TREACHERY WITHIN TREACHERY.
"Massa!" said the mulatto, after he had rowed awhile, till large drops
of sweat rolled down his forehead--"massa, this is confounded hard work!
Shall we drink a drop?--the bottle lies beside you." And he raised his
oar out of the water whilst he said these words, so that the clear drops
slowly trickled from it into the stream; Dr. Normann also stopped
rowing, and breathed hard.
"Confound it!" he then whispered, "this is cursed hard work! I should
like you to take the oar a little. There you sit at your ease, enjoying
yourself! Let me steer awhile."
Normann made this proposition more for the purpose of getting beside
Bertha than to be released from the work, which, though hard, was not
altogether new to him; the bold looks which the rascally Yankee now no
longer turned away for a moment from the girl, did not please him, and
he was less and less able to suppress a growing suspicion that the
American did not mean fair play.
"Nonsense!" retorted Turner, who appeared by no means disposed to give
up good-naturedly any advantage which he might have obtained. "You want
to steer, do you? so that we may run foul of bushes or snags every
minute, and afterwards get too late into the Mississippi--eh? No, every
second is worth gold, and the change of places would occupy us too long.
Row away! row away!--rest when we are once in the river!--there's no
time for it now. Away!--when we're in the Mississippi, _you_ may
steer,--a trifle either way is of no consequence there. Away, I say! or
you will have no one to thank but yourself for the destruction of us
all!"
The men took to their oars again in silence, and shot down stream with
wonderful speed. The moon lent them her silver light; and it was not
until they caught sight of the shining sheet of water, the Mississippi,
that they stopped a moment to take counsel whether they should attempt
the passage at once, or reconnoitre first.
Turner voted for the latter plan, and the mulatto was despatched to
examine the safety of the mouth; but he returned within a few minutes,
laughing, and chuckled out, shaking all the time with inward enjoyment--
"Just as I s'posed!--a confounded rough road through the woods, and the
worthy Dutchmen will have a while to ride yet, before they catch sight
of the shore! Well, I wish 'em joy! But now, massa, I must have a drink,
by golly! or else I wont touch an oar again!"
Turner handed him over the flask in silence, but immediately turned to
Normann, and said--
"Doctor, it's time that we changed places; now you may steer. But just
step ashore a minute; we must bale the water out of the boat--the
confounded thing leaks. Confusion! what a row those dogs are
making!--and yet they're to windward of us. What the devil ails them?"
"No cons'quence," grinned the mulatto; "the people will think they are
barking at the steamer that is just passing up stream. But, hallo,
massa! she's going close in shore!--will make great swell."
"We had better lighten our boat," said Turner, "else we may perhaps end
by getting swamped."
"There's no fear," said Normann. "With this boat, I'd row under the
very paddles of the Sultana herself, and she shouldn't ship a drop!"
"Yes, when you're once out in deep water," growled Turner; "but here, so
close to the mud bank, stuck all over with old snags, the devil may
trust it!--it's easy work, and 'tis better to be safe! If we ship water
now, who knows but that the horsemen may be upon us before we have time
to bale it out again."
Without awaiting any further answer from Normann, he took Bertha's
sister this time in his arms, and carried her ashore. This had the
wished-for result; Normann followed quickly with Bertha, who turned her
pale countenance away with a shudder, when she felt herself touched by
the hands of the scoundrel; and the mulatto had to mount guard, Turner
putting the painter into the doctor's hand, to hold the light vessel,
whilst he himself, notwithstanding all the swaying and rocking from the
swell, driven up the Halchee by the steamer, which now rushed past,
baled her out. As soon as this work was concluded, he gave a gentle
whistle, scarce audible, and the mulatto immediately came running down
the steep river bank.
"Bring one of the girls," said Turner to him--"the eldest first: so; lay
her this way. Doctor, you'll get seated between the two lasses now, only
don't let them make you forget to steer." He laughed, at the same time,
quietly to himself, and it struck the doctor as though he whispered a
few words to the mulatto. Be that as it might, Norman's suspicions
became stronger, and he was thinking of letting go the rope, and taking
his place in the boat again, when the mulatto came back.
