As the boat, which contained the party, pulled by six of the best
oars-men among the soldiers of the garrison, and steered, as we have
shown, by the dexterous Sambo, now glided past the spot, the
recollections of the tradition connected with the bridge drew from
several of the party expressions of sympathy and feigned terror, as
their several humors dictated. Remarking that Miss Montgomerie's
attention appeared to be deeply excited by what she heard, while she
gazed earnestly upon the dwelling in the back ground, Gerald Grantham
thought to interest her yet more, and amuse and startle the rest of the
party, by detailing his extraordinary, and hitherto unrevealed
adventure, on a recent occasion. To this strange tale, as may naturally
be supposed, some of his companions listened with an air of almost
incredulity, nor indeed would they rest satisfied until Sambo, who kept
his eyes turned steadily away from the shore, and to whom appeal was
frequently made by his master, confirmed his statement in every
particular; and with such marks of revived horror in his looks, as
convinced them, Gerald was not playing upon their facility of belief.
The more incredulous his brother officers, the more animated had become
the sailor in his description, and, on arriving at that part of his
narrative which detailed the reappearance and reflection of the
mysterious figure in the upper room, upon the court below, every one
became insensibly fixed in mute attention. From the moment of his
commencing, Miss Montgomerie had withdrawn her gaze from the land, and
fixing it upon her lover, manifested all the interest he could desire.
Her feelings were evidently touched by what she heard, for she grew
paler as Gerald proceeded, while her breathing was suspended, as if
fearful to lose a single syllable he uttered. At each more exciting
crisis of the narrative, she betrayed a corresponding intensity of
attention, until at length, when the officer described his mounting on
the water butt, and obtaining a full view of all within the room, she
looked as still and rigid as if she had been metamorphosed into a
statue. This eagerness of attention, shared as it was, although not to
the same extent perhaps, by the rest of Gerald's auditory, was only
remarkable in Miss Montgomerie, in as much as she was one of too much
mental preoccupation to feel or betray interest in anything, and it
might have been the risk encountered by her lover, and the share he had
borne in the mysterious occurrence, that now caused her to lapse from
her wonted inaccessibility to impressions of the sort. As the
climax of the narrative approached, her interest became deeper, and her
absorption more profound. An involuntary shudder passed over her form,
and a slight contraction of the nerves of her face was perceptible, when
Gerald described to his attentive and shocked auditory, the raising of
the arm of the assassin; and her emotion at length assumed such a
character of nervousness, that when he exultingly told of the rapid
discharge of his own pistol, as having been the only means of averting
the fate of the doomed, she could not refrain from rising suddenly in
the boat, and putting her hand to her side, with the shrinking movement
of one who had been suddenly wounded.
While in the act of rising she had drawn the cloak, with which, like the
other ladies, she was provided, more closely over her shoulders--Sambo
seemed to have caught some new idea from this action, for furtively
touching Henry Grantham, who sat immediately before him, and on the
right of Miss Montgomerie, he leaned forward and whispered a few
sentences in his ear.
Meanwhile Miss Montgomerie was not a little rallied on the extreme
susceptibility which had led her as it were to identify herself with the
scene. Gerald remarked that on recovering her presence of mind, she at
first looked as if she fancied herself the subject of sarcasm, and would
have resented the liberty; but finding there was nothing painted in the
manner of those who addressed her, finished by joining, yet with some
appearance of constraint, in the laugh against herself.
"I confess," she said coloring, "that the strange incident which Mr.
Grantham has related, and which he has so well described, has caused me
to be guilty of a ridiculous emotion. I am not usually startled into the
expression of strong feeling, but there was so much to excite and
surprise in his catastrophe that I could not avoid in some measure
identifying myself with the scene."
"Nay, Miss Montgomerie," remarked Julia D'Egville, "there can be no
reason why such emotion should be either disavowed or termed ridiculous.
For my part, I own that I cannot sufficiently express my horror of the
wretch who could thus deliberately attempt the life of another. How
lucky was it, Gerald, that you arrived at that critical moment; but have
you no idea--not the slightest--of the person of the assassin or of his
intended victim?"
