THE RED BAND AT DRILL
When I think back upon the mysterious occurrences of the night which
followed my introduction into the household of Lady Marmaduke, I hardly
know how to tell them. It was not till long afterward that I knew
exactly what I had done that night. I was like a man gone half asleep.
Surely I ought to bear no blame for my lack of reason. For the last ten
years, with the exception of those short weeks in Captain Donaldson’s
ship, I had been searching endlessly for my sister. During that long
period there had been moments of despondency; at times my search was
quite neglected; yet never for an instant had I given up all hope. Now
everything was at an end. My life seemed snapped in two. Had such a blow
come ten years before I might have cursed God in my folly. I might have
plunged recklessly into the first danger that awaited me. But years of
restrained impulse had greatly changed my character. I had passed the
rash age of youth, and now I almost sank beneath the burden that seemed
greater than I could bear.
[Illustration:
“SOON I CAME UPON A WOMAN KNEELING
IN THE GRASS.”—_p. 103_
]
In this state of mind my little room in the gable of Marmaduke Hall was
too confining. It seemed as if I could not get my breath, and it made my
head reel to look down from the high window. I could see the swaying
trees upon the hills beyond the city, and they seemed to beckon me to
come to their solitary shade for comfort, and I went. I can recollect
very little of what followed. I remember that I paused once by the city
gate to look back at the house which I had left. A picture came into my
eye of the relentless woman who had told me news that was bitter as
wormwood; yet she was kind and considerate withal. I turned away and set
my face towards the sighing woodland.
I threw myself down on my back beneath an oak tree. There was a small
patch of blue sky visible, and now and then a bird swam lazily across
it. Did I fall asleep and dream, or did I rise and walk about
unconsciously? I do not know much of what I did; but soon I was walking.
I was not aware of the exact moment when I began to move, nor how long I
had been winding my way in and out among the trees when the sound of
sobbing grew upon my ears. It startled me and I began to look around and
to follow the sound without knowing just where I went, in that vague way
one is so used to in dreams. Soon I came upon a woman kneeling in the
grass. She was very beautiful and my heart went out to her for she was
weeping bitterly and seemed in great distress. My appearance must have
scared her for she hastily covered something upon the ground and then
sprang up in great alarm. She was dressed in a white robe that floated
about her like an angel. For just a moment she let me see her sweet
tear-stained face; then she was gone. Her dark hair and sorrowful
expression made such a lifelike impression upon me that I almost thought
it could not be a dream. Yet in a moment she had vanished like a breeze.
Near the spot where she had stood the grass curved upward over a small
mound. I drew near to examine what from its appearance I thought should
be a grave.
When I first came upon the woman she made a hasty move to cover
something upon the ground. At the head of the grave I spied a loose sod
which I lifted. Beneath it was a flat stone inscribed with the one word
“Ruth.” I fell on my knees and wept. Surely God had sent me a vision! I
lay full length on the grave, kissing the cold stone and plucking blades
of grass to strew upon it in place of flowers. How I thanked God for
this dream! He had led me into green pastures. Thy rod and Thy staff, O
God, they comfort me!
Suddenly the visitant reappeared.
“Sir,” she said. “You are in sore trouble.”
I pointed to the grave. “She was my sister.”
She was startled by this and eyed me with a doubtful anxious look. I
cannot recall what she said to me, but after a while she opened the
bosom of her robe, whence she drew forth a small ivory miniature
enclosed in a gold rim.
“See; your sister wore it before she died.”
I looked. It contained the counterfeit of my own face, like one I had
given Ruth upon the ocean. God is merciful, but His mercies are quick to
come and go. The vision disappeared; yet its blessed presence had made
me feel that I had stood close in Ruth’s heart to the very end of her
life even as she had stood in mine.
There follows a blank space in my memory during which I can remember
nothing. The trees at last seemed to force themselves into my
consciousness again. They tramped by me in an endless procession. I grew
cold and began to shiver. A sharp pricking attacked my legs. I looked
down to discover the cause of this sensation and saw that I was standing
in water up to my knees. Like a flash it all came over me; I had been
walking in my sleep.
I waded back to the shore and sat down to think. The place was all new
to me, I had not the least idea where I was. A narrow rim of gravely
beach encircled the little lake into which I had stumbled; but this told
me nothing, nor could I see the least sign of a path. So, after a few
moments, I got up to walk around in the hope of discovering some beaten
path that would lead me out of the woods.
As I walked I kept dwelling upon what I had seen in my dream. It never
occurred to me that perhaps I had seen a real person. To be sure, my
memory was so vivid that I was tempted to say: “How could it be a
dream?” For all that, I never doubted that it was a supernatural
appearance. My only thought was that our Heavenly Father had sent me
this in my distress to comfort me, and to assure me that Ruth’s last
thoughts were of me, and that she still watched over me in heaven as on
earth.
