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[Illustration: FIRE CLOUD | |
BY SAMUEL FLETCHER | |
No. 86 Beadle's Frontier Series] | |
(Printed in the United States of America) | |
FIRE CLOUD; | |
OR | |
The Mysterious Cave. | |
A Story of Indians and Pirates. | |
_Copyright, 1909, by James Sullivan._ | |
_All Rights Reserved._ | |
Published by | |
THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK COMPANY | |
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. | |
FIRE CLOUD. | |
CHAPTER I. | |
Whether or not, the story which we are about to relate is absolutely | |
true in every particular, we are not prepared to say. All we know | |
about it is, that old Ben Miller who told it to our uncle Zeph, | |
believed it to be true, as did uncle Zeph himself. And from all we can | |
learn, uncle Zeph was a man of good judgment, and one not easily | |
imposed upon. | |
And uncle Zeph said that he had known old people in his younger days, | |
who stated that they had actually seen the cave where many of the | |
scenes which we are about to relate occurred, although of late years, | |
no traces of any kind could be discovered in the locality where it is | |
supposed to have been situated. | |
His opinion was, that as great rocks were continually rolling down the | |
side of the mountain at the foot of which the entrance to the cave | |
was, some one or more of these huge boulders had fallen into the | |
opening and completely closed it up. | |
But that such a cave did exist, he was perfectly satisfied, and that | |
it would in all probability be again discovered at some future day, by | |
persons making excavations in the side of the mountain. And lucky he | |
thought would be the man who should make the discovery, for unheard of | |
treasures he had no doubt would be found stowed away in the chinks and | |
crevices of the rocks. | |
So much by way of introduction; as we have no intention to describe | |
the cave until the proper time comes, we shall leave that part of the | |
subject for the present, while we introduce the reader to a few of the | |
principal personages of our narrative. | |
At a distance of some fifteen or twenty miles from the City of New | |
York, on the Hudson river in the shadow of the rocks known as the | |
Palisades, something near two hundred years ago, lay a small vessel at | |
anchor. | |
The vessel as we have said was small. Not more than fifty or sixty | |
tons burden, and what would be considered a lumbering craft now a days | |
with our improved knowledge of ship building, would at that time be | |
called a very fast sailor. | |
This vessel was schooner rigged, and every thing about her deck trim | |
and in good order. | |
On the forecastle sat two men, evidently sailors, belonging to the | |
vessel. | |
We say sailors, but in saying so we do not mean to imply that they | |
resembled your genuine old _salt_, but something between a sailor | |
and a landsman. They could hardly be called land lubbers, for I doubt | |
if a couple of old salts could have managed their little craft better | |
than they, while they, when occasion required, could work on land as | |
well as water. | |
In fact they belonged to the class known as river boatmen, though they | |
had no hesitation to venturing out to sea on an emergency. | |
The elder of these men, who might have seen some fifty years or more, | |
was a short, thick set man with dark complexion, and small grey eyes | |
overshadowed by thick, shaggy brows as black as night. | |
His mouth was large when he chose to open it, but his lips were thin | |
and generally compressed. | |
He looked at you from under his eyebrows like one looking at you from | |
a place of concealment, and as if he was afraid he would be seen by | |
you. | |
His name was David Rider, but was better known among his associates | |
under the title of Old Ropes. | |
The other was a man of about twenty-five or thirty, and was a taller | |
and much better-looking man, but without anything very marked in his | |
countenance. His name was Jones Bradley. | |
"I tell you what, Joe," said his companion, "I don't like the | |
captain's bringin' of this gal; there can't no good come of it, and it | |
may bring us into trouble." | |
"Bring us into trouble! everything that's done out of the common | |
track, accordin' to you's a goin' to bring us into trouble. I'd like | |
to know how bringing a pretty girl among us, is goin' to git us into | |
trouble?" | |
"A pretty face is well enough in its way," said Old Ropes, "but a | |
pretty face won't save a man from the gallows, especially if that face | |
is the face of an enemy." | |
"By the 'tarnal, Ropes, if I hadn't see you fight like the very devil | |
when your blood was up, I should think you was giten' to be a coward. | |
How in thunder is that little baby of a girl goin' to git us into | |
trouble?" | |
"Let me tell you," said Ropes, "that one pretty gal, if she's so | |
minded, can do you more harm than half a dozen stout men that you can | |
meet and fight face to face, and if you want to know the harm that's | |
goin' to come to us in this case I'll show you." | |
"The gal, you know's the only daughter of old Rosenthrall. Why the | |
captain stole her away, I don't know. Out of revenge for some slight | |
or insult or other, I s'pose. Now the old man, as you're aware, knows | |
more about our business than is altogether safe for us. As I said | |
before, the gal's his only daughter, and he'll raise Heaven and earth | |
but he'll have her again, and when he finds who's got her, do you | |
suppose there'll be any safety for us here? No! no! if I was in the | |
captain's place, I'd either send her back again, or make her walk the | |
plank, as he did, you know who, and so get rid of her at once." | |
"As for walking the plank," said the young man, laying his hand on his | |
companion's shoulder, danger or no danger, the man who makes that girl | |
walk the plank, shall walk after, though it should be Captain Flint | |
himself, or my name is not Jones Bradley." | |
"You talk like a boy that had fallen dead in love," said the other; | |
"but anyhow, I don't like the captain's bringing the young woman among | |
us, and so I mean to tell him the first chance I have." | |
"Well, now's your time," said Bradley, "for here comes the captain." | |
As he spoke, a man coming up from the cabin joined them. His figure, | |
though slight, was firm and compact. He was of medium height; his | |
complexion naturally fair, was somewhat bronzed by the weather, his | |
hair was light, his eyes grey, and his face as a whole, one which many | |
would at first sight call handsome. Yet it was one that you could not | |
look on with pleasure for any length of time. There was something in | |
his cold grey eye that sent a chill into your blood, and you could not | |
help thinking that there was deceit, and falsehood in his perpetual | |
smile. | |
Although his age was forty-five, there was scarcely a wrinkle on his | |
face, and you would not take him to be over thirty. | |
Such was Captain Flint, the commander and owner of the little schooner | |
_Sea Gull_. | |
"Captain," said Rider, when the other had joined the group; "Joe and I | |
was talking about that gal just afore you came up, and I was a sayin' | |
to him that I was afeard that she would git us into trouble, and I | |
would speak to you about it." | |
"Well," said Captain Flint, after a moment's pause, "if this thing was | |
an affair of mine entirely, I should tell you to mind your own | |
business, and there the matter would end, but as it concerns you as | |
well as me, I suppose you ought to know why it was done. | |
"The girl's father, as you know, has all along been one of our best | |
customers. And we suppose that he was too much interested in our | |
success to render it likely that he would expose any of our secrets, | |
but since he's been made a magistrate, he has all at once taken it | |
into his head to set up for an honest man, and the other day he not | |
only told me that it was time I had changed my course and become a | |
fair trader, but hinted that he had reason to suspect that we were | |
engaged in something worse than mere smuggling, and that if we did not | |
walk pretty straight in future, he might be compelled in his capacity | |
of magistrate to make an example of us. | |
"I don't believe that he has got any evidence against us in regard to | |
that last affair of ours, but I believe that he suspects us, and | |
should he even make his suspicions public, it would work us a great | |
deal of mischief, to say the least of it. | |
"I said nothing, but thinks I, old boy, I'll see if I can't get the | |
upper hand of you. For this purpose I employed some of our Indian | |
friends to entrap, and carry off the girl for me. I took care that it | |
should be done in such a manner as to make her father believe that she | |
was carried off by them for purposes of their own. | |
"Now, he knows my extensive acquaintance with all the tribes along the | |
river, and that there is no one who can be of as much service to him | |
in his efforts to recover his daughter, as I, so that he will not be | |
very likely to interfere with us for some time to come. | |
"I have seen him since the affair happened, and condoled with him, of | |
course. | |
"He believes that the Indian who stole his daughter was the chief | |
Fire Cloud, in revenge for some insult received a number of years ago. | |
"This opinion I encouraged, as it answered my purpose exactly, and I | |
promised to render all the assistance I could in his efforts to | |
recover his child. | |
"This part of the country, as we all know, is getting too hot for us; | |
we can't stand it much longer; if we can only stave off the danger | |
until the arrival of that East Indiaman that's expected in shortly | |
there'll be a chance for us that don't come more than once or twice in | |
a lifetime. | |
"Let us once get the pick out of her cargo, and we shall have enough | |
to make the fortunes of all of us, and we can retire to some country | |
where we can enjoy our good luck without the danger of being | |
interfered with. And then old Rosenthrall can have his daughter again | |
and welcome provided he can find her. | |
"So you see that to let this girl escape will be as much as your necks | |
are worth." | |
So saying, Captain Flint left his companions and returned to the | |
cabin. | |
"Just as I thought," said Old Ropes, when the captain had gone, "if we | |
don't look well to it this unlucky affair will be the ruin of us all." | |
CHAPTER II. | |
Carl Rosenthrall was a wealthy citizen of New York. That is, rich when | |
we consider the time in which he lived, when our mammoth city was | |
little more than a good-sized village, and quite a thriving trade was | |
carried on with the Indians along the river, and it was in this trade | |
chiefly, that Carl Rosenthrall and his father before him, had made | |
nearly all the wealth which Carl possessed. | |
But Carl Rosenthrall's business was not confined to trading with the | |
Indians alone, he kept what would now be called a country store. A | |
store where everything almost could be found, from a plough to a paper | |
of needles. | |
Some ten years previous to the time when the events occurred which are | |
recorded in the preceding chapter, and when Hellena Rosenthrall was | |
about six years old, an Indian chief with whom Rosenthrall had | |
frequent dealings, and whose name was Fire Cloud, came in to the | |
merchant's house when he was at dinner with his family, and asked for | |
something to eat, saying that he was hungry. | |
Now Fire Cloud, like the rest of his race, had an unfortunate liking | |
for strong drink, and was a little intoxicated, and Rosenthrall not | |
liking to be intruded upon at such a time by a drunken savage, ordered | |
him out of the house, at the same time calling him a drunken brute, | |
and making use of other language not very agreeable to the Indian. | |
The chief did as he was required, but in doing so, he put his hand on | |
his tomahawk and at the same time turned on Rosenthrall a look that | |
said as well as words could say, "Give me but the opportunity, and | |
I'll bury this in your skull." | |
The chief, on passing out, seated himself for a moment on the stoop in | |
front of the house. | |
While he was sitting there, little Hellena, with whom he had been a | |
favorite, having often seen him at her father's store, came running | |
out to him with a large piece of cake in her hand, saying: | |
"Here, No-No, Hellena will give you some cake." | |
No-No was the name by which the Indian was known to the child, having | |
learned it from hearing the Indian make use of the name no, no, so | |
often when trading with her father. | |
The Indian took the proffered cake with a smile, and as he did so | |
lifted the child up in his arms and gazed at her steadily for a few | |
moments, as if he wished to impress every feature upon his memory, and | |
then sat her down again. | |
He was just in the act of doing this when the child's father came out | |
of the dining-room. | |
Rosenthrall, imagining that the Indian was about to kidnap his | |
daughter, or do her some violence, rushed out ordering him to put the | |
child down, and be off about his business. | |
It was the recollection of this circumstance, taken in connection with | |
the fact that Fire Cloud had been seen in the city on the day on which | |
his daughter had disappeared, which led Rosenthrall to fix upon the | |
old chief as the person who had carried off Hellena. | |
This opinion, as we have seen, was encouraged by Captain Flint for | |
reasons of his own. | |
The facts in the case were these. | |
Rosenthrall, as Captain Flint had said, although for a long time one | |
of his best customers, knowing to, and winking at his unlawful doings, | |
having been elected a magistrate took it in to his head to be honest. | |
He had made money out of his connection with the smuggler and pirate, | |
and he probably thought it best to break off the connection before it | |
should be too late, and he should be involved in the ruin which he | |
foresaw Captain Flint was certain to bring upon himself if he | |
continued much longer in the reckless course he was now pursuing. | |
All this was understood by Captain Flint, and it was as he explained | |
to his men, in order to get the upper hand of Rosenthrall, and thus | |
prevent the danger which threatened him from that quarter, he had | |
caused Hellena to be kidnapped, and conveyed to their grand hiding | |
place, the cave in the side of the mountain. | |
Rosenthrall at this time resided in a cottage on the banks of the | |
river, a short distance from his place of business, the grounds | |
sloping down to the water. | |
These grounds were laid out into a flower garden where there was an | |
arbor in which Hellena spent the greater part of her time during the | |
warm summer evenings. | |
It was while lingering in this arbor rather later than usual that she | |
was suddenly pounced upon by the two Indians employed by Captain Flint | |
for the purpose, and conveyed to his vessel, which lay at anchor a | |
short distance further up the river. | |
Captain Flint immediately set sail with his unwilling passenger, and | |
in a few hours afterwards she was placed in the cave under the safe | |
keeping of the squaw who presided over that establishment. | |
If the reader would like to know what kind of a looking girl Hellena | |
Rosenthrall was at this time, I would say that a merrier, more | |
animated, if not a handsomer face he never looked upon. She was the | |
very picture of health and fine spirits. | |
Her figure was rather slight, but not spare, for her form was compact | |
and well rounded, and her movements were as light and elastic as those | |
of a deer. | |
Her complexion was fair, one in which you might say without any streak | |
of fancy, the lily was blended with the rose. | |
Her eyes were blue and her hair auburn, bordering on the golden, and | |
slightly inclined to wave rather than to curl. | |
Her nose was of moderate size and straight, or nearly so. | |
Some would say that her mouth was rather large, but the lips were so | |
beautifully shaped, and then when she smiled she displayed such an | |
exquisite set of the purest teeth, setting off to such advantage the | |
ruby tinting of the lips, you felt no disposition to find fault with | |
it. | |
We have spoken of Hellena's look as being one of animation and high | |
spirits, and such was its general character, but for some time past a | |
shadow of gloom had come over it. | |
Hellena was subject to the same frailties which are common to her sex. | |
She had fallen in love! | |
The object of her affections was a young man some two or three years | |
older than herself, and at first nothing occurred to mar their | |
happiness, for the parents of both were in favor of the match. | |
As they were both young, however, it was decided to postpone their | |
union for a year. | |
In the meantime, Henry Billings, the intended bridegroom, should make | |
a voyage to Europe in order to transact some business for his father, | |
who was a merchant trading with Amsterdam. | |
The vessel in which he sailed never reached her place of destination. | |
It was known that she carried out a large amount of money sent by | |
merchants in New York, as remittances to those with whom they had | |
dealings in Europe. This, together with certain facts which transpired | |
shortly after the departure of the vessel, led some people to suspect | |
that she had met with foul play somewhere on the high seas; and that | |
not very far from port either. | |
Hellena, who happened to be in her father's store one day when Captain | |
Flint was there, saw on his finger a plain gold ring which she was | |
sure had belonged to her lover. | |
This fact she mentioned to her father after the captain had gone. | |
Her father at that time ridiculed her suspicions. But he afterwards | |
remembered circumstances connected with the departure of the vessel, | |
and the movements of Captain Flint about the same time, which taken in | |
connection with the discovery made by his daughter, did seem to | |
justify the dark suspicions created in the mind of his daughter. | |
But how was he to act under the circumstance? As a magistrate, it was | |
his business to investigate the matter. But then there was the danger | |
should he attempt to do so, of exposing his own connection with the | |
pirate. | |
He must move cautiously. | |
And he did move cautiously, yet not so cautiously but he aroused the | |
suspicions of Captain Flint, who, as we have seen, in order to secure | |
himself against the danger which threatened him in that quarter, had | |
carried off the daughter of the merchant. | |
CHAPTER III. | |
When the vessel in which young Billings set sail started she had a | |
fair wind, and was soon out in the open sea. | |
Just as night began to set in, a small craft was observed approaching | |
them, and being a much faster sailor than the larger and heavily | |
ladened ship, she was soon along-side. | |
When near enough to be heard, the commander of the smaller vessel | |
desired the other to lay too, as he had important dispatches for him | |
which had been forgotten. | |
The commander of the ship not liking to stop his vessel while under | |
full sail merely for the purpose of receiving dispatches, offered to | |
send for them, and was about lowering a boat for that purpose, when | |
the other captain, who was none other than Captain Flint, declared | |
that he could only deliver them in person. | |
The captain of the ship, though in no very good humor, finally | |
consented to lay too, and the two vessels were soon lying along side | |
of each other. | |
Now although while lying at, or about the wharves of New York, the two | |
men already introduced to the reader apparently constituted the whole | |
crew of Captain Flint's vessel, such was by no means the fact, for | |
there were times when the deck of the little craft would seem fairly | |
to swarm with stout, able-bodied fellows. And the present instance, | |
