for the night and with the manner of aman crushed down by adverse fortune.

  The place where I was born and passed my days was an isle set in theCaribbean Sea, some half-hour's rowing from the coasts of Cuba. It wassteep, rugged, and, except for my father's family and plantation,uninhabited and left to nature. The house, a low building surrounded byspacious verandahs, stood upon a rise of ground and looked across the seato Cuba. The breezes blew about it gratefully, fanned us as we layswinging in our silken hammocks, and tossed the boughs and flowers of themagnolia. Behind and to the left, the quarter of the negroes and thewaving fields of the plantation covered an eighth part of the surface ofthe isle. On the right and closely bordering on the garden, lay a vastand deadly swamp, densely covered with wood, breathing fever, dotted withprofound sloughs, and inhabited by poisonous oysters, man-eating crabs,snakes, alligators, and sickly fishes. Into the recesses of that jungle,none could penetrate but those of African descent; an invisible,unconquerable foe lay there in wait for the European; and the air wasdeath.

  One morning (from which I must date the beginning of my ruinousmisfortune) I left my room a little after day, for in that warm climateall are early risers, and found not a servant to attend upon my wants. Imade the circuit of the house, still calling: and my surprise had almostchanged into alarm, when coming at last into a large verandahed court, Ifound it thronged with negroes. Even then, even when I was amongst them,not one turned or paid the least regard to my arrival. They had eyes andears for but one person: a woman, richly and tastefully attired; ofelegant carriage, and a musical speech; not so much old in years, as wornand marred by self-indulgence: her face, which was still attractive,stamped with the most cruel passions, her eye burning with the greed ofevil. It was not from her appearance, I believe, but from some emanationof her soul, that I recoiled in a kind of fainting terror; as we hear ofplants that blight and snakes that fascinate, the woman shocked anddaunted me. But I was of a brave nature; trod the weakness down; andforcing my way through the slaves, who fell back before me inembarrassment, as though in the presence of rival mistresses, I asked, inimperious tones: 'Who is this person?'

  A slave girl, to whom I had been kind, whispered in my ear to have acare, for that was Madam Mendizabal; but the name was new to me.

  In the meanwhile the woman, applying a pair of glasses to her eyes,studied me with insolent particularity from head to foot.

  'Young woman,' said she, at last, 'I have had a great experience inrefractory servants, and take a pride in breaking them. You really temptme; and if I had not other affairs, and these of more importance, on myhand, I should certainly buy you at your father's sale.'

  'Madam--' I began, but my voice failed me.

  'Is it possible that you do not know your position?' she returned, with ahateful laugh. 'How comical! Positively, I must buy her.Accomplishments, I suppose?' she added, turning to the servants.

  Several assured her that the young mistress had been brought up like anylady, for so it seemed in their inexperience.

  'She would do very well for my place of business in Havana,' said theSenora Mendizabal, once more studying me through her glasses; 'and Ishould take a pleasure,' she pursued, more directly addressing myself,'in bringing you acquainted with a whip.' And she smiled at me with asavoury lust of cruelty upon her face.

  At this, I found expression. Calling by name upon the servants, I badethem turn this woman from the house, fetch her to the boat, and set herback upon the mainland. But with one voice, they protested that theydurst not obey, coming close about me, pleading and beseeching me to bemore wise; and, when I insisted, rising higher in passion and speaking ofthis foul intruder in the terms she had deserved, they fell back from meas from one who had blasphemed. A superstitious reverence plainlyencircled the stranger; I could read it in their changed demeanour, andin the paleness that prevailed upon the natural colour of their faces;and their fear perhaps reacted on myself. I looked again at MadamMendizabal. She stood perfectly composed, watching my face through herglasses with a smile of scorn; and at the sight of her assuredsuperiority to all my threats, a cry broke from my lips, a cry of rage,fear, and despair, and I fled from the verandah and the house.

  I ran I knew not where, but it was towards the beach. As I went, my headwhirled; so strange, so sudden, were these events and insults. Who wasshe? what, in Heaven's name, the power she wielded over my obedientnegroes? Why had she addressed me as a slave? why spoken of my father'ssale? To all these tumultuary questions I could find no answer; and inthe turmoil of my mind, nothing was plain except the hateful leeringimage of the woman.

  I was still running, mad with fear and anger, when I saw my father comingto meet me from the landing-place; and with a cry that I thought wouldhave killed me, leaped into his arms and broke into a passion of sobs andtears upon his bosom. He made me sit down below a tall palmetto thatgrew not far off; comforted me, but with some abstraction in his voice;and as soon as I regained the least command upon my feelings, asked me,not without harshness, what this grief betokened. I was surprised by histone into a still greater measure of composure; and in firm tones, thoughstill interrupted by sobs, I told him there was a stranger in the island,at which I thought he started and turned pale; that the servants wouldnot obey me; that the stranger's name was Madam Mendizabal, and, at that,he seemed to me both troubled and relieved; that she had insulted me,treated me as a slave (and here my father's brow began to darken),threatened to buy me at a sale, and questioned my own servants before myface; and that, at last, finding myself quite helpless and exposed tothese intolerable liberties, I had fled from the house in terror,indignation, and amazement.

  'Teresa,' said my father, with singular gravity of voice, 'I must maketo-day a call upon your courage; much must be told you, there is muchthat you must do to help me; and my daughter must prove herself a womanby her spirit. As for this Mendizabal, what shall I say? or how am I totell you what she is? Twenty years ago, she was the loveliest of slaves;to-day she is what you see her--prematurely old, disgraced by thepractice of every vice and every nefarious industry, but free, rich,married, they say, to some reputable man, whom may Heaven assist! andexercising among her ancient mates, the slaves of Cuba, an influence asunbounded as its reason is mysterious. Horrible rites, it is supposed,cement her empire: the rites of Hoodoo. Be that as it may, I would haveyou dismiss the thought of this incomparable witch; it is not from herthat danger threatens us; and into her hands, I make bold to promise, youshall never fall.'

  'Father!' I cried. 'Fall? Was there any truth, then, in her words? AmI--O father, tell me plain; I can bear anything but this suspense.'

  'I will tell you
,' he replied, with merciful bluntness. 'Your mother wasa slave; it was my design, so soon as I had saved a competence, to sailto the free land of Britain, where the law would suffer me to marry her:a design too long procrastinated; for death, at the last moment,intervened. You will now understand the heaviness with which yourmother's memory hangs about my neck.'

  I cried out aloud, in pity for my parents; and in seeking to console thesurvivor, I forgot myself.

  'It matters not,' resumed my father. 'What I have left undone can neverbe repaired, and I must bear the penalty of my remorse. But, Teresa,with so cutting a reminder of the evils of delay, I set myself at once todo what was still possible: to liberate yourself.'

  I began to break forth in thanks, but he checked me with a sombreroughness.

