CHAPTER X--THE KITE
On the following day, a little after four o'clock, Adam set out forMercy.
He was home just as the clocks were striking six. He was pale and upset,but otherwise looked strong and alert. The old man summed up hisappearance and manner thus: "Braced up for battle."
"Now!" said Sir Nathaniel, and settled down to listen, looking at Adamsteadily and listening attentively that he might miss nothing--even theinflection of a word.
"I found Lilla and Mimi at home. Watford had been detained by businesson the farm. Miss Watford received me as kindly as before; Mimi, too,seemed glad to see me. Mr. Caswall came so soon after I arrived, thathe, or someone on his behalf, must have been watching for me. He wasfollowed closely by the negro, who was puffing hard as if he had beenrunning--so it was probably he who watched. Mr. Caswall was very cooland collected, but there was a more than usually iron look about his facethat I did not like. However, we got on very well. He talked pleasantlyon all sorts of questions. The nigger waited a while and thendisappeared as on the other occasion. Mr. Caswall's eyes were as usualfixed on Lilla. True, they seemed to be very deep and earnest, but therewas no offence in them. Had it not been for the drawing down of thebrows and the stern set of the jaws, I should not at first have noticedanything. But the stare, when presently it began, increased inintensity. I could see that Lilla began to suffer from nervousness, ason the first occasion; but she carried herself bravely. However, themore nervous she grew, the harder Mr. Caswall stared. It was evident tome that he had come prepared for some sort of mesmeric or hypnoticbattle. After a while he began to throw glances round him and thenraised his hand, without letting either Lilla or Mimi see the action. Itwas evidently intended to give some sign to the negro, for he came, inhis usual stealthy way, quietly in by the hall door, which was open. ThenMr. Caswall's efforts at staring became intensified, and poor Lilla'snervousness grew greater. Mimi, seeing that her cousin was distressed,came close to her, as if to comfort or strengthen her with theconsciousness of her presence. This evidently made a difficulty for Mr.Caswall, for his efforts, without appearing to get feebler, seemed lesseffective. This continued for a little while, to the gain of both Lillaand Mimi. Then there was a diversion. Without word or apology the dooropened, and Lady Arabella March entered the room. I had seen her comingthrough the great window. Without a word she crossed the room and stoodbeside Mr. Caswall. It really was very like a fight of a peculiar kind;and the longer it was sustained the more earnest--the fiercer--it grew.That combination of forces--the over-lord, the white woman, and the blackman--would have cost some--probably all of them--their lives in theSouthern States of America. To us it was simply horrible. But all thatyou can understand. This time, to go on in sporting phrase, it wasunderstood by all to be a 'fight to a finish,' and the mixed group didnot slacken a moment or relax their efforts. On Lilla the strain beganto tell disastrously. She grew pale--a patchy pallor, which meant thather nerves were out of order. She trembled like an aspen, and though shestruggled bravely, I noticed that her legs would hardly support her. Adozen times she seemed about to collapse in a faint, but each time, oncatching sight of Mimi's eyes, she made a fresh struggle and pulledthrough.
"By now Mr. Caswall's face had lost its appearance of passivity. Hiseyes glowed with a fiery light. He was still the old Roman ininflexibility of purpose; but grafted on to the Roman was a new Berserkerfury. His companions in the baleful work seemed to have taken onsomething of his feeling. Lady Arabella looked like a soulless, pitilessbeing, not human, unless it revived old legends of transformed humanbeings who had lost their humanity in some transformation or in the sweepof natural savagery. As for the negro--well, I can only say that it wassolely due to the self-restraint which you impressed on me that I did notwipe him out as he stood--without warning, without fair play--without asingle one of the graces of life and death. Lilla was silent in thehelpless concentration of deadly fear; Mimi was all resolve andself-forgetfulness, so intent on the soul-struggle in which she wasengaged that there was no possibility of any other thought. As formyself, the bonds of will which held me inactive seemed like bands ofsteel which numbed all my faculties, except sight and hearing. We seemedfixed in an _impasse_. Something must happen, though the power ofguessing was inactive. As in a dream, I saw Mimi's hand move restlessly,as if groping for something. Mechanically it touched that of Lilla, andin that instant she was transformed. It was as if youth and strengthentered afresh into something already dead to sensibility and intention.As if by inspiration, she grasped the other's band with a force whichblenched the knuckles. Her face suddenly flamed, as if some divine lightshone through it. Her form expanded till it stood out majestically.Lifting her right hand, she stepped forward towards Caswall, and with abold sweep of her arm seemed to drive some strange force towards him.Again and again was the gesture repeated, the man falling back from herat each movement. Towards the door he retreated, she following. Therewas a sound as of the cooing sob of doves, which seemed to multiply andintensify with each second. The sound from the unseen source rose androse as he retreated, till finally it swelled out in a triumphant peal,as she with a fierce sweep of her arm, seemed to hurl something at herfoe, and he, moving his hands blindly before his face, appeared to beswept through the doorway and out into the open sunlight.
"All at once my own faculties were fully restored; I could see and heareverything, and be fully conscious of what was going on. Even thefigures of the baleful group were there, though dimly seen as through aveil--a shadowy veil. I saw Lilla sink down in a swoon, and Mimi throwup her arms in a gesture of triumph. As I saw her through the greatwindow, the sunshine flooded the landscape, which, however, wasmomentarily becoming eclipsed by an onrush of a myriad birds."