Captain Flint had no sooner set foot upon the deck of the ship, than | |
six or eight men fully armed appeared on the deck of the schooner | |
prepared to follow him. | |
The first thing that Captain Flint did on reaching the deck of the | |
ship was to strike the captain down with a blow from the butt of a | |
large pistol he held in his hand. His men were soon at his side, and | |
as the crew of the other vessel were unarmed, although defending | |
themselves as well as they could, they were soon overpowered. | |
Several of them were killed on the spot, and those who were not killed | |
outright, were only reserved for a more cruel fate. | |
The fight being over, the next thing was to secure the treasure. | |
This was a task of but little difficulty, for Flint had succeeded in | |
getting one of his men shipped as steward on the ill-fated vessel. | |
One of those who had escaped the massacre was James Bradley. He had, | |
by order of Captain Flint, been lashed to the mast at the commencement | |
of the fight. | |
He had not received a wound. All the others who were not killed were | |
more or less badly hurt. | |
These were unceremoniously compelled to walk the plank, and were | |
drowned. | |
When it came to Billings' turn, there seemed to be some hesitation | |
among the pirates subjecting him to the same fate as the others. | |
Jones Bradley, in a particular manner, was for sparing his life on | |
condition that he would pledge himself to leave the country, never to | |
return, and bind himself to eternal secrecy. | |
But this advice was overruled by Captain Flint himself, who declared | |
he would trust no one, and that the young man should walk the plank as | |
the others had done. | |
From this decision there was no appeal, and Henry Billings resigned | |
himself to his fate. | |
Before going he said he would, as a slight favor, to ask of one of his | |
captors. | |
And then pulling a plain gold ring off his finger, he said: | |
"It is only to convey this to the daughter of Carl Rosenthrall, if he | |
can find means of doing so, without exposing himself to danger. I can | |
hardly wish her to be made acquainted with my fate." | |
When he had finished, Captain Flint stepped up saying that he would | |
undertake to perform the office, and taking the ring he placed it upon | |
his own finger. | |
By this time it was dark. With a firm tread Billings stepped upon the | |
plank, and the next moment was floundering in the sea. | |
The next thing for the pirates to do was to scuttle the ship, which | |
they did after helping themselves to so much of the most valuable | |
portion of the cargo as they thought they could safely carry away with | |
them. | |
In about an hour afterwards the ship sank, bearing down with her the | |
bodies of her murdered crew, and burying, as Captain Flint supposed, | |
in the depths of the ocean all evidences of the fearful tragedy which | |
had been enacted upon her deck. | |
The captain now directed his course homeward, and the next day the | |
little vessel was lying in port as if nothing unusual had happened, | |
Captain Flint pretending that he had returned from one of his usual | |
trading voyages along the coast. | |
The intercourse between the new and the old world was not so frequent | |
in those days as now. The voyages, too, were much longer than at | |
present. So that, although a considerable time passed, bringing no | |
tidings of the ill-fated vessel without causing any uneasiness. | |
But when week after week rolled by, and month followed month, and | |
still nothing was heard from her, the friends of those on board began | |
to be anxious about their fate. | |
At length a vessel which had sailed some days later than the missing | |
ship, had reported that nothing had been heard from her. | |
The only hope now was that she might have been obliged by stress of | |
weather to put in to some other port. | |
But after awhile this hope also was abandoned, and all were | |
reluctantly compelled to come to the conclusion that she had foundered | |
at sea, and that all on board had perished. | |
After lying a short time in port, Captain Flint set sail up the river | |
under pretence of going on a trading expedition among the various | |
Indian tribes. | |
But he ascended the river no further than the Highlands, and come to | |
anchor along the mountain familiarly known as Butterhill, but which | |
people of more romantic turn call Mount Tecomthe, in honor of the | |
famous Indian chief of that name. | |
Having secured their vessel close to the shore, the buccaneers now | |
landed, all save one, who was left in charge of the schooner. | |
Each carried with him a bundle or package containing a portion of the | |
most valuable part of the plunder taken from the ship which they had | |
so recently robbed. | |
Having ascended the side of the mountain for about two hundred yards, | |
they came to what seemed to be a simple fissure in the rocks about | |
wide enough to admit two men abreast. | |
This cleft or fissure they entered, and having proceeded ten or | |
fifteen feet they came to what appeared to be a deep well or pit. | |
Here the party halted, and Captain Flint lighted a torch, and | |
producing a light ladder, which was concealed in the bushes close by, | |
the whole party descended. | |
On reaching the bottom of the pit, a low, irregular opening was seen | |
in the side, running horizontally into the mountain. | |
This passage they entered, Indian file, and bending almost double. | |
As they proceeded the opening widened and grew higher, until it | |
expanded into a rude chamber about twelve feet one way by fifteen feet | |
the other. | |
Here, as far as could be seen, was a bar to all further progress, for | |
the walls of the chamber appeared to be shut in on every side. | |
But on reaching the further side of the apartment, they stopped at a | |
rough slab of stone, which apparently formed a portion of the floor of | |
the cave. | |
Upon one of the men pressing on one end of the slab, the other rose | |
like a trap door, disclosing an opening in the floor amply sufficient | |
to admit one person, and by the light of the torch might be seen a | |
rude flight of rocky stairs, descending they could not tell how far. | |
These were no doubt in part at least artificial. | |
The slab also had been placed over the hole by the pirates, or by some | |
others like them who had occupied the cave before this time, by way of | |
security, and to prevent surprise. | |
Captain Flint descended these steps followed by his men. | |
About twenty steps brought them to the bottom, when they entered | |
another horizontal passage, and which suddenly expanded into a wide | |
and lofty chamber. | |
Here the party halted, and the captain shouted at the top of his | |
voice: | |
"What ho! there, Lightfoot, you she devil, why don't you light up!" | |
This rude summons was repeated several times before it received any | |
answer. | |
At length an answer came in what was evidently a female voice, and | |
from one who was in no very good humor: "Oh, don't you get into a | |
passion now. How you s'pose I know you was coming back so soon." | |
"Didn't I tell you I'd be back to-day!" angrily asked Flint. | |
"Well, what if you did," replied the voice. "Do you always come when | |
you says you will?" | |
"Well, no matter, let's have no more of your impudence. We're back | |
bow, and I want you to light up and make a fire." | |
The person addressed was now heard retiring and muttering to herself. | |
In a few moments the hall was a blaze of light from lamps placed in | |
almost every place where a lamp could be made to stand. | |
The scene that burst upon the sight was one of enchantment. | |
The walls and ceiling of the cavern seemed to be covered with a | |
frosting of diamonds, multiplying the lamps a thousand fold, and | |
adding to them all the colors of the rainbow. | |
Some of the crystals which were of the purest quartz hanging from the | |
roof, were of an enormous size, giving reflections which made the | |
brilliancy perfectly bewildering. | |
The floor of the cavern was covered, not with Brussels or Wilton | |
carpets, but with the skins of the deer and bear, which to the tread | |
were as pleasant as the softest velvet. | |
Around the room were a number of frames, rudely constructed to be | |
sure, of branches, but none the less convenient on that account, over | |
which skins were stretched, forming comfortable couches where the men | |
might sleep or doze away their time when not actively employed. | |
Near the center of the room was a large flat stone rising about two | |
feet above the floor. The top of this stone had been made perfectly | |
level, and over it a rich damask cloth had been spread so as to make | |
it answer all the purposes of a table. Boxes covered with skins, and | |
packages of merchandise answered the purpose of chairs, when chairs | |
were wanted. | |
"Where is the king, I should like to know?" said Captain Flint, | |
looking with pride around the cavern now fully lighted up; "who can | |
show a hall in his palace that will compare with this?" | |
"And where is the king that is half so independent as we are?" said | |
one of the men. | |
"And kings we are," said Captain Flint; "didn't they call the | |
Buccaneers Sea Kings in the olden time?" | |
"But this talking isn't getting our supper ready. Where has that | |
Indian she-devil taken herself off again?" | |
The person here so coarsely alluded to, now made her appearance again, | |
bearing a basket containing a number of bottles, decanters and | |
drinking glasses. | |
She was not, to be sure, so very beautiful, but by no means so ugly as | |
to deserve the epithet applied to her by Captain Flint. | |
She was an Indian woman, apparently thirty, or thirty-five years of | |
age, of good figure and sprightly in her movements, which circumstance | |
had probable gained for her among her own people, the name of | |
Lightfoot. | |
She had once saved Captain Flint's life when a prisoner among the | |
Indians, and fearing to return to her people, she had fled with him. | |
It was while flying in company with this Indian woman, that Captain | |
Flint had accidently discovered this cave. And here the fugitives had | |
concealed themselves for several days, until the danger which then | |
threatened them had passed. | |
It was on this occasion that it occurred to the captain, what a place | |
of rendezvous this cave would be for himself and his gang; what a | |
place of shelter in case of danger; what a fine storehouse for the | |
plunder obtained in his piratical expeditions! | |
He immediately set about fixing it up for the purpose; and as it would | |
be necessary to have some one to take charge of things in his absence, | |
he thought of none whom he could more safely trust with the service, | |
than the Indian woman who had shared his flight. | |
From that time, the cave became a den of pirates, as it had probably | |
at one time been a den of wild beasts. | |
Which was the better condition, we leave it for the reader to decide. | |
The only other occupant of the cave was a <DW64> boy of about fourteen | |
or fifteen years of age, known by the name of Black Bill. | |
He seemed to be a simple, half-witted, harmless fellow, and assisted | |
Lightfoot in doing the drudgery about the place. | |
"What have you got in your basket, Lightfoot?" asked Captain Flint. | |
"Wine," replied the Indian. | |
"Away with your wine," said the captain; "we must have something | |
stronger than that. Give us some brandy; some fire-water. Where's | |
Black Bill?" he continued. | |
"In de kitchen fixin' de fire," said Lightfoot. | |
"All right, let him heat some water," said the captain; "and now, | |
boys, we'll make a night of it," he said, turning to his men. | |
The place here spoken of by Lightfoot as the kitchen, was a recess of | |
several feet in the side of the cave, at the back of which was a | |
crevice or fissure in the rock, extending to the outside of the | |
mountain. | |
This crevice formed a natural chimney through which the smoke could | |
escape from the fire that was kindled under it. | |
The water was soon heated, the table was covered with bottles, | |
decanters and glasses of the costliest manufacture. Cold meats of | |
different kinds, and an infinite variety of fruits were produced, and | |
the feasting commenced. | |
CHAPTER IV. | |
Yes, the pirate and his crew were now seated round the table for the | |
purpose as he said, of making a night of it. And a set of more perfect | |
devils could hardly be found upon the face of the earth. | |
And yet there was nothing about them so far as outward appearance was | |
concerned, that would lead you to suppose them to be the horrible | |
wretches that they really were. | |
With the exception of Jones Bradley, there was not one among them who | |
had not been guilty of almost every crime to be found on the calender | |
of human depravity. | |
For some time very little was said by any of the party, but after a | |
while as their blood warmed under the influence of the hot liquor, | |
their tongues loosened, and they became more talkative. And to hear | |
them, you would think that a worthier set of men were no where to be | |
found. | |
Not that they pretended to any extraordinary degree of virtue, but | |
then they had as much as anyone else. And he who pretended to any | |
more, was either a hypocrite or a fool. | |
To be sure, they robbed, and murdered, and so did every one else, or | |
would if they found it to their interest to do so. | |
"Hallo! Tim," shouted one of the men to another who sat at the | |
opposite side of the table; "where is that new song that you learned | |
the other day?" | |
"I've got it here," replied the person referred to, putting his finger | |
on his forehead. | |
"Out with it, then." | |
"Let's have it," said the other. | |
The request being backed by the others Tim complied as follows. | |
THE BUCCANEER. | |
Fill up the bowl, | |
Through heart and soul, | |
Let the red wine circle free, | |
Here's health and cheer, | |
To the Buccaneer, | |
The monarch of the sea! | |
The king may pride, | |
In his empire wide, | |
A robber like us is he, | |
With iron hand, | |
He robs on land, | |
As we rob on the sea. | |
The priest in his gown, | |
Upon us may frown, | |
The merchant our foe may be, | |
Let the judge in his wig, | |
And the lawyer look big, | |
They're robbers as well as we! | |
Then fill up the bowl, | |
Through heart and through soul, | |
Let the red wine circle free, | |
Drink health and cheer, | |
To the Buccaneer. | |
He's monarch of the sea. | |
"I like that song," said one of the men, whose long sober face and | |
solemn, drawling voice had gained for him among his companions the | |
title of Parson. "I like that song; it has the ring of the true metal, | |
and speaks my sentiments exactly. It's as good as a sermon, and better | |
than some sermons I've heard." | |
"It preaches the doctrine I've always preached, and that is that the | |
whole world is filled with creatures who live by preying upon each | |
other, and of all the animals that infest the earth, man is the worst | |
and cruelest." | |
"What! Parson!" said one of the men, "you don't mean to say that the | |
whole world's nothing but a set of thieves and murderers!" | |
"Yes; I do," said the parson; "or something just as bad." | |
"I'd like to know how you make that out," put in Jones Bradley. "I had | |
a good old mother once, and a father now dead and gone. I own I'm bad | |
enough myself, but no argument of yours parson, or any body else's can | |
make me believe that they were thieves and murderers." | |
"I don't mean to be personal," said the parson, "your father and | |
mother may have been angels for all I know, but I'll undertake to show | |
that all the rest of the world, lawyers, doctors and all, are a set of | |
thieves and murderers, or something just as bad." | |
"Well Parson, s'pose you put the stopper on there," shouted one of the | |
men; "if you can sing a song, or spin a yarn, it's all right; but this | |
ain't a church, and we don't want to listen to one of your long-winded | |
sermons tonight." | |
"Amen!" came from the voices of nearly all present. | |
The Parson thus rebuked, was fain to hold his peace for the rest of | |
the evening. | |
After a pause of a few moments, one of the men reminded Captain Flint, | |
that he had promised to inform them how he came to adopt their | |
honorable calling as a profession. | |
"Well," said the captain, "I suppose I might as well do it now, as at | |
any other time; and if no one else has anything better to offer, I'll | |
commence; and to begin at the beginning, I was born in London. About | |
my schooling and bringing up, I haven't much to say, as an account of | |
it would only be a bore. | |
"My father was a merchant and although I suppose one ought not to | |
speak disrespectfully of one's father, he was, I must say, as | |
gripping, and tight-fisted a man as ever walked the earth. | |
"I once heard a man say, he would part with anything he had on earth | |
for money, but his wife. My father, I believe, would have not only | |
parted with his wife and children for money, but himself too, if he | |
had thought he should profit by the bargain. | |
"As might be expected, the first thing he tried to impress on the | |
minds of his children was the necessity of getting money. | |
"To be sure, he did not tell us to steal, as the word is generally | |
understood; for he wanted us to keep clear of the clutches of the law. | |
Could we only succeed in doing this, it mattered little to him, how | |
the desired object was secured. | |
"He found in me an easy convert to his doctrine, so far as the getting | |
of money was concerned; but in the propriety of hoarding the money as | |
he did when it was obtained, I had no faith. | |
"The best use I thought that money could be put too, was to spend it. | |
"Here my father and I were at swords' points, and had it not been that | |
notwithstanding this failing, as he called it, I had become useful to | |
him in his business, he would have banished me long before I took into | |
my head to be beforehand with him, and become a voluntary exile from | |
the parental roof. | |
"The way of it was this. As I have intimated, according to my father's | |
notions all the wealth in the world was common property, and every one | |
was entitled to all he could lay his hands on. | |
"Now, believing in this doctrine, it occurred to me that my father had | |
more money than he could ever possibly make use of, and that if I | |
could possess a portion of it without exposing myself to any great | |
danger, I should only be carrying out his own doctrine. | |
"Acting upon this thought, I set about helping myself as opportunity | |
offered, sometimes by false entries, and in various ways that I need | |
not explain. | |
"This game I carried on for some time, but I knew that it would not | |
last forever. I should be found out at last, and I must be out of the | |
way before the crash came. | |
"Luckily a chance of escape presented itself. | |
"My father, in connection with two or three other merchants, chartered | |
a vessel to trade among the West India islands. | |
"I managed to get myself appointed supercargo. I should now be out of | |
the way when the discovery of the frauds which I had been practicing I | |
knew must be made. | |
"As I had no intention of ever returning, my mind was perfectly at | |
ease on this score. | |
"We found ready sale for our cargo, and made a good thing of it. | |
"As I have said, when I left home, it was with the intention of never | |
returning, though what I should do while abroad I had not decided, but | |
as soon as the cargo was disposed of, my mind was made up. | |
"I determined to turn pirate! | |
"I had observed on our outward passage, that our vessel, which was a | |
bark of about two hundred tons burden, was a very fast sailor, and | |
with a little fitting up, could be made just the craft we wanted for | |
our purpose. | |
"During the voyage, I had sounded the hands in regard to my intention | |
of becoming a Buccaneer. I found them all ready to join me excepting | |
