Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset was seen:
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved and forever grew still.
* * * * *
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
And the might of the Gentile unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
Christmas had come and gone, and the snow was lying deep on the ground.
They had seen nothing of Louisita since the day Cora was lost.
"I wonder," said Mrs. Carleton, "how that poor woman, Louisita, exists?
for I think from what I saw the day we went to her, that she is all
alone, and if you recollect, she said something to that effect. I fear
she suffers in this cold weather. You saw, of course, that it was no
kind of a house that she came out of."
"Yes," replied Miss Vyvyan, "it appeared to be only a mound of earth."
"I want to take her some food," continued Mrs. Carleton. "Do you think
we can get there through the snow?"
"I can carry Cora," replied Miss Vyvyan, "if you can take the food."
Mrs. Carleton filled a box with both food and fruit, and the ladies,
with little Cora, went forth to visit Louisita.
She met them in the same manner as before, not allowing them to come
very near to the opening, and brandishing the old sword.
"If that child were one of the accursed sex," she said, with a malicious
look, "I would sever its head from its body."
The child could not, of course, understand her language, but she read
the look, and clasping her arms closely around Anna's neck, she buried
her face on her shoulder.
"Will you accept of this?" said Mrs. Carleton, speaking very gently, and
at the same time lifting the lid of the box.
Louisita sprang at the contents as a famished tigress might have sprung
upon some long-sought prey. Jerking the box out of Mrs. Carleton's
hands, she put it on the ground, and again raised her sword. "Hence,"
she cried, "all of you; no one enters here. Ha, what do I see; stop,
stop," she screamed. "Donna Inez, my lady, Donna Inez. Where did you get
that ring," she continued, pointing to Mrs. Carleton's finger, on which
she wore the ring that Cora had found. "That is the ring Donna Inez wore
the night they murdered her. Yes, the accursed sex murdered her, the
night they drank out of the skulls till they were all mad, mad, and the
great tower fell upon them; ha, ha, ha. Who will drink out of their
skulls when they find them? More of the accursed sex, they who make laws
to command women, and who cannot command themselves. Away with you. I
tell you to go, you are intruders."
"I fear your dress is not warm enough," said Mrs. Carleton. "You must
suffer from the cold."
"Suffer," shrieked Louisita, "I have known nothing else than suffering
for twenty winters and summers, and they the accursed sex caused it all
by their passion for the fiery cup; it soddened their brains; it
poisoned every good feeling in their hearts. It buried my husband under
the ruins of the tower; it bereft me of my home; it caused my two babes
to die of cold and hunger in this tomb."
"Poor Louisita," said Mrs. Carleton, "if you will come back with us to
the castle I will find some warm dresses and other comforts for you."
"Never," she replied; "it is haunted. I have not been into it since I
came away with my babes the morning after the tower fell."
"Why do you think it is haunted?" asked Mrs. Carleton.
"I know it is because I hear them shrieking in the night, and I hear
Donna Inez calling, 'Open the gate'."
"I will not ask you to come inside, Louisita, but if you will only come
up the outside steps to the door I will get you anything you wish for."
"I want food; I want warm clothes; I want something to cover my bed."
"You shall have it," said Mrs. Carleton. "I feel very sorry for you; I
wish to make you happy."
"Ha! ha! happy," she repeated. Then looking toward Miss Vyvyan she
continued, "Make her take that child out of my sight. She brings it here
to mock me. I will run my sword through her heart if ever she brings
that child here again."
"She does not bring my child here to mock you, Louisita. She is my
friend, and loves my child, and we could not leave it alone. My friend
always goes where I go, for fear anything might befall me. She cannot
speak Spanish or she would explain all to you."
"Go away with you," said Louisita; "go get the things for me. I will
come for them when I am ready, but I will not put my foot over the door
sill."
"All things considered, Ada," said Miss Vyvyan, "I think it is well that
Louisita is afraid to go into the castle, for she appears to be of a
spiteful nature, and might try to do Cora some harm, but we will never
again let the child be out of sight."
Mrs. Carleton prepared for Louisita's arrival by placing a number of
things of all kinds in the hall near to the entrance which the ladies
used. In a little while she came, still in the same short red gown and
cavalry boots, bearing the old sword in her hand.
