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The hour, however, was not enough of itself to cause any surprise to his patron; nor even the fact of his having leaped over the verandah railing. He might have seen the owner of the house asleep in his chair near the head of the stairway; and, not wishing to disturb him, had chosen the other mode of exit. There was nothing in all this to cause uneasiness.
Nor would the Jew have thought anything of it had it not been for some other circumstances which quickly came under his notice – guiding him to the suspicion that something might be amiss.
The first of these circumstances was that Herbert, although having taken his gun along with him, had left behind his shot-belt and powder-flask! Both were there in his room, hanging upon their peg. They did not escape the sharp glance of the Jew, who at once began to draw conclusions from their presence.
If the young man had gone out on a shooting excursion, it was strange that he did not take his ammunition along with him!
Perhaps, however, he had seen some sort of game near the house, and, in his hurry to get a shot at it, had gone off hastily – trusting to the two charges which his gun contained. In that case he would not go far, and in a few minutes might be expected back.
A few minutes passed, and a great many minutes – until a full hour had transpired – and still nothing was heard or seen of the book-keeper, though messengers had been dispatched in search of him, and had quartered all the ground for half a mile around the precincts of the penn.
Jessuron – whose matutinal visit to the minister had been postponed by the occurrence – began to look grave.
“It ish shtrange,” said he, speaking to his daughter, who had now arisen, and was far from appearing cheerful; “shtrange he should go abroad in thish fashion, without shaying a word to either of ush!”
Judith made no reply: though her silence could not conceal a certain degree of chagrin, from which she was evidently suffering. Perhaps she had even more reason than the “rabbi” to suspect there was something amiss?
Certainly, something disagreeable – a misunderstanding at least, had arisen between her and Herbert on the preceding day. Her speech had already given some slight hint of it; but much more her manner, which, on the night before, and now unmistakably in the morning, betrayed a mixture of melancholy and suppressed indignation.
It did not add to the equanimity of her temper, when the house wench – who was unslinging the hammock in which Herbert had slept – announced it to contain two articles scarce to be expected in such a place – a cocoa-nut and a tobacco-pipe!
The pipe could not have belonged to Herbert Vaughan: he never smoked a pipe; and as for the cocoa-nut, it had evidently been plucked from the tree standing near. The trunk of the palm exhibited scratches as if some one had climbed up it, and above could be seen the freshly-torn peduncle, where the fruit had been wrenched from its stalk!
What should Herbert Vaughan have been doing up the palm-tree, flinging cocoa-nuts into his own couch?
His unaccountable absence was becoming surrounded by circumstances still more mysterious. One of the cattle-herds, who had been sent in search of him, now coming in, announced a new fact, of further significance. In the patch of muddy soil, outside the garden wall, the herd had discovered the book-keepers track, going up towards the hills; and near it, on the same path, the footprint of another man, who must have gone over the ground twice, returning as he had come!
This cattle-herd, though of sable skin, was a skilled tracker. His word might be trusted.
It was trusted, and produced an unpleasant impression both on Jessuron and Judith – an impression more unpleasant as time passed, and the book-keeper was still unreturned.
The father fumed and fretted; he did more – he threatened. The young Englishman was his debtor, not only for a profuse hospitality, but for money advanced. Was he going to prove ungrateful? A defaulter?
Ah! little had that pecuniary obligation to do with the chagrin that was vexing the Jew Jessuron – far less with those emotions, like the waves of a stormy sea, that had begun to agitate the breast of his daughter; and which every slight circumstance, like a strong wind, was lashing into fury and foam.
Blue Dick came back. He had executed his errand adroitly. The Custos was gone upon a journey; he had started exactly at the hour of daybreak.
“Goot!” said Jessuron; “but where is hish nephew?”
Blue Dick had seen Cynthia; and whispered a word in her ear, as the overseer had instructed him. She would come over to the penn, as soon as she could find an opportunity for absence from Mount Welcome.
“Goot!” answered the Jew. “But where is Mashter Vochan? where hash he betaken himshelf?”
