THE OUTLAW'S RENDEZVOUS.
Our plots fall short like darts which rash hands throw
With an ill aim, and have too far to go;
Nor can we long discoveries prevent;
God is too much about the innocent!
--Sir Robert Howard.
"The Old Road Inn," described in the dying deposition of poor Nancy
Grewell, was situated some miles from Hurricane Hall, by the side of a
forsaken turnpike in the midst of a thickly wooded, long and narrow
valley, shut in by two lofty ranges of mountains.
Once this turnpike was lively with travel and this inn gay with custom;
but for the last twenty-five years, since the highway had been turned
off in another direction, both road and tavern had been abandoned, and
suffered to fall to ruin. The road was washed and furrowed into deep and
dangerous gullies, and obstructed by fallen timber; the house was
disfigured by moldering walls, broken chimneys and patched windows.
Had any traveler lost himself and chanced to have passed that way, he
might have seen a little, old, dried-up woman, sitting knitting at one
of the windows. She was known by those who were old enough to remember
her and her home, as Granny Raven, the daughter of the last proprietor
of the inn. She was reputed to be dumb, but none could speak with
certainty of the fact. In truth, for as far back as the memory of the
"oldest inhabitant" could reach, she had been feared, disliked and
avoided, as one of malign reputation; indeed, the ignorant and
superstitious believed her to possess the "evil eye," and to be gifted
with "second sight."
But of late years, as the old road and the old inn were quite forsaken,
so the old beldame was quite forgotten.
It was one evening, a few weeks after Capitola's fearful adventure in
the forest, that this old woman carefully closed up every door and
window in the front of the house, stopping every crevice through which a
ray of light might gleam and warn that impossible phenomenon--a chance
traveler, on the old road, of life within the habitation.
Having, so to speak, hermetically sealed the front of the house, she
betook herself to a large back kitchen.
This kitchen was strangely and rudely furnished, having an extra broad
fireplace with the recesses, on each side of the chimney filled with
oaken shelves, laden with strong pewter plates, dishes and mugs; all
along the walls were arranged rude, oaken benches; down the length of
the room was left, always standing, a long deal table, capable of
accommodating from fifteen to twenty guests.
On entering this kitchen Granny Raven struck a light, kindled a fire and
began to prepare a large supper.
Nor unlike the ill-omened bird whose name she bore did this old beldame
look in her close-clinging black gown, and flapping black cape and hood,
and with her sharp eyes, hooked nose and protruding chin.
Having put a huge sirloin of beef before the fire, she took down a pile
of pewter plates and arranged them along on the sides of the table; then
to every plate she placed a pewter mug. A huge wheaten loaf of bread, a
great roll of butter and several plates of pickles were next put upon
the board, and when all was ready the old woman sat down to the patient
turning of the spit.
She had not been thus occupied more than twenty minutes when a hasty,
scuffling step was heard at the back of the house, accompanied by a
peculiar whistle, immediately under the window.
"That's 'Headlong Hal,' for a penny! He never can learn the cat's
tread!" thought the crone, as she arose and withdrew the bolt of the
back door.
A little dark-skinned, black-eyed, black-haired, thin and wiry man came
hurrying in, exclaiming:
"How now, old girl--supper ready!"
She shook her head, pointed to the roasting beef, lifted up both hands
with the ten fingers spread out twice, and then made a rotary motion
with one arm.
"Oh, you mean it will be done in twenty turns; but hang me if I
understand your dumb show half the time! Have none of the men come yet?"
She put her fingers together, flung her hands widely apart in all
directions, brought them slowly together again and pointed to the supper
table.
"Um! That is to say they are dispersed about their business, but will
all be here to-night?"
She nodded.
"Where's the capt'n?"
She pointed over her left shoulder upwards, placed her two hands out
broad from her temples, then made a motion as of lifting and carrying a
basket, and displaying goods.
"Humph! humph! gone to Tip-top to sell goods disguised as a peddler!"
She nodded. And before he could put another question a low, soft mew was
heard at the door.
"There's 'Stealthy Steve!'--he might walk with hob-nailed high-lows upon
a gravelly road, and you would never hear his footfall," said the man,
as the door noiselessly opened and shut, a soft-footed, low-voiced,
subtle-looking mulatto entered the kitchen, and gave good evening to its
occupants.
