THE SMUGGLER AND CAPITOLA.
Come buy of me! come buy! come buy!
Buy, lads, or else the lassies cry;
I have lawns as white as snow;
Silk as black as e'er was crow;
Gloves as sweet as damask roses;
Veils for faces; musk for noses;
Pins and needles made of steel;
All you need from head to heel.
--Shakespeare.
"If I am not allowed to walk or ride out alone, I shall 'gang daft!' I
know I shall! Was ever such a dull, lonesome, humdrum place as this same
Hurricane Hall?" complained Cap, as she sat sewing with Mrs. Condiment
in the housekeeper's room.
"You don't like this quiet country life?" inquired Mrs. Condiment.
"No! no better than I do a quiet country graveyard! I don't want to
return to dust before my time, I tell you!" said Cap, yawning dismally
over her work.
"I hear you, vixen!" roared the voice of Old Hurricane, who presently
came storming in and saying:
"If you want a ride go and get ready quickly, and come with me, I am
going down to the water mill, please the Lord, to warn Hopkins off the
premises, worthless villain! Had my grain there since yesterday morning
and hasn't sent it home yet! Shan't stay in my mill another month! Come,
Cap, be off with you and get ready!"
The girl did not need a second bidding but flew to prepare herself,
while the old man ordered the horses.
In ten minutes more Capitola and Major Warfield cantered away.
They had been gone about two hours, and it was almost time to expect
their return, and Mrs. Condiment had just given orders for the tea table
to be set, when Wool came into her room and said there was a sailor at
the hall door with some beautiful foreign goods which he wished to show
to the ladies of the house.
"A sailor, Wool--a sailor with foreign goods for sale? I am very much
afraid he's one of these smugglers I've heard tell of, and I'm not sure
about the right of buying from smugglers! However, I suppose there's no
harm in looking at his goods. You may call him in, Wool," said the old
lady, tampering with temptation.
"He do look like a smudgeler, dat's a fact," said Wool whose ideas of
the said craft were purely imaginary.
"I don't know him to be a smuggler, and it's wrong to judge,
particularly beforehand," said the old lady, nursing ideas of rich silks
and satins, imported free of duty and sold at half price, and trying to
deceive herself.
While she was thus thinking the door opened and Wool ushered in a stout,
jolly-looking tar, dressed in a white pea-jacket, duck trousers and
tarpaulin hat, and carrying in his hand a large pack. He took off his
hat and scraped his foot behind him, and remained standing before the
housekeeper with his head tied up in a red bandana handkerchief and his
chin sunken in a red comforter that was wound around his throat.
"Sit down, my good man, and rest while you show me the goods," said Mrs.
Condiment, who, whether he were smuggler or not, was inclined to show
the traveler all lawful kindness.
The sailor scraped his foot again, sat down on a low chair, put his hat
on one side, drew the pack before him, untied it and first displayed a
rich golden-hued fabric, saying:
"Now here, ma'am, is a rich China silk I bought in the streets of
Shanghai, where the long-legged chickens come from. Come, now, I'll ship
it off cheap----"
"Oh, that is a great deal too gay and handsome for an old woman like
me," said Mrs. Condiment.
"Well, ma'am, perhaps there's young ladies in the fleet? Now, this would
rig out a smart young craft as gay as a clipper! Better take it, ma'am.
I'll ship it off cheap!"
"Wool!" said Mrs. Condiment, turning to the servant, "go down to the
kitchen and call up the house servants--perhaps they would like to buy
something."
As soon as Wool had gone and the good woman was left alone with the
sailor, she stooped and said:
"I did not wish to inquire before the servant man, but, my good sir, I
do not know whether it is right to buy from you!"
"Why so, ma'am?" asked the sailor, with an injured look.
"Why, I am afraid--I am very much afraid you risk your life and liberty
in an unlawful trade!"
"Oh, ma'am, on my soul, these things are honestly come by, and you have
no right to accuse me!" said the sailor, with a look of subdued
indignation.
"I know I haven't, and I meant no harm, but did these goods pass through
the custom house?"
"Oh, ma'am, now, that's not a fair question!"
"It is as I suspected! I cannot buy from you, my good friend. I do not
judge you--I don't know whether smuggling is right or wrong, but I know
that it is unlawful, and I cannot feel free to encourage any man in a
traffic in which he risks his life and liberty, poor fellow!"
"Oh, ma'am," said the sailor, evidently on the brink of bursting into
laughter, "if we risk our lives, sure, it's our own business, and if
you've no scruples on your own account, you needn't have any on ours!"