“Where?” mentally interrogated Judith, as the noonday sun saw the black clouds coursing over her brow.
Volume Three – Chapter Four
A Shadowed Spirit
The sun was just beginning to re-gild the glittering flanks of the Jumbé Rock, his rays not yet having reached the valley below, when lights streaming through the jalousied windows of Mount Welcome proclaimed that the inmates of the mansion were already astir.
Lights shone through the lattices of several distinct windows – one from the Custos’ sleeping room, another from the apartment of Lilly Quasheba, while a brilliant stream, pouring through the jalousies in front, betokened that the chandelier was burning in the great hall.
From Smythje’s chamber alone came no sign either of light or life. The windows were dark, the curtains close drawn. Its occupant was asleep.
Yes, though others were stirring around him, the aristocratic Smythje was still sleeping as soundly and silently as if dead, perhaps dreaming of the fair “cweeole queetyaws,” and his twelve conquests now happily extended to the desired baker’s dozen, by the successful declaration of yesterday.
Though a light still burned in the sleeping apartment of the Custos, and also in that of Kate, neither father nor daughter were in their own rooms. Both were in the great hall, seated by a table, on which, even at this early hour, breakfast had been spread. It was not the regular matutinal meal, as certain circumstances showed. Mr Vaughan only was eating; while Kate appeared to be present merely for the purpose of pouring out his coffee, and otherwise attending upon him.
The costume in which the Custos appeared differed from his every-day wear. It was that of a man about to set forth upon a journey – in short, a travelling costume. A surtout, of strong material, with ample outside pockets; boots reaching above his knees; a belt, with pistol holsters, around his waist – a guard against any chance encounter with runaway negroes; a felt hat, lying on a chair beside him, and a camlet cloak, hanging over the back of the same chair – all proclaimed the purpose of a journey, and one about to be entered upon within a few minutes of time.
A pair of large silver spurs buckled over his boots, told also the mode of travel intended. It was to be on horseback.
This was further manifested by the fact that two horses were at that moment standing at the bottom of the stone stairs outside, their forms dimly visible through the blue dawn. Both were saddled, bridled, and equipped, with a black groom by their side, holding them in hand – himself in travelling toggery.
Valises, buckled upon the croup, and saddlebags suspended across the cantle, showed that the travellers were to carry their luggage along with them.
The object of the intended journey is already known. Mr Vaughan was about to put into execution a design long delayed – to perform a duty which he owed to his daughter, and which, if left unaccomplished, would seriously imperil the prosperity and happiness of her future life. He was about proceeding to the capital of the Island, to obtain from the Assembly that special act of grace, which they alone could give; and which would free his daughter from those degrading disabilities the Black Code had inflicted upon all of her unfortunate race. Six lines from the Assembly, with the governors signature attached, though it might not extinguish the taint, nor the taunt of malevolent lips, would, nevertheless, remove all obstacles to hereditament; and Kate Vaughan could then become the heiress to her own father’s property, without fear of failure.
To sue for this act and obtain it was the purpose of that journey upon which Loftus Vaughan was on the eve of setting forth. He had no apprehension of a failure. Had he been only a book-keeper or small tradesman, he might have been less sanguine of success; but, Custos of an important precinct, with scores of friends in the Assembly, he knew that he would only have to ask and it would be given him.
For all that, he was not setting out in very high spirits. The unpleasant prospect of having such a long and arduous journey to make was a source of vexation to him: for the Custos liked an easy life, and hated the fatigue of travel.
But there was something besides that dispirited him. For some days past he had found his health giving way. He had lost appetite, and was rapidly losing flesh. A constant and burning thirst had seized upon him, which, from morning to night, he was continually trying to quench.
The plantation doctor was puzzled with the symptoms, and his prescriptions had failed in giving relief. Indeed, so obstinate and death-like was the disease becoming, that the sufferer would have given up his intention of going to Spanish Town – at least, till a more fitting time – but for a hope that, in the capital, some experienced physician might be found who would comprehend his malady and cure it.
