The account of the attempted massacre at Government House reached
Lizzie through Mr Courtney; but he did not tell her that Henri de
Courcelles had been arrested as one of the mutineers. He knew that she
had regarded his late overseer with affection, and he wanted to spare
her the pain of the suspense of learning his fate. It would be time
enough, he thought, for her to mourn when her friend had been tried and
condemned. But his kind consideration was wasted, for the news came to
her by means of the yellow girl, Rosa, who burst into her presence on
the day of De Courcelles’ escape from the Fort prison, brim full of the
intelligence.
‘Oh, Missy Liz! dar’s grand news come from Government House. De Fort
prison doors is bust open, and dey’s all gone--ebbery one of dem
mutineers, and Massa Courcelles, he gone wid them.’
‘_Monsieur de Courcelles!_’ exclaimed Lizzie, hardly believing her
ears. ‘What are you talking of, Rosa?’
‘Jes’ God’s truth, Missy Liz. Massa Courcelles de ringleader ob all de
mutiny--dat’s what William Hall, dat hab jes’ come from de Fort, say;
and dey take him prisoner ob Tuesday night, and put him in cell, and
dis morning he was to be tried by ’martial; but he’s clean gone, and de
mounted police am scouring San Diego for him.’
‘De Courcelles amongst the rebels!’ repeated Lizzie. ‘_This_, then, is
what he meant by his revenge. Oh, that it had been in my power to save
him from falling so low!’
‘But dat ain’t all, Missy Liz; dere’s more to come. William Hall say de
police catch sight of Massa Courcelles ober de gully, close by Shanty
Hill, and he ’scape them again, and run straight for de Alligator
Swamp.’
‘He did not _enter_ it?’ cried Lizzie, turning pale.
‘Oh, didn’t he, though? De police gallop after him, and he run same
like deer, and jump de fences, and go squash right in de swamp, where
de hosses couldn’t follow him, ’cause of de morass. And William say
when Massa Courcelles get on edge of swamp, he turn and wave his hand,
and hollo, and dive in bushes. And den de police see no more of him;
but dey is waiting dere now, horses and all, till he come out again.
But Massa Courcelles nebber come out again, Missy Liz. Dat what all de
niggers say; alligator and swamp take him pretty quick, and got him
now, maybe, de bad fellow!’
Lizzie did not answer her chattering handmaid, except by asking,--
‘What time is it, Rosa?’
‘Jes’ gone tree, Missy Liz.’
‘And when did this happen? I mean when did the police lose sight of
Monsieur de Courcelles in the Alligator Swamp?’
‘Eleben o’clock, missy.’
‘_Four hours_,’ said Lizzie to herself. ‘God help him! What can I do?’
She began turning over the contents of a medicine-chest as she thought
thus, and pouring the liquid from one bottle into the other, in an
apparently mechanical manner.
‘Rosa!’ she said suddenly, turning to her open-eyed attendant, ‘I am
going out presently, and I may be detained longer than I anticipate.
Take great care of baby whilst I am away, and put her to sleep in your
own room to-night. Do you understand me?’
‘Yes, yes, Missy Liz.’
She watched her mistress array herself in her walking things, and take
down a broad sombrero hat, and a long cloak, which had belonged to
her father, from the cupboard where they hung, and place brandy and a
bottle of quinine, and strong smelling-salts and camphor in the basket
she hung upon her arm. These proceedings only excited Rosa’s curiosity;
but when Lizzie went on to load a revolver and place it in her belt,
and take a huge staff in her hand, the yellow girl could contain
herself no longer, but cried out,--
‘Oh, Missy Liz, Missy Liz! what you going to do with all dem things?’
‘Dare I trust you?’ said Lizzie, turning her grave, pale face towards
her. ‘Will you be faithful and keep my secret if I tell you what I am
going to do?’
‘Missy Liz, _I will_!’ replied Rosa solemnly. ‘I knows I’se berry bad
gal to you once. I said drefful things what I didn’t mean; but I’se
only ignorant yellow gal, Mis Liz, and I didn’t think how bad I was.