While he was speaking the sound of many shuffling feet was heard along
the passage, and the room was soon half filled with colored people come
in to deal with the sailor.
"You may look at these goods, but you must not buy anything."
"Lor' missus, why?" asked little Pitapat.
"Because I want you to lay out all your money with my friend Mr. Crash
at Tip-Top."
"But after de good gemman has had de trouble?" said Pitapat.
"He shall have his supper and a mug of ale and go on his journey," said
Mrs. Condiment.
The sailor arose and scraped his foot behind him in acknowledgment of
this kindness and began to unpack his wares and display them all over
the floor.
And while the servants in wonder and delight examined these treasures
and inquired their prices, a fresh young voice was heard carolling along
the hall, and the next moment Capitola, in her green riding habit and
hat entered the room.
She turned her mischievous gray eyes about, pursed up her lips and asked
Mrs. Condiment if she were about to open a fancy bazaar.
"No, my dear Miss Capitola! It is a sailor with foreign goods for sale,"
answered the old lady.
"A sailor with foreign goods for sale! Umph! yes, I know. Isn't he a
smuggler?" whispered Capitola.
"Indeed. I'm afraid so, my dear--in fact, he don't deny it!" whispered
back the matron.
"Well, I think it's strange a man that smuggles can't lie!"
"Well, I don't know, my dear--may be he thinks it's no harm to smuggle,
and he knows it would be a sin to lie. But where is your uncle, Miss
Capitola?"
"Gone around to the stable to blow Jem up for mounting on a lame horse.
He swears Jem shall find another master before to-morrow's sun sets. But
now I want to talk to that bold buccaneer. Say, you sir, show me your
foreign goods--I'm very fond of smugglers myself!"
"You are right, my dear young lady! You would give poor sailors some
little chance to turn an honest penny!"
"Certainly! Brave fellows! Show me that splendid fabric that shines like
cloth of gold."
"This, my young lady, this is a real, genuine China silk. I bought it
myself in my last cruise in the streets of Shanghai, where the
long-legged chickens----"
"And fast young men come from! I know the place! I've been along there!"
interrupted Capitola, her gray eyes glittering with mischief.
"This you will perceive, young lady, is an article that cannot be
purchased anywhere except----"
"From the manufactory of foreign goods in the city of New York, or from
their traveling agents!"
"Oh, my dear young lady, how you wrong me! This article came from----"
"The factory of Messrs. Hocus & Pocus, corner of Can't and Come-it
Street, City of Gotham!"
"Oh, my dear young lady----"
"Look here, my brave buccaneer, I know all about it! I told you I'd been
along there!" said the girl, and, turning to Mrs. Condiment, she said.
"See here, my dear, good soul, if you want to buy that 'India' silk that
you are looking at so longingly, you may do it with a safe conscience!
True, it never passed through the custom house--because it was made in
New York. I know all about it! All these 'foreign goods' are
manufactured at the north and sent by agents all over the country. These
agents dress and talk like sailors and assume a mysterious manner on
purpose to be suspected of smuggling, because they know well enough fine
ladies will buy much quicker and pay much more if they only fancy they
are cheating Uncle Sam in buying foreign goods from a smuggler at half
price."
"So, then, you are not a smuggler, after all!" said Mrs. Condiment,
looking almost regretfully at the sailor.
"Why, ma'am, you know I told you you were accusing me wrongfully."
"Well, but really, now, there was something about you that looked sort
of suspicious."
"What did I tell you? A look put on on purpose," said Cap.
"Well, he knows that if he wanted to pass for a smuggler, it didn't take
here," said Mrs. Condiment.
"No, that it didn't!" muttered the object of these commentaries.
"Well, my good man, since you are, after all, an honest peddler, just
hand me that silk and don't ask me an unreasonable price for it, because
I'm a judge of silks and I won't pay more than it is worth," said the
old lady.
"Madam, I leave it to your own conscience! You shall give me just what
you think it's worth."
"Humph! that's too fair by half! I begin to think this fellow is worse
than he seems!" said Capitola to herself.
After a little hesitation a price was agreed upon and the dress bought.
Then the servants received permission to invest their little change in
ribbons, handkerchiefs, tobacco, snuff, or whatever they thought they
needed. When the purchases were all made and the peddler had done up his
diminished pack and replaced his hat upon his head and was preparing to
leave, Mrs. Condiment said:
"My good man, it is getting very late, and we do not like to see a
traveler leave our house at this hour--pray remain until morning, and
then, after an early breakfast, you can pursue your way in safety."
