ZULMIERA, THE HALF-CARIB GIRL.
A Legend of the Savannah.
The sun was rapidly sinking in the west, but its declining beams
only threw upon every object a richer tone of colour, as a party,
consisting of three persons, emerged from a small shrubbery, and
halted upon the brow of a shelving hill.
The foremost of the party was a man who probably verged upon the
mellow age of fifty; but his eagle-eye, and stalwart frame, told
that his years sat light upon him. He was what would have been
termed a handsome man; but a supercilious curl of his upper lip,
and an expression of scornful indifference, which, though
apparently suppressed, lingered in his dark hazel eye, added to a
brow furrowed by deep lines, and compressed by slumbering
passions, which only waited the spur of the moment to be called
into action, detracted from the otherwise agreeable character of
his features, and effectually forbid any approach to familiarity.
A deep and unsightly scar, the effects of a sabre-cut, which,
commencing from the right ear, traversed the jaw, injured yet
further his good looks. He was habited in a complete suit of
black velvet, of the richest texture; the sombreness of which was
in some measure relieved by diamond clasps, and small
knee-buckles of the same costly stones. A small collar of the
finest lawn made its appearance above the doublet; and a
black-sheathed "Andrèa Ferrara," with basket hilt, dangling from
his side, and calf-skin boots, completed his costume. This dress,
fitting tight to his shape, shewed to advantage the large but
perfect symmetry of his person; while the dark brown hair,
sprinkled here and there with the grey badge of declining years,
cropt close around his temples; and the steeple-crowned hat
peculiar to his sect and times, bespoke him, what he was, the
friend of Cromwell--the roundhead governor of Antigua.
The next person that gained the open ground was Bridget, the
beautiful daughter of the governor. If ever there was a
personification of extreme loveliness, it was known in Bridget.
Scarcely seventeen, her slight but rounded figure, and her sweet,
mild face, while it struck the beholder with admiration, and
riveted his attention, gave the idea of some embodied sylph. Her
complexion was of that ethereal tint of which the poet says--
"Oh, call it fair, not pale."
The lily could scarcely outvie it in purity of colour, although
every emanation of her guileless heart called up the latent
rose-tint into her delicate cheek; while the small, pouting lip,
with all the rich glow of the coral, forbid effectually the
supposition of ill health. A slightly aquiline nose, a
classically-formed and dimpled chin, with a fair and open
forehead, in which every azure vein could be traced, were the
prominent features; blended with that mingled sweetness, that
feminine grace, and that inexpressible _something_, which really
and actually constitutes beauty. But her eyes--those soft, lovely
eyes--look at them, as she raises the long lashes, and you can
fancy, that were her features devoid of any pretensions to
comeliness, those liquid orbs would richly compensate for all. Of
the clearest hazel, every glance that fell from them spoke the
inmost feelings of her soul; and whether they beamed forth in
pity, or flashed with animation, they equally bespoke the
benevolence of her nature.
Puritan as her father was, he did not deny his daughter, any more
than himself, the use of a few ornaments; and a bandeau of pearls
fastened around her graceful head vainly endeavoured to restrain
the abundant tresses of her soft, glossy, brown hair, which,
breaking loose, floated upon her shoulders in natural ringlets.
Her dress of dove-coloured satin flowed in rich and ample folds
to her feet, from whence the little slipper peeped forth; and,
gathered around her slender waist by a girdle of pearls, shewed
the admirable proportions of her figure. The stiff puritan ruff
of lawn, in which every plait could be counted, screened her
neck; but around her small white throat was fastened a carcanet
of her favourite gems, not purer in tint than her own fair skin.
A wimple of the same colour as her dress, and lined with pale
rose tiffany, was tied under her little rounded chin, but which,
in the joyousness of her nature, she had unfastened, that she
might more fully enjoy the beauties of the evening.
The remaining individual that formed the trio was in every
respect far different from those already described; yet, as she
stood a few paces behind Bridget--to mark the difference in their
rank, although near enough to join in the conversation--her lofty
and commanding figure called equally for attention and
admiration. The clear olive tinge of her complexion, the large
black eye, which sparkled with dazzling light, and the long
coal-black hair, braided and twined round and round her head,
told that she was not of the same country, or the same people as
her mistress. Servant--slave as she was--she looked born to
command; and daring must that person be who would encounter for
the second time the flash of her offended eye. Formed in a larger
mould than Bridget, her figure still bore the utmost symmetrical
proportions; and the rounded arm and taper fingers might have
served as a model for the Goddess of Beauty: this female was
Zulmiera--the half-Carib girl.