Indulging in this hope, he was determined to set forth at all hazards.
There was still another incubus upon his spirits, and one, perhaps, that weighed upon them more heavily than aught else. Ever since the death of Chakra – or rather, since the glimpse he had got of Chakra’s ghost – a sort of supernatural dread had taken possession of the mind of Loftus Vaughan. Often had he speculated on that fearful phenomenon, and wondered what it could have been. Had he alone witnessed the apparition, he might have got over the awe it had occasioned him: for then could he have attributed it to an illusion of the senses – a mere freak of his imagination, excited, as it was at the time, by the spectacle on the Jumbé Rock. But Trusty had seen the ghost, too! and Trusty’s mind was not one of the imaginative kind. Besides, how could both be deluded by the same fancy, and at the same instant of time?
Turn the thing in his own mind as he might, there was something that still remained inexplicable – something that caused the heart of the Custos to tingle with fear every time that he thought of Chakra and his ghost.
This intermittent awe had oppressed him ever since the day of his visit to the Jumbé Rock – that day described; for he never went a second time. Nor yet did he afterwards care to venture alone upon the wooded mountain. He dreaded a second encounter with that weird apparition.
In time, perhaps, the fear would have died out, and, in fact, was dying out – the intervals during which it was not felt becoming gradually more extended. Loftus Vaughan, though he could never have forgotten the myal-man, nor the terrible incidents of his death, might have ceased to trouble himself with the oughts about Chakra’s ghost, but for a circumstance that was reported to him on the day that Smythje sank into the dead-wood.
On the afternoon of that day, as Quashie was making his way homeward through the forest and over the hills, the darkey declared that, on passing near a noted spot called the Duppy’s Hole, he had “see’d de gose ob ole Chakra!”
Quashie, on reaching home, announced the fact, with chattering teeth, and eyes rolling wildly in their sockets; and, though the loutish boy was only laughed at by his fellow-slaves, the statement made a most painful impression on the mind of his master – restoring it to the state of habitual terror that had formerly held possession of it, and from which it had become only partially relieved.
The circumstance related by Quashie – still fresh in the thoughts of the Custos – had contributed not a little to increase that feeling of dejection and discouragement, under which he suffered at the moment of setting out upon his proposed expedition.
Volume Three – Chapter Five
The Stirrup-Cup
If Loftus Vaughan was in low spirits, not more joyful seemed his daughter, as she assisted at that early déjeuner.
On the contrary, a certain sadness overspread the countenance of the young Creole; as if reflected from the spirit of her father.
A stranger to the circumstances that surrounded her might have fancied that it was sympathy – at seeing him so dull and downcast – mingled with the natural regret she might have at his leaving home, and fop so lone: an absence. But one who scrutinised more closely could not fail to note in those fair features an expression of sadness that must have sprung from a different and deeper source.
The purpose of her father’s journey may, in part, explain the melancholy that marked the manner of the young Creole. She knew that purpose. She had learnt it from her father’s lips, though only on the evening before.
Then, for the first time in her life, was she made acquainted with those adverse circumstances that related to her birth and parentage: for up to that hour she had remained ignorant of her position, socially as well as legally. Then, for the first time, was fully explained to her her own true status in the social scale – the disabilities and degradation under which she suffered.
It was to remove these disabilities – and wipe out, as it were, the degradation – that her father was now going forth.
The young girl did not fail to feel gratitude; but perhaps the feeling might have been stronger had her father taken less trouble to make her sensible of the service he was about to perform – using it as a lever to remove that reluctance to the union with Smythje which still lingered.
During the few minutes that Mr Vaughan was engaged in eating his breakfast, not many words passed between them. The viands, luxurious enough, were scarce more than tasted. The intended traveller had no appetite for the solids with which the table was spread, and seemed to care only for drink.
After quaffing off several cups of coffee, solely from a desire to quench thirst, and without eating bread or anything else along with it, he rose from the table, and prepared to take his departure.
