As the boat, which contained the party, pulled by six of
the best oars-men among the soldiers of the Garrison,
and steered, as we have shown, by the dexterous Sambo,
now glided past the spot, the recollections of the
tradition connected with the bridge drew from several of
the party expressions of sympathy and feigned terror, as
their several humours dictated. Remarking that Miss
Montgomerie's attention appeared to be deeply excited by
what she heard, while she gazed earnestly upon the dwelling
in the back ground, Gerald Grantham thought to interest
her yet more, and amuse and startle the rest of the party,
by detailing his extraordinary, and hitherto unrevealed
adventure, on a recent occasion. To this strange tale,
as may naturally be supposed, some of his companions
listened with an air of almost incredulity, nor indeed
would they rest satisfied until Sambo, who kept his eyes
turned steadily away from the shore, and to whom appeal
was frequently made by his master, confirmed his statement
in every particular; and with such marks of revived horror
in his looks, as convinced them, Gerald was not playing
upon their facility of belief. The more incredulous his
brother officers, the more animated had become the sailor
in his description, and, on arriving at that part of his
narrative which detailed the reappearance and reflection
of the mysterious figure in the tipper room, upon the
court below, every one became insensibly fixed in mute
attention. From the moment of his commencing, Miss
Montgomerie had withdrawn her gaze from the land, and
fixing it upon her lover, manifested all the interest he
could desire. Her feelings were evidently touched by what
she heard, for she grew paler as Gerald proceeded, while
her breathing was suspended, as if fearful to lose a
single syllable he uttered. At each more exciting crisis
of the narrative, she betrayed a corresponding intensity
of attention, until at length, when the officer described
his mounting on the water butt, and obtaining a full view
of all within the room, she looked as still and rigid as
if she had been metamorphosed into a statue. This eagerness
of attention, shared as it was, although not to the same
extent perhaps, by the rest of Gerald's auditory, was
only remarkable in Miss Montgomerie, in as much as she
was one of too much mental preoccupation to feel or betray
interest in any thing, and it might have been the risk
encountered by her lover, and the share he had borne in
the mysterious occurrence, that now caused her to lapse
from her wonted inaccessibility to impressions of the
sort. As the climax of the narrative approached, her
interest became deeper, and her absorption more profound.
An involuntary shudder passed over her form, and a slight
contraction of the nerves of her face was perceptible,
when Gerald described to his attentive and shocked
auditory, the raising of the arm of the assassin; and
her emotion at length assumed such a character of
nervousness, that when he exultingly told of the rapid
discharge of his own pistol, as having been the only
means of averting the fate of the doomed, she could not
refrain from rising suddenly in the boat, and putting
her hand to her side, with the shrinking movement of one
who had been suddenly wounded.
While in the act of rising she had drawn the cloak with
which, like the other ladies, she was provided more
closely over her shoulders--Sambo seemed to have caught
some new idea from this action, for furtively touching
Henry Grantham, who sat immediately before him, and on
the right of Miss Montgomerie, he leaned forward and
whispered a few sentences in his ear.
Meanwhile Miss Montgomerie was not a little rallied on
the extreme susceptibility which had led her as it were
to identify herself with the scene. Gerald remarked that
on recovering her presence of mind, she at first looked
as if she fancied herself the subject of sarcasm, and
would have resented the liberty; but finding there was
nothing pointed in the manner of those who addressed her,
finished by joining, yet with some appearance of constraint,
in the laugh against herself.
"I confess," she said coloring, "that the strange incident
which Mr. Grantham has related, and which he has so well
described, has caused me to be guilty of a ridiculous
emotion. I am not usually startled into the expression
of strong feeling, but there was so much to excite and
surprise in his catastrophe that I could not avoid in
some measure identifying myself with the scene."
"Nay, Miss Montgomerie," remarked Julia D'Egville, "there
can be no reason why such emotion should either be
disavowed or termed ridiculous. For my part, I own that
cannot sufficiently express my horror of the wretch who
could thus deliberately attempt the life of another. How
lucky was it Gerald that you arrived at that critical
moment; but have you no idea--not the slightest--of the
person of the assassin or of his intended victim?"
