Майн Рид
Headless Horseman
Chapter Thirty Two. Light and Shade
He had not long to chafe under the trysting-tree, if such it were. At the very moment when he was stepping into the skiff, a casement window that looked to the rear of the hacienda commenced turning upon its hinges, and was then for a time held slightly ajar; as if some one inside was intending to issue forth, and only hesitated in order to be assured that the “coast was clear.”
A small white hand — decorated with jewels that glistened under the light of the moon — grasping the sash told that the individual who had opened the window was of the gentler sex; the tapering fingers, with their costly garniture, proclaimed her a lady; while the majestic figure — soon after exhibited outside, on the top of the stairway that led down to the garden — could be no other than that of Louise Poindexter.
It was she.
For a second or two the lady stood listening. She heard, or fancied she heard, the dip of an oar. She might be mistaken; for the stridulation of the cicadas filled the atmosphere with confused sound. No matter. The hour of assignation had arrived; and she was not the one to stand upon punctilios as to time — especially after spending two hours of solitary expectation in her chamber, that had appeared like as many. With noiseless tread descending the stone stairway, she glided sylph-like among the statues and shrubs; until, arriving under the shadow of the cotton-wood, she flung herself into arms eagerly outstretched to receive her.
Who can describe the sweetness of such embrace — strange to say, sweeter from being stolen? Who can paint the delicious emotions experienced at such a moment — too sacred to be touched by the pen?
It is only after long throes of pleasure had passed, and the lovers had begun to converse in the more sober language of life, that it becomes proper, or even possible to report them.
Thus did they speak to each other, the lady taking the initiative: —
“To-morrow night you will meet me again — to-morrow night, dearest Maurice?”
“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, — if I were free to say the word.”
“And why not? Why are you not free to say it?”
“To-morrow, by break of day, I am off for the Alamo.”
“Indeed! Is it imperative you should go?”
The interrogatory was put in a tone that betrayed displeasure. A vision of a sinister kind always came before the mind of Louise Poindexter at mention of the lone hut on the Alamo.
And why? It had afforded her hospitality. One would suppose that her visit to it could scarce fail to be one of the pleasantest recollections of her life. And yet it was not!
“I have excellent reasons for going,” was the reply she received.
“Excellent reasons! Do you expect to meet any one there?”
“My follower Phelim — no one else. I hope the poor fellow is still above the grass. I sent him out about ten days ago — before there was any tidings of these Indian troubles.”
“Only Phelim you expect to meet? Is it true, Gerald? Dearest! do not deceive me! Only him?”
“Why do you ask the question, Louise?”
“I cannot tell you why. I should die of shame to speak my secret thoughts.”
“Do not fear to speak them! I could keep no secret from you — in truth I could not. So tell me what it is, love!”
“Do you wish me, Maurice?”
“I do — of course I do. I feel sure that whatever it may be, I shall be able to explain it. I know that my relations with you are of a questionable character; or might be so deemed, if the world knew of them. It is for that very reason I am going back to the Alamo.”
“And to stay there?”
“Only for a single day, or two at most. Only to gather up my household gods, and bid a last adieu to my prairie life.”
“Indeed!”
“You appear surprised.”
“No! only mystified. I cannot comprehend you. Perhaps I never shall!”
“’Tis very simple — the resolve I have taken. I know you will forgive me, when I make it known to you.”
“Forgive you, Maurice! For what do you ask forgiveness?”
“For keeping it a secret from you, that — that I am not what I seem.”
“God forbid you should be otherwise than what you seem to me — noble, grand, beautiful, rare among men! Oh, Maurice! you know not how I esteem — how I love you!”
“Not more than I esteem and love you. It is that very esteem that now counsels me to a separation.”
“A separation?”
“Yes, love; but it is to be hoped only for a short time.”
“How long?”
“While a steamer can cross the Atlantic, and return.”
“An age! And why this?”
“I am called to my native country — Ireland, so much despised, as you already know. ’Tis only within the last twenty hours I received the summons. I obey it the more eagerly, that it tells me I shall be able soon to return, and prove to your proud father that the poor horse-hunter who won his daughter’s heart — have I won it, Louise?”
“Idle questioner! Won it? You know you have more than won it — conquered it to a subjection from which it can never escape. Mock me not, Maurice, nor my stricken heart — henceforth, and for evermore, your slave!”
During the rapturous embrace that followed this passionate speech, by which a high-born and beautiful maiden confessed to have surrendered herself — heart, soul, and body — to the man who had made conquest of her affections, there was silence perfect and profound.