"Thank you kindly, ma'am, but I must be far on my road to-night," said
the peddler.
"But, my good man, you are a stranger in this part of the country and
don't know the danger you run," said the housekeeper.
"Danger, ma'am, in this quiet country?"
"Oh, dear, yes, my good man, particularly with your valuable pack--oh,
my good gracious!" cried the old lady, with an appalled look.
"Indeed, ma'am, you--you make me sort of uneasy! What danger can there
be for a poor, peaceful peddler pursuing his path?"
"Oh, my good soul, may heaven keep you from--Black Donald!"
"Black Donald--who's he?"
"Oh, my good man, he's the awfullest villain that ever went unhung!"
"Black Donald? Black Donald? Never heard that name before in my life?
Why is the fellow called Black Donald?"
"Oh, sir, he's called Black Donald for his black soul, black deeds
and--and--also, I believe, for his jet black hair and beard."
"'Oh, my countrymen, what a falling up was there,'" exclaimed Capitola
at this anti-climax.
"And how shall I keep from meeting this villain?" asked the peddler.
"Oh, sir, how can I tell you? You never can form an idea where he is or
where he isn't! Only think, he may be in our midst any time, and we not
know it! Why, only yesterday the desperate villain handcuffed the very
sheriff in the very courtyard! Yet I wonder the sheriff did not know him
at once! For my own part, I'm sure I should know Black Donald the minute
I clapped my two looking eyes on him!"
"Should you, ma'am?"
"Yes, indeed, by his long, black hair and beard! They say it is half a
yard long--now a man of such a singular appearance as that must be
easily recognized!"
"Of course! Then you never met this wretch face to face?"
"He? Me? Am I standing here alive? Do you suppose I should be standing
here if ever I had met that demon? Why, man, I never leave this house,
even in the day time, except with two bull dogs and a servant, for fear
I should meet Black Donald! I know if ever I should meet that demon, I
should drop dead with terror! I feel I should!"
"But maybe, now, ma'am, the man may not be so bad, after all? Even the
devil is not so bad as he is painted."
"The devil may not be, but Black Donald is!"
"What do you think of this outlaw, young lady?" asked the peddler,
turning to Capitola.
"Why, I like him!" said Cap.
"You do!"
"Yes, I do! I like men whose very names strike terror into the hearts of
commonplace people!"
"Oh, Miss Black!" exclaimed Mrs. Condiment.
"Yes, I do, ma'am. And if Black Donald were only as honest as he is
brave I should quite adore him. So there! And if there is one person in
the world I should like to see it is Black Donald!"
"Do you really wish to see him?" asked the peddler, looking intently
into the half earnest, half satirical face of the girl.
"Yes, I do wish to see him above all things!"
"And do you know what happened the rash girl who wished to see the
devil!"
"No--what did?"
"She saw him!"
"Oh, if that's all, I dare it! And if wishing will bring me the sight of
this notorious outlaw, lo, I wish it! I wish to see Black Donald!" said
Capitola.
The peddler deliberately arose and put down his pack and his hat; then
he suddenly tore off the scarf from his neck and the handkerchief from
his head, lifted his chin and shook loose a great rolling mass of black
hair and beard, drew himself up, struck an attitude, called up a look,
and exclaimed:
"Behold Black Donald!"
With a piercing shriek, Mrs. Condiment swooned and fell to the floor;
the poor negroes, men and maids, were struck dumb and motionless with
consternation; Capitola gazed for one lost moment in admiration and
curiosity; in the meantime Black Donald quickly resumed his disguises,
took up his pack and walked out of the room.
Capitola was the first to recover her presence of mind; the instinct of
the huntress possessed her; starting forward, she exclaimed:
"Pursue him! catch him! come with me! Cowards, will you let a robber and
murderer escape?" and she ran out and overtook the outlaw in the middle
of the hall. With the agile leap of a little terrier she sprang up
behind him, seized the thick collar of his pea-jacket with both hands,
and, drawing up her feet, hung there with all her weight, crying:
"Help! murder! murder! help! Come to my aid! I've caught Black Donald!"
He could have killed her instantly in any one of a dozen ways. He could
have driven in her temples with a blow of his sledge-hammer fist; he
could have broken her neck with the grip of his iron fingers; he only
wished to shake her off without hurting her--a difficult task, for there
she hung, a dead weight, at the collar of his coat at the back of his
neck.