"Not the slightest--the disguise of the person was too
effectual to be penetrated, and the face I had not once
an opportunity of beholding."
"Yet," observed Miss Montgomerie, "from your previous
description of the figure, it is by no means a matter of
certainty that it was not a woman you pursued, instead
of a man--or, was there any thing to betray the vacillation
of purpose which would naturally attend one of our sex
in an enterprize of the kind."
"What! a woman engage in so unnatural a deed," remarked
Henry Grantham--"surely Miss Montgomerie," for he always
spoke rather AT, than TO her "cannot seek to maintain a
supposition so opposed to all probability--neither will
she be so unjust towards herself as to admit the existence
of such monstrous guilt in the heart of another of her
sex."
"Impossible," said Gerald. "Whatever might have been my
impression when I first saw the figure in the merchantman
--that is to say, if I had then a doubt in regard to the
sex, it was entirely removed, when later I beheld the
unfaltering energy with which it entered upon its murderous
purpose. The hand of woman never could have been armed
with such fierce and unflinching determination as was
that hand."
"The emergency of the occasion, it would seem, did not
much interfere with your study of character," again
observed Miss Montgomerie, with a faint smile--"but you
say you fired--was it--with intent to kill the killer?"
"I scarcely know with what intent myself; but if I can
rightly understand my own impulse, it was more with a
view to divert him from his deadly object, than to slay
--and this impression acquires strength from the fact of
my having missed him--I am almost sorry now that I did."
"Perhaps," said Miss Montgomerie, "you might have slain
one worthier than him you sought to save. As one of your
oldest poets sings--'whatever it is right.--"
"What!" exclaimed the younger Grantham with emphasis "Can
Miss Montgomerie then form any idea of the persons who
figured in that scene?"
Most of the party looked at the questioner with surprise.
Gerald frowned, and, for the first time in his life,
entertained a feeling of anger against his brother. In
no way moved or piqued by the demand, Miss Montgomerie
calmly replied.
"I can see no just reason for such inference, Mr. Grantham;
I merely stated a case of possibility, without anything
which can refer to the merit of either of the parties."
Henry Grantham felt that he was rebuked--but although he
could not avoid something like an apologetical explanation
of his remark, he was not the more favorably disposed
towards her who had forced it from him. In this feeling
he was confirmed by the annoyance he felt at having been
visited by the anger of the brother to whom he was so
attached. Arrived at Hog Island, and equipped with their
guns and fishing rods, the gentlemen dispersed in quest
of game, some threading the mazes of the wood in pursuit
of the various birds that frequent the vicinity, the
others seeking these points of the island where the dense
foliage affords a shade to the numerous delicately
flavoured fish, which, luxuriating in the still deep
water, seek relief from the heat of summer. To these
latter sportsmen, the ladies of the party principally
attached themselves, quitting them only at intervals to
collect pebbles on the sands, or to saunter about the
wood, in search of the wild flowers or fruits that abounded
along its skirt, while the servants busied themselves in
erecting the marquee and making preparation for dinner.
Among those who went in pursuit of game were the Granthams,
who, like most Canadians, were not only excellent shots,
but much given to a sport in which they had had considerable
practice in early boyhood. For a short time they had
continued with their, companions, but as the wood became
thicker, and their object consequently more attainable
by dispersion, they took a course parallel with the point
at which the fishers had assembled, while their companions
continued to move in an opposite direction. There was an
unusual reserve in the manner of the brothers as they
now wound through the intricacies of the wood. Each
appeared to feel that the other had given him cause for
displeasure and each--unwilling to introduce the subject
most at his heart--availed himself with avidity rather
of the several opportunities which the starting of the
game afforded for conversation of a general nature. They
had gone on in this manner for some time, and having been
tolerably successful in their sport were meditating their
return to the party on the beach, when the ear of Gerald
was arrested by the drumming of a partridge at a short
distance. Glancing his quick eye in the direction whence
the sound came, he beheld a remarkably fine bird, which
while continuing to beat its wings violently against the
fallen tree on which it was perched, had its neck
outstretched and its gaze intently fixed on some object
below. Tempted by the size and beauty of the bird Gerald
fired and it fell to the earth. He advanced, stooped,
and was in the act of picking it up, when a sharp and
well known rattle was heard to issue from beneath the
log. The warning was sufficient to save him had he
consented even for an instant to forego his prize, but
accustomed to meet with these reptiles on almost every
excursion of the kind, and never having sustained any
injury from them, he persevered in disengaging the
partridge from some briers with which, in falling, it
had got entangled. Before he could again raise himself
an enormous rattlesnake had darted upon him, and stung
with rage perhaps at being deprived of its victim, had
severely bitten him above the left wrist. The instantaneous
pang that darted throughout the whole limb caused Gerald
to utter an exclamation, and dropping the bird, he sank
almost fainting on the log whence his enemy had attacked
him.