The grasshopper amid the green herbage, the cicada on the tree-leaf, the mock-bird on the top of the tall cotton-wood, and the nightjar soaring still higher in the moonlit air, apparently actuated by a simultaneous instinct, ceased to give utterance to their peculiar cries: as though one and all, by their silence, designed to do honour to the sacred ceremony transpiring in their presence!
But that temporary cessation of sounds was due to a different cause. A footstep grating upon the gravelled walk of the garden — and yet touching it so lightly, that only an acute ear could have perceived the contact — was the real cause why the nocturnal voices had suddenly become stilled.
The lovers, absorbed in the sweet interchange of a mutual affection, heard it not. They saw not that dark shadow, in the shape of man or devil, flitting among the flowers; now standing by a statue; now cowering under cover of the shrubbery, until at length it became stationary behind the trunk of a tree, scarce ten paces from the spot where they were kissing each other!
Little did they suspect, in that moment of celestial happiness when all nature was hushed around them, that the silence was exposing their passionate speeches, and the treacherous moon, at the same time, betraying their excited actions.
That shadowy listener, crouching guilty-like behind the tree, was a witness to both. Within easy earshot, he could hear every word — even the sighs and soft low murmurings of their love; while under the silvery light of the moon, with scarce a sprig coming between, he could detect their slightest gestures.
It is scarce necessary to give the name of the dastardly eavesdropper. That of Cassius Calhoun will have suggested itself.
It was he.
Chapter Thirty Three. A Torturing Discovery
How came the cousin of Louise Poindexter to be astir at that late hour of the night, or, as it was now, the earliest of the morning? Had he been forewarned of this interview of the lovers; or was it merely some instinctive suspicion that had caused him to forsake his sleeping-chamber, and make a tour of inspection within the precincts of the garden?
In other words, was he an eavesdropper by accident, or a spy acting upon information previously communicated to him?
The former was the fact. Chance alone, or chance aided by a clear night, had given him the clue to a discovery that now filled his soul with the fires of hell.
Standing upon the housetop at the hour of midnight — what had taken him up there cannot be guessed — breathing vile tobacco-smoke into an atmosphere before perfumed with the scent of the night-blooming cereus; the ex-captain of cavalry did not appear distressed by any particular anxiety. He had recovered from the injuries received in his encounter with the mustanger; and although that bit of evil fortune did not fail to excite within him the blackest chagrin, whenever it came up before his mind, its bitterness had been, to some extent, counteracted by hopes of revenge — towards a plan for which he had already made some progress.
Equally with her father, he had been gratified that Louise was contented of late to stay within doors: for it was himself who had secretly suggested the prohibition to her going abroad. Equally had he remained ignorant as to the motive of that garden archery, and in a similar manner had misconceived it. In fact, he had begun to flatter himself, that, after all, her indifference to himself might be only a feint on the part of his cousin, or an illusion upon his. She had been less cynical for some days; and this had produced upon him the pleasant impression, that he might have been mistaken in his jealous fears.
He had as yet discovered no positive proof that she entertained a partiality for the young Irishman; and as the days passed without any renewed cause for disquiet, he began to believe that in reality there was none.
Under the soothing influence of this restored confidence, had he mounted up to the azotea; and, although it was the hour of midnight, the careless insouciance with which he applied the light to his cigar, and afterwards stood smoking it, showed that he could not have come there for any very important purpose. It may have been to exchange the sultry atmosphere of his sleeping-room for the fresher air outside; or he may have been tempted forth by the magnificent moon — though he was not much given to such romantic contemplation.
Whatever it was, he had lighted his cigar, and was apparently enjoying it, with his arms crossed upon the coping of the parapet, and his face turned towards the river.
It did not disturb his tranquillity to see a horseman ride out from the chapparal on the opposite side, and proceed onward across the open plain.
He knew of the road that was there. Some traveller, he supposed, who preferred taking advantage of the cool hours of the night — a night, too, that would have tempted the weariest wayfarer to continue his journey. It might be a planter who lived below, returning home from the village, after lounging an hour too long in the tavern saloon.
In daytime, the individual might have been identified; by the moonlight, it could only be made out that there was a man on horseback.
The eyes of the ex-officer accompanied him as he trotted along the road; but simply with mechanical movement, as one musingly contemplates some common waif drifting down the current of a river.
It was only after the horseman had arrived opposite the island of timber, and was seen to pull up, and then ride into it, that the spectator upon the housetop became stirred to take an interest in his movements.
