CAT-EYE MOSE CREATES A SENSATION
For the next week or so things went rather strangely on the plantation.
I knew very well that there was an undercurrent of which I was supposed
to know nothing, and I appeared politely unconscious; but I won't say
but that I kept my eyes and ears as wide open as was possible without
appearing to spy. The chicken episode and Aunt Sukie's convulsions
turned out to be only the beginning of the ha'nt excitement; scarcely a
day passed without some fresh supernatural visitation. Radnor
pooh-poohed over the matter before the Colonel and me, but with the
negroes I know that he encouraged rather than discouraged their fears,
until there was not a man on our own or any of the neighboring
plantations who would have ventured to step foot within the laurel
walk, either at night or in the daytime--at least there was only one.
Cat-Eye Mose took the matter of the ha'nt without undue emotion, a point
which struck me as suggestive, for I knew that Mose was as superstitious
as the rest when the occasion warranted.
Once at least I saw Radnor and Mose in consultation, and though I did
not know the subject of the conference my suspicions were very near the
surface. I came upon them in the stables talking in low tones, Rad
apparently explaining, and Mose listening with the air of strained
attention which the slightest mental effort always called to his face.
At my appearance Radnor raised his voice and added one or two directions
as to how his guns were to be cleaned. It was evident that the subject
had been changed.
Everything that was missing about the place--and there seemed to be an
abnormal amount--was attributed to the ha'nt. I do not doubt but that
the servants made the ha'nt a convenient scapegoat to answer for their
own shortcomings, but still there were several suggestive
depredations--horse blankets from the stable, clothes from the line and
more edibles than roast chicken from Nancy's larder. The climax of
absurdity was reached when there disappeared a rather trashy French
novel, which I had left in the summer house. I asked Solomon about it,
thinking that one of the servants might have brought it in. Solomon
rolled his eyes and suggested that the ha'nt had cotched it. I
laughingly commented upon the occurrence at the supper table and the
next day Rad handed me the book; Mose had found it, he said, and had
brought it up to his room.
All of these minor occurrences were stretched over a period of, say ten
days after the party, and though it gave me the uncomfortable feeling
that there was something in the air which I did not understand, I did
not let it worry me unduly. Radnor seemed to be on the inside track of
whatever was going on, and he was old enough to take care of his own
affairs. I knew that he had more than once visited the laurel walk after
the house was supposed to be asleep; but I kept this knowledge to
myself, and allowed no hint to reach the Colonel.
I had, during these first few weeks, all the opportunity I wished of
studying Mose's character. Radnor was occupied a good deal of the
time--spring on a big river plantation is a busy season--and as I had
professed myself fond of shooting, the Colonel turned me over to the
care of Cat-Eye Mose. Had I myself been choosing, I should have selected
another guide. But Mose was the best hunter on the place, and as the
Colonel was quite untroubled by his vagaries, it never occurred to him
that I might not be equally confident. In time I grew used to the
fellow, but I will admit that at first I accepted his services with some
honest trepidation. As I watched him going ahead of me, crouching behind
bushes, springing from hummock to hummock, silent and alert, quivering
like an animal in search of prey, my attention was centered on him
rather than on any possible quarry.
I shall never forget running across him in the woods one afternoon when
I had gone out snipe shooting alone. Whether he had followed me or
whether we had chosen the same vicinity by chance, I do not know; but at
any rate as I came out from the underbrush on the edge of a low, swampy
place, I almost stepped on the man. He was stretched face downward on
the black, oozy soil with his arm buried in a hole at the foot of a
tree.
"Why Mose!" I cried in amazement, "what on earth are you doing here?"
He responded without raising his head.
"I's aftah a snake, sah. I see a big fat gahtah snake a-lopin' into dis
yere hole, an' he's skulkin' dar now thinkin' like he gwine to fool me.
But he cayn't do dat, sah. I's got 'im by de tail, an' I'll fotch 'im
out."
He drew forth as he spoke a huge black and yellow snake, writhing and
hissing, and proceeded to smash its head with a stone. I shut my eyes
during the operation and when I opened them again I saw to my horror
that he was stuffing the carcass in the front of his shirt.
"Good heavens, Mose!" I cried, aghast. "What are you going to do with
that?"
"Boil it into oil, sah, to scar de witches off."
Inquiry at the house that night brought out the fact that this was one
of Mose's regular occupations. Snake's oil was in general favor among
the negroes as a specific against witches, and Mose was the chief
purveyor of the lotion. Taken all in all he was about as queer a human
being as I have ever come across, and I fancy, had I been a psychologist
instead of a lawyer, I might have found him an entertaining study.
I heard about this time some fresh rumors in regard to Radnor; one--and
it came pretty straight--that he'd just lost a hundred dollars at poker.
A hundred dollars may not sound like a very big loss in these days of
bridge, but it was large for that place, and it represented to Radnor
exactly two months' pay. As overseer of the plantation, the Colonel paid
him six hundred dollars a year, a little enough sum considering the work
he did. Rad had nothing in his own right; aside from his salary he was
entirely dependent on his father, and it struck me as more than foolish
for a young man who was contemplating marriage to throw away two months'
earnings in a single game of poker. The conviction crossed my mind that
perhaps after all Polly was wise to delay.