"Oh, very well!" he cried, laughing aloud! "Such adhesiveness I never
saw! You stick to me like a wife to her husband. So if you won't let go,
I shall have to take you along, that's all! So here I go like Christian
with his bundle of sin on his back!"
And loosing the upper button of his pea-jacket so as to give him more
breath, and, putting down his peddler's pack to relieve himself as much
as possible, the outlaw strode through the hall door, down the steps,
and down the evergreen avenue leading to the woods.
Capitola still clinging to the back of his coat-collar, with feet drawn
up, a dead weight, and still crying:
"Help! Murder! I've caught Black Donald, and I'll die before I'll let
him go!"
"You're determined to be an outlaw's bride, that's certain! Well, I've
no particular objection!" cried Black Donald, roaring with laughter as
he strode on.
It was a "thing to see, not hear"--that brave, rash, resolute imp
clinging like a terrier, or a crab, or a briar, on to the back of that
gigantic ruffian, whom, if she had no strength to stop, she was
determined not to release.
They had nearly reached the foot of the descent, when a great noise and
hallooing was heard behind them. It was the negroes, who, having
recovered from their panic, and armed themselves with guns, pistols,
swords, pokers, tongs and pitchforks, were now in hot pursuit!
And cries of "Black Donald! Black Donald! Black Donald!" filled the air.
"I've got him! I've got him! help! help! quick! quick!" screamed
Capitola, clinging closer than ever.
Though still roaring with laughter at the absurdity of his position,
Black Donald strode on faster than before, and was in a fair way of
escape, when lo! suddenly coming up the path in front of him, he
met--Old Hurricane!!!
As the troop of miscellaneously armed negroes running down the hill were
still making eve hideous with yells of "Black Donald!" and Capitola
still clinging and hanging on at the back of his neck, continued to cry,
"I've caught him! help! help!" something like the truth flashed in a
blinding way upon Old Hurricane's perceptions.
Roaring forth something between a recognition and a defiance, the old
man threw up his fat arms, and as fast as age and obesity would permit,
ran up the hill to intercept the outlaw.
There was no time for trifling now! The army of negroes was at his
heels; the old veteran in his path; the girl clinging a dead weight to
his jacket behind. An idea suddenly struck him which he wondered had not
done so before--quickly unbuttoning and throwing off his garment he
dropped both jacket and captor behind him on the ground.
And before Capitola had picked herself up, Black Donald, bending his
huge head and shoulders forward and making a battering ram of himself,
ran with all his force and butted Old Hurricane in the stomach, pitching
him into the horse pond, leaped over the park fence and disappeared in
the forest.
What a scene! what a row followed the escape and flight of the famous
outlaw!
Who could imagine, far less describe it!--a general tempest in which
every individual was a particular storm!
There stood the baffled Capitola, extricating her head from the
pea-jacket, and with her eyes fairly flashing out sparks of anger,
exclaiming, "Oh, wretches! wretches that you are! If you'd been worth
salt you could have caught him while I clung to him so!"
There wallowed Old Hurricane, spluttering, floundering, half drowning,
in the horse pond, making the most frantic efforts to curse and swear as
he struggled to get out.
There stood the crowd of negroes brought to a sudden stand by a panic of
horror at seeing the dignity of their master so outraged!
And, most frenzied of all, there ran Wool around and around the margin
of the pond, in a state of violent perplexity how to get his master out
without half drowning himself!
"Blurr-urr-rr! flitch! flitch! Blurr!-ur!" spluttered and sneezed and
strangled, Old Hurricane, as he floundered to the edge of the
pond--"Burr-urr-rr! Help me out, you scoundrel! I'll break every bone in
your--flitch! body! Do you hear me--ca-snish!--villain you! flitch!
flitch! ca-snish! oh-h!"
Wool with his eyes starting from his head and his hair standing up with
terrors of all sorts, plunged at last into the water and pulled his old
master up upon his feet.
"Ca-snish! ca-snish! blurr-rr! flitch!--what are you gaping there for as
if you'd raised the devil, you crowd of born fools!" bawled Old
Hurricane as soon as he could get the water out of his mouth and
nose--"what are you standing there for! After him! After him, I say!
Scour the woods in every direction! His freedom to any man who brings me
Black Donald, dead or alive--Wool!"
"Yes, sir," said that functionary, who was busying himself with
squeezing the water out of his master's garments.
