Cudjo's Cave

  XLIV.

  _HOW AUGUSTUS FINALLY PROPOSED._

  After this there was a lull; and Penn, who had forgotten every thingelse whilst the conflict was raging, remembered that he had seenBythewood at the ravine, and hastened to inform Pomp of thecircumstance.

  The death of Cudjo had plunged Pomp into a fit of stern, sad reverie.His surgical task performed, he stood leaning on his rifle, gazingabstractedly at the darkly gliding waves, when Penn's communicationroused him.

  "Ha!" said he, with a slight start. "We must look to that! The dangerhere is over for the present, and two or three of us can be spared."

  "Shall I go, too?" said Carl. "It is time I vas seeing to my prisoner."

  "Come," said Pomp. And the three set out to return.

  Having but slight anticipations of trouble from the side of the ravine,they came suddenly, wholly unprepared, upon a scene which filled themwith horror and amazement.

  The prisoner, as we know, had fled. We left him on his way back to thecave with a squad of men. Since which time, this is what had occurred.

  The assailants had approached so stealthily over the ledges, below whichToby was stationed, looking intently for them in another direction, thathe had no suspicions of their coming until they suddenly dropped uponhim as from the clouds. He had no time to run for his axe; and he hadscarcely given the alarm when he was overpowered, knocked down, androlled out of the way off the rocks.

  The assailants then, with Lysander at their head, rushed to the entranceof the cave. But there they encountered unexpected resistance: the twosisters--Salina with the pistol, Virginia with the axe.

  "Hello! Sal!" cried Lysander, recoiling into the arms of his men; "whatthe devil do you mean?"

  "I mean to kill you, or any man that sets foot in this place! That iswhat I mean!"

  There could be no doubt about it: her eyes, her attitude, her wholeform, from head to foot, looked what she said. She was flushed; a smileof wild and reckless scorn curved her mouth, and her countenance gleamedwith a wicked light.

  By her side was Virginia, with the uplifted axe, expressing no lessdetermination by her posture and looks, though she did not speak, thoughthere was no smile on her pale lips, and though her features were aswhite as death.

  "It's no use, gals!" said Sprowl. "Don't make fools of yourselves! Youwon't be hurt; but I'm bound to come in!"'

  "Do not attempt it! You have broken your oath to me. But I have made anoath I shall not break!"

  What that oath was Salina did not say; but Lysander's changing colorbetrayed that he guessed it pretty well.

  "I don't care a d--n for you! Virginia, drop that axe, and come out herewith your father, and I pledge my sacred honor that neither of you shallreceive the least harm."

  "Your sacred honor!" sneered Salina.

  But Virginia said nothing. She stood like a clothed statue; only theeyes through which the fire of the excited spirit shone were not thoseof a statue; and the advanced white arm, beautiful and bare, from whichthe loose sleeve fell as it reared the axe, was of God's sculpture, notman's.

  She seemed not to hear Lysander; for the promise of safety for herselfwas as nothing to her: she felt that she was there to defend, with herlife, if needs were, the friends whom he had betrayed. Only a holy andgreat purpose like this could have nerved that gentle nature for suchwork, and made those tender sinews firm as steel.

  There was something slightly devilish in the aspect of Salina; butVirginia was all the angel; yet it was the angel roused to strife.

  "Call off your gals, Mr. Villars!" said Sprowl.

  "Lysander!" said the solemn voice of the old minister from within, "hearme! We are but three here, as you see: a blind and helpless old man andtwo girls. Why do you follow to persecute us? Go your way, and learn tobe a man. The business you are engaged in is unworthy of a man. Mydaughters do right to defend this place, which you, false andungrateful, have betrayed. Attempt nothing farther; for we are notafraid to die!"

  "Go in, boys!" shouted Lysander, himself shrinking aside to let thesoldiers pass.

  Salina fired the pistol--not at the soldiers.

  "She has shot me!" said Lysander, staggering back. "Kill the fiend! killher!"

  Instantly two bayonets darted at her breast. One of them was struck downby Virginia's axe, which half severed the soldier's wrist. But beforethe axe could rise and descend again, the other bayonet had done itswork; and the soldiers rushed in.

  It was all over in a minute. The axe was seized and wrenched violentlyaway. Toby lay senseless on the rocks without. Lysander was leaningdizzily, clutching at the ledge, a ghastly whiteness settling about thegay mustache, and a strange glassiness dimming his eyes. The soldiershad possession. Virginia was a prisoner, and her father; but not Salina.There was the body which had been hers, transfixed by the bayonet, andfallen upon the ground: that was palpable: but who shall capture theescaping soul?