I heard another rumor however which was graver than the poker affair; it
was only a rumor, and when traced to its source turned out to be nothing
more tangible than somebody's hazarded guess, but without the slightest
cause the same suspicion had already presented itself to me. And that
was, that the ha'nt was a very flesh and blood woman. Radnor was clearly
in some sort of trouble; he was moody and irritable, so sharp with the
farm hands that several of them left, and unusually taciturn with the
Colonel and me. To make matters worse Polly Mathers was treating him
with marked indifference, and openly bestowing her smiles upon Mattison;
what the trouble was I could only conjecture, but I feared that she too
had been hearing rumors.
The ha'nt stories had been repeated and exaggerated until they contained
no semblance of truth. By this time, not only the laurel walk was
haunted, but the spring-hole as well; and it soon became a region of
even greater fear than the deserted cabins. The "spring-hole" was a
natural cavity in the side of a hill a half mile or so back from the
house. It was out of this cavity that the underground stream flowed
which fed the pools, and furnished such valuable irrigation to the
place. All that part of Virginia is undermined with limestone caverns,
and my uncle's was by no means the only plantation that could boast the
distinction of a private cave. The entrance was half hidden among rugged
piled-up boulders dripping with moisture; and was not inviting. I
remembered chasing a rabbit into this cavern when I was a boy, and
though it would have been an easy matter to follow him, I preferred to
stay outside in the sunshine. The spring-hole, then, was haunted. This
did not strike me as strange. I rather wondered that it had not been
from the first; it was a likely place for ghosts. But the thing which
did surprise me, was the fact that it was Mose who brought the news.
We were sitting on the portico after supper one night--it was almost
dark and the glow from our cigars was the one visible point in the
scenery--when Mose came bounding across the lawn with his peculiar
loping run and fairly groveled at Radnor's feet, his teeth chattering
with fear.
"I's seen de ha'nt, Marse Rad; de sho nuff ha'nt all dressed in black
an' risin' outen de spring-hole."
"You fool!" Radnor cried. "Get on your feet and behave yourself."
"It was de debbil," Mose chattered. "His face was black an' his eyes was
fire."
"You've been drinking, Mose," Radnor said sharply. "Get off to the
quarters where you belong, and don't let me see you again until you are
sober," and he shunted the fellow out of the way before he had time to
say any more.
I myself was tolerably certain that Mose had not been drinking; that, at
least, was not in the list of his peculiar vices. He appeared to be
thoroughly frightened--if not, he was a most consummate actor. In the
light of what I already knew, I was considerably puzzled by this fresh
manifestation. The Colonel fretted and fumed up and down the veranda,
muttering something about these fool niggers all being alike. He had
bragged considerably about Mose's immunity in respect to ha'nts, and I
think he was rather dashed at his favorite's falling-off. I held my
peace, and Radnor returned in a few minutes.
"Rad," said the Colonel, "this thing's going too far. The whole place is
infested with ghosts; they'll be invading the house next and we won't
have a servant left on the place. Can't you do something to stop it?"
Radnor shrugged his shoulders and said that it was a pretty tough job to
lay a ghost when there were twenty niggers on the place, but that he
would see what he could do; and he presently drifted off again.
That same night about ten o'clock I was reading before going to bed,
when a knock sounded on the door, and Radnor appeared. He was unusually
restless and ill at ease. He referred in a jesting fashion to the ha'nt,
discussed some neighborhood gossip, and finally quite abruptly inquired:
"Arnold, can you lend me some money?"
"Yes," I said, "I think so; how much do you want?"
"A hundred dollars if you can spare it. Fact is I'm a little hard up,
and I've got a bill to meet. I have some money invested but I can't put
my hands on it just this minute. I'll pay you in a week or so as soon as
I get some cash--I wouldn't ask you, only my father is so blamed
reluctant about paying my salary ahead of time."
I wrote out a check and handed it to him.
"Rad," I said, "you're perfectly welcome to the money; I'm glad to
accommodate you, but if you'll excuse my mentioning it, I think you
ought to pull up a bit on this poker business. You don't earn so much
that if you're thinking of getting married you can afford to throw any
of it away.--I'm only speaking for your good; it's no affair of mine," I
added as I saw his face flush.
He hesitated a moment with the check in his hand; I know that he wanted
to give it back, but he was evidently too hard pressed.
"Oh, keep the money!" I said. "I don't want to pry into your private
affairs, only," I laughed, "I do want to see you win out ahead of
Mattison, and I'm afraid you're not going about it the right way."
"Thank you, Arnold," he returned, "I want to win a great deal more than
you want me to--and if it's gambling you're afraid of, you can ease your
mind, for I've sworn off. It's not a poker debt I want this money for
tonight; I wouldn't be so secretive about the business, only it concerns
another person more than me."
"Radnor," I said, "I heard an ugly rumor the other day. I heard that the
ghost was a live woman who was living in the deserted cabins under your
connivance. I didn't believe it, but just the same it is not a story
which you can afford to have even whispered."