the first mate and the steward or cook, rather, a <DW64> whose views I | |
knew too well beforehand, to consult on the matter. | |
"As I knew that the ordinary crew of the vessel would not be | |
sufficient for our purpose, I engaged several resolute fellows to join | |
us, whom I prevailed on the captain to take on board as passengers. | |
"When we had been about a week out at sea and all our plans were | |
completed, we quietly made prisoners of the captain and first mate, | |
put them in the jolly boat with provisions to last them for several | |
days, and sent them adrift. The cook, with his son, a little boy, | |
would have gone with them, but thinking that they might be useful to | |
us, we concluded to keep them on board. | |
"What became of the captain and mate afterwards, we never heard. | |
"We now put in to port on one of the islands where we knew we could do | |
it in safety, and fitted our vessel up for the purpose we intended to | |
use her. | |
"This was soon done, and we commenced operations. | |
"The game was abundant, and our success far exceeded our most sanguine | |
expectations. | |
"There would be no use undertaking to tell the number of vessels, | |
French, English, Spanish and Dutch, that we captured and sunk, or of | |
the poor devils we sent to a watery grave. | |
"But luck which had favored us so long, at last turned against as. | |
"The different governments became alarmed for the safety of their | |
commerce in the seas which we frequented, and several expeditions were | |
fitted out for our special benefit. | |
"For a while we only laughed at all this, for we had escaped so many | |
times, that we began to think we were under the protection of old | |
Neptune himself. But early one morning the man on the look-out | |
reported a sail a short distance to the leeward, which seemed trying | |
to get away from us. | |
"It was a small vessel, or brig, but as the weather was rather hazy, | |
her character in other respects he could not make out. | |
"We thought, however, that it was a small trading vessel, which having | |
discovered us, and suspecting our character, was trying to reach port | |
before we could overtake her. | |
"Acting under this impression, we made all sail for her. | |
"As the strange vessel did not make very great headway, an hour's | |
sailing brought as near enough to give us a pretty good view of her, | |
yet we could not exactly make out her character, yet we thought that | |
she had a rather suspicious look. And still she appeared rather like a | |
traveling vessel, though if so, she could not have much cargo on | |
board, and as the seemed built for speed, we wondered why she did not | |
make better headway. | |
"But we were not long left in doubt in regard to her real character, | |
for all at once her port-holes which had been purposely concealed were | |
unmasked, and we received a broadside from her just as we were about | |
to send her a messenger from our long tom. | |
"This broadside, although doing us little other damage, so cut our | |
rigging as to render our escape now impossible if such had been our | |
intention. So after returning the salute we had received, in as | |
handsome a manner as we could, I gave orders to bear down upon the | |
enemy's ship, which I was glad to see had been considerably disabled | |
by our shot. But as she had greatly the advantage of us in the weight | |
of material, our only hope was in boarding her, and fighting it out | |
hand to hand on her own deck. | |
"The rigging of the two vessels was soon so entangled as to make it | |
impossible to separate them. | |
"In spite of all the efforts of the crew of the enemy's vessel to | |
oppose us we were soon upon her deck. We found she was a Spanish | |
brigantine sent out purposely to capture us. | |
"Her apparent efforts to get away from us had been only a ruse to draw | |
us on, so as to get us into a position from which there could be no | |
escape. | |
"I have been in a good many fights, but never before one like that. | |
"As we expected no quarter, we gave none. The crew of the Spanish | |
vessel rather outnumbered us, but not so greatly as to make the | |
contest very unequal. And in our case desperation supplied the place | |
of numbers. | |
"The deck was soon slippery with gore, and there were but few left to | |
fight on either side. The captain of the Spanish vessel was one of the | |
first killed. Some were shot down, some were hurled over the deck in | |
the sea, some had their skulls broken with boarding pikes, and there | |
was not a man left alive of the Spanish crew; and of ours, I at first | |
thought that I was the only survivor, when the <DW64> cook who had been | |
forgotten all the while, came up from the cabin of our brig, bearing | |
in his arms his little son, of course unharmed, but nearly frightened | |
to death. Strange as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that with | |
the exception of a few slight scratches, I escaped without a wound. | |
"To my horror I now discovered that both vessels were fast sinking. | |
But the cook set me at my ease on that score, by informing me that | |
there was one small boat that had not been injured. Into this we | |
immediately got, after having secured the small supply of provisions | |
and water within our reach, which from the condition the vessels were, | |
was very small. | |
"We had barely got clear of the sinking vessels, when they both went | |
down, leaving us alone upon the wide ocean without compass or chart; | |
not a sail in sight, and many a long, long league from the nearest | |
coast. | |
"For more than a week we were tossing about on the waves without | |
discovering a vessel. At last I saw that our provisions were nearly | |
gone. We had been on short allowance from the first. At the rate they | |
were going, they would not last more than two days longer. What was to | |
be done? Self preservation, they say is the first law of human nature; | |
to preserve my own life, I must sacrifice my companions. The moment | |
the thought struck me it was acted upon. | |
"Sam, the black cook, was sitting a straddle the bow of the boat; with | |
a push I sent him into the sea. I was going to send his boy after him, | |
but the child clung to my legs in terror, and just at that moment a | |
sail hove in sight and I changed my purpose. | |
"Such a groan of horror as the father gave on striking the water I | |
never heard before, and trust I shall never hear again." | |
"At that instant the whole party sprang to their feet as if started by | |
a shock of electricity, while most fearful groan resounded through the | |
cavern, repeated by a thousand echos, each repetition growing fainter, | |
and fainter until seeming to lose itself in the distance. | |
"That's it, that's it," said the captain, only louder, and if anything | |
more horrible. | |
"But what does all this mean?" he demanded of Lightfoot, who had | |
joined the astonished group. | |
"Don't know," said the woman. | |
"Where's Black Bill?" next demanded the captain. | |
"Here I is," said the boy crawling out from a recess in the wall in | |
which he slept. | |
"Was that you, Bill?" demanded his master. | |
"No; dis is me," innocently replied the darkey. | |
"Do you know what that noise was?" asked the captain. | |
"S'pose 'twas de debble comin' after massa," said the boy. | |
"What do you mean, you wooley-headed imp," said the captain; "don't | |
you know that the devil likes his own color best? Away to bed, away, | |
you rascal!" | |
"Well, boys," said Flint, addressing the men and trying to appear very | |
indifferent, "we have allowed ourselves to be alarmed by a trifle that | |
can be easily enough accounted for. | |
"These rocks, as you see, are full of cracks and crevices; there may | |
be other caverns under, or about as, for all we know. The wind | |
entering these, has no doubt caused the noise we have beard, and which | |
to our imaginations, somewhat heated by the liquor we have been | |
drinking, has converted into the terrible groan which has so startled | |
us, and now that we know what it is, I may as well finish my story. | |
"As I was saying, a sail hove in sight. It was a vessel bound to this | |
port. I and the boy were taken on board and arrived here in safety. | |
"This boy, whether from love or fear, I can hardly say, has clung to | |
me ever since. | |
"I have tried to shake him off several times, but it was no use, he | |
always returns. | |
"The first business I engaged in on arriving here, was to trade with | |
the Indians; when having discovered this cave, it struck me that it | |
would make a fine storehouse for persons engaged in our line of | |
business. Acting upon this hint, I fitted it up as you see. | |
"With a few gold pieces which I had secured in my belt I bought our | |
little schooner. From that time to the present, my history it as well | |
known to you as to myself. And now my long yarn is finished, let us go | |
on with our sport." | |
But to recall the hilarity of spirits with which the entertainment had | |
commenced, was no easy matter. | |
Whether the captain's explanation of the strange noise was | |
satisfactory to himself or not, it was by no means so to the men. | |
Every attempt at singing, or story telling failed. The only thing that | |
seemed to meet with any favor was the hot punch, and this for the most | |
part, was drank in silence. | |
After a while they slunk away from the table one by one, and fell | |
asleep in some remote corner of the cave, or rolled over where they | |
sat, and were soon oblivious to everything around them. | |
The only wakeful one among them was the captain himself, who had drank | |
but little. | |
He sat by the table alone. He started up! Could he have dozed and been | |
dreaming? but surely he heard that groan again! | |
In a more suppressed voice than before, and not repeated so many | |
times, but the same horrid groan; he could not be mistaken, he had | |
never heard anything else like it. The matter must be looked into. | |
CHAPTER V. | |
Although it was nearly true, as Captain Flint had told his men, that | |
they were about as well acquainted with his history since he landed in | |
this country as he was himself, such is not the case with the reader. | |
And in order that he may be as well informed in this matter as they | |
were, we shall now endeavor to fill up the gap in the narrative. | |
To the crew of the vessel who had rescued him and saved his life, | |
Captain Flint had represented himself as being one of the hands of a | |
ship which had been wrecked at sea, and from which the only ones who | |
had escaped, were himself and two <DW64>s, one of whom was the father | |
of the boy who had been found with him. The father of the boy had | |
fallen overboard, and been drowned just before the vessel hove in | |
sight. | |
This story, which seemed plausible enough, was believed by the men | |
into whose hands they had fallen, and Flint and the <DW64>, received | |
every attention which their forlorn condition required. And upon | |
arriving in port, charitable people exerted themselves in the | |
captain's behalf, procuring him employment, and otherwise enabling him | |
to procure an honest livelihood, should he so incline. | |
But honesty was not one of the captain's virtues. | |
He had not been long in the country before he determined to try his | |
fortune among the Indians. | |
He adopted this course partly because he saw in it a way of making | |
money more rapidly than in any other, and partly because it opened to | |
him a new field of wild adventure. | |
Having made the acquaintance of some of the Indians who were in the | |
habit of coming to the city occasionally for the purpose of trading, | |
he accompanied them to their home in the wilderness, and having | |
previously made arrangements with merchants in the city, among others | |
Carl Rosenthrall, to purchase or dispose of his furs, he was soon | |
driving a thriving business. In a little while he became very popular | |
with the savages, joined one of the tribes and was made a chief. | |
This state of things however, did not last long. The other chiefs | |
became jealous of his influence, and incited the minds of many of the | |
people against him. | |
They said he cheated them in his dealings, that his attachment to the | |
red men was all pretence. That he was a paleface at heart, carrying on | |
trade with the palefaces to the injury of the Indians. Killing them | |
with his fire water which they gave them for their furs. | |
In all this there was no little truth, but Flint, confident of his | |
power over his new friends, paid no attention to it. | |
A crisis came at last. | |
One of the chiefs who had been made drunk by whiskey which he had | |
received from Flint in exchange for a lot of beaver skins, accused the | |
latter of cheating him; called him a paleface thief who had joined the | |
Indians only for the purpose of cheating them. | |
Flint forgetting his usual caution took the unruly savage by the | |
shoulders and thrust him out of the lodge. | |
In a few moments the enraged Indian returned accompanied by another, | |
when the two attacked the white man with knives and tomahawks. | |
Flint saw no way but to defend himself single-handed as he was, | |
against two infuriated savages, and to do to if possible without | |
killing either. | |
This he soon discovered was impossible. The only weapon he had at | |
command was a hunting knife, and he had two strong men to contend | |
against. Fortunately for him, one of them was intoxicated. | |
As it was, the savage who had begun the quarrel, was killed, and the | |
other so badly wounded that he died a few hours afterwards. | |
The enmity of the whole tribe was now aroused against Flint, by the | |
unfortunate termination of this affair. | |
It availed him nothing to contend that he had killed the two in self | |
defence, and that they begun the quarrel. | |
He was a white man, and had killed two Indians, and that was enough. | |
Besides, how did they know whether he told the truth or not? | |
He was a paleface, and palefaces had crooked tongues, and their words | |
could not be depended upon. Besides their brethren were dead, and | |
could not speak for themselves. | |
Finally it was decided in the grand council of the tribe that he | |
should suffer death, and although they called him a paleface, as he | |
had joined the tribe he should be treated as an Indian, and suffer | |
death by torture in order that he might have an opportunity of showing | |
how he could endure the most horrible torment without complaining. | |
The case of Flint now seemed to be a desperate one. He was bound hand | |
and foot, and escape seemed out of the question. | |
Relief came from a quarter he did not anticipate. | |
The place where this took place was not on the borders of the great | |
lakes where the tribe to which Flint had attached himself belonged, | |
but on the shores of the Hudson river a few miles above the Highlands, | |
where a portion of the tribe had stopped to rest for a few days, while | |
on their way to New York, where they were going for the purpose of | |
trading. | |
It happened that there was among them a woman who had originally | |
belonged to one of the tribes inhabiting this part of the country, but | |
who while young, had been taken prisoner in some one of the wars that | |
were always going on among the savages. She was carried away by her | |
captors, and finally adopted into their tribe. | |
To this woman Flint had shown some kindness, and had at several times | |
made her presents of trinkets and trifles such as he knew would | |
gratify an uncultivated taste. And which cost him little or nothing. | |
He little thought when making these trifling presents the service he | |
was doing himself. | |
Late in the night preceding the day on which he was to have been | |
executed, this woman came into the tent where he lay bound, and cut | |
the thongs with which he was tied, and telling him in a whisper to | |
follow her, she led the way out. | |
With stealthy and cautious steps they made their way through the | |
encampment, but when clear of this, they traveled as rapidly as the | |
darkness of the night and the nature of the ground would admit of. | |
All night, and a portion of the next day they continued their journey. | |
The rapidity with which she traveled, and her unhesitating manner, | |
soon convinced Flint that she was familiar with the country. | |
Upon reaching Butterhill, or Mount Tecomthe, she led the way to the | |
cave which we have already described. | |
After resting for a few moments in the first chamber, the Indian | |
woman, who we may as well inform the reader was none other than our | |
friend Lightfoot, showed Flint the secret door and the entrance to the | |
grand chamber, which after lighting a torch made of pitch-pine, they | |
entered. | |
"Here we are safe," said Lightfoot; "Indians no find us here." | |
The moment Flint entered this cavern it struck him as being a fine | |
retreat for a band of pirates or smugglers, and for this purpose he | |
determined to make use of it. | |
Lightfoot's knowledge of this cave was owing to the fact, that she | |
belonged to a tribe to whom alone the secrets of the place were known. | |
It was a tribe that had inhabited that part of the country for | |
centuries. But war and privation had so reduced them, that there was | |
but a small remnant of them left, and strangers now occupied their | |
hunting grounds. | |
The Indians in the neighborhood knew of the existence of the cave, but | |
had never penetrated farther than the first chamber, knowing nothing | |
of the concealed entrance which led to the other. Having as they said, | |
seen Indians enter it who never came out again, and who although | |
followed almost immediately could not be found there, they began to | |
hold it in a kind of awe, calling it the mystery or medicine cave, and | |
saying that it was under the guardianship of spirits. | |
Although the remnants of the once powerful tribe to whom this cave had | |
belonged, were now scattered over the country, there existed between | |
them a sort of masonry by which the different members could recognise | |
each other whenever they met. | |
Fire Cloud, the Indian chief, who has already been introduced to the | |
reader, was one of this tribe. | |
Although the existence of the cave was known to the members of the | |
tribe generally, the whole of its secrets were known to the medicine | |
men, or priests only. | |
In fact it might be considered the grand temple where they performed | |
the mystic rites and ceremonies by which they imposed upon the people, | |
and held them in subjection. | |
Flint immediately set about fitting up the place for the purpose which | |
he intended it. | |
To the few white trappers who now and then visited the district, the | |
existence of the cave was entirely unknown, and even the few Indians | |
who hunted and fished in the neighborhood, were acquainted only with | |
the outer cave as before stated. | |
When Flint was fully satisfied that all danger from pursuit was over, | |
he set out for the purpose of going to the city in order to perfect | |
the arrangements for carrying out the project he had in view. | |
On passing out, the first object that met his view was his faithful | |
follower Black Bill, siting at the entrance. | |
"How the devil did you get here!" was his first exclamation. | |
"Follered de Ingins what was a comin' arter massa," replied the boy. | |
Bill had followed his master into the wilderness, always like a body | |
servant keeping near his person when not prevented by the Indians, | |
which was the case while his master was a prisoner. | |
When the escape of Flint was discovered, he was free from restraint, | |
and he, unknown to the party who had gone in pursuit, had followed | |
them. | |
From the <DW64>, Flint learned that the Indians had tracked him to the | |
cave, but not finding him there, and not being able to trace him any | |
further, they had given up the pursuit. | |
Flint thinking that the boy might be of service to him in the business | |
