XXXVIII.
_LOVE IN THE WILDERNESS._
Cudjo was highly exasperated to find strangers in the cave. He becamequickly reconciled to the presence of Virginia's sister, but not to thatof Lysander. To pacify him, Carl made him a present of the sword whichhe had removed from the captain's noble person on arriving.
Cudjo received the weapon with unbounded delight, and proceeded toadjust the belt to his own Ethiopian waist. It mattered little with himthat he got the scabbard on the wrong side of his body: a sword was asword; and he wore it in awkward and ridiculous fashion, strutting upand down in the fire-lighted cave, to the envy and disgust of old Toby,the rage of Lysander, and the amusement of the rest.
Penn meanwhile related to his friends his evening's adventures. He hadgone down to the ravine with the negroes to bury the horse and his deadrider. He was keeping watch while they worked; the man was interred, andthey were digging a pit for the animal, when they discovered theapproach of the soldiers, and retired to a hiding-place close by. Therethey lay concealed, whilst Ropes and his men descended to the spot,exhumed the corpse with Cudjo's shovel, made their comments upon it, andput it back into the ground. During this operation it had required allPomp's authority, and the restraint of his strong hand, to keep Cudjofrom pouncing upon his old enemy and former overseer, Silas Ropes.
"There were three of us," said Penn, "and only three of them, besidesPepperill; and no doubt a struggle would have resulted in our favor. Butwe did not want to be troubled with prisoners; and Pomp and I could notsee that anything was to be gained by killing them. Besides, we knewthey had a strong reserve within call. So we waited patiently until theyfinished their work, and climbed up out of the ravine; then we climbedup after them. We thought their main object must be to find the cave,and Pomp strongly suspected Pepperill of treachery. We found a largenumber of soldiers lying under some bushes, and crept near enough tohear what they were saying. They were going to take the cave bysurprise, and an order had just come for them to move farther up themountain. They set off with scarcely any noise, reminding me of the'Forty Thieves,' as they filed away in the moonlight, and disappearedamong the bushes and shadows. Pomp is on their trail now; he has hisrifle with him, and it may be heard from if he sees them change theircourse and approach too near the cave."
Penn had come in for his musket. It was the same that had fallen fromthe hands of the man Griffin at the moment when that unhappy rebel wasin the act of charging bayonet at his breast. Assuring Virginia--whocould not conceal her alarm at seeing him take it from its corner--thathe was merely going out to reconnoitre, he left the cave.
He was gone several hours. At length he and Pomp returned together. Themoon had long since set, but it was beautiful starlight; and, themselvesunseen, they had watched carefully the movements of the soldiers.
"You would have laughed to have been in my place, Carl!" said Penn,laying his hand affectionately on the shoulder of his beloved pupil."They besieged the ledge where your imaginary cave is for full two hoursafter I went out, apparently without daring to go very near it."
"I suppose," replied Carl, "they vas vaiting for me and the captain. Itvas really too pad now for us to make them lose so much waluable time!But they vill excuse Mishter Shprowl; his absence is unawoidable." Andlifting his brows with a commiserating expression, he gave a comicalside-glance from under them at the languishing Lysander.
All laughed at the lad's humor except the captain himself--and Salina.
After besieging the imaginary cave as Penn had described, several of theconfederates, he said, at last ventured with extreme caution to approachit.
"And found," added Carl, "they had been made the wictims of von leetlestratagem!"
"I suppose so," said Penn; "for immediately an unusual stir took placeamongst them."
"In searching for the entrance," laughed Pomp, leaning on his rifle,"they came close under a juniper-tree I had climbed into, and I couldhear them cursing the little Dutchman----"
"I suppose that vas me," smiled the good-natured Carl.
"And the 'pig-headed captain' who had gone off with him."
"The pig-headed captain is this indiwidual"--indicating Sprowl. "But itis wery unjust to be cursing him, for it vas not his fault. It vas mylegs and Toby's that conweyed him; and he had a handkersheaf over hisface for a wail."
"I suspected how it was, even before I met Penn and learned what hadhappened. I am sorry to see this fellow in this place,"--Pomp turned afrowning look at the corner where Lysander lay,--"but now that he ishere, he must stay."
Carl, upon whom the only noticeable effect produced by his excitingadventure was a lively disposition to talk, quite unusual with him,entered upon a full explanation of the circumstances which had led toLysander's capture. His narrative was altogether so simple, so honest,so droll, that even the bitter Salina had to smile at it, while all therest, the old clergyman included, joined in a hearty laugh of admiringapproval at its conclusion.
"I don't see but that you did the best that could be done," said Pomp."At all events, the villains seem to have been completely baffled. Thelast I saw of them they were retreating through the burned woods, as ifafraid to have daylight find them on the mountain."
The daylight had now come; and Penn, who went out to take anobservation, could discover no trace of the vanished rebels. The easternsky was like a sheet of diaphanous silver, faintly crimsoned above theedges of the hills with streaks of the brightening dawn. All the valleybelow was inundated by a lake of level mist, whose subtle wave madeislands of the hills, and shining inlets of the intervales. Above thissea of white silence rose the mountain ranges, inexpressibly calm andbeautiful, fresh from their bath of starlight and dew, and empurpledwith softest tints of the early morning.
Penn heard a footstep, and felt a touch on his arm. Was it the beauty ofthe earth and sky that made him shiver with so sudden and sweet athrill? or was it the lovely presence at his side, in whom wasincarnated, for him, all the beauty, all the light, all the joy of theuniverse?
It was Virginia, who leaned so gently on his arm, that not the slightpressure of her weight, but rather the impalpable shock of bliss hervery nearness brought, made him aware of her approach. Toby followed,supporting her along the shelf of rock--a dark cloud in the wake of thatrosy and perfumed dawn.