"Not the slightest--the disguise of the person was too effectual to be
penetrated, and the face I had not once an opportunity of beholding.
"Yet," observed Miss Montgomerie, "from your previous description of the
figure, it is by no means a matter of certainty that it was not a woman
you pursued, instead of a man--or, was there anything to betray the
vacillation of purpose which would naturally attend one of our sex in an
enterprise of the kind."
"What, a woman engage in so unnatural a deed!" remarked Henry
Grantham--"surely, Miss Montgomerie," for he always spoke rather _at_
than _to_ her--"cannot seek to maintain a supposition so opposed to all
probability--neither will she be so unjust towards herself as to admit
the existence of such monstrous guilt in the heart of another of her
sex."
"Impossible!" said Gerald. "Whatever might have been my impression when
I first saw the figure in the merchantman--that is to say, if I had then
a doubt in regard to the sex, it was entirely removed, when later I
beheld the unfaltering energy with which it entered upon its murderous
purpose. The hand of woman never could have been armed with such fierce
and unflinching determination as that hand."
"The emergency of the occasion, it would seem, did not much interfere
with your study of character," observed Miss Montgomerie, with a faint
smile--"but you say you fired--was it with intent to kill the killer?"
"I scarcely know with what intent myself; but if I can rightly
understand my own impulse, it was more with a view to divert him from
his deadly object, than to slay--and this impression acquires strength
from the fact of my having missed him--I am almost sorry now that I
did."
"Perhaps," said Miss Montgomerie, "you might have slain one worthier
than him you sought to save. As one of your oldest poets
sings--whatever is is right----"
"What!" exclaimed the younger Grantham with emphasis, "Can Miss
Montgomerie then form any idea of the persons who figured in that
scene?"
Most of the party looked at the questioner with surprise. Gerald frowned
and for the first time in his life entertained a feeling of anger
against his brother. In no way moved or piqued by the demand, Miss
Montgomerie calmly replied:
"I can see no just reason for such inference, Mr. Grantham; I merely
stated a case of possibility, without anything which can refer to the
merit of either of the parties."
Henry Grantham felt that he was rebuked--but although he could not avoid
something like an apologetical explanation of his remark, he was not the
more favorably disposed towards her who had forced it from him. In this
feeling he was confirmed by the annoyance he felt at having been visited
by the anger of the brother to whom he was so attached. Arrived at Hog
Island, and equipped with their guns and fishing rods, the gentlemen
dispersed in quest of game, some threading the mazes of the wood in
quest of the various birds that frequent the vicinity, others seeking
those points of the island where the dense foliage affords a shade to
the numerous delicately-flavored fish which, luxuriating in the still
deep water, seek relief from the heat of summer. To these latter
sportsmen the ladies of the party principally attached themselves,
quitting them only at intervals to collect pebbles on the sands, or to
saunter about the wood, in search of the wild flowers or fruits that
abounded along its skirt, while the servants busied themselves in
erecting the marquee and making preparation for dinner.
Among those who went in pursuit of game were the Granthams, who, like
most Canadians, were not only excellent shots, but much given to a sport
in which they had had considerable practice in early boyhood. For a
short time they had continued with their companions; but as the wood
became thicker and their object consequently more attainable by
dispersion, they took a course parallel with the point at which the
fishers had assembled, while their companions continued to move in an
opposite direction. There was an unusual reserve in the manner of the
brothers as they now wound through the intricacies of the wood. Each
appeared to feel that the other had given him cause for displeasure, and
each--unwilling to introduce the subject most at heart--availed himself
with avidity rather of the several opportunities which the starting of
the game afforded for conversation of a general nature. They had gone on
in this manner for some time, and having been tolerably successful in
their sport, were meditating their return to the party on the beach,
when the ear of Gerald was arrested by the drumming of a partridge at a
short distance. Glancing his quick eye in the direction whence the sound
came, he beheld a remarkably fine bird, which, while continuing to beat
its wings violently against the fallen tree on which it was perched, had
its neck outstretched and its gaze intently fixed on some object below.