he was about to enter upon, took him into the cave and put him in | |
charge of Lightfoot. | |
On reaching the city, Flint purchased the schooner of which he was in | |
command when first introduced to the reader. | |
It is said that, "birds of a feather flock together," and Flint having | |
no difficulty gathering about him a number of kindred spirits, was | |
soon in a condition to enter upon the profession as he called it, most | |
congenial to his taste and habits. | |
CHAPTER VI. | |
When the crew of the schooner woke up on the morning following the | |
night in which we have described in a previous chapter, they were by | |
no means the reckless, dare-devil looking men they were when they | |
entered the cave on the previous evening. | |
For besides the usual effects produced on such characters by a night's | |
debauch, their countenances wore the haggard suspicious look of men | |
who felt judgment was hanging over them; that they were in the hands | |
of some mysterious power beyond their control. Some power from which | |
they could not escape, and which sooner or later, would mete out to | |
them the punishment they felt that they deserved. | |
They had all had troubled dreams, and several of them declared that | |
they had heard that terrible groan during the night repeated if | |
possible, in a more horrible manner than before. | |
To others the ghosts of the men they had lately murdered, appeared | |
menacing them with fearful retribution. | |
As the day advanced, and they had to some extent recovered their | |
spirits by the aid of their favorite stimulants, they attempted to | |
laugh the matter off as a mere bugbear created by an imagination over | |
heated by too great an indulgence in strong drink. | |
Although this opinion was not shared by Captain Flint, who had | |
carefully abstained from over-indulgence, for reasons of his own, he | |
encouraged it in his men. | |
But even they, while considering it necessary to remain quiet for a | |
few days, to see whether or not, any harm should result to them, in | |
consequence of their late attack on the merchant ship, none of them | |
showed a disposition to pass another night in the cave. | |
Captain Flint made no objection to his men remaining outside on the | |
following night, as it would give him the opportunity to investigate | |
the matter, which he desired. | |
On the next night, when there was no one in the cavern but himself and | |
the two who usually occupied it, he called Lightfoot to him, and asked | |
her if she had ever heard any strange noises in the place before. | |
"Sometime heard de voices of the Indian braves dat gone to the spirit | |
land," said the woman. | |
"Did you ever hear anything like the groan we heard last night?" | |
"Neber," said Lightfoot. | |
"What do you think it was?" asked the captain. | |
"Tink him de voice ob the great bad spirit," was the reply. | |
Captain Flint, finding that he was not likely to learn anything in | |
this quarter that would unravel the mystery, now called the <DW64>. | |
"Bill," he said, "did you ever hear that noise before?" | |
"Ony once, massa." | |
"When was that, Bill?" | |
"When you trow my--" | |
"Hold your tongue, you black scoundrel, or I'll break every bone in | |
your body!" roared his master, cutting off the boy's sentence in the | |
middle. | |
The boy was going to say: | |
"When you trow'd my fadder into the sea." | |
The captain now examined every portion of the cavern, to see if he | |
could discover anything that could account for the production of the | |
strange sound. | |
In every part he tried his voice, to see if he could produce those | |
remarkable echoes, which had so startled him, on the previous night, | |
but without success. | |
The walls, in various parts of the cavern, gave back echoes, but | |
nothing like those of the previous night. | |
There were two recesses in opposite sides of the cave. The larger one | |
of these was occupied by Lightfoot as a sleeping apartment. The other, | |
which was much smaller, Black Bill made use of for the same purpose. | |
From these two recesses, the captain had everything removed, in order | |
that he might subject them to a careful examination. | |
But with no better success than before. | |
He tried his voice here, as in other parts of the cavern, but the | |
walls gave back no unusual echoes. | |
He was completely baffled, and, placing his lamp on the table, he sat | |
down on one of the seats, to meditate on what course next to pursue. | |
Lightfoot and Bill soon after, at his request, retired. | |
He had been seated, he could not tell how long, with his head resting | |
on his hands, when he was aroused by a yell more fearful, if possible, | |
even than the groan that had so alarmed him on the previous night. | |
The yell was repeated in the same horrible and mysterious manner that | |
the groan had been. | |
Flint sprang to his feet while the echoes were still ringing in his | |
ears, and rushed to the sleeping apartment, first, to that of the | |
Indian woman, and then, to that of the <DW64>. | |
They both seemed to be sound asleep, to all appearance, utterly | |
unconscious of the fearful racket that was going on around them. | |
Captain Flint, more perplexed and bewildered than ever, resumed his | |
seat by the table; but not to sleep again that night, though the | |
fearful yell was not repeated. | |
The captain prided himself on being perfectly free from all | |
superstition. | |
He held in contempt the stories of ghosts of murdered men coming back | |
to torment their murderers. | |
In fact, he was very much inclined to disbelieve in any hereafter at | |
all, taking it to be only an invention of cunning priests, for the | |
purpose of extorting money out of their silly dupes. But here was | |
something, which, if not explained away, would go far to stagger his | |
disbelief. | |
He was glad that the last exhibition had only been witnessed by | |
himself, and that the men for the present preferred passing their | |
nights outside; for, as he learned from Lightfoot, the noises were | |
only during the night time. | |
This would enable him to continue his investigation without any | |
interference on the part of the crew, whom he wished to keep in utter | |
ignorance of what he was doing, until he had perfectly unraveled the | |
mystery. | |
For this purpose, he gave Lightfoot and Black Bill strict charges not | |
to inform the men of what had taken place during the night. | |
He was determined to pass the principal portion of the day in sleep, | |
so as to be wide awake when the time should come for him to resume his | |
investigations. | |
CHAPTER VII. | |
On the day after the first scene in the cave, late in the afternoon, | |
three men sat on the deck of the schooner, as she lay in the shadow of | |
forest covered mountain. | |
These were Jones Bradley, Old Ropes, and the man who went by the name | |
of the Parson. They were discussing the occurrences of the previous | |
night. | |
"I'm very much of the captains opinion," said the Parson, "that the | |
noises are caused by the wind rushing through the chinks and crevices | |
of the rocks." | |
"Yes; but, then, there wan't no wind to speak of, and how is the wind | |
to make that horrible groan, s'pose it did blow a hurricane?" said | |
Jones Bradley. | |
"Just so," said Old Ropes; "that notion about the wind makin' such a | |
noise at that, is all bosh. My opinion is, that it was the voice of a | |
spirit. I know that the captain laughs at all such things, but all his | |
laughin' don't amount to much with one that's seen spirits." | |
"What! you don't mean to say that you ever actually see a live ghost?" | |
asked the Parson. | |
"That's jist what I do mean to say," replied Old Ropes. | |
"Hadn't you been takin' a leetle too much, or wasn't the liquor too | |
strong?" said the Parson. | |
"Well, you may make as much fun about it as you please," said Old | |
Ropes; "but I tell you, that was the voice of a spirit, and, what's | |
more, I believe it's either the spirit of some one that's been | |
murdered in that cave, by some gang that's held it before, and buried | |
the body over the treasure they've stowed away there, or else the | |
ghost of some one's that's had foul play from the captain." | |
"Well," said the Parson, "if I thought there was any treasure there | |
worth lookin' after, all the ghosts you could scare up wouldn't hinder | |
me from trying to get at it." | |
"But, no matter about that; you say you see a live ghost once. Let's | |
hear about that." | |
"I suppose," said Old Ropes, "that there aint no satisfaction in a | |
feller's tellin' of things that aint no credit to him; but, | |
howsomever, I might as well tell this, as, after all, it's only in the | |
line of our business. | |
"You must know, then, that some five years ago, I shipped on board a | |
brig engaged in the same business that our craft is. | |
"I needn't tell you of all the battles we were in, and all the prizes | |
we made; but the richest prize that ever come in our way, was a | |
Spanish vessel coming from Mexico, With a large amount of gold and | |
silver on board. | |
"We attacked the ship, expecting to make an easy prize of her, but we | |
were disappointed. | |
"The Spaniards showed fight, and gave us a tarnal sight of trouble. | |
Several of our best men were killed. | |
"This made our captain terrible wrothy. He swore that every soul that | |
remained alive on the captured vessel should be put to death. | |
"Now, it so happened that the wife and child (an infant,) of the | |
captain of the Spanish vessel, were on board. When the others had all | |
been disposed of, the men plead for the lives of these two. But our | |
captain would not listen to it; but he would let us cast lots to see | |
which of us would perform the unpleasant office. | |
"As bad luck would have it, the lot fell upon me. There was no | |
shirking it. | |
"It must be done; so, the plank was got ready. She took the baby in | |
her arms, stepped upon the plank, as I ordered her, and the next | |
moment, she, with the child in her arms, sank to rise no more; but the | |
look she gave me, as she went down, I shall never forget. | |
"It haunts me yet, and many and many is the time that Spanish woman, | |
with the child in her arms, has appeared to me, fixing upon me the | |
same look that she gave me, as she sank in the sea. | |
"Luck left us from that time; we never took a prize afterwards. | |
"Our Vessel was captured by a Spanish cruiser soon afterwards. I, with | |
one other, succeeded in making our escape. | |
"The captain, and all the rest, who were not killed in the battle, | |
were strung out on the yard-arm." | |
"Does the ghost never speak to you?" asked the Parson. | |
"Never," replied Old Ropes. | |
"I suppose that's because she's a Spaniard, and thinks you don't | |
understand her language," remarked the Parson, sneeringly. "I wonder | |
why this ghost of the cave don't show himself, and not try to frighten | |
us with his horrible boo-wooing." | |
"Well, you may make as much fun as you please," replied Old Ropes; | |
"but, mark my words for it, if the captain don't pay attention to the | |
warning he has had, that ghost will show himself in a way that won't | |
be agreeable to any of us." | |
"If he takes my advice, he'll leave the cave, and take up his quarters | |
somewhere else." | |
"What! you don't mean to say you're afraid!" quietly remarked the | |
Parson. | |
"Put an enemy before me in the shape of flesh and blood, and I'll show | |
you whether I'm afeard, or not," said Old Ropes; "but this fighting | |
with dead men's another affair. The odds is all agin you. Lead and | |
steel wont reach 'em, and the very sight on 'em takes the pluck out of | |
a man, whether he will or no. | |
"An enemy of real flesh and blood, when he does kill you, stabs you or | |
shoots you down at once, and there's an end of it; but, these ghosts | |
have a way of killing you by inches, without giving a fellow a chance | |
to pay them back anything in return." | |
"It's pretty clear, anway, that they're a 'tarnal set of cowards," | |
remarked the Parson. | |
"The biggest coward's the bravest men, when there's no danger," | |
retorted Old Ropes. | |
To this, the Parson made no reply, thinking, probably, that he had | |
carried the joke far enough, and not wishing to provoke a quarrel with | |
his companion. | |
"As to the affair of the cave," said Jones Bradley; "I think very much | |
as Old Ropes does about it. I'm opposed to troubling the dead, and I | |
believe there's them buried there that don't want to be disturbed by | |
us, and if we don't mind the warning they give us, still the worse for | |
us." | |
"The captain don't seem to be very much alarmed about it," said the | |
Parson; "for he stays in the cave. And, then, there's the Indian woman | |
and the darkey; the ghost don't seem to trouble them much." | |
"I'll say this for Captain Flint," remarked Old Ropes, "if ever I | |
knowed a man that feared neither man nor devil, that man is Captain | |
Flint; but his time'll come yet." | |
"You don't mean to say you see breakers ahead, do you?" asked the | |
Parson. | |
"Not in the way of our business, I don't mean," said Ropes; "but, I've | |
had a pretty long experience in this profession, and have seen the | |
finishing up of a good many of my shipmates; and I never know'd one | |
that had long experience, that would not tell you that he had been put | |
more in fear by the dead than ever he had by the living." | |
"We all seem to be put in low spirits by this afternoon," said the | |
Parson; "s'pose we go below, and take a little something to cheer us | |
up." | |
To this the others assented, and all three went below. | |
CHAPTER VIII. | |
All Captain Flint's efforts to unravel the mysteries of the cave were | |
unsuccessful; and he was reluctantly obliged to give up the attempt, | |
at least for the present; but, in order to quiet the minds of the | |
crew, he told them that he had discovered the cause, and that it was | |
just what he had supposed it to be. | |
As everything remained quiet in the cave for a long time after this, | |
and the minds of the men were occupied with more important matters, | |
the excitement caused by it wore off; and, in a while, the affair | |
seemed to be almost forgotten. | |
And here we may as well go back a little in our narrative, and restore | |
the chain where it was broken off a few chapters back. | |
When Captain Flint had purchased the schooner which he commanded, it | |
was with the professed object of using her as a vessel to trade with | |
the Indians up the rivers, and along the shore, and with the various | |
seaports upon the coast. | |
To this trade it is true, he did to some extent apply himself, but | |
only so far as it might serve as a cloak to his secret and more | |
dishonorable and dishonest practices. | |
Had Flint been disposed to confine himself to the calling he pretended | |
to follow, he might have made a handsome fortune in a short time, but | |
that would not have suited the corrupt and desperate character of the | |
man. | |
He was like one of those wild animals which having once tasted blood, | |
have ever afterward an insatiable craving for it. | |
It soon became known to a few of the merchants in the city, among the | |
rest Carl Rosenthrall, that Captain Flint had added to his regular | |
business, that of smuggling. | |
This knowledge, however, being confined to those who shared the | |
profits with him, was not likely to be used to his disadvantage. | |
After a while the whole country was put into a state of alarm by the | |
report that a desperate pirate had appeared on the coast. | |
Several vessels which had been expected to arrive with rich cargoes | |
had not made their appearance, although the time for their arrival had | |
long passed. There was every reason to fear that they had been | |
captured by this desperate stranger who had sunk them, killing all on | |
board. | |
The captain of some vessels which had arrived in safety reported | |
having been followed by a suspicious looking craft. | |
They said she was a schooner about the size of one commanded by | |
Captain Flint, but rather longer, having higher masts and carrying | |
more sail. | |
No one appeared to be more excited on the subject of the pirate, than | |
Captain Flint. He declared that he had seen the mysterious vessel, had | |
been chased by her, and had only escaped by his superior sailing. | |
Several vessels had been fitted out expressly for the purpose of | |
capturing this daring stranger, but all to no purpose; nothing could | |
be seen of her. | |
For a long time she would seem to absent herself from the coast, and | |
vessels would come and go in safety. Then all of a sudden, she would | |
appear again and several vessels would be missing, and never heard | |
from more. | |
The last occurrence of this kind is the one which we have already | |
given an account of the capturing and sinking of the vessel in which | |
young Billings had taken passage for Europe. | |
We have already seen how Hellena Rosenthrall's having accidentally | |
discovered her lover's ring on the finger of Captain Flint, had | |
excited suspicions of the merchant's daughter, and what happened to | |
her in consequence. | |
Captain Flint having made it the interest of Rosenthrall to keep his | |
suspicions to himself if he still adhered to them, endeavored to | |
convince him that his daughter was mistaken, and that the ring however | |
much it might resemble the one belonging to her lover, was one which | |
had been given to him by his own mother at her death, and had been | |
worn by her as long as he could remember. | |
This explanation satisfied, or seemed to satisfy the merchant, and the | |
two men appeared to be as good friends as ever again. | |
The sudden and strange disappearance of the daughter of a person of so | |
much consequence as Carl Rosenthrall, would cause no little excitement | |
in a place no larger than New York was at the time of which we write. | |
Most of the people agreed in the opinion with the merchant that the | |
girl had been carried off by the Indian Fire Cloud, in order to avenge | |
himself for the insult he had received years before. As we have seen, | |
Captain Flint encouraged this opinion, and promised that in an | |
expedition he was about fitting out for the Indian country, he would | |
make the recovery of the young woman one of his special objects. | |
Flint knew all the while where Fire Cloud was to be found, and fearing | |
that he might come to the city ignorant as he was of the suspicion he | |
was laboring under, and thereby expose the double game he was playing, | |
he determined to visit the Indian in secret, under pretence of putting | |
him on his guard, but in reality for the purpose of saving himself. | |
He sought out the old chief accordingly, and warned him of his danger. | |
Fire Cloud was greatly enraged to think that he should be suspected | |
carrying off the young woman. | |
"He hated her father," he said, "for he was a cheat, and had a crooked | |
tongue. But the paleface maiden was his friend, and for her sake he | |
would find her if she was among his people, and would restore her to | |
her friends." | |
"If you enter the city of the palefaces, they will hang you up like a | |
dog without listening to anything you have to say in your defence," | |
said Flint. | |
"The next time Fire Cloud enters the city of the palefaces, the maiden | |
shall accompany him," replied the Indian. | |
This was the sort of an answer that Flint wished, and expected, and he | |
now saw that there was no danger to be apprehended from that quarter. | |
But if Captain Flint felt himself relieved from danger in this | |
quarter, things looked rather squally in another. If he knew how to | |
disguise his vessel by putting on a false bow so as to make her look | |
longer, and lengthen the masts so as to make her carry more sail, he | |
was not the only one who understood these tricks. And one old sailor | |
whose bark had been chased by the strange schooner, declared that she | |
very much resembled Captain Flint's schooner disguised in this way. | |