  'Your mother's illness,' he resumed, 'had engaged too great a portion ofmy time; my business in the city had lain too long at the mercy ofignorant underlings; my head, my taste, my unequalled knowledge of themore precious stones, that art by which I can distinguish, even on thedarkest night, a sapphire from a ruby, and tell at a glance in whatquarter of the earth a gem was disinterred--all these had been too longabsent from the conduct of affairs. Teresa, I was insolvent.'

  'What matters that?' I cried. 'What matters poverty, if we be lefttogether with our love and sacred memories?'

  'You do not comprehend,' he said gloomily. 'Slave, as you are,young--alas! scarce more than child!--accomplished, beautiful with themost touching beauty, innocent as an angel--all these qualities thatshould disarm the very wolves and crocodiles, are, in the eyes of thoseto whom I stand indebted, commodities to buy and sell. You are achattel; a marketable thing; and worth--heavens, that I should say suchwords!--worth money. Do you begin to see? If I were to give youfreedom, I should defraud my creditors; the manumission would becertainly annulled; you would be still a slave, and I a criminal.'

  I caught his hand in mine, kissed it, and moaned in pity for myself, insympathy for my father.

  'How I have toiled,' he continued, 'how I have dared and striven torepair my losses, Heaven has beheld and will remember. Its blessing wasdenied to my endeavours, or, as I please myself by thinking, but delayedto descend upon my daughter's head. At length, all hope was at an end; Iwas ruined beyond retrieve; a heavy debt fell due upon the morrow, whichI could not meet; I should be declared a bankrupt, and my goods, mylands, my jewels that I so much loved, my slaves whom I have spoiled andrendered happy, and oh! tenfold worse, you, my beloved daughter, would besold and pass into the hands of ignorant and greedy traffickers. Toolong, I saw, had I accepted and profited by this great crime of slavery;but was my daughter, my innocent unsullied daughter, was _she_ to pay theprice? I cried out--no!--I took Heaven to witness my temptation; Icaught up this bag and fled. Close upon my track are the pursuers;perhaps to-night, perhaps to-morrow, they will land upon this isle,sacred to the memory of the dear soul that bore you, to consign yourfather to an ignominious prison, and yourself to slavery and dishonour.We have not many hours before us. Off the north coast of our isle, bystrange good fortune, an English yacht has for some days been hovering.It belongs to Sir George Greville, whom I slightly know, to whom ere nowI have rendered unusual services, and who will not refuse to help in ourescape. Or if he did, if his gratitude were in default, I have the powerto force him. For what does it mean, my child--what means thisEnglishman, who hangs for years upon the shores of Cuba, and returns fromevery trip with new and valuable gems?'

  'He may have found a mine,' I hazarded.

  'So he declares,' returned my father; 'but the strange gift I havereceived from nature, easily transpierced the fable. He brought mediamonds only, which I bought, at first, in innocence; at a secondglance, I started; for of these stones, my child, some had first seen theday in Africa, some in Brazil; while others, from their peculiar waterand rude workmanship, I divined to be the spoil of ancient temples. Thusput upon the scent, I made inquiries. Oh, he is cunning, but I wascunninger than he. He visited, I found, the shop of every jeweller intown; to one he came with rubies, to one with emeralds, to one withprecious beryl; to all, with this same story of the mine. But in whatmine, what rich epitome of the earth's surface, were there conjoined therubies of Ispahan, the pearls of Coromandel, and the diamonds ofGolconda? No, child, that man, for all his yacht and title, that manmust fear and must obey me. To-night, then, as soon as it is dark, wemust take our way through the swamp by the path which I shall presentlyshow you; thence, across the highlands of the isle, a track is blazed,which shall conduct us to the haven on the north; and close by the yachtis riding. Should my pursuers come before the hour at which I look tosee them, they will still arrive too late; a trusty man attends on themainland; as soon as they appear, we shall behold, if it be dark, theredness of a fire, if it be day, a pillar of smoke, on the opposingheadland; and thus warned, we shall have time to put the swamp betweenourselves and danger. Meantime, I would conceal this bag; I would,before all things, be seen to arrive at the house with empty hands; ablabbing slave might else undo us. For see!' he added; and holding upthe bag, which he had already shown me, he poured into my lap a shower ofunmounted jewels, brighter than flowers, of every size and colour, andcatching, as they fell, upon a million dainty facets, the ardour of thesun.

  I could not restrain a cry of admiration.

  'Even in your ignorant eyes,' pursued my father, 'they command respect.Yet what are they but pebbles, passive to the tool, cold as death?Ingrate!' he cried. 'Each one of these--miracles of nature's patience,conceived out of the dust in centuries of microscopical activity, eachone is, for you and me, a year of life, liberty, and mutual affection.How, then, should I cherish them! and why do I delay to place them beyondreach! Teresa, follow me.'

  He rose to his feet, and led me to the borders of the great jungle, wherethey overhung, in a wall of poisonous and dusky foliage, the declivity ofthe hill on which my father's house stood planted. For some while heskirted, with attentive eyes, the margin of the thicket. Then, seemingto recognise some mark, for his countenance became immediately lightenedof a load of thought, he paused and addressed me. 'Here,' said he, 'isthe entrance of the secret path that I have mentioned, and here you shallawait me. I but pass some hundreds of yards into the swamp to bury mypoor treasure; as soon as that is safe, I will return.' It was in vainthat I sought to dissuade him, urging the dangers of the place; in vainthat I begged to be allowed to follow, pleading the black blood that Inow knew to circulate in my veins: to all my appeals he turned a deafear, and, bending back a portion of the screen of bushes, disappearedinto the pestilential silence of the swamp.

  At the end of a full hour, the bushes were once more thrust aside; and myfather stepped from out the thicket, and paused and almost staggered inthe first shock of the blinding sunlight. His face was of a singulardusky red; and yet for all the heat of the tropical noon, he did not seemto sweat.

  'You are tired,' I cried, springing to meet him. 'You are ill.'

  'I am tired,' he replied; 'the air in that jungle stifles one; my eyes,besides, have grown accustomed to its gloom, and the strong sunshinepierces them like knives. A moment, Teresa, give me but a moment. Allshall yet be well. I have buried the hoard under a cypress, immediatelybeyond the bayou, on the left-hand margin of the path; beautiful, brightthings, they now lie whelmed in slime; you shall find them there, ifneedful. But come, let us to the house; it is time to eat against ourjourney of the night: to eat and then to sleep, my poor Teresa: then tosleep.' And he looked upon me out of bloodshot eyes, shaking his head asif in pity.