But Massa Norris, he make me promise when he go ’way that I’d be good
faithful servant to you, and take great care of you, and he’d bring me
lubly dress from England next time he come; and I would do it, Missy
Liz, without de dress, and only because I love you for all you done for
me.’
‘I believe you, and I will confide in you, for I must have a friend
to help me. Rosa, I am going to the Alligator Swamp to try and find
Monsieur de Courcelles.’
‘_De Alligator Swamp!_ Oh, Missy Liz! you nebber going there? You
can’t walk dere for de swamp, nor de thorn bushes; and de green slime
hab a smell what chokes you. Missy,’ continued Rosa earnestly, ‘even a
nigger can’t stay dere. You will lose your way d’reckly--dere’s no path
to guide you; and de alligators is awful. Dey kill you d’reckly dey see
you. Oh, Missy Liz, for God’s sake, don’t try to go!’
‘Listen to me, dear Rosa. _I must go!_ It is of no use to try and stop
me. Monsieur de Courcelles has been very wicked, no doubt--I don’t
defend his conduct--but _once_ I loved him Rosa, and a woman can never
quite forget the man she has loved.’
‘No, dat’s true, missy. Juan want me to marry him, but I keep thinking
too much ob that rascal sailor boy what was de fader of my poor leetel
Carlo--Dat’s truth,’ answered Rosa, shaking her black curls.
‘Well then, perhaps you can understand a little what I feel now, Rosa.
Monsieur de Courcelles is in fearful danger. I know his spirit. He will
never come out of the swamp to be taken prisoner again. He will faint
from the fumes of the fearful miasma first, and sink for ever in the
morass, or he will cast himself before the first cayman in his path. I
may not find him, or I may be too late to give him any assistance, but
I must try. I have the proper medicines here to counteract the effect
of the swamp, for him and myself; and if I find him, I think with this
disguise I may get him safely out again without attracting the notice
of the police. I shall not go by Shanty Hill, Rosa. I shall make my way
round by the Miners’ Gulch. There is an entrance there at the back of
the Sans Souci plantation.’
‘And if you find him, Missy Liz--what den?’ inquired the yellow girl.
‘Ah, Rosa! that is where I shall want your assistance and your
fidelity,’ replied her mistress. ‘If I find him, I must bring him
_here_, and hide him from the police until I can get him safely away
from the island.’
‘Dat berry dangerous work, Missy Liz.’
‘I know it, but how can I do otherwise? Could I let the man whom I once
believed would be my husband, perish in the Alligator Swamp, without an
attempt to rescue him; or deliver him up to die a murderer’s death upon
the gallows, as long as I can keep him from it? Oh, Rosa, Rosa!’ cried
Lizzie, weeping, ‘it is the same with all of us, white and black alike.
Love--although a love that is dead and over--sanctifies everything, and
claims a certain duty even for its ashes.’
The yellow girl did not understand her mistress’s words, but her tears
appealed to her heart, and she cried with her.
‘Yes, Missy Liz, I understand. Dat’s jes’ same like me and de sailor
fellow. But you must take great care of yourself, Missy Liz. You
must be berry ’ticular where you step, and how you go, and keep a
sharp look-out for de alligators. Dey berry cowardly, Missy Liz. Dey
frightened of noise, and dey can’t run no ways; so if you don’t tread
right on dem, you’se all right.’
‘Yes, yes, Rosa! I know that, and I will take every possible caution,’
replied Lizzie. And then she kissed the baby, and kissed Rosa, and
walked bravely off, as though she had been going on her daily rounds.