And then it was observed that the strange craft was never seen when | |
the captain's vessel was lying in port, or when she was known to be up | |
the river where he was trading among the Indians. | |
Another suspicious circumstance was, that shortly after the strange | |
disappearance of a merchant vessel, Flint's schooner came into port | |
with her rigging considerably damaged, as if she had suffered from | |
some unusual cause. Flint accounted for it by saying that he had been | |
fired into by the pirate, and had just escaped with the skin of his | |
teeth. | |
These suspicions were at first spoken cautiously, and in whispers | |
only, by a very few. | |
They came to the ears of Flint himself at last, who seeing the danger | |
immediately set about taking measures to counteract it by meeting and | |
repelling, what he pretended to consider base slanders invented by his | |
enemies for the purpose of effecting his ruin. | |
He threatened to prosecute the slanderers, and if they wished to see | |
how much of a pirate he was, let them fit out a vessel such as he | |
would describe, arm her, and man her according to his directions, give | |
him command of her, and if he didn't bring that blasted pirate into | |
port he'd never return to it himself. He'd like no better fun than to | |
meet her on equal terms, in an open sea. | |
This bragadocia had the desired effect for awhile; besides, although | |
it could hardly be said that Flint had any real friends, yet there | |
were so many influential men who were concerned with him in some of | |
his contraband transactions. These dreaded the exposure to themselves, | |
should Flint's real character be discovered, which caused them to | |
answer for him in the place of friends. | |
These men would no doubt be the first to crush him, could they only do | |
so without involving themselves in his ruin. | |
But all this helped to convince Flint that his time in this part of | |
the country was pretty near up, and if he meant to continue in his | |
present line of business, he must look out for some new field of | |
operations. | |
More than ever satisfied on this point, Captain Flint anxiously | |
awaited the arrival of the vessel, the capture of which was to be the | |
finishing stroke of his operations in this part of the world. | |
CHAPTER IX. | |
When Captain Flint had decided to take possession of the cavern, and | |
fit it up as a place of retreat and concealment for himself and his | |
gang, he saw the necessity of having some one whom he could trust to | |
take charge of the place in his absence. A moment's reflection | |
satisfied him there was no one who would be more likely to serve him | |
in this capacity than the Indian woman who had rescued him from the | |
fearful fate he had just escaped. | |
Lightfoot, who in her simplicity, looked upon him as a great chief, | |
was flattered by the proposal which he made her, and immediately took | |
charge of the establishment, and Captain Flint soon found that he had | |
no reason to repent the choice he had made, so far as fidelity to his | |
interests was concerned. | |
For a while at first he treated her with as much kindness as it was in | |
the nature of such as he to treat any one. | |
He may possibly have felt some gratitude for the service she had | |
rendered him, but it was self-interest more than any other feeling | |
that caused him to do all in his power to gain a controling influence | |
over her. | |
He loaded her with presents of a character suited to her uncultivated | |
taste. | |
Her person fairly glittered with beads, and jewelry of the most gaudy | |
character, while of shawls and blankets of the most glaring colors, | |
she had more than she knew what to do with. | |
This course he pursued until he fancied he had completely won her | |
affection, and he could safely show himself in his true character | |
without the risk of loosing his influence over her. | |
His manner to her now changed, and he commenced treating her more as a | |
slave than an equal, or one to whom he felt himself under obligations. | |
It is true he would now and then treat her as formerly, and would | |
occasionally make her rich presents, but it would be done in the way | |
that the master would bestow a favor on a servant. | |
Lightfoot bore this unkind treatment for some time without resenting | |
it, or appearing to notice it. Thinking perhaps that it was only a | |
freak of ill-humor that would last but for a short time, and then the | |
great chiefs attachment would return. | |
Flint fancied that he had won the heart of the Indian woman, and | |
acting on the presumption that "love is blind," he thought that he | |
could do as he pleased without loosing hold on her affections. | |
In this he had deceived himself. He had only captured the woman's | |
fancy. He had not won her heart. | |
So that when Lightfoot found this altered manner of the captain's | |
towards her was not caused by a mere freak of humor, but was only his | |
true character showing itself, her fondness for him, if fondness it | |
could be called, began to cool. | |
Things had come to this pass, when Hellena Rosenthrall was brought | |
into the cave. | |
The first thought of Lightfoot was that she had now discovered the | |
cause of the captain's change of manner towards her. He had found | |
another object on which to lavish his favors and here was her rival. | |
And she was to be the servant, the slave of this new favorite. | |
Flint, in leaving Hellena in charge of Lightfoot, gave strict charges | |
that she should be treated with every attention, but that she should | |
by no means be allowed to leave the cave. | |
The manner of Lightfoot to Hellena, was at first sullen: and reserved, | |
and although she paid her all the attention that Hellena required of | |
her, she went no further. | |
But after awhile, noticing the sad countenance of her paleface sister, | |
and that her face was frequently bathed in tears, her heart softened | |
toward her, and she ventured to ask the cause of her sorrow. And when | |
she had heard Hellena's story, her feelings towards her underwent an | |
entire change. | |
From this time forward the two women were firm friends, and Lightfoot | |
pledged herself to do all in her power to restore her to her friends. | |
Her attachment to Captain Flint was still too strong, however, to make | |
her take any measures to effect that object, until she could do so | |
without endangering his safety. | |
But Lightfoot was not the only friend that Hellena had secured since | |
her capture. She had made another, and if possible a firmer one, in | |
the person of Black Bill. | |
From the moment Hellena entered the cavern, Bill seemed to be | |
perfectly fascinated by her. Had she been an angel just from heaven, | |
his admiration for her could hardly have been greater. He could not | |
keep his eyes off of her. He followed her as she moved about, though | |
generally at a respectful distance, and nothing delighted him so much, | |
as to be allowed to wait upon her and perform for her such little acts | |
of kindness as lay within his power. | |
While Hellena was relating the story of her wrongs to Lightfoot, Black | |
Bill sat at a little distance off an attentive listener to the | |
narrative. When it was finished, and Hellena's eyes were filled with | |
tears, the darkey sprang up saying in an encouraging tone of voice: | |
"Don't cry, don't cry misses, de debble's comin arter massa Flint | |
berry soon, he tell me so hisself; den Black Bill take care ob de | |
white angel." | |
This sudden and earnest outburst of feeling and kindness from the | |
<DW64>, expressed as it was in such a strange manner, brought a smile | |
to the face of the maiden, notwithstanding the affliction which was | |
crushing her to the earth. | |
"Why Bill," said Hellena, "you don't mean to say you ever saw the | |
devil here, do you?" | |
"Never seed him, but heer'd him doe, sometimes," replied Bill. | |
Now, Hellena, although a sensible girl in her way, was by no means | |
free from the superstition of the times. She believed in ghosts, and | |
witches, and fairies, and all that, and it was with a look of | |
considerable alarm that she turned to the Indian woman, saying: | |
"I hope there ain't any evil spirits in this cave, Lightfoot." | |
"No spirits here dat will hurt White Rose (the name she had given to | |
Hellena) or Lightfoot," said the Indian woman. | |
"But the place is haunted, though!" said Hellena. | |
"The spirits of the great Indian braves who have gone to the land of | |
spirits come back here sometimes." | |
"Do you ever see them?" asked the girl, her alarm increasing. | |
"Neber see dem, but hear dem sometime," replied Lightfoot. | |
"Do they not frighten you?" asked Hellena. | |
"Why should I be afraid?" said Lightfoot, "are they not my friends?" | |
Lightfoot perceiving that Hellena's curiosity, as well as her fears | |
were excited; now in order to gratify the one, and to allay the other, | |
commenced relating to her some of the Indian traditions in relation to | |
the cavern. | |
The substance of her narrative was as follows: | |
She said that a great while ago, long, long before the palefaces had | |
put foot upon this continent, the shores of this river, and the land | |
for a great distance to the east and to the west, was inhabited by a | |
great nation. No other nation could compare with them in number, or in | |
the bravery of their warriors. Every other nation that was rash enough | |
to contend with them was sure to be brought into subjection, if not | |
utterly destroyed. | |
Their chiefs were as much renowned for wisdom, and eloquence as for | |
bravery. And they were as just, as they were wise and brave. | |
Many of the weaker tribes sought their protection, for they delighted | |
as much in sheltering the oppressed as in punishing the oppressor. | |
Thus, for many long generations, they prospered until the whole land | |
was overshadowed by their greatness. | |
And all this greatness, and all this power, their wise men said, was | |
because they listened to the voice of the Great Spirit as spoken to | |
them in this cave. | |
Four times during the year, at the full of the moon the principal | |
chiefs and medicine men, would assemble here, when the Great Spirit | |
would speak to them, and through them to the people. | |
As long as this people listened to the voice of the Great Spirit, | |
every thing went well with them. | |
But at last there arose among them a great chief; a warrior, who said | |
he would conquer the whole world, and bring all people under his rule. | |
The priests and the wise men warned him of his folly, and told him | |
that they had consulted the Great Spirit, and he had told them that if | |
he persisted in his folly he would bring utter ruin upon his people. | |
But the great chief only laughed at them, and called them fools, and | |
told them the warnings which they gave him, were not from the Great | |
Spirit, but were only inventions of their own, made up for the purpose | |
of frightening him. | |
And so he persisted in his own headstrong course, and as he was a | |
great brave, and had won many great battles, very many listened to | |
him, and he raised a mighty army, and carried the war into the country | |
of all the neighbouring nations, that were dwelling in peace with his | |
own, and he brought home with him the spoils of many people. And then | |
he laughed at the priests and wise men once more, and said, go into | |
the magic cave again, and let us hear what the Great Spirit has to | |
say. | |
And they went into the cave, as he had directed them. But they came | |
out sorrowing, and said that the Great Spirit had told them that he, | |
and his army should be utterly destroyed, and the whole nation | |
scattered to the four winds. | |
And again he laughed at them, and called them fool, and deceivers. | |
And he collected another great army, and went to war again. But by | |
this time the other nations, seeing the danger they were in, united | |
against him as a common enemy. | |
He was overthrown, killed, and his army entirely cut to pieces. | |
The conquering army now entered this country, and laid it waste, as | |
theirs had been laid waste before. | |
And the war was carried on for many years, until the prophesy was | |
fulfilled that had been spoken by the Great Spirit, and the people of | |
this once mighty nation were scattered to the four winds. | |
This people as a great nation are known no longer, but a remnant still | |
remains scattered among the other tribes. Occasionally some of them | |
visit this cave, to whom alone its mysteries are known, or were, | |
Lightfoot said, until she had brought Captain Flint there in order to | |
escape their pursuers. | |
"Is the voice of the Great Spirit ever heard here now?" enquired | |
Hellena. | |
Lightfoot said the voice of the Great Spirit had never been heard | |
there since the destruction of his favorite nation, but that the | |
spirits of the braves as he had said before, did sometimes come back | |
from the spirit-land to speak comfort to the small remnant of the | |
friends who still remained upon the earth. To those she belonged. | |
This narrative of the Indian woman somewhat satisfied the curiosity of | |
Hellena, but it did not quiet her fears, and to be imprisoned in a | |
dreary cavern haunted by spirits, for aught she knew, demons, was to | |
her imagination, about as terrible a situation as she could possibly | |
be placed in. | |
CHAPTER X. | |
When there were none of the pirates in the cave, it was the custom of | |
Lightfoot, and Hellena to spread their couch in the body of the | |
cavern, and there pass the night. Such was the case on the night | |
following the day on which Lightfoot had related to Hellena the sad | |
history of her people. | |
It is hardly to be expected that the young girl's sleep would be very | |
sound that night, with her imagination filled with visions, hob | |
goblins of every form, size, and color. | |
During the most of the forepart of the night she lay awake thinking | |
over the strange things she had heard concerning the cave, and | |
expecting every moment to see some horrible monster make its | |
appearance in the shape of an enormous Indian in his war paint, and | |
his hands reeking with blood. | |
After a while she fell into a doze in which she had a horrid dream, | |
where all the things she had been thinking of appeared and took form, | |
but assuming shapes ten times more horrible than any her waking | |
imagination could possibly have created. | |
It was past midnight. She had started from one of these horrid dreams, | |
and afraid to go to sleep again, lay quietly gazing around the cavern | |
on the ever varying reflections cast by the myriads of crystals that | |
glittered upon the wall and ceiling. | |
Although there were in some portions of the cavern walls chinks or | |
crevices which let in air, and during some portion of the day a few | |
straggling sunbeams, it was found necessary even during the day to | |
keep a lamp constantly burning. And the one standing on the table in | |
the centre of the cave was never allowed to go out. | |
As we have said, Hellena lay awake gazing about her. | |
A perfect stillness reigned in the cave, broken only by the rather | |
heavy breathing of the Indian woman who slept soundly. | |
Suddenly she heard, or thought she heard a slight grating noise at the | |
further side of the cavern. | |
Can she be dreaming? or can her eyes deceive her? or does she actually | |
see the wall of the cavern parting? Such actually seems to be the | |
case, and from the opening out steps a figure dressed like an Indian, | |
and bearing in his hand a blazing torch. | |
Hellena's tongue cleaves to the roof of her mouth, and her limbs are | |
paralyzed with terror. She cannot move if she dare. | |
The figure moves about the room with a step as noiseless as the step | |
of the dead, while the crystals on the walls seem to be set in motion, | |
and to blaze with unnatural brilliancy as his torch is carried from | |
place to place. | |
He carefully examines everything as he proceeds; particularly the | |
weapons belonging to the pirates, which seemed particularly to take | |
his fancy. But he carefully replaces everything after having examined | |
it. | |
He now approaches the place where the two women are lying. | |
Hellena with an effort closed her eyes. | |
The figure approached the couch; for a moment he bent over it and | |
gazed intently on the two women; particularly on that of the white | |
maiden. When having apparently satisfied his curiosity, he withdrew as | |
stealthily as he had come. | |
When Hellena opened her eyes again, the spectre had vanished, and | |
everything about the cave appeared as if nothing unusual had happened. | |
For a long time she lay quietly thinking over the strange occurrences | |
of the night. She was in doubt whether scenes which she had witnessed | |
were real, or were only the empty creations of a dream. The horrible | |
spectres which she had seen in the fore part of the night seemed like | |
those which visit us in our dreams when our minds are troubled. But | |
the apparition of the Indian seemed more real. | |
Could she be mistaken? was this, too, only a dream? or were the two | |
scenes only different parts of one waking vision? | |
To this last opinion she seemed most inclined, and was fully confirmed | |
in the opinion that the cavern was haunted. | |
Although Hellena was satisfied in her own mind that the figure that | |
had appeared so strangely was a disembodied spirit, yet she had a | |
vague impression that she had somewhere seen that form before. But | |
when, or where, she could not recollect. | |
When in the morning she related the occurrences of the night to | |
Lightfoot, the Indian expressed no surprise, and exhibited no alarm. | |
Nor did she attempt to offer any explanation seeming to treat it as a | |
matter of course. | |
Although this might be unsatisfactory to Hellena in some respects, it | |
was perhaps after all, quite as well for her that Lightfoot did not | |
exhibit any alarm at what had occurred, as by doing so she imparted | |
some of her own confidence to her more timid companion. | |
All this while Black Bill had not been thought of but after a while he | |
crawled out from his bunk, his eyes twice their usual size, and coming | |
up to Hellena, he said: | |
"Misses, misses, I seed do debble last night wid a great fire-brand in | |
his hand, and he went all round de cabe, lookin' for massa Flint, to | |
burn him up, but he couldn't fine him so he went away agin. Now I know | |
he's comin' after massa Flint, cause he didn't touch nobody else." | |
"Did he frighten you?" asked Hellena. | |
"No; but I kept mighty still, and shut my eyes when he come to look at | |
me, but he didn't say noffen, so I know'd it wasn't dis darkey he was | |
after." | |
This statement of the <DW64>'s satisfied Hellena that she had not been | |
dreaming when she witnessed the apparition of the Indian. | |
On further questioning Bill, she found he had not witnessed any of the | |
horrid phantoms that had visited her in her dreams. | |
As soon as Hellena could do so without attracting attention, she took | |
a lamp and examined the walls in every direction to see if she could | |
discover any where a crevice large enough for a person to pass | |
through, but she could find nothing of the sort. | |
The walls were rough and broken in many parts, but there was nothing | |
like what she was in search of. | |
She next questioned Lightfoot about it, asking her if there was any | |
other entrance to the cave beside the one through which they had | |
entered. | |
But the Indian woman gave her no satisfaction, simply telling her that | |
she might take the lamp and examine for herself. | |
As Hellena had already done this, she was of course as much in the | |
dark as ever. | |
When Captain Flint visited the cave again as he did on the following | |
day, Hellena would have related to him the occurrences of the previous | |
night, but she felt certain that he would only laugh at it as | |
