Of the three magistrates who condemned the Coromantee, one had been
slumbering in his grave for six months; the second, about that number of
days; and the third--the great Custos himself--was now a corpse!
Of all three had the myal-man been the murderer; though in the case of
the first two there had been no suspicion of foul play, or, at least,
not enough to challenge inquest or investigation. Both had died of
lingering diseases, bearing a certain resemblance to each other; and
though partaking very much of the nature of a wasting, intermittent
fever, yet exhibiting symptoms that were new and strange--so strange as
to baffle the skill of the Jamaican disciples of Aesculapius.
About the death of either one Chakra had not felt the slightest
apprehension--nor would he even had an investigation arisen. In neither
murder had his hand appeared. Both had been accomplished by the
invisible agency of Obi, that at this period held mysterious existence
on every plantation in the Island.
With the assassination of the Custos, however, it was different.
Circumstances had caused that event to be hurried, and there was
danger--as Chakra himself had admitted--that the spell of Obi might be
mistaken for a spell of poison. A death so sudden, and by natural
causes inexplicable, would, undoubtedly, provoke speculation, and lead
to the opening and examining of the body.
Chakra knew that inside would be found something stronger than even the
sap of the Savanna flower or the branched _calalue_; and that in all
probability the malady to which the Custos had succumbed would be
pronounced _murder_.
With this upon his mind, he was not without apprehension--his fears
pointing to Cynthia.
Not that he suspected the _honesty_ of his confederate; but only that
her _consistency_ might be too weak to withstand the cross-questioning
of a coroner.
Fearing this, he had scarce got out of sight of the Custos's corpse
before he commenced contriving how Cynthia's tongue could be tied--in
other words, how the mulatta was to be made away with.
Upon this design his thoughts were for the moment bent.
He had less, if any, apprehension about his other accomplice in the
crime. He fancied that Jessuron was himself too deeply dyed to point
out the spots upon his fellow-conspirator; and this rendered him
confident of secrecy on the part of the Jew.
Neither did he dwell long upon the danger to be apprehended from
Cynthia, and so trivial a matter as the silencing of her tongue soon
became obliterated or blended with another and far more important
project, to the execution of which he was now hastening.
On leaving the hut where lay the dead body of his victim, he had taken
to by-paths and bushes. Only for a short time did he keep to these.
The twilight rapidly darkening into night left the highway free to him;
and, availing himself of this privilege, he returned to it--showing by
his hurried steps, as he regained the road, that he was glad to escape
from a circuitous path.
His face once more set towards the Trelawney hills, he walked in
silence, and with a rapidity scarce credible--his long, ape-like legs,
split trestle fashion to the centre of his body, enabling him to glide
over the ground almost as fast as a mule could mince.
Whenever anyone appeared upon the road before him, he adopted his
customary plan of betaking himself to the bushes until they had passed;
but when travellers chanced to be going the same way--which more than
once did happen--he avoided an encounter by making a circuit through the
woods, and coming out far ahead of them.
The trouble thus taken to gain time, as well as the earnest manner with
which the myal-man was hastening forward, proved that the crime just
committed was not the crisis of Chakra's villainies; but that some other
evil purpose--to him of equal or greater import--was yet before him; and
soon to be achieved, or, at least, attempted.
Following back the main route between Savanna-la-Mer and the Bay, he at
length arrived at the Carrion Crow Road, and, after traversing this for
some distance, came within view of the Jumbe Rock, now glancing with
vitreous sheen in the clear moonlight.
Almost as soon as he had caught sight of the well-known land-mark, he
forsook the road; and struck off into a by-path that led through the
woods.
This path, trending diagonally up the side of the Jumbe mountain, and
passing near the base of the rock, was the same which Herbert Vaughan
and the two Maroons had traversed on their way from the Happy Valley on
that same morning.
Chakra, however, knew nothing of this; nor aught either of the design or
expedition of Cubina and his comrades. Equally ignorant was he of the
errand on which Jessuron had dispatched his Cuban emissaries--by way of
having his bow twice stringed.
The Coromantee, fancying himself the only player in that game of murder,
had no idea that there were others interested in it as much as he; and
although once or twice during the day he had seen men moving
suspiciously behind him along the road, it had never occurred to him who
they were--much less that they had been deputed to complete his own job,
should the "spell" fail to prove sufficiently potent.
A somewhat long _detour_--which he had taken after leaving the hut--had
brought him out on the main road behind both parties; and thus had he
remained ignorant of their proximity, at the same time that he had
himself escaped the observation both of the villains who intended to
assassinate the Custos, and of the men who were pressing forward to save
him.
Still continuing his rapid stride, Chakra climbed the mountain slope,
with the agility of one accustomed to the most difficult paths.
On arriving under the Jumbe Rock, he halted--not with any intention of
remaining there, but only to consider.
He looked up towards the summit of the cliff, in whose dark shadow he
was standing; and then, raising his eyes still higher, he gazed for a
short while upon the sky. His glance betrayed that interrogative
scrutiny characteristic of one who, not being furnished with a watch,
endeavours to ascertain the time. Chakra needed no watch. By day, the
sun was sufficient to inform him of the hour; by night the stars, which
were old and familiar acquaintances.
The sinking of Orion towards the silvered surface of the sea told him
that in two hours, or thereabout, no stars would be seen.
"Kupple ob hour!" muttered he, after making the observation; "woan do--
woan do. By de time I get to de Duppy Hole fo' de lamp, an' den back to
de rock fo' fix um--It woan do! Adam an' his men de better part ob an
hour 'fore dey ked climb up hya; an' den it be daylight. _Daat_ woan do
nohow. Muss be done in de night, else we git follered, an' de Duppy
Hole no longer safe 'treat fo' Chakra. Mussent risk dat, whasomebber a
do.
"Whugh!" he continued, after reflecting a moment, and with a look of
villainous chagrin overspreading his countenance; "'tam a piece of cuss
crooked luck fo' me no' be hya 'bout two hour soona. Dat 'ud 'a been
s'fishint to got 'em all up in time; an' dar wud den a been gobs o' time
to 'complish de whole bizness.
"Nebba mind!" cried he, after a pause, and rousing himself from the
attitude of reflection; "nebba mind, ye old Coromantee fool! 'morra
night do jess as well. Den dar be plenty ob time. 'Taint like dey get
de dead corpus ob de Cussus back to de Buff afore two, tree day; an' ef
dat ere nigga fotch de news, it do no harm. Maybe do good, in de
'fusion it make 'bout de place. Nebba mind. It be all right fo' 'morr'
night. 'Fore dis time ob de mornin' de Lilly Quasheba--de beau'ful
dauter ob dat proud quaderoom--she sleep in de 'brace o' ole Chakra de
myal-man. Whugh!
"Two hour 'fore day," added he, after a longer pause, in which he
appeared to gloat over his fiendish expectations; "two hour. I'se jess
hab time go down to de Jew penn, an' den back to de Duppy Hole 'fore
daylight. Dat ole sinner, he want know what's a been done; an' a want
get de balance ob dat fifty poun'. A mout stan' need ob de money, now
a's a-gwine ta hab a wife, an' take to de keepin' ob a 'tablishment.
Ha! ha! ha!"
And as he gave utterance to the laugh, the prospective bridegroom once
more put his hideous form in motion, and followed the path leading to
the Jew's penn.
Volume Three, Chapter XXIV.