XLV.
_MASTER AND SLAVE CHANGE PLACES._
The sergeant and his men were several rods distant: the bush throughwhich that menacing visage peered was within as many feet. Augustusreached for his revolver.
"Make a single move--speak a single word--and you are food for thebuzzards!" came a whisper from the bush that well might chill his blood."You know this rifle--and you know me!" And in the negro's face shone apersuasive glitter of the old, untamable, torrid ferocity of histribe--not pleasing to Augustus.
"What do you want?"
"Give your revolver to that girl--instantly!"
"I have men within call!"
"So have I."
Through the bush, advancing noiselessly, came the straight steel barrelof a rifle that had never missed fire but once: that was when it hadbeen aimed by Augustus at the head of Pomp. Now it was aimed by Pomp atthe head of Augustus; and it was hardly to be expected that it would beso obliging as to remember that one fault, and, for the sake offairness, repeat it, now that positions were reversed. Bythewoodhesitated, in mortal fear.
"Obey me! I shall not speak again!"
And there was heard in the bush another slight noise, too short, quick,and clicking, to be the crackle of a twig. Neither was that pleasing tothe mind of Augustus. He turned, and with trembling hand made Virginia apresent of the revolver.
"Do you know how to use it?" Pomp asked. She nodded, breathless. "Andyou will use it if necessary?" She nodded again, and held the weaponprepared. "Now,"--to Bythewood,--"send those men away."
"What do you mean to do?"
"I mean to spare their lives and yours, if you obey me. To kill youwithout much delay if you do not."
"If you shoot,"--Bythewood was beginning to regain his dignity,--"theywill rush to the spot before you can escape, and avenge me well!"
A superb, masterful smile mounted to the ebon visage, and the answercame from the bush,--
"Look where the bowlder lies, up there by the ravine. You will see atwinkle of steel among the leaves. There are guns aimed at your men. Youunderstand."
Perhaps Augustus did not distinguish the guns; but he understood. At asignal, his men would be shot down.
"I would prefer not to shed blood. So decide and that quickly!" saidPomp.
"And if I comply?"
"Comply readily with all I shall demand of you, and not a hair ofyour head shall be harmed. Now I count ten. At the word ten, I senda bullet through your heart if those men are still there." Hecommenced, like one telling the strokes of a tolling bell:"One----two----three----four----five----"
"Sergeant," called Augustus, "take your men and report to LieutenantRopes at the sink."
"A fine time to be taken up with a love affair!" growled the sergeant,as he obeyed.
"Now what?" said Bythewood, under an air of bravado concealing thedespair of his heart.
"Come!" said Pomp, with savage impatience,--for he knew well that, ifBythewood had not yet learned of Ropes's death, messengers must be onthe way to him, and therefore not a moment was to be lost. He opened thebushes. Augustus crept into them: Virginia followed. But then suddenlythe negro seemed to change his plans, the spirit and firmness of thegirl inspiring him with a fresh idea.
"Miss Villars, we are going to the cave. Look down the ravinethere;--you see this path is rough."
"O, I can go anywhere, you know!"
"But haste is necessary. You shall return the way you came. Take thisman with you. If you are seen by his soldiers, they will think all iswell. Make him go before. Shoot him if he turns his head. Dare you?"
"I will!" said Virginia.
"Keep near the ravine. My rifle will be there. If you have anydifficulty, I will end it. Now march!"--thrusting Bythewood out of thethicket.--"Straight on!--Carry your pistol cocked, young lady!"
Bitterly then did the noble Augustus repent him of having sent his guardaway: "I ought to have died first!" But it was too late to recall them;and there was no way left him but to yield--or appear to yield--implicitobedience.
What a situation for a son of the chivalrous south! He had reviledLysander for having been made prisoner by a boy; and here was he, thehaughty, the proud, the ambitious, overawed by a negro's threats, andcarried away captive by a girl! However, he had a hope--a desperate one,indeed. He would watch for an opportunity, wheel suddenly upon Virginia,seize the pistol, and escape,--risking a shot from it, which he knew shewas firmly determined to deliver in case of need (for had he not seenthe soldier's gashed wrist?)--and risking also (what was more seriousstill) a shot from the rifle in the ravine.