something called up by her excited imagination, or treat it as a story | |
made up for the purpose of exciting his sympathy. | |
Or perhaps invented for the purpose of arousing his superstition in | |
order to make him leave the cave, and take her to some place where | |
escape would be more easy. | |
So she concluded to say nothing to him about it. | |
CHAPTER XI. | |
About a week after the occurrence of the events recorded in the last | |
chapter, Captain Flint and his crew were again assembled in the | |
cavern. It was past midnight, and they evidently had business of | |
importance before them, for although the table was spread as upon the | |
former occasion, the liquors appeared as yet to be untasted, and | |
instead of being seated around the table, the whole party were sitting | |
on skins in a remote corner of the cavern, and conversing in a | |
suppressed tone of voice as if fearful of being heard. | |
"Something must be done," said one of the men, "to quiet this darn | |
suspicion, or it's all up with us." | |
"I am for leaving at once," said Old Ropes; "the only safety for us | |
now is in giving our friends the slip, and the sooner we are out of | |
these waters the better it will be for us." | |
"What, and leave the grand prize expecting to take care of itself?" | |
asked the captain. | |
"Darn the prize," said Old Ropes, "the East Indiaman ain't expected | |
this two weeks yet, and if the suspicions agin us keep on increasin' | |
as they have for the last ten days, the land pirates'll have us all | |
strung up afore the vessel arrives." | |
This opinion was shared by the majority of the men. Even the Parson | |
who took delight in opposing Old Ropes in almost every thing, agreed | |
with him here. | |
"Whether or not," said he, "I am afraid to face death in a fair | |
business-like way, you all know, but as sure as I'm a genuine parson, | |
I'd rather be tortured to death by a band of savage Indians, than to | |
be strung up to a post with my feet dangling in the air to please a | |
set of gaping fools." | |
"Things do look rather squally on shore, I admit," said the captain, | |
"but I've hit upon a plan to remedy all that, and one that will make | |
us pass for honest men, if not saints, long enough to enable us to | |
finish the little job we have on hand." | |
"What is that?" enquired a number of voices. | |
"Why, merely to make a few captures while we are lying quietly in the | |
harbour or a little way up the river. That'll turn the attention of | |
the people from us in another direction, in the mean while, we can | |
bide our time. | |
"It can," said the captain. "We must man a whale boat or two and | |
attack some one of the small trading vessels that are coming in every | |
day. She must be run on the rocks where she may be examined | |
afterwards, so that any one may see that she has falling in the hands | |
of pirates. None of the crew must be allowed to escape, as that would | |
expose the trick. | |
"All this must take place while I am known to be on shore, and the | |
schooner lying in port." | |
This plot, which was worthy the invention of a fiend, was approved by | |
all but Jones Bradley who declared that he would have nothing to do | |
with it. For which disobedience of orders he would have probably been | |
put to death had he been at sea. | |
The plan of operations having been decided upon, the whole party | |
seated themselves round the table for the purpose as they would say of | |
making a night of it. | |
But somehow or other they seemed to be in no humor for enjoyment, as | |
enjoyment is understood by such characters. | |
A gloom seemed to have settled on the whole party. | |
They could not even get their spirits up, by pouring spirits down. | |
And although they drank freely, they drank for the most part in | |
silence. | |
"How is this?" shouted captain Flint, "at last have we all lost our | |
voices? Can no one favor us with a song, or toast or a yarn?" | |
Hardly had these words passed the lips of the captain, when the | |
piteous moan which had so startled the pirates, on the previous | |
evening again saluted them, but in a more suppressed tone of voice. | |
The last faint murmurs of this moan had not yet died away, when a | |
shout, or rather a yell like an Indian war whoop, rang through the | |
cavern in a voice that made the very walls tremble, its thousand | |
echoes rolling away like distant thunder. | |
The whole group sprang to their feet aghast. | |
The two woman followed by Black Bill, terror stricken, joined the | |
group. | |
This at least might be said of Hellena and the <DW64>. The latter | |
clinging to the skirts of the white maiden for protection, as a mortal | |
in the midst of demons might be supposed to seek the protection of an | |
Angel. | |
Captain Flint, now laying his hand violently on Lightfoot, said, "What | |
does all this mean? do you expect to frighten me by your juggling | |
tricks, you infernal squaw?" At these words he gave her a push that | |
sent her staggering to the floor. | |
In a moment he saw his mistake, and went to her assistance (but she | |
had risen before he reached her,) and endeavored to conciliate her | |
with kind words and presents. | |
He took a gold chain from his pocket, and threw it about her neck, and | |
drew a gold ring from his own finger and placed it upon hers. | |
These attentions she received in moody silence. | |
All this was done by Flint, not from any feelings of remorse for the | |
injustice he had done the woman, but from a knowledge of how much he | |
was in her power and how dangerous her enmity might be to him. | |
Finding that she was not disposed to listen to him, he turned from her | |
muttering to himself: | |
"She'll come round all right by and by," and then addressing his men | |
said: | |
"Boys, we must look into this matter; there's something about this | |
cave we don't understand yet. There may be another one over it, or | |
under it. We must examine." | |
He did not repeat the explanation he had given before, feeling no | |
doubt, that it would be of no use. | |
A careful examination of the walls of the cave were made by the whole | |
party, but to no purpose. Nothing was discovered that could throw any | |
light upon the mystery, and they were obliged to give it up. | |
And thus they were compelled to let the matter rest for the present. | |
When the morning came, the pirates all left with the exception of the | |
captain, who remained, he said, for the purpose of making further | |
investigations, but quite as much for the purpose of endeavoring to | |
find out whether or not, Lightfoot had anything to do with the | |
production of the strange noises. But here again, he was fated to | |
disappointment. The Indian could not, or would not, give any | |
satisfactory explanation. | |
The noises she contended were made by the braves of her nation who had | |
gone to the spirit world, and who were angry because their sacred | |
cavern had been profaned by the presence of the hated palefaces. | |
Had he consulted Hellena, or Black Bill, his investigations would | |
probably have taken a different turn. | |
The figure of the Indian having been seen by both Hellena and the | |
black, would have excited his curiosity if not his fears, and led him | |
to look upon it as a more serious matter than he had heretofore | |
supposed. | |
But he did not consult either of them, probably supposing them to be a | |
couple of silly individuals whose opinions were not worth having. | |
If any doubt had remained in the minds of the men in regard to the | |
supernatural character of the noises which had startled them in the | |
cave, they existed no longer. | |
Even the Parson although generally ridiculing the idea of all sorts of | |
ghosts and hobgoblins, admitted that there was something in this | |
affair that staggered him, and he joined with the others in thinking | |
that the sooner they shifted their quarters, the better. | |
"Don't you think that squaw had a hand in it?" asked one of the men: | |
"didn't you notice how cool she took it all the while?" | |
"That's a fact," said the Parson; "it's strange I didn't think of that | |
before. I shouldn't wonder if it wasn't after all, a plot contrived by | |
her and some of her red-skinned brethren to frighten us out of the | |
cave, and get hold of the plunder we've got stowed away there." | |
Some of the men now fell in with this opinion, and were for putting it | |
to the proof by torturing Lightfoot until she confessed her guilt. | |
The majority of the men, however, adhered to the original opinion that | |
the whole thing was supernatural, and that the more they meddled with | |
it, the deeper they'd get themselves into trouble. | |
"My opinion is," said Old Ropes, "that there's treasure buried there, | |
and the whole thing's under a charm, cave, mountain, and all." | |
"If there's treasure buried there," said the Parson, "I'm for having a | |
share of it." | |
"The only way to get treasure that's under charm," said Old Ropes, "is | |
to break the charm that binds it, by a stronger charm." | |
"It would take some blasting to get at treasure buried in that solid | |
rock," said Jones Bradley. | |
"If we could only break the charm that holds the treasure, just as | |
like as not that solid rock would all turn into quicksand," replied | |
Old Ropes. | |
"Did you ever see the thing tried?" asked the Parson. | |
"No; but I've seen them as has," replied Old Ropes. | |
"And more than that," continued Old Ropes, "my belief is that Captain | |
Flint is of the same opinion, though he didn't like to say so. | |
"I shouldn't wonder now, if he hadn't some charm he was tryin', and | |
that was the reason why he stayed in the cave so much." | |
"I rather guess the charm that keeps the captain so much in the cave | |
is a putty face," dryly remarked one of the men. | |
CHAPTER XII. | |
While these things had been going on at the cavern, and Captain Flint | |
had been pretending to use his influence with the Indians for the | |
recovery of Hellena, Carl Rosenthrall himself had not been idle in the | |
meantime. | |
He had dealings with Indians of the various tribes along the river, | |
and many from the Far North, and West, and he engaged them to make | |
diligent search for his daughter among their people, offering tempting | |
rewards to any who would restore her, or even tell him to a certainty, | |
where she was to be found. | |
In order to induce Fire Cloud to restore her in case it should prove | |
it was he who was holding her in captivity, he sent word to that | |
chief, that if he would restore his child, he would not only not have | |
him punished, but would load him with presents. | |
These offers, of course made through Captain Flint, who it was | |
supposed by Rosenthrall, had more opportunities than any one else of | |
communicating with the old chief. | |
How likely they would have been to reach the chief, even if he had | |
been the real culprit, the reader can guess. | |
In fact he had done all in his power to impress the Indian that to put | |
himself in the power of Rosenthrall, would be certain death to him. | |
Thus more than a month passed without bringing to the distracted | |
father any tidings of his missing child. | |
We may as well remark here, that Rosenthrall had lost his wife many | |
years before, and that Hellena was his only child, so that in losing | |
her he felt that he had lost everything. | |
The Indians whom he had employed to aid him in his search, informed | |
him that they could learn nothing of his daughter among their people, | |
and some of them who were acquainted with Fire Cloud, told him that | |
the old chief protested he knew nothing of the matter. | |
Could it be that Flint was playing him false? | |
He could hardly think that it was Flint himself who had stolen his | |
child, for what motive could he have in doing it? | |
The more he endeavored to unravel the mystery, the stranger and more | |
mysterious it became. | |
Notwithstanding the statements to the contrary made by the Indians, | |
Flint persisted in giving it as his belief, that Fire Cloud had | |
carried off the girl and was still holding her a prisoner. He even | |
said that the chief had admitted as much to him. Yet he was sure that | |
if he was allowed to manage the affair in his own way, he should be | |
able to bring the Indian to terms. | |
It was about this time that the dark suspicions began to be whispered | |
about that Captain Flint was in some way connected with the horrible | |
piracies that had recently been perpetrated on the coast, if he were | |
not in reality the leader of the desperate gang himself, by whom they | |
had been perpetrated. | |
Those suspicions as we have seen, coming to Flint's own ears, had | |
caused him to plan another project still more horrible than the one he | |
was pursuing, in order to quiet those suspicions until he should have | |
an opportunity of capturing the rich prize which was to be the | |
finishing stroke to his achievements in this part of the world. | |
The suspicions in regard to Captain Flint had reached the ears of | |
Rosenthrall, as well as others, who had been secretly concerned with | |
him in his smuggling transactions, although in no way mixed up with | |
his piracies. | |
Rosenthrall feared that in case these suspicions against Flint should | |
lead to his arrest, the whole matter would come out and be exposed, | |
leading to the disgrace if not the ruin, of all concerned. | |
It was therefore with a feeling of relief, while joining in the | |
general expression of horror, that he heard of a most terrible piracy | |
having been committed on the coast. Captain Flint's vessel was lying | |
in port, and he was known to be in the city. | |
There was one thing too connected with this affair that seemed to | |
prove conclusively, that the suspicions heretofore harboured against | |
the captain were unjust. | |
And that was the report brought by the crew of a fishing smack, that | |
they had seen a schooner answering to the description given of the | |
pirate, just before this horrible occurrence took place. | |
Captain Flint now assumed the bearing of a man whose fair fame had | |
been purified of some foul blot stain that had been unjustly cast upon | |
it, one who had been honorably acquitted of base charges brought | |
against him by enemies who had sought his ruin. | |
He had not been ignorant, he said, of the dark suspicions that had | |
been thrown out against him. | |
But he had trusted to time to vindicate his character, and he had not | |
trusted in vain. | |
Among the first to congratulate Captain Flint on his escape from the | |
danger with which he had been threatened, was Carl Rosenthrall. | |
He admitted that he had been to some extent, tainted with suspicion, | |
in common with others, for which he now asked his forgiveness. | |
The pardon was of course granted by the captain, coupled with hope | |
that he would not be so easily led away another time. | |
The facts in regard to this last diabolical act of the pirates were | |
these. | |
Captain Flint, in accordance with the plan which he had decided upon, | |
and with which the reader has already been made acquainted, fitted out | |
a small fishing vessel, manned by some of the most desperate of his | |
crew, and commanded by the Parson and Old Ropes. | |
Most of the men went on board secretly at night, only three men | |
appearing on deck when she set sail. | |
In fact, no one to look at her, would take her for anything but an | |
ordinary fishing smack. | |
They had not been out long, before they came in sight of a vessel | |
which they thought would answer their purpose. It was a small brig | |
engaged in trading along the coast, and such a vessel as under | |
ordinary circumstances they would hardly think worth noticing. But | |
their object was not plunder this time, but simply to do something | |
that would shield them from the danger that threatened them on shore. | |
The time seemed to favor them, for the night was closing in and there | |
were no other vessels in sight. | |
On the pirates making a signal of distress, the commander of the brig | |
brought his vessel to, until the boat from the supposed smack could | |
reach him, and the crew could make their wants known. | |
To his surprise six men fully armed sprang upon his deck. | |
To resist this force there were only himself, and two men, all | |
unarmed. | |
Of these the pirates made short work not deigning to answer the | |
questions put to them by their unfortunate victims. | |
When they had murdered all on board, and thrown overboard such of the | |
cargo as they did not want they abandoned the brig, knowing from the | |
direction of the wind, and the state of the tide, that she would soon | |
drift on the beach, and the condition in which she would be found, | |
would lead people to believe that she had been boarded by pirates, and | |
all on board put to death. | |
After having accomplished this hellish act, they turned their course | |
homeward, bringing the report that they had seen the notorious | |
piratical schooner which had committed so many horrible depredations, | |
leading every one to conclude that this was another of her terrible | |
deeds. | |
Captain Flint, satisfied with the result of this last achievement, | |
felt himself secure for the present. | |
He could now without fear of interruption, take time to mature his | |
plans for carrying out his next grand enterprise, which was to be the | |
crowning one of all his adventures, and which was to enrich all | |
engaged in it. | |
CHAPTER XIII. | |
Captain Flint's plan for the accomplishment of his last grand | |
enterprise was, as soon as it should be announced to him by those he | |
had constantly on the lookout, that the expected vessel was in sight, | |
to embark in a large whale boat which he had secretly armed, and | |
fitted for the purpose. | |
After killing the crew of the vessel they expected to capture, he | |
would tack about ship, and take her into some port where he could | |
dispose of the vessel and cargo. | |
As, in this case, it was his intention to abandon the country for | |
ever, he removed under various pretences, all his most valuable | |
property from the cavern. | |
The schooner he was to leave in charge of Jones Bradley, under | |
pretence that it was necessary to do so, in order to divert suspicion | |
from him when the thing should have been accomplished. | |
The fact was, that as he should have no further use for the schooner, | |
and having for some time past, feared that Bradley seemed to be too | |
tender-hearted to answer his purpose, he had determined to abandon him | |
and the schooner together. | |
At last, news was brought to Captain Flint that a vessel answering the | |
one they were expecting was in sight. | |
Flint who, with his crew of desperators, was lying at a place now | |
known as Sandy Hook, immediately started in pursuit. | |
Everything seemed to favor the pirates. The doomed ship was making her | |
way under a light breeze apparently unconscious of danger. | |
There was one thing about the ship, that struck the pirates as rather | |
unusual. There seemed to be more hands on board than were required to | |
man such a vessel. | |
"I'm afraid there's more work for us than we've bargained for," said | |
one of the men. | |
"They seem to have a few passengers on board," remarked Flint, "but we | |
can soon dispose of them." | |
The principal part of Flint's men had stretched themselves on the | |
bottom of the boat for fear of exciting the suspicion of those on | |
board the ship by their numbers. | |
As the pirate craft approached the merchant man, apparently with no | |
hostile intention, those on board the ship were watching the boat as | |
closely as they were themselves watched. | |
As soon as they came within hailing distance, the man at the bow of | |
the boat notified the captain of the ship that he wished to come along | |
side, as he had something of importance to communicate. | |
The captain of the ship commenced apparently making preparations to | |
receive the visit, when one of the men on deck who had been observing | |