  We went hurriedly, for he kept murmuring that he had been gone too long,and that the servants might suspect; passed through the airy stretch ofthe verandah; and came at length into the grateful twilight of theshuttered house. The meal was spread; the house servants, alreadyinformed by the boatmen of the master's return, were all back at theirposts, and terrified, as I could see, to face me. My father stillmurmuring of haste with weary and feverish pertinacity, I
hurried at onceto take my place at table; but I had no sooner left his arm than hepaused 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 ranto him and tried to lead him to the table; but he resisted and stoodstiffly where he was, opening and shutting his jaws, as if in a painfuleffort 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 torelieve him. But they, with one accord, denied the possibility of hope;the master had gone into the swamp, they said, the master must die; allhelp was idle. Why should I dwell upon his sufferings? I had himcarried to a bed, and watched beside him. He lay still, and at timesground his teeth, and talked at times unintelligibly, only that one wordof hurry, hurry, coming distinctly to my ears, and telling me that, evenin the last struggle with the powers of death, his mind was stilltortured by his daughter's peril. The sun had gone down, the darknesshad 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 mysituation? Beside the body of my last friend, I had forgotten all exceptthe natural pangs of my bereavement.

  The sun was some four hours above the eastern line, when I was recalledto a knowledge of the things of earth, by the entrance of the slave-girlto whom I have already referred. The poor soul was indeed devotedlyattached to me; and it was with streaming tears that she broke to me theimport of her coming. With the first light of dawn a boat had reachedour landing-place, and set on shore upon our isle (till now so fortunate)a party of officers bearing a warrant to arrest my father's person, and aman of a gross body and low manners, who declared the island, theplantation, and all its human chattels, to be now his own. 'I think,'said my slave-girl, 'he must be a politician or some very powerfulsorcerer; for Madam Mendizabal had no sooner seen them coming, than shetook to the woods.'

  'Fool,' said I, 'it was the officers she feared; and at any rate why doesthat beldam still dare to pollute the island with her presence? And OCora,' I exclaimed, remembering my grief, 'what matter all these troublesto an orphan?'

  'Mistress,' said she, 'I must remind you of two things. Never speak asyou do now of Madam Mendizabal; or never to a person of colour; for sheis the most powerful woman in this world, and her real name even, if onedurst pronounce 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 shemay be afraid of the police (and indeed I think that I have heard she isin hiding), and though I know that you will laugh and not believe, yet itis true, and proved, and known that she hears every word that peopleutter in this whole vast world; and your poor Cora is already deep enoughin 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, forHeaven's sake, bear in mind that you are no longer the poor Senor'sdaughter. He is gone, dear gentleman; and now you are no more than acommon 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 maystill, if you are winning and obedient, secure yourself an easy life.'

  For a moment I looked on the creature with the indignation you mayconceive; the next, it was gone: she did but speak after her kind, as thebird sings or cattle bellow. 'Go,' said I. 'Go, Cora. I thank you foryour kind intentions. Leave me alone one moment with my dead father; andtell this man that I will come at once.'

  She went: and I, turning to the bed of death, addressed to those deafears the last appeal and defence of my beleaguered innocence. 'Father,'I said, 'it was your last thought, even in the pangs of dissolution, thatyour daughter should escape disgrace. Here, at your side, I swear to youthat 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, andHeaven help my helplessness!' Thereupon I felt strengthened as by longrepose; stepped to the mirror, ay, even in that chamber of the dead;hastily arranged my hair, refreshed my tear-worn eyes, breathed a dumbfarewell to the originator of my days and sorrows; and composing myfeatures to a smile, went forth to meet my master.

  He was in a great, hot bustle, reviewing that house, once ours, to whichhe had but now succeeded; a corpulent, sanguine man of middle age,sensual, vulgar, humorous, and, if I judged rightly, not ill-disposed bynature. 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 hadlearnt it was so, instantly dismissed them. 'Now, my dear,' said he, 'Iam a plain man: none of your damned 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 theservants.

  'Come,' said he, 'this is better than I had expected; and if you chooseto be dutiful in the station to which it has pleased God to call you, youwill find me a very kind old fellow. I like your looks,' he added,calling me by my name, which he scandalously mispronounced. 'Is yourhair all your own?' he then inquired with a certain sharpness, and comingup to me, as though I were a horse, he grossly satisfied his doubts. Iwas all one flame from head to foot, but I contained my righteous angerand submitted. 'That is very well,' he continued, chucking me goodhumouredly under the chin. 'You will have no cause to regret coming toold Caulder, eh? But that is by the way. What is more to the point isthis: your late master was a most dishonest rogue, and levanted with somevaluable property that belonged of rights to me. Now, considering yourrelation to him, I regard you as the likeliest person to know what hasbecome of it; and I warn you, before you answer, that my whole futurekindness will depend upon your honesty. I am an honest man myself, andexpect 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 haveyou to know, and surrounded by my own lawful servants.'

  'Are the officers gone?' I asked; and oh! how my hopes hung upon theanswer!

  'They are,' said he, looking somewhat disconcerted. 'Why do you ask?'

  'I wish you had kept them,' I answered, solemnly enough, although myheart at that same moment leaped with exultation. 'Master, I must notconceal from you the truth. The servants on this estate are in adangerous condition, and mutiny has long been brewing.'

  'Why,' he cried, 'I never saw a milder-looking lot of niggers in mylife.' But for all that he turned somewhat pale.

  'Did they tell you,' I continued, 'that Madam Mendizabal is on theisland? that, since her coming, they obey none but her? that if, thismorning, they have received you with even decent civility, it was only byher orders--issued with what after-thought I leave you to consider?'

  'Madam Jezebel?' said he. 'Well, she is a dangerous devil; the policeare 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, sapphireand emerald and opal, and the golden topaz, and rubies red as thesunset--of what incalculable worth, of what unequalled beauty to theeye!--had you seen it, as I have, and alas! as _she_ has--you wouldunderstand and tremble at your danger.'

  'She has seen them!' he cried, and I could see by his face, that myaudacity was justified by its success.

  I caught his hand in mine. 'My master,' said I, 'I am now yours; it ismy 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 tothe place where the treasure has been buried; that once disinterred, letus make straight for the boat, escape to the mainland, and not return tothis dangerous isle with
out 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 thatslavery was natural, fell like a child into the trap I laid for him. Hepraised and thanked me; told me I had all the qualities he valued in aservant; and when he had questioned me further as to the nature and valueof the treasure, and I had once more artfully inflamed his greed, bade mewithout delay proceed to carry out my plan of action.

  From a shed in the garden, I took a pick and shovel; and thence, bydevious paths among the magnolias, led my master to the entrance of theswamp. I walked first, carrying, as I was now in duty bound, the tools,and glancing continually behind me, lest we should be spied upon andfollowed. When we were come as far as the beginning of the path, itflashed into my mind I had forgotten meat; and leaving Mr. Caulder in theshadow of a tree, I returned alone to the house for a basket ofprovisions. Were they for him? I asked myself. And a voice within meanswered, No. While we were face to face, while I still saw before myeyes the man to whom I belonged as the hand belongs to the body, myindignation held me bravely up. But now that I was alone, I conceived asickness at myself and my designs that I could scarce endure; I longed tothrow myself at his feet, avow my intended treachery, and warn him fromthat pestilential swamp, to which I was decoying him to die; but my vowto my dead father, my duty to my innocent youth, prevailed upon thesescruples; and though my face was pale and must have reflected the horrorthat oppressed my spirits, it was with a firm step that I returned to theborders of the swamp, and with smiling lips that I bade him rise andfollow me.