"Where are my things?" she demanded of Mrs. Carleton, speaking in the
same defiant tone as usual. "Bring them here to the door. I told you I
would not enter. That belonged to Donna Inez," she said, taking up a
dress, "and that was Don Alphonzo's," seizing hold of the red velvet
cloak which the ladies had found in the library.
"Wrap the cloak about your shoulders, Louisita," said Mrs. Carleton; "it
will keep you warm."
"I will not," she answered, fiercely; "it belonged to one of the
accursed sex; he died through drinking of the fiery cup; he caused the
death of many through the same thing."
"Perhaps you will wear this, Louisita," said Mrs. Carleton, offering her
one of the best and warmest table covers that she and Miss Vyvyan had
brought from the wreck.
"Yes," said she, "I will; give me another for my bed."
"Let me go, Ada," said Miss Vyvyan, who had hitherto been standing far
back in the hall with Cora. "I know where we put one that will please
her, for I see that she likes red," and taking Cora up in her arms she
disappeared.
"Why does she take that child everywhere," asked Louisita.
"I told you just now," replied Mrs. Carleton, "that my friend loves my
child, and they are always happy together."
"Does she think she is happy?" said Louisita, "what a fool she must be;
she is not happy, you are not happy, I am not happy. Oh, the fool, she
has not sense enough to know that she is not happy."
Just at this junction Miss Vyvyan returned with Cora on one arm, and
the other one loaded with warm, bright-colored articles, such as she
felt sure Louisita would like. As she approached the door, where the
woman stood, and passed the things to Mrs. Carleton, the child again
clung tightly as before to Anna, who hastily went back to the end of the
hall.
"Tell the fool to go away out of my sight with that child," said
Louisita, "and I will tell you about this place. I will not tell her
because she mocks me by bringing the child to remind me of my dead
babes--my babes who were famished to death."
Miss Vyvyan went to the green parlor with little Cora, and Louisita
began her narrative.
"I was born in Spain. When I was a young woman, Donna Inez was married
to Don Alphonzo in Madrid. She engaged me for her waiting woman. I was
married directly after to one of Don Alphonzo's sailors. We came to this
island in one of the Don's ships. The castle was most gorgeously
furnished with the spoils of almost every country in the world. I
thought Don Alphonzo was a great noble, so did my husband, for he was so
called in Spain, but soon my husband told me that the Don and all his
men were buccaneers. Donna Inez did not know the truth until after we
came here. We tried to get away, but that was impossible. The Don
brought the richest dresses and jewels to make the Donna like her home,
but he could not succeed. Many wrecks I have seen in just the same place
you were wrecked in; Don Alphonzo and his crew burned false signals at
night, they hoisted false colors by day, they drew the unfortunate ships
to their doom; the Don had a hundred men in this castle, ready to obey
his commands at any moment. They had uniforms and flags of many nations,
which they used as disguises and decoys. They robbed the vessels which
fell into their hands, they killed some of their crews, some they sold
into slavery, and others who refused to commit murder, they chained to
great stones down in the middle dungeon. That was called the 'dungeon of
death,' for they kept the men there until they died of starvation, and
when they died, they threw their bodies into the well. My husband, Juan,
was put into that dungeon, because he would not kill a Spanish boy who
was taken prisoner, but Donna Inez made the Don release him, for we
thought Juan would help us to get away. The Donna had promised to give
him half of her jewels, if he would find some way to get us back to
Spain, but he made himself powerless, he soddened his brain, he murdered
his manly feelings; he was once good and brave and I loved him with all
the intensity and devotion of a true woman, but he learned to value
strong drink more than my affection, he killed my love, he drowned it in
the fiery cup, and I grew to despise and loath him. Don Alphonzo was
worse than Juan, for he had so much learning and so much power and he
turned it all to a bad use. He blasted other lives by his own evil
example. Out of his wickedness grew the curse which fell upon me, but
he has met with retribution."
"Poor Louisita," said Mrs. Carleton, speaking very gently, "What can I
do for you?"