The cry of agony reached, Henry Grantham, as he was
carelessly awaiting his brother's return, and at once
forgetting their temporary estrangement, and full of
eager love and apprehension--he flew to ascertain the
nature of the injury. To his surprise and horror he
remarked that, although not a minute had elapsed since
the fangs of the reptile had penetrated into the flesh,
the arm was already considerably inflamed and exhibiting
then a dark and discolored hue. That a remedy was at
hand he knew, but what it was, and how to be applied he
was not aware, the Indians alone being in possession of
the secret. Deeming that Sambo might have some knowledge
of the kind, he now made the woods echo with the sound
of his name, in a manner that could not fail to startle
and alarm the whole of the scattered party. Soon afterwards
the rustling, of forms was heard in various directions,
as they forced themselves through the underwood, and the
first who came in sight was Miss Montgomerie, preceded
by the old negro. The lamentation of the latter was
intense and when on approaching his young master, he
discovered the true nature of his accident and confessed
his ignorance of all remedy, he burst into tears, and
throwing himself upon the earth tore his gray woollen
hair away, regardless of all entreaty on the part of
Gerald to moderate his grief. Miss Montgomerie now came
forward, and never did sounds of melody fall so harmoniously
on the ear, as did her voice on that of the younger
Grantham as she pledged herself to the cure, on their
instant return to the spot where the marquee had been
erected. With this promise she again disappeared, and
several others of the party having now joined them,
Gerald, duly supported, once more slowly retraced his
way to the same point.
"Damn him pattridge" muttered Sambo, who lingered a moment
or two in the rear to harness himself with the apparatus
of which his master had disencumbered his person. "Damn
him pattridge" and he kicked the lifeless bird indignantly
with his foot "you all e cause e dis; what e hell e do
here?"
This tirade however against the partridge did not by any
means prevent the utterer from eventually consigning it
to its proper destination in the game bag as the noblest
specimen of the day's sport, and thus burthened he issued
from the wood, nearly at the same moment with the wounded
Gerald and his friends.
The consternation of all parties on witnessing the disaster
of the sailor, whose arm had already been swollen to a
fearful size, while the wound itself began to assume an
appearance of mortification, was strongly contrasted with
the calm silence of Miss Montgomerie, who was busily
employed in stirring certain herbs which she was boiling
over the fire that had been kindled in the distance for
the preparation of the dinner. The sleeve of the sufferer's
shooting jacket had been ripped to the shoulder by his
brother and as he now sat on a pile of cloaks within the
marquee, the rapid discoloration of the white skin, could
be distinctly traced, marking as it did the progress of
the deadly poison towards the vital portion of the system.
In this trying emergency all eyes were turned with anxiety
on the slightest movement of her who had undertaken the
cure, and none more eagerly than those of Henry Grantham
and Gertrude D'Egville, the latter of whom, gentle even
as she was, could not but acknowledge pang of regret that
to another, and that other a favored rival--should be
the task of alleviating the anguish and preserving the
life of the only man she had ever loved.
At length Miss Montgomerie came forward; and never was
beneficent angel more hailed than did Henry Grantham hail
her, whom scarcely an hour since he had looked upon with
aversion, when with a countenance of unwonted paleness
but confident of success, she advanced towards the opening
of the marquee, to which interest in the sufferer had
drawn even the domestics. All made way for her approach.