"Now, massa doctor," said the yellow fellow, showing his ivories--"take
the youngest one, if you please,--I'll hold the boat so long." He took
hold of the rope, and advanced the right foot. Normann stood, for a few
seconds, in doubt, but then turned half aside from him, as though he
were about to follow his advice; the half-son of Africa, too, allowed
himself to be deceived, sprang rapidly towards the boat, shoved it
quickly from the shore, and was just about to follow with a rapid
spring, when Normann, who perhaps had a notion of something of the
sort--and yet, again, could scarce believe that his own friends would
leave him in the lurch in so shameful a manner--upset the well-spun
scheme, by suddenly throwing himself upon, and flinging his arms round
him.
"Hold, sir!" he cried--"you rascal--you! You don't escape so! Turner,
you perjured villain! would you betray me?"
"Make yourself loose, Nick!" cried Turner to the mulatto--"make yourself
loose!--quick! By Jove, I hear the horses! We are lost if they catch
us!"
"You scoundrel! I keep you in pawn!" cried the doctor, who was now
driven to extremity. "He can't get away alone, and we shall, at all
events, go to the devil together!"
"Haven't you a knife about you, Nick?" exclaimed Turner. The danger
increased every moment: a few minutes more must decide their fate. "Come
quick!--come both of you, then, in the name of all the devils in
hell!--only quickly!" he cried, at last, in a rage, for he knew how
invaluable every second was. But even if he could have made the
combatants comprehend his wish, Normann, after what had taken place,
would not, on any account, have put himself into the hands of his
treacherous companions; but as it was, neither of the two enraged men
heard even a syllable of the proposal. Nick had, with infinite trouble,
got his hand into his pocket, and pulled out a small pocket pistol,
which he quickly and secretly turned towards the German's forehead. But
this movement of his opponent had not remained unobserved by the latter,
and he threw his arm upward, and struck the weapon aside, at the very
moment the mulatto was pulling the trigger: the ball even grazed his
ear, and the powder singed his face. But now, driven to the extremity
of rage, he no longer heard even the approaching galloping of the
horses, but seizing the slim figure of the negro with all the strength
he possessed, he threw him to the ground. In the same moment, the
pursuers appeared on the river bank, close above the two wrestlers, and
Turner's boat glided out beneath the shadow of the bushes into the
Mississippi.
"Confusion!" said the Yankee, gnashing his teeth, finding he had to
handle the two heavy oars in tholes which did not correspond. "Confusion
seize that awkward brute of a nigger! to let himself be upset like that
by a Dutchman; if they only hang the varmint, and I hear of it, that'll
be some comfort! Well, my pretty, now we two must make the journey
alone," he said, turning grinning to the prisoner lying before him;
"didn't I tell you, my poppet, that you----"
"Help, help, here! Help!" suddenly cried with a loud voice, the unhappy
girl, who had, meanwhile, with the most fearful exertions, freed herself
from the gag. "Help, here! Help!"
In the next instant, the palm of the American's hand was on her lips,
and he whispered to her, through his clenched teeth--
"Ho-ho! my pretty little dove, must I draw the bit a little tighter?
So," he continued, whilst he made any further attempt at screaming
futile, by a large woollen cloth--"so! if it should be a little close
for you, you must bear it; over in Arkansas, I'll make you more
comfortable."
He seized the oars once more, and pulled away till the tumid veins on
his forehead threatened to burst the skin;--"Stop!" resounded across
from the shore, and, as he was gazing thither, to see to whom the call
was addressed, for he was himself too far for it to have reference to
him--a flash gleamed in the obscurity and the report of a shot followed.
His attention was thus drawn to the direction in which the shot was
fired, and to his astonishment and alarm, he just discerned, in the dim
light of the moon, the dark shadow of a second boat gliding on, which
evidently must be following him. Although he could not account, in the
first place, where this boat had come from, as the mulatto had found
none thereabouts, or, secondly, why his enemies should fire upon it,
yet, he did not, for a moment, hesitate in concluding it to contain, as
it really did, _pursuers_; and his sole aim now was to reach the
opposite shore before it. Once there with his prize, he could, under the
dark shadow of the woods, either give them the slip, with his boat even,
or else easily carry his prize into the thicket, where pursuit would be
useless. So, with his face turned to the dark spot, from which the
flashing light of the oars, as they were lifted out of the water, alone
announced the activity with which those in it were striving after their
object, he himself pulled away lustily, and shaped his course, so as to
give way a little to the stream, not exactly across, but rather
endeavouring to maintain his advantage, as he still thought it possible
to escape them by superior speed.