But when they came to the bowlder, there the resolution he had takenfell back leaden and dead upon his heart. He had, on reflection,concluded that the twinkle of guns in the leaves there was but a fictionof the wily African brain. As he passed, however, he perceived two gunspeeping through. He knew not what exultant hearts were behindthem,--what eager eyes beneath the boughs were watching him, led thustamely into captivity; but he was impressed with a wholesome respect forthem, and from that moment thought no more of escape.
As Virginia approached the cave with her prisoner, the two guns, havingfollowed them closely all the way, came up out of the ravine. They wereaccompanied by Penn and Carl. In the gladness of that sight Virginiaalmost forgot her dead sister and her captive father. Those two dearfamiliar faces beamed upon her with joy and triumph. But there was onewho was not so glad. This Quaker schoolmaster, turned fighting man, wasthe last person Augustus (who was unpleasantly reminded of theconversation under the bridge) would have wished to see under suchembarrassing circumstances.
In the cave was Toby, wailing over the dead body of Salina. But at sightof the living sister he rose up and was comforted.
Pomp had remained to cover the retreat. When all were safely arrived, hecame bounding into the cave, jubilant. His bold and sagacious plans werethus far successful; and it only remained to carry them out with thesame inexorable energy.
"Sit here." Augustus took one of the giant's stools. "I have a few wordsto say to this man: in the mean while, one of you"--turning to Penn andCarl--"hasten to the sink, and ask Stackridge to send me as many men ashe can spare. Bring a couple of the prisoners--we shall need them."
"I'll go!" Carl cried with alacrity.
"And," added Pomp, "if there are any wounded needing my assistance, havethem brought here. I shall not, probably, be able to go to them."
While he was giving these directions, with the air of one who felt thathe had a momentous task before him, Bythewood sat on the rock, his headheavy and hot, his feet like clods of ice, and his heart collapsing withintolerable suspense. The gloom of the cave, and the strangeness of allthings in it; the sight of the corpse near the entrance,--of Toby, atVirginia's suggestion, wiping up the pools of blood,--Virginia herselfperfectly calm; Penn carefully untying and straightening the pieces ofrope that had served to bind Lysander,--all this impressed himpowerfully.
"I suppose," said he, "I am to be treated as a prisoner of war."
Pomp smiled. "Answer me a question. If you had caught me, would you havetreated me as a prisoner of war?--Yes or no; we have no time forparley."
"No," said Augustus, frankly.
"Very well! I have caught you!"
Fearfully significant words to the prisoner, who remembered all hisinjustice to this man, and the tortures he had prepared for him when heshould be taken! But he had not been taken. On the contrary, he, theslave, could stand there, calm and smiling, before him, the master, andsay, with peculiar and compressed emphasis, "_Very well! I have caughtyou!_"
"You promised that not a hair of my head should be injured."
"The hair of your head is not the flesh of your body. No, I will notinjure _the hair_!"--Pomp waited for his prisoner to take in all thehorrible suggestiveness of this equivocation; then resumed. "Is not thatwhat you would have said to me if you had found me in your power aftermaking me such a promise? The black man has no rights which the whiteman is bound to respect! The most s
olemn pledges made by one of yourrace to one of mine are to be heeded only so long as suits yourconvenience. Did you not promise your dying brother in your presence togive me my freedom? Answer,--yes or no."
"Yes," faltered Augustus.
"And did you give it me?"
"No." And Augustus felt that out of his own mouth he was condemned.
"Well, I shall keep my promise better than you kept yours. Comply withall I demand of you (this is what I said), and no part of you, neitherflesh nor hair, shall be harmed."
"What do you demand of me?"
"This. Here are pen and ink. Write as I dictate."
"What?"
"An order to have the fighting on your side discontinued, and yourforces withdrawn."
Augustus hesitated to take the pen.
"I have no words to waste. If you do not comply readily with what Irequire, it is no object for me that you should comply at all."
Penn came and stood by Pomp, looking calm and determined as he. Virginiacame also, and looked upon the prisoner, without a smile, without afrown, but strangely serious and still. These were the three againstwhom he had sinned in the days of his power and pride; and now his shamewas bare before them. He took the quill, bit the feather-end of it insupreme perplexity of soul, then wrote.
