It was as bright and beautiful a night as ever was seen; and the roads
through the woods, flooded with waves of light and shade, were full of
tranquil grandeur. In one spot, the eye could wander deep into the
heart of the forest, guided by the moonbeams, as they rested here upon
a piece of green turf, there upon a swelling mass of wild plants; here
caught upon the bole of an old tree, there glistening amongst the
reeds of plashy savannah. At another time, a deep, heavy mass of giant
trees, mingled with evergreens, intercepted the rays, and cast a thick
shadow over the path, only enlivened by the prospect of another gleam
of brightness beyond.
Silently I rode forward. A sudden and momentous strife and
excitement had interrupted my thoughts and feelings in their natural
current--dammed them up, as it were; but only to flow over again, with
deeper, though somewhat stiller, waves.
I need not say that all my thoughts were of Bessy Davenport. They were
very anxious, very gloomy, very bitter. I blamed myself for having
left her at all. I thought that if she had met with danger or death, I
should never forgive myself. No language which I can find will convey
any idea of the sensations I experienced--the internal shudder, as it
were, the wringing of the very heart of my spirit, when my mind
rested, even for a moment, on her possible, nay, her probable fate. It
was in vain I tried to console myself by trying to think I had acted
for the best. The homely but true and startling words of Billy Byles
came back to my mind,--"D----n the best; it is always the worst thing
a man can do;" and I was ready to pile curses upon my own head for
having abandoned, even for a moment, the task of protecting the dear
girl, with which Heaven seemed to have charged me.
Censure on myself, however, made me feel inclined to be more lenient
to others. Poor Zed, though I could not help feeling some bitterness
still, had only done, according to his views and capacity, what I had
done myself. He had acted for the best; and, softening towards him, I
called him up to my side; for hitherto he had ridden two or three
horse-lengths behind me.
"Tell me, Zed," I said, "and now, mind you tell me the truth, for I
will forgive anything rather than falsehood."
"I will tell the truth if I can, master," answered Zed; "but
sometimes, when I'm in a hurry, I can't tell de truth. The lies come
so thick and fast, they get all the uppermost, and I have no time to
put them down, and get the truth up from de bottom of de well, as men
say."
"Well then, take time and do not hurry," I answered. "You say you saw
Colonel Halliday in the wood. Was that true?"
"Oh, yes, indeed, master," he answered; "I saw him there, and six or
seven men with him."
"Was he on horseback or on foot?" I asked.
"He had been on horseback," replied Zed; "but he left his horses in de
path, and went in on foot, just where the two roads meet. I heard him
swear he saw a large smoke, and he would know what it was. I did not
let him see me, for he is a wild man, and was just as like to cut me
and uncle Jack down as not, because we had black skins."
"Then he went right on towards the smoke?" I demanded.
"Yes, that he did," replied the man; "and he must have gone some way
down, for his voice sounded quite small when he came out upon the road
again, and he hallooed to the people to bring him down the horses."
"Then he did not find any of the negroes?" I asked.
"No, how could he?" answered Zed; "for they did not come up till he
was gone. They saw him, I guess, and scattered to keep out of his way.
But he came first, that's certain. I can't tell quite sure where he
went, for I did not see him go; but he could not have been gone long
before you came up."
The man's words gave me great comfort; for it seemed certainly more
than probable, that if he pursued the course Zed mentioned, he must
have found Bessy and old Jenny where I had left them, and taken them
away under his escort; although I could not understand how the former
happened to have quitted the place without leaving something to
indicate what had occurred. She knew--she could not but know--the deep
anxiety I should feel; and Bessy Davenport's was not a heart, I
thought, to look upon that anxiety lightly.
However, still I was comforted. Hope and expectation revived; and as
soon as we got upon the high road, I pushed my horse on rapidly
towards Jerusalem. He went very slow, it seemed to me; and indeed he
was not the very best-blooded animal that ever was mounted. But at
length we came to a spot where the town was first visible in the
daylight; and there Zed, who knew the whole country well, checked his
horse, exclaiming--
"Gorra mighty, master! they have set the town a-fire."
At first sight, it seemed so; for up above the little town, rose upon
the sky a bright red glare which could be produced by no ordinary
cause. I checked my horse, too, and contemplated the blaze for a
moment or so; but I remarked that the glare was steadfast, not rising
and falling, nor spreading from place to place; and that though some
flicker and some rolls of smoke were visible, yet there was none of
that rapid change or those thick curling clouds which always hang over
a considerable conflagration. In fact, it was more like the glare
which hangs over a large and well-lighted city, than that of a fire.
"We will go on, Zed, and see," I said; "I can't tell what this blaze
is; the town is certainly not on fire."
"Very well, master," said Zed, without the slightest hesitation; and
on we pushed at the same rate as before.
As we came to the first houses of the little town, we could hear the
loud murmur of many voices, proceeding from the central part of the
place; and, riding on, we came upon a very strange and even
picturesque scene.
I have before described, I think, the little market-place of the town,
which the good people of the country have thought fit to call
Jerusalem, upon what grounds or pretences it is impossible to
discover; for certainly neither in architecture nor construction, nor
natural site, does it bear the slightest resemblance to the capital of
the kingdom of Judah. However, when the Mount Ida of this country is a
hillock, not much bigger than a man's knuckles, and Syracuse is
completely an inland town, it becomes clear that the people had very
little reference to the Old World in the names they have bestowed in
the New.