But he was soon undeceived, for although the pirogue was unquestionably
clumsier in the water than the excellently modelled boat, yet the latter
was not adapted to be rowed by one person: the tholes lay opposite
separate seats, the one more forward than the other, and the working of
both at the same time was highly inconvenient. Turner, who knew how to
scull, might, it is true, have easily got his boat down stream in that
way, but he could not have made, in that fashion, so much way as the
pirogue, and, he was consequently obliged for his own safety to choose
the less convenient but more advantageous mode.
Still, the pursuers gained upon him, and he was obliged to turn the head
of his boat more towards the stream, in order to reach the opposite
shore as soon as possible. But this movement, which did not pass
unnoticed by Helldorf, only redoubled the zeal of the Germans, and the
steersman warned the rowers several times, not to pull too violently,
lest they should break one of their oars, a loss which could not have
been made good.
Turner was now compelled, in order to get more command of the lower or
larboard oar, and be enabled to stem the stream, to change the tholes,
which occupied him some seconds, for whilst he stopped rowing, the
boat's head turned quite towards the stream, and she lost her course.
Scarcely had the American resumed his seat, and got his little vessel in
her former direction, before he saw how much nearer the enemy had
advanced, and became conscious of the danger which threatened him. The
current, besides, had carried him further down than he anticipated, and
he observed, on turning his head to look, that he must touch the upper
part of the sandbank, situate on the opposite side of the river, about
three English miles below the one before alluded to, and would not be
able to give his pursuers the slip in the shadow of the woods, or in the
top of some tree fallen into the water. All that remained for him was to
save his own life, and gnashing his teeth, he was compelled to admit to
himself, that the booty, which he had considered so safe, was lost to
him. There is no knowing what he might have done in the first moment of
rage, had he only dared to cease rowing for an instant; but as it was,
he found himself almost within shot of the silently approaching
avengers, and knew well enough, unless he reached the sandbank sooner,
and much sooner, too, than they, that he should be exposed to their
fire. He could not possibly dare to hope, that people who engaged in
such a pursuit were unarmed, and yet such was the case; not one of the
three carried so much as a pistol, and they had simply, on the impulse
of the moment, and relying on the goodness of their cause, followed a
desperate ruffian, who, there could be no doubt, would have sold his
life dearly.
Turner, never without a weapon himself, thought the same probable of
others, and as his pursuers were Germans, they naturally, according to
his idea, carried nothing else than fowling pieces or shot guns, and
those double-barrelled ones. But, just now, he dreaded those more than
he did a ball, for it was more probable that he should be hit by them,
and perhaps crippled, than with a bullet. He therefore exerted himself
in desperation, his limbs were bathed in sweat, his sinews strained
almost to starting, and he was scarcely fifty yards distant from the
strand which promised him deliverance, when the boat ran upon one of the
numerous tongues of sand which in that place run out into the stream,
and grounded hard and fast. Turner well knew how impossible it would be
for him, under existing circumstances, to get her afloat again, and
therefore, without a second's further delay, seized his rifle and shot
bag, and jumped overboard, and ran, with rapid bounds, through the
water, which there was scarcely a foot in depth, towards the sandy
shore. He had hardly reached it, before he began to spring across the
hard sand in zig-zag, in order to avoid any shot which might happen to
be sent after him, and in doing this performed such extraordinary
gambols, that Schwarz, who immediately guessed what he was in dread of,
and knew the groundlessness of his fears, broke out into a loud laugh.
But Werner, who troubled himself little about the runaway rascal, if he
could only succeed in saving his sweetheart, was in half a minute's time
beside the boat left in the lurch, in which the maiden, bound and
gagged, was still lying. He was in it with a rapid spring, and in the
next moment, Bertha, swooning from joyous surprise, rested upon his
breast.
For the unhappy girl had had no means of forming an idea that any body
was in pursuit of her kidnapper; although she heard the shot fired at
the canoe, yet, as she was lying in the stern of the boat, with her face
turned forward, and could only see the exertion with which the scoundrel
was rowing, she gave herself up for lost. Nor had she been able to
perceive the happy consequences which had ensued from her cry for help,
for the American had immediately thrown himself upon her, and stifled
any further sound by a new bandage. When, therefore, she felt, as she
supposed, the boat touch the shore, she abandoned all hope, and stared,
with fixed and horrified gaze, at the man in whose ruffianly power she
now believed herself. But how astonished was she, when, without
bestowing a single word upon her, he jumped out of the boat into the
splashing water, and directly afterwards another boat glided alongside,
out of which--gracious Heaven! was it one of thy angels that thou hadst
sent?--the very man sprang to whom her whole pure soul hung with
devotion. The joy was too overwhelming; she cast a single look of
gratitude upward, into the clear sky, and then sank back, unconscious,
into the arms which were clasped around her.
