When Hepworth Coleman suddenly found himself a prisoner in that close,
dark room, he did not at first suspect any treachery on the part of
Judge Favart de Caumartin. He expected that gentleman to return in the
course of a few minutes, but this favorable impression was soon removed
by certain startling events that crowded one upon another.
First a low, rumbling, clanging sound, like the beating of metallic
gongs in the distance, came through the walls and filled the cell. Then
as this died away to utter silence he heard tumultuous whispering all
around, above, below. The thousand voices all seemed to be saying the
same thing, which presently he made out to be the words: "The Krewe is
coming; make ready for the Krewe!" When the whispering ended little
purple lights began to flash here and there, but so mysteriously glinted
that he could not locate them, and these were followed by phantom faces,
wan, waxen, faintly luminous, appearing and fading instantly, succeeded
by intense darkness.
Now, Hepworth Coleman was a man of iron nerve, an athlete in body and
spirit, who, although full of romantic and poetic impulses, was at the
base of his character as brave and steadfast as a lion. Still, even the
best courage has its moment of faltering, and just at the point when one
whole wall of his cell was withdrawn, so that he stood in the full glare
of twenty brilliant chandeliers that lighted a large, gorgeously
decorated hall, he felt the blood grow stiflingly heavy on his heart.
Before him stood a file of fantastic figures, men oddly clad and
strangely armed, who clashed their brazen shields together and pointed
their swords at his breast. On the walls of the spacious room hung
weird-looking trophies, skulls, pictures of dead men, ghastly and livid,
pistols, swords, and strange banners. The floor was carpeted with heavy
Persian tapestry, thickly padded underneath.
Coleman stood gazing while the file of armed men--perhaps platoon would
be more correct--went through some silent but intricate evolutions after
beating their shields together and threatening him with their swords.
When the movements were ended one of the masters came up to him and
struck him lightly with the flat of his weapon across the cheek, saying
in a loud whisper:
"Beware! you are in imminent danger."
Coleman took him at his word and instantly let go a blow from the
shoulder. His close-set fist met the masker's jaw with a sound of
crushing pasteboard, and down went the man outstretched at full length
on the floor, his shield and sword giving forth a muffled clang as they
crossed upon the soft carpet.
Quick as a cat Coleman leaped forward and picked up the sword, a
beautiful rapier, and, assuming a defensive attitude, cried out boldly:
"Come one at a time and I will fight you all!"
The fantastic figures looked at one another with evident questioning,
though not a word was said.
Meantime the fallen one scrambled to his feet and swore two or three
bitter French oaths. The leader rebuked him with gestures.
"Come one at a time, you cowardly villains," repeated Coleman, "and I'll
soon finish you all. Come on, the first one, if you dare meet a man!"
He was terribly angry, but his voice was steady and even.
There was a space of silence. Then the leader said something to one of
the men, who immediately cast aside his shield and advanced with his
rapier.
It was a short conflict. Coleman disarmed his antagonist with ease in
less than a minute.
Another man came on and shared the same fate, with the addition of a
prick through the wrist of the sword-arm.
This was exhilarating to Coleman in his exasperation at being made the
butt of some mysterious trick.
"Come next," he cried; "I want the best of you--and the best is a
coward. Come on!"
Evidently the mystic band now felt the gravity that the occasion was
assuming. The maskers looked to their leader.
"Don't stand there afraid," sneered Coleman; "come on and get your turn.
Who's next?"
One after another responded, only to fare badly. As yet, however, all
had escaped without deadly hurt, when the leader himself made ready to
fight. Those who had come to grief were quietly cared for by others, and
all seemed to treat the proceedings as by no means startling or even
unusual.
When the leader threw aside his shield and took off his tall
plume-covered hat, Coleman was able to recognize Judge Favart de
Caumartin, more by his form and bearing than by any disclosure of his
features.
As the Judge handled his rapier, all the company of maskers, even the
sorely-wounded ones, came forward to look on with eager expectation. His
was steel that never yet had failed to find the vitals of his opponent.