"O, how delicious it is out here!" said the voice, which, if we were todescribe it from the lover's point of view, could be likened only to thesongs of birds, the musical utterance of purest flutes, or the blowingof wild winds through those grand harp-strings, the mountain pines; forthere was more of poetry and passion compressed in the heart of thisquiet young Quaker than we shall venture to give breath to in thesepages.
"It is--delicious!" he quiveringly answered, in his happy confusionblending _her_ with his perception of the daybreak.
She inhaled deep draughts of the mountain air.
"How I love it! The breath of trees, and grass, and flowers is init,--those dear friends of mine, that I pine for, shut up here inprison!"
"Do you?" said Penn, vaguely, half wishing that he was a flower, a bladeof grass, or a tree, so that she might pine for him.
"The air of the cave," she said, "is cold; it is odorless. The caveseems to me like the great, chill hearts of some of your profoundphilosophers! Some of those tremendous books father makes me read to himcame out of such hearts, I am sure; great hollow caverns, full ofmystery and darkness, and so cold and dull they make me shudder to touchthem;--but don't you, for the world, tell him I said so,--for, to pleasehim, I let him think I am ever so much edified by everything that helikes."
"What sort of books _do_ you like?"
"O, I like books with daylight in them! I want them to be living,upper-air, joyous books. There must be sunshine, and birds, andbrooks,--human nature, life, suffering, aspiration, and----"
"And love?"
"Of course, there should be a little love in books, since there issometimes a little, I believe, in real life." But she touched thissubject wi
th such airy lightness,--just hovering over it for an instant,and then away, like a butterfly not to be caught,--that Penn felt ajealous trouble. "How long," she added immediately, "do you imagine weshall have to stay here?"
"It is impossible to say," replied Penn, turning with reluctance to themore practical topic. "One would think that the government cannot leaveus much longer subject to this atrocious tyranny. An army may be alreadymarching to our relief. But it may be weeks, it may be months, and I amnot sure," he added seriously, "but it may be years, before Tennessee isrelieved."
"Why, that is terrible! Toby says that poor old man, Mr. Ellerton, whoassisted you to escape, was caught and hung by some of the soldiersyesterday."
"I have no doubt but it is true. Although he had returned to his home,he was known to be a Unionist, and probably he was suspected of havingaided us; in which case not even his white hairs could save him."
"But it is horrible! They have commenced woman-whipping. And Toby says anegro was hung six times a couple of days ago, and afterwards cut topieces, for saying to another negro he met, 'Good news; Lincoln's armyis coming!' What is going to become of us, if relief doesn't arrivesoon? O, to look at the beautiful world we are driven from by thesewicked, wicked men!"
"And are you so very weary of the cave?"
Penn gave her a look full of electric tenderness, which seemed to say,"Have not I been with you? and am I nothing to you?"
She smiled, and her voice was tremulous as she answered,--
"I wish I could go out into the sunshine again! But I have not beenunhappy. Indeed, I think I have been very happy."
There was an indescribable pause; Virginia's eyes modestly veiled, herface suffused with a blissful light, as if her soul saw some soft andexquisite dream; while Penn's bosom swelled with the long undulations ofhope and transport. Toby still lingered in the entrance of the cave.
"Toby," said Penn, such a radiance flashing from his brow as the negrohad never seen before, "my good Toby,"--and what ineffable humansympathy vibrated in his tones!--"I wish you would go in and tell ourfriends that the enemy has quite disappeared: will you?"
"Yes, massa!" said Toby, a ray of that happiness penetrating even theold freedman's breast. For such is the beautiful law of our nature, thatlove cannot be concealed; it cannot be monopolized by one, nor yet bytwo; but when its divine glow is kindled in any soul, it beams forthfrom the eyes, it thrills in the tones of the voice, it breathes fromall the invisible magnetic pores of being, and sheds sunshine and warmthon all.
Toby went. Then an arm of manly strength, yet of all manly gentleness,stole about the waist of the girl, and drew her softly, close, closer;while something else, impalpable, ravishing, holy, drew her by a stillmore potent attraction; until, for the first time in her young and purelife, her mouth met another mouth with the soul's virgin kiss. Her lipshad kissed many times before, but her soul never. How long it lasted,that sweet perturbation, that fervent experience of a touch, neither, Isuppose, ever knew; for at such times a moment is an eternity. As alightning flash in a dark night reveals, for a dazzling instant, a worldconcealed before, so the electric interchange of two hearts charged withlove's lightning seems to open the very doors of infinity; and it is theglory of heaven that shines upon them.
Not a word was spoken.
Then Penn held Virginia before him, and looked deep into her eyes, andsaid, with a strange tremor of lip and voice,--using the gentle speechof the Friends, into which old familiar channel his thoughts flowednaturally in moments of strong feeling,--
"Wherever this dear face smiles upon me, there is my sunshine. I must bevery selfish; for notwithstanding all the dangers and discomforts bywhich I see thee and thy father surrounded, the hours we have passedtogether here have been the happiest of my life. Yea, and suffering andprivation would be never anything to me, if I could always have theewith me, Virginia!"
How different, meanwhile, was the scene within the cave! How chafed thefiery Lysander! How spitefully Salina bit her lips ever at sight of him!And these two had once been lovers, and had seen rainbows span theirfuture also! Is it love that unites such, or is it only the yearning forlove? For love, the reality, fuses all qualities, and brings intoharmony all clashing chords.
Toby entered, the gleam of others' happiness still in his countenance.
"De enemy hab dis'peared; all gone down in de frog."
"The frog, Toby?" said Mr. Villars.
"Yes, sar; right smart frog down 'ar in de volley!"
"He means, a fog in the walley," said Carl.