  The path on which we now entered was cut, like a tunnel, through theliving jungle. On either hand and overhead, the mass of foliage wascontinuously joined; the day sparingly filtered through the depth ofsuper-impending wood; and the air was hot like steam, and heady withvegetable odours, and lay like a load upon the lungs and brain.Underfoot, a great depth of mould received our silent footprints; on eachside, mimosas, as tall as a man, shrank from my passing skirts with acontinuous hissing rustle; and but for these sentient vegetables, all inthat den of pestilence was motionless and noiseless.

  We had gone but a little way in, when Mr. Caulder was seized with suddennausea, and must sit down a moment on the path. My heart yearned, as Ibeheld him; and I seriously begged the doomed mortal to return upon hissteps. 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 honestman, and would not stand to be defrauded, and so forth, panting thewhile, like a sick dog. Presently he got to his feet again, protestinghe had conquered his uneasiness; but as we again began to go forward, Isaw in his changed countenance, the first approaches of death.

  'Master,' said I, 'you look pale, deathly pale; your pallor fills me withdread. Your eyes are bloodshot; they are red like the rubies that weseek.'

  'Wench,' he cried, 'look before you; look at your steps. I declare toHeaven, if you annoy me once again by looking back, I shall remind you ofthe change in your position.'

  A little after, I observed a worm upon the ground, and told, in awhisper, that its touch was death. Presently a great green serpent,vivid as the grass in spring, wound rapidly across the path; and onceagain 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 ahound.'

  But he was not to be dissuaded. 'I am an old traveller,' said he. 'Thisis 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!' saidhe. 'What did I tell you? We are past the worst.'

  Indeed, we had now come to the bayou, which was in that place very narrowand bridged across by a fallen trunk; but on either hand we could see itbroaden out, under a cavern of great arms of trees and hanging creepers:sluggish, putrid, of a horrible and sickly stench, floated on by the flatheads of alligators, and its banks alive with scarlet crabs.

  'If we fall from that unsteady bridge,' said I, 'see, where the caimanlies ready to devour us! If, by the least divergence from the path, weshould be snared in a morass, see, where those myriads of scarlet verminscour the border of the thicket! Once helpless, how they would swarmtogether to the assault! What could man do against a thousand of suchmailed assailants? And what a death were that, to perish alive undertheir 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 stickthat was in his hand and cruelly struck me on the face. 'Lead on!' hecried 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 backupon my heart. Something, I know not what, fell at that moment with adull plunge in the waters of the lagoon, and I told myself it was my pitythat had fallen.

  On the farther side, to which we now hastily scrambled, the wood was notso dense, the web of creepers not so solidly convolved. It was possible,here and there, to mark a patch of somewhat brighter daylight, or todistinguish, through the lighter web of parasites, the proportions ofsome 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 thecypress root, where they were instantly blackened over with the crawlingants; and looked once more in the face of my unconscious victim.Mosquitoes and foul flies wove so close a veil between us that hisfeatures were obscured; and the sound of their flight was like theturning of a mighty wheel.

  'Here,' I said, 'is the spot. I cannot dig, for I have not learned touse such instruments; but, for your own sake, I beseech you to be swiftin what you do.'

  He had sunk once more upon the ground, panting like a fish; and I sawrising 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; thedrone of these carrion flies confounds me. Have you not wine?'

  I gave him a glass, and he drank greedily. 'It is for you to think,'said I, 'if you should further persevere. The swamp has an ill name.'And at the word I ominously nodded.

  'Give me the pick,' said he. 'Where are the jewels buried?'

  I told him vaguely; and in the sweltering heat and closeness, and dimtwilight of the jungle, he began to wield the pickaxe, swinging itoverhead with the vigour of a healthy man. At first, there broke forthupon him a strong sweat, that made his face to shine, and in which thegreedy insects settled thickly.

  'To sweat in such a place,' said I. 'O master, is this wise? Fever isdrunk in through open pores.'

  'What do you mean?' he screamed, pausing with the pick buried in thesoil. 'Do you seek to drive me mad? Do you think I do not understandthe danger that I run?'

  'That is all I want,' said I: 'I only wish you to be swift.' And then,my mind flitting to my father's deathbed, I began to murmur, scarce abovemy breath, the same vain repetition of words, 'Hurry, hurry, hurry.'

  Presently, to my surprise, the treasure-seeker took them up; and while hestill wielded the pick, but now with staggering and uncertain blows,repeated to himself, as it were the burthen of a song, 'Hurry, hurry,hurry;' and then again, 'There is no time to lose; the marsh has an illname, ill name;' and then back to 'Hurry, hurry, hurry,' with a dreadful,mechanical, hurried, and yet wearied utterance, as a sick man rolls uponhis pillow. The sweat had disappeared; he was now dry, but all that Icould see of him, of the same dull brick red. Presently his pickunearthed the bag of jewels; but he did not observe it, and continuedhewing at the soil.

  'Master,' said I, 'there is the treasure.' He seemed to waken from
adream. 'Where?' he cried; and then, seeing it before his eyes, 'Can thisbe possible?' he added. 'I must be light-headed. Girl,' he criedsuddenly, with the same screaming tone of voice that I had once beforeobserved, 'what is wrong? is this swamp accursed?'

  'It is a grave,' I answered. 'You will not go out alive; and as for me,my life is in God's hands.'

  He fell upon the ground like a man struck by a blow, but whether from theeffect of my words, or from sudden seizure of the malady, I cannot tell.Pretty soon, he raised his head. 'You have brought me here to die,' hesaid; 'at the risk of your own days, you have condemned me. Why?'

  'To save my honour,' I replied. 'Bear me out that I have warned you.Greed of these pebbles, and not I, has been your undoer.'

  He took out his revolver and handed it to me. 'You see,' he said, 'Icould have killed you even yet. But I am dying, as you say; nothingcould save me; and my bill is long enough already. Dear me, dear me,' hesaid, looking in my face with a curious, puzzled, and pathetic look, likea dull child at school, 'if there be a judgment afterwards, my bill islong enough.'

  At that, I broke into a passion of weeping, crawled at his feet, kissedhis hands, begged his forgiveness, put the pistol back into his grasp andbesought him to avenge his death; for indeed, if with my life I couldhave bought back his, I had not balanced at the cost. But he wasdetermined, the poor soul, that I should yet more bitterly regret my act.

  'I have nothing to forgive,' said he. 'Dear heaven, what a thing is anold fool! I thought, upon my word, you had taken quite a fancy to me.'