"Very well," said Pomp, reading the order. "But you have forgotten tosign it." Augustus signed. "Now write again. A letter to your colonel.Mr. Hapgood, please dictate the terms."
Penn understood the whole scheme; he had consulted with Virginia, and hewas prepared.
"A safe conduct for Mr. Villars, his daughter and servants, beyond theconfederate lines. This is all I have to insist upon."
"I," said Pomp, "ask more. The man who betrayed us must be sent here."
"If you mean Sprowl," said Bythewood, "his wife has no doubt saved thetrouble."
"Not Sprowl, but Deslow."
Bythewood was terrified. Pomp had spoken with the positiveness of clearknowledge and unalterable determination. But how was it possible tocomply with his demand? Deslow had been promised not only pardon, butprotection from the very men he betrayed! Therefore he could not begiven up to them without the most cowardly and shameful perfidy.
"I have no influence whatever with the military authorities," theprisoner said, after taking ample time for consideration.
"You forget what you boasted to Sprowl, under the bridge," said Penn.
"You forget what you just now boasted to me," said Virginia.
"Call it boasting," said Bythewood, doggedly. "Absolutely, I have notthe power to effect what you require."
"It is your misfortune, then," said Pomp. "To have boasted so, and nowto fail to perform, will simply cost you your life. Will you write? ornot?"
The prisoner remained sullen, abject, silent, for some seconds. Then,with a deep breath which shook all his frame, and an expression of themost agonizing despair on his face, he took the pen.
"I will write; but I assure you it will do no good."
"So much the worse for you," was the grim response.
Mechanically and briefly Bythewood drew up a paper, signed his name, andshoved it across the table.
"Does that suit you?"
Pomp did not offer to take it.
"If it suits you, well. I shall not read it. It is not the letter thatinterests us; it is the result."
Bythewood suddenly drew back the paper, pondered its contents a moment,and cast it into the fire.
"I think I had better write another."
"I think so too. I fear you have not done what you might to impress uponthe colonel's mind the importance of these simple terms--a safe conductfor Mr. Villars and family, the troops withdrawn entirely from themountains, and Deslow delivered here to-night. This is plain enough; andyou see the rest of us ask nothing for ourselves. I advise you to writefreely. Open your mind to your friend. And beware,"--Pomp perceived by astrange expression which had come into the prisoner's face that thiscounsel was necessary,--"beware that he does not misunderstand you, andsend a force to rescue you from our hands. If such a thing is attempted,this cave will be found barricaded. With what, you wonder? With thosestones? With your dead body, my friend!"
After that hint, it was evident Augustus did not choose to write whathad first entered his mind on learning that his address to the colonelwas not to be examined. Penn handed him a fresh sheet, and he filledit--a long and confidential letter, of which we regret that no copy nowexists.
Before it was finished, Carl returned, accompanied by four of thepatriots and two of the prisoners. One of these last was Pepperill. Hewas immediately paroled, and sent off to the sink with the order thathad been previously written. The letter completed, it was folded,sealed, and despatched by the other prisoner to Colonel Derring'shead-quarters.
"Do you believe Deslow will be delivered up?" said Stackridge, inconsultation with Penn in a corner of the cave; the farmer's gray eyegleaming with anticipated vengeance.
"I believe the confederate authorities, as a general thing, are capableof any meanness. Their policy is fraud, their whole system is one ofinjustice and selfishness. If Derring, who is Bythewood's devotedfriend, can find means to give up the traitor without too gross anexposure of his perfidy, he will do it. But I regret that Pomp insistedon that hard condition. He was determined, and it was useless to reasonwith him."
"And he is right!" said Stackridge. "Deslow, if guilty, must pay forthis day's work!"
"There is no doubt of his guilt. Pepperill knew of it--he whispered itto Pomp at the sink."
"Then Deslow dies the death! He was sworn to us! He was sworn toPomp; and Pomp had saved his life! The blood of Withers, my bestfriend----" The farmer's voice was lost in a throe of rage and grief.
"And the blood of Cudjo, whom Pomp loved!" said Penn. "I feel all youfeel--all Pomp feels. But for me, I would leave vengeance with theLord."
"So would I," said Pomp, standing behind him, composed and grand. "And Iwould be the Lord's instrument, when called. I am called. Deslow comesto me, or I go to him."
"Then the Lord have mercy on his soul!"