"Ha! I'm devilish glad you've come, Steve, for hang me if I'm not tired
to death trying to talk to this crone, who, to the charms of old age and
ugliness, adds that of dumbness. Seen the cap'n?"
"No, he's gone out to hear the people talk, and find out what they think
of him."
Hal burst into a loud and scornful laugh, saying: "I should think it
would not require much seeking to discover that!"
Here the old woman came forward, and, by signs, managed to inquire
whether he had brought her "the tea."
Steve drew a packet from his pocket, saying, softly:
"Yes, mother, when I was in Spicer's store I saw this lying with other
things on the counter, and, remembering you, quietly put it into my
pocket."
The old crone's eyes danced. She seized the packet, patted the excellent
thief on the shoulder, wagged her head deridingly at the delinquent one,
and hobbled off to prepare her favorite beverage.
While she was thus occupied the whistle was once more heard at the door,
followed by the entrance of a man decidedly the most repulsive looking
of the whole party--a man one having a full pocket would scarcely like
to meet on a lonely road in a dark night. In form he was of Dutch
proportions, short but stout, with a large, round head covered with
stiff, sandy hair; broad, flat face; coarse features, pale, half-closed
eyes, and an expression of countenance strangely made up of elements as
opposite as they were forbidding--a mixture of stupidity and subtlety,
cowardice and ferocity, caution and cruelty. His name in the gang was
Demon Dick, a sobriquet of which he was eminently deserving and
characteristically proud.
He came in sulkily, neither saluting the company nor returning their
salutations. He pulled a chair to the fire, threw himself into it, and
ordered the old woman to draw him a mug of ale.
"Dick's in a bad humor to-night," murmured Steve, softly.
"When was he ever in a good one?" roughly broke forth Hal.
"H-sh!" said Steve, glancing at Dick, who, with a hideous expression,
was listening to the conversation.
"There's the cap'n!" exclaimed Hal, as a ringing footstep sounded
outside, followed by the abrupt opening of the door and entrance of the
leader.
Setting down a large basket, and throwing off a broad-brimmed Quaker hat
and broad-skirted overcoat, Black Donald stood roaring with laughter.
Black Donald, from his great stature, might have been a giant walked out
of the age of fable into the middle of the nineteenth century. From his
stature alone, he might have been chosen leader of this band of
desperadoes. He stood six feet eight inches in his boots, and was stout
and muscular in proportion. He had a well-formed, stately head, fine
aquiline features, dark complexion, strong, steady, dark eyes, and an
abundance of long curling black hair and beard that would have driven to
despair a Broadway beau, broken the heart of a Washington belle, or made
his own fortune in any city of America as a French count or a German
baron! He had decidedly "the air noble and distinguished."
While he threw his broad brim in one direction and his broad coat in
another, and gave way to peals of laughter, Headlong Hal said:
"Cap'n, I don't know what you think of it, but I think it just as
churlish to laugh alone as to get drunk in solitude."
"Oh, you shall laugh! You shall all laugh! Wait until I tell you! But
first, answer me: Does not my broad-skirted gray coat and broad-brimmed
gray hat make me look about twelve inches shorter and broader?"
"That's so, cap'n!"
"And when I bury my black beard and chin deep down in this drab
neck-cloth, and pull the broad brim low over my black hair and eyes, I
look as mild and respectable as William Penn?"
"Yea, verily, friend Donald," said Hal.
"Well, in this meek guise I went peddling to-day!"
"Aye, cap'n, we knew it; and you'll go once too often!"
"I have gone just once too often!"
"I knew it!"
"We said so!"
"D----n!" were some of the ejaculations as the members of the band
sprang to their feet and handled secret arms.
"Pshaw! put up your knives and pistols! There is no danger. I was not
traced--our rendezvous is still a secret for which the government would
pay a thousand dollars!"
"How, then, do you say that you went once too often, cap'n?"
"It was inaccurate! I should have said that I had gone for the last
time, for that it would not be safe to venture again. Come--I must tell
you the whole story! But in the mean time let us have supper. Mother
Raven, dish the beef! Dick, draw the ale! Hal, cut the bread! Steve,
carve! Bestir yourselves, burn you, or you shall have no story!"
exclaimed the captain, flinging himself into a chair at the head of the
table.