But, on the other hand, there stood Coleman, steadfast and alert, the
very picture of strength and will, and the embodiment of quickness and
certainty, his sword bearing at its point a tiny red clot of blood.
They looked with straining eyes and did not feel sure of the result even
with their captain as their champion.
"Come on, sir, and take your punishment, you cowardly leader of
cowards!" exclaimed Coleman in a most exasperating tone. "Don't stand
there dreading it. Pluck up a little nerve and come on!"
It is useless to say that Judge Favart de Caumartin needed no bullying
of this sort to urge him into combat. With beautiful swiftness and grace
he sprang forward and at once took the offensive. Then followed sword
play that was amazing to look at. Each combatant showed that mastery of
the fencing art which makes the weapon appear to be a part of the man.
So swiftly leaped the shining shafts of steel that the eye saw only fine
symmetrical figures shimmering between the fighters, while spangles of
fire leaped from the crossing edges. Coleman felt at once that he had
met his match; the Judge tingled with the discovery that here at last
was a master.
From the first it was a fight to the death if possible. Neither could
hope to disarm the other, nor was there probability of any mere
disablement ending the contest. The watchers, looking on in breathless
suspense, heard with intensely straining ears the almost magically rapid
clinking of the blades.
Coleman fought as if with the energy of all the accumulated romance of
his recent experiences, half recognizing, as he parried and thrust and
feinted and recovered guard, the vivid picturesqueness, the melodramatic
unreality, and yet the deadly intensity of the situation. He did not
know where he was or why he had been brought there. The whole affair had
mystery enough in it to have destroyed the will power of any weaker man;
but to him, while the strangeness affected his imagination, there was
nothing in the matter to make him falter or to weaken the force of his
arm. A fine glow of enthusiasm flashed indeed into his blood, and with
it an access of cunning grace and swift certainty of hand and eye. The
feeling prevailed that he had in some strange way stepped out of the
real world into the world of romance, and as he fought, the charm of
heroism fell upon him, and, like the knights of old, he felt the
strength of a glorious desperation. All round him the vague spirit of
dreamland seemed to hover, though the hideous pictures of skeletons and
cadavers gleamed real enough in the glare of the chandeliers. What
inspired him most, however, was the knowledge that he was trying his
force with that of the greatest duellist in the world, and one who had
always killed his man.
There was something more that gave spirit and courage to Coleman: he was
in some indirect way remembering the beautiful girl who had appeared at
the door of his room, and he half imagined that he was doing battle for
the right to know more of her. Youth is a mystery in itself, and love
knows no law of origin or of progress. By some cerebral slight, some
trick of thinking under a thought, so to say, Coleman was making a love
dream keep time to the ringing strokes of his sword. A girl whose name
he did not know, whose voice he had never heard, was inspiring him as he
strained every nerve.
As the combat proceeded, the lookers-on saw that Coleman's play was new
to the Judge, who found great difficulty in meeting and parrying certain
eccentric movements that invariably ended in a thrust of lightning
quickness. Presently the Judge tore off his mask with his left hand. He
had to do this at the risk of his life, for he could not breath freely
with it on. But his great skill saved him even then; nay, more, it came
near giving him the victory. As Coleman lunged, the agile creole leaped
aside and returned quickly with a wicked thrust that barely reached his
adversary's breast, piercing it to the depth of a half inch.
Now the fight took on more of passion and less of grace, as if the men
felt that it was to be a test of strength at last. Round and round, back
and forth, this way and that, they leaped, and recoiled, and advanced;
their faces--one dark and beautiful as a southern night, the other fair
and magnetic as a New England June day--fixed and staring, the white
froth gathering on their lips.
When the end came it was like nothing ever before witnessed in a New
Orleans duel. How it happened not one of the observers could tell; but
the two men appeared to rush into each other's arms, and then it was
seen that each had run the other through.
That broke the charm. The masked men sprang forward and separated the
combatants, and all began to speak at once.