  He was seized, at the same time, with a dreadful, swimming dizziness,clung to me like a child, and called upon the name of some woman.Presently this spasm, which I watched with choking tears, lessened anddied away; and he came again to the full possession of his mind. 'I mustwrite my will,' he said. 'Get out my pocket-book.' I did so, and hewrote hurriedly on one page with a pencil. 'Do not let my son know,' hesaid; 'he is a cruel dog, is my son Philip; do not let him know how youhave paid me out;' and then all of a sudden, 'God,' he cried, 'I amblind,' and clapped both hands before his eyes; and then again, and in agroaning whisper, 'Don't leave me to the crabs!' I swore I would be trueto him so long as a pulse stirred; and I redeemed my promise. I satthere and watched him, as I had watched my father, but with whatdifferent, with what appalling thoughts! Through the long afternoon, hegradually sank. All that while, I fought an uphill battle to shield himfrom the swarms of ants and the clouds of mosquitoes: the prisoner of mycrime. The night fell, the roar of insects instantly redoubled in thedark arcades of the swamp; and still I was not sure that he had breathedhis last. At length, the flesh of his hand, which I yet held in mine,grew chill between my fingers, and I knew that I was free.

  I took his pocket-book and the revolver, being resolved rather to diethan to be captured, and laden besides with the basket and the bag ofgems, set forward towards the north. The swamp, at that hour of thenight, was filled with a continuous din: animals and insects of allkinds, and all inimical to life, contributing their parts. Yet in themidst of this turmoil of sound, I walked as though my eyes were bandaged,beholding nothing. The soil sank under my foot, with a horrid, slipperyconsistence, as though I were walking among toads; the touch of the thickwall of foliage, by which alone I guided myself, affrighted me like thetouch of serpents; the darkness checked my breathing like a gag; indeed,I have never suffered such extremes of fear as during that nocturnalwalk, nor have I ever known a more sensible relief than when I found thepath beginning to mount and to grow firmer under foot, and saw, althoughstill some way in front of me, the silver brightness of the moon.

  Presently, I had crossed the last of the jungle, and come forth amongstnoble and lofty woods, clean rock, the clean, dry dust, the aromaticsmell of mountain plants that had been baked all day in sunlight, and theexpressive silence of the night. My negro blood had carried me unhurtacross that reeking and pestiferous morass; by mere good fortune, I hadescaped the crawling and stinging vermin with which it was alive; and Ihad now before me the easier portion of my enterprise, to cross the isleand to make good my arrival at the haven and my acceptance on the Englishyacht. It was impossible by night to follow such a track as my fatherhad described; and I was casting about for any landmark, and, in myignorance, vainly consulting the disposition of the stars, when therefell upon my ear, from somewhere far in front, the sound of many voiceshurriedly singing.

  I scarce knew upon what grounds I acted; but I shaped my steps in thedirection of that sound; and in a quarter of an hour's walking, cameunperceived to the margin of an open glade. It was lighted by the strongmoon and by the flames of a fire. In the midst, there stood a little lowand rude building, surmounted by a cross: a chapel, as I then rememberedto have heard, long since desecrated and given over to the rites ofHoodoo. Hard by the steps of entrance was a black mass, continuallyagitated and stirring to and fro as if with inarticulate life; and this Ipresently perceived to be a heap of cocks, hares, dogs, and other birdsand animals, still struggling, but helplessly tethered and cruelly tossedone upon another. Both the fire and the chapel were surrounded by a ringof kneeling Africans, both men and women. Now they would raise theirpalms half-closed to heaven, with a peculiar, passionate gesture ofsupplication; now they would bow their heads and spread their handsbefore them on the ground. As the double movement passed and repassedalong the line, the heads kept rising and falling, like waves upon thesea; and still, as if in time to these gesticulations, the hurried chantcontinued. I stood spellbound, knowing that my life depended by a hair,knowing that I had stumbled on a celebration of the rites of Hoodoo.

  Presently, the door of the chapel opened, and there came forth a tallnegro, entirely nude, and bearing in his hand the sacrificial knife. Hewas followed by an apparition still more strange and shocking: MadamMendizabal, naked also, and carrying in both hands and raised to thelevel of her face, an open basket of wicker. It was filled with coilingsnakes; and these, as she stood there with the uplifted basket, shotthrough the osier grating and curled about her arms. At the sight ofthis, the fervour of the crowd seemed to swell suddenly higher; and thechant rose in pitch and grew more irregular in time and accent. Then, ata sign from the tall negro, where he stood, motionless and smiling, inthe moon and firelight, the singing died away, and there began the secondstage of this barbarous and bloody celebration. From different parts ofthe ring, one after another, man or woman, ran forth into the midst;ducked, with that same gesture of the thrown-up hand, before thepriestess and her snakes; and with various adjurations, uttered aloud theblackest wishes of the heart. Death and disease were the favours usuallyinvoked: the death or the disease of enemies or rivals; some calling downthese plagues upon the nearest of their own blood, and one, to whom Iswear I had been never less than kind, invoking them upon myself. Ateach petition, the tall negro, still smiling, picked up some bird oranimal from the heaving mass upon his left, slew it with the knife, andtossed its body on the ground. At length, it seemed, it reached the turnof the high-priestess. She set down the basket on the steps, moved intothe centre of the ring, grovelled in the dust before the reptiles, andstill grovelling lifted up her voice, between speech and singing, andwith so great, with so insane a fervour of excitement, as struck a sortof horror through my blood.

  'Power,' she began, 'whose name we do not utter; power that is neithergood nor evil, but below them both; stronger than good, greater thanevil--all my life long I have adored and served thee. Who has shed bloodupon thine altars? whose voice is broken with the singing of thy praises?whose limbs are faint before their age with leaping in thy revels? Whohas slain the child of her body? I,' she cried, 'I, Metamnbogu! By myown name, I name myself. I tear away the veil. I would be served orperish. Hear me, slime of the fat swamp, blackness of the thunder, venomof the serpent's udder--hear or slay me! I would have two things, Oshapeless one, O horror of emptiness--two things, or die! The blood ofmy white-faced husband; oh! give me that; he is the enemy of Hoodoo; giv
eme his blood! And yet another, O racer of the blind winds, O germinatorin the ruins of the dead, O root of life, root of corruption! I growold, I grow hideous; I am known, I am hunted for my life: let thy servantthen lay by this outworn body; let thy chief priestess turn again to theblossom of her days, and be a girl once more, and the desired of all men,even as in the past! And, O lord and master, as I here ask a marvel notyet wrought since we were torn from the old land, have I not prepared thesacrifice in which thy soul delighteth--the kid without the horns?'

  Even as she uttered the words, there was a great rumour of joy throughall the circle of worshippers; it rose, and fell, and rose again; andswelled at last into rapture, when the tall negro, who had stepped aninstant into the chapel, reappeared before the door, carrying in his armsthe body of the slave-girl, Cora. I know not if I saw what followed.When next my mind awoke to a clear knowledge, Cora was laid upon thesteps before the serpents; the negro with the knife stood over her; theknife rose; and at this I screamed out in my great horror, bidding them,in God's name, to pause.