  When Penn and his companions arrived, not a living person was there; butalone, stretched upon the cold stone floor, where the gray light fromthe entrance fell,--pulseless, pallid, with pale hands crossedpeacefully on her breast, hiding the wound, and features faintly smilingin their stony calm,--lay the corpse of her that was Salina. The faircup that had brimmed with the bitterness of life was shattered. The soulthat drank thereat had fled away in haughtiness and scorn.

  Toby, groaning on the stones outside, felt somebody shaking him, andheard the voice of Carl asking how he was.

  "Dunno'; sort o' common," said the old negro, trying to rise.

  He knew nothing of what had happened, except that he had been fallenupon and beaten down: for the rest, it was useless to question him: noteven Penn's agonies of doubt and fear could rouse his recollection.

  * * * * *

  Lieutenant-colonel Bythewood had committed the error of an officer greenin his profession. The cave surprised, and the prisoners taken, the menretired in all haste, simply because they had received no orders to thecontrary. Thus no advantage whatever was taken of the very importantposition which had been gained.

  Leaving the dead behind, and carrying off the wounded and the prisoners,the sergeant, upon whom the command devolved after his captain wasdisabled, lost no time in reporting to the lieutenant-colonel.

  Augustus stood up to receive the report and the prisoners,--extremelypale, but appearing preternaturally courteous and composed. He bowedvery low to the old clergyman (who, he forgot, could not witness andappreciate that graceful act of homage), and expressed infinite regretthat "his duty had rendered it necessary," and so forth. Then turning toVirginia, whose look was scarcely less stony than that of her deadsister in the cave, he bowed low to her also, but without speaking, andwithout raising his eyes to her face.

  "Have this old gentleman carried to his own house, and see that everyattention is paid to him."

  "And my daughter?" said the blind old man, meekly.

  "She shall follow you. I will myself accompany her."

  "And my dead child up yonder?"

  "She shall be brought to you at the earliest possible moment."

  "And my faithful servant?"

  "He shall be cared for."

  "Thank you." And Mr. Villars bowed his white head upon his breast.

  "Take the captain immediately to the hospital! And you fellow with thehacked wrist, go with him."

  The number of men required to execute these orders (since both the oldclergyman and the wounded captain had to be carried) left Augustusalmost alone with Virginia. Having previously sent off all his availableforce to Ropes at the sink, in answer to a pressing call forreenforcements, he had now only the sergeant and two men at his beck.But perhaps this was as he wished it to be. He approached Virginia, and,bowing formally, still without speaking, offered her his arm.

  "Thank you. I can walk without assistance." Like marble still, but withthe same wild fire in her eyes. "The only favor I ask of you is to bepermitted to leave you."

  Bythewood made a motion to the
sergeant, who removed his men fartheroff.

  "I wish to have a few words of conversation with you, Miss Villars. Ibeg you to be seated here in the shade."

  Virginia remained standing, regarding him with features pale and firm aswhen she held the axe. It was evident to her that here was anotherstruggle before her, scarcely less to be dreaded than the first.Augustus looked at her, and smiled pallidly.

  "If eyes could kill, Miss Villars, I think yours would kill me!"

  "If polite cruelty can kill, YOU HAVE killed my sister!"

  "O, I beg your pardon, dear Miss Villars, but it was not I!"

  "I beg no pardon, but I say it WAS you! And now you will murder myfather--perhaps me."

  "O, my excellent young lady, how you have misunderstood me! By Heaven, Iswear!"--his voice shook with sincere emotion,--"if I have committed afault, it has been for the love of you! Such faults surely may bepardoned. Virginia! will you accept my life as an atonement for all Ihave done amiss? You shall bear my name, possess my wealth, and, if youdo not like the cause I am engaged in, I will throw up my commissionto-morrow. I will take you to France--Italy--Switzerland--wherever youwish to go. Nor do I forget your father. Whatever you ask for him shallbe granted. I have money--influence--position--every thing that can makeyou happy."

  There was a minute's pause, the intense glances of the girl piercingthrough and through that pale, polite mask to his soul. A selfish,chivalrous man; not a great villain, by any means; moved by a genuine,eager, unscrupulous passion for her--sincere at least in that; one whomight be influenced to good, and made a most convenient and devotedhusband: this she saw.

  "Well, what more?"