By the next morning, daylight showed the actual danger which threatened.From every part of the eastern counties reports were received concerningthe enormous immigration of birds. Experts were sending--on their ownaccount, on behalf of learned societies, and through local and imperialgoverning bodies--reports dealing with the matter, and suggestingremedies.
The reports closer to home were even more disturbing. All day long itwould seem that the birds were coming thicker from all quarters.Doubtless many were going as well as coming, but the mass seemed never toget less. Each bird seemed to sound some note of fear or anger orseeking, and the whirring of wings never ceased nor lessened. The airwas full of a muttered throb. No window or barrier could shut out thesound, till the ears of any listener became dulled by the ceaselessmurmur. So monotonous it was, so cheerless, so disheartening, somelancholy, that all longed, but in vain, for any variety, no matter howterrible it might be.
The second morning the reports from all the districts round were morealarming than ever. Farmers began to dread the coming of winter as theysaw the dwindling of the timely fruitfulness of the earth. And as yet itwas only a warning of evil, not the evil accomplished; the ground beganto look bare whenever some passing sound temporarily frightened thebirds.
Edgar Caswall tortured his brain for a long time unavailingly, to thinkof some means of getting rid of what he, as well as his neighbours, hadcome to regard as a plague of birds. At last he recalled a circumstancewhich promised a solution of the difficulty. The experience was of someyears ago in China, far up-country, towards the head-waters of the Yang-tze-kiang, where the smaller tributaries spread out in a sort of naturalirrigation scheme to supply the wilderness of paddy-fields. It was atthe time of the ripening rice, and the myriads of birds which came tofeed on the coming crop was a serious menace, not only to the district,but to the country at large. The farmers, who were more or lessafflicted with the same trouble every season, knew how to deal with it.They made a vast kite, which they caused to be flown over the centre spotof the incursion. The kite was shaped like a great hawk; and the momentit rose into the air the birds began to cower and seek protection--andthen to disappear. So long as that kite was flying overhead the birdsl
ay low and the crop was saved. Accordingly Caswall ordered his men toconstruct an immense kite, adhering as well as they could to the lines ofa hawk. Then he and his men, with a sufficiency of cord, began to fly ithigh overhead. The experience of China was repeated. The moment thekite rose, the birds hid or sought shelter. The following morning, thekite was still flying high, no bird was to be seen as far as the eyecould reach from Castra Regis. But there followed in turn what provedeven a worse evil. All the birds were cowed; their sounds stopped.Neither song nor chirp was heard--silence seemed to have taken the placeof the normal voices of bird life. But that was not all. The silencespread to all animals.
The fear and restraint which brooded amongst the denizens of the airbegan to affect all life. Not only did the birds cease song or chirp,but the lowing of the cattle ceased in the fields and the varied soundsof life died away. In place of these things was only a soundless gloom,more dreadful, more disheartening, more soul-killing than any concourseof sounds, no matter how full of fear and dread. Pious individuals putup constant prayers for relief from the intolerable solitude. After alittle there were signs of universal depression which those who ran mightread. One and all, the faces of men and women seemed bereft of vitality,of interest, of thought, and, most of all, of hope. Men seemed to havelost the power of expression of their thoughts. The soundless air seemedto have the same effect as the universal darkness when men gnawed theirtongues with pain.
From this infliction of silence there was no relief. Everything wasaffected; gloom was the predominant note. Joy appeared to have passedaway as a factor of life, and this creative impulse had nothing to takeits place. That giant spot in high air was a plague of evil influence.It seemed like a new misanthropic belief which had fallen on humanbeings, carrying with it the negation of all hope.
After a few days, men began to grow desperate; their very words as wellas their senses seemed to be in chains. Edgar Caswall again tortured hisbrain to find any antidote or palliative of this greater evil thanbefore. He would gladly have destroyed the kite, or caused its flying tocease; but the instant it was pulled down, the birds rose up in evengreater numbers; all those who depended in any way on agriculture sentpitiful protests to Castra Regis.
It was strange indeed what influence that weird kite seemed to exercise.Even human beings were affected by it, as if both it and they wererealities. As for the people at Mercy Farm, it was like a taste ofactual death. Lilla felt it most. If she had been indeed a real dove,with a real kite hanging over her in the air, she could not have beenmore frightened or more affected by the terror this created.
Of course, some of those already drawn into the vortex noticed the effecton individuals. Those who were interested took care to compare theirinformation. Strangely enough, as it seemed to the others, the personwho took the ghastly silence least to heart was the negro. By nature hewas not sensitive to, or afflicted by, nerves. This alone would not haveproduced the seeming indifference, so they set their minds to discoverthe real cause. Adam came quickly to the conclusion that there was forhim some compensation that the others did not share; and he soon believedthat that compensation was in one form or another the enjoyment of thesufferings of others. Thus the black had a never-failing source ofamusement.
Lady Arabella's cold nature rendered her immune to anything in the way ofpain or trouble concerning others. Edgar Caswall was far too haughty aperson, and too stern of nature, to concern himself about poor orhelpless people, much less the lower order of mere animals. Mr. Watford,Mr. Salton, and Sir Nathaniel were all concerned in the issue, partlyfrom kindness of heart--for none of them could see suffering, even ofwild birds, unmoved--and partly on account of their property, which hadto be protected, or ruin would stare them in the face before long.
Lilla suffered acutely. As time went on, her face became pinched, andher eyes dull with watching and crying. Mimi suffered too on account ofher cousin's suffering. But as she could do nothing, she resolutely madeup her mind to self-restraint and patience. Adam's frequent visitscomforted her.