"Nothing," she replied. "Let me tell you the rest. One night the Don and
his crew came back with the greatest prize they ever seized. The men
were summoned to unload the ship. They made immense fires from the
castle to the beach, and by their glare they robbed the merchants of
their valuable cargo. It was near midnight before their rapacity was
satisfied. Don Alphonzo ordered the vessel to remain where she laid
until daybreak, when he intended to set her adrift, with all her crew on
board, that he might see them dashed on to those rocks which you see
down yonder. The Don then commanded a feast to be set in the banqueting
hall, in the base of the north tower. He ordered every man in the castle
to attend the revel, that they might rejoice over their great prize.
They all went; the wine flowed like water; they went down to the
banqueting hall by a secret stairway; they passed along a stone passage,
which was closed by an iron gate. The banqueting hall had no windows;
they always held their revels there, that they might not be surprised by
any enemy, for no light could be seen outside, and no one could tell
that they were carousing. I listened on the secret stairs until their
loud shouting had ceased, and I knew that the strong drink had soddened
their brains, and paralyzed their arms. I ran to Donna Inez; I dressed
her in the richest brocade; I covered her neck and arms with jewels of
fabulous worth, for I knew the effect of costly attire upon the accursed
sex whose help we needed. I made ready some caskets of jewels to take
with us. I told the Donna all that I had heard of the ship lying there
till morning, and we resolved to let the captain know that the Don and
all his men were powerless, and to offer him the Donna's jewels if he
would take us away. We knew he would be glad to escape; we knew he would
be glad of the jewels, for they would make him very rich. We were ready
to leave the castle. My babes were very young; they were asleep in a
large basket; I could easily carry them to the beach. We heard a sound
like a moan; it seemed far off, then a distant rumble, but nearer than
the first sound; next a terrific roar; another and a fearful crash,
crash. For a moment the whole castle trembled; a flash of light lit up
the place; the north tower was wrecked from top to bottom; the walls
fell inward; they fell as you see them lying now, for no hand has
touched them since. We knew an earthquake had occurred. My babes awoke
and screamed; I tried to quiet them, and to hold Donna Inez back, but
she tore herself away; she was panic stricken; she did not know what she
did; she said something to me as she ran out of her room about seeking
protection; she rushed down the stairs in the direction of the
banqueting hall; she never came up them again. As soon as I had hushed
my babes I followed her. She was inside the iron gate; it had closed
upon her as she passed through. It could only be opened by those who
understood the secret spring. There was no one who could come to show us
how to open it. We could not break the gate; that was impossible. We saw
that the further end of the castle was stopped, all filled up with
immense blocks of stone which had crashed in when the tower fell. Don
Alphonzo and more than a hundred men lay under the ruins; they shrieked
and groaned there all through the night. Donna Inez became frantic. She
dashed herself against the iron bars like some newly caged bird. In the
morning when the sun came up from the sea she was dead. I looked for the
ship; it had sailed. I had almost lost the power of moving, but the
cries of my babes called me back to activity. I gathered some covering
and some other things and took them to the Vikings' tomb. I tore away
the earth to make an entrance. We lived there till cold and hunger
killed my babes. I have lived there ever since. Nothing could induce me
ever to enter the castle again."
"Why do you call it the Vikings' tomb, Louisita?" asked Mrs. Carleton.
"That was what Don Alphonzo called it. I think he knew for he was a man
of much learning, although he had no sense. He said the Vikings built
the castle very long ago, and lived here for two hundred years till a
great pestilence prevailed among them, and so many died of it that the
remaining ones deserted the place. He said the Indians cast a spell over
the Vikings and bewitched them, because the Indians used to live here
in wigwams before the Vikings came and drove them away from their own
land, and would not allow them to bury their dead among their
forefathers, for they have a burial place on this island. It is down
there just below the swamp where I saw you gathering flowers one day
soon after you came here. There is a large elm tree down there, the only
one near. The Indians are buried there all round it. They always had an
elm tree in that place. They have a secret charm by which they keep it
there. The Vikings cut down their elm many times, but it sprung up again
in the night, and was as tall and large as ever the next day. When we
came here Don Alphonzo had their tree cut down every day, but it always
came up again just the same. At last he was afraid the Indian spirits
would cast a spell over him, too, so he let their elm alone. The Indians
still bury their dead under it, but no one ever sees them arrive. They
come in the night. An elm will always grow there till the two thousand
years for which they have their charm has expired. After that time there
will never be another."