Tempted by the size and beauty of the bird, Gerald fired and it fell to
the earth. He advanced, stooped, and was in the act of picking it up,
when a sharp and well known rattle was heard to issue from beneath the
log. The warning was sufficient to save him, had he consented even for
an instant to forego his prize; but, accustomed to meet with these
reptiles on almost every excursion of the kind, and never having
sustained any injury from them, he persevered in disengaging the
partridge from some briers with which, in falling, it had got entangled.
Before he could again raise himself, an enormous rattlesnake had darted
upon him, and stung with rage perhaps at being deprived of its victim,
had severely bitten him above the left wrist. The instantaneous pang
that darted throughout the whole limb caused Gerald to utter an
exclamation; and dropping the bird, he sank, almost fainting, on the log
whence his enemy had attacked him.
The cry of agony reached Henry Grantham as he was carelessly awaiting
his brother's return and at once forgetting their temporary
estrangement, and full of eager love and apprehension--he flew to
ascertain the nature of the injury. To his surprise and horror he
remarked that, although not a minute had elapsed since the fangs of the
reptile had penetrated into the flesh, the arm was already considerably
inflamed and exhibiting then a dark and discolored hue. That a remedy
was at hand he knew but what it was, and how to be applied he was not
aware, the Indians alone being in the possession of the secret. Deeming
that Sambo might have some knowledge of the kind, he now made the woods
echo with the sound of his name, in a manner that could not fail to
startle and alarm the whole of the scattered party. Soon afterwards the
rustling of forms was heard in various directions, as they forced
themselves through the underwood, and the first who came in sight was
Miss Montgomerie, preceded by the old negro. The lamentation of the
latter was intense, and when on approaching his young master, he
discovered the true nature of his accident and confessed his ignorance
of all remedy, he burst into tears, and throwing himself upon the earth
tore his grey woollen hair away, regardless of all entreaty on the part
of Gerald to moderate his grief. Miss Montgomerie now came forward, and
never did sounds of melody fall so harmoniously on the ear, as did her
voice on that of the younger Grantham as she pledged herself to the
cure, on their instant return to the spot where the marquee had been
erected. With this promise she again disappeared, and several others of
the party having now joined them, Gerald, duly supported, once more
slowly retraced his way to the same point.
"Damn him pattridge," muttered Sambo, who lingered a moment or two in
the rear to harness himself with the apparatus of which his master had
disencumbered his person. "Damn him pattridge," and he kicked the
lifeless bird indignantly with his foot, "you all he cause he dis; what
he hell he do here?"
This tirade however against the pattridge did not by any means prevent
the utterer from eventually consigning it to its proper destination in
the game bag as the noblest specimen of the day's sport, and thus
burthened he issued from the wood, nearly at the same moment with the
wounded Gerald and his friends.
The consternation of all parties on witnessing the disaster of the
sailor, whose arm had already swollen to a fearful size, while the wound
itself began to assume an appearance of mortification, was strongly
contrasted with the calm silence of Miss Montgomerie, who was busily
employed in stirring certain herbs which she was boiling over the fire
that had been kindled in the distance for the preparation of the dinner.
The sleeve of the sufferer's shooting jacket had been ripped to the
shoulder by his brother and as he now sat on a pile of cloaks within the
marquee, the rapid discoloration of the white skin, could be distinctly
traced, marking as it did the progress of the deadly poison towards the
vital portion of the system. In this trying emergency all eyes were
turned with anxiety on the slightest movement of her who had undertaken
the cure, and none more eagerly than those of Henry Grantham and
Gertrude D'Egville, the latter of whom, gentle even as she was, could
not but acknowledge a pang of regret that to another, and that other a
favored rival--should be the task of alleviating the anguish and
preserving the life of the only man she had ever loved.