When his orders had been obeyed, and the men were gathered around the
table, and the first draught of ale had been quaffed by all, Black
Donald asked:
"Where do you think I went peddling to-day?"
"Devil knows," said Hal.
"That's a secret between the Demon and Black Donald" said Dick.
"Hush! he's about to tell us," murmured Steve.
"Wooden heads! you'd never guess! I went--I went to--do you give it up?
I went right straight into the lion's jaws--not only into the very
clutches, but into the very teeth, and down the very throat of the lion,
and have come out as safe as Jonah from the whale's belly! In a word, I
have been up to the county seat where the court is now in session, and
sold cigar cases, snuff boxes and smoking caps to the grand and petit
jury, and a pair of gold spectacles to the learned judge himself!"
"No!"
"No!!"
"No!!!" exclaimed Hal, Steve and Dick in a breath.
"Yes! and, moreover, I offered a pair of patent steel spring handcuffs
to the sheriff, John Keepe, in person, and pressed him to purchase them,
assuring him that he would have occasion for their use if ever he caught
that grand rascal, Black Donald!"
"'Ah, the atrocious villain, if I thought I should ever have the
satisfaction of springing them upon his wrists, I'd buy them at my own
proper cost!' said the sheriff, taking them in his hands and examining
them curiously.
"'Ah! he's a man of Belial, that same Black Donald--thee'd better buy
the handcuffs, John,' said I.
"'Nay, friend, I don't know; and as for Black Donald, we have some hopes
of taking the wretch at last!' said the simple gentleman.
"'Ah, verily, John, that's a good hearing for peaceful travelers like
myself,' said I.
"'Excellent! excellent! For when that fell marauder once swings from the
gallows----'
"'His neck will be broken, John?'
"'Yes, friend! yes, probably; after which honest men may travel in
safety! Ah, never have I adjusted a hempen cravat about the throat of
any aspirant for such an honor with less pain than I shall officiate at
the last toilet of Black Donald!'
"'If thee catch him!'
"'Exactly, friend, if I catch him; but the additional reward offered by
Major Warfield, together with the report that he often frequents our
towns and villages in disguise, will stimulate people to renewed efforts
to discover and capture him,' said the sheriff.
"'Ah! that will be a great day for Alleghany. And when Black Donald is
hanged, I shall make an effort to be present at the solemnity myself!'
"'Do, friend,' said the sheriff, 'and I will see to getting you a good
place for witnessing the proceedings.'
"'I have no doubt thee will, John--a very good place! And I assure thee
that there will not be one present more interested in those proceedings
than myself,' said I.
"'Of course, that is very natural, for there is no one more in danger
from these marauders than men of your itinerant calling. Good heavens!
It was but three years ago a peddler was robbed and murdered in the
woods around the Hidden House.'
"'Just so, John,' said I; 'and it's my opinion that often when I've been
traveling along the road at night Black Donald hasn't been far off! But
tell me, John, so that I may have a chance of earning that thousand
dollars--what disguises does this son of Moloch take?'
"'Why, friend, it is said that he appears as a Methodist missionary,
going about selling tracts; and sometimes as a knife grinder, and
sometimes simulates your calling, as a peddler!' said the unsuspicious
sheriff.
"I thought, however, it was time to be off, so I said 'Thee had better
let me sell thee those handcuffs, John. Allow me! I will show thee their
beautiful machinery! Hold out thy wrists, if thee pleases, John.'
"The unsuspicious officer, with a face brimful of interest, held out his
wrists for experiment.
"I snapped the ornaments on them in a little less than no time, and took
up my pack and disappeared before the sheriff had collected his
faculties and found out his position!"
"Ha, ha, ha! Haw, haw, haw! Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the outlaws, in every
key of laughter. "And so our captain, instead of being pinioned by the
sheriff, turned the tables and actually manacled his honor! Hip, hip,
hurrah! Three times three for the merry captain, that manacled the
sheriff!"
"Hush, burn ye! There's some one coming!" exclaimed the captain, rising
and listening. "It is Le Noir, who was to meet me here to-night on
important business!"