On one side of the square stood the inn, a wooden building of no great
extent, with what is called the liberty-pole right in front. When I
had been there before, the bright, burning sun had shone distinctly on
the groups of farmers and gentlemen coming from the country on
business, with their waggons, horses, and dogs. A different light now
presented the place under a different aspect. A fire of pitch-pine
logs was burning in the middle of the little space, at the distance of
perhaps sixty yards from the inn; and close to the building itself
were a number of torches, some in the hands of mulattoes or negroes,
some fixed to stakes set in the ground, to posts, to rails, or
anything to which they could be attached.
By the red glare of the fire and of these torches could be seen the
fronts of the various houses round; the windows crowded with faces,
principally of women, in every sort of dress and undress; and numerous
groups of men, scattered over the space below, all armed, many on
horseback, talking, laughing, gesticulating, and, in some instances,
swearing.
In front of the right wing of the inn was a little body of cavalry,
not very regularly drawn up in line, nor was every man upon his horse;
but there they were about thirty or forty, stout, tall, powerful
fellows, who would have put all the insurgents who had ever yet been
mustered in Virginia to the rout in a minute. A group of officers,
intermingled with a dozen or so of gentlemen, amongst whom I
recognized my long-boned friend the sheriff, stood immediately before
the door of the inn, all in vehement and eager discussion; while just
above their heads was a sort of balcony, running along the whole front
of the inn, crowded with ladies, some sitting and some standing.
Tremendous was the confusion, great the noise, and terrible the glare;
and every now and then a fresh movement and different arrangement of
parties took place when a horseman or two would ride in, from this
side or that; and from each of the groups several persons would detach
themselves, and ride up to inquire what intelligence the new-comers
brought.
I myself was thus assailed as soon as I entered the marketplace.
"Which side do you come from, sir?" asked one.
"Have you seen anything of the niggers?" interrogated another.
"Did you see anything of Captain Jones's party?" demanded a third.
"Has any fresh house been attacked?" cried a fourth.
"One at a time, gentlemen, one at a time," I replied, "and I will
answer you. Then you shall give me an answer to one question. I come
from this side of Dr. Blunt's house. I have seen plenty of the
negroes--all, I fancy, which they have in the field. I did not
meet with Captain Jones's party; and the last house the negroes
attacked, or will attack, I imagine, was Dr. Blunt's. And now, if you
please----"
"What came of it? what came of it?" cried half a dozen voices, before
I could propound my own question.
"They were repulsed with considerable loss," I replied. "Six were
killed or severely wounded, two were taken prisoners, and the whole
body was dispersed,--I suspect, never to meet in any force again."
"Hurra! hurra!" shouted the little crowd that had gathered round, and
off they ran to spread the intelligence over the place.
I took the liberty of catching one gentleman, however, by the arm,
before he could get away, saying:--
"On my life, this is hardly fair, gentlemen. I have answered all your
questions, and you do not stay to answer mine. May I ask if Colonel
Halliday has been in the town lately?"
"Colonel Halliday?" cried the good man; "why, yes, he was here not
half an hour ago with his party; he may be here now for aught I know."
"Had he a lady with him?" I demanded.
"Oh, yes, a whole drove of 'em," answered my companion, who seemed a
bit of a wag. "Funniest sight you ever saw--half of them mounted on
horseback in their night-shirts."
Thus saying, he broke away from me, and joined the principal group
before the inn-door. Towards it, also, I directed my horse; but the
gentlemen composing it instantly moved forward in mass towards me as
soon they heard the intelligence I brought, and I was surrounded in a
moment by twelve or fifteen persons, and overwhelmed with innumerable
questions at once. The sheriff alone was quiet and practical.
"Glad to see you, Sir Richard," he said; "perhaps you will give us a
brief statement of what occurred at Dr. Blunt's; for if you answer all
these questions, we shall have daylight upon us before we have done."
As it was evident I should get no satisfaction myself till they were
all satisfied, I thought it best to comply with the sheriff's
suggestion; but in the meantime all the other groups began to draw
near to hear the intelligence also; and I was soon surrounded, and
even pressed upon, by at least two hundred people.
"Speak loud, speak loud!" cried one.
"Bring him a drink," said another. "Dare say the gentleman's thirsty."
"He had fighting enough to make him so," said Zed, who kept close to
me, evidently in some alarm of the results of the general objections
to his colour.
I went on with my story, however, making it as brief but as clear as I
could, and taking care to notice the gallantry of young Blunt, which
called forth a sort of half cheer from the people.
But they did not seem to care much about details, and were soon
satisfied. Man by man they began to drop off, or broke up into parties
to talk the matter over in their own little synods; and, springing
from my horse, I took the sheriff's arm, saying,--
"I want to speak a word or two with you, Mr. Sheriff. Take my horse to
the door of the inn, Zed--I suppose he will be safe. He is a very
faithful fellow, and has saved my life."
"Oh, quite safe," answered the sheriff. "Don't you see we have as many
blacks as whites here? This bad spirit is by no means general. Had it
been so, we might have fared worse; though it has been bad enough, God
knows, as it is."
Zed led away my horse; and, being left nearly alone with the sheriff,
I explained to him my anxiety about Bessy; told him the cause I had to
suppose that she had been found in the wood by Colonel Halliday, and
carried to some place of safety; and asked if he had seen that
gentleman in the town.
"Oh, yes, he was here a little while ago," answered the sheriff. "He
brought in several ladies with him, but I really did not notice who
they were. He took them to the inn, I think, and you had better see if
you can find Miss Davenport there."