Kneeling at the side of Gerald, and depositing the vessel
in which she had mixed her preparation, she took the
wounded arm in her own fair hands with the view, it was
supposed, of holding it while another applied the remedy.
Scarcely however had she secured it in a firm grasp when,
to the surprise and consternation of all around, she
applied her own lips to the wound and continued them
then; in despite of the efforts of Gerald to withdraw
his arm, nor was it until there was already a visible
reduction in the size, and change in the color of the
limb that she removed them. This done she arose and
retired to the skirt of the wood whence she again returned
in less than a minute. Even in the short time that had
elapsed, the arm of the sufferer had experienced an almost
miraculous change. The inflammation had greatly subsided,
while the discoloration had retired to the immediate
vicinity of the wound, which in its turn however had
assumed a more virulent appearance. From this it was
evident that the suction had been the means of recalling,
to the neighbourhood of the injury, such portions of the
poison as had expanded, concentrating all in one mass
immediately beneath its surface, and thereby affording
fuller exposure to the action of the final remedy. This
consisting of certain herbs of a dark colour, and spread
at her direction by the trembling hands of Gertrude, on
her white handkerchief--Miss Montgomerie now proceeded
to apply, covering a considerable portion around the
orifice of the two small wounds, inflicted by the fangs
of the serpent, with the dense mass of the vegetable
preparation. The relief produced by this was effectual,
and in less than an hour, so completely had the poison
been extracted, and the strength of the arm restored,
that Gerald was enabled not merely to resume his shooting
jacket, but to partake, although sparingly, of the meal
which followed.
It may be presumed that the bold action of Miss Montgomerie
passed not without the applause it so highly merited,
yet even while applauding, there were some of the party,
and particularly Henry Grantham, who regarded it with
feelings not wholly untinctured with the unpleasant. Her
countenance and figure, as she stood in the midst of the
forest, preparing the embrocation, so well harmonizing
with the scene and occupation; the avidity with which
she sucked the open wound of the sufferer, and the fearless
manner in which she imbibed that which was considered
death to others; all this, combined with a general
demeanour in which predominated a reserve deeply shaded
with mystery, threw over the actor and the action, an
air of the preternatural, occasioning more of surprise
and awe than prepossession. Such, especially, as we have
said, was the impression momentarily, produced on Henry
Grantham; but when he beheld his brother's eye and cheek
once more beaming with returning strength and health, he
saw in her but the generous preserver of that brother's
life to whom his own boundless debt of gratitude was due.
It was at this moment that, in the course of conversation
on the subject, Captain Molineux inquired of Miss
Montgomerie, what antidote she possessed against the
influence of the poison. Every eye was turned upon her
as she vaguely answered, a smile of peculiar meaning
playing over her lips, that "Captain Molineux must be
satisfied with knowing she bore a charmed life." Then
again it was that the young soldier's feelings underwent
another reaction, and as he caught the words and look
which accompanied them, he scarcely could persuade himself
she was not the almost vampire and sorceress that his
excited imagination had represented.
Not the least deeply interested in the events of the
morning, was the old negro. During their meal, at the
service of which he assisted, his eyes scarcely quitted
her whom be appeared to regard with a mingled feeling of
awe and adoration; nay, such was his abstraction that,
in attempting to place a dish of game on the rude table
at which the party sat, he lodged the whole of the contents
in the lap of Middlemore, a gaucherie that drew from the
latter an exclamation of horror, followed however the
instant afterwards by Sambo's apology.
"I beg a pardon Massa Middlemore," he exclaimed, "I let
him fall e gravey in e lap."
"Then will you by some means contrive to lap it up,"
returned the officer quaintly.
Sambo applied his napkin, and the dinner proceeded without
other occurrence. Owing to an apprehension that the night
air might tend to renew the inflammation of the wounded
arm, the boat was early in readiness for the return of
the party, whose day of pleasure had been in some manner
tamed into a day of mourning, so that long before sun
set, they had again reached their respective homes at
Detroit.
END OF VOLUME I.