Майн Рид
Headless Horseman
What could be the purpose of the strange proceeding? How was it to terminate?
Isidora looked on in silent astonishment. She could do nothing else. So long as the infernal fracas continued, there was no chance to elicit an explanation from the queer creature who had caused it.
He had returned to the door of the jacalé; and once more taken his stand upon the threshold; where he stood, with the tranquil satisfied air of an actor who has completed the performance of his part in the play, and feels free to range himself among the spectator.
Chapter Fifty Eight. Recoiling from a Kiss
For full ten minutes was the wild chorus kept up, the mare all the time squealing like a stuck pig; while the dog responded in a series of lugubrious howls, that reverberated along the cliffs on both sides of the creek.
To the distance of a mile might the sounds have been heard; and as Zeb Stump was not likely to be so far from the hut, he would be certain to hear them.
Convinced of this, and that the hunter would soon respond to the signal he had himself arranged, Phelim stood square upon the threshold, in hopes that the lady visitor would stay outside — at least, until he should be relieved of the responsibility of admitting her.
Notwithstanding her earnest protestations of amity, he was still suspicious of some treasonable intention towards his master; else why should Zeb have been so particular about being summoned back?
Of himself, he had abandoned the idea of offering resistance. That shining pistol, still before his eyes, had cured him of all inclination for a quarrel with the strange equestrian; and so far as the Connemara man was concerned, she might have gone unresisted inside.
But there was another from Connemara, who appeared more determined to dispute her passage to the hut — one whom a whole battery of great guns would not have deterred from protecting its owner. This was Tara.
The staghound was not acting as if under the excitement of a mere senseless alarm. Mingling with his prolonged sonorous “gowl” could be heard in repeated interruptions a quick sharp bark, that denoted anger. He had witnessed the attitude of the intruder — its apparent hostility — and drawing his deductions, had taken stand directly in front of Phelim and the door, with the evident determination that neither should be reached except over his own body, and after running the gauntlet of his formidable incisors.
Isidora showed no intention of undertaking the risk. She had none. Astonishment was, for the time, the sole feeling that possessed her.
She remained transfixed to the spot, without attempting to say a word.
She stood expectingly. To such an eccentric prelude there should be a corresponding finale. Perplexed, but patiently, she awaited it.
Of her late alarm there was nothing left. What she saw was too ludicrous to allow of apprehension; though it was also too incomprehensible to elicit laughter.
In the mien of the man, who had so oddly comported himself, there was no sign of mirth. If anything, a show of seriousness, oddly contrasting with the comical act he had committed; and which plainly proclaimed that he had not been treating her to a joke.
The expression of helpless perplexity that had become fixed upon her features, continued there; until a tall man, wearing a faded blanket coat, and carrying a six-foot rifle, was seen striding among the tree-trunks, at the rate of ten miles to the hour. He was making direct for the jacalé.
At sight of the new-comer her countenance underwent a change. There was now perceptible upon it a shade of apprehension; and the little pistol was clutched with renewed nerve by the delicate hand that still continued to hold it.
The act was partly precautionary, partly mechanical. Nor was it unnatural, in view of the formidable-looking personage who was approaching, and the earnest excited manner with which he was hurrying forward to the hut.
All this became altered, as he advanced into the open ground, and suddenly stopped on its edge; a look of surprise quite as great as that upon the countenance of the lady, supplanting his earnest glances.
Some exclamatory phrases were sent through his teeth, unintelligible in the tumult still continuing, though the gesture that accompanied them seemed to proclaim them of a character anything but gentle.
On giving utterance to them, he turned to one side; strode rapidly towards the screaming mare; and, laying hold of her tail — which no living man save himself would have dared to do — he released her from the torments she had been so long enduring.
Silence was instantly restored; since the mare, abandoned by her fellow choristers, as they became accustomed to her wild neighs, had been, for some time, keeping up the solo by herself.
The lady was not yet enlightened. Her astonishment continued; though a side glance given to the droll individual in the doorway told her, that he had successfully accomplished some scheme with which he had been entrusted.
Phelim’s look of satisfaction was of short continuance. It vanished, as Zeb Stump, having effected the deliverance of the tortured quadruped, faced round to the hut — as he did so, showing a cloud upon the corrugations of his countenance, darkly ominous of an angry storm.
Even the presence of beauty did not hinder it from bursting. “Durn, an dog-gone ye, for a Irish eedyit! Air this what ye’ve brought me back for! An’ jest as I wur takin’ sight on a turkey, not less ’n thirty poun’ weight, I reck’n; skeeart afore he ked touch trigger, wi’ the skreek o’ thet cussed critter o’ a maar. Damned little chance for breakfust now.”