the boat for some time came to him and said: | |
"That's he. I'm sure I can't be mistaken. The man on the bow of the | |
boat is the notorious pirate Flint." | |
The pirates were approaching rapidly. | |
In a moment more they would be along side, and nothing could prevent | |
them from boarding the ship. | |
In that moment the captain of the ship, by a skilful movement suddenly | |
tacked his vessel about just as the pirates came up, coming in contact | |
with the boat in such a manner as to split her in two in a moment. | |
A dozen men sprung up from the bottom of the boat, uttering horrid | |
curses while they endeavored to reach the ship or cling to portions of | |
their shattered boat. | |
The greater portion of them were drowned, as no efforts were made to | |
rescue them. | |
Three only succeeded in reaching the deck of the ship in safety, and | |
these would probably have rather followed their comrades had they | |
known how few were going to escape. | |
These three were Captain Flint, the one called the Parson and Old | |
Ropes. | |
These were at first disposed to show fight, but it was of no use. | |
Their arms had been lost in their struggle in the water. | |
They were soon overpowered and put in irons. | |
Great was the excitement caused in the goodly little City of New York, | |
by the arrival of the merchant ship bringing as prisoners, the daring | |
pirate with two of his men whose fearful deeds had caused all the | |
inhabitants of the land to thrill with horror. | |
And great was the surprise of the citizens to find in that terrible | |
pirate a well-known member of the community, and one whom nearly all | |
regarded as a worthy member of society. | |
Another cause of surprise to the good people of the city, was the | |
arrival by this vessel, of one whom all had long given up as lost, and | |
that was Henry Billings, the lover of Hellena Rosenthrall. | |
He it was who had recognized in the commander of the whale boat, the | |
pirate Flint, and had warned the captain of the ship of his danger, | |
thereby enabling him to save his vessel, and the lives of all on | |
board. | |
Captain Flint made a slight mistake when he took the vessel by which | |
he was run down, for the India man he was looking out for. It was an | |
ordinary merchant ship from Amsterdam, freighted with merchandise from | |
that port. Though in appearance she very much resembled the vessel | |
which Captain Flint had taken her for. | |
The reason young Billings happened to be on board of her was this: | |
It will be remembered that when the ship in which Billings had taken | |
passage for Europe, was attacked by the pirates, he was forced to walk | |
the plank. | |
By the pirates, he was of course supposed to have been drowned, but in | |
this they were mistaken. He had been in the water but a few moments | |
when he came in contact with a portion of a spar which had probably | |
come from some wreck or had been washed off of some vessel. | |
To this he lashed himself with a large handkerchief which it was his | |
good fortune to have at the time. | |
Lashed to this spar he passed the night. | |
When morning came he found that he had drifted out to sea; he could | |
not tell how far. | |
He was out of sight of land, and no sail met his anxious gaze. | |
His strength was nearly exhausted, and he felt a stupor coming over | |
him. Then he lost all consciousness. | |
How long he lay in this condition he could not tell. When he came to | |
himself, he found that he was lying in the birth of a vessel, while a | |
sailor was standing at his side. | |
The whole thing was soon explained. | |
He had been discovered by the Captain of a ship bound for England, | |
from Boston. | |
He had been taken on board, in an almost lifeless condition, and | |
kindly cared for. | |
In a little while he recovered his usual strength, and although his | |
return home must necessarily be delayed, he trusted to be enabled | |
before a great while to do so and bring to justice the villains who | |
had attempted his murder. | |
Unfortunately the vessel by which he had been rescued, was wrecked on | |
the coast of Ireland, he and the crew barely escaping with their | |
lives. | |
After a while, he succeeded in getting to England by working his | |
passage there. | |
From London, he made his way in the same manner, to Amsterdam, where | |
the mercantile house with which he was connected being known, he found | |
no difficulty in securing a passage for New York. | |
Billings now for the first time heard the story of Hellena's | |
mysterious disappearance. | |
It immediately occurred to him that Captain Flint was some way | |
concerned in the affair not withstanding his positive denial that he | |
knew anything of the matter further than he had already made known. | |
The capture of Captain Flint, and the other two pirates of course led | |
to the arrest of Jones Bradley who had been left in charge of the | |
schooner. | |
He was found on board of the vessel, which was lying a short distance | |
up the river, and arrested before he had learned the fate of his | |
comrades. | |
He was cast into prison with the rest, though each occupied a separate | |
cell. | |
As no good reason could be given for delaying the punishment of the | |
prisoners, their trial was commenced immediately. | |
The evidence against them was too clear to make a long trial | |
necessary. | |
They were all condemned to death with the exception of Jones Bradley, | |
whose punishment on account of his not engaged in last affair, and | |
having recommended mercy in the case of Henry Billings, was committed | |
to imprisonment for life. | |
When the time came for the carrying out of sentence of the three who | |
had been condemned to death, it was found that one of them was missing | |
and that one, the greatest villain of them all, Captain Flint himself! | |
How could this have happened? No one had visited him on the previous | |
day but Carl Rosenthrall, and he was a magistrate, and surely he would | |
be the last one to aid in the escape of a prisoner! | |
That he was gone however, was a fact. There was no disputing that. | |
But If it were a fact that he had made his escape, it was equally | |
true, that he could not have gone very far, and the community were not | |
in the humor to let such a desperate character as he was now known to | |
be, escape without making a strenuous effort to recapture him. | |
The execution of the two who had been sentenced to die at the same | |
time, was delayed for a few days in the hope of learning from them, | |
the places where Flint would most probably fly to, but they maintained | |
a sullen silence on the subject. | |
They then applied to Jones Bradley with, at first, no better result. | |
But when Henry Billings, who was one of those appointed to visit him, | |
happened to allude to the strange fate of Hellena Rosenthrall, he | |
hesitated a moment, and then said he knew where the girl was, and that | |
she had been captured by Captain Flint, and kept in close confinement | |
by him. | |
He had no wish he said to betray his old commander, though he knew | |
that he had been treated badly by him, but he would like to save the | |
young woman. | |
Captain Flint might be in the same place, but if he was, he thought | |
that he would kill the girl sooner than give her up. | |
If Captain Flint, was not there, the only ones in the cave besides the | |
girl, were a squaw, and Captain Flint's <DW64> boy, Bill. | |
For the sake of the girl Bradley said he would guide a party to the | |
cave. | |
This offer was at once accepted, and a party well armed, headed by | |
young Billings, and guided by Jones Bradley, set out immediately. | |
CHAPTER XIV. | |
When Captain Flint made his escape from prison, it naturally enough | |
occurred to him, that the safest place for him for awhile, would be | |
the cave. | |
In it he thought he could remain in perfect safety, until he should | |
find an opportunity for leaving the country. | |
The cave, or at least the secret chamber, was unknown to any except | |
his crew, and those who were confined in it. | |
On leaving the cave, the last time, with a heartlessness worthy a | |
demon, he had barred the entrance to the cavern on the outside, so as | |
to render it impossible for those confined there to escape in that | |
direction. | |
In fact, he had, be supposed, buried them alive--left them to die of | |
hunger. | |
Captain Flint reached the entrance of the cave in safety, and found | |
everything as he had left it. | |
On reaching the inner chamber where he had left the two women and the | |
<DW64> boy, he was startled to find the place apparently deserted, | |
while all was in total darkness, except where a few rays found their | |
way through the crevices of the rocks. | |
He called the names first of one, and then another, but the only | |
answer he received was the echo of his own voice. | |
How was this? could they be all sleeping or dead? | |
They certainly could not have made their escape, for the fastenings | |
were all as he had left them. | |
The means of striking fire were at hand, and a lamp was soon lighted. | |
He searched the cave, but could discover no trace of the missing ones. | |
A strange horror came over him, such as he had never felt before. | |
The stillness oppressed him; no living enemy could have inspired him | |
with the fear he now felt from being alone in this gloomy cavern. | |
"I must leave this place," he said, "I would rather be in prison than | |
here." | |
Again he took up the lamp, and went round the cave, but more this time | |
in hopes of finding some weapon to defend himself with, in case he | |
should be attacked, than with the hope of discovering the manner in | |
which those he had left there had contrived to make their escape. | |
It had been his custom, lately, on leaving the cavern, to take his | |
weapons with him, not knowing what use might be made of them by the | |
women under the provocation, to which they were sometimes subjected. | |
The only weapon he could find was a large dagger. This he secured, and | |
was preparing to leave the cavern, when he thought he saw something | |
moving in one corner. | |
In order to make sure that he had not been mistaken, he approached the | |
place. | |
It was a corner where a quantity of skins had been thrown, and which | |
it had not been convenient for him to remove, when he left the cavern. | |
Thinking that one of these skins might be of service to him in the | |
life he would be obliged to live for some time, he commenced sorting | |
them over, for the purpose of finding one that would answer his | |
purpose, when a figure suddenly sprang up from the pile. | |
It would be hard to tell which of the two was the more frightened. | |
"Dat you, massa," at length exclaimed the familiar voice of Black | |
Bill. "I tought it was de debil come back agin to carry me off." | |
"What, is that you, Bill?" said Flint, greatly relieved, and glad to | |
find some one who could explain the strange disappearance of Hellena | |
and Lightfoot. | |
"Where are the rest, Bill?" he asked; "where's the white girl and the | |
Indian woman?" | |
"Debble carry dim off," said Bill. | |
"What do you mean, you black fool?" said his master; "if you don't | |
tell me where they've gone, I'll break your black skull for you." | |
"Don't know where dar gone," said Bill, tremblingly, "Only know dat de | |
debble take dem away." | |
Flint finding that he was not likely to get anything out of the boy by | |
frightening him, now changed his manner, saying; | |
"Never mind, Bill, let's hear all about it." | |
The boy reassured, now told his master that the night before while he | |
was lying awake near the pile of skins and the women were asleep, he | |
saw the walls of the cavern divide and a figure holding a blazing | |
torch such as he had never seen before, enter the room. | |
"I tought," said Bill, "dat it was de debble comin' arter you agin, | |
massa, and I was 'fraid he would take me along, so I crawled under de | |
skins, but I made a hole so dat I could watch what he was doin'." | |
"He looked all round a spell for you, massa, an' when he couldn't find | |
you, den he went were de women was sleepin' an woke dem up and made | |
dem follow him. | |
"Den da called me and looked all ober for me an' couldn't find me, an' | |
de debble said he couldn't wait no longer, an' dat he would come for | |
me annudder time, An den de walls opened agin, an' da all went true | |
togedder. When I heard you in de cave, massa, I tought it was de | |
debble come agin to fetch me, an' so I crawled under de skins agin." | |
From this statement of the boy, Flint come to the conclusion that Bill | |
must have been too much frightened at the time to know what was | |
actually taking place. | |
One thing was certain, and that was the prisoners had escaped, and had | |
been aided in their escape by some persons, to him unknown, in a most | |
strange and mysterious manner. | |
Over and over again he questioned Black Bill, but every time with the | |
same result. | |
The boy persisted in the statement, that he saw the whole party pass | |
out through an opening in the walls of the cavern. | |
That they had not passed out through the usual entrance was evident, | |
for he found everything as he had left it. | |
Again he examined the walls of the cavern, only to be again baffled | |
and disappointed. | |
He began to think that may be after all, the cavern was under a spell | |
of enchantment, and that the women had actually been carried off in | |
the manner described by the <DW64>. | |
The boy was evidently honest in his statement, believing that he was | |
telling nothing that was not true. | |
But be all this as it might, the mere presence of a human being, even | |
though a poor <DW64> boy, was sufficient to enable him to shake off the | |
feeling of loneliness and fear, with which he was oppressed upon | |
entering the cavern. | |
He now determined to remain in the cavern for a short time. | |
Long enough at least to make a thorough examination of the place, | |
before taking his departure. | |
This determination of Captain Flint's was by no means agreeable to the | |
<DW64> boy. | |
Bill was anxious to leave the cave, and by that means escape the | |
clutches of the devil, who was in the habit of frequenting it. | |
He endeavored to induce Flint to change his resolution by assuring him | |
that he had heard the devil say that he was coming after him. But the | |
captain only laughed at the boy, and he was compelled to remain. | |
CHAPTER XV. | |
For several days after the departure of Captain Flint, the inmates of | |
the cavern felt no uneasiness at his absence; but when day after day | |
passed, until more than a week had elapsed without his making his | |
appearance they began to be alarmed. | |
It had uniformly been the practice of Captain Flint on leaving the | |
cave, to give Lightfoot charges to remain there until his return, and | |
not to allow any one to enter, or pass out during his absence. | |
This charge she had strictly obeyed. | |
Singularly enough he had said nothing about it the last time. This, | |
however, made no difference with Lightfoot, for if she thought of it | |
at all, she supposed that he had forgotten it. Still she felt no | |
disposition to disobey his commands, although her feelings towards | |
him, since his late brutal treatment had very much changed. | |
But their provisions were giving out, and to remain in the cavern much | |
longer, they must starve to death. Lightfoot therefore resolved to go | |
in search of the means of preventing such a catastrophe, leaving the | |
others to remain in the cave until her return. | |
On attempting to pass out, she found to her horror that the way was | |
barred against her from the outside. | |
In fact, they were buried alive! | |
In vain she endeavored to force her way out. The entrance had been too | |
well secured. | |
There seemed to be no alternative but to await patiently the return of | |
the captain. | |
Failing in that, they must starve to death! | |
Their supply of provisions was not yet quite exhausted, and they | |
immediately commenced putting themselves on short allowance, hoping by | |
that means to make them last until relief should come. | |
While the two women were sitting together, talking over the matter, | |
and endeavoring to comfort each other, Hellena noticing the plain gold | |
ring on the finger of Lightfoot, that had been placed there by Captain | |
Flint during her quarrel with the Indian, asked to be allowed to look | |
at it. | |
On examining the ring, she at once recognized it as the one worn by | |
her lost lover. | |
Her suspicions in regard to Flint were now fully confirmed. She was | |
satisfied that he was in some way concerned in the sudden | |
disappearance of the missing man. | |
Could it be possible that he had been put out of the way by this | |
villain, who, for some reason unknown to any but himself, was now | |
desirous of disposing of her also? | |
The thought filled her with horror. | |
That night the two women retired to rest as usual. It was a long time | |
before sleep came to their relief. But it came at last. | |
The clock which the pirates had hung in the cave, struck twelve, when | |
Hellena started from her slumber with a suppressed cry, for the figure | |
she had seen in the vision many nights ago, stood bending over her! | |
But now it looked more like a being of real flesh and blood, than a | |
spectre. And when it spoke to her, saying, "has the little paleface | |
maiden forgotten; no, no!" she recognized in the intruder, her old | |
friend the Indian chief, Fire Cloud. | |
Hellena, the feelings of childhood returning, sprang up, and throwing | |
her arms around the old chief, exclaimed: | |
"Save me, no, no, save me!" | |
Lightfoot was by this time awake also, and on her feet. To her the | |
appearance of the chief seemed a matter of no surprise. Not that she | |
had expected anything of the kind, but she looked upon the cave as a | |
place of enchantment, and she believed that the spirits having it in | |
charge, could cause the walls to open and close again at pleasure. And | |
she recognized Fire Cloud as one of the chiefs of her own tribe. He | |
was also a descendant of one of its priests, and was acquainted with | |
all the mysteries of the cavern. | |
He told the prisoners that he had come to set them at liberty, and | |
bade them follow. | |
They had got everything for their departure, when they observed for | |
the first time that Black Bill was missing. | |
They could not think of going without him, leaving him there to | |
perish, but the cavern was searched for him in vain. His name was | |
called to no better purpose, till they were at last compelled to go | |
without him, the chief promising to return and make another search for | |
him, all of which was heard by the <DW64> from his hiding place under | |
the pile of skins as related in the preceding chapter. | |
The chief, to the surprise of Hellena, instead of going to what might | |
be called the door of the cavern, went to one of the remote corners, | |
and stooping down, laid hold of a projection of rock, and gave it a | |
sudden pressure, when a portion of the wall moved aside, disclosing a | |
passage, till then unknown to all except Fire Cloud himself. It was | |
one of the contrivances of the priests of the olden time, for the | |
purpose of imposing upon the ignorant and superstitious multitude. | |
On passing through this opening, which the chief carefully closed | |
after him, the party entered a narrow passageway, leading they could | |
not see where, nor how far. | |
The Indian led the way, carrying his torch, and assisting them over | |
the difficulties of the way, when assistance was required. | |
Thus he led them on, over rocks, and precipices, sometimes the path | |
widening until it might be called another cavern, and then again | |
becoming so narrow as to only allow one to pass at a time. | |
Thus they journeyed on for the better part of a mile, when they | |
suddenly came to a full stop. Further progress appeared to be | |
impossible. | |