The mother of Zulmiera was a very beautiful Carib woman, who, in
that disgraceful partition of them among the English, (after the
massacre of their male friends at St. Kitts during Sir Thomas
Warner's government of that island,) fell to the share of a young
Englishman, a follower of Sir Thomas Warner's son, in his after
colonization of Antigua. Xamba accompanied her master to his new
residence, and there bore him a daughter; but dying soon after,
the infant was brought up in the governor's family. After the
reduction of Antigua by Sir George Ayscue, and the establishment
of a republican governor, in place of the opposer of Cromwell's
power, Zulmiera, who was rapidly attaining the full burst of
womanhood, was, at the earnest entreaties of Bridget Everard, who
was charmed with the untutored graces of the beautiful Indian
maiden, promoted to the office of her companion. It must be
allowed, that this appointment met not with the full approval of
the governor. Violently attached to Cromwell, and bearing bitter
hatred to the royalist party, and all malignants, he thought the
girl had been too long nurtured in their principles to make a
faithful attendant to the daughter of a republican. But Bridget
was his only child,--a motherless girl; and stern and unbending
as he was to others, his iron mood gave way before her playful
caresses.
Still there was another and deep cause of dislike he had against
Zulmiera. Upon further acquaintance with this Indian girl, he
found her too haughty for his own arrogant spirit to deal with.
Too high-minded and forgetful of her real rank as a servant, and
apparently under the impression that, while attending upon her
mistress, she was in fact her equal, if not her superior.
Zulmiera was, in truth, fully alive to this sentiment. She looked
upon herself as the descendant (on her mother's side) of a long
line of chiefs--of those who had once been rulers in the land,
and who had received from their swarthy subjects the homage that
monarchs of a more civilized nation were wont to receive.
Thinking thus of Zulmiera, no wonder that the governor distrusted
her. Nor was the girl ignorant of his opinion of her; and
consequently their feelings of dislike were mutual. She knew he
hated her; and he felt that in her heart she despised him. Still,
she loved Bridget--for who could not love that mild, fair girl?--
loved her with an intensity of fervour, unknown to the
inhabitants of colder climes--and would have shed for her her
heart's best blood; for love and hatred were to Zulmiera
all-absorbing passions. Yet there was another who held the
_first_ place in Zulmiera's heart,--one that was to the
half-instructed, half-Indian girl--her "idol god."
But to return to the movements of the trio. Having left the
concealment of the shrubbery, the whole party paused, and with
different feelings gazed upon the landscape stretched before
them. The slight declivity upon the brow of which they were
standing, had been cleared, and was now planted with tobacco,
whose broad green leaves, and delicate trumpet flowers, attracted
the attention of numerous gorgeous insects. This plantation
stretched to the end of a wild copse, where every native shrub
and brushwood grew together with the loftier trees, and formed an
almost impervious thicket. Beyond this copse, the waters of a
beautiful creek, which ran a short way inland, glittered like
gold in the beams of the setting sun; while on every side rose
undulating hills, begirt with many an infant plantation,
belonging to some of the earlier settlers. Further off, the broad
ocean stretched its interminable waves, its billows sleeping in
calmness; except in one part, where a long ridge of shelving
rocks fretted them into motion, and caused them to send forth
their angry roar.[89]
At the bottom of the hill upon which they were standing ran a
bridle-path, which, winding in and out, branched off in two
directions; one passing through the populous town of Falmouth,
the other extending to the shores of a beautiful harbour,[90]
where some industrious settlers were cultivating the adjoining
country. Along this path a single horseman was seen slowly
advancing, in the direction of the harbour. As he gained the
skirts of the hill, he reined up for a moment his prancing steed,
and, looking towards the party, raised his plumed hat and bent
forward in graceful obeisance. The dark eyes of Zulmiera sparkled
with delight, and standing, as she did, behind the governor and
his daughter, unseen by them, she raised her hand and waved a
return, while, at the same instant, the rosiest blush sprang to
the cheeks of Bridget, and crimsoned her very throat. The
horseman again bent his head, and then, replacing his hat, shook
the broidered reins and galloped off in the direction he had
chosen for his equestrian amusement.
Following with his eye the plumed stranger until he was lost in
the intervening copse, the governor turned to his daughter, and
fixing a steady, penetrating glance upon her, exclaimed, "Ha!
then the young malignant's designs appear to be more open than
they were. But, mark me, daughter Bridget," and his eye became
sterner and darker as the pupil dilated with his awakening
passion, and his haughty lip curled with increased scorn--"mark
me, Bridget, sooner than I'd see thee mated with one of his
malignant race, mine own hand should stretch thee at my feet a
breathless corpse!--yea, as Jephtha slew his daughter, so would I
slay thee!" The agitated and frightened girl threw herself upon
her father's breast, and, amid tears and sobs, stammered out--
"Father--dearest father! think not so. Raphe de Merefield is
naught to me; he never spoke to me but with the most studied
politeness, and, indeed, he shuns rather than seeks my presence."