"Wool, let me alone? Take the fleetest horse in the stable! Ride for
your life to the Court House! Tell Keepe to have new bills posted
everywhere, offering an additional five hundred dollars for the
apprehension of that--that--that"--for the want of a word strong enough
to express himself, Old Hurricane suddenly stopped, and for the lack of
his stick to make silence emphatic, he seized his gray hair with both
hands and groaned aloud!
Wool waited no second bidding, but flew to do his errand.
Capitola came to the old man's side, saying:
"Uncle, hadn't you better hurry home--you'll take cold."
"Cold? Cold! demmy! I never was so hot in my life!" cried the old man;
"but, demmy! you're right! Run to the house, Capitola, and tell Mrs.
Condiment to have me a full suit of dry clothes before the fire in my
chamber. Go, child! every man-jack is off after Black Donald, and there
is nobody but you and Condiment and the housemaids to take care of me.
Stop! look for my stick first. Where did that black demon throw it?
Demmy! I'd as well be without my legs!"
Capitola picked up the old man's cane and hat and put the one on his
head and the other in his hand, and then hastened to find Mrs. Condiment
and tell her to prepare to receive her half-drowned patron. She found
the old lady scarcely recovered from the effects of her recent fright,
but ready on the instant to make every effort in behalf of Old
Hurricane, who presently after arrived dripping wet at the house.
Leaving the old gentleman to the care of his housekeeper, we must follow
Black Donald.
Hatless and coatless, with his long black hair and beard blown by the
wind, the outlaw made tracks for his retreat--occasionally stopping to
turn and get breath, and send a shout of laughter after his baffled
pursuers.
That same night, at the usual hour, the gang met at their rendezvous,
the deserted inn, beside the old road through the forest. They were in
the midst of their orgies around the supper table, when the well-known
ringing step of the leader sounded under the back windows without, the
door was burst open, and the captain, hatless, coatless, with his dark
elf locks flying, and every sign of haste and disorder, rushed into the
room.
He was met by a general rising and outcry: "Hi! hillo! what's up?"
exclaimed every man, starting to his feet and laying hands upon secret
arms, prepared for instant resistance.
For a moment Black Donald stood with his leonine head turned and looking
back over his stalwart shoulders, as if in expectation of pursuit, and
then, with a loud laugh, turned to his men, exclaiming:
"Ho! you thought me followed! So I have been; but not as close as hound
to heel!"
"In fact, captain, you look as if you'd but escaped with your skin this
time!" said Hal.
"Faith! the captain looks well peeled!" said Stephen.
"Worse than that, boys! worse than that! Your chief has not only lost
his pack, his hat and his coat, but--his heart! Not only are the
outworks battered, but the citadel itself is taken! Not only has he been
captured, but captivated! And all by a little minx of a girl! Boys, your
chief is in love!" exclaimed Black Donald, throwing himself into his
seat at the head of the table, and quaffing off a large draught of ale.
"Hip! hip! hurraw! three times three for the captain's love!" cried Hal,
rising to propose the toast, which was honored with enthusiasm.
"Now tell us all about it, captain. Who is she? Where did you see her?
Is she fair or dark; tall or short; thin or plump; what's her name, and
is she kind?" asked Hal.
"First, guess where I have been to-day?"
"You and your demon only know!"
"I guess they also know at Hurricane Hall, for it is there I have been!"
"Well, then, why didn't you go to perdition at once?" exclaimed Hal, in
a consternation that was reflected in every countenance present.
"Why, because when I go there I intend to take you all with me and
remain!" answered Black Donald.
"Tell us about the visit to Hurricane Hall," said Hal.
Whereupon Black Donald commenced, and concealing only the motive of his
visit, gave his comrades a very graphic, spicy and highly colored
narrative of his adventure at Hurricane Hall, and particularly of his
"passages at arms" with the little witch, Capitola, whom he described
as:
"Such a girl! slender, petite, lithe, with bright, black ringlets
dancing around a little face full of fun, frolic, mischief and spirit,
and bright eyes quick and vivacious as those of a monkey, darting hither
and thither from object to object."
"The captain is in love sure enough," said Steve.
"Bravo! here's success to the captain's love!--she's a brick!" shouted
the men.
"Oh, she is!" assented their chief, with enthusiasm.
"Long life to her! three times three for the pretty witch of Hurricane
Hall!" roared the men, rising to their feet and waving their full mugs
high in the air, before pledging the toast.
"That is all very well, boys; but I want more substantial compliments
than words--boys, I must have that girl!"
"Who doubts it, captain? Of course you will take her at once if you want
her," said Hal, confidently.
"But, I must have help in taking her."