In the same moment of time Turner disappeared in the thicket of young
cotton-wood saplings, which skirted the sand-bank.
"I say, Helldorf, I think we shall make a good exchange here," said
Schwarz, laughing, as he followed Werner into the captured boat; "well
leave our old hollow log behind us: what say you?"
"Why, of course," said Helldorf; "but we'll tow it into the current
again, so that yonder varmint may not chance to use it to get away.
Without a vessel, may he be devoured by mosquitoes in Mississippi
swamps."
"What jumps he took!" said Schwarz, still laughing at the thought of the
Yankee's zig-zag flight. "He thought, no doubt, that we had a whole
arsenal of fire arms aboard; but, by Jove, here are two rifles, and a
whole box full of provision, apparently."
"It will be time enough for examination when we get back," said
Helldorf. "Werner, can you steer?"
He nodded his head in silence, but did not remove his eyes from off the
countenance of his beloved, whose deadly pale temples he bathed with
the cool water of the stream.
"But we're fast aground!" exclaimed Schwarz.
"Wet feet won't hurt us much," Helldorf interrupted him, and jumped
overboard at once to shove the boat afloat again. Schwarz quickly
followed his example; in a few seconds they felt the boat give way to
their efforts, and soon it rocked freely and merrily again in deeper
water.
The men now jumped in, and whilst they vigorously plied the long oars,
Werner took hold of the tiller with his left hand, while with his right
he supported his beloved. The well-modelled boat glided with the speed
of an arrow towards the Eastern shore once more.
But there, meanwhile, things had proceeded wildly and confusedly enough.
Wolfgang and Herbold, throwing themselves from their horses, had seized
the two traitors, who were struggling with each other; but the mulatto
would certainly have escaped from the firm grasp of Herbold, for, quick
as lightning, he drew a small knife from his girdle, from the use of
which the doctor had hitherto prevented him, and stuck it into the
shoulder of the German, who instantly let go his hold in alarm; but
Pastor Hehrmann, although he shrank from shooting a fellow-being, even
though as vile a criminal as he who stood before him, yet could not help
giving some vent to his just rage, and, swinging round his weapon
quickly, he struck, with its butt end, the hard-sculled son of Ethiopia,
with such good will, on the head, that the stock broke in two, and the
mulatto was doubled up without speech or movement. In the next moment,
he, as well as Normann, whom Wolfgang held with an iron grasp, were
bound so fast that they could not budge. Pastor Hehrmann had, in the
meantime, discovered his poor younger child lying on the ground, almost
lifeless with anxiety and dread; he loosened her bands, and pressed her
affectionately to his bosom, when the report of Von Schwanthal's shot
turned their attention in that direction. They now made out both boats
in the moonlight, but all of them remained in uncertainty, for who in
the world could the pursuers be, if the first boat contained the
fugitive and his booty. Louisa increased their doubts by stating that
the American was the only one now left of the treacherous band, and the
Germans could not imagine where the other boat came from. Had Providence
sent it to save the poor innocent girl from the hands of her kidnapper,
or did it only bear away others of his rascally accomplices, who,
perhaps, had been lying here in ambuscade to cover the traitor's flight?
The prisoners were required to give them some explanation; but, however
ready the mulatto might be to tell all that he knew, in the hope of
saving his dark skin, yet he was compelled to confess that the second
boat was unknown to him, and certainly did not belong to their party.
This was the only circumstance which left the miserable father a glimmer
of hope, although he could not conceive who the men might be who had
hastened to the salvation of his child, so unexpectedly, and at so
critical a moment. He could now only pray that Heaven might prosper
their good work; and, with folded hands, and with his sobbing daughter
leaning on his breast, the poor unhappy man stood and gazed, fixed and
motionless, out into the silent surface of the stream, as though he
would have penetrated the obscurity which shrouded it.