As I said, when I came to myself in the water I was in full possession
of my wits though I did not recognize where I was. I had wandered into a
narrow lake whose cold water had chilled me into consciousness. I waded
back to the shore and set out along the ribbon of pebbly beach, hoping
to find a path. The trees were close together, overhanging the steep
bank. By this time I must have been abroad in the woods for some hours
for it had now become dark and the moon was up. It was not long before I
discovered an ascending footpath, very narrow, and cut in steps up the
bank. From the top of the cliff to which this path led, the ground
sloped gently through the woods towards the north. The trees became more
and more thinly scattered as I went forward. Soon I was aware of a
reddish glow in the branches ahead of me. As I drew near the light
became brighter and flickered like a fire. Sharp sounds of clanking
metal fell upon my ears and, from time to time, a quick word or two of
command in a ringing voice.
Twenty steps farther brought me to where I could see the source of the
light and sound. The woodland ended at a level, grassy plain that
extended a quarter of a mile towards a towered building, a huge pile of
shadows and dim walls. At regular intervals before it were planted
burning cressets. They were arranged in a large square on the lawn so as
to send their vagrant lights and shadows dancing over its gloomy walls.
A company of men stood motionless within the square of torches, like
troops in regular order. Suddenly another sharp word of command broke
the stillness. A sparkling flash from every man showed, what I had not
noticed before, that each man was armed with a sword. I looked close for
the commander; but not till he spoke a second time could I make out his
position on a terrace in front of the house. I started violently when my
eyes fell upon him. The leader of this band of troopers was Kilian Van
Volkenberg. I had come upon the Red Band at drill in the dark woods at
night. “The patroon and his Red Band will ruin this city yet,” the
dominie had said to me. A hundred or more of his armed men were now
before me. Surely this was a dangerous gathering! They were well-armed
and perfectly drilled like the regular soldiers of the king.
The host at Gravesoon had spoken of Van Volkenberg as the Armed Patroon.
Now I understood the meaning of the term, though I did not know till
later that he was the only patroon in New York who had organized his
retainers into a regular military band. No wonder the authorities looked
askance upon this new departure in the province, and feared a serious
clash between him and the governor. How just these fears were will soon
become apparent; but at that time I was so ignorant of affairs that I
thought this company—so suggestive of European customs—quite an ordinary
sight.
While I stood in the shadow of the trees, gazing upon this group of
soldiers, a woman came out of the house upon the platform. Though I
could not see her face at first because of the shadow where she stood,
most of her body was in the compass of the light. She was dressed in
white and, like me, watching the drilling of the Red Band. After ten
minutes had elapsed, she stepped forward and touched the patroon upon
the arm. When the light fell upon her face I was startled into a cry of
recognition that would have betrayed my presence had the troopers been
alert for signs of intrusion. She was the woman who had appeared to me
in my dream.
The patroon turned to her and made an angry gesture to depart. She
withdrew into the house immediately and I saw no more of her. When the
company of soldiers broke up for the night, they disappeared right and
left, passing around and behind the house. Van Volkenberg entered the
manor-house by the same door through which the woman had retreated. From
what I had been told about the position of the manor I was able to find
without difficulty the road that led to New York. As I walked along it
my mind was full of the mystery of the strange woman I had seen upon the
terrace, and of her I had seen in my dream. Had I really met some one,
and had I been but partly conscious of the fact? I could not tell. Of
one thing, however, I was aware. My spirit had returned to me. As Lady
Marmaduke would have said, I was a man again. I was now firm with
determination. I had been through the valley of the shadow. I had come
out with new strength ready to fight the good fight. I felt myself to be
God’s avenging minister, destined to bring punishment upon my sister’s
murderer. I knelt down in the dusty road, where I prayed to God for
power and guidance. I rose from my prayer buoyant and eager in spirit.
Still I could not get my mind away from the woman. Were they one and the
same person or had I made a mistake? The woman upon the terrace must
have been the person Captain Tew had spoken of as Miriam Van Volkenberg.
But if she was the patroon’s daughter, how came she to figure in my
dream? What trick of fate had coupled her and Ruth and me together in
this fashion? Then I recalled what Pierre had said: That the patroon’s
daughter had loved Ruth and had been treated badly on account of her
affection. That seemed to explain the fitness of it all, but it did not
reconcile the reality with the dream.
In this frame of mind I approached New York. I continued to ponder that
sweet, wistful face. Gradually, as I walked along in the dust and dark,
I became aware of a narrow pressure about my neck. I put up my hand and
touched a strange piece of ribbon. I caught at it in surprise. My
fingers closed on a small locket. I held it before me in the moonlight.
It was the ivory miniature in a gold rim; the very picture of myself
that the woman had shown me in my dream. Then I understood. I had met
Miriam Van Volkenberg in the woods. She had recognized me from the
picture in the locket and had given me this keepsake from my sister.