Radnor raised his head sharply.
"Ah, I see!" His eyes wavered a moment and then fixed themselves
miserably on my face. "Has--has Polly Mathers heard that?"
"Yes," I returned, "I fancy she has."
He struck the table with a quick flash of anger.
"It's a damned lie! And it comes from Jim Mattison."
And now as to the events which followed during the night. I've repeated
them so many times to so many different persons that it is difficult for
me to recall just what were my original sensations. I went to bed but I
didn't go to sleep; this ha'nt business was getting on my nerves almost
as badly as the Patterson-Pratt case. After a time I heard someone let
himself softly out of the house; I knew well that it was Radnor and I
didn't get up to look. I didn't want the appearance even to myself of
spying upon him. After three quarters of an hour or so I was suddenly
startled alert by hearing the squeak-squeak of a whippletree out on the
lawn. It was the Colonel's buckboard which stood in need of oiling; I
recognized the sound. Curiosity was too much for me this time. I slipped
out of bed and hurried to the window. It was pretty dark outside, but
there was a faint glimmer of starlight.
"Whoa, Jennie Loo; whoa!" I heard Rad's voice scarcely above a whisper,
and I saw the outline of the cart plainly with Rad driving, and either
some person or some large bundle on the seat beside him. It was on the
side farthest from me, and was too vague to be distinguished. He made a
wide detour of the house across the grass, and struck the driveway at
the foot of the lawn; the reason for this manoeuvre was evident--the
gravel drive from the stables passed directly under the Colonel's
window. I went back to bed half worried, half relieved. I strongly
suspected that this was the end of the ghost; but I could not help
puzzling over the part that Radnor had played in the little comedy--if
comedy it were. The stories that I had heard about some of his
disreputable associates returned to my mind with unpleasant emphasis.
I had gradually dozed off, when half waking, half sleeping, I heard the
patter of bare feet on the veranda floor. The impression was not
distinct enough to arouse me, and I have never been perfectly sure that
I was not dreaming. I do not know how much time elapsed after this--I
was sound asleep--when I was suddenly startled awake by a succession of
the most horrible screams I have ever heard. In an instant I was on my
feet in the middle of the floor. Striking a match and lighting a candle,
I grabbed an umbrella--it was the only semblance of a weapon anywhere at
hand--and dashed into the hall. The Colonel's door was flung open at the
same instant, and he appeared on the threshold, revolver in hand.
"Eh, Arnold, what's happened?" he cried.
"I don't know," I gasped, "I'm going down to see."
We tumbled down stairs at such a rate that the candle went out, and we
groped along in total darkness toward the rear of the house from where
the sounds were coming. The cries had died down by this time into a
horrible inarticulate wail, half animal, half human. I recognized the
tones with a cold thrill; it was Mose. We found him groveling on the
floor of the little passage that led from the dining-room to the serving
room. I struck a light and we bent over him. I hated to look, expecting
from the noise he was making to find him lying in a pool of blood. But
he was entirely whole; there was no blood visible and we could find no
broken bones. Apparently there was nothing the matter beyond fear, and
of that he was nearly dead. He crawled to the Colonel and clung to his
feet chattering an unintelligible gibberish. His eyes rolling wildly in
the dim light, showed an uncanny yellow gleam. I could see where he got
his name.
The Colonel's own nerves were beginning to assert themselves and with an
oath he cuffed the fellow back to a state of coherence.
"Stand up, you blithering fool, and tell us what you mean by raising
such a fuss."
Mose finally found his tongue but we still could make nothing of his
story. He had been out "prospectin' 'round," and when he came in to go
to bed--the house servants slept in a wing over the rear gallery--he met
the ha'nt face to face standing in the dining-room doorway. He was so
tall that his head reached the ceiling and he was so thin that you could
see right through him. At the remembrance Mose began to shiver again.
We propped him up with some whiskey and sent him off to bed still
twittering with terror.
The Colonel was bent on routing out Radnor to share the excitement and I
with some difficulty restrained him, knowing full well that Rad was not
in the house. We made a search of the premises to assure ourselves that
there was nothing tangible about Mose's ha'nt; but I was in such a hurry
to get the Colonel safely upstairs again, that our search was somewhat
cursory. We both overlooked the little office that opened off the
dining-room. In spite of my manoeuvres the Colonel entered the library
first and discovered that the French window was open; he laid no stress
on this however, supposing that Mose was the guilty one. He bolted it
with unusual care, and I with equal care slipped back and unbolted it. I
finally persuaded him that Mose's ha'nt was merely the result of a
fevered imagination fed on a two weeks' diet of ghost stories, and
succeeded in getting him back to bed without discovering Radnor's
absence. I lay awake until I heard the sound of carriage wheels
returning across the lawn, and, a few minutes later, footsteps enter
the house and tip-toe upstairs. Then as daylight was beginning to show
in the east I finally fell asleep, worn out with puzzling my head for an
explanation which should cover at once Rad's nocturnal drive and Mose's
ha'nt.