Normann and the mulatto lay firmly bound beneath a tree, and Von
Schwanthal stood beside them, with his gun again loaded and cocked; but
Herbold pulled off his coat, and was just endeavouring, by the faint
light of the moon, to examine the wound which he had received from the
steel of the mulatto, when they heard the rustling of the bushes, and
the younger Siebert, Schmidt, and an Alsatian, the former armed with a
double-barrelled gun, and the other two carrying formidable bludgeons in
their fists, rushed towards them. They were soon informed of the state
of affairs, and the clubmen were turned into watchers of the prisoners,
whilst Siebert laid down his weapon, and looked at Herbold's wound; it
proved altogether free from danger; the uncertain thrust had but grazed
the shoulder and torn the skin; a linen handkerchief was bound over it,
and there was nothing more to be feared from it.
It was then that Pastor Hehrmann, who had never turned away his eyes
from the river, suddenly exclaimed, as he pointed, with his left arm
outstretched, down the stream--
"Did you hear nothing? was not that a sound like an oar creaking against
the hard wood of a boat's side?"
All listened, and for some seconds absolute silence ensued, then it
sounded distinctly across the water. All heard, at measured intervals,
the regular working of a pair of oars, but they still remained in
uncertainty whether the boat to which they belonged was going down the
stream, or whether it was returning. After a quarter of an hour of the
most exciting and painful expectation, Herbold first discerned a dark
point in the lighter surface of the water, and soon after, every moment
more distinctly, the outline of a boat became visible, ploughing the
stream, and, it could no longer be doubted, making for the eastern
shore. Now the separate figures of those in it might be
distinguished--there were three of them--two rowed, and one was at the
tiller--but what was that? Was there not something white lying in the
stern? Something now moved in the boat, a white handkerchief was
waved:--
"The Hoffnung, ahoy!" cried a loud voice to the shore.
"Gracious Heaven!" said Pastor Hehrmann, and his knees trembled with
joyous alarm, "gracious Heaven! was not that Werner's voice? And my
daughter----Bertha----"
"Is saved!" the other called back; "we bring her; father, she is here!"
The boat glided into the shade of the projecting trees, and immediately
after they heard it strike upon the soft mud. How Pastor Hehrmann flew
down the steep bank and clasped the child who was found again, he hardly
knew himself. It was only when held in Bertha's arms, and when that
excellent girl, who up to that moment had exhibited fortitude and moral
strength, broke out into convulsive sobs, and clasped her father's neck,
as though she would never, never more loosen her embrace, that he
comprehended, that he felt, that he had indeed got both his dear
children back, and with a voice almost choked by emotion, he cried--
"My Lord, I thank thee!"
How describe, with cold dead words, the feelings which the happy ones
felt, when, in constantly renewed embraces, they felt completely that
they were restored to each other, never more to be separated! How gladly
did the father welcome the worthy deliverers of his daughters, two of
whom were already his old and dear friends, and how often had they to
recount again and again how they had just happened to arrive in time to
save Bertha from an ill which--he shuddered at the mere thought of such
misery!
And why, during all these relations, did the dear great hearted girl
hide her little head, with a deep blush, in her father's breast? Why did
she not look freely and openly into the eyes of those who had so readily
hurried to her rescue when she was in need and danger, as she had
hitherto, unconscious of evil, done towards all men? Oh, do not press
the poor girl, her nerves have not recovered from the fright and dread,
and--Werner has, during the short passage, been whispering so many, so
very many things into her ears, that--but 'tis no business of ours, and
we had better stick to our story.
"What's to be done now with these two fellows here?" said Von
Schwanthal, who probably felt the evening air getting too damp for his
taste. "Shall we take them into the house, or shall we carry them to the
settlement with us?"
"Well leave them here," said Wolfgang; "what's the use of dragging them
about any further? Either we will pronounce judgment upon them ourselves
to-morrow, which, at all events would be the shorter course, or we will
take them, bound, in the boat, to Memphis, so that they may be punished
there."
"That will certainly be best," said Pastor Hehrmann, "for, may Heaven
preserve us from executing the law ourselves, as I have heard is
sometimes practised here in America! We will not dye our hands in human
blood."
"Am I dreaming?" said Helldorf, who had stopped to listen as soon as he
heard Wolfgang's voice, advancing towards the latter, and availing
himself of the uncertain light of the moon. "Isn't that--by all that's
wonderful!--Wolfgang!"
"Helldorf!" the other exclaimed, embracing his friend, and pressing him
to his breast--"Helldorf, God bless you, my dear fellow--Helldorf!" and
with that word, the name of a man with whom he had in past times shared
joy and sorrow--the remembrance came upon him suddenly of all that he
had lost, of all that he had suffered, and he cast himself in dumb and
scarce bearable agony on the shoulder of his friend.