  "What more? Ah, you are thinking of your friends--I should say, of yourfriend! It is natural. I have no ill will against him. Whatever you askfor him shall be granted. At a word from me, the fighting up thereceases; and he and the rest shall be permitted to go wherever theychoose, unharmed."

  "Well, and if I reject your generous offer?"

  Augustus smiled as he answered, with a hard, inexorable purpose in histones,--

  "Then, much as I love you, I can do nothing!"

  "Nothing for my father?"

  "Nothing!"

  "Nor for me?"

  "Not even for you!"

  "Why, then, God pity us all!" said Virginia, calmly.

  "Truly you may say, God pity you! For do you know what will happen? Yourfather will die in prison: you will never see him again. Your friendswill be massacred to a man. I will be frank with you: to a man they willbe given to the sword. They are but a dozen; we are fifty--a hundred--athousand, if necessary. The sink has already been taken, and a force ison its way to occupy this end of the cave. If your friends hold out,they will be starved. If they fight, they will be bayoneted and shot. Ifthey surrender, every living man of them shall be hung. There is no helpfor them. Lincoln's army, that has been coming so long, is a chimera; itwill never come. The power is all in our hands; and not even God canhelp them. That sounds blasphemous, I know; but it is true. They aredoomed. But I can save them--and you can save them."

  "And what is to become of me?" asked Virginia, calmly as before.

  "Your future is entirely in your own hands. On the one side, what I havepromised. On the other----" Augustus thought he heard a crackling ofsticks, and looked around.

  "On the other,"--Virginia took up the unfinished speech,--"the fate of afriendless, fatherless, Union-loving woman in this chivalrous south! Iknow how you treat such women. I know what awaits me on that side. And Iaccept it. My friends can die. My father can die; and I can. All this Iaccept; all the rest, you and your offers, I reject. I would not be yourwife to save the world. Because I not only do not love you, but becauseI detest you. You have my answer."

  With swelling breast and set teeth Augustus kept his eyes upon her forfull a minute, then replied, in a low voice shaken by passion,--

  "I hoped your decision would be different. But it is spoken. I cannothope to change it?"

  "Can you change these rocks under our feet with empty words?" she said,with a white smile.

  "All is over, then! Without cause you hate me, Miss Villars. Hitherto,in all that has happened to you and your friends, I have been blameless.If in the future I am not so, remember it is your own fault."

  Then the fire flashed into Virginia's cheeks, and indignation rang inher tones as she denounced the falsehood.

  "Hitherto, in the wrong that has happened to me and my friends, you haveNOT been blameless! In the future you cannot do more to injure us thanyou have already done, or meant to do. Look at me, and listen while Iprove what I say."

  Again there was a slight noise in the thicket behind them, and he wouldhave been glad to make that an excuse for leaving her a moment; but herspirit held him.

  "I listen," he said, inwardly quaking at he knew not what.

  "Do you remember the night my father was arrested?"

  "I do."

  "And how you that day took a journey to be away from us in our trouble?"

  "I certainly took a short journey that day, but--" his eyes flickeringwith the uneasiness of guilt.

  "And do you remember a conversation you had with Lysander under abridge?"

  His face suddenly flushed purple. "The villain has betrayed me!" hethought. Then he stammered, "I hope you have not been listening to anyof that fellow's slanders!"

  "You talked with Lysander under the bridge. Your conversation was heard,every word of it, by a third person, who lay concealed under the planks,behind you."

  "A villanous spy!" articulated Augustus.

  "No spy--but the man you two were at that moment seeking to kill: PennHapgood, the Schoolmaster."

  It was a blow. Poor Bythewood, too luxurious and inert to be a greatvillain, was only a weak one; and, wounded in his most sensitive point,his pride, he writhed for a space with unutterable chagrin and rage.Then he recovered himself. He had heard the worst; and now there wasnothing left for him but to cast down and trample with his feet (so tospeak) the mask that had been torn from his face.

  "Very well! You think you know me, then!"--He seized her wrists.--"Nowhear me! I am not to be spurned like a dog, even by the foot of thewoman I love. You reject, despise, insult me. As for me, I say this: allshall be as I have pronounced. Your father, your lover,--not Fate itselfshall intervene to save them! And as for you----"

  Again he heard a rustling by the ravine; this time so near that itstartled him. He looked quickly around, and saw, slowly peering throughthe bushes, a dark human face. Had it been the terrible front of theFate he had just defied, the soul of Augustus Bythewood could not haveshrunk with a more sudden and appalling fear. It was the face of Pomp.