  A stillness fell upon the mob of cannibals. A moment more, and they musthave thrown off this stupor, and I infallibly have perished. But Heavenhad designed to save me. The silence of these wretched men was not yetbroken, when there arose, in the empty night, a sound louder than theroar of any European tempest, swifter to travel than the wings of anyEastern wind. Blackness engulfed the world; blackness, stabbed acrossfrom every side by intricate and blinding lightning. Almost in the samesecond, at one world-swallowing stride, the heart of the tornado reachedthe clearing. I heard an agonising crash, and the light of my reason wasoverwhelmed.

  When I recovered consciousness, the day was come. I was unhurt; thetrees close about me had not lost a bough; and I might have thought atfirst that the tornado was a feature in a dream. It was otherwiseindeed; for when I looked abroad, I perceived I had escaped destructionby a hand's-breadth. Right through the forest, which here covered hilland dale, the storm had ploughed a lane of ruin. On either hand, thetrees waved uninjured in the air of the morning; but in the forthrightcourse of its advance, the hurricane had left no trophy standing.Everything, in that line, tree, man, or animal, the desecrated chapel andthe votaries of Hoodoo, had been subverted and destroyed in that briefspasm of anger of the powers of air. Everything, but a yard or twobeyond the line of its passage, humble flower, lofty tree, and the poorvulnerable maid who now knelt to pay her gratitude to heaven, awokeunharmed in the crystal purity and peace of the new day.

  To move by the path of the tornado was a thing impossible to man, sowildly were the wrecks of the tall forest piled together by that fugitiveconvulsion. I crossed it indeed; with such labour and patience, with somany dangerous slips and falls, as left me, at the further side, bankruptalike of strength and courage. There I sat down awhile to recruit myforces; and as I ate (how should I bless the kindliness of Heaven!) myeye, flitting to and fro in the colonnade of the great trees, alighted ona trunk that had been blazed. Yes, by the directing hand of Providence,I had been conducted to the very track I was to follow. With what alight heart I now set forth, and walking with how glad a step, traversedthe uplands of the isle!

  It was hard upon the hour of noon, when I came, all tattered and wayworn,to the summit of a steep descent, and looked below me on the sea. Aboutall the coast, the surf, roused by the tornado of the night, beat with aparticular fury and made a fringe of snow. Close at my feet, I saw ahaven, set in precipitous and palm-crowned bluffs of rock. Just outside,a ship was heaving on the surge, so trimly sparred, so glossily painted,so elegant and point-device in every feature, that my heart was seizedwith admiration. The English colours blew from her masthead; and from myhigh station, I caught glimpses of her snowy planking, as she rolled onthe uneven deep, and saw the sun glitter on the brass of her deckfurniture. There, then, was my ship of refuge; and of all mydifficulties only one remained: to get on board of her.

  Half an hour later, I issued at last out of the woods on the margin of acove, into whose jaws the tossing and blue billows entered, and alongwhose shores they broke with a surprising loudness. A wooded promontoryhid the yacht; and I had walked some distance round the beach, in whatappeared to be a virgin solitude, when my eye fell on a boat, drawn intoa natural harbour, where it rocked in safety, but deserted. I lookedabout for those who should have manned her; and presently, in theimmediate entrance of the wood, spied the red embers of a fire, and,stretched around in various attitudes, a party of slumbering mariners.To these I drew near: most were black, a few white; but all were dressedwith the conspicuous decency of yachtsmen; and one, from his peaked capand glittering buttons, I rightly divined to be an officer. Him, then, Itouched upon the shoulder. He started up; the sharpness of his movementwoke the rest; and they all stared upon me in surprise.

  'What do you want?' inquired the officer.

  'To go on board the yacht,' I answered.

  I thought they all seemed disconcerted at this; and the officer, withsomething of sharpness, asked me who I was. Now I had determined toconceal my name until I met Sir George; and the first name that rose tomy lips was that of the Senora Mendizabal. At the word, there went ashock about the little party of seamen; the negroes stared at me withindescribable eagerness, the whites themselves with something of a scaredsurprise; and instantly the spirit of mischief prompted me to add, 'Andif the name is new to your ears, call me Metamnbogu.'

  I had never seen an effect so wonderful. The negroes threw their handsinto the air, with the same gesture I remarked the night before about theHoodoo camp-fire; first one, and then another, ran forward and kneeleddown and kissed the skirts of my torn dress; and when the white officerbroke out swearing and calling to know if they were mad, the colouredseamen took him by the shoulders, dragged him on one side till they wereout of hearing, and surrounded him with open mouths and extravagantpantomime. The officer seemed to struggle hard; he laughed aloud, and Isaw him make gestures of dissent and protest; but in the end, whetherovercome by reason or simply weary of resistance, he gave in--approachedme civilly enough, but with something of a sneering mannerunderneath--and touching his cap, 'My lady,' said he, 'if that is whatyou are, the boat is ready.'

  My reception on board the _Nemorosa_ (for so the yacht was named) partookof the same mingled nature. We were scarcely within hail of that greatand elegant fabric, where she lay rolling gunwale under and churning theblue sea to snow, before the bulwarks were lined with the heads of agreat crowd of seamen, black, white, and yellow; and these and the fewwho manned the boat began exchanging shouts in some _lingua franca_incomprehensible to me. All eyes were directed on the passenger; andonce more I saw the negroes toss up their hands to heaven, but now as ifwith passionate wonder and delight.

  At the head of the gangway, I was received by another officer, agentlemanly man with blond and bushy whiskers; and to him I addressed mydemand to see Sir George.

  'But this is not--' he cried, and paused.

  'I know it,' returned the other officer, who had brought me from theshore. 'But what the devil can we do? Look at all the niggers!'

  I followed his direction; and as my eye lighted upon each, the poorignorant Africans ducked, and bowed, and threw their hands into the air,as though in the presence of a creature half divine. Apparently theofficer with the whiskers had instantly come round to the opinion of hissubaltern; for he now addressed me with every signal of respect.

  'Sir George is at the island, my lady,' said he: 'for which, with yourladyship's permission, I shall immediately make all sail. The cabins areprepared. Steward, take Lady Greville below.'

  Under this new name, then, and so captivated by surprise that I couldneither think nor speak, I was ushered into a spacious and airy cabin,hung about with weapons and surrounded by divans. The steward asked formy commands; but I was by this time so wearied, bewildered, anddisturbed, that I could only wave him to leave me to myself, and sinkupon a pile of cushions. Presently, by the changed motion of the ship, Ik
new her to be under way; my thoughts, so far from clarifying, grew themore distracted and confused; dreams began to mingle and confound them;and at length, by insensible transition, I sank into a dreamless slumber.

  When I awoke, the day and night had passed, and it was once more morning.The world on which I reopened my eyes swam strangely up and down; thejewels in the bag that lay beside me chinked together ceaselessly; theclock and the barometer wagged to and fro like pendulums; and overhead,seamen were singing out at their work, and coils of rope clattering andthumping on the deck. Yet it was long before I had divined that I was atsea; long before I had recalled, one after another, the tragical,mysterious, and inexplicable events that had brought me where was.