The Alligator Swamp was situated in a deep gorge or valley between
two high hills, and was simply a stagnant bog, thickly clothed with
poisonous vegetation--indeed no healthy trees or bushes could have
existed in such an atmosphere. The fatal upas tree spread its thick
branches over the morass, sheltering deadly fungi of orange, and
red, and white. Thorny bushes were matted and interlaced about it,
so that had there been a solid foundation to the Alligator’s Swamp,
it would have been impossible to force one’s way through, or find a
path whereon to tread. The only resting-place for one’s feet consisted
of the logs and trunks of decayed trees, which had dropped, rolling
into the slime, and choked it up. But they were treacherous paths, as
may be well imagined, and it was difficult, in the semi-darkness, to
distinguish them from the caymen--the largest and fiercest breed of
alligators--from which the swamp derived its name. These creatures
lay on the top of the slimy deposit, just like rugged brown logs in
appearance, until a sound or a touch caused the apparently inert
mass to move, and a ferocious head, with two diamond bright eyes,
and an enormous mouth, with cruel fangs, rose up suddenly and snapt
its jaws over its unsuspecting prey. For there was no real daylight
in the Alligator Swamp. The branches of the trees were so thickly
interlaced overhead that the sun had no chance to penetrate them and
cleanse the Augean Stable with his health-giving rays; and so the
decaying vegetation and the slime had festered on together for years
past, and the caymen had bred and flourished there, until the boldest
negro of them all considered it certain death to breathe the air which
they inhaled. If the foolhardy creature who attempted to traverse the
swamp were not immersed in the stinking mud, or seized by the hungry
alligators, he was bound after a little while to sink down, giddy
and intoxicated from inhaling the various poisons around him, and so
fall a prey to either one or the other. Lizzie Fellows was perfectly
conscious of the terrible risk she ran,--more so, perhaps, than most
women would have been, for her father had fully explained the dangers
of the swamp to her, and warned her off its precincts. She knew that
the reason runaway negroes and escaped prisoners took refuge in the
Alligator Swamp was not because they sought safety in it, but because
they preferred death by its horrors to giving themselves up to the law.
They knew they went to their grave when they entered it, but they knew
also that the police would refuse to follow them there, and that they
would be left to die alone and unmolested. She had a long walk to
take before she reached it. She was anxious to meet no one who should
inquire her errand, or try to prevent it, and so she took a circuitous
route to Sans Souci, and crept round the back of the plantation until
she came to a clump of dense underwood, through which she knew a
path led to the fatal spot. She tied a handkerchief steeped in some
disinfectant across her mouth and nostrils as she entered it, and then,
with a short prayer to God for protection and success, went bravely
on. She carried a knife in her hand, with which she sliced the bark of
the trees as she walked along, for she was afraid of losing her way
altogether, and perhaps never finding the sunlight again; but for the
first few minutes the Alligator Swamp seemed to be a harmless place
enough. The grass beneath her feet was bright and green, from the
humidity of the atmosphere and the shade of the trees, but the first
indication of danger was given by her foot suddenly sinking in wet
soil up to her ankle. She drew it back quickly, and commenced to walk
more slowly, and tapping the ground before her with the stout stick
she held in her hand, before she ventured to tread on it. Her heart
beat fast at times as a rustle in the bushes betrayed the presence of
a rattlesnake--about the only living thing that shared the swamp with
the alligators--or a splash in the surrounding vegetation proved she
was approaching the haunts of the caymen. Still she went on, picking
her way over the morass, or skirting it by means of the rotten trunks
that lay across it, and swayed and rolled as she mounted them, as if
they would give way beneath her weight, and let her fall into the
slimy pool they floated on. Soon she began to feel the effects of
the mephitic vapours with which the place abounded, and had recourse
to her smelling-salts, to prevent her becoming giddy. All this time
Lizzie had kept up a continual note from a whistle she had hung about
her neck, and at intervals she had called upon Henri de Courcelles by
name. As she advanced to the centre of the swamp the daylight seemed
to be entirely excluded, and she lighted a lantern which was tied at
her girdle. With her staff in one hand and her revolver in the other
she now began to pick her way step by step, her heart sinking with
fear and disappointment as she went. For not a sound came in answer
to her whistle or her call. The profoundest silence reigned in the
Alligator Swamp. The stench of the decaying vegetation was more and
more apparent, and the only light by which she walked was the feeble
glimmer thrown in advance from the little lantern at her waist. It
was a situation to appal the bravest spirit. Once she stepped forward
almost confidently, and placed her foot on a broad bridge, formed, as
she believed, of the corrugated trunk of a fallen tree, but as she
touched it it sank beneath the slime, and rose again immediately with
two fierce twinkling eyes and an open jaw full of pointed teeth, to
confront her.