“But, Misther Stump, didn’t yez till me to do it? Ye sid if any wan showld come to the cyabin — ”
“Bah! ye fool! Ye don’t serpose I meened weemen, did ye?”
“Trath! I didn’t think it wus wan, whin she furst presented hersilf. Yez showld a seen the way she rid up — sittin’ astraddle on her horse.”
“What matter it, how she wur sittin’! Hain’t ye seed thet afore, ye greenhorn? It’s thur usooal way ’mong these hyur Mexikin sheemales. Ye’re more o’ a woman than she air, I guess; an twenty times more o’ a fool. Thet I’m sartint o’. I know her a leetle by sight, an somethin’ more by reeport. What hev fetched the critter hyur ain’t so difeequilt to comprehend; tho’ it may be to git it out o’ her, seein’ as she kin only talk thet thur Mexikin lingo; the which this chile can’t, nor wudn’t ef he kud.”
“Sowl, Misther Stump! yez be mistaken. She spakes English too. Don’t yez, misthress?”
“Little Inglees,” returned the Mexican, who up to this time had remained listening. “Inglees poco pocito.”
“O — ah!” exclaimed Zeb, slightly abashed at what he had been saying. “I beg your pardin, saynoritta. Ye kin habla a bit o’ Amerikin, kin ye? Moocho bono — so much the betterer. Ye’ll be able to tell me what ye mout be a wantin’ out hyur. Ye hain’t lost yur way, hev ye?”
“No, señor,” was the reply, after a pause. “In that case, ye know whar ye air?”
“Si, señor — si — yes, of Don Mauricio Zyerral, this the — house?”
“Thet air the name, near as a Mexikin mouth kin make it, I reck’n. ’Tain’t much o’ a house; but it air his’n. Preehaps ye want to see the master o’t?”
“O, señor — yees — that is for why I here am — por esta yo soy aqui.”
“Wal; I reck’n, thur kin be no objecshun to yur seein’ him. Yur intenshuns ain’t noways hostile to the young fellur, I kalklate. But thur ain’t much good in yur talkin’ to him now. He won’t know yo from a side o’ sole-leather.”
“He is ill? Has met with some misfortune? El güero has said so.”
“Yis. I towlt her that,” interposed Phelim, whose carroty hair had earned for him the appellation “El güero.”
“Sartin,” answered Zeb. “He air wounded a bit; an jest now a leetle dulleerious. I reck’n it ain’t o’ much consekwence. He’ll be hisself agin soon’s the ravin’ fit’s gone off o’ him.”
“O, sir! can I be his nurse till then? Por amor dios! Let me enter, and watch over him? I am his friend — un amigo muy afficionado.”
“Wal; I don’t see as thur’s any harm in it. Weemen makes the best o’ nusses I’ve heern say; tho’, for meself, I hain’t hed much chance o’ tryin’ ’em, sincst I kivered up my ole gurl unner the sods o’ Massissipi. Ef ye want to take a spell by the side o’ the young fellur, ye’re wilkim — seein’ ye’re his friend. Ye kin look arter him, till we git back, an see thet he don’t tummel out o’ the bed, or claw off them thur bandidges, I’ve tied roun him.”
“Trust me, good sir, I shall take every care of him. But tell me what has caused it? The Indians? No, they are not near? Has there been a quarrel with any one?”
“In thet, saynoritta; ye’re beout as wise as I air meself. Thur’s been a quarrel wi’ coyeats; but that ain’t what’s gin him the ugly knee. I foun’ him yesterday, clost upon sun-down, in the chapparal beyont. When we kim upon him, he war up to his waist in the water o’ a crik as runs through thur, jest beout to be attakted by one o’ them spotty critters yur people call tigers. Wal, I relieved him o’ that bit o’ danger; but what happened afore air a mystery to me. The young fellur had tuk leeve o’ his senses, an ked gie no account o’ hisself. He hain’t rekivered them yet; an’, thurfore, we must wait till he do.”
“But you are sure, sir, he is not badly injured? His wounds — they are not dangerous?”
“No danger whatsomediver. Nuthin’ beyont a bit o’ a fever, or maybe a touch o’ the agey, when that goes off o’ him. As for the wounds, they’re only a wheen o’ scratches. When the wanderin’ hev gone out o’ his senses, he’ll soon kum roun, I reck’n. In a week’s time, ye’ll see him as strong as a buck.”
“Oh! I shall nurse him tenderly!”