  When I had done so, I thrust the jewels, which I was surprised to findhad been respected, into the bosom of my dress; and seeing a silver bellhard by upon a table, rang it loudly. The steward instantly appeared; Iasked for food; and he proceeded to lay the table, regarding me the whilewith a disquieting and pertinacious scrutiny. To relieve myself of myembarrassment, I asked him, with as fair a show of ease as I couldmuster, if it were usual for yachts to carry so numerous a crew?

  'Madam,' said he, 'I know not who you are, nor what mad fancy has inducedyou to usurp a name and an appalling destiny that are not yours. I warnyou from the soul. No sooner arrived at the island--'

  At this moment he was interrupted by the whiskered officer, who hadentered unperceived behind him, and now laid a hand upon his shoulder.The sudden pallor, the deadly and sick fear, that was imprinted on thesteward's face, formed a startling addition to his words.

  'Parker!' said the officer, and pointed towards the door.

  'Yes, Mr. Kentish,' said the steward. 'For God's sake, Mr. Kentish!'And vanished, with a white face, from the cabin.

  Thereupon the officer bade me sit down, and began to help me, and join inthe meal. 'I fill your ladyship's glass,' said he, and handed me atumbler of neat rum.

  'Sir,' cried I, 'do you expect me to drink this?'

  He laughed heartily. 'Your ladyship is so much changed,' said he, 'thatI no longer expect any one thing more than any other.'

  Immediately after, a white seaman entered the cabin, saluted both Mr.Kentish and myself, and informed the officer there was a sail in sight,which was bound to pass us very close, and that Mr. Harland was in doubtabout the colours.

  'Being so near the island?' asked Mr. Kentish.

  'That was what Mr. Harland said, sir,' returned the sailor, with ascrape.

  'Better not, I think,' said Mr. Kentish. 'My compliments to Mr. Harland;and if she seem a lively boat, give her the stars and stripes; but if shebe dull, and we can easily outsail her, show John Dutchman. That isalways another word for incivility at sea; so we can disregard a hail ora flag of distress, without attracting notice.'

  As soon as the sailor had gone on deck, I turned to the officer inwonder. 'Mr. Kentish, if that be your name,' said I, 'are you ashamed ofyour own colours?'

  'Your ladyship refers to the _Jolly Roger_?' he inquired, with perfectgravity; and immediately after, went into peals of laughter. 'Pardonme,' said he; 'but here for the first time I recognise your ladyship'simpetuosity.' Nor, try as I pleased, could I extract from him anyexplanation of this mystery, but only oily and commonplace evasion.

  While we were thus occupied, the movement of the _Nemorosa_ graduallybecame less violent; its speed at the same time diminished; and presentlyafter, with a sullen plunge, the anchor was discharged into the sea.Kentish immediately rose, offered his arm, and conducted me on deck;where I found we were lying in a roadstead among many low and rockyislets, hovered about by an innumerable cloud of sea-fowl. Immediatelyunder our board, a somewhat larger isle was green with trees, set with afew low buildings and approached by a pier of very crazy workmanship; anda little inshore of us, a smaller vessel lay at anchor.

  I had scarce time to glance to the four quarters, ere a boat was lowered.I was handed in, Kentish took place beside me, and we pulled briskly tothe pier. A crowd of villainous, armed loiterers, both black and white,looked on upon our landing; and again the word passed about among thenegroes, and again I was received with prostrations and the same gestureof the flung-up hand. By this, what with the appearance of these men,and the lawless, sea-girt spot in which I found myself, my courage begana little to decline, and clinging to the arm of Mr. Kentish, I begged himto tell me what it meant?

  'Nay, madam,' he returned, '_you_ know.' And leading me smartly throughthe crowd, which continued to follow at a considerable distance, and atwhich he still kept looking back, I thought, with apprehension, hebrought me to a low house that stood alone in an encumbered yard, openedthe door, and begged me to enter.

  'But why?' said I. 'I demand to see Sir George.'

  'Madam,' returned Mr. Kentish, looking suddenly as black as thunder, 'todrop all fence, I know neither who nor what you are; beyond the fact thatyou are not the person whose name you have assumed. But be what youplease, spy, ghost, devil, or most ill-judging jester, if you do notimmediately enter that house, I will cut you to the earth.' And even ashe spoke, he threw an uneasy glance behind him at the following crowd ofblacks.

  I did not wait to be twice threatened; I obeyed at once, and with apalpitating heart; and the next moment, the door was locked from theoutside and the key withdrawn. The interior was long, low, and quiteunfurnished, but filled, almost from end to end, with sugar-cane,tar-barrels, old tarry rope, and other incongruous and highly inflammablematerial; and not only was the door locked, but the solitary windowbarred with iron.

  I was by this time so exceedingly bewildered and afraid, that I wouldhave given years of my life to be once more the slave of Mr. Caulder. Istill stood, with my hands clasped, the image of despair, looking aboutme on the lumber of the room or raising my eyes to heaven; when thereappeared outside the window bars, the face of a very black negro, whosigned to me imperiously to draw near. I did so, and he instantly, andwith every mark of fervour, addressed me a long speech in some unknownand barbarous tongue.

  'I declare,' I cried, clasping my brow, 'I do not understand onesyllable.'

  'Not?' he said in Spanish. 'Great, great, are the powers of Hoodoo! Hervery mind is changed! But, O chief priestess, why have you sufferedyourself to be shut into this cage? why did you not call your slaves atonce to your defence? Do you not see that all has been prepared tomurder you? at a spark, this flimsy house will go in flames; and alas!who shall then be the chief priestess? and what shall be the profit ofthe miracle?'

  'Heavens!' cried I, 'can I not see Sir George? I must, I must, come byspeech of him. Oh, bring me to Sir George!' And, my terror fairlymastering my courage, I fell upon my knees and began to pray to all thesaints.

  'Lordy!' cried the negro, 'here they come!' And his black head wasinstantly withdrawn from the window.

  'I never heard such nonsense in my life,' exclaimed a voice.

  'Why, so we all say, Sir George,' replied the voice of Mr. Kentish. 'Butput yourself in our place. The niggers were near two to one. And uponmy word, if you'll excuse me, sir, considering the notion they have takenin their heads, I regard it as precious fortunate for all of us that themistake occurred.'

  'This is no question of fortune, sir,' returned Sir George. 'It is aquestion of my orders, and you may take my word for it, Kentish, eitherHarland, or yourself, or Parker--or, by George, all three of you!--shallswing for this affair. These are my sentiments. Give me the key and beoff.'

  Immediately after, the key turned in the lock; and there appeared uponthe threshold a gentleman, between forty and fifty, with a very opencountenance, and of a stout and personable figure.

  'My dear young lady,' said he, 'who the devil may you be?'