"Captain, I volunteer for one!" exclaimed Hal.
"And I, for another," added Stephen.
"And you, Dick?" inquired the leader, turning toward the sullen man,
whose greater atrocity had gained for him the name of Demon Dick.
"What is the use of volunteering when the captain has only to command,"
said this individual, sulkily.
"Ay! when the enterprise is simply the robbing of a mail coach, in which
you all have equal interest, then, indeed, your captain has only to
command, and you to obey; but this is a more delicate matter of entering
a lady's chamber and carrying her off for the captain's arms, and so
should only be entrusted to those whose feelings of devotion to the
captain's person prompt them to volunteer for the service," said Black
Donald.
"How elegantly our captain speaks! He ought to be a lawyer," said Steve.
"The captain knows I'm with him for everything," said Dick, sulkily.
"Very well, then, for a personal service like this, a delicate service
requiring devotion, I should scorn to give commands! I thank you for
your offered assistance, my friends, and shall count on you three Hal,
Stephen and Richard for the enterprise!" said the captain.
"Ay, ay, ay!" said the three men, in a breath.
"For the time and place and manner of the seizure of the girl, we must
reflect. Let us see! There is to be a fair in the village next week,
during the session of the court. Old Hurricane will be at court as
usual. And for one day, at least, his servants will have a holiday to go
to the fair. They will not get home until the next morning. The house
will be ill-guarded. We must find out the particular day and night when
this shall be so. Then you three shall watch your opportunity, enter the
house by stealth, conceal yourselves in the chamber of the girl, and at
midnight when all is quiet, gag her and bring her away."
"Excellent!" said Hal.
"And mind, no liberty, except the simple act of carrying her off, is to
be taken with your captain's prize!" said the leader, with a threatening
glare of his lion-like eye.
"Oh, no, no, not for the world! She shall be as sacred from insult as
though she were an angel and we saints!" said Hal, both the others
assenting.
"And now, not a word more. We will arrange the further details of this
business hereafter," said the captain, as a peculiar signal was given at
the door.
Waving his hand for the men to keep their places, Black Donald went out
and opened the back passage door, admitting Colonel Le Noir.
"Well!" said the latter anxiously.
"Well, sir, I have contrived to see her; come into the front room and I
will tell you all about it!" said the outlaw, leading the way into the
old parlor that had been the scene of so many of their conspiracies.
"Does Capitola Le Noir still live?" hoarsely demanded the colonel, as
the two conspirators reached the parlor.
"Still live? Yes; 'twas but yesterday we agreed upon her death! Give a
man time! Sit down, colonel! Take this seat. We will talk the matter
over again."
With something very like a sigh of relief, Colonel Le Noir threw himself
into the offered chair.
Black Donald drew another chair up and sat down beside his patron.
"Well, colonel, I have contrived to see the girl as I told you," he
began.
"But you have not done the deed! When will it be done?"
"Colonel, my patron, be patient! Within twelve days I shall claim the
last instalment of the ten thousand dollars agreed upon between us for
this job!"
"But why so long, since it is to be done, why not have it over at once?"
said Colonel Le Noir, starting up and pacing the floor impatiently.
"Patience, my colonel! The cat may play with the mouse most delightfully
before devouring it!"
"What do you mean?"
"My colonel, I have seen the girl, under circumstances that has fired my
heart with an uncontrollable desire for her."
"Ha, ha ha!" scornfully laughed the colonel. "Black Donald, the mail
robber, burglar, outlaw, the subject of the grand passion!"
"Why not, my colonel? Listen, you shall hear! And then you shall judge
whether or not you yourself might not have been fired by the
fascinations of such a witch!" said the outlaw, who straightway
commenced and gave his patron the same account of his visit to Hurricane
Hall that he had already related to his comrades.
The colonel heard the story with many a "pish," "tush" and "pshaw," and
when the man had concluded the tale he exclaimed:
"Is that all? Then we may continue our negotiations, I care not! Carry
her off! marry her! do as you please with her! only at the end of
all--kill her!" hoarsely whispered Le Noir.
"That is just what I intend, colonel!"
"That will do if the event be certain: but it must be certain! I cannot
breathe freely while my brother's heiress lives," whispered Le Noir.
"Well, colonel, be content; here is my hand upon it! In six days
Capitola will be in my power! In twelve days you shall be out of hers!"
"It is a bargain," said each of the conspirators, in a breath, as they
shook hands and parted--Le Noir to his home and Black Donald to join his
comrades' revelry.