“What the devil can that mean?” muttered Calhoun to himself, as he hastily plucked the cigar stump from between his teeth. “Damn the man, he’s dismounted!” continued he, as the stranger re-appeared, on foot, by the inner edge of the copse.
“And coming this way — towards the bend of the river — straight as he can streak it!
“Down the bluff — into the bottom — and with a stride that shows him well acquainted with the way. Surely to God he don’t intend making his way across into the garden? He’d have to swim for that; and anything he could get there would scarce pay him for his pains. What the old Scratch can be his intention? A thief?”
This was Calhoun’s first idea — rejected almost as soon as conceived. It is true that in Spanish-American countries even the beggar goes on horseback. Much more might the thief?
For all this, it was scarce probable, that a man would make a midnight expedition to steal fruit, or vegetables, in such cavalier style.
What else could he be after?
The odd manoeuvre of leaving his horse under cover of the copse, and coming forward on foot, and apparently with caution, as far as could be seen in the uncertain light, was of itself evidence that the man’s errand could scarce be honest and that he was approaching the premises of Casa del Corvo with some evil design.
What could it be?
Since leaving the upper plain he had been no longer visible to Calhoun upon the housetop. The underwood skirting the stream on the opposite side, and into which he had entered, was concealing him.
“What can the man be after?”
After putting this interrogatory to himself, and for about the tenth time — each with increasing emphasis — the composure of the ex-captain was still further disturbed by a sound that reached his ear, exceedingly like a plunge in the river. It was slight, but clearly the concussion of some hard substance brought in contact with water.
“The stroke of an oar,” muttered he, on hearing it. “Is, by the holy Jehovah! He’s got hold of the skiff, and’s crossing over to the garden. What on earth can he be after?”
The questioner did not intend staying on the housetop to determine. His thought was to slip silently downstairs — rouse the male members of the family, along with some of the servants; and attempt to capture the intruder by a clever ambuscade.
He had raised his arm from the copestone, and was in the act of stepping back from the parapet, when his ear was saluted by another sound, that caused him again to lean forward and look into the garden below.
This new noise bore no resemblance to the stroke of an oar; nor did it proceed from the direction of the river. It was the creaking of a door as it turned upon its hinge, or, what is much the same, a casement window; while it came from below — almost directly underneath the spot where the listener stood.
On craning over to ascertain the cause, he saw, what blanched his cheeks to the whiteness of the moonlight that shone upon them — what sent the blood curdling through every corner of his heart.
The casement that had been opened was that which belonged to the bed-chamber of his cousin Louise. He knew it. The lady herself was standing outside upon the steps that led to the level of the garden, her face turned downward, as if she was meditating a descent.
Loosely attired in white, as though in the negligé of a robe de chambre, with only a small kerchief coifed over her crown, she resembled some fair nymph of the night, some daughter of the moon, whom Luna delighted to surround with a silvery effulgence!
Calhoun reasoned rapidly. He could not do otherwise than connect her appearance outside the casement with the advent of the man who was making his way across the river.
And who could this man be? Who but Maurice the mustanger?
A clandestine meeting! And by appointment!
There could be no doubt of it; and if there had, it would have been dissolved, at seeing the white-robed figure glide noiselessly down the stone steps, and along the gravelled walks, till it at length disappeared among the trees that shadowed the mooring-place of the skiff.
Like one paralysed with a powerful stroke, the ex-captain continued for some time upon the azotea — speechless and without motion. It was only after the white drapery had disappeared, and he heard the low murmur of voices rising from among the trees, that he was stimulated to resolve upon some course of proceeding.
He thought no longer of awaking the inmates of the house — at least not then. Better first to be himself the sole witness of his cousin’s disgrace; and then — and then —
In short, he was not in a state of mind to form any definite plan; and, acting solely under the blind stimulus of a fell instinct, he hurried down the escalera, and made his way through the house, and out into the garden.
He felt feeble as he pressed forward. His legs had tottered under him while descending the stone steps. They did the same as he glided along the gravelled walk. They continued to tremble as he crouched behind the tree trunk that hindered him from being seen — while playing spectator of a scene that afflicted him to the utmost depths of his soul.
He heard their vows; their mutual confessions of love; the determination of the mustanger to be gone by the break of the morrow’s day; as also his promise to return, and the revelation to which that promise led.
With bitter chagrin, he heard how this determination was combated by Louise, and the reasons why she at length appeared to consent to it.