At length Miss Montgomerie came forward; and never was a beneficent
angel more welcomed than did Henry Grantham welcome her, whom an hour
since he had looked upon with aversion, when with a countenance of
unwonted paleness but confident of success, she advanced towards the
opening of the marquee, to which interest in the sufferer had drawn even
the domestics. All made way for her approach. Kneeling at the side of
Gerald, and depositing the vessel in which she had mixed her
preparation, she took the wounded arm in her own fair hands with the
view, it was supposed, of holding it while another applied the remedy.
Scarcely however had she secured it in a firm grasp when, to the
surprise and consternation of all around, she applied her own lips to
the wound and continued them there in despite of the efforts of Gerald
to withdraw his arm, nor was it until there was already a visible
reduction in the size, and change in the color of the limb that she
removed them. This done she arose and retired to the skirt of the wood
whence she again returned in less than a minute. Even in the short time
that had elapsed, the arm of the sufferer had experienced an almost
miraculous change. The inflammation had greatly subsided, while the
discoloration had retired to the immediate vicinity of the wound, which
in its turn however had assumed a more virulent appearance. From this it
was evident that the suction had been the means of recalling, to the
neighborhood of the injury, such portions of the poison as had expanded,
concentrating all in one mass immediately beneath its surface, and
thereby affording fuller exposure to the action of the final remedy.
This--consisting of certain herbs of a dark color, and spread at her
direction by the trembling hands of Gertrude, on her white
handkerchief--Miss Montgomerie now proceeded to apply, covering a
considerable portion around the orifice of the two small wounds,
inflicted by the fangs of the serpent, with the dense mass of the
vegetable preparation. The relief produced by this was effectual, and in
less than an hour, so completely had the poison been extracted, and the
strength of the arm restored, that Gerald was enabled not merely to
resume his shooting jacket, but to partake, although sparingly of the
meal which followed.
It may be presumed that the bold action of Miss Montgomerie passed not
without the applause it so highly merited, yet even while applauding,
there were some of the party, and particularly Henry Grantham, who
regarded it with feelings not wholly untinctured with the unpleasant.
Her countenance and figure, as she stood in the midst of the forest,
preparing the embrocation, so well harmonizing with the scene and
occupation; the avidity with which she sucked the open wound of the
sufferer, and the fearless manner in which she imbibed that which was
considered death to others; all this, combined with a general demeanor
in which predominated a reserve deeply shaded with mystery, threw over
the actor and the action an air of the preternatural, occasioning more
of surprise and awe than prepossession. Such, especially, as we have
said, was the impression momentarily, produced on Henry Grantham; but
when he beheld his brother's eye and cheek once more beaming with
returning strength and health, he saw in her but the generous preserver
of that brother's life to whom his own boundless debt of gratitude was
due. It was at this moment that, in the course of conversation on the
subject, Captain Molineux inquired of Miss Montgomerie, what antidote
she possessed against the influence of the poison. Every eye was turned
upon her as she vaguely answered, a smile of peculiar meaning playing
over her lips, that "Captain Molineux must be satisfied with knowing she
bore a charmed life." Then again it was that the young soldier's
feelings underwent another reaction, and as he caught the words and look
which accompanied them, he scarcely could persuade himself she was not
the almost vampire and sorceress that his excited imagination had
represented.
Not the least deeply interested in the events of the morning, was the
old negro. During their meal, at the service of which he assisted, his
eyes scarcely quitted her whom he appeared to regard with a mingled
feeling of awe and adoration; nay, such was his abstraction that, in
attempting to place a dish of game on the rude table at which the party
sat, he lodged the whole of the contents in the lap of Middlemore, a
clumsiness that drew from the latter an exclamation of horror, followed
however the instant afterwards by Sambo's apology.
"I beg a pardon, Massa Middlemore," he exclaimed, "I let him fall he
gravey in he lap."
"Then will you by some means contrive to lap it up?" returned the
officer quaintly.
Sambo applied his napkin and the dinner proceeded without other
occurrence. Owing to an apprehension that the night air might tend to
renew the inflammation of the wounded arm, the boat was early in
readiness for the return of the party, whose day of pleasure had been in
some manner turned into a day of mourning, so that long before sun set,
they had again reached their respective homes at Detroit.