Lizzie flew backward with a scream of terror, and, clinging with one
arm to the branch of a tree, discharged her revolver full in the
reptile’s face. The bullet was probably battered against its impervious
hide, but the shot had the desired effect of frightening the alligator
back into its home of slime. It had another, and more unforeseen
effect. It reached the senses of an almost unconscious man, who had
slidden into a sitting position beside some bushes, but a few yards
off, and roused him from his sleep of death. The sound of the shot
conveyed but one idea to his mind, however,--that his pursuers had
penetrated his asylum, and were close at hand to capture him; and with
the intention to defy them to the last, he staggered to his feet, and
set his back against a tree. The tall figure clothed in white became
apparent in the surrounding twilight, and when Lizzie raised her eyes
from the spot where the cayman had disappeared from view, it was to fix
them on the form of Henri de Courcelles. She uttered a cry of pleasure
at the discovery, which sounded to him like a note of victory.
‘Stand off!’ he exclaimed loudly; ‘shoot me like a man if you will, but
don’t attempt to touch me with your accursed fingers, or I will dive
into the swamp and escape you.’
He was about to put his suicidal threat into execution, when Lizzie
stepped quickly across the yielding earth which separated them, and
stood by his side.
‘Henri!’ she ejaculated, as she clutched at his clothes with her hand
and held him back.
He turned and stared at her.
‘_Lizzie!_’ was all he could say.
‘Yes, it is I,’ she answered simply.
At that his senses appeared to return to him. His astonishment at
seeing her was so great, that he pulled himself together, as a drunken
man will sometimes do, under special circumstances.
‘Lizzie--_here!_’ he repeated. ‘But what made you come to such a place?
Do you know that you are courting certain death, and that every moment
may be your last? Go back at once! Don’t stay here another instant! You
were mad to think of such a thing.’
‘I _am_ going back, and at once,’ she answered quickly, ‘but you must
come with me.’
‘I cannot. The police are waiting for me outside, and I will die here
sooner than deliver myself into their hands.’
She disengaged the wallet of medicines which she had carried on her
back, and, pouring out a mixture of brandy and quinine, held it to his
lips.
‘Drink this, Henri, and listen to me. I have come here expressly to
find you and save you, and you must trust yourself to me. The police
shall not take you. They are waiting by Shanty Hill, and I know a
secret outlet by Miners’ Gulch. But we must leave this pestiferous
atmosphere at once, or it may be fatal to both of us.’
He clung to her like a child to its mother.
‘You can save me!’ he exclaimed. ‘Oh, my good angel! why did I ever
desert you?’
‘Hush! Don’t speak of that now. Think of nothing excepting the best
means to get out of this dreadful place. Drink some more brandy, and
inhale this ammonia. That is right. Pull yourself together, and follow
me closely. I will go first, and lead the way.’
She pulled him forward as she spoke, and mechanically he followed her.
Step by step they went, very slowly and cautiously at first, and
then faster, as the dusky twilight spread itself out, and the gleams
of sunshine penetrated at intervals the dense foliage, and turned
its neutral tints into living green. On they went, she in front with
her staff and revolver, and he, behind, only half comprehending what
had occurred to him, until they reached the thicket which abutted on
the Sans Souci plantation, where he sank down upon the grass, with
a low moan of exhaustion. Lizzie was busy with her wallet directly.
She had anticipated that as soon as the excitement was over he would
succumb to the strain he had passed through--for the Spanish Creoles
have not strong constitutions, and had provided the necessary remedies
against it. It was some little time before Henri de Courcelles fairly
understood what had happened to him, and then his gratitude knew no
bounds.
‘Am I really safe, and with you?’ he murmured. ‘What have I done to
deserve such goodness at your hands?’
‘You are clear of that terrible swamp, Henri; but you are not by
any means safe yet; and if you would be, you must follow out my
instructions to the letter. See here! I have an old cloak and
_sombrero_ which belonged to my poor father. I left them under this
tree when I entered the swamp. We will wait here quietly until it is
a little darker, and then you must put them on, and come home to the
bungalow with me, and I will conceal you there until you can find some
means of leaving San Diego.’
