Until daybreak was Quaco permitted to continue his snoring and his
slumber. Up to that time, no Chakra appeared; but just as the red
aurora began to tinge the tops of the forest trees, a dark form was
distinguished upon the summit of the cliff, just over the tree stairway.
It had scarce made its appearance, when another was seen coming forward
by its side; and, in the rear of both, another--and then a fourth.
All four halted for a moment upon the brow of the precipice. Whether
they were in conversation could not be told. Likely they were, but
their voices could not be heard above the mutterings of the moving
water.
Presently, he who had first made his appearance commenced descending the
cliff, followed by the others, apparently in the same order in which
they had arrived upon its edge.
Cingues had already shaken Quaco from his slumbers. The other sleepers
had also been aroused by their companions; and, perceiving the numbers
of the enemy, had grasped their guns with a firmer hold.
Though the day had now dawned, none of the four shadowy figures,
outlined against the facade of the cliff, could be identified. The dark
rock and the bramble hindered them from being fairly seen. Not even
when they had reached the bottom of the stair could they be recognised:
for there also the frondage afforded them cover.
It was only after the two foremost had entered the canoe, and the craft
was seen gliding out into the open water, that Quaco could tell who were
the two individuals thus seeking the solitude of the Duppy's Hole.
"Chakra!" said he, in a whisper to Cingues. "The t'other? Prince! if
my eyes don't bamboozle me, it's your old acquaintance, the
penn-keeper!"
To the Fellatah this piece of information was superfluous: he had
already recognised the well-known features of the man who had so deeply
injured him.
The memory of all his wrongs rushed into his heart, accompanied by a
thirst for vengeance--keen, irresistible.
With a wild cry--and before Quaco could interpose--he raised his piece
and fired.
The young African was a marksman of unerring aim; and but for the
upraised arm of Quaco, that had disturbed the level of that deadly tube,
the hours of Jacob Jessuron would have been numbered.
And numbered they were. Despite the interruption--despite the accident
that guided that leaden missile far wide of its mark--destiny had
determined upon having its victim.
Neither of the occupants of the canoe appeared to have been wounded; but
as the smoke cleared away, it could be seen that the shot had not passed
them without effect. Chakra's hands were empty; the paddle had been
struck by the bullet; and, carried clean out of them, was now seen on
the surface of the water, fast gliding towards the gorge!
A shrill cry escaped from the lips of the Coromantee. He alone
understood the danger to which this accident had exposed him. He alone
knew of the whirl that threatened to overwhelm both himself and his
companion.
Instantly he threw himself upon his knees, and, with an arm extended on
each side of the canoe, and his body bent down to the gunwale, he
commenced heating the water with his broad palms. His aim was to
prevent the craft from being drawn into the centre of the current.
For some moments this strange struggle was kept up--the canoe just
holding its own--making way neither upwards nor downwards.
The Maroons watched the movement with mute surprise; and no doubt would
have continued to do so, but that the two men left by the bottom of the
stairway--perhaps stirred by a like curiosity--had rushed forward to the
edge of the water, and thus permitted their faces to be seen. At the
same instant were they recognised by one who had an old account to
settle with them.
"The jack Spaniards!" cried Quaco, surprised beyond measure at the sight
of his _ci-devant_ prisoners. "They have got loose from our guard.
Fire upon them, comrades! Don't let them escape a second time!"
The stentorian voice of the Maroon lieutenant, audible above all other
sounds, at once awakened the _cacadores_ to a sense of their dangerous
situation; and, like a brace of baboons, they commenced sprawling up the
tangled stairway.
Too late had they taken this resolution. Before they had got a third of
the way to the summit, half-a-dozen triggers were pulled; and their
bodies, one after the other, fell with a heavy plunge into the water
below.
Meanwhile Chakra, in the canoe, had kept up his life and death struggle,
now going against the current--and now the watery element appearing to
prevail.
For the moment the Maroons could not have decided that strife. They
were engaged in re-loading their guns; and the Coromantee was left free
to continue his struggles without interruption.
Chakra's bitterest enemies could scarce have desired to bring that scene
to a speedy termination. No avenger need have wished his victim in a
more terrible situation than were he and his confederate at that moment.
The former, acting under the instinct of self-preservation, had not yet
given way to despair; while the terrified look of the latter, who
appeared to have already succumbed to it, might have restrained his
deadliest foe from interference.
Between the long, sinewy arms of Chakra and the strength of the current,
it was difficult to decide which would conquer. For many minutes the
forces appeared to be equally balanced. But the strength of the man was
declining, while that of the element remained the same. In the end, the
waters must prevail. Chakra at length appeared to become convinced of
this; and cast round him a glance of mingled inquiry and despair.
At that moment an idea seemed to strike him--some thought, perhaps, that
promised him a chance of escape.
All at once he desisted from his hopeless efforts to stay the canoe, as
if some resolution had suddenly become fixed; and, turning towards his
companion, he bent down, apparently with the intention of whispering to
him. His wild, dark look, however, declared his design to be far
different.
When fairly within reach, he threw out his long arms with a sudden jerk,
and, clutching the Jew by both shoulders, drew him up into his embrace,
like some gigantic spider seizing upon its prey.
Suddenly changing his hold, he grasped an arm and limb; and, raising the
body high in air, with an immense muscular effort, he projected it clear
over the gunwale of the canoe.
One shriek from the Jew--emitted in the extremest accent of grief--was
heard simultaneously with the plunge; and then the body of the
unfortunate man disappeared beneath the dark waters of the lagoon.
His hat and umbrella alone floated on the surface, both rapidly carried
along by the current.
The wretched creature rose again, but not to discover any chance of
saving himself from destruction. The only gratification he could have
drawn from his temporary emergence was to perceive that his false
confederate must perish as well as himself.
Chakra had hoped that by lightening the canoe he might contend more
successfully with the current; but it soon became evident that his hopes
would prove vain.
In disembarrassing himself of his _compagnon du voyage_ he had lost way;
and, before he could recover it, the canoe was sucked into a charybdis,
from which even the power of the paddle could not have extricated it.
In less than ten seconds the craft entered the embouchure of the gorge,
gliding downward with the velocity of an arrow.
It was but a despairing effort on the part of its occupant to seize upon
a tree that grew horizontally from the rocks; though in his despair
Chakra clutched it. Even had the bush been firmly rooted, his strength
would not have sustained him against the fierce, resistless flood.
But it was not. The roots gave way; and, in another instant, the
Coromantee and his canoe were precipitated an hundred feet sheer among
the black rocks below!
His confederate had preceded him only by two seconds of time; and the
dead bodies of both came once more in close contact--circling round and
round, amidst the frothy spume that creamed over the cauldron below!
Volume Three, Chapter XLVIII.