“Wal, that’s very kind o’ you; but — but — ”
Zeb hesitated, as a queer thought came before his mind. It led to a train of reflections kept to himself. They were these:
“This air the same she, as sent them kickshaws to the tavern o’ Rough an Ready. Thet she air in love wi’ the young fellur is clur as Massissipi mud — in love wi’ him to the eends o’ her toe nails. So’s the tother. But it air equally clur that he’s thinkin’ o’ the tother, an not o’ her. Now ef she hears him talk about tother, as he hev been a doin’ all o’ the night, thur’ll be a putty consid’able rumpus riz inside o’ her busom. Poor thing! I pity her. She ain’t a bad sort. But the Irish — Irish tho’ he be — can’t belong to both; an I know he freezes to the critter from the States. It air durned awkurd — Better ef I ked pursuade her not to go near him — leastwise till he gets over ravin’ about Lewaze.
“But, miss,” he continued, addressing himself to the Mexican, who during his long string of reflections had stood impatiently silent, “don’t ye think ye’d better ride home agin; an kum back to see him arter he gits well. He won’t know ye, as I’ve sayed; an it would be no use yur stayin’, since he ain’t in any danger o’ makin’ a die of it.”
“No matter, that he may not know me. I should tend him all the same. He may need some things — which I can send, and procure for him.”
“Ef ye’re boun’ to stay then,” rejoined Zeb, relentingly, as if some new thought was causing him to consent, “I won’t interfere to say, no. But don’t you mind what he’ll be palaverin’ about. Ye may hear some queer talk out o’ him, beout a man bein’ murdered, an the like. That’s natral for any one as is dulleerious. Don’t be skeeart at it. Beside, ye may hear him talkin’ a deal about a woman, as he’s got upon his mind.”
“A woman!”
“Jest so. Ye’ll hear him make mention o’ her name.”
“Her name! Señor, what name?”
“Wal, it air the name o’ his sister, I reck’n. Fact, I’m sure o’ it bein’ his sister.”
“Oh! Misther Stump. If yez be spakin’ av Masther Maurice — ”
“Shut up, ye durned fool! What is’t to you what I’m speakin’ beout? You can’t unnerstan sech things. Kum along!” he continued, moving off, and motioning the Connemara man to follow him. “I want ye a leetle way wi’ me. I killed a rattle as I wur goin’ up the crik, an left it thur. Kum you, an toat it back to the shanty hyur, lest some varmint may make away wi’ it; an lest, arter all, I moutn’t strike turkey agin.”
“A rattle. Div yez mane a rattle-snake?”
“An’ what shed I mean?”
“Shure, Misther Stump, yez wudn’t ate a snake. Lard! wudn’t it poison yez?”
“Pisen be durned! Didn’t I cut the pisen out, soon ’s I killed the critter, by cuttin’ off o’ its head?”
“Trath! an for all that, I wudn’t ate a morsel av it, if I was starvin’.”
“Sturve, an be durned to ye! Who axes ye to eet it. I only want ye to toat it home. Kum then, an do as I tell ye; or dog-goned, ef I don’t make ye eet the head o’ the reptile, — pisen, fangs an all!”
“Be japers, Misther Stump, I didn’t mane to disobey you at all — at all. Shure it’s Phaylim O’Nale that’s reddy to do your biddin’ anyhow. I’m wid ye for fwhativer yez want; aven to swallowin the snake whole. Saint Pathrick forgive me!”
“Saint Patrick be durned! Kum along!”
Phelim made no farther remonstrance; but, striking into the tracks of the backwoodsman, followed him through the wood.
Isidora entered the hut; advanced towards the invalid reclining upon his couch; with fierce fondness kissed his fevered brow, fonder and fiercer kissed his unconscious lips; and then recoiled from them, as if she had been stung by a scorpion!
Worse than scorpion’s sting was that which had caused her to spring back.
And yet ’twas but a word — a little word — of only two syllables!
There was nothing strange in this. Oft, on one word — that soft short syllabic “Yes” — rests the happiness of a life; while oft, too oft, the harsher negative is the prelude to a world of war!
Chapter Fifty Nine. Another who cannot rest
A dark day for Louise Poindexter — perhaps the darkest in the calendar of her life — was that in which she released Don Miguel Diaz from the lazo.
Sorrow for a brother’s loss, with fears for a lover’s safety, were yesterday commingled in the cup. To-day it was further embittered by the blackest passion of all — jealousy. Grief — fear — jealousy — what must be the state of the soul in which these emotions are co-existent? A tumult of terrible imaginings.
So was it in the bosom of Louise Poindexter after deciphering the epistle which contained written evidence of her lover’s disloyalty.
True, the writing came not from him; nor was the proof conclusive.