Mr Trusty entering, announced that the horses and the attendant groom were ready, and waiting outside.
The Custos donned his travelling hat, and with the assistance of Kate and her maid Yola, put on his sleeved cloak: as the air of the early morning was raw and cold.
While these final preparations were being made, a mulatta woman was seen moving about the room – at times acting as an attendant upon the table, at other times standing silently in the background. She was the slave Cynthia.
In the behaviour of this woman there was something peculiar. There was a certain amount of nervous agitation in her manner as she moved about; and ever and anon she was seen to make short traverses to different parts of the room – apparently without errand or object. Her steps, too, were stealthy, her glances unsteady and furtive.
All this would have been apparent enough to a suspicious person; but none of the three present appeared to notice it.
The “swizzle” bowl stood on the side-board. While breakfast was being placed on the table, Cynthia had been seen refilling the bowl with this delicious drink, which she had mixed in an outside chamber. Some one asked her why she was performing that, her diurnal duty, at so early an hour – especially as master would be gone before the time of swizzle-drinking should arrive: usually during the hotter hours of the day.
“P’raps massr like drink ob swizzle ’fore he go,” was the explanatory reply vouchsafed by Cynthy.
The girl made a successful conjecture. Just as the Custos was about to step outside for the purpose of descending the stairway, a fit of choking thirst once more came upon him, and he called for drink.
“Massr like glass ob swizzle?” inquired Cynthia, stepping up to his side. “I’ve mixed for massa some berry good,” added she, with impressive earnestness.
“Yes, girl,” replied her master. “That’s the best thing I can take. Bring me a large goblet of it.”
He had scarce time to turn round, before the goblet was presented to him, full to the rim. He did not see that the slave’s hand trembled as she held it up, nor yet that her eyes were averted – as if to hinder them from beholding some fearful sight.
His thirst prevented him from seeing anything, but that which promised to assuage it.
He caught hold of the goblet, and gulped down the whole of its contents, without once removing it from his lips.
“You’ve overrated its quality, girl,” said he, returning her the glass. “It doesn’t seem at all good. There’s a bitterish taste about it; but I suppose it’s my palate that’s out of order, and one shouldn’t be particular about the stirrup-cup.”
With this melancholy attempt at appearing gay, Loftus Vaughan bade adieu to his daughter, and, climbing into the saddle, rode off upon his journey.
Ah! Custos Vaughan! That stirrup-cup was the last you were ever destined to drink! In the sparkling “swizzle” was an infusion of the baneful Savannah flower. In that deep draught you had introduced into your veins one of the deadliest of vegetable poisons!
Chakra’s prophecy will soon be fulfilled. The death-spell will now quickly do its work. In twenty-four hours you will be a corpse!
Volume Three – Chapter Six
The Horn Signal
Cubina, on getting clear of the penn-keeper’s precincts, lost little time in returning to the glade; and, having once more reached the ceiba, seated himself on a log to await the arrival of the young Englishman.
For some minutes he remained in this attitude – though every moment becoming more fidgetty, as he perceived that time was passing, and no one came. He had not even a pipe to soothe his impatience: for it had been left in the hammock, into which he had cast it from the cocoa.
Before many minutes had passed, however, a pipe would have been to little purpose in restraining his nervous excitement; for the non-appearance of the young Englishman began to cause him serious uneasiness.
What could be detaining him? Had the Jew been awakened? and was he by some means or other, hindering Herbert from coming out? There was no reason, that Cubina could think of, why the young man should be ten minutes later than himself in reaching the ceiba. Five minutes – even the half of it – might have sufficed for him to robe himself in such garments as were needed; and then, what was to prevent him from following immediately? Surely, the appeal that had been made to him – the danger hinted at to those dear to him, the necessity for haste, spoken in unmistakable terms – surely, all this would be sufficient to attract him to the forest, without a moment’s hesitation!
Why, then, was he delaying?
The Maroon could not make it out: unless under the disagreeable supposition that the Jew no longer slept, and was intercepting his egress.