--"'Tis well, then, maiden--my suspicions are unfounded; the wolf
has not entered the sheepfold to steal the tender lamb; but I
have observed him lately wandering about these grounds, and I
feared my daughter was the object. But listen!" and again his eye
flashed, his lip trembled--"verily, I know that young man well--
ay, better than he knows me--for his father was my neighbour and
my deadliest foe!--and what was more, the foe of Cromwell! He it
was that assisted that tyrannical man, Charles Stuart, in his
escape from Hampton Court, and after aided him in his long
struggles to maintain possession of a crown which had long been
doomed to destruction. He it was that beggared his brother to
obtain money to carry out that well-slain tyrant's nefarious
designs! And he it was that, at the battle of Naseby, gave me
this ugly sign of recognition," pointing to the scar which
disfigured his cheek. "But was he not discomfited? Yea, as the
dry leaf he fell. Lo! as David girded up his strength in the day
of battle, so girded I up mine; and as he smote his enemies with
the edge of the sword, so my trusty weapon stretched the haughty
Philistine upon the ground, never to rise again! Guess, then, if
thou canst, how much I love yon cavalier, who hath sucked in with
his very milk the taint of papistry--for did not that Babylonish
woman whom men call the Queen of England rear him up from his
cradle? yea, and taught him all her sorceries. Had my honoured
friend and master, the protector, followed my advice, this young
traitor to the commonwealth would never have escaped from England
to disseminate his malignant poison abroad. Cromwell should have
crushed the egg before it was hatched. But verily I wax hot and
am impatient, not considering the time approacheth when rebels
and arch-rebels shall melt away as the hoar frost melteth before
the sun. Despatches have reached me that it is Cromwell's
intention to send, in the course of a few months, a squadron
against St. Domingo, and my instructions are to see that a proper
troop be raised in this island to join the expedition. I am
resolved that Master Raphe de Merefield be one of the gallants
who shall serve in that affair; a goodly bullet-shot or, albeit,
a well-applied stroke from the rapier of a Spaniard, may relieve
me from his machinations; or should he refuse to fight under the
banner of the commonwealth, verily, I know the malignancy of his
father cleaves so closely to him, that it will only be
maintaining Cromwell's interest to have him properly secured, or
we may see another revolt when we least expect it." Thus saying,
the governor walked forward a few paces, and shading his eyes
from the lingering sunbeams, scanned for a few moments the scene
before him.
What passed in the mind of Bridget during the foregoing
conversation it is unnecessary to relate, but the emotions called
up in the heart of the Carib girl while hearing her lover thus
traduced were violent and various. Hate, scorn, and revenge,
fired her eye, and sent a torrent of hot blood through her veins,
which, rushing to her face, turned the clear olive to a fiery
crimson. Yet so well was she accustomed to master her feelings,
that before her young mistress was sufficiently recovered to
commence another dialogue, she stood the same apparently calm
being, her hands folded across her breast; and only that her eye
was more dilated, and her cheek still slightly tinged, none could
tell that aught had moved her.
An exclamation from the governor, who had, for the last few
minutes, been intently gazing in one direction, arrested his
daughter's attention, and, gliding to his elbow, she inquired if
he addressed her. "Look, Bridget," replied her father, in a still
stern, but not unmusical voice--"look o'er yonder grove--dost
thou see aught moving?"--"Nothing, dearest father," answered the
maiden, in her own sweet tones--"nothing but the bland zephyr
sporting amid the young green leaves, and playing its fairy music
upon them." "Foolish enthusiast! But haste, girl!--fetch me the
wondrous instrument the lord-general gave me, and let me give yon
grove a sharper look--methinks it contains more inmates than we
wot of. I have heard of wild Indians and their deeds."
Roused by his remarks, Zulmiera started forward, and in an
agitated voice which she in vain tried to stifle, exclaimed, "Oh,
no, your excellency, naught is there, save, as the Lady Bridget
saith, the whispering wind or the fly-birds as they seek their
leafy bower." "Back, girl!" fiercely retorted the governor--"back
to thy place; who taught thee to hazard thy remarks? Methinks thy
cavalier masters might have made thee know thy station better."
Again the blood rushed to the cheek and temples of Zulmiera--
again the eye flashed fire--but again she mastered her emotions;
exclaiming, however, as she did so, but in a voice too subdued to
reach her companion's ear, "Rest till to-morrow's night, proud
man, then wilt thou learn who governs here!"
At this moment, Bridget placed in her father's hand the lately
invented telescope,[91] when, raising it to his eye, he narrowly
observed the whole breadth of the copse; the distant creek and
the farther ocean; but nothing met his eye--nothing, save the
wavy green, or the wing of a weary sea-fowl as it sought its
nest. Slowly dropping the instrument, the governor once more
gazed with his naked eye in that direction. The sun had set some
minutes before, and as the last of his golden beams faded in the
west, he turned upon his heel, and, followed by the females, was
once more lost in the verdant shrubbery.
------
[89] Now called the Memora's.
[90] Now called English Harbour.
[91] Telescopes were said to have been invented during the reign
of James I., although some attribute the invention to Roger
Bacon, 1292.