But in the first burst of her frenzied rage, the young Creole did not reason thus. In the wording of the letter there was strong presumption, that the relationship between Maurice Gerald and the Mexican was of a more affectionate character than he had represented it to be — that he had, in fact, been practising a deception.
Why should that woman write to him in such free strain — giving bold, almost unfeminine, licence to her admiration of his eyes: “Essos ojos tan lindos y tan espresivos?”
These were no phrases of friendship; but the expressions of a prurient passion. As such only could the Creole understand them: since they were but a paraphrase of her own feelings.
And then there was the appointment itself — solicited, it is true, in the shape of a request. But this was mere courtesy — the coquetry of an accomplished maîtresse. Moreover, the tone of solicitation was abandoned towards the close of the epistle; which terminated in a positive command: “Come, sir! come!”
Something more than jealousy was aroused by the reading of this. A spirit of revenge seemed to dictate the gesture that followed, — and the stray sheet was crushed between the aristocratic fingers into which it had fallen.
“Ah, me!” reflected she, in the acerbity of her soul, “I see it all now. ’Tis not the first time he has answered a similar summons; not the first they have met on that same ground, ‘the hill above my uncle’s house’ — slightly described, but well understood — oft visited before.”
Soon the spirit of vengeance gave place to a profound despair. Her heart had its emblem in the piece of paper that lay at her feet upon the floor — like it, crushed and ruined.
For a time she surrendered herself to sad meditation. Wild emotions passed through her mind, suggesting wild resolves. Among others she thought of her beloved Louisiana — of going back there to bury her secret sorrow in the cloisters of the Sacré Coeur. Had the Creole convent been near, in that hour of deep despondency, she would, in all probability, have forsaken the paternal home, and sought an asylum within its sacred walls. In very truth was it the darkest day of her existence. After long hours of wretchedness her spirit became calmer, while her thoughts returned to a more rational tone. The letter was re-read; its contents submitted to careful consideration.
There was still a hope — the hope that, after all, Maurice Gerald might not be in the Settlement.
It was at best but a faint ray. Surely she should know — she who had penned the appointment, and spoken so confidently of his keeping it? Still, as promised, he might have gone away; and upon this supposition hinged that hope, now scintillating like a star through the obscurity of the hour.
It was a delicate matter to make direct inquiries about — to one in the position of Louise Poindexter. But no other course appeared open to her; and as the shadows of twilight shrouded the grass-covered square of the village, she was seen upon her spotted palfrey, riding silently through the streets, and reining up in front of the hotel — on the same spot occupied but a few hours before by the grey steed of Isidora!
As the men of the place were all absent — some on the track of the assassin, others upon the trail of the Comanche, Oberdoffer was the only witness of her indiscretion. But he knew it not as such. It was but natural that the sister of the murdered man should be anxious to obtain news; and so did he construe the motive for the interrogatories addressed to him.
Little did the stolid German suspect the satisfaction which his answers at first gave to his fair questioner; much less the chagrin afterwards caused by that bit of information volunteered by himself, and which abruptly terminated the dialogue between him and his visitor.
On hearing she was not the first of her sex who had that day made inquiries respecting Maurice the mustanger, Louise Poindexter rode back to Casa del Corvo, with a heart writhing under fresh laceration.
A night was spent in the agony of unrest — sleep only obtained in short snatches, and amidst the phantasmagoria of dreamland.
Though the morning restored not her tranquillity, it brought with it a resolve, stern, daring, almost reckless.
It was, at least, daring, for Louise Poindexter to ride to the Alamo alone; and this was her determination.
There was no one to stay her — none to say nay. The searchers out all night had not yet returned. No report had come back to Casa del Corvo. She was sole mistress of the mansion, as of her actions — sole possessor of the motive that was impelling her to this bold step.
But it may be easily guessed. Hers was not a spirit to put up with mere suspicion. Even love, that tames the strongest, had not yet reduced it to that state of helpless submission. Unsatisfied it could no longer exist; and hence her resolve to seek satisfaction.
She might find peace — she might chance upon ruin. Even the last appeared preferable to the agony of uncertainty.
How like to the reasoning of her rival!
It would have been idle to dissuade her, had there been any one to do it. It is doubtful even if parental authority could at that moment have prevented her from carrying out her purpose. Talk to the tigress when frenzied by a similar feeling. With a love unhallowed, the will of the Egyptian queen was not more imperious than is that of the American Creole, when stirred by its holiest passion. It acknowledges no right of contradiction — regards no obstruction save death.
It is a spirit rare upon earth. In its tranquil state, soft as the rays of the Aurora — pure as the prayer of a child; but when stirred by love, — or rather by its too constant concomitant — it becomes proud and perilous as the light of Lucifer!