"Friends! I have a hundred dollars in gold upon me," Dr. Normann now
suddenly whispered to the two men who kept watch over him; "they are
yours if you will cut through the cord, and turn away your head for a
moment."
"Hit him over the head, Hans, if he opens his mouth again," said
Schmidt, growling a hearty curse to himself into the bargain. "Does the
blackguard think to bribe us, too? Wait, you dog!"
Under any other circumstances it is probable that Normann would have
been deterred by this not over-encouraging answer, but the sound of the
voices of the two men, Wolfgang and Helldorf, filled his soul with
horror, and he dreaded the worst.
"I have five hundred dollars with me," he whispered again, as he
endeavoured to raise himself; "my men, I'll make you rich, only loosen
my bands, and give me a minute's start. _Five hundred_ dollars, I say,
do you hear?--five hundred dollars!"
"Shall I give him a tap?" asked the Alsatian, and raised the heavy
iron-shod stick, which in starting he had seized in haste as the most
convenient weapon of offence and defence.
"It won't do any harm," Schmidt considered, growling, "for he has
already richly deserved----"
The Alsatian did not wait for the conclusion of his comrade's sentence,
but gave the bound criminal such a hard and well meant cut across the
shoulders, that the latter yelled with pain and rage.
"Hallo! what's up there?" Von Schwanthal now cried, as he levelled his
gun, and quickly advanced. "Is he trying to get away?"
"He's offering a bribe again," said Schmidt, laughing, "and the Alsatian
has forbidden him rather feelingly."
"Aha! he would like to be off," said Von Schwanthal, "I dare say. His is
a desperate case. I wouldn't be in his shoes for the best bearskin in
the world. But I think it would be better for us to take those worthies
in-doors. In the first place they can be easier guarded there, and
besides it's getting very unpleasant out here. Mr. Wolfgang, I dare say,
has got a little bread and meat--you understand!"
"Aha! you are hungry," said the party alluded to, with a smile; "well,
we shall manage to find something. But here comes Scipio, with fire, I
see. That's right of you, old fellow; throw the burning logs down here;
we are not going to stay out here all night, it is true, but they may
light us for the moment."
He took, at the same time, a burning pine-torch out of the old negro's
hand, and stepped up to the place where the malefactors were guarded.
"So this gentleman, here, wanted to bribe our watchmen, eh?" said
Wolfgang, while he passed the flaming light towards the pale face of the
doctor. "That, I suppose, is your much-praised Dr. Normann. Confusion!"
he suddenly cried out, interrupting himself, and starting back in
surprise, as though he had trodden on a snake--"Wæhler! Dr. Wæhler!
Then there is a retributive providence even in this world. Villain, thy
hour has come! Mary! Mary! here is revenge!" And before any of the
astonished spectators, who surrounded him, could interfere--yes, even
before the pale sinner himself had any notion of what was in store for
him--Wolfgang, driven by the sight of the hated one to the wildest and
most unbridled rage, swung the heavy brand which he carried in his hand,
and dashed it down with all his might upon the malefactor, who uttered a
loud scream of dread and horror. The sparks flew far around, and the
flame was extinguished--but again the glimmering club was raised and
threatened destruction to him who had now fallen back unconscious; it
was Pastor Hehrmann who saved him. He seized the enraged man's arm with
all his strength, and begged and entreated of him to stay, and not to
stain his soul with murder.
"Murder!" said Wolfgang, musingly. "Murder!" he re-echoed as if in a
dream. "Yes, yes, it would be murder--yet that villain, has he not
deserved death a thousand-fold at my hands? Was he not the cause that we
were obliged to leave the home we had founded in a beautiful country,
and that my wife now--killed by fever and grief--lies in the cold earth?
But you are right," he continued, after a short pause, whilst the
smoking torch fell from his hand--"you are right; I will not stain
myself with the blood of this villain--he shall be handed over to the
_hangman_, to whom he belongs."
"Hold there--hold fast!" cried Schmidt, as he made a spring, and missing
his footing, pulled down the Alsatian who stood beside him, to the
ground, too.
"Back!" cried Von Schwanthal, at the same time, as he opposed himself to
the dark form of the fugitive mulatto, who was just about to fly past
him into the thicket.
But perceiving the German levelling at him, and fearing the
fowling-piece, which stopped his only outlet in that direction, more, he
turned back and attacked young Siebert, who was taken by surprise, tore
the gun out of his hand, and then sprung with it, with a tremendous
leap, right into the stream, whose waters met over him again.