It seemed to Hellena that nothing short of an enchanter's wand could | |
open the way for them now, when Fire Cloud, going to the end of the | |
passage, gave a large slab which formed the wall a push on the lower | |
part, causing it to rise as if balanced by pivots at the center, and | |
making an opening through which the party passed, finding themselves | |
in the open air, with the stars shining brightly overhead. | |
As soon as they had passed out the rock swung back again, and no one | |
unacquainted with the fact, would have supposed that common looking | |
rock to be the door of the passage leading to the mysterious cavern. | |
The place to which they now came, was a narrow valley between the | |
mountains. | |
Pursuing their journey up this valley, they came to a collection of | |
Indian wigwams, and here they halted, the chief showing them into his | |
own hut, which was one of the group. | |
Another time, it would have alarmed Hellena Rosenthrall to find | |
herself in the wilderness surrounded by savages. | |
But now, although among savages far away from home, without a white | |
face to look upon, she felt a degree of security, she had long been a | |
stranger to. | |
In fact she felt that the Indians under whose protection she now found | |
herself, were far more human, far less cruel, than the demon calling | |
himself a white man, out of whose hands she had so fortunately | |
escaped. | |
For once since her capture, her sleep was quiet, and refreshing. | |
CHAPTER XVI. | |
Black Bill, on leaving the captain, after having vainly endeavored to | |
persuade him to leave the cave, crawled in to his usual place for | |
passing the night, but not with the hope of forgetting his troubles in | |
sleep. | |
He was more firmly than ever impressed with the idea that the cavern | |
was the resort of the Devil and his imps, and that they would | |
certainly return for the purpose of carrying off his master. To this | |
he would have no objection, did he not fear that they might nab him | |
also, in order to keep his master company. | |
So when everything was perfectly still in the cavern excepting the | |
loud breathing of the captain, which gave evidence of his being fast | |
asleep, the <DW64> crept cautiously out of the recess, where he had | |
thrown himself down, and moved noiselessly to the place where the | |
captain was lying. | |
Having satisfied himself that his master was asleep, he went to the | |
table, and taking the lamp that was burning there, he moved towards | |
the entrance of the cave. This was now fastened only on the inside, | |
and the fastening could be easily removed. | |
In a few moments Black Bill was at liberty. | |
As soon as he felt himself free from the cave, he gave vent to a fit | |
of boisterous delight, exclaiming. "Hah! hah! hah! Now de debile may | |
come arter massa Flint as soon as he please, he ain't a goun to ketch | |
dis chile, I reckan. Serb de captain right for trowin my fadder in de | |
sea. | |
"Hah! hah! hah! he tink I forgit all dat. I guess he fin out now." | |
Thus he went on until the thought seeming to strike him that he might | |
be overheard, and pursued, he stopped all at once, and crept further | |
into the forest and as he thought further out of the reach of the | |
devil. | |
The morning had far advanced when captain Flint awoke from his | |
slumber. | |
He knew this from the few sunbeams that found their way through a | |
crevice in the rocks at one corner of the cave. | |
With this exception the place was in total darkness, for the lamp as | |
we have said had been carried off by the <DW64>. | |
"Hello, there, Bill, you black imp," shouted the captain, "bring a | |
light." | |
But Bill made no answer, although the command was several times | |
repeated. | |
At last, Flint, in a rage, sprang up, and seizing a raw hide which he | |
always kept handy for such emergencies, he went to the sleeping place | |
of the <DW64>, and struck a violent blow on the place where Bill ought | |
to have been, but where Bill was not. | |
The captain started. "Has he, too, escaped me?" he exclaimed. | |
Flint went back, and for a few moments sat down by the table in | |
silence. After awhile the horror at being alone in such a gloomy | |
place, once more came over him. | |
"Who knows," he thought, "but this black imp may betray me into the | |
hands of my enemies. Even he, should he be so disposed, has it in his | |
power to come at night, and by fastening the entrance of the cavern on | |
the outside, bury me alive!" | |
So Flint reasoned, and so reasoning, made up his mind to leave the | |
cavern. | |
Flint had barely passed beyond the entrance of the cave, when he heard | |
the sound of approaching footsteps. He crouched under the bushes in | |
order to watch and listen. | |
He saw a party of six men approaching, all fully armed excepting one, | |
who seemed to be a guide to the rest. | |
Flint fairly gnashed his teeth with rage as he recognised in this man | |
his old associate--Jones Bradley. | |
The whole party halted at a little distance from the entrance to the | |
cave, where Bradley desired them to remain while he should go and | |
reconnoitre. | |
He had reached the entrance, had made a careful examination of | |
everything about it, and was in the act of turning to make his report, | |
when Flint sprang upon him from the bushes, saying, "So it's you, you | |
traitor, who has betrayed me," at the same moment plunging his dagger | |
in the breast of Bradley, who fell dead at his feet. | |
In the next moment the pirate was flying through the forest. Several | |
shots were fired at him, but without any apparent effect. | |
The whole party started in pursuit. But the pirate having the | |
advantage of a start and a better knowledge of the ground, was soon | |
hidden from view in the intricacies of the forest. | |
Still the party continued their pursuit, led now by Henry Billings. | |
As the pirate did not return the fire of his pursuers, it was evident | |
that his only weapon was the dagger with which he had killed the | |
unfortunate Bradley. | |
For several hours they continued their search, but all to no purpose, | |
and they were about to give it up for the present, when one of them | |
stumbled, and fell over something buried in the grass, when up sprang | |
Black Bill, who had hidden there on hearing the approach of the party. | |
"Lookin' arter massa Flint?" asked the boy, as soon as he had | |
discovered that he was among friends. | |
"Yes; can you tell us which way he has gone?" asked Billings. | |
"Gone dat way, and a-runnin' as if de debble was arter him, an' I | |
guess he is, too." | |
The party set off in the direction pointed out, the <DW64> following. | |
After going about half a mile, they were brought to a full stop by a | |
precipice over which the foremost one of the party was near falling. | |
As they came to the brink they thought they heard a whine and a low | |
growl, as of a wild animal in distress. | |
Looking into the ravine, a sight met their gaze, which caused them to | |
shrink back with horror. | |
At the bottom of the ravine lay the body of the man of whom they were | |
in pursuit, but literally torn to pieces. | |
Beside the body crouched an enormous she bear, apparently dying from | |
wounds she had received from an encounter with the men. | |
Could his worst enemy have wished him a severe punishment? | |
"De debble got him now," said Black Bill, and the whole party took | |
their way back to the cave. | |
On their way back, Billings learned from the <DW64> that Hellena in | |
company with Lightfoot, had left the cave several days previous to | |
their coming. Where they had gone he could not tell. | |
He was so possessed with the idea they had been spirited away by the | |
devil, or some one of his imps in the shape of an enormous Indian, | |
that they thought he must have been frightened out of his wits. | |
Billings was at a loss what course to take, but he had made up his | |
mind not to return to the city, until he had learned something | |
definite in relation to the fate of his intended bride. | |
In all probability, she was at some one of the Indian villages | |
belonging to some of the tribes occupying that part of the country. | |
For this purpose he embarked again in the small vessel in which he had | |
come up the river, intending to proceed a short distance further up, | |
for the purpose of consulting an old chief who, with his family, | |
occupied a small island situated there. | |
He had proceeded but a short distance when he saw a large fleet of | |
canoes approaching. | |
Supposing them to belong to friendly Indians, Billings made no attempt | |
to avoid them, and his boat was in a few moments surrounded by the | |
savages. | |
At first the Indians appeared to be perfectly friendly, offering to | |
trade and, seeming particularly anxious to purchase fire-arms. | |
This aroused the suspicions of the white men, and they commenced | |
endeavoring to get rid of their troublesome visitors, when to their | |
astonishment, they were informed that they were prisoners! | |
Billings was surprised to find that the Indians, after securing their | |
prisoners, instead of starting up the river again, continued their | |
course down the stream. | |
But what he learned shortly after from one of the Indians, who spoke | |
English tolerably well, astonished him still more. And that was, that | |
he was taken for the notorious pirate Captain Flint, of whose escape | |
they had heard from some of their friends recently from the city, and | |
they thought that nothing would please their white brethren so much as | |
to bring him back captive. | |
It was to no purpose that Billings endeavored to convince them of | |
their mistake. They only shook their heads, as much as to say it was | |
of no use, they were not to be so easily imposed upon. | |
And so Billings saw there was no help for it but to await patiently | |
his arrival at New York, when all would be set right again. | |
But in the meantime Hellena might be removed far beyond his reach. | |
CHAPTER XVII. | |
Great was the mortification in the city upon learning the mistake they | |
had made. | |
Where they had expected to receive praise and a handsome reward for | |
having performed a meritorious action, they obtained only censure and | |
reproaches for meddling in matters that did not concern them. | |
It was only a mistake however, and there was no help for it. And | |
Billings, although greatly vexed and disappointed, saw no course left | |
for him but to set off again, although he feared that the chances of | |
success were greatly against him this time, on account of the time | |
that had been lost. | |
The Indians, whose unfortunate blunder had been the cause of this | |
delay, in order to make some amends for the wrong they had done him, | |
now came forward, and offered to aid him in his search for the missing | |
maiden. | |
They proffered him the use of their canoes to enable him to ascend the | |
streams, and to furnish guides, and an escort to protect him while | |
traveling through the country. | |
This offer, so much better than he had any reason to expect, was | |
gladly accepted by Billings, and with two friends who had volunteered | |
to accompany him, he once more started up the river, under the | |
protection of his new friends. | |
War had broken out among the various tribes on the route which he must | |
travel, making it unsafe for him and his two companions, even under | |
such a guide and escort as his Indian friends could furnish them. | |
Thus he with his two associates were detained so long in the Indian | |
country, that by their friends at home they were given up as lost. | |
At last peace was restored, and they set out on their return. | |
The journey home was a long and tedious one, but nothing occurred | |
worth narrating. | |
Upon reaching the Hudson, they employed an Indian to take them the | |
remainder of the way in a canoe. | |
Upon reaching Manhattan Island, the first place they stopped at was | |
the residence of Carl Rosenthrall, Billings intending that the father | |
of Hellena should be the first to hear the sad story of his failure | |
and disappointment. | |
It was evening when he arrived at the house and the lamps were lighted | |
in the parlor. | |
With heavy heart and trembling hands he rapped at the door. | |
As the door opened he uttered a faint cry of surprise, which was | |
answered by a similar one by the person who admitted him. It was | |
Hellena herself! | |
The scene that followed we shall not attempt to describe. | |
CHAPTER XVIII. | |
At about the same time that Henry Billings, under the protection of | |
his Indian friends, set out on his last expedition up the river, a | |
single canoe with four persons in it, put out from under the shadow of | |
Old Crow Nest, on its way down the stream. | |
The individual by whom the canoe was directed was an Indian, a man | |
somewhat advanced in years. The others were a white girl, an Indian | |
woman, and a <DW64> boy. | |
In short, the party consisted of Fire Cloud, Hellena Rosenthrall, | |
Lightfoot, and Black Bill, on their way to the city. | |
They had passed the fleet of canoes in which Billings had embarked, | |
but not knowing whether it belonged to a party of friendly Indians or | |
otherwise. | |
Fire Cloud had avoided coming in contact with it for fear of being | |
delayed, or of the party being made prisoners and carried back again. | |
Could they have but met, what a world of trouble would it not have | |
saved to all parties interested! | |
As it was, Hellena arrived in safety, greatly to the delight of her | |
father and friends, who had long mourned for her as for one they never | |
expected to see again in this world. | |
The sum of Hellena's happiness would now have been complete, had it | |
not been for the dark shadow cast over it by the absence of her lover. | |
And this shadow grew darker, and darker, as weeks, and months, rolled | |
by without bringing any tidings of the missing one. | |
What might have been the effects of the melancholy into which she was | |
fast sinking, it is hard to tell, had not the unexpected return of the | |
one for whose loss she was grieving, restored her once more to her | |
wonted health and spirits. | |
And here we might lay down our pen, and call our story finished, did | |
we not think that justice to the reader, required that we should | |
explain some things connected with the mysterious, cavern not yet | |
accounted for. | |
How the Indian entered the cave on the night when Hellena fancied she | |
had seen a ghost, and how she made her escape, has been explained, but | |
we have not yet explained how the noises were produced which so | |
alarmed the pirates. | |
It will be remembered that the sleeping place of Black Bill was a | |
recess in the wall of the cavern. | |
Now in the wall, near the head of the <DW64>'s bed, there was a deep | |
fissure or crevice. It happened that Bill while lying awake one night, | |
to amuse himself, put his month to the crevice and spoke some words, | |
when to his astonishment, what he had said, was repeated over and | |
over, again. | |
Black Bill in his ignorance and simplicity, supposed that the echo, | |
which came back, was an answer from some one on the other side of the | |
wall. | |
Having made this discovery, he repeated the experiment a number of | |
times, and always with the same result. | |
After awhile, he began to ask questions of the spirit, as he supposed | |
it to be, that had spoken to him. | |
Among other things he asked if the devil was coming after master. | |
The echo replied, "The debil comin' after master," and repeated it a | |
great many times. | |
Bill now became convinced that it was the devil himself that he had | |
been talking to. | |
On the night when the pirates were so frightened by the fearful groan, | |
Bill was lying awake, listening to the captain's story. When he came | |
to the part where he describes the throwing the boy's father | |
overboard, and speaks of the horrible groan, Bill put his mouth to the | |
crevice, and imitated the groan, which had been too deeply fixed in | |
his memory ever to be forgotten, giving full scope to his voice. | |
The effect astonished and frightened him as well as the pirates. | |
With the same success he imitated the Indian war-whoop, which he had | |
learned while among the savages. | |
The next time that the pirates were so terribly frightened, the alarm | |
was caused by Fire Cloud after his visit to the cave on the occasion | |
that he had been taken for the devil by Bill, and an Indian ghost by | |
Hellena. | |
Fire Cloud had remained in another chamber of the cavern connected | |
with the secret passage already described, and where the echo was even | |
more wonderful than the one pronounced from the opening through which | |
the <DW64> had spoken. | |
Here he could hear all that was passing in the great chamber occupied | |
by the pirates, and from this chamber the echoes were to those who did | |
not understand their cause, perfectly frightful. | |
All these peculiarities of the cavern had been known to the ancient | |
Indian priests or medicine men, and by them made use of to impose on | |
their ignorant followers. | |
BEADLE'S FRONTIER SERIES | |
1. The Shawnee's Foe. | |
2. The Young Mountaineer. | |
3. Wild Jim. | |
4. Hawk-Eye, the Hunter. | |
5. The Boy Guide. | |
6. War Tiger of the Modocs. | |
7. The Red Modocs. | |
8. Iron Hand. | |
9. Shadow Bill, the Scout. | |
10. Wapawkaneta, or the Rangers of the Oneida. | |
11. Davy Crockett's Boy Hunter. | |
12. The Forest Avenger. | |
13. Old Jack's Frontier Cabin. | |
14. On the Deep. | |
15. Sharp Snout. | |
16. The Mountain Demon. | |
17. Wild Tom of Wyoming. | |
18. The Brave Boy Hunters of Kentucky. | |
19. The Fearless Ranger. | |
20. The Haunted Trapper. | |
21. Madman of the Colorado. | |
22. The Panther Demon. | |
23. Slashaway, the Fearless. | |
24. Pine Tree Jack. | |
25. Indian Jim. | |
26. Navajo Nick. | |
27. The Tuscarora's Vow. | |
28. Deadwood Dick, Jr. | |
29. A New York Boy Among the Indians. | |
30. Deadwood Dick's Big Deal. | |
31. Hank, the Guide. | |
32. Deadwood Dick's Dozen. | |
33. Squatty Dick. | |
34. The Hunter's Secret. | |
35. The Woman Trapper. | |
36. The Chief of the Miami. | |
37. Gunpowder Jim. | |
38. Mad Anthony's Captain. | |
39. The Ranger Boy's Career. | |
40. Old Nick of the Swamp. | |
41. The Shadow Scout. | |
42. Lantern-Jawed Bob. | |
43. The Masked Hunter. | |
44. Brimstone Jake. | |
45. The Irish Hunter. | |
46. Dave Bunker. | |
47. The Shawnee Witch. | |
48. Big Brave. | |
49. Spider-Legs. | |
50. Harry Hardskull. | |
51. Madman of the Ocont. | |
52. Slim Jim. | |
53. Tiger-Eye. | |
54. The Red Star of the Seminoles. | |
55. Trapper Joe. | |
56. The Indian Queen's Revenge. | |
57. Eagle-Eyed Zeke. | |
58. Scar-Cheek, the Wild Half-Breed. | |
59. Red Men of the Woods. | |
60. Tuscaloosa Sam. | |
61. The Bully of the Woods. | |
62. The Trapper's Bride. | |
63. Red Rattlesnake, The Pawnee. | |
64. The Scout of Tippecanoe. | |
65. Old Kit, The Scout. | |
66. The Boy Scouts. | |
67. Hiding Tom. | |
68. Roving Dick, Hunter. | |
69. Hickory Jack. | |
70. Mad Mike. | |
71. Snake-Eye. | |
72. Big-Hearted Joe. | |
73. The Blazing Arrow. | |
74. The Hunter Scouts. | |
75. The Scout of Long Island. | |
76. Turkey-Foot. | |
77. The Death Rangers. | |
78. Bullet Head. | |
79. The Indian Spirit. | |
80. The Twin Trappers. | |
81. Lightfoot the Scout. | |
82. Grim Dick. | |
83. The Wooden-Legged Spy. | |
84. The Silent Trapper. | |
85. Ugly Ike. | |
86. Fire Cloud. | |
87. Hank Jasper. | |
88. The Scout of the Sciota. | |
89. Black Samson. | |
90. Billy Bowlegs. | |
91. The Bloody Footprint. | |
92. Marksman the Hunter. | |
93. The Demon Cruiser. | |
94. Hunters and Redskins. | |
95. Panther Jack. | |
96. Old Zeke. | |
97. The Panther Paleface. | |
98. The Scout of the St. Lawrence. | |
99. Bloody Brook. | |
100. Long Bob of Kentucky. | |
THE ARTHUR WESTBROOK CO. Cleveland, U.S.A. | |
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Fire Cloud, by Samuel Fletcher | |
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