‘But how will that be possible, Lizzie? The bills must be out by this
time, putting a price upon my head, and every nigger in the island
will be turned into an amateur detective, in the hope of being able to
claim the reward.’
‘Oh, don’t let us think of that now!’ replied Lizzie wearily. ‘The
chief thing at present is to restore your vitality. It is a blessing
you are still alive, Henri. Eat and drink what I have brought for you,
and thank God you can do it in safety. Nothing will harm you here.’
‘And you actually came in search of me, alone and unprotected?’ he
said, looking at her with the deepest admiration. ‘You braved the
dangers of this awful place,--ran the risk of a terrible death, and all
for me--_for me_, who have treated you so badly! Oh, Lizzie,’ continued
Henri de Courcelles, seizing her hand, ‘if the devotion of the life you
have rescued can atone to you, it will.’
But she drew her hand away hastily--almost with repugnance--from his
clasp. Was it not that of a would-be murderer?
‘Henri,’ she replied quietly, though her voice shook, ‘you must never
speak to me again like that. I _have_ done what you say, and I thank
Heaven, who has crowned my efforts with success; but it was done for
the sake of the Past, not of the Present; and nothing in the Future,
except the knowledge that your life has been saved for better things,
can ever repay me. I have been shocked beyond measure at what I have
heard concerning you. You have steeped your hands, or would have done
so, in the blood of innocent victims, for the sake of carrying out an
unworthy revenge on the daughter of your benefactors. It was a crime
which would make any honest person shrink from you, which would make
most people consider that a death on the gallows, or in the Alligator
Swamp, was your just deserts. But I cannot _forget_, Henri. Ever since
I have known your relations with my adopted sister, I have ceased to
desire your affection; but I cannot forget that I once valued it, and
to think of your being sent out of the world without the opportunity to
repent, was very terrible to me. _That_ is why I have run this risk to
save you, and why I am thankful I have succeeded. But don’t speak of
love to me again, or you may make me sorry instead of glad.’
There was a calm, reasonable determination in her voice as she spoke,
that brought conviction home to Henri de Courcelles’ mind. He saw it
plainly now. He had not only lost her love,--he had forfeited her
respect and her esteem; and as the truth smote home to him, the
unwonted tears rose to his eyes.
‘Why didn’t you leave me in the swamp?’ he murmured. ‘I had better
have remained there, to become the prey of the alligators, than live
under your contempt. Let me go back,’ he continued, starting to his
feet, ‘for your words have taken all my courage out of me, and I would
rather die a thousand deaths by my own hand than fall into those of my
enemies, and swing like a malefactor from the Fort gates.’
‘You shall do neither!’ exclaimed Lizzie, as she caught his arm, and
drew him down to her side again. ‘Come, Henri, be reasonable. Remember
I am your friend, and have thought out the whole plan of your escape.
Put on this cloak and _sombrero_. See how completely they disguise you,
and cover you from head to foot. The only thing we have to dread now
is lest some acquaintance should meet and question me; but that is very
unlikely, as this is the general dinner hour for all Europeans, and I
will take you home by an unfrequented path.’
‘But when I reach your bungalow, Lizzie, what will Rosa say?’
‘I have been obliged to take Rosa into my confidence, Henri, but she
will not betray you. As for the rest, leave it to me, and I believe
that, with Heaven’s aid, I can bring you out of this strait.’
‘You are too good to me,’ he said brokenly; ‘and I place myself
altogether in your hands. Lead on, Lizzie, as you think best, and I
will follow.’
‘No, Henri; we will walk side by side. It will be much better, in
case of an encounter with any one who knows us, that I should show a
perfect fearlessness in the matter. Take my staff in your hand, and
sling the wallet across your shoulder. Then we shall look as if we had
been searching the country for herbs for medicinal purposes; and I will
gather a bundle of leaves, in order to carry out the delusion. That is
right. Now come with me, and let us step out manfully together.’