"Wait a bit, you scoundrel!" said Von Schwanthal, as he sprang to the
edge of the bank, and raised the gun to his cheek--"wait, you scoundrel!
only show your black woolly head again, and I'll let fly at you, so
that----"
"Let him go," Werner begged, as he pushed the barrel, which was already
aimed, aside--"we are all so happy, this evening. Human blood, spilt by
our hands, would put us out. He will not escape his fate."
"You are right, I will willingly leave him; however, you've saved his
life, that's certain, else by this time he would have been on the high
road to the infernal regions. But, if he really does go to the devil,
we've got the head and chief rogue, and he must pay the penalty for both
this time. Wait a bit, my little doctor, we'll make you swallow
something which shall be more bitter than your own pills."
But the doctor did not hear a word of all these friendly addresses, for,
stupified by the blow, he continued to lie there rigid and unconscious,
or else pretended to be so, and was carried by his sentinels into the
house.
The mulatto, who had made such good use of the moment when they were all
occupied with the doctor, and was now joyously dividing the flood with
sturdy arms, struck out towards the opposite shore. Von Schwanthal
could, for a long time, trace the light stripe which the swimmer left
behind him in the water. He certainly appeared to have escaped from the
hands of mortal avengers; but a greater one watched him; Nemesis
stretched forth her iron grasp towards him--he had met his fate.
There are few who can plough their way across the mighty father of the
waters--the Mississippi; the current is too strong; a thousand
whirlpools exhaust the swimmer, although they may not be powerful enough
to suck him down. The Mulatto stemmed the flood with powerful chest, and
had already reached the middle of the river; he then turned on his back
to rest, and now began again to labour with redoubled exertion.
But this it was which proved fatal to him; he had, from the very first,
to escape the still-dreaded shot, over-exerted himself, and now, when
fear lest he should not reach the saving shore came to be superadded, it
operated cripplingly upon him. His breathing became more laboured, his
movements quicker, but also fainter, and it was only the sight of the
shore, which constantly advanced more and more near, which yet
maintained his spirit. He had now attained the dark line that mirrored
the tree tops in the water, yet still the land receded about two hundred
yards more.
"Courage!" he faintly gasped, whilst he clenched his teeth as if in grim
defiance--"courage! yonder--but a few yards off, life and freedom
smile!--courage!" With a strength which he could only borrow from
despair, he divided the waters. He had but a few yards more to swim
before he could grasp the over-hanging willows of the shore. "Ha! how
strong the current rolls along on this side!" He could scarcely support
himself above the whirling flood.
"Help!" he cried: Turner must be on this side, and would hear him.
"Help!" In vain--twice, already, had he stretched out his hand to a
projecting branch, twice had the current's speed sucked him away from
under it. Now, again, a saving branch stretched out towards him--with a
last exertion of strength, he threw himself upwards and towards it; he
clutched the rocking branch which projected far into the river. But, oh!
unfortunate wretch, it gave way! it was but a floating reed which had
settled there, and that broke in the grasp. The mulatto sank--the waves
curled and gurgled above him. He yet clutched the treacherous reed in
his hand, and bore it with him into the deep. But there--yet again--as
if in the battle of struggling and wrestling life with the silent deep,
the dark figure reappeared from its watery grave; yet again it turned
its wild defying look up to the bright, silent, friendly moon, that
quietly and holily poured down her peaceful light, as well on the
passion-torn sons of man, as on the cold, slumbering, earth, and the
silver-gleaming stream. Yet again, a wild, blasphemous curse bubbled
from the ashen lips of the mulatto, and the convulsed body sank for ever
into the unceasingly further-rolling flood, as though nature would no
longer suffer that hideous distorted mask to abide further in the
wondrous harmony of her forms.
Their caution awakened by the flight of the mulatto, the Germans watched
their remaining prisoner with the greater attention and care, and the
whole of them now retired to Wolfgang's dwelling, partly to pass the
remainder of the night there, partly to maintain a fire, beside which
the remaining pursuers, whom they also expected to arrive shortly, might
warm and refresh themselves. However, hardly had Wolfgang completed the
arrangements for the convenience of his guests, before, to the surprise
of all, he led out his horse again, and told the men that he was about
to ride back to the settlement that very night, to communicate the happy
tidings of the result of their hunt to Madame Hehrmann, and relieve her
mind, for that the anxiety of the mother for her daughters so shamefully
carried off, must be boundless.