He was witness to that final and rapturous embrace, that caused him to strike his foot nervously against the pebbles, and make that noise that had scared the cicadas into silence.
Why at that moment did he not spring forward — put a termination to the intolerable tête-à-tête — and with a blow of his bowie-knife lay his rival low — at his own feet and that of his mistress? Why had he not done this at the beginning — for to him there needed no further evidence, than the interview itself, to prove that his cousin had been dishonoured?
There was a time when he would not have been so patient. What, then, was the punctilio that restrained him? Was it the presence of that piece of perfect mechanism, that, with a sheen of steel, glistened upon the person of his rival, and which under the bright moonbeams, could be distinguished as a “Colt’s six-shooter?”
Perhaps it may have been. At all events, despite the terrible temptation to which his soul was submitted, something not only hindered him from taking an immediate vengeance, but in the mid-moments of that maddening spectacle — the final embrace — prompted him to turn away from the spot, and with an earnestness, even keener than he had yet exhibited, hurry back in the direction of the house: leaving the lovers, still unconscious of having been observed, to bring their sweet interview to an ending — sure to be procrastinated.
Chapter Thirty Four. A Chivalrous Dictation
Where went Cassius Calhoun?
Certainly not to his own sleeping-room. There was no sleep for a spirit suffering like his.
He went not there; but to the chamber of his cousin. Not hers — now untenanted, with its couch unoccupied, its coverlet undisturbed — but to that of her brother, young Henry Poindexter.
He went direct as crooked corridors would permit him — in haste, without waiting to avail himself of the assistance of a candle.
It was not needed. The moonbeams penetrating through the open bars of the reja, filled the chamber with light — sufficient for his purpose. They disclosed the outlines of the apartment, with its simple furniture — a washstand, a dressing-table, a couple of chairs, and a bed with “mosquito curtains.”
Under those last was the youth reclining; in that sweet silent slumber experienced only by the innocent. His finely formed head rested calmly upon the pillow, over which lay scattered a profusion of shining curls.
As Calhoun lifted the muslin “bar,” the moonbeams fell upon his face, displaying its outlines of the manliest aristocratic type.
What a contrast between those two sets of features, brought into such close proximity! Both physically handsome; but morally, as Hyperion to the Satyr.
“Awake, Harry! awake!” was the abrupt salutation extended to the sleeper, accompanied by a violent shaking of his shoulder.
“Oh! ah! you, cousin Cash? What is it? not the Indiana, I hope?”
“Worse than that — worse! worse! Quick! Rouse yourself, and see! Quick, or it will be too late! Quick, and be the witness of your own disgrace — the dishonour of your house. Quick, or the name of Poindexter will be the laughing-stock of Texas!”
After such summons there could be no inclination for sleep — at least on the part of a Poindexter; and at a single bound, the youngest representative of the family cleared the mosquito curtains, and stood upon his feet in the middle of the floor — in an attitude of speechless astonishment.
“Don’t wait to dress,” cried his excited counsellor, “stay, you may put on your pants. Damn the clothes! There’s no time for standing upon trifles. Quick! Quick!”
The simple costume the young planter was accustomed to wear, consisting of trousers and Creole blouse of Attakapas cottonade, were adjusted to his person in less than twenty seconds of time; and in twenty more, obedient to the command of his cousin — without understanding why he had been so unceremoniously summoned forth — he was hurrying along the gravelled walks of the garden.
“What is it, Cash?” he inquired, as soon as the latter showed signs of coming to a stop. “What does it all mean?”
“See for yourself! Stand close to me! Look through yonder opening in the trees that leads down to the place where your skiff is kept. Do you see anything there?”
“Something white. It looks like a woman’s dress. It is that. It’s a woman!”
“It is a woman. Who do you suppose she is?”
“I can’t tell. Who do you say she is?”
“There’s another figure — a dark one — by her side.”
“It appears to be a man? It is a man!”
“And who do you suppose he is?”
“How should I know, cousin Cash? Do you?”
“I do. That man is Maurice the mustanger!”
“And the woman?”
“Is Louise — your sister — in his arms!”
As if a shot had struck him through the heart, the brother bounded upward, and then onward, along the path.