What if Herbert might have lost his way in proceeding towards the rendezvous? The path was by no means plain, but the contrary. It was a mere cattle-track, little used by men. Besides, there were others of the same – scores of them trending in all directions, crossing and converging with this very one. The half-wild steers and colts of the penn-keeper ranged the thickets at will. Their tracks were everywhere; and it would require a person skilled in woodcraft and acquainted with the lay of the country, to follow any particular path. It was likely enough that the young Englishman had strayed.
Just then these reflections occurred to Cubina. He chided himself for not thinking of it sooner. He should have stayed by the penn – waited for Herbert to come out, and then taken the roads along with him.
“Not to think of that! Crambo! how very stupid of me!” muttered the Maroon, pacing nervously to and fro: for his impatience had long since started him up from the log.
“Like enough, he’s lost his way?
“I shall go back along the path. Perhaps I may find him. At all events, if he’s taken the right road, I must meet him.”
And as he said this, he glided rapidly across the glade, taking the back track towards the penn.
The conjecture that Herbert had strayed was perfectly correct. The young Englishman had never revisited the scene of his singular adventure, since the day that introduced him to the acquaintance of so many queer people. Not but that he had felt the inclination, amounting almost to a desire, to do so; and more than once had he been upon the eve of satisfying this inclination, but, otherwise occupied, the opportunity had not offered itself.
Not greatly proficient in forest lore – as Cubina had also rightly conjectured – especially in that of a West-Indian forest, he had strayed from the true path almost upon the instant of entering upon it; and was at that very moment wandering through the woods in search of the glade where grew the gigantic cotton-tree!
No doubt, in the course of time, he might have found it, or perhaps stumbled upon it by chance, for – made aware, by the earnest invitation he had received, that time was of consequence – he was quartering the ground in every direction, with the rapidity of a young pointer in his first season with the gun.
Meanwhile the Maroon glided rapidly back, along the path leading to the penn, without seeing aught either of the Englishman or his track.
He re-entered the ruinate fields of the old sugar estate, and continued on till within sight of the house, still unsuccessful in his search.
Proceeding with caution, he stepped over the dilapidated wall of the old orchard. Caution was now of extreme necessity. It was broad day; and, but for the cover which the undergrowth afforded him, he could not have gone a step further without the risk of being seen from the house.
He reached the ruin from which he had before commanded a view of the verandah; and, once more stealing a glance over its top, he obtained a full view of the long rambling corridor.
Jessuron was in it – not as when last seen, asleep in his armchair, but on foot, and hurrying to and fro, with quick step and excited mien.
His black-bearded overseer was standing by the stair, as if listening to some orders which the Jew was issuing.
The hammock was still hanging in its place, but its collapsed sides showed that it was empty. Cubina could see that, but no signs of its late occupant – neither in the gallery nor about the buildings.
If still there, he must be in some of the rooms? But that one which opened nearest the hammock, and which Cubina conjectured to be his bedroom, appeared to be unoccupied. Its door stood ajar, and no one seemed to be inside.
The Maroon was considering whether he should stay a while longer upon the spot, and watch the movements of the two men, when it occurred to him that if the young man had gone out, and up the right path, he must have crossed a track of muddy ground, just outside the garden wall.
Being so near the house – and in the expectation of seeing something there to explain Herbert’s delay – he had not stayed to examine this on his second approach.
Crouching cautiously among the trees, he now returned to it; and, almost at the first glance, his eye revealed to him the truth.
A fresh footprint was in the mud, with its heel to the house, and its toe pointing to the path! It was not his own: it must be that of the young Englishman!
He traced the tracks as far as they could be distinguished; but that was only to the edge of the damp earth. Beyond, the ground was dry and firm – covered with a close-cropped carpet of grass, upon which the hoof of a horse would scarcely have left an impression.
The tracks, however, on leaving the moist ground, appeared as if trending towards the proper path; and Cubina felt convinced that, for some distance at least, the young Englishman had gone towards the glade.