They traversed the couple of miles that lay between them and
Beauregard, without encountering anything more formidable than a few
negroes sauntering along the road as they returned from work. But as
they approached the plantation, the danger of discovery became more
imminent, and Lizzie conducted her companion to her bungalow by a
circuitous route.
It was reached at last, however, and as De Courcelles sank into one of
the familiar chairs in the sitting-room, he felt like a man who has
been delivered from the very jaws of death to be suddenly transported
into paradise.
‘But you must not rest here, Henri,’ whispered Lizzie, as she quickly
closed all the jalousies. ‘Mr Courtney or one of the hands might enter
at any moment. There would be continual risk of discovery.’
‘Where, then?’ he demanded, in the same tone.
‘In my dear father’s bedroom. It has never been opened since his death,
and you are not likely to be disturbed there. You know what these
silly, superstitious natives are. They would not enter a chamber where
a death has occurred, to save their lives. They would be fearful of
encountering my dear father’s wraith. You see now my object in dressing
you up in his cloak and hat. If any of our negroes had seen you, he
would probably have run shrieking to his hut, to spread the report that
the Doctor’s ghost was walking about Beauregard. You must remember to
keep up the idea, should any unforeseen risk occur. But here, for a
few days at least, I believe you will be safe,’ continued Lizzie, as
she unlocked the door of her late father’s apartment, ‘until I can
get you away from the island. You will have to be my prisoner,’ she
added playfully; ‘and I shall lock you in, and bring you your meals at
the stated times. But keep the jalousies bolted inside night and day,
and try to do with as little light as possible, to avoid attracting
attention. You will find all my dear father’s wardrobe in the cupboard
here. Use it as you think best, and try and be contented under the
restraint, and thankful (as I am) that Heaven has spared your life to
you.’
He turned round as he crossed the threshold, and sank on his knees
before her.
‘You have forbidden me to speak of love,’ he ejaculated, ‘but I must
say something to express my gratitude. You have indeed heaped coals of
fire on my head! You have done what no other living creature, male or
female, would have done; you have risked your life and safety for me,
who have treated you worse than any one else. Let me say Heaven bless
you for it, Lizzie. I feel if there is a hell beyond the one we suffer
here, that mine will be to remember always the terrible mistake I made
in allowing a woman’s personal beauty to blind me to the virtues of
the friend whom I now feel I have loved and honoured above all the
world.’
He took her hand and kissed it as he spoke, and Lizzie was not ashamed
to let her tears fall freely on them both.
‘I am glad now, Henri,’ she uttered falteringly, ‘and I shall be glad
in the days to come to think over the words you have just said, and to
remember that you knew me for your true friend. There are different
kinds of love from the one we once thought we felt for each other--and
perhaps better ones--and something of the sort I shall never cease to
feel for you. And if you think you owe me gratitude, Henri--if you
would repay me let it be by abandoning all ideas of revenge and murder
for the future. Don’t let me have the terrible self-reproach that I
have wasted my affection on one so utterly unworthy of it.’
‘I have taken a different oath, Lizzie, but I will rescind it, for your
sake, and here on my knees I swear to you that if I am spared to escape
the gallows, I will abandon all ideas of revenge in the future. After
all, Maraquita is but a false woman, not worthy of a man’s revenge.
There are dozens such: the world is peopled with them.’
‘She is the woman you loved, Henri,’ replied Lizzie gravely, ‘and
therefore she is the woman you should always be most lenient to. But
she has passed out of your world, and the kindest thing you can do
for her and yourself is to forget her. But you must not talk of such
exciting topics to-night. It may be some time before you shake off the
effects of the poisonous vapours you have inhaled. Go to rest now, and
sleep without fear. I will guarantee that no one shall disturb your
slumbers.’
De Courcelles took her advice, and flung himself, exhausted through
excitement and fatigue, upon the late Doctor’s bed, whilst she, with a
divine light, almost akin to maternal solicitude, upon her countenance,
took a seat in the outer room, and prepared to watch all night against
a possible surprise for the man she held prisoner.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]