“Stay!” said Calhoun, catching hold of, and restraining him. “You forget that you are unarmed! The fellow, I know, has weapons upon him. Take this, and this,” continued he, passing his own knife and pistol into the hands of his cousin. “I should have used them myself, long ere this; but I thought it better that you — her brother — should be the avenger of your sister’s wrongs. On, my boy! See that you don’t hurt her; but take care not to lose the chance at him. Don’t give him a word of warning. As soon as they are separated, send a bullet into his belly; and if all six should fail, go at him with the knife. I’ll stay near, and take care of you, if you should get into danger. Now! Steal upon him, and give the scoundrel hell!”
It needed not this blasphemous injunction to inspire Henry Poindexter to hasty action. The brother of a sister — a beautiful sister — erring, undone!
In six seconds he was by her side, confronting her supposed seducer.
“Low villain!” he cried, “unclasp your loathsome arm from the waist of my sister. Louise! stand aside, and give me a chance of killing him! Aside, sister! Aside, I say!”
Had the command been obeyed, it is probable that Maurice Gerald would at that moment have ceased to exist — unless he had found heart to kill Henry Poindexter; which, experienced as he was in the use of his six-shooter, and prompt in its manipulation, he might have done.
Instead of drawing the pistol from its holster, or taking any steps for defence, he appeared only desirous of disengaging himself from the fair arms still clinging around him, and for whose owner he alone felt alarm.
For Henry to fire at the supposed betrayer, was to risk taking his sister’s life; and, restrained by the fear of this, he paused before pulling trigger.
That pause produced a crisis favourable to the safety of all three. The Creole girl, with a quick perception of the circumstances, suddenly released her lover from the protecting embrace; and, almost in the same instant, threw her arms around those of her brother. She knew there was nothing to be apprehended from the pistol of Maurice. Henry alone had to be held doing mischief.
“Go, go!” she shouted to the former, while struggling to restrain the infuriated youth. “My brother is deceived by appearances. Leave me to explain. Away, Maurice! away!”
“Henry Poindexter,” said the young Irishman, as he turned to obey the friendly command, “I am not the sort of villain you have been pleased to pronounce me. Give me but time, and I shall prove, that your sister has formed a truer estimate of my character than either her father, brother, or cousin. I claim but six months. If at the end of that time I do not show myself worthy of her confidence — her love — then shall I make you welcome to shoot me at sight, as you would the cowardly coyoté, that chanced to cross your track. Till then, I bid you adieu.”
Henry’s struggle to escape from his sister’s arms — perhaps stronger than his own — grew less energetic as he listened to these words. They became feebler and feebler — at length ceasing — when a plunge in the river announced that the midnight intruder into the enclosed grounds of Casa del Corvo was on his way back to the wild prairies he had chosen for his home.
It was the first time he had recrossed the river in that primitive fashion. On the two previous occasions he had passed over in the skiff; which had been drawn back to its moorings by a delicate hand, the tow-rope consisting of that tiny lazo that had formed part of the caparison presented along with the spotted mustang.
“Brother! you are wronging him! indeed you are wronging him!” were the words of expostulation that followed close upon his departure. “Oh, Henry — dearest Hal, if you but knew how noble he is! So far from desiring to do me an injury, ’tis only this moment he has been disclosing a plan to — to — prevent — scandal — I mean to make me happy. Believe me, brother, he is a gentleman; and if he were not — if only the common man you take him for — I could not help what I have done — I could not, for I love him!”
“Louise! tell me the truth! Speak to me, not as to your brother, but as to your own self. From what I have this night seen, more than from your own words, I know that you love this man. Has he taken advantage of your — your — unfortunate passion?”
“No — no — no. As I live he has not. He is too noble for that — even had I — Henry! he is innocent! If there be cause for regret, I alone am to blame. Why — oh! brother! why did you insult him?”
“Have I done so?”
“You have, Henry — rudely, grossly.”
“I shall go after, and apologise. If you speak truly, sister, I owe him that much. I shall go this instant. I liked him from the first — you know I did? I could not believe him capable of a cowardly act. I can’t now. Sister! come back into the house with me. And now, dearest Loo! you had better go to bed. As for me, I shall be off instanter to the hotel, where I may still hope to overtake him. I cannot rest till I have made reparation for my rudeness.”
So spoke the forgiving brother; and gently leading his sister by the hand, with thoughts of compassion, but not the slightest trace of anger, he hastily returned to the hacienda — intending to go after the young Irishman, and apologise for the use of words that, under the circumstances, might have been deemed excusable.
As the two disappeared within the doorway, a third figure, hitherto crouching among the shrubbery, was seen to rise erect, and follow them up the stone steps. This last was their cousin, Cassius Calhoun.
He, too, had thoughts of going after the mustanger.