  I told him all my story in one rush of words. He heard me, from thefirst, with an amazement you can scarcely picture, but when I came to thedeath of the Senora Mendizabal in the tornado, he fairly leaped into theair.

  'My dear child,' he cried, clasping me
in his arms, 'excuse a man whomight be your father! This is the best news I ever had since I was born;for that hag of a mulatto was no less a person than my wife.' He satdown upon a tar-barrel, as if unmanned by joy. 'Dear me,' said he, 'Ideclare this tempts me to believe in Providence. And what,' he added,'can I do for you?'

  'Sir George,' said I, 'I am already rich: all that I ask is yourprotection.'

  'Understand one thing,' he said, with great energy. 'I will nevermarry.'

  'I had not ventured to propose it,' I exclaimed, unable to restrain mymirth; 'I only seek to be conveyed to England, the natural home of theescaped slave.'

  'Well,' returned Sir George, 'frankly I owe you something for thisexhilarating news; besides, your father was of use to me. Now, I havemade a small competence in business--a jewel mine, a sort of navalagency, et caetera, and I am on the point of breaking up my company, andretiring to my place in Devonshire to pass a plain old age, unmarried.One good turn deserves another: if you swear to hold your tongue aboutthis island, these little bonfire arrangements, and the whole episode ofmy unfortunate marriage, why, I'll carry you home aboard the _Nemorosa_.'I eagerly accepted his conditions.

  'One thing more,' said he. 'My late wife was some sort of a sorceressamong the blacks; and they are all persuaded she has come alive again inyour agreeable person. Now, you will have the goodness to keep up thatfancy, if you please; and to swear to them, on the authority of Hoodoo orwhatever his name may be, that I am from this moment quite a sacredcharacter.'

  'I swear it,' said I, 'by my father's memory; and that is a vow that Iwill never break.'

  'I have considerably better hold on you than any oath,' returned SirGeorge, with a chuckle; 'for you are not only an escaped slave, but have,by your own account, a considerable amount of stolen property.'

  I was struck dumb; I saw it was too true; in a glance, I recognised thatthese jewels were no longer mine; with similar quickness, I decided theyshould be restored, ay, if it cost me the liberty that I had justregained. Forgetful of all else, forgetful of Sir George, who sat andwatched me with a smile, I drew out Mr. Caulder's pocket-book and turnedto the page on which the dying man had scrawled his testament. How shallI describe the agony of happiness and remorse with which I read it! formy victim had not only set me free, but bequeathed to me the bag ofjewels.

  My plain tale draws towards a close. Sir George and I, in my characterof his rejuvenated wife, displayed ourselves arm-in-arm among thenegroes, and were cheered and followed to the place of embarkation.There, Sir George, turning about, made a speech to his old companions, inwhich he thanked and bade them farewell with a very manly spirit; andtowards the end of which he fell on some expressions which I stillremember. 'If any of you gentry lose your money,' he said, 'take careyou do not come to me; for in the first place, I shall do my best to haveyou murdered; and if that fails, I hand you over to the law. Blackmailwon't do for me. I'll rather risk all upon a cast, than be pulled topieces by degrees. I'll rather be found out and hang, than give a doitto one man-jack of you.' That same night we got under way and crossed tothe port of New Orleans, whence, as a sacred trust, I sent thepocket-book to Mr. Caulder's son. In a week's time, the men were allpaid off; new hands were shipped; and the _Nemorosa_ weighed her anchorfor Old England.

  A more delightful voyage it were hard to fancy. Sir George, of course,was not a conscientious man; but he had an unaffected gaiety of characterthat naturally endeared him to the young; and it was interesting to hearhim lay out his projects for the future, when he should be returned toParliament, and place at the service of the nation his experience ofmarine affairs. I asked him, if his notion of piracy upon a privateyacht were not original. But he told me, no. 'A yacht, Miss Valdevia,'he observed, 'is a chartered nuisance. Who smuggles? Who robs thesalmon rivers of the West of Scotland? Who cruelly beats the keepers ifthey dare to intervene? The crews and the proprietors of yachts. All Ihave done is to extend the line a trifle, and if you ask me for myunbiassed opinion, I do not suppose that I am in the least alone.'

  In short, we were the best of friends, and lived like father anddaughter; though I still withheld from him, of course, that respect whichis only due to moral excellence.

  We were still some days' sail from England, when Sir George obtained,from an outward-bound ship, a packet of newspapers; and from that fatalhour my misfortunes recommenced. He sat, the same evening, in the cabin,reading the news, and making savoury comments on the decline of Englandand the poor condition of the navy, when I suddenly observed him tochange countenance.

  'Hullo!' said he, 'this is bad; this is deuced bad, Miss Valdevia. Youwould not listen to sound sense, you would send that pocket-book to thatman Caulder's son.'

  'Sir George,' said I, 'it was my duty.'

  'You are prettily paid for it, at least,' says he; 'and much as I regretit, I, for one, am done with you. This fellow Caulder demands yourextradition.'

  'But a slave,' I returned, 'is safe in England.'

  'Yes, by George!' replied the baronet; 'but it's not a slave, MissValdevia, it's a thief that he demands. He has quietly destroyed thewill; and now accuses you of robbing your father's bankrupt estate ofjewels to the value of a hundred thousand pounds.'

  I was so much overcome by indignation at this hateful charge and concernfor my unhappy fate that the genial baronet made haste to put me more atease.

  'Do not be cast down,' said he. 'Of course, I wash my hands of youmyself. A man in my position--baronet, old family, and all that--cannotpossibly be too particular about the company he keeps. But I am a deucedgood-humoured old boy, let me tell you, when not ruffled; and I will dothe best I can to put you right. I will lend you a trifle of readymoney, give you the address of an excellent lawyer in London, and find away to set you on shore unsuspected.'

  He was in every particular as good as his word. Four days later, the_Nemorosa_ sounded her way, under the cloak of a dark night, into acertain haven of the coast of England; and a boat, rowing with muffledoars, set me ashore upon the beach within a stone's throw of a railwaystation. Thither, guided by Sir George's directions, I groped a deviousway; and finding a bench upon the platform, sat me down, wrapped in aman's fur great-coat, to await the coming of the day. It was still darkwhen a light was struck behind one of the windows of the building; norhad the east begun to kindle to the warmer colours of the dawn, before aporter carrying a lantern, issued from the door and found himself face toface with the unfortunate Teresa. He looked all about him; in the greytwilight of the dawn, the haven was seen to lie deserted, and the yachthad long since disappeared.

  'Who are you?' he cried.

  'I am a traveller,' said I.

  'And where do you come from?' he asked.

  'I am going by the first train to London,' I replied.

  In such manner, like a ghost or a new creation, was Teresa with her bagof jewels landed on the shores of England; in this silent fashion,without history or name, she took her place among the millions of a newcountry.

  Since then, I have lived by the expedients of my lawyer, lying concealedin quiet lodgings, dogged by the spies of Cuba, and not knowing at whathour my liberty and honour may be lost.