Pastor Hehrmann at first tried to prevent him, but as he probably was
alarmed for his poor wife himself, unless she should shortly receive
good tidings concerning her daughters, he ultimately offered himself as
a companion, and, notwithstanding Wolfgang positively declined this at
first, and affirmed that the pastor stood almost as much in need of rest
and care as his daughters, and that they must at all events have a
protector, yet the father was not deterred by that.
"I leave them to the care of their noble-minded preservers," he said,
grasping Werner's hand; "and to-morrow follow us as quickly as you
can--we shall await you impatiently."
Louisa was unwilling to part with her father, but surrounded by so many
friends, no further danger could threaten them, and to send tidings of
their safety was the very thing she had ardently wished. The two
horsemen, therefore, departed, and the remaining men divided themselves
into two watches, to relieve one another, so as not to be overpowered by
sleep. Werner, however, was excluded from these, for it now came out
that he had been wounded by Von Schwanthal's shot, and was very weak
from loss of blood. The wound, it is true, proved by no means dangerous,
yet it called for rest. Von Schwanthal, when he first heard of it, was
inconsolable, begged the young man's pardon a thousand times, offered to
keep watch himself all night, then abused the doctor and his base
accomplices again, and at last, proposed to permit their prisoner, who
probably knew some little of surgery, at all events, to use his hands so
far as to dress the wounded limb--the upper part of the right arm.
Werner had, meanwhile, found a much dearer and better doctor, than him
whom Von Schwanthal proposed--Bertha. Scarcely had she heard that the
young man was wounded--wounded on her account--before she quickly, and
with a strength which one would not have supposed her capable of, tore
off the linen kerchief which she wore lightly tied round her neck, and
begged--how could Werner resist such a request?--to be allowed to
examine, and bind up the wounded limb. Her sister lent a helping hand,
and Werner was ordered, notwithstanding all his opposition, to lie down
and rest himself, so that he might not catch cold, and the wound, which
then was not serious, be aggravated by inflammation. But he would not
agree to this on any condition--not even upon the persevering request of
the pretty girls; his place, he said, was beside the fire half the
night, but the other half with the watch, to preserve those from harm
whom he had been so fortunate as to save.
Accordingly, it was so done; the men relieved each other regularly,
although nothing suspicious further occurred, and, Normann was too
securely guarded to escape. It was not till the sun rose on the
following morning, in all his splendour and majesty, that they broke up
to depart, and to follow the tracks of the horsemen who had ridden on
before.
The only remaining horse was now applied to the use of the two young
ladies, and Bertha, with Louisa mounted behind her, sat as firmly in the
saddle as though she had been used to romp about on horseback from
infancy. But Werner walked by her side, and held the bridle of the
spirited horse, as it stamped along, or she might not have mustered
courage to do so. Normann was compelled to accompany the party with his
hands tied behind his back, and with Von Schwanthal marching close after
him; while the little negro was dispatched to the nearest town, to fetch
the sheriff, in order to deliver up the criminal into his hands. Scipio,
on the other hand, who had offered himself as their conductor, was to
keep up a good fire at the mouth of the Halchee, to collect the
scattered settlers, who, it was conjectured, had missed their way, and
bivouacked in the woods. Helldorf assured them that he was able readily
to find the road from the horse and wagon tracks.
Sure enough, the remaining pursuers of the kidnappers, although they had
not exactly lost themselves, yet had so entangled themselves in thickets
and briers, that they found it impossible to get on after darkness had
set in. Now they tumbled into a ditch, then stumbled over a branch or a
root, and tore their hands and faces in a most melancholy manner. In all
their troubles, they had kept closer and closer together, in order by
their mutual vicinity to keep off, in part at least, the uncomfortable
feeling which seized upon them, however brave they might be, when they
gazed into the surrounding darkness, whence now and then, wild, strange,
and sometimes fearful cries of animals resounded and filled them with
terror. By the next morning's light, however, they followed the course
of the Halchee, which brought them to the shores of the Mississippi,
where the trusty black received them, and gave them tidings of all that
had occurred.
The luggage of the three friends had been meanwhile got into Wolfgang's
house, and Scipio, who had first of all refreshed his guests with meat
and drink, conducted them, following the old wagon tracks, as Helldorf
had done, back to the settlement, where the poor little tailor took to
his bed at once, and, in consequence of the unusual exertion, had a
regular bone-shaking attack of the cold fever, or ague.