Of this spirit Louise Poindexter was the truest type. Where love was the lure, to wish was to have, or perish in the attempt to obtain. Jealousy resting upon doubt was neither possible to her nature, or compatible with her existence. She must find proofs to destroy, or confirm it — proofs stronger than those already supplied by the contents of the strayed epistle, which, after all, were only presumptive.
Armed with this, she was in a position to seek them; and they were to be sought upon the Alamo.
The first hour of sunrise saw her in the saddle, riding out from the enclosures of Casa del Corvo, and taking a trail across the prairie already known to her.
On passing many a spot, endeared to her — sacred by some of the sweetest souvenirs of her life — her thoughts experienced more than one revulsion.
These were moments when she forgot the motive that originally impelled her to the journey — when she thought only of reaching the man she loved, to rescue him from enemies that might be around him!
Ah! these moments — despite the apprehension for her lover’s safety — were happy, when compared with those devoted to the far more painful contemplation of his treachery.
From the point of starting to that of her destination, it was twenty miles. It might seem a journey, to one used to European travelling — that is in the saddle. To the prairie equestrian it is a ride of scarce two hours — quick as a scurry across country, after a stag or fox.
Even with an unwilling steed it is not tedious; but with that lithe-limbed, ocellated creature, Luna, who went willingly towards her prairie home, it was soon over — too soon, perhaps, for the happiness of her rider.
Wretched as Louise Poindexter may have felt before, her misery had scarce reached the point of despair. Through her sadness there still shone a scintillation of hope.
It was extinguished as she set foot upon the threshold of the jacalé; and the quick suppressed scream that came from her lips, was like the last utterance of a heart parting in twain.
There was a woman within the hut!
From the lips of this woman an exclamation had already escaped, to which her own might have appeared an echo — so closely did the one follow the other — so alike were they in anguish.
Like a second echo, still more intensified, was the cry from Isidora; as turning, she saw in the doorway that woman, whose name had just been pronounced — the “Louise” so fervently praised, so fondly remembered, amidst the vagaries of a distempered brain.
To the young Creole the case was clear — painfully clear. She saw before her the writer of that letter of appointment — which, after all, had been kept. In the strife, whose sounds had indistinctly reached her, there may have been a third party — Maurice Gerald? That would account for the condition in which she now saw him; for she was far enough inside the hut to have a view of the invalid upon his couch.
Yes; it was the writer of that bold epistle, who had called Maurice Gerald “querido;” — who had praised his eyes — who had commanded him to come to her side; and who was now by his side, tending him with a solicitude that proclaimed her his! Ah! the thought was too painful to be symbolised in speech.
Equally clear were the conclusions of Isidora — equally agonising. She already knew that she was supplanted. She had been listening too long to the involuntary speeches that told her so, to have any doubt as to their sincerity. On the door-step stood the woman who had succeeded her!
Face to face, with flashing eyes, their bosoms rising and falling as if under one impulse — both distraught with the same dire thought — the two stood eyeing each other.
Alike in love with the same man — alike jealous — they were alongside the object of their burning passion unconscious of the presence of either!
Each believed the other successful: for Louise had not heard the words, that would have given her comfort — those words yet ringing in the ears, and torturing the soul, of Isidora!
It was an attitude of silent hostility — all the more terrible for its silence. Not a word was exchanged between them. Neither deigned to ask explanation of the other; neither needed it. There are occasions when speech is superfluous, and both intuitively felt that this was one. It was a mutual encounter of fell passions; that found expression only in the flashing of eyes, and the scornful curling of lips.
Only for an instant was the attitude kept up. In fact, the whole scene, inside, scarce occupied a score of seconds.
It ended by Louise Poindexter turning round upon the doorstep, and gliding off to regain her saddle. The hut of Maurice Gerald was no place for her!
Isidora too came out, almost treading upon the skirt of the other’s dress. The same thought was in her heart — perhaps more emphatically felt. The hut of Maurice Gerald was no place for her!
Both seemed equally intent on departure — alike resolved on forsaking the spot, that had witnessed the desolation of their hearts.
The grey horse stood nearest — the mustang farther out. Isidora was the first to mount — the first to move off; but as she passed, her rival had also got into the saddle, and was holding the ready rein.
Glances were again interchanged — neither triumphant, but neither expressing forgiveness. That of the Creole was a strange mixture of sadness, anger, and surprise; while the last look of Isidora, that accompanied a spiteful “carajo!” — a fearful phrase from female lips — was such as the Ephesian goddess